Sam shook her head, eyes opening. Her temple throbbed, which was never a good sign. That she noticed that fact was good, though, as that meant she was conscious. She was also upright, something very unusual if she had, as her confused mind suspected, been unconscious. She was still on horseback as well. Hands, someone's, were on her leg and belly...
"Sam!"
Heather's worried voice brought her farther into the land of the living. She turned, blinking. Heather stood on the ground beside Brownie, both hands on Sam. Something had happened. Something... Her eyes widened.
"Jay!" Sam whipped her head around, a wave of nausea replacing the throbbing. Heather grabbed her tighter.
"Jay's fine! Don't worry, Sam! Jay's fine! Just... stay still." For the first time, Sam noticed Cathy had her mount close to her left side, a hand she had assumed to be Heather's third holding her shoulder. Her head slowly turned that way, blinking, as Heather talked around her. "Cathy, take Jay, so we can get Sam down here."
Letting the two arrange her as needed, Sam felt the weight of Jay lift from her back. He appeared in Cathy's arms, fussing. She blinked more...
"Gotta feed..."
"In a bit! Here... lean this way, Sam..." Strong arms grabbed the slender teen. As she felt her feet release the stirrups, darkness claimed her again.
****
Sam awoke to twilight.
She also awoke to Jay suckling away happily on her right breast. Instinctively, her hands went to him, fingers lightly caressing the back of his head and body. He seemed happy and OK. Satisfied, Sam tightened her grip on him with one arm and pushed herself up into a seated position. She was on a sleeping roll on the ground. A blanket had been put over her, then partly pulled down to allow access to dinner for the baby. She was still dressed, thankfully. Waking up nude in a strange place would not be good. Her head throbbed a bit. Placing a hand to her forehead, she felt a wet bandage.
"You're awake!"
Heather's excited voice brought Sam's attention to the fire burning brightly near her. She must really have been conked on the head, to not have noticed that first thing. Heather was quickly kneeling at her side, one hand on her back.
"Don't move too quickly. Do you feel dizzy?" Her hand went to Sam's forehead. Sam paused, considering if she was, in fact, dizzy, but decided no. Tired and hungry, yes, but not dizzy. She shook her head. Heather smiled, hand dropping down to lightly caress Sam's face. "Good. It didn't look like too bad a hit, but I was worried."
The hand felt nice on her skin. Sam was about to comment on it when it jerked away, Heather suddenly standing. Her expression was hard to read.
"Do you want something to eat? Drink?"
Sam nodded, twisting her body a bit to stretch her muscles.
"Water, then food... then, what the hell happened."
****
Sam stood over the body of the mystery creature. Two torches had been placed into the ground next to her, the flickering light adding to the already dreamlike quality of the moment. She held her hands cupped before her, a bandaged but very alert Kik sitting on her fingers taking in the scene. Lil sat beside him, both hands on his body as if he was in danger of falling off. For the briefest moment, Sam wished Heather was holding her.
It was definitely a giant squirrel. Four feet tall, from foot to head, with a bushy tail almost three feet long. Its female features, though, where HUMAN features. At least, Sam had seen no real squirrels with breasts like this. They were the size of apples, larger than her pre-child breasts of the year before. Tentatively, not wanting to drop her friends, she knelt down.
"Was this the only one he had killed?"
Heather, standing next to her holding the blanket they had covered the body with, nodded.
"It must have been the start of his hunting trip. There were no other skins, or fresh meat." Just the thought of eating an obviously intelligent creature made Sam want to throw up. Her eyes went down to its claws again. A silver ring adorned one finger. "We did find what she was probably wearing, a dyed white dress, two pieces, front and back, tied at the shoulders and waist." Heather knelt down beside her. "What do you think we should do?"
****
Lil wished Kik would sleep. She could do the first watch of the night herself. He needed rest. Oh, nothing had been broken, thank the spirits, but he had been bruised and hurt. She would be able to keep her mind on her surroundings much better if he was safely asleep with the humans...
