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batsutousaiThe great things about staying up late this past night? I had an extra hour to write during. XD
At Good's End
Prologue -- The Story Begins...
Elspeth Rowan was a dark-eyed, fiery-haired girl of medium height and average build. The only thing that really stood out about her was her sharp tongue and cynical nature. If you actually cared to look past all that, you might find a quick mind that was often called creative by the only person who had ever cared to find out: her mother.
Elspeth's mother was a bright young woman who could have – as Elspeth's grandfather was fond of saying – had it all, if only she hadn't run off with the good-for-nothing boy. The very same boy which got Elspeth's mother pregnant at sixteen and then left her at seventeen with a newborn daughter, a rundown apartment with three months rent pre-paid and ten dollars to her name. Elspeth's mother had been too prideful to go crawling back to her disapproving parents for help, so she'd made something of a life for herself and her daughter in that messy apartment and that ten dollars.
But growing up in the slums with rich relatives who liked to sneer at them from the other end of town had turned Elspeth into the cynical teen she was. Growing up in the slums, Elspeth would often tell her wide-eyed, much less snobby grandmother, had taught her to not trust anyone but herself and her mother. And growing up with such snobby, rich relatives with giant libraries, Elspeth would often tell her amused mother, taught her that books were certain to be one's best friends.
Perhaps because she read so many books as a child, to pass the time during holidays at her grandparents' house, Elspeth had read more books than most of the people she knew. More over, she claimed herself to be sick of the "hero meets girl, hero saves girl from trouble, hero kills evil lord and all is well" plot line. Elspeth wanted something different. A story where the evil lord defeated the good guy, just like it often turned out in real life. None of that fairytale nonsense. But, no matter how hard she looked, Elspeth couldn't find anything. The good guys always won.
When she complained to her mother, Ms Rowan said, "Well, if you can't find it, you'll just have to write it yourself, won't you?"
And that's how Elspeth found herself sitting at her cardboard box – or table, depends on who you spoke to – in the centre of her room with a book of Irish names – stolen from her grandparents' house on a whim some five years before – a pencil and a piece of paper. She created a list of names that caught her eye, then named her characters and gave them basic descriptions.
The good guy who was doomed to failure she named Finlay Saoirse: Finlay meant 'fair hero' and Saoirse 'freedom'. She gave him blond hair and blue eyes. Labelled him a ditz, like many of the blonde girls in her school, and had him dressed in worn armour with a cowboy hat. His sword and shield had belonged to his father and grandfather before him and showed all its wear at a glance. The entire reason he wanted the evil lord dead was because he and his family had lived in one of the city's that the evil lord had destroyed when taking over what used to be a separate country and was now a part of Kerry. He had been the only one of his family to survive the assault and wanted revenge. He also wanted to free his country-men from the evil lord, who he saw as a tyrant.
The hero's best friend, who accompanied him on his journeys, was named Lonán Tierney: Lonán meaning 'little blackbird' and Tierney 'lordly'. He had black hair and pale eyes, Elspeth's dream boy. She decided he would be quiet and thoughtful and easily swayed by a beautiful woman to the other side. His armour was of a better make than Finlay's and he wore a stylish brown hat with a feather in the brim. For a weapon, he carried a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over his back. The only real reason that he was going with Finlay was to keep his friend from killing himself during his self-imposed quest.
The beautiful woman who would draw Lonán over to the evil lord's side was Elspeth herself, though she chose a different name – if only to pretend it wasn't her – Gwenonwyn Keeva Lasair Kerry: Gwenonwyn meaning 'morning star,' Keeva 'beauty' or 'grace,' Lasair 'flame' and Kerry 'dark'. She had fire-red hair and dark purple eyes – Elspeth's favourite colour. Gwenonwyn was smart, careful and had a sharp tongue when one got on her wrong side, as any woman should, and she listened to no man. Elspeth dressed her character in a beautiful purple gown that she could hike up, with pants underneath, to allow her to move quickly and fight with her own bow and arrows and the fire magic that she had at her fingertips. She also left off her last name, Kerry, when introducing herself, as that was the name of the evil lord, who was her father.
The evil lord was named Cathaír Huw Kerry: Cathaír meaning 'battle lord' and Huw meaning 'mind' or 'intelligence'. He had black hair and red eyes and was a cruel man who took things out on the people in his castle first, then on the people he ruled over. The only person he was ever kind to was his daughter, who was all he had left after the murder of his wife by a neighbouring country – which he then took over. The only people he never warred with was the country his wife came from, Dúil, which was a country of elementals – people who used the elements in battle.
Lord Kerry's right-hand man – also the captain of his army – was named Lorcan Emrys: Lorcan meaning 'fierce in battle' and Emrys 'belonging to the immortals'. Emrys was a cold man with greying hair and piercing golden eyes. He originally lived in a country that Lord Kerry had taken over wherein the people grew wings during puberty that they had been able to fly with centuries in the past. Emrys' own wings – golden in colour and streaked with blood-red – made a rather impressive sight at the head of his army. He could easily use a sword or a bow, though he preferred to be in the action with his sword.
Other characters, Elspeth decided, she would figure out later. After all, it was only the main characters that mattered at first.
With that in mind, Elspeth happened to notice the time on her beat-up, old watch and sighed. She had school tomorrow, so anything more would have to wait until later.
***
Chapter One -- A Change of Perspective
Elspeth settled down at her box with a notebook and pencil, her list of characters set out next to her, as well as the map of the region that she worked on in study hall that day. She'd had fun making up the various other country names, right up until the boy next to her, Phillip, leaned over and told his best friend Mark that she couldn't spell even after sixteen years of life. Her comment to stuff it – delivered with her fist – had not been appreciated by the teacher watching over the study hall and she'd been sent to the vice principal to get yelled at for the third time in two months. Her only pleasure came from the knowledge that while she was getting chewed out, Phillip was with the nurse, trying to get his nose to stop bleeding. (Anyone who said a girl couldn't hit, clearly hadn't been hit by a girl before.)
In her last class of the day, art, Elspeth had borrowed a few crayons and coloured her map in a bit. She made the desert in Merun – a country on the west side of the map, which was protected from Kerry simply because Dúil was between the two – yellow. The rivers, which ran along some of the borders between Kerry and the few countries surrounding it, were a light blue. The hills, which covered both the north-eastern corner of Kerry and the south-eastern corner, were green. The mountains, which were in Dúil, the part of Kerry that bordered Dúil, the country Abathal to the south and the countries Schrivl and Deltumira to the east were orange. The roads, which Elspeth only really drew for Kerry, were purple.
