What had been shaping up to be a rather boring day at the market takes a turn when a young boy darts behind Douxie's herb cart. Douxie, who had almost been asleep, blinks uncomprehendingly as the boy stares up at him with pleading eyes.
"Don't tell them I'm here," He whispers.
The young wizard doesn't get a chance to say anything because at that exact moment a group of city guards rounds the corner. They are brandishing spears and breathing hard as if they'd been running for a while.
"You there!" One of them barks at Douxie. "Have you seen a boy run by? Brown hair, green tunic?"
At his feet the boy presses up against the cart. He's shaking now. Douxie makes a snap decision. He doesn't know what the boy has or hasn't done but he's not about to hand a child over to a group of armed men without knowing why.
"I haven't," Douxie says leaning casually against his cart.
The man lets out a disappointed huff and then turns to his men.
"Split up. We can't let him get away."
He turns back to Douxie.
"If you see him, tell us. He'll be sporting a burn mark on his cheek. You can try to catch him yourself if your feel up to it -there's a reward- but be careful because he's very dangerous."
Douxie resists the urge to look down to see if his stow-away has a burn.
"Sure," He says. "But what's a kid done to warrant that if you don't mind my asking?"
"He's a changeling," The guard growls. "No one suspected him until he got kicked by a horse this morning. The iron shoe revealed him for the demon he really is. The guard who was close by tried to grab him, but the little monster bit him. We've been chasing him all morning."
"A changeling here huh?" Douxie says. "Crazy."
The guard grunts in agreement and then heads off down the road, leaving Douxie to ponder his best course of action. He glances down at the boy. Sure enough, there's a burn mark on his cheek. He looks to be about five or six.
Douxie comes to a decision.
"I was just fixing to head out for the day," He tells the boy. "Why don't you hide in my cart and I'll get you out of this place?"
The boy stills.
"You… you're helping me?" Then his eyes narrow. "No. You're going to hand me over aren't you? You want the reward."
Douxie huffed.
"Kid. If I was going to hand you over, I would have already done so. You can take my offer or leave it but do you really want to run around out in the open?"
The boy hesitates, watching him warily for a moment. There's a shout in the distance and he flinches. He climbs quickly into the cart and covers himself up with the canvas.
Douxie packs up his herbs and then they're on their way. He takes the south gate out of town because the guard there is always lazy and doesn't check carts very thoroughly. He makes it through with no hassle.
Once he's about a mile away from the forest he turns off the main road into the forest. His passenger notices the change in terrane and his head pokes out.
"Where are we going?" He demands, trying to quickly get out of the canvas but getting tangled up in his haste.
"To my camp," Douxie says.
He slows down and then stops as the boy keeps struggling.
"Need a hand?"
The boy flinches when Douxie reaches out to him, so he withdraws.
"I just want to help you," He tells him. "You don't have a place to go, right?"
"No," He admits. "But what's in it for you?"
"Nothing really," Douxie says with a shrug. "But…"
He hesitates. His own secret is almost as dangerous as the boy's.
He looks into the fearful green eyes and then thinks: What the heck?
He holds out his hand and lets some of his magic gather around it. The changeling's eyes widen as they follow the wisps of blue light.
"I'm a wizard," He says. "Let's just say I know a thing or two about getting chased out of towns by an angry mob."
The changeling doesn't quite loose his wariness.
"Do you need something from a changeling to make a potion?" He asks, finally getting himself untangled. "I heard that wizards sometimes use changeling bones for stuff."
Douxie groans and drags his hand down his face.
"For the last time, I just want to help you out," He says with a sigh. "Look if you find out I'm lying feel free to steal all my gold or whatever and run off into the forest."
The changeling considers that and then settles back down in the cart.
In about ten minutes they reach the cave where Douxie has been staying. Once he's out of the sun, the changeling side-eyes Douxie and then transforms into his troll form in a flash. He's a little green thing, with big brown wings that look much too large for him.
"A changeling," A voice says from the back of the cave. The kid's wings flare out in alarm. "Really Douxie?"
Archie, in dragon form, emerges from the shadows.
"The town guard was chasing him around in a mob, okay. If they'd caught him they'd try to torture the location of his familiar out of him and you know as well as I do just how pointless that is."
"Perhaps," Archie says. He looks like he's going to say more but Douxie shoots him a pointed look.
"Fine," The familiar huffs. "I've caught dinner. I imagine you'll want to cook it."
"Definitely," Douxie says going to a corner of the cave to get the wood.
"So what's your name?" Douxie asks his guest over dinner.
The changeling stiffens at being addressed.
"Waltolomew Stricklander," He says.
Douxie blinks.
"And I thought my name was a mouthful," He says. "Mind if I call you 'Walt'?"
The changeling slowly nods.