Oh, who was she kidding. She'd spend the entire watch hovering over him, waiting to rush to his aid at the first groan of pain or distress. You'd think she was her sister, the way she was acting. Lil had always been the strong one, but one sign of pain from the one she loved and she fell apart. Pitiful.
"I know what you're thinking, Lil." She looked, his smiling face reassuring her. "I'm fine. Thanks to you."
"You're an idiot, that's what you are." Her voice was gruff. His eyes told her she wasn't fooling anyone. "Why, damn it, did you have to do that? The damned arrow was bigger than your entire body!"
"I had to try," he shrugged. "Better two hurt than one dead."
"Not if..."
"LIL!" She jerked back at the venom in his voice. Her love's eyes were hard, unforgiving. "You will NOT think like that. They are our companions. Friends. How many times have they saved us? Helped us? It is THEY who are allowing us to travel with them for our own selfish needs, not the other way around. I've abided your snide remarks, because I know that is just you, and you do not mean it, but there are lines I will not allow you to cross."
Lil's eyes widened in disbelief... then softened. Tentatively, the reached out, touching his bare shoulder.
"You... consider them friends?"
"You do not?"
Did she? Well...
"Maybe..." she said, softly. Her eyes closed, as his strong hand ran down her back. "Maybe..."
****
Heather crawled out of the tent, even as Lil was flying over to wake her. The night was warm, which was good. Summer was coming in this strange land. Holding out her hand, even as her feet found her boots, she greeted the fairy as she came to a soft landing on her palm.
"Morning. How's Kik?"
Lil turned, glancing over at a nearby tree, sighing. She looked tired, more so than usual at the changing of the watch.
"He's OK. I think he'll be able to scout tomorrow, at least some."
"Don't worry about it. If he needs a day or two's rest, we'll just go slower, so you're not strained." She couldn't decipher the look the fairy gave her. Boots now on, if unlaced, she walked over to the fire. Putting her palm up to her right shoulder, Heather waited until Lil gently transferred to her new perch before holding both hands over the coals. "We did shitty yesterday, Lil."
"...yeah." Lil let out another sigh, grabbing Heather's ear.
"If there had been two of them," Heather went on, "or more, we... we just abandoned the others, left them unprotected, to go after that guy. We were lucky."
"And stupid."
"And stupid." They were silent. Bending down, Heather picked up a branch Sam had been using earlier and stirred the coals. The two watched the sparks slowly rise in the night. "We have to do better. Protect them better."
"I know."
"I love her."
A small hand caressed her earlobe.
"I know..."
****
With morning, came decisions.
"Why can't we just bury her?" Heather looked at Sam, hoping her friend was kidding. The slim teen, baby already strapped onto her back, just shook her head. "But WHY? She's going to start smelling soon!"
"She already is," Cathy chimed in. Heather was glad she wasn't the only one not happy about this. Sam came over and put her hand on Heather's shoulder.
"It's..." She searched for the right word. Lil, busy turning a satchel tied to Brownie's saddle into a nest for Kik, chimed in without turning.
"It's stupid."
"It's just something I feel is right," Sam said. Her eyes were serious. "We wouldn't leave a human here, if we thought their family was just up ahead."
"The hell we wouldn't," Lil countered, turning. "We'd bury them, mark the grave, and move on. Do that here."
"No. We're nearing, if not the end, then a waypoint. Can't you feel it?" Heather broke her gaze away from Sam, catching the eyes of the others. Yes. Sam was right, and they did feel it. Something was up ahead. Something... important. Not since they entered the fairy forest, all those months ago, had signs been coming this fast.
That fact told them nothing about how close to the end they were, though.
"OK, OK, whatever you say, Sam." That got Heather a smile from the teen. "However, I'm going to insist Jay ride with Cathy. No, don't object. You're still a bit woozy, and if there's trouble up ahead you can't fight with him on your back. I'm also putting Ben on one of the hunter's wagon horses. We can tie a rope from it to Cathy's mount. And, no Cathy, he can't ride with you while you're dealing with Jay. Ben won't have a saddle, but with a blanket over the horse and the harness he should be fine."
