"Psst. Rella. Rella! Wake up!"

Someone was calling her, someone trying to wake her up. She muttered something about it being the middle of the night and started to roll over, but her rib sent a sharp pain throughout her entire body, and she let out a rather loud cry, eyes opening of their own will.

Opening her mouth to yell at the intruder, she saw who--or what--had woken her up. Closing her mouth, she gulped, and stared.

The moonlight fell gracefully in through her window, illuminating an inhumanly tall woman dressed in a scarlet dress, a dress that came down to just above her knees, showing an indecent amount of naked flesh. Her brown hair was done up a single braid; from her seat upon the corner of the bed, it fell all the way down to the floor. She went barefoot, but the most amazing thing of all was the five-foot gossamer wings that spread from her back, threaded with silver, gold scarlet--a veritable rainbow of colors. They were shaped like a butterfly's wings.

She stared. And stared some more. That was when comprehension dawned. "Oh. I'm dreaming about a fairy. Well then, if all you woke me up for was a dream, can I go back to sleep?"

The fairy shook her head. "Rella, you're not dreaming," the voice said insistently. "How many dreams have you had where you ever felt pain? And I know your rib must hurt horribly, even now. This is important. Please don't fall back asleep."

She sighed, opening her eyes. "Okay, fine, so my rib hurts like hell," she said, exhaustion and pain making her rudely blunt. "So what are you, a fairy? And how do you know my name? And what's so important that I can't go back to sleep?"

A second figure stepped out into the light, emerging from the shadows nearby her closet. This girl also had wings on her back, although hers' had more silver and green than any other colors. That was where the similarities ended. This girl was a hands' width shorter than the other, with blond hair that fell just below her shoulders, worn loose as it was now. She went barefoot as well, and was dressed in an equally short and indecent dress, this one of green hue. The bottom of the dress was ripped in an almost-triangular pattern, obviously done on purpose rather than by accident. The new girl exposed even more skin than the first did; all in all, they weren't appropriate or decent at all.

The new girl sighed. "I told you she would be difficult, Ruby."

The first woman turned back to look at the girl with a frown. "I know you did, Emerald. But please let me handle this?"

Rella frowned, thinking. Wait a second...Ruby and Emerald? I thought their voices sounded familar!

"I know you two!" she exclaimed. The two looked straight at her, surprised. She flushed, but went on. "Every night for a while now, I hear you two talking right before I wake up. I thought it was just a dream, but..."

They both frowned. "I didn't think you would be able to hear us," Ruby said thoughtfully. "But...oh well, no matter. Yes, Rella, we are fairies. Tell me, would you like to get out of here?"

Rella stared. "Would I like to...get out of here? Of course I'd like to get out of here! I hate it here! But how could I? I mean, Rhianna is a sorceress, so she'll be able to find me, right? And besides which, I can't run away with this broken rib."

"That," Ruby told her, "is easily enough fixed."

The fairy reached out a hand, placing it lightly atop Rella's broken rib. She winced, but simply lay there, and was surprised to find that in a moment, her rib stopped hurting completely.

"There," Ruby said, sitting back and blinking. "Try moving now."

Slowly, experimentally, Rella sat up. There was no pain at all.

She stared. And stared some more. And at last said, "What did you do?"

Ruby smiled. "I healed you. It's easy enough, at least for a fairy. But we can help you get out of here, and we can protect you from Rhianna's magic."

"And would you like to go to the Prince's ball?" Emerald inquired from her corner.

Rella considered as she stretched out carefully, delighted to find that her broken rib was now completely healed. "Not really," she answered Emerald at last. "I wouldn't want to marry someone after having only known him for just one night, after all."

Emerald opened her mouth, but Ruby shook her head at her. "For now, let's just get you out of here," the fairy said, turning back to Rella.

"Why are you helping me?" Rella asked, suddenly suspicious. "If I go with you, what's the catch?"

"There is none," Emerald explained impatiently. "We're here to help you because you're of fairy blood, and everyone seems to think you're something special." Her snort showed what she thought of that idea.

"She acts disdainful, but she really agrees with 'everyone,'" Ruby confided.

Rella found herself confused once more. "Fairy blood? What fairy blood? Would anyone like to explain what's going on?"

Ruby shook her head. "Now you've confused the poor girl, Emerald. Don't worry about it for now, dear. We can explain things later. For now, let's get out of here before someone hears us talking and decides to investigate."

Nodding, Rella climbed out of bed, stretching. "If there's anything here you want, you had best pack it now," Emerald advised.

Nodding again, she grabbed the small pack she had reserved for those rare occasions when Rhianna and daughters went somewhere and decided to take their maid with them. Grabbing three extra dresses and one of the overlarge shirts she wore as nightclothes, she shoved them into the bag, then grabbed the only pair of shoes she owned and her one shawl for cold weather and added them as well. That done, she grabbed her comb and her hidden purse of money and added them as well. Looking about her room to make sure she hadn't missed anything, she buttoned up the bag and slung it over one shoulder, somewhat surprised to find out how little she owned that she really cared about. "Now what?"

"Now we get out of here," Emerald commented. Strolling casually over to the window, she flipped the lock open and pushed open the window. Straddling the sill, she swung both her legs over and hopped off, wings catching her as she plummeted and letting her drift slowly down to the soft, welcoming ground.

"I can't fly," Rella informed Ruby, in case the fairy might have forgotten.

Ruby smiled. "If you will hang on to my back, I believe I can fly us both down there safely."

Shoving aside doubts for now, she climbed onto Ruby's back, clinging to the woman's shoulders and being careful not to crush the delicate wings. Ruby perched onto the windowsill for a moment before leaping out.

They plummeted, falling through empty air. Rella stifled a shriek, the only thing that kept the scream from bursting from her throat the knowledge that it would wake Rhianna. Ruby's wings caught the air, and the two began to drift down ever so slowly, floating like a dandelion seed in the wind.

Rella let go as soon as Ruby's feet touched ground, stumbling and falling to the ground. "Oy," she commented, resisting the urge to retch. "I don't think I ever want to do that again."

Climbing to her feet, she wiped what dirt she could off her clothes, and then looked at the two fairies. "Okay, now what?"

"Now we leave," Emerald instructed, and chose to follow her own advice, taking off towards the distant outline of the forest that surrounded Rhianna's castle. Ruby followed, slower than the younger fairy, leaving Rella to shrug and follow obediently.

"How long are we going to walk?" Rella asked Ruby once they were safely within the cover of the forest.

Ruby looked back at her over her shoulder. "Just long enough to find a decent spot for a campsite. Preferably pretty far out into the forest, so we won't be found too easily. I doubt Rhianna will bother sending search parties too far into the forest, if she sends them at all."

"What about magic? She'll be able to see us with that."

Ruby grinned. "She can try. When we find our campsite, we'll put a protective shield around the camp. Most protections she could break, but not that of a fairy. You don't need to fear while you're with us, Rella."

Half an hour later, as light was beginning to barely peek over the horizon to the east, they finall found a campsite both the fairies deemed suitable. The two had argued over several other spots while they were traveