The Fairest Thing Chapter 23

Chapter 23
There was an air of bittersweet relief and merriment as the village celebrated its victory over what appeared to be defeat by a superior army. Gerard had made the announcement that they would be leaving for home as soon as a suitable ship could be procured. He promised to give a full report to Francesca's father and his uncle about Lord Fulk's transgressions against these free territories. At the very least, the fact that one of Fulk's vassals attempt to murder two royals would not be taken lightly. Gerard was also sworn to return his cousin, and Johan was sworn to return his father. The young knight was distraught upon discovering his father clinging to life in the wilderness, and barely left his side while his companions prepared to depart, even after Papa Smurf assured him that Edelhart would eventually recover. Maenad and the Smurfs lay low for the party, which was rare for Maenad. She could not boast about feats she did not remember, and the fact that she did not remember them weighed heavy on her mind. Last night she dreamed of the man with the grey cloak and black hair again. He died in her arms, but she couldn't remember his name. She lay under a bench in wolf form as she did when they first came to the village, and watched Johan and Sabina, Peewit and Swanhild, together perhaps for the final time. What was going to happen when they got back? She overheard Swanhild tell Peewit that no, she did not want to return to the castle with him, that she would feel completely out of place there and that she had enough to do here. A smart woman, that one. Johan and Sabina were far more hopeless. They knew they couldn't be together, and still they carried on like newlyweds. Oh, well. it was not the first time she had seen such stupid behavior, and probably would not be the last. The after several days, when the village had been repaired enough to be functional and Papa Smurf had declared it safe to move Edelhart, they gathered their things, said their goodbyes, and went to the river where a boat waited to take them to a harbor and a larger ship, a merchant who paid off the Brothers in exchange for safe passage. Two pirates carried Edelhart on a stretcher. Maenad trotted alongside, with the Smurfs riding on her back. Peewit sang a farewell song to the village of runaways, which encouraged the party to pick up their pace. I thought I heard you. Such sounds could only come from one creature… A large peregrine falcon swooped in front of Peewit and transformed into a woman, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Long golden hair was knotted into a ponytail on the crown of her head, and she wore a richly embroidered gown whose pattern resembled rustling autumn leaves. Around her neck was a radiant necklace that twinkled and shimmered like stars in the summer sky. He had never seen her before, but he knew who it was. Maenad knew too, and tucked her tail between her legs in submission. My servants have returned The Eye to the clan who watches over it. They send their thanks, for it was stolen from them. "We thank you, your…highness? For making sure such a thing stays out of the wrong hands," said Gerard, not sure who this being was, but understanding she played a role in the defeat of Lothar. Your reverence pleases me…it's been too long since a human king has given me kind words. I will give you a final gift to help you on your way. You have an injured man, and these two need safe passage. She looked Sabina, who rode next to Johan. Lutin's Son, this is the gift I give to you, your father's power for a day. "A beautiful voice?" Not quite. A Song of Power. She approached him and passed her hand three times over his face. After that, she began to chant. You are invisible when you like it; you cross in one moment the vast space of the universe; you rise without having wings; you go through the ground without dying; you penetrate the abysses of the sea without drowning; you enter everywhere, though the windows and the doors are closed; and, when you decide to, you can let yourself be seen in your natural form. Peewit hopped off Biquette in a trance and his form began to shimmer, he began to grow, to walk on all fours. His hands and feet became hooves, and still he continued to shift in size and shape, until a large Percheron with a beautiful mane stood where he had been. The horse looked down at now tiny Biquette and at his friends in a single glance, then at Maenad, who suddenly reeked of fear and death. He laid his ears flat and reared. Calm down, Lutin, this is one of your natural forms. Take your friends home now. How? There's five of them, Peewit asked, finding he could speak the way the wild swine could. Make yourself large enough to carry them all. Your people can carry four armed warriors with ease in this form. Peewit, still unsure of himself under this strange spell, visualized himself with five riders; Gerard, Johan, Sabina, Maenad and Edelhart. As he imagined it, there they were; as amazed and bewildered as he was. Now go. Intoxicated by the spell, he obeyed, and the forest seemed to melt away as he galloped though strange and dreamlike surroundings, following something…something that he knew would take him to where they all needed to be. Controlling such a huge body and five riders turned out to be exhausting; he was only half-lutin after all. Familiar scenery began to appear among the weird trees and shadows of the otherworld. More frequently signs of home appeared, until he knew he was in a safe place. He slowed down, knelt, and shifted back into human form as the spell melted away. But where were they? Count Tremaine took a long drink from his waterskin and looked down across the forest from a rocky ledge. He had patrolled these woods and the highways as far as Terminac for nearly two months looking for Princess Sabina, or any sign of her mysterious kidnappers. With each passing day, the odds of her being found safe and sound grew more and more dim. They had not gotten a ransom note, a list of demands, or any sign that she had been kidnapped. She had simply vanished into thin air, and every day that Tremaine had to return to her uncle empty handed was another day that the worry in the pit of his stomach grew worse.