Sam looked at her, then around the camp, considering. Heather and Lil had talked about it, before the fairy had gone off to bed. They needed all the warriors free to act. Reluctantly, Sam nodded.
"Fine. Actually... yeah, makes sense. Put Kik's nest on Ben's mount. He'll be rearguard." She clapped her hands together. "Let's do this!"
****
It was still early morning when they set off up the rocky hillside. The body was slung over the remaining horse taken from the hunter's wagon, as well as what few supplies they could find worth taking. He had apparently planned on living off what he caught, plus a sizable amount of booze. Sam had taken one keg, the only one she considered drinkable. The rest fit scum like him. The man's body had been left where it lay. It would be gone in a few days, bones scattered. Sam doubted he had friends who would miss him.
There was no path for them to follow. The horses picked out the easiest route, the humans trusting their instincts much more than their own. Heather kept the compass out, making sure they stayed on course. It stayed due west, only moving when their path took them a bit more north or south than the magical arrow liked.
Noon found them on the crown of the hill, an open plateau of long grass and rocks. The unmarked path beyond took them down into a forested valley, then up into the mountains. Sam looked, and despaired. She did not want to climb up that. Nothing good would come from taking horses up into the mountains. Arrow be damned, she'd look for some pass around them, pick up the trail on the other side. She wasn't taking her baby up there.
****
The feeling started as soon as Ben felt the horse begin to descend the hillside.
At first, his mind ignored it. He was good at ignoring things. Most things came and went with no regard for his thoughts on them, so there was little need to pay them much heed. Getting excited, or worried, about that which would vanish from his limited worldview was pointless, and never led to good things.
After the first half mile, though, it began growing. It was related to the bells. He somehow knew that. Their opposite, in fact, his senses told him. Ben was experiencing... pleasure. Pleasure, not pain. Almost as if... he was being rewarded for following the right path. There was no way to test this, naturally. With his mount linked to Cathy's, he could not turn it to see if going elsewhere made it vanish, or brought the loud bells back to torment him. Actually... the feelings were making him feel uneasy. While still faint, there was something wrong about it.
Should he tell the others?
...later. He'd tell them later.
If it didn't just go away.
****
"Stop... stop!"
Ben's quiet cry startled Sam enough that she did, in fact, rein in her mount. Only as she was turning her head did the question of what, exactly, he could be seeing to give warning about occur to her. The blind boy was sitting up straight on his mount, white eyes looking past her. Even as she opened his mouth, he motioned them to silence.
"Quiet!" he whispered. "Listen."
They did. Sam heard nothing. Just the usual sounds of the forest, the horses breathing and fussing. It was just... quiet.
Kik appeared before her, white bandage almost glowing against his black skin. His face was worried.
"Lil hasn't reported. She's over do."
****
The fairy looked down in wonder.
Animals were animals. Creatures with fur had no souls, no intelligence no matter what they could be taught, what they displayed. But, this... this...
A half dozen four foot tall squirrels gathered around bushes, picking berries. Fur ranging from white to black to brown, they wore simple white outfits died brown and green, identical to that of the dead creature. Baskets at their feet held the collected food. Four others, slightly bigger but still female as the rest were, stood guard around them. They were armed with spears, metal tips tied to wooden shafts. Metal. These... animals had metal. How? As they worked, the females sang. It was a quiet song, full of sadness, devoid of hope.
Lil sat up on the maple tree branch, too stunned to do more than keep watching. The creatures were as nothing she had ever experienced. Like something out of children's tales, with their stories of talking rabbits and noble birds. As nothing else had, the truth of the magic they were dealing with was now driven home for her. If this was possible, then anything was.
Dark movement in another tree caught her eye. Kik. Anger boiled up in her. How dare they! How dare the humans send him out, when he was injured! And he should not have gone! The idiot! Lil gathered herself, ready to fly over there and give her mate a good bitch slapping. Before her muscles could even tense, his arms moved, signaling.
"Boy heard noise. Came to see."
