Chapter Nine

The Doormouse

"Okay, I think we're safe."

As soon as the red man spoke those glorious words, Raven dropped to her knees and attempted to catch her breath. They'd been running for what felt like ages, in a heart-pounding, terror induced panic. While she was certain they wouldn't be safe for long, Raven was more than happy for a moment's respite, especially since she couldn't feel her legs anymore.

Garfield flopped to the ground beside her, panting. "I...I can't...move..."

She rolled her eyes, sensing his theatrics. "Sure, Gar, that's why your tail's twitching." The empath hid a smile as Garfield shot her a glare, his tail still twitching sporadically. Raven's breath stilled as they locked gazes, and her cheeks warmed before she tore away to glance at their rescuer.

"Thank you for helping us."

The man in red smiled dipping his head. "S'my pleasure ma'am. What kind of knight would I be if I didn't help out one of my lady's guests?"

His words baffled Raven. She maintained a polite smile, while giving the man a once over. Knight? Guests? He certainly didn't look like a knight, rather, he more resembled Robin Hood with his bow and arrow ensemble. He wore a red leather vest that was once a jacket, with the sleeves hacked off at the shoulders. Knit, tight-fitting hunting pants swathed his legs, and reddish brown boots covered his feet. She noticed a rather intricate tattoo of what appeared to be a mouse scrawled across his arm.

"May I ask who you are?"

The man smiled. "Of course! The name's Roy, I'm a knight of the Order of the Mouse, dedicated to serving Mother Time and her associates." He bowed then, furthering Raven's confusion.

"Dude, no way!" Garfield exclaimed. "A real Mouse knight? Sweet!"

Raven shot him a baffled look. "A what?"

"These guys are a legend! Rumor has it, they helped Mother Time fight off the Lord of Darkness!"

"And I'm supposed to know who that is?"

Garfield shot her an incredulous look. "You don't know who the Lord of Darkness is? Wow, Rae, you're brain's really fried."

"It's Raven," she snapped, "and my brain is not fried."

The werecat rolled his eyes, playful emotions rolling off of him. "Whatever you say...Rae-Rae."

Raven huffed, very tempted to smack the devious grin off of his face, when Roy cleared his throat. Both bickering parties turned their gazes back to the knight, who's expression was akin to confusion and merriment.

"I uh, hate to break up the little flirt session, but we should probably get moving. From what I know about the Jack, he won't wait long to sic his goons on us. Plus, the faster we get moving, the sooner we can get you to Mother Time."

Raven gaped at the knight. "H-how did you know?" she sputtered. Roy smirked.

"I saw your little trinket at the restaurant; it's Mother Time's way of inviting a consult, so-to-speak." With that, he turned and began trudging deeper into the thicket. Raven spared a glance at Garfield, who had a look of wonder painted on his features. Raven rolled her eyes and stumbled after Roy.

This was going to be fun.

She was going mad.

The entire trek had been filled with Garfield chattering away at Roy, asking the knight all sorts of asinine questions. The worst part, was that Roy enjoyed the excessive attention, going as far to boast about his many adventures. Raven was torn between jumping into the river and ripping both of their heads off. Unfortunately, she needed at least one of them to help her in her journey, and though she'd rather not admit it, she preferred Garfield.

But that left ditching Roy, which she couldn't do in good conscience. The knight may have been annoying, but he had saved their lives from the insanity that was Jack and his company, and Raven wasn't about to repay him in such a manner.

So she was left to suffer through Garfield's annoying tendencies, while fantasising the many ways she could throw one or both if them into the river. Was it productive? No. But Raven sure did enjoy it. It was during one of these mini fantasies that she ran headlong into Garfield, nearly stepping on his tail. She hissed in annoyance, and opened her mouth to give the werecat a piece of her mind, when he spoke.

"So...which way now?"

Raven blinked, glancing at the path in front of them. They had halted at a point where the river forked off, splitting in two directions. The empath furrowed her brow, returning her attention to the werecat. "Don't you have a map?"

He scoffed. "Yeah sure, but that didn't really give us much help, remember?"

She flushed, looking away. He was right, of course. The map was the reason they'd gone astray in the first place. Victor had meant well, but it seemed that this strange world didn't conform well to maps. That, or the map was severely outdated.

Something told Raven that it was the former rather than the latter.

"Well, you guys want to go to the Golden Sea, right?" Roy asked. They both nodded enthusiastically. Roy chuckled. "Then we go right." He pointed to the other side of the fork, across the river. Raven paled at the sight.

Great.

It wasn't that she couldn't swim, though she had no memory of swimming before. It was just that some inner instinct screamed that she was not a very good swimmer. And the river had a very, very strong current.

"A-are you sure?" she asked shakily. Roy shot her a strange look and nodded.

"Yeah, that's the branch that feeds into the ocean. Why?"

Raven gulped. "And...we have to cross the river?"

"...yeah."

"I can't do it," she said. Her knees buckled and she dropped to the ground, hiding her head in her hands. Raven was ashamed; she'd come so far, only to be stopped by a bit of water. But the fear was real and crushing; she couldn't swim well enough to make it, and her limited knowledge of her strangely developing magical abilities were of no help here. At least, not at the moment.