Elspeth was actually quite proud of her map. She felt that she might make a few more before her story was over – if only to make it that much better – but as a first-time map, she felt this was more than adequate. Maybe, once she'd sold the book, she could get lots of money and draw a new, more extravagant book. Right after she bought herself a computer to type on; this whole write everything on notebook paper thing was sure to get old really fast.
Elspeth shook her head. "Consider what'll happen after, later. I won't know anything until this is written. No use thinking it over." She nodded to herself and opened her notebook to a clean page. "Now, where to start? Mmmm... Well, it wasn't a dark and stormy night," she commented, pausing to snicker to herself, "and I don't really think this is a 'Once upon a time' sort of tale. I know I'm going to start with the dunce....wait! That's it!" And she bent her head and started to write:
Finlay Saoirse was a blond-haired, blue-eyed idiot. And he thought he could save the world. Well, no, not our world, his world. You see, Finlay lived in what we would call a country – though they had a different word for it in their own language – called Kerry, which was ruled by a cold-hearted man, Lord Cathaír Kerry, who spent his free time taking over other countries and adding them to his land. One might compare Lord Kerry to the emperors of Rome in its golden days. But Lord Kerry knew nothing about Rome, and neither did Finlay. In fact, all that Finlay really knew was that Lord Kerry had once wanted the country Finlay had lived in as a child and so had raided villages left and right to get what he wanted. Finlay's family had lived in one of those villages, and when the soldiers had set fire to Finlay's home, he'd been the only lucky one to survive. And now that he was old enough, he was going to storm Lord Kerry's castle, slit the man's throat, and free his people!
All by himself.
And that was, perhaps, why his best friend, Lonán Tierney was going with him. Lonán had gotten Finlay out of more scrapes over the years than there are minutes in the day. He was a quiet young man with dark hair and strangely pale eyes. His own family had been killed by the soldiers, but he had never cared to make a one-man war on the Lord of Kerry. Even so, he hoped that by going along with Finlay on his friend's foolish quest, he might find a time to persuade the idiot settle down and leave the war against Finlay to someone with an army that could defeat the cold-hearted lord. Not that there was much hope in dissuading the twit, but a man could always hope. Either way, he would help his friend the whole way, even if it meant getting hung in the capital square, because that is what friends do for one another.
Their journey started out by saying a fond good-bye to their village's elder, who shook his head helplessly at them even as he waved them off. He'd tried to talk the boys out of it, but while he could see that Lonán would have been more than happy to remain behind, he was also determined to follow Finlay to his death, and that was one place not even the Gods could stop Finlay from going to, now.
The two young men were on foot, for the four horses their village had were too precious to send away. Finlay had dressed himself in his grandfather's old armour with his old sword and shield, all of which were rusting slightly and had more dents and wear than the most over-worked horse. Other than his fighting gear, Finlay also had a padded roll to sleep on, some tasteless trail rations, a full canteen and a blanket for when the nights got cold. Lonán, always thoughtful, had newer armour that the blacksmith two villages over had made last year and a bow and arrow. He carried his own padded roll, a blanket, a full canteen, some rations and a flint to start the fire with. He also had a few small things for cooking, since he knew how to cook and fully intended to hunt for their dinner and cook it.
Lonán allowed the determined Finlay to lead the way through the forest; since they weren't on any of the well-travelled roads, they had to hike through the surrounding forest to get to one of them. The closest town to them that lay on one of the roads was Shvim, which was about a day's walk east of their own home village. Finlay had sworn he'd known the way, so Lonán let him take the lead, while he kept an eye out for animals in the surrounding trees who would make either a good dinner or would be interested in mauling them.
It wasn't until it had started to get darker in the forest that Lonán thought to question his friend's sense of direction, "Finlay?"
"Yes, Lonán? Did you want to stop to make camp?"
"Shouldn't we be to Shvim already?"
Finlay stopped, then turned to look at Lonán. "Should we? I've never been before."
Lonán groaned. "We're lost."
"Oh. Well, I guess we should make camp, then. Right?"
"Yeah, okay. Let's find a patch of clear ground. We'll fix this in the morning."
"Okay!"
The two friends found a clear patch of ground and settled their things down. Lonán made a fire while Finlay set the rolls and blankets out. Lonán had caught a rabbit earlier and so skinned it and set up a spit with a couple of branches to cook it. They hashed out a watch shift – Lonán would take the evening until he started to get too tired, then he'd wake Finlay to watch – and Finlay lay down to sleep while Lonán pulled out a small knife and started whittling a fat branch he'd found.
Just before he drifted off, Finlay murmured, "Sorry for getting us lost, Lonán..."
Lonán sighed and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Finlay. Just go to sleep."
"Mmmm..."
"Eppie!" Ms Rowan shouted down the hall. "Dinner!"
"Coming, Mom!" Elspeth called back, then closed her notebook and got to her feet to go eat. Dinner was a serving of Mac & Cheese, off brand, and a spoonful of peas. After the dishes had been washed at the sink between the two of them, Ms Rowan asked her daughter how her homework was coming. Groaning, Elspeth pulled out her books and sat down at the dinning room table to work on her problems for math and do her reading for her government class.
By the time she'd finished, it was time for bed, so, with a longing look at the notebook on her table, Elspeth changed and climbed into bed.
And Elspeth Rowan dreamed.
***
She was beautiful, that was Elspeth's first thought. The woman who had appeared in front of her in her dream had perfect red hair and beautifully green eyes, shimmering lips and amazing skin and wore a long, sweeping grey gown with a shield symbol on her left breast. Dumbly, Elspeth said, "I wish I were a guy."
The woman arched a perfect eyebrow and curled her lips. "And why is that?"
"So I could marry you."
A sneer took over the woman's face and even as it snapped Elspeth out of her stupor, she still considered that she'd never seen someone look quite so perfect while looking like that.
"You wouldn't have a chance, fool child. I don't marry mortals," the woman said coldly.
Elspeth shook her head. "Uh-huh. Right. And what are you, some form of god?" She sneered herself, the spell fully broken by the woman's ridiculous words. Anyway, Elspeth was not gay. No matter how pretty some chick was.
The woman's lips twitched. "As a matter of fact, I am. I am the Goddess of this world that you are writing about. And while my brother doesn't care about your interference in our world, I do. I don't enjoy watching you fool mortals play with my people– Why are you laughing?!"
