The Land Of X
Chapter One: Pixie Dust
Screams carried high into the canopy of the forest, hoof beats sounding, dancing through the woods as if to come from all sides. The girl raced with all the speed her legs would lend, her bare feet slapping against the dirt trail, her sandals long since lost in her haste to flee from the horseman that now chased her as one might a fox. Glancing back she could see the rider rounding the bend, an arm outstretched and ready to catch his prey as he urged his steed onward. A moment of distraction was all that was needed, an unseen root snaked to life, tripping her and sending the girl tumbled to the ground, the horseman racing past and missing his prize.
"Help me!" The girl screamed, rising to her only to find her ankle twisted, any chance at flight lost.
"Close your eyes." A piping voice called out, the twinkling sound of crystal dancing in the wind accenting a dot of light.
Heeding the warning, she closed her eyes as tightly as she could, not knowing of any wiser thing to do. The tinkling sound of crystal grew to a deafening cacophony, followed by an eerie silence. Peeking an eye open, she regretted her curious nature as she saw a pixie with eyes of sapphire and hair as black as the night sky focusing an orb of shimmering pixie dust. With a heave of her little chest, she screamed the word 'Paff' and suddenly the ball of light and dust burst in a blinding flash. Screaming in surprise, she clutched at her eyes, as the sound of a startled horse sounded in the distance, throwing its rider and racing off from the pixie.
"Warned ya silly." The voice of the pixie whispered in her ear, fatigue evident as a small weight found its way to her shoulder.
"Damnation! Leave me be pixie! What business do you have bothering me?" The man called out, the heavy sound of his boots slamming into the dirt, a disorderly sound to them as he seemed to struggle about after being thrown from his mount.
"Hey! I do what I'm told!" The pixie called out, a sound of crystal shattering sounding before the pain-filled scream of the man.
Opening her eyes, the girl blinked back the dots dancing before her, to find the man racing off with his pants lacking a bottom, smoking cloth smoldering about his bare cheeks. Looking to her shoulder, she saw the pixie slumped down and looking rather dazed and tired. Taking the small being into her hands, she raised her to her nose as to gain a better look. Dressed in a shimmering dress of yellow silk, with eyes of sapphire and hair as black as the night sky the figure seemed to be as any other pixie, small and delicate, a mischievous twinkle to her eyes, and wings of gossamer fluttering lightly.
"Thank you." The girl whispered, smiling to her savor.
"Wee, dizzy. Yeah, don't thank me, thank him. Name's Jubilee by the way, what's yours?" Jubilee replied, raising a small hand to point behind her.
"Kitty Pryde." The girl whispered, turning to find a man about a half a pace shorter than herself, dressed in animal pelts regarding her with a humor filled look in his steel gray eyes.
Gasping in surprise, Kitty stumbled back only to be reminded of her ankle as pain flared, stumbling to the ground with the pixie into a heap.
"OW! Get off!" Jubilee cried out, struggling to get free.
"Lemme help ya up." The man remarked, hefting Kitty to her feet and picking up Jubilee in a gentle hand.
"Who, who are you?" Kitty asked as her voice stuttered in fear of the man, recounting the rumors that filled the taverns with tales of a wild man who could no be killed.
"S'name is Logan. You've met Jubilee. And that's Ororo over there." Logan rumbled, nodding off to a tree where a regal woman stepped out, a serene look to her eyes.
"She's, She's..." Kitty stuttered, looking to the woman before her.
"Dryad child?" Ororo replied, a shy smile upon her face as she looked to Kitty.
"Yeah." Kitty replied flatly.
"I do apologize for tripping you, though had I not the horseman would have caught you. Here, use this upon the ankle to keep the swelling down until you can find a healer." Ororo replied, handing kitty a small jar of salve.
"Hey! What about me! She nearly crushed me I'll have ya know!" Jubilee belted out, darting about from place to place in the blink of an eye, wings fluttering angrily.
"Here." Logan snorted, reaching into his satchel and pulling out a bit of sugarcane.
"Nummy!" Jubilee cried out, darting down and snatching it, munching merrily upon it.
"Thanks for the help, but might I ask why you helped me?" Kitty asked in a wary voice.
"Ya looked like ya could use a hand kid, and what might I ask were ya doin' out here in these woods all alone? Ya got rocks in yer head?" Logan asked, motioning Kitty to sit down on a small rise in the path.
"I was looking for herbs when the bandit came out of no where. At the time I wasn't that far from the village, but that has long since changed." Kitty replied, looking down to her ankle and then taking to applying the salve, hissing in pain.
"Jubes Darlin'?" Logan asked, looking up to the pixie that now had taken to sitting upon Ororo's head.
"No way. Nu uh. Paffin' him took enough outta me, noppers!" Jubilee retorted in a pipping voice, stuffing her face with her sugarcane afterwards.
Without a word, Kitty watched as Logan pulled out a shaft of sugarcane and cut off a sliver the size of a coin, and then placing the rest back while holding out the second piece. Looking to the pixie, Kitty noted the hunger that lurked within her eyes. With the sound of crystal shattering, Jubilee now appeared at Logan's hand, tugging on the sugarcane.
