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Disclaimer : I do not own the Fable universe or the characters contained within it
Chapter 6
Celeste hid her clothes as well as her Guild Seal that she wore on a chain around her neck in a bush near the lake and wrapped a towel around her. After a few moments of hesitation, she decided to keep her beard and wig near her just in case. The "princess" was already supposed to be on her way to Bowerstone with Walter, so it would make more sense for "Thomas" to be bathing. She wrapped the towel even tighter around her middle as she dashed toward the water. The sun had barely risen and she'd decided that that would be the best time for a quick bath without being seen.
After ordering Apollo to heel at the shore in an effort to have some semblance of a watch, she hesitantly dipped her toe into the water and shivered at the contact. She'd expected the water to be frozen at that time of the morning, but it was still very discouraging to think that she was supposed to bathe in the cold water.
Very careful to keep herself covered for as long as possible, she waded into the water. When she was about thigh deep into the water, she ripped off the towel and hurriedly lowered herself until the water reached her shoulders, keeping the towel above her head. With her teeth chattering and her limbs already shaking, she waded over to a large rock and placed the towel, soap, facial hair and wig and on top of it.
She swam a bit deeper into the water so that she could become completely submerged and after wetting her hair, she lathered the soap into her dirty locks. As she detangled her dried-out strands of hair, she couldn't help but lament in the loss of the expensive bathing salts and soaps that she'd had in the castle. Until she'd lost them, she hadn't realised exactly how many little luxuries that she hadn't even appreciated she'd actually had.
She was busy lathering soap over the rest her body when she heard a loud bark from Apollo followed by a rustle and voices from the surrounding foliage on the opposite side of the lake from where she'd entered. As quickly as she could, she swam to the rock and yanked on her disguise. Just as she stuck on her goatee, a quartet of men exited from the dense forest. From her semi-hiding spot, she recognised Captain Finn, Riley, Fred and Jammy heading towards her. They were all simply wrapped in towels and laughing loudly.
Suddenly she panicked. The water was murky, but if they got close enough, they would know that she was lying to them about who she was right away.
Why on earth did I leave my Guild Seal on the shore? she cursed silently. Her window to escape was getting smaller and smaller. She could swim closer, but that still raised the question as to how she was supposed to leave the water without being spotted. The lake wasn't that big that she could avoid them.
"Jammy, you know that you're supposed to keep those dry, don't you?" Ben's voice commented from the shore.
"Yeah." He sniffed loudly. "I intend to remove them before getting into the water."
Riley and Fred laughed good-naturedly. "That can't be good for those wounds, but you know best, Jammy," Riley managed. "Just know, it's not my job to fix you up if you get another infection." By now, the men were at the edge of the water.
She was contemplating ducking under the water and quietly swimming away when a voice interrupted.
"Hey! Tom!" Jammy waved enthusiastically and smiled brightly at her. "Had the same idea as we did, I see?"
"Yes," she called back, sure that she was blushing all the way to her navel.
"How's the water?" Riley called, but before she could answer, he dropped his towel and waded into the water. "Damn that's cold!"
I can see so, she thought as she turned her burning gaze away from the very naked man. Avo, just kill me now!
The splashing increased in volume and when she turned around, the four men were waist-deep in the water, saving her from blushing even further from her innocence. However, she still had no idea how to get out of the water without them seeing her.
Celeste kept her distance as the men ducked under the water and started to scrub themselves into a state of semi-cleanliness, all the while trying to figure out how to avoid getting caught.
"So, Thomas..." Ben drawled as he lazily ran his fingers through his thick mop of now dripping hair. "Are you planning on staying with us when we head to Bowerstone in a few days?"
"Um..." she managed eloquently when her gaze involuntarily trailed over the broad expanse of his slightly hairy, well-defined chest and she felt a heated blush creep up her neck. She was almost sure that she burning up from embarrassment. Apart from a few glances at Logan when they went swimming when they were younger, she'd never seen a man as naked as these men were. She realised that she had to get over her shyness if she was to pretend to be a male, but she was still shocked to see such an obviously beautifully built man.
To save some face before he noticed something was off, she splashed her face with the freezing water as she shrugged one of her partially submerged shoulders. "Yes, that is the plan."
To her horror, just as she finished speaking, Riley came swimming closer to her and she subtly tried to swim deeper into the lake. Fortunately, or rather unfortunately if one took her inexperience with naked men into account, the medic decided to pull himself out of the water to sit on the boulder, granting her a very unwanted view of his anatomy.
"Damn, this water is cold. How do you stand swimming so deep, Tom?" the red-head asked as he used her towel to dry his hair.