Elspeth was bowed over, laughing so hard she thought her gut was going to bust open. "I have..." she gasped, "never heard...a more..." she had to pause to giggle some more, "a more ridiculous speech in my whole...life, and I know some pretty...pretty ridiculous people!" She snickered for a long moment and worked to control herself while the woman looked on in growing fury. "A goddess. Wow, my mind comes up with some pretty funny shit when I'm sleeping."
The Goddess had enough and, with a wave of her hand, Elspeth found her mouth sewed shut. Startled into silence, she stared at the woman with a sort of dawning horror. The Goddess smiled a smile that was so terrible it was beautiful. "Ah, blessed silence. I see you're starting to, how do your people put it? Ah, yes, 'cotton on'." The Goddess nodded to herself and drew a chair for herself to sit on up out of the ground. "Now then, I believe you see the Lady Kerry as a person much like yourself?"
Eyes wide, Elspeth nodded mutely.
"Excellent! Now, let me give you a quick talk, since you've decided to be quiet at last." She smirked at her little joke, then pursed her lips and explained, "My brother, Hywel, is the patron God of War and Strife and all that nasty stuff. He's behind Lord Kerry's actions, as well as the boy Finlay's need for revenge. He's also, I'm sure you'll be interested to know, responsible for the kidnapping of the Lady Kerry. Now, while I am by no means a Goddess of Love and Family and all that ridiculous stuff, I don't approve of the mindless blood-shed and kidnapping my brother is playing in. Now, each of us Gods is allowed one mortal per century that we can use to change things in our favour– Oh, now what?"
Elspeth had been flailing her arms around, trying to get the Goddess' attention so she could be allowed to speak. Now that she had it, she motioned to her mouth. The Goddess frowned and said, "If I un-stitch your mouth, will you behave yourself?" Elspeth nodded furiously and offered up her best puppy-eyes as a plea. The Goddess sighed, rolled her eyes, and waved her hand.
Elspeth nearly danced when she found she could move her lips again. "Uhm, thanks. So, wait, how many gods are there in this world?"
The Goddess sighed. "Always with the questions. Very well, there are rather a lot. Every one of us have something we have power over, that the mortals pray to us for. Some of the Gods and Goddesses preside over only one or two countries. For example, Hywel and myself preside over the countries of Kerry, Zeptel, Abathal and Schrivl. There are other Gods or Goddesses who preside over Dúil, Deltumira and Merun, as well as some of the other countries beyond the scope of the map you made."
"Wait, so that's a real map?"
"It is. You think I would allow someone to create lies about my world?"
"Uhm, okay. Sure. So, your scope of power reaches even into my world?"
The Goddess shrugged. "No. But because you were writing about this world and during a time that I am particularly interested in keeping an eye on, I was able to twist things around to my liking. If I didn't care quite so much about what was going on, I would have known that you were creating a story about my people, but I may not have interfered. If you'd decided to write a story that took place in Dúil instead, you probably would have ended up with Ferdiad or Bethan instead."
"Right." Elspeth nodded like everything actually made sense to her. "So, you were saying something about how each god gets a mortal to play with every century?"
The Goddess got a terrifying smile on her face that sent shivers down Elspeth's spine. "Why, yes, that's one way to put it." Elspeth groaned. "We get one mortal every century to, as you put it, 'play with'. The only stipulation is that they have to give prayers to the God or Goddess who chooses them."
"But I didn't even know you existed until ten minutes ago. Hell, I still don't know your name!" Elspeth shouted, sounding a little desperate.
The Goddess' smile widened. "Ah, you may not worship me, young mortal, but Lady Kerry does, and you made her out to be you in your tale, did you not?"
"So why not her instead of me?!"
"Because I need someone that my brother wouldn't expect. And the last thing he would expect would be for me to exchange Gwenonwyn Kerry – who is not the fighter you wrote her to be, despite the many gifts she has been given – with a nasty little girl from another world."
"I'm not a 'nasty little girl', thanks."
"Do not contradict me or I will silence you again."
Elspeth slapped a hand over her mouth.
The Goddess nodded. "Now then, what I need you to do is stop Finlay from killing Lord Kerry, and calm Lord Kerry so he's not as willing to destroy everyone around him, because if he's not stopped soon, he will go after Dúil, and then this world will look a lot like your world's country Japan did after those bombs got dropped on it."
Elspeth felt cold. She remembered the pictures of Hiroshima that she'd found in one of her grandfather's books when she was seven. His horrific explanation of what the place had looked like a year later when he'd gone with a party of men and women meant to help the Japanese rebuild had just about scarred her for life, and made her hate him all the more. She closed her eyes for a moment, then met the Goddess' eyes unflinchingly. "What do I have to do to help?"
The Goddess smiled. "Just agree. You'll have to be willing to kill a few people who get in your way, however."
Elspeth took a deep breath and nodded. "This is war. Death is inevitable."
The Goddess nodded. "So it is. Also, don't let yourself get distracted by young Lonán."
Elspeth's cheeks flushed. "I'll try. Uhm, what'll happen to the real Gwenonwyn?"
The Goddess waved her hand carelessly. "I'll keep her in stasis until I deem you done, then I'll send you back to your home and her back to her own body. Oh, and you may write your story then, of course, but I'm afraid it won't end quite as you originally envisioned it."
"Uhm, no. Something tells me this ending will be rather different."
The Goddess' lips curled into a rather frightening smile. "Now, when you awaken, you will be in the clutches of the Lady Kerry's kidnapper, a serving girl who was sent by the kingdom of Zeptel to kidnap you in hopes of using you as a bartering tool to save themselves from Lord Kerry. Your best choice would probably be to kill the girl, since if she's ever found by either kingdom, they'll kill her anyway, but if you must keep her alive I can't really stop you." The Goddess sighed. "Finlay and Lonán are about a half-day's walk away from where you're currently camped. I will lead them to you, but after that it's up to you. Understood?"
"Yes'm. Also, err, what am I supposed to call you? If I wanted to suddenly toss my disbelief that gods exist and can help me to the side and ask for help or something."
"Or curse my name," the Goddess suggested.
"Oh, I'd never do that," Elspeth said with a straight face.
"I am called Radha," the Goddess allowed with another smile. "And, now, I think it's time for you to wake up."
***
There was suddenly something soft beneath Elspeth and she was laying down with her eyes closed. Taking the Goddess' comment about cursing her to heart, she offered a string of explicatives in the general direction of the cause of her current situation and could have sworn she heard laughter in response. Giving up, she carefully opened her eyes and got a look at her surroundings.