"Gimmie!" Jubilee snorted, pulling on it, though Logan kept a good grip upon it.
"Do me a favor Jubes and I'll give it ta ya." Logan rumbled, looking down to the struggling pixie.
"What?" Jubilee replied, looking up with a wary expression.
"Heal her ankle wouldja?" Logan rumbled.
"No! No way! Already tired enough as it is!" Jubilee belted out, darting away from the sugarcane and disappearing in a puff of glittering dust.
"Where'd she go?" Kitty asked, looking about.
"Invisible." Logan rumbled, the sound of a raspberry accenting his words.
Ororo watched the exchange with humor in her eyes, and a smile upon her lips. Walking over to the pair she sat down with them, waiting patiently while Logan reached back into his satchel, retrieving the shaft of sugarcane. With his knife he carefully cut off another coin sized sliver of sugarcane and set it down upon his knee with the other. Looking about, he could hear the whimpering tone of his pixie friend trying to control herself. Carefully he cut another sliver off and placed it down, his ears catching the sound of the fluttering wings only a few paces away.
"Three pieces and no more." Logan rumbled, placing the sugarcane back into his satchel and wiping his blade clean before re-sheathing it.
Suddenly before their eyes Jubilee returned in a burst of dust and light. Fluttering down to the ankle, she hovered, wings beating furiously as dust danced and swirled into a ball before the tiny pixies outstretched hands. Her face was twisted with exertion as she did so, her eyes focused. Watching carefully, Kitty wasn't quite sure what was going to happen, but merely enough remained silent.
"Paff!" Jubilee screamed, the ball of dust and light bouncing against Kitty's ankle and bursting in a cacophony of crystal shattering.
The trio blinked back the dancing lights, and once their vision returned they found Jubilee laying asleep upon the path, now about two paces in height and slumbering lightly. Wiggling her foot, Kitty found to her relief that her ankle was now perfectly healed. Logan reached out and picked up the pixie, cradling her in his arms in a fatherly manner.
"Ya did good Darlin', I'll give ya the sugarcane once ya wake up from yer lil nap." Logan whispered, pocketing the coin sized slivers of sugarcane and rising to his feet.
"Thank you sir." Kitty remarked quietly, giving a curtsey to the man that seemed to have orchestrated her rescue from the bandit.
"S'nothing. Now get back to yer village." Logan rumbled, walking off with Ororo into the woods and leaving Kitty stunned in silence at his enigmatic departure.
The tavern hung with boisterous laughter as the village maiden told her tale. Wild men, pixies and dryads indeed Pete Wisdom thought to himself as he put back another swig of his pint of ale. Looking back to her he couldn't help but feel a little pity for her, a fair thing she was, but daft of mind obviously to have dreamed up such a tale to tell for her absence from the village. Up until word of the pixie was had she had them upon every breath, telling of how she had been collecting herbs for her mother when a bandit came upon her. It was no secret that the woods had many bandits to them, and many a man had tested his steel against their own in battle.
"And then he pulled out a third coin sized sliver of sugarcane, and that was when her affection for the sweet treat got the better of her. With the magical word 'Paff' she healed my ankle in an eruption of light!" Kitty related, the men of the bar laughing, the barmaids ignoring the fool of the evening as they tended to the shouts for more pints of ale.
"A dryad you say? I've not seen an Oak tree in these woods for going on a generation!" An elder of the village shouted, all knowing that the dryads could not stray too far from their tree lest illness take over them.
"But its true! I saw him, the one they call the Wolverine as he is garbed in their pelts! And there was the pixie called Jubilee and the Dryad Ororo!" Kitty protested with a stamp of her foot.
"I tell you what men, for such a fine tale we'll buy the lady a glass of the wine we all know Elfard keeps for himself? How does that sound?" A large man shouted, throwing a few coins onto the table which soon grew to a small pile.
"That would be enough for a bottle. You sure you want to fill the girls head with enough spirits to conjure up even more fantastic tales?" Elfard the Barkeep remarked, nodding to a barmaid to collect the coins as he pulled out a bottle of wine from the nearest city.
"If she can tell tales as wonderful as this one every night you bar will prosper with patrons to hear of them? What say men, I say give applauds to this girls tale!" The large man shouted, clapping loudly as soon more men joined in.
Looking to the girl as she sat down at the bar defeated, she gratefully accepted the bottle of wine and a glass. With a glance to Pete, he gave her a smile, though she swiftly jerked her head away. Kitty was known to all as the daughter of the local herbalist, a woman whose herbs and salves had served in keeping many of the townsfolk and visiting travelers well of health. She was normally quiet and reserved, never one to lie or spin tales, and to have seen her tonight seemed out of place. While pretty to look at, she never seemed to be his type Pete mused, not that his type was anything defined, moreover was merely whatever drifted into the bar he called home.
"I believe ya." Pete remarked, pausing to take a swig of his pint.