Several members of the castle guard rode up to meet him, brining him out of his thoughts. "Sir, you won't believe this, but Johan and Peewit have returned!" "Splendid! Where are they?" at last, some good news. Not only would their return cheer up the poor King, but they could assist in searching for Sabina.

"We ran across them in the woods not far from here with King Gerard and Johan's father...and the Princess..."

"What?"

As if the shock of learning she was with Johan, Peewit, and King Gerard wasn't enough, seeing her with short-cropped hair and travel-worn men's clothing nearly caused him to fall from his horse. She had not been kidnapped after all; she chose to run away. The youths all chattered at once to explain, realizing how very bad all of this looked.

"Enough! With all due respect, your highness." the Count said, clutching his head, "I'm sending some men back to the castle to fetch help. It looks like we have a wounded man to take care of, and you can tell the King everything when we get back." He had a feeling the King would not be as cheerful as he'd previously anticipated.

Sabina looked longingly at the practice yard from her window high in the main keep. Johan and Peewit were jousting (Johan was anyway, as usual, Peewit was goofing off.) Occasionally, they would look up at her window, though she didn't know if they could actually see her though the thick panes of glass. She was back in her blue linen gown, with a coif, veil and thin gold circlet hiding her scandalously short hair. It was if nothing had changed despite all the adventures they'd had in the course of that summer. That wasn't true, some things had changed. Johan was a knight of high standing now, and Peewit now knew about magic like he'd always wished, though he had little control over it, and much to his disappointment enchanting singing was not among his skills. And there was her new state of being, much less enviable than her friends'. Before she had been merely been kept busy doing ladies' work and studying as a means to keep her out of trouble. Now, after faking her own disappearance, stealing, forging papers, and riding into battle dressed as a squire without a thought for her own safety, she had been made a prisoner in her suite of rooms. The damage was done, though, she was already the subject of gossip throughout the kingdom. Her rooms were comfortable, and she had everything she could want brought to her by her uncle's most trusted servants, but the doors were all guarded and the windows were locked. "Until a better solution can be reached," the King had said, which she assumed to mean until her betrothed could marry her and could keep her "out of trouble" for good. She remembered the afternoon she came back, with her uncle and Dame Barbara waiting in the courtyard for her with hands on their hips and a look of shock on their faces when she finally came into view. She'd known the night she'd run away that the King and Dame Barbara would be furious with her if she were brought back, moreso if they'd known the true reasons for her leaving. Thankfully, the latter secret was safe, but she had still received a tongue-lashing. It was only through the intervention of King Gerard and Sir Edelhart that her friends did not get into even worse trouble; the King believed their story that no one knew why she had decided to follow young men into the marshes in disguise. The princess sighed and laid back down in her bed. She'd willingly taken full blame and punishment, sacrificing her freedom for that of her friends. Would she ever see some of them again? She was sure she would see Gerard, he was her cousin after all, but what about Maenad or the Smurfs? What about Johan? She could go back to reading or weaving, but she saw little point in doing much of anything. Besides, she was so tired, despite it only being mid morning. Why was she so suddenly tired? She blamed lack of sun and fresh air, though depression might have something to do with her ill feelings, too. Before she knew it, she had drifted into fitful dreams. ' To be continued...  The 'Song of Power' is actually a direct quote from a French fairytale written in 1697 called Le Prince Lutin .'