She was laying on a bed roll and was covered with a blanket. A fire slowly died not far from her while a tall woman with long black hair stood with her back towards Elspeth feeding a horse who was covered in dirt and grime. The other woman had left her weapons on the empty bed roll at Elspeth's feet, where'd she'd probably slept the night before. Judging by the light coming through the break in the trees overhead, it was about seven in the morning.
Elspeth figured she had only a few choices and she had to make them fast. She wasn't sure she was really willing to kill this woman, kidnapper or not, but she also wasn't willing to be dragged off to some other country to be used as their bid for protection. Either way, she needed to grab those weapons before the other woman turned around.
"That's a good, horse. We'll be starting out as soon as I've made something to eat and gotten her royal assness on to your back," the false servant said, turning from the horse and meeting Elspeth's eyes.
The two stared at one another in shock for a moment, then they both dove for the weapons on the bed roll. Elspeth was closer, so she got to them first, but the other woman ended up with her hands right on top of Elspeth's. The two glared at each other for a long moment, then Elspeth drew back one hand and punched the other in the face.
"OW!" the other woman said, falling over backwards and clutching at her nose, which was flowing rather freely.
Elspeth snatched the bow, arrows and short sword and hid them under her blanket behind her. Then she gave the other woman a closer look.
She had darker skin, like someone from the Middle East, and dark eyes. The most unusual think about the woman was her ears, which Elspeth would have called elf ears, but she somehow knew that this world didn't have elves. She knew the other was from Zeptel, but since she'd only ever cared about Kerry and, to some extent, Dúil, so she didn't really know anything about the people of the other countries surrounding Kerry or what their people were like.
Elspeth shook her head to bring herself back to the present. "What, exactly, made you think that my father would let your people live after they had you kidnap me?" she asked as coldly as she could manage, which was pretty coldly, if she did say so herself.
The other woman's nose was still bleeding, but she snapped back, "Ib he didn'd sweaw id on da Gods, we would habe killed you."
Elspeth gave the other a doubtful look. "Uh-huh. And Hywel would have really cared if he'd broken that promise. Oh, for fuck's sake! Pinch the bridge of your nose and lean your head back, you stupid girl! I swear, you're as bad as some of the boys back home when it comes to basic first aid..."
The other woman immediately did as she was told and, after a couple of minutes, the nose bleed had stopped and she was looking at Elspeth with surprise. Elspeth herself was looking over the short sword and bow she'd taken. She didn't know how to use a sword, short or long, but she could probably fake it if she needed to. And the bow wasn't too hard, they'd had a lesson one year during gym about how to shoot a bow and arrow. She'd done okay at the time, but she'd probably have to practise a bit before she got the hang of it again.
"My Lady?"
Elspeth glanced up, her mind on the lessons she'd had with the bow. "Hm?"
"Since when could you hit like that?"
Elspeth blinked a few times, then seemed to realize what she'd been asked. "Uh, since Radha decided to mess with my brain while I was sleeping?"
The other woman blinked a few times herself. "Wha-what is a 'brain'?"
"Oh, uh, shit. Uhm, my head. She messed with my head," Elspeth corrected. "Erm, on that note, what's your name again?"
"B-Bonnie E-Eurfron, my Lady," the other stumbled. "Wh-what will my Lady do to punish me now that she has my weapons?"
"I've half a mind to kill you," Elspeth snapped, and felt a vague sense of pleasure when Bonnie's face took on a frightened cast. "I'm also considering bringing you back with me and letting Captain Emrys have you–"
"Oh no, my Lady! Kill me if you wish! Leave me here to die! I don't care what, as long as you don't give me to him!"
Elspeth blinked in shock. "He's that bad?"
"Yes, my Lady. I know he likes my Lady and seeks to protect her from everything, but he always tells the new servants what should happen to us if we are to ever mean any harm against your person. I would rather starve than be given to him!"
"Hmm..." Elspeth crossed her legs Indian-style, forgetting about her dress, and rested her head on her hand thoughtfully. "Well, even if I was to kill you, I won't kill you quite yet, because it's not safe for a woman out her by herself, even one with the gods on her side. So you'll have to come with me until I can find an escort. And then I won't really be able to just off you, so I'll probably let you get away. Hmmm..."
Bonnie fidgeted. "Yes, my Lady."
"And that will have to stop! Nobles are certain to be robbed or held for ransom, and if anyone finds out who my father is I'll likely be killed on the spot out of spite! No, you'll have to call my Gwenonwyn. And I can't be a Kerry... I suppose I could use Mother's name, Lasair..." Elspeth rambled, not even noticing how she spoke as if she was Gwenonwyn.
"My La–" Elspeth gave her a dry look, "ah, Gw-Gwenonw-wyn?"
"Yes, Bonnie?"
"B-bear!" the other said, pointing behind Elspeth with wide eyes.
Elspeth spun around and felt a brief moment of relief when she saw that the bear was only a cub, but was chilled when she remembered that cubs were usually followed by their mothers.
"Slowly," she cautioned Bonnie, "pack things up. What do we have as food? Anything sweet?"
"S-some f-f-fruit."
"Give me some of the fruit," Elspeth said, slowly standing with the quiver on her back and the bow held loosely in her right hand. She hoped that she could actually shoot the damn thing straight, or they were going to be dead real fast.
Bonnie's hand appeared over her shoulder with an apple and some cherries in it. The bear cub looked rather interested, so Elspeth took the fruit and stepped forward to let Bonnie start moving her bed roll.
"Here, cubby, cub, cub. Would you like some cherries? They're very tasty," she said in a sort of a sing-song voice. She kept her eyes on the forest behind the cub, watching for the mother, even as she fed the cub a couple of the cherries. The little thing was quite happily taking the cherries from her and munching them down. If she wasn't possible in peril, Elspeth would have thought the thing cute.
"My Lad– Gwen-Gwenonwyn," Bonnie stuttered, "we can go."
Elspeth nodded absent-mindedly and handed the cub the last of the cherries and then set the apple at its feet, then started slowly backing up, eyes still on the forest.
As she was reaching the horse and Bonnie, she saw a large shadow stepping towards the edge of the forest and hurriedly, but awkwardly, got on the horse. "Get away, get away, get away. Mother-bear just came for a visit!"
Bonnie squeaked and kicked at the horse's sides. She quickly spurred the horse into a gallop and the bears were out of sight in no time. Not that Elspeth particularly noticed, she was too busy holding on to Bonnie for dear life.
"I hate horses," she muttered, earning a nervous laugh from her fellow.