She bit back a comment at his actions and instead opted for shrugging again. "It doesn't bother me," she said, her slightly chattering teeth proof that she was lying.
"Leave the poor boy alone, Riley, and leave his things alone," Fred called over his shoulder, already heading to shore. "You can be damn irritating, you know that?"
"Ah, Tom doesn't mind, does he?" Riley called back, still drying his hair.
Celeste was still desperately trying to avert her gaze to a spot that wouldn't ignite a blush when her eye caught the Captain's blond head diving under the water before disappearing from view. She felt a sense of terror grip her chest as she scanned the water for any sign of him, self-consciously crossing her arms even tighter over her bosom.
Just when she was about to blurt out her secret to relieve her of the anxiety, Ben popped out behind Riley and yanked him into the water, dragging her unfortunate towel with them. When Riley surfaced, looking considerably waterlogged, Ben let out a barking laugh and splashed a wave of water in the medic's direction.
"With that amount of awareness, it's a good thing you're not on guard duty too often, Riley. We'd be dead in our beds!" Ben chuckled.
"You're one to talk about awareness, Captain. If the Hollow Men disguised themselves as tavern whores, they'd have you panting at their feet," Riley retorted, tossing the drenched towel back onto the rock. "Sorry about the towel, Tom."
Ben narrowed his eyes at the medic. "I have some standards, mate. At least I don't visit Rosy who does it behind the Riveter every time I set foot in Bowerstone like you do. Even I'm not that desperate."
"Hey!" Riley called indignantly. "That's only happened three times!"
"More like seven!" Jammy added jovially, his bandages finally removed. He entered the water as well and the men continued to bicker about who had been the most desperate. Celeste took this opportunity to grab her things and wrap the soaked towel around her under the water and began to swim to the other shore. Fred had left and the three men were clearly busy. However, just when she was about to risk dashing out of the water to the shore, she heard a cry from behind her.
"Oi! Tom! Where are you dashing off to? Embarrassed?" Riley called, once again swimming towards her. "What was your most desperate...conquest...if you will?"
Instead of replying, she gave a sharp whistle and a flash of black and white came barrelling towards her. She gave her well-trained pet a hidden signal and he swam stealthily and unseen towards the men. All of them whirled away from her when a rather high-pitched yelp pierced the air a few moments after Apollo dove underwater. He'd apparently nipped Riley's foot from the way he started splashing and yelling. She took the distraction Apollo offered and dashed towards the beach and her heap of possessions, quickly teleporting the Sanctuary the moment her hand touched her Guild Seal.
"Welcome, your-" Jasper's eyes widened considerably when they landed on her bedraggled appearance. "What happened, Celeste?"
She marched off to the dressing room and yanked on her clothes behind the partition. "I was taking a bath in the lake as Thomas when a few of the men from the fort decided to do the same." She dragged a brush through her damp hair and reappeared before the horrified looking butler.
"Did they see you?" he asked in a hushed whisper.
"No, thank Avo." She braided her damp hair quickly and tucked away the stray strands of hair that kept falling out. A loud sigh passed over her still chilled lips as she lamented the loss of her hair again before mentally kicking herself. As she continued to struggle, Jasper helped her to pin her hair back and secure her wig to her head. She was just about to head back when she suddenly realised that she couldn't use the same weapons that she usually used. The men might not pay enough attention to her weapons, but someone was bound to notice if Thomas walked around with a Hero Blade and the old queen's Red Dragon.
"I'm proud of you, Highness," he said after a while of silence as she picked out her only other sword so far, Slimquick, and holstered her most recently acquired Bone Smasher pistol. "You'll be a great monarch when the time comes. Just promise me you'll rule as a queen, hm?"
"Of course and thank you, Jasper." She popped onto the tips of her toes and kissed him on the cheek. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate hearing that."
"Good." Jasper straightened up with a strange smile. "Now get on back to that fort, my dear."
She signed off a mock salute and smiled in return. "Yes, sir."
She reappeared a few steps outside of the main gate behind some foliage. The inside of the fort still looked rather worn down from the fighting and there were more men in graves than on duty. As she hesitantly snuck inside, Major Swift caught her eye and waved her over.
"Good morning, sir," she said courteously, remembering halfway through her sentence to deepen her voice. This resulted in a strange croaking tone that the major only chuckled at.
"Good day, Thomas. I heard from Ben that you had a little run-in at the lake. Everything alright?" he asked carefully.
"Nothing unprecedented, sir," she said with a slight smile as she petted Apollo's still damp head. "It seems Walter's dog is quite well trained." Apollo glanced up at her and gave a low growl. Both she and the major laughed at his seeming understanding and she ruffled his fur again. "Sometimes you are too smart for your own good, boy," she said affectionately before turning her attention back to the tall soldier. "Is there something I can help with, Major?"