"Liar." Kitty retorted, taking a sip of her wine and finding it to her liking.
"Whot? Ya don't believe I believe ya?" Pete remarked, turning to find her brown eyes looking to him with a longing desire to believe that he believed her.
"Do you?" Kitty asked meekly.
"Kitty Pryde, ya ain't ever been one ta spin a tale. Whot makes me think you'd go and start doin' it now?" Pete remarked, downing the last of his pint afterwards and signaling for another.
"I suppose there is a sense of irony to this that the town miscreant would believe me while no other would." Kitty replied in a sharp tone, turning away and burning a hole in the wall while she sipped upon her wine.
"Whot? Miscreant? How so? Just because I enjoy relieving the odd bandit out there of what they stole, lining my own pouch with it doesn't make me all that bad? Besides, I help to keep this bar in order." Pete replied in an indignant tone, earning a snort from Kitty.
"If you were at all noble you would return to the townsfolk what was stolen and join the guard, not wasting away here as a brute in the bar." Kitty retorted.
"I pick my fights as I choose them, and finders keepers as far as the bandits loot goes." Pete retorted, taking a sip of the pint that had just been set before him.
The bar seemed to hum with activity as men drank and told tales to one another of their travels outside of the village. The minstrel had now taken to playing his lyre upon the small stage, keeping a lively pace as men started to clap in unison with the beating of the minstrels foot against the stage, adding deafening bass to the song as he played. And gone unnoticed in the corner, a man sat with his cloak still about him, and a hat drawn down low to shield his eyes. A bottle of whisky sat on the table with him, half emptied. His gaze remained fixed upon the girl at the bar, a careful glance had to the man beside her. With a flash of red eyes he looked to the barmaid that had taken to serving him.
"Who be de fille?" The man asked in an accent not of these lands, the barmaid glancing back to the bar.
"Oh? That's just Kitty Pryde, why?" The girl asked, looking down to the man and noting the aura of danger that hung about him.
"No reason. Here, for de bottle and keep de rest for yourself." Remy remarked as he rose, tossing a few coins from his pouch onto the table, more than enough for the bottle of whisky he now took with him as he stalked out of the bar.
"Sure thing Mister." The girl replied, fishing out her tip and pocketing it before returning to the bar with the rest.
"Meanie, bribin' me with sugarcane! Ya know I can't resist it!" Jubilee grumbled, pausing to take another angry bite out of the coin sized sliver of sugar cane and melting in bliss as the sweet taste.
"Sorry Darlin'." Logan rumbled, checking on the rabbit that hung over the fire on a branch braced with another branch.
"How you can eat that I cannot imagine." Ororo replied, looking to the poor remains of the hapless rabbit Logan had caught with a snare.
"Man's gotta eat and unlike Jubes I can't live off sugarcane, or offa yer tree like you can." Logan rumbled back as he leaned against the stump he had taken to sitting at.
"I'm sure you could have forraged for some berries and roots." Ororo replied, looking down to the rabbit once more and grimacing.
"I ain't no rabbit 'Ro, I eat meat." Logan grunted, pulling his suede hat over his eyes as he lounged.
"Mmmm Sugar." Jubilee interjected, munching merrily upon the sugarcane.
"Still got de sweet tooth eh P'tit?" A new voice called out from the darkness, startling all as they turned to look to the shadows where red on black eyes hung ominously.
"Remy!" Jubilee erupted, flitting into the air and dashing towards him, the glow of her pixie dust dispelling the shadows.
"What's brought you out this way Gumbo?" Logan asked, hefting his hat up with a nod of his head as he looked to the thief.
"Heard de tale of 'ow you saved some fille from a bandit, t'ough de rest of de bar t'ink she be daft." Remy remarked as he sat down next to Logan, pulling a bottle of whisky from his satchel and handing it to the older man.
"Yer a Saint." Logan remarked a moment before he clamped his teeth down on the cork, pulling it free and spitting it into his lap.
"Non, just be de kind of man wit' a little foresight." Remy remarked with an amused grin to the fluttering pixie darting about his head.
"How much sugar 'as de P'tit 'ad?" Remy asked, looking to Logan as he downed a healthy swig of whisky.
"Too much. Though I'm sure the kid probably told of how I had ta bribe her to heal the kids foot." Logan remarked, handing the bottle back to Remy.
"Oui, just tell me she not 'ad de third piece yet." Remy whispered, pausing to take a swig of the whisky.
"Ooo! Forgot I had more!" Jubilee squealed as she darted back to the small handkerchief that served as a picnic blanket for her, picking up the piece and munching upon it.
"Merde." Remy groaned, picking up the cork and placing it back in the bottle.
Silence hung about the campsite, broken only by the tittering laughter of Ororo as she looked to the two men, accented by Jubilee's munching upon sugarcane. Above the small group the night sky stretched on into infinity, the three moons dancing in their eternal dance across the sky. Dancing high into the night sky glowing specks of light rose from the fire, dimming as the flecks cooled in the chilled night air.