Chapters:
One ||| Two ||| Three ||| Four
Summary & Character Info
Incomplete
.
Prologue -- The Story Begins...
Elspeth Rowan was a dark-eyed, fiery-haired girl of medium height and average build. The only thing that really stood out about her was her sharp tongue and cynical nature. If you actually cared to look past all that, you might find a quick mind that was often called creative by the only person who had ever cared to find out: her mother.
Elspeth's mother was a bright young woman who could have – as Elspeth's grandfather was fond of saying – had it all, if only she hadn't run off with the good-for-nothing boy. The very same boy which got Elspeth's mother pregnant at sixteen and then left her at seventeen with a newborn daughter, a rundown apartment with three months rent pre-paid and ten dollars to her name. Elspeth's mother had been too prideful to go crawling back to her disapproving parents for help, so she'd made something of a life for herself and her daughter in that messy apartment and that ten dollars.
But growing up in the slums with rich relatives who liked to sneer at them from the other end of town had turned Elspeth into the cynical teen she was. Growing up in the slums, Elspeth would often tell her wide-eyed, much less snobby grandmother, had taught her to not trust anyone but herself and her mother. And growing up with such snobby, rich relatives with giant libraries, Elspeth would often tell her amused mother, taught her that books were certain to be one's best friends.
Perhaps because she read so many books as a child, to pass the time during holidays at her grandparents' house, Elspeth had read more books than most of the people she knew. More over, she claimed herself to be sick of the "hero meets girl, hero saves girl from trouble, hero kills evil lord and all is well" plot line. Elspeth wanted something different. A story where the evil lord defeated the good guy, just like it often turned out in real life. None of that fairytale nonsense. But, no matter how hard she looked, Elspeth couldn't find anything. The good guys always won.
When she complained to her mother, Ms Rowan said, "Well, if you can't find it, you'll just have to write it yourself, won't you?"
And that's how Elspeth found herself sitting at her cardboard box – or table, depends on who you spoke to – in the centre of her room with a book of Irish names – stolen from her grandparents' house on a whim some five years before – a pencil and a piece of paper. She created a list of names that caught her eye, then named her characters and gave them basic descriptions.
The good guy who was doomed to failure she named Finlay Saoirse: Finlay meant 'fair hero' and Saoirse 'freedom'. She gave him blond hair and blue eyes. Labelled him a ditz, like many of the blonde girls in her school, and had him dressed in worn armour with a cowboy hat. His sword and shield had belonged to his father and grandfather before him and showed all its wear at a glance. The entire reason he wanted the evil lord dead was because he and his family had lived in one of the city's that the evil lord had destroyed when taking over what used to be a separate country and was now a part of Kerry. He had been the only one of his family to survive the assault and wanted revenge. He also wanted to free his country-men from the evil lord, who he saw as a tyrant.
The hero's best friend, who accompanied him on his journeys, was named Lonán Tierney: Lonán meaning 'little blackbird' and Tierney 'lordly'. He had black hair and pale eyes, Elspeth's dream boy. She decided he would be quiet and thoughtful and easily swayed by a beautiful woman to the other side. His armour was of a better make than Finlay's and he wore a stylish brown hat with a feather in the brim. For a weapon, he carried a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over his back. The only real reason that he was going with Finlay was to keep his friend from killing himself during his self-imposed quest.
The beautiful woman who would draw Lonán over to the evil lord's side was Elspeth herself, though she chose a different name – if only to pretend it wasn't her – Gwenonwyn Keeva Lasair Kerry: Gwenonwyn meaning 'morning star,' Keeva 'beauty' or 'grace,' Lasair 'flame' and Kerry 'dark'. She had fire-red hair and dark purple eyes – Elspeth's favourite colour. Gwenonwyn was smart, careful and had a sharp tongue when one got on her wrong side, as any woman should, and she listened to no man. Elspeth dressed her character in a beautiful purple gown that she could hike up, with pants underneath, to allow her to move quickly and fight with her own bow and arrows and the fire magic that she had at her fingertips. She also left off her last name, Kerry, when introducing herself, as that was the name of the evil lord, who was her father.
The evil lord was named Cathaír Huw Kerry: Cathaír meaning 'battle lord' and Huw meaning 'mind' or 'intelligence'. He had black hair and red eyes and was a cruel man who took things out on the people in his castle first, then on the people he ruled over. The only person he was ever kind to was his daughter, who was all he had left after the murder of his wife by a neighbouring country – which he then took over. The only people he never warred with was the country his wife came from, Dúil, which was a country of elementals – people who used the elements in battle.
Lord Kerry's right-hand man – also the captain of his army – was named Lorcan Emrys: Lorcan meaning 'fierce in battle' and Emrys 'belonging to the immortals'. Emrys was a cold man with greying hair and piercing golden eyes. He originally lived in a country that Lord Kerry had taken over wherein the people grew wings during puberty that they had been able to fly with centuries in the past. Emrys' own wings – golden in colour and streaked with blood-red – made a rather impressive sight at the head of his army. He could easily use a sword or a bow, though he preferred to be in the action with his sword.
Other characters, Elspeth decided, she would figure out later. After all, it was only the main characters that mattered at first.
With that in mind, Elspeth happened to notice the time on her beat-up, old watch and sighed. She had school tomorrow, so anything more would have to wait until later.
Chapter One -- A Change of Perspective
Elspeth settled down at her box with a notebook and pencil, her list of characters set out next to her, as well as the map of the region that she worked on in study hall that day. She'd had fun making up the various other country names, right up until the boy next to her, Phillip, leaned over and told his best friend Mark that she couldn't spell even after sixteen years of life. Her comment to stuff it – delivered with her fist – had not been appreciated by the teacher watching over the study hall and she'd been sent to the vice principal to get yelled at for the third time in two months. Her only pleasure came from the knowledge that while she was getting chewed out, Phillip was with the nurse, trying to get his nose to stop bleeding. (Anyone who said a girl couldn't hit, clearly hadn't been hit by a girl before.)
In her last class of the day, art, Elspeth had borrowed a few crayons and coloured her map in a bit. She made the desert in Merun – a country on the west side of the map, which was protected from Kerry simply because Dúil was between the two – yellow. The rivers, which ran along some of the borders between Kerry and the few countries surrounding it, were a light blue. The hills, which covered both the north-eastern corner of Kerry and the south-eastern corner, were green. The mountains, which were in Dúil, the part of Kerry that bordered Dúil, the country Abathal to the south and the countries Schrivl and Deltumira to the east were orange. The roads, which Elspeth only really drew for Kerry, were purple.