"Hey." A warm hand gently squeezed her shoulder, and Raven peeked around her fingers to see Garfield kneeling in front of her, a concerned expression dancing in his gaze. His free hand wrapped onto hers and lowered it, exposing her face once more. "What's up, Rae?" he asked quietly, the gentle color of worry painting her emphatic senses.

"I...I can't swim. At least, not very well."

Garfield cocked his head. "Really?"

She nodded, an embarrassed flush staining her face.

"That's okay, Rae. We'll help you, right?"

Raven blinked at Garfield before glancing up at Roy. The knight smiled brightly, bobbing his head in an enthusiastic nod. "Of course! I would never leave you guys without making sure you're good to go, I'd be a disgrace!"

Her brows furrowed at Roy's statement. "Uh...thanks?" Raven wasn't sure if it was an insult or not, but she was happy for his help regardless. Garfield offered a hand, which she took gratefully. She surveyed the river once again, apprehension swimming through her veins. "So, what's the plan?"

Roy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well...a raft really wouldn't do too well here, since it's so swift. Just going out and swimming wouldn't work either, but I could provide a safety line with an arrow and some rope. That way we could sort of...shimmy across."

Garfield's tail swished, and Raven felt pinpricks of his worry. "Couldn't we just find a slower spot?" he asked. Roy shook his head.

"Not if you want to delay your journey. Plus, the further you put Jack behind you, the better."

Raven set her jaw. "Let's do it."

Garfield shot her a worried look, his ears pinned back. "Are you sure, Rae?"

She nodded. "You heard Roy, if we want to get there as soon as possible, we need to cross now." She impulsively snatched his clawed hand and gave it a squeeze, making the werecat duck his head.

"Okay. Let's go."

Roy smirked, swinging his sling of arrows off of his shoulder. Quick as a flash, the knight had a long rope tied to one of the sleek arrows and notched it in his bow, aiming for a tree on the bank opposite them. With a twang, the arrow flew straight and true, biting into the bark with a satisfying thud. He snatched up the end on their side and quickly knotted it around another tree, turning back to them with a satisfied grin.

"Alright, we go one at a time. Any volunteers?"

Raven and Garfield glanced at each other.

"I'll go," she blurted. Garfield's tail lashed, his distress clouding around him.

"What? No, I'll go! That way if anything happens-"

"Garfield." Her voice silenced the werecat, and she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "If anything, I need to go first. I'm the one being hunted by the queen, and I'm the one with the watch Jack wants. This way, if they somehow find us, you can shift into a cat and disappear."

His eyes narrowed, and she sensed he wanted to argue, but after a moment's hesitation Garfield's shoulders slumped. "Fine," he hissed. "But if something goes wrong, I'm jumping in after you."

Raven's heart skipped a beat, and she ducked her head to hide the blush burning on her cheeks. Roy interrupted the moment, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"So, uh, are we going, or what?"

Taking a deep breath, Raven strode to the bank, clutching at the lifeline. She lifted her leg to step into the rushing river, when a strong hand gripped her shoulder, stilling her. The empath turned to see a rope thrust in her face, and she glanced curiously at Roy.

"Tie this to your waist."

She did as instructed, and watched as the knight took the ends and tied the in a loop around the lifeline.

"There. Now, if you go under, you won't get swept away," he said. Raven thanked him, Garfield's maelstrom of emotions tainting her emphatic eye. She shot the werecat a reassuring smile, and stepped into the current.

The water was freezing. There were no words to describe the jolting shock that went through her body as she waded further into the river. Her skin quickly went numb, and Raven worried slightly about hypothermia. What if she went into shock mid-cross? The battering of the current halted her thought process though, as she had to focus solely on maintaining her balance. One misstep, and she was dragged underwater.

She shuddered at the thought.

Her arms quickly tired from pulling, and her fingers were raw from the rough rope biting at her skin. Raven could feel the lifeline straining to hold her, and images of the arrow snapping caused a cold sweet to break out on her skin.

This was a terrible mistake.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, her foot connected with a rock and she was thrown off balance, suddenly afloat in the rough current. Raven only had time to gasp before being dragged under, the icy-cold water sliding down her throat. She tried desperately to claw her way back to the surface, but everything was chaos around her, and her hands slipped off the rope from the strain of holding on. A sharp pain squeezed at her waist as the makeshift harness did its job, but Raven made the mistake of gasping from the pain, sucking in more water.

The blurry images of the water began to flicker out, and everything started to fade. She blinked, light suddenly filtering down from above. The water was crisper, bluer, and the rocky riverbed was now smooth and white. Something green flickered in her vision, and Raven turned to see what appeared to be a green otter swirling around her. She reached out to the creature, awed, only to find her hand clasping at nothing. The light began to fade, and Raven felt something strong and warm encircle her, before everything went black.

Author's Note:

What? Another chapter? Oh my. Yeah, I totally didn't mean to update this story yet! But alas, this chapter was just itching to be written. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy!

Thanks for the support!

-vixensheart