Anger was replaced with embarrassment. Lil hadn't reported, so they had no choice but to send him up. Stupid, stupid... as he signaled again, she at least was relieved to see his bandage had been removed. He now blended into the shadows as she did.
"Stay. Will report."
With that, and a blown kiss, he was gone again.
Lil sat back down, legs straddling the branch. Nothing to do but wait, see what the silly humans did next.
****
"Hail, bushy tailed creatures! We come in peace!"
Sam's cry startled Lil as much as it did the squirrels. She leapt to her feet, aided by a strong flap of her wings, even as the creatures below scrambled into a defensive formation. The six berry pickers huddled together, boxed in by the spear wielding guards. She could see their eyes taking in every inch of the forest, every tree hiding possible danger. Sam's voice came again, from seemingly the same distance. The others must be holding position nearby.
"Please! We mean you no harm, but must talk! We... we have news of your fallen friends!"
One of the six, who had not been cowering as much as the others, stepped out of the protective formation. Her fur was grayish brown, her bearing proud. Motioning one of the guards over, they conferred. Then, cautiously, even as Sam yelled out another greeting they walked towards the humans.
****
The humans watched with awe as two squirrel creatures appeared on the path before them.
Sam's eyes flicked up to a nearby tree. Kik's form bobbed up and down twice, confirming only these two had come. That was fine. If their own band had been larger, she would have left Cathy, Jay and Ben with a guard somewhere back there, not risked them. First contacts were always a danger. The newcomers paused about forty feet away, eyes wide. The guard visibly trembled. The other, obviously the spokesman, stood her ground, head held high. Her lips moved, though, perhaps in prayer. Sam nudged her mount forward a few feet, just enough to focus them on her. Releasing the reins, she held out her open hands.
"Greetings. I am Samantha, also called Sam, daughter of Gary, wife of Jack. We come in peace, on a quest of family and honor."
The lead squirrel regarded her for a long moment. Finally, she, too, took a few steps forward, open hands held out.
"I am Paza, One Who Failed. Are... are you... humans? Human... females?"
"Yes," Sam nodded. "I am a human woman, as is she on the horse behind me. A young girl and two young males are behind her."
"Humans..." The woman closed her eyes, shuddering. "Humans, after all this time..." She straightened, shoulders back. "You said you had news of our fallen." Sam nodded, motioning to Heather. The blonde dismounted, moving back to the pack animal. A moment later she slowly carried the blanket wrapped body forward. Sam marveled at her strength, at the grace with which she could hold such weight. Moving half the distance between the two groups, she carefully set her burden down. Next to it, she placed the bundle of fur bought in the city. Standing, she bowed, turned, and returned to the others. She stopped next to Sam's mount, placing a hand on the teen's leg.
Paza and the guard moved forward slowly. Reaching the blanket, the guard knelt, pulling back the edge. Her head dropped in sorrow as the face was revealed. Paza's hands clenched in prayer, lips moving silently.
"We found her in a hunter's camp," Sam said, softly. "Over the hill. We killed him. The bundle next to her is... well, we found it among the furs of common animals, in a shop stall. We are sorry. You are unknown to us, and those hunting you have passed you off as simply large beasts."
"As they should," Paza told her, looking up. "As we deserve. Where do you quest to?"
"We quest for my husband, and sister, lost a year ago. We follow a magical trail, leading west. Have you seen sign of a witch, with a teen male and a woman who must have given birth by now? They magically teleported, and I know not where."
The two creatures glanced at each other, the guard standing.
"A... year ago, you say?" Paza looked troubled. Sam nodded.
"Yes. It was far away, over the ocean, but as I said the trail has brought us here. It most likely takes us over the mountain, as much as I would like to find my love just behind those trees."
The woman regarded Sam for a long moment. Sam returned the gaze. This creature was strong, proud, intelligent. That, she could tell. Questions of good and evil would have to wait. Finally, Paza bowed her head.
"Lady. It would be our honor if you came to our dwellings this day. Evening is upon us, and we will reach it just as the sun touches the mountains. There is someone you should meet."
Sam frowned.
"Who?"
"Our Mistress. She Who Saw."