Elspeth was actually quite proud of her map. She felt that she might make a few more before her story was over – if only to make it that much better – but as a first-time map, she felt this was more than adequate. Maybe, once she'd sold the book, she could get lots of money and draw a new, more extravagant book. Right after she bought herself a computer to type on; this whole write everything on notebook paper thing was sure to get old really fast.
Elspeth shook her head. "Consider what'll happen after, later. I won't know anything until this is written. No use thinking it over." She nodded to herself and opened her notebook to a clean page. "Now, where to start? Mmmm... Well, it wasn't a dark and stormy night," she commented, pausing to snicker to herself, "and I don't really think this is a 'Once upon a time' sort of tale. I know I'm going to start with the dunce....wait! That's it!" And she bent her head and started to write:
Finlay Saoirse was a blond-haired, blue-eyed idiot. And he thought he could save the world. Well, no, not our world, his world. You see, Finlay lived in what we would call a country – though they had a different word for it in their own language – called Kerry, which was ruled by a cold-hearted man, Lord Cathaír Kerry, who spent his free time taking over other countries and adding them to his land. One might compare Lord Kerry to the emperors of Rome in its golden days. But Lord Kerry knew nothing about Rome, and neither did Finlay. In fact, all that Finlay really knew was that Lord Kerry had once wanted the country Finlay had lived in as a child and so had raided villages left and right to get what he wanted. Finlay's family had lived in one of those villages, and when the soldiers had set fire to Finlay's home, he'd been the only lucky one to survive. And now that he was old enough, he was going to storm Lord Kerry's castle, slit the man's throat, and free his people!
All by himself.
And that was, perhaps, why his best friend, Lonán Tierney was going with him. Lonán had gotten Finlay out of more scrapes over the years than there are minutes in the day. He was a quiet young man with dark hair and strangely pale eyes. His own family had been killed by the soldiers, but he had never cared to make a one-man war on the Lord of Kerry. Even so, he hoped that by going along with Finlay on his friend's foolish quest, he might find a time to persuade the idiot settle down and leave the war against Finlay to someone with an army that could defeat the cold-hearted lord. Not that there was much hope in dissuading the twit, but a man could always hope. Either way, he would help his friend the whole way, even if it meant getting hung in the capital square, because that is what friends do for one another.
Their journey started out by saying a fond good-bye to their village's elder, who shook his head helplessly at them even as he waved them off. He'd tried to talk the boys out of it, but while he could see that Lonán would have been more than happy to remain behind, he was also determined to follow Finlay to his death, and that was one place not even the Gods could stop Finlay from going to, now.
The two young men were on foot, for the four horses their village had were too precious to send away. Finlay had dressed himself in his grandfather's old armour with his old sword and shield, all of which were rusting slightly and had more dents and wear than the most over-worked horse. Other than his fighting gear, Finlay also had a padded roll to sleep on, some tasteless trail rations, a full canteen and a blanket for when the nights got cold. Lonán, always thoughtful, had newer armour that the blacksmith two villages over had made last year and a bow and arrow. He carried his own padded roll, a blanket, a full canteen, some rations and a flint to start the fire with. He also had a few small things for cooking, since he knew how to cook and fully intended to hunt for their dinner and cook it.
Lonán allowed the determined Finlay to lead the way through the forest; since they weren't on any of the well-travelled roads, they had to hike through the surrounding forest to get to one of them. The closest town to them that lay on one of the roads was Shvim, which was about a day's walk east of their own home village. Finlay had sworn he'd known the way, so Lonán let him take the lead, while he kept an eye out for animals in the surrounding trees who would make either a good dinner or would be interested in mauling them.
It wasn't until it had started to get darker in the forest that Lonán thought to question his friend's sense of direction, "Finlay?"
"Yes, Lonán? Did you want to stop to make camp?"
"Shouldn't we be to Shvim already?"
Finlay stopped, then turned to look at Lonán. "Should we? I've never been before."
Lonán groaned. "We're lost."
"Oh. Well, I guess we should make camp, then. Right?"
"Yeah, okay. Let's find a patch of clear ground. We'll fix this in the morning."
"Okay!"
The two friends found a clear patch of ground and settled their things down. Lonán made a fire while Finlay set the rolls and blankets out. Lonán had caught a rabbit earlier and so skinned it and set up a spit with a couple of branches to cook it. They hashed out a watch shift – Lonán would take the evening until he started to get too tired, then he'd wake Finlay to watch – and Finlay lay down to sleep while Lonán pulled out a small knife and started whittling a fat branch he'd found.
Just before he drifted off, Finlay murmured, "Sorry for getting us lost, Lonán..."
Lonán sighed and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Finlay. Just go to sleep."
"Mmmm..."
"Eppie!" Ms Rowan shouted down the hall. "Dinner!"
"Coming, Mom!" Elspeth called back, then closed her notebook and got to her feet to go eat. Dinner was a serving of Mac & Cheese, off brand, and a spoonful of peas. After the dishes had been washed at the sink between the two of them, Ms Rowan asked her daughter how her homework was coming. Groaning, Elspeth pulled out her books and sat down at the dinning room table to work on her problems for math and do her reading for her government class.
By the time she'd finished, it was time for bed, so, with a longing look at the notebook on her table, Elspeth changed and climbed into bed.
And Elspeth Rowan dreamed.
She was beautiful, that was Elspeth's first thought. The woman who had appeared in front of her in her dream had perfect red hair and beautifully green eyes, shimmering lips and amazing skin and wore a long, sweeping grey gown with a shield symbol on her left breast. Dumbly, Elspeth said, "I wish I were a guy."
The woman arched a perfect eyebrow and curled her lips. "And why is that?"
"So I could marry you."
A sneer took over the woman's face and even as it snapped Elspeth out of her stupor, she still considered that she'd never seen someone look quite so perfect while looking like that.
"You wouldn't have a chance, fool child. I don't marry mortals," the woman said coldly.
Elspeth shook her head. "Uh-huh. Right. And what are you, some form of god?" She sneered herself, the spell fully broken by the woman's ridiculous words. Anyway, Elspeth was not gay. No matter how pretty some chick was.
The woman's lips twitched. "As a matter of fact, I am. I am the Goddess of this world that you are writing about. And while my brother doesn't care about your interference in our world, I do. I don't enjoy watching you fool mortals play with my people– Why are you laughing?!"