"Excellent. I am Hisirdoux Casperan, but you may call me Douxie and this is my familiar Archie."
"Nice to meet you," Walt says in an automatic sort of way.
"Likewise."
Looking at his clothes, Douxie figures that he probably belonged to a good house before he got outed as a changeling.
"So Walt," Douxie says, figuring he ought to try to get to know the kid a little better. "What do you like to do?"
Walt slowly finishes chewing the bite he'd taken out of the rabbit leg.
"I like reading," He says slowly. "My… familiar's father was teaching me how to play chess."
That confirms Douxie's theory that he had been planted in a well to do house. It's definitely best for the kid if he gets far away from here. More money generally means more people will be hunting for the runaway.
"Nice," Douxie says. "I'll have to see if I can make us some chess pieces then."
Walt blinks at that.
"Why?"
"Why what?" Douxie asks, absently stroking Archie who has settled across his lap.
"Why would you make chess pieces? I'm not going to be around that long."
Ah… That's what this is about.
"Are you leaving?" He asks.
The changeling shrugs.
"Well, if you decide you want to have some company for a while. You're welcome to stick around," Douxie says. "It's always just me and Archie."
Archie gives him a look which he chooses to ignore.
Walter's wings are just slightly wrapped around him. He's still keeping the fire between them.
"Think about it and let me know in the morning," Douxie says with a shrug. "I'm going to be moving on tomorrow."
Walter nods.
Douxie wakes up at some point during the night to Archie poking at him. He shoots a blank glare into the dark but gets up anyway. The fires still glowing so Douxie heads over to it, dragging his cloak with him.
He pauses when he spots a small form curled up in the corner. It looks like Walt is finally asleep. Douxie hesitates a moment and then walks over to him. The changeling looks so small curled into a ball with his wings wrapped around him. Douxie wonders how old he actually is. Changelings are always older than they look, in part simply because of the rate trolls age at, but this one seems young. He could just be a good actor of course.
Douxie wraps his cloak around the small figure and returns to where Archie is waiting by the fire.
"So why are you trying to convince a changeling to travel with us?" The dragon-cat asks irritably. 'Do you want us to get sold out to his comrades at the next town we get to?"
Douxie huffs.
"Look Arch," He says. "I couldn't just leave him there. They were going to kill him!"
"Rescuing is one thing, but you didn't need to bring him here, let alone ask him to start traveling with us. What are you thinking?"
Douxie sighs and stares into the fire.
"He reminds me of myself. Okay?"
Archie blinks and then cocks his head.
"I…" Douxie starts awkwardly. "Back when my magic first manifested my town… my family… they didn't take it well. I told you about that."
Archie nods but doesn't say anything waiting for him to continue.
"Seeing Walt today, on the run for something he ultimately didn't get a choice in reminded me of that."
Douxie shivers. He remembers the cries of "witch!" The fear in the eyes of the people he'd grown up with. The hatred.
He doesn't realize he's scratching at his scars until Archie buts his head against his hand. He gives his familiar a grateful smile and starts stroking his head.
"I didn't have anyone for a long time after that. Not until I met you," He continues. "It… It was lonely and scary and… I guess when I saw Walt today." There's a lump in his throat. He remembers the changeling's familiar scared eyes looking up at him. He swallows hard. "I thought that it would be nice if he didn't have to go through that."
They sit in silence for a while. The soft night noises filter into the cave and the fire flickers gently.
Archie sighs.
"Very well. If… Walt… wants to stay he can. I will support your decision."
Douxie grins down at his familiar. He swipes quickly at his eyes and then pulls him into a hug.
"Thanks, Archie. You're the best."
His familiar's quiet purrs belie his grumbling.
When Douxie wakes up in the morning. There's a second set of wings wrapped around him. He cracks open his eyes and finds that Walt has cuddled up to them during the night. The little changeling's head is pressed up against his chest and his wings are wrapped around him and Archie. Douxie's cloak is over the three of them.
Author Notes:
Walt was listening in when Douxie and Archie were talking.
Some fun thoughts on this AU:
~Douxie kind of ends up being Walt's father figure in this.
~Walt doesn't usually call him "Dad" though unless he's feeling particularly emotional or being sarcastic.
~Due to their appearances Walt sometimes has had to pretend that he's Douxie's father, which is always weird for them.
~Walt ends up becoming Douxie's apprentice and learning magic.
~He isn't connected to the Janus Order because they think he got killed when he was exposed. He's fine with that.
~When he finds out about Jim being the Trollhunter he tells Douxie (who was out of town at the time.)
~Jim and Toby are very confused when they ask about how Douxie and Strickler are related and Strickler says that Douxie raised him. Their graying history teacher referring to what looks like a 19 year old as his father does not compute.