Major twirled his moustache in thought before shaking his head. "Not at the moment. We're doing inventory today before leaving in a few days. Are you up to fixing a few crumbling walls?"
She nodded, but before she could reply, the sound of loud laughter interrupted her again. The men that she ran into at the lake were now fully dressed. "Hey! Where did you disappear to, Thomas?" Ben asked, smirking. "Did we embarrass your scholarly innocence?"
"No, I…I…" Fortunately, she was saved from thinking of a reply by Major Swift.
"Ben, I need you to check our ammunition supplies immediately. I need to know how many nights we can last," he commanded, turning to look at all of the men that had just arrived. Celeste was amazed to see Captain Finn quiet down immediately and signed off a salute. "Fred, Jammy, the two of you take Thomas and go see where the walls need mending. Riley, go check your supplies. You've dallied around enough for one morning."
"Sure, Swiftie. I'll get on it right now," Ben said and headed with Riley to the other side of the camp. Celeste trailed after the other two towards where the men were working on the battlements.
They mended the walls as much as they could with the supplies they still had left, but it was meagre improvement at most. Even so, they worked until late in the afternoon. When the final support was placed, the sun was already starting to set.
Celeste dragged a dirty sleeve across her sweaty forehead and leaned against the newly fixed wall behind her as she heaved a sigh and closed her eyes. She wasn't exactly used to manual labour and it showed in the ache of her muscles.
She was so absorbed in her thoughts that when someone nudged her shoulder, she jerked viciously and nearly shrieked out loud. When her eyes opened, she saw they laughing cerulean eyes of Captain Finn.
"You tired, Tom?" Ben asked, chuckling as he handed her a rather hard piece of bread and a worn cup of ale. "You better eat something. The hollow men will show up any moment."
She carefully bit into the stale bread and immediately gulped down the ale to help it down her throat.
"Sorry about the bread. It's all we have left." Ben absentmindedly fiddled with the cutlass behind his back as he stared at a point over her shoulder. Celeste felt a sense of embarrassment as he continued to stand there as she tried to force down the bread.
"Um…Can I help you with something, Captain?" she asked after he still hadn't moved. From his far-off expression, it was clear that he was thinking about something else.
At her voice, he looked at her as if really seeing her for the first time. "We better go man the battlements." He started towards the stars, before whirling around. "Wait a minute…I just realised that with the princess, I wasn't exactly paying attention to you the other night. You better with a rifle or a sword?"
"My sword, I guess." She was just about to offer firing from the battlement before realising that Thomas wasn't supposed to know how to use the mortar. "But I'm willing to learn how to use a rifle if you need more firearms. My pistol will be near useless from up there."
The captain seemed to think for a moment before grabbing one of the more worn rifles stacked against the wall of the alcove that functioned as the armory. He inspected it quickly before tossing it in her direction. She almost dropped the considerably more hefty rifle, but managed to hold on to it.
"No time to learn like the present then." The captain headed up the stairs without so much as a glance in her direction. "But the moment I tell you to drop it and help in the yard, you do it, alright?"
"Yes, sir," she managed, swallowing at the lump in her throat. What have I just gotten myself into? She was feeling better about her shooting abilities after her quick lesson with Ben, but the heavy weight of the gun on her hands as she followed the blond captain reminded her that there was a significant difference between her pistol and a rifle.
Ben gave her quick tutorial on how to load and aim, but he was talking too fast for her to follow exactly. Celeste also couldn't help but notice the difference in the way that he treated her as Thomas as compared to when she was dressed as the princess.
Her lesson was brought to a screeching halt when the first skeleton decided to show itself. The captain quickly decapitated it with an almost lazy sighting of his rifle and shot her a grin when he caught her staring.
"Told you I'm the best, Tom. Tonight you get a first row seat to how a weapon ought to be handled!" He smirked again when one of his shots took out three Hollow Men at once. "Well, boy? I'm already four ahead! You'd better hurry if you want to beat me!"
Celeste couldn't help but roll her eyes at his words, but sighted her own borrowed rifle. She was probably even more surprised that Ben when she took down one of the farther enemies.
"Good job, Tom! Seems we found use for you yet, boy!" Ben called jovially as he continued to fire. The attack was markedly less serious than a few nights ago and Celeste allowed herself a bit of fun, even if it was for just a night.
"You haven't seen anything yet, old man!" she countered as she sighted her rifle once again.
I could learn to like this, she thought to herself as she squeezed the trigger.