Elspeth was bowed over, laughing so hard she thought her gut was going to bust open. "I have..." she gasped, "never heard...a more..." she had to pause to giggle some more, "a more ridiculous speech in my whole...life, and I know some pretty...pretty ridiculous people!" She snickered for a long moment and worked to control herself while the woman looked on in growing fury. "A goddess. Wow, my mind comes up with some pretty funny shit when I'm sleeping."
The Goddess had enough and, with a wave of her hand, Elspeth found her mouth sewed shut. Startled into silence, she stared at the woman with a sort of dawning horror. The Goddess smiled a smile that was so terrible it was beautiful. "Ah, blessed silence. I see you're starting to, how do your people put it? Ah, yes, 'cotton on'." The Goddess nodded to herself and drew a chair for herself to sit on up out of the ground. "Now then, I believe you see the Lady Kerry as a person much like yourself?"
Eyes wide, Elspeth nodded mutely.
"Excellent! Now, let me give you a quick talk, since you've decided to be quiet at last." She smirked at her little joke, then pursed her lips and explained, "My brother, Hywel, is the patron God of War and Strife and all that nasty stuff. He's behind Lord Kerry's actions, as well as the boy Finlay's need for revenge. He's also, I'm sure you'll be interested to know, responsible for the kidnapping of the Lady Kerry. Now, while I am by no means a Goddess of Love and Family and all that ridiculous stuff, I don't approve of the mindless blood-shed and kidnapping my brother is playing in. Now, each of us Gods is allowed one mortal per century that we can use to change things in our favour– Oh, now what?"
Elspeth had been flailing her arms around, trying to get the Goddess' attention so she could be allowed to speak. Now that she had it, she motioned to her mouth. The Goddess frowned and said, "If I un-stitch your mouth, will you behave yourself?" Elspeth nodded furiously and offered up her best puppy-eyes as a plea. The Goddess sighed, rolled her eyes, and waved her hand.
Elspeth nearly danced when she found she could move her lips again. "Uhm, thanks. So, wait, how many gods are there in this world?"
The Goddess sighed. "Always with the questions. Very well, there are rather a lot. Every one of us have something we have power over, that the mortals pray to us for. Some of the Gods and Goddesses preside over only one or two countries. For example, Hywel and myself preside over the countries of Kerry, Zeptel, Abathal and Schrivl. There are other Gods or Goddesses who preside over Dúil, Deltumira and Merun, as well as some of the other countries beyond the scope of the map you made."
"Wait, so that's a real map?"
"It is. You think I would allow someone to create lies about my world?"
"Uhm, okay. Sure. So, your scope of power reaches even into my world?"
The Goddess shrugged. "No. But because you were writing about this world and during a time that I am particularly interested in keeping an eye on, I was able to twist things around to my liking. If I didn't care quite so much about what was going on, I would have known that you were creating a story about my people, but I may not have interfered. If you'd decided to write a story that took place in Dúil instead, you probably would have ended up with Ferdiad or Bethan instead."
"Right." Elspeth nodded like everything actually made sense to her. "So, you were saying something about how each god gets a mortal to play with every century?"
The Goddess got a terrifying smile on her face that sent shivers down Elspeth's spine. "Why, yes, that's one way to put it." Elspeth groaned. "We get one mortal every century to, as you put it, 'play with'. The only stipulation is that they have to give prayers to the God or Goddess who chooses them."
"But I didn't even know you existed until ten minutes ago. Hell, I still don't know your name!" Elspeth shouted, sounding a little desperate.
The Goddess' smile widened. "Ah, you may not worship me, young mortal, but Lady Kerry does, and you made her out to be you in your tale, did you not?"
"So why not her instead of me?!"
"Because I need someone that my brother wouldn't expect. And the last thing he would expect would be for me to exchange Gwenonwyn Kerry – who is not the fighter you wrote her to be, despite the many gifts she has been given – with a nasty little girl from another world."
"I'm not a 'nasty little girl', thanks."
"Do not contradict me or I will silence you again."
Elspeth slapped a hand over her mouth.
The Goddess nodded. "Now then, what I need you to do is stop Finlay from killing Lord Kerry, and calm Lord Kerry so he's not as willing to destroy everyone around him, because if he's not stopped soon, he will go after Dúil, and then this world will look a lot like your world's country Japan did after those bombs got dropped on it."
Elspeth felt cold. She remembered the pictures of Hiroshima that she'd found in one of her grandfather's books when she was seven. His horrific explanation of what the place had looked like a year later when he'd gone with a party of men and women meant to help the Japanese rebuild had just about scarred her for life, and made her hate him all the more. She closed her eyes for a moment, then met the Goddess' eyes unflinchingly. "What do I have to do to help?"
The Goddess smiled. "Just agree. You'll have to be willing to kill a few people who get in your way, however."
Elspeth took a deep breath and nodded. "This is war. Death is inevitable."
The Goddess nodded. "So it is. Also, don't let yourself get distracted by young Lonán."
Elspeth's cheeks flushed. "I'll try. Uhm, what'll happen to the real Gwenonwyn?"
The Goddess waved her hand carelessly. "I'll keep her in stasis until I deem you done, then I'll send you back to your home and her back to her own body. Oh, and you may write your story then, of course, but I'm afraid it won't end quite as you originally envisioned it."
"Uhm, no. Something tells me this ending will be rather different."
The Goddess' lips curled into a rather frightening smile. "Now, when you awaken, you will be in the clutches of the Lady Kerry's kidnapper, a serving girl who was sent by the kingdom of Zeptel to kidnap you in hopes of using you as a bartering tool to save themselves from Lord Kerry. Your best choice would probably be to kill the girl, since if she's ever found by either kingdom, they'll kill her anyway, but if you must keep her alive I can't really stop you." The Goddess sighed. "Finlay and Lonán are about a half-day's walk away from where you're currently camped. I will lead them to you, but after that it's up to you. Understood?"
"Yes'm. Also, err, what am I supposed to call you? If I wanted to suddenly toss my disbelief that gods exist and can help me to the side and ask for help or something."
"Or curse my name," the Goddess suggested.
"Oh, I'd never do that," Elspeth said with a straight face.
"I am called Radha," the Goddess allowed with another smile. "And, now, I think it's time for you to wake up."
There was suddenly something soft beneath Elspeth and she was laying down with her eyes closed. Taking the Goddess' comment about cursing her to heart, she offered a string of explicatives in the general direction of the cause of her current situation and could have sworn she heard laughter in response. Giving up, she carefully opened her eyes and got a look at her surroundings.
She was laying on a bed roll and was covered with a blanket. A fire slowly died not far from her while a tall woman with long black hair stood with her back towards Elspeth feeding a horse who was covered in dirt and grime. The other woman had left her weapons on the empty bed roll at Elspeth's feet, where'd she'd probably slept the night before. Judging by the light coming through the break in the trees overhead, it was about seven in the morning.
Elspeth figured she had only a few choices and she had to make them fast. She wasn't sure she was really willing to kill this woman, kidnapper or not, but she also wasn't willing to be dragged off to some other country to be used as their bid for protection. Either way, she needed to grab those weapons before the other woman turned around.
"That's a good, horse. We'll be starting out as soon as I've made something to eat and gotten her royal assness on to your back," the false servant said, turning from the horse and meeting Elspeth's eyes.
The two stared at one another in shock for a moment, then they both dove for the weapons on the bed roll. Elspeth was closer, so she got to them first, but the other woman ended up with her hands right on top of Elspeth's. The two glared at each other for a long moment, then Elspeth drew back one hand and punched the other in the face.
"OW!" the other woman said, falling over backwards and clutching at her nose, which was flowing rather freely.
Elspeth snatched the bow, arrows and short sword and hid them under her blanket behind her. Then she gave the other woman a closer look.
She had darker skin, like someone from the Middle East, and dark eyes. The most unusual think about the woman was her ears, which Elspeth would have called elf ears, but she somehow knew that this world didn't have elves. She knew the other was from Zeptel, but since she'd only ever cared about Kerry and, to some extent, Dúil, so she didn't really know anything about the people of the other countries surrounding Kerry or what their people were like.
Elspeth shook her head to bring herself back to the present. "What, exactly, made you think that my father would let your people live after they had you kidnap me?" she asked as coldly as she could manage, which was pretty coldly, if she did say so herself.
The other woman's nose was still bleeding, but she snapped back, "Ib he didn'd sweaw id on da Gods, we would habe killed you."
Elspeth gave the other a doubtful look. "Uh-huh. And Hywel would have really cared if he'd broken that promise. Oh, for fuck's sake! Pinch the bridge of your nose and lean your head back, you stupid girl! I swear, you're as bad as some of the boys back home when it comes to basic first aid..."
The other woman immediately did as she was told and, after a couple of minutes, the nose bleed had stopped and she was looking at Elspeth with surprise. Elspeth herself was looking over the short sword and bow she'd taken. She didn't know how to use a sword, short or long, but she could probably fake it if she needed to. And the bow wasn't too hard, they'd had a lesson one year during gym about how to shoot a bow and arrow. She'd done okay at the time, but she'd probably have to practise a bit before she got the hang of it again.
"My Lady?"
Elspeth glanced up, her mind on the lessons she'd had with the bow. "Hm?"
"Since when could you hit like that?"
Elspeth blinked a few times, then seemed to realize what she'd been asked. "Uh, since Radha decided to mess with my brain while I was sleeping?"
The other woman blinked a few times herself. "Wha-what is a 'brain'?"
"Oh, uh, shit. Uhm, my head. She messed with my head," Elspeth corrected. "Erm, on that note, what's your name again?"
"B-Bonnie E-Eurfron, my Lady," the other stumbled. "Wh-what will my Lady do to punish me now that she has my weapons?"
"I've half a mind to kill you," Elspeth snapped, and felt a vague sense of pleasure when Bonnie's face took on a frightened cast. "I'm also considering bringing you back with me and letting Captain Emrys have you–"
"Oh no, my Lady! Kill me if you wish! Leave me here to die! I don't care what, as long as you don't give me to him!"
Elspeth blinked in shock. "He's that bad?"
"Yes, my Lady. I know he likes my Lady and seeks to protect her from everything, but he always tells the new servants what should happen to us if we are to ever mean any harm against your person. I would rather starve than be given to him!"
"Hmm..." Elspeth crossed her legs Indian-style, forgetting about her dress, and rested her head on her hand thoughtfully. "Well, even if I was to kill you, I won't kill you quite yet, because it's not safe for a woman out her by herself, even one with the gods on her side. So you'll have to come with me until I can find an escort. And then I won't really be able to just off you, so I'll probably let you get away. Hmmm..."
Bonnie fidgeted. "Yes, my Lady."
"And that will have to stop! Nobles are certain to be robbed or held for ransom, and if anyone finds out who my father is I'll likely be killed on the spot out of spite! No, you'll have to call my Gwenonwyn. And I can't be a Kerry... I suppose I could use Mother's name, Lasair..." Elspeth rambled, not even noticing how she spoke as if she was Gwenonwyn.
"My La–" Elspeth gave her a dry look, "ah, Gw-Gwenonw-wyn?"
"Yes, Bonnie?"
"B-bear!" the other said, pointing behind Elspeth with wide eyes.
Elspeth spun around and felt a brief moment of relief when she saw that the bear was only a cub, but was chilled when she remembered that cubs were usually followed by their mothers.
"Slowly," she cautioned Bonnie, "pack things up. What do we have as food? Anything sweet?"
"S-some f-f-fruit."
"Give me some of the fruit," Elspeth said, slowly standing with the quiver on her back and the bow held loosely in her right hand. She hoped that she could actually shoot the damn thing straight, or they were going to be dead real fast.
Bonnie's hand appeared over her shoulder with an apple and some cherries in it. The bear cub looked rather interested, so Elspeth took the fruit and stepped forward to let Bonnie start moving her bed roll.
"Here, cubby, cub, cub. Would you like some cherries? They're very tasty," she said in a sort of a sing-song voice. She kept her eyes on the forest behind the cub, watching for the mother, even as she fed the cub a couple of the cherries. The little thing was quite happily taking the cherries from her and munching them down. If she wasn't possible in peril, Elspeth would have thought the thing cute.
"My Lad– Gwen-Gwenonwyn," Bonnie stuttered, "we can go."
Elspeth nodded absent-mindedly and handed the cub the last of the cherries and then set the apple at its feet, then started slowly backing up, eyes still on the forest.
As she was reaching the horse and Bonnie, she saw a large shadow stepping towards the edge of the forest and hurriedly, but awkwardly, got on the horse. "Get away, get away, get away. Mother-bear just came for a visit!"
Bonnie squeaked and kicked at the horse's sides. She quickly spurred the horse into a gallop and the bears were out of sight in no time. Not that Elspeth particularly noticed, she was too busy holding on to Bonnie for dear life.
"I hate horses," she muttered, earning a nervous laugh from her fellow.
Summary & Character Info
Incomplete
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no subject
Date: 2/11/08 08:42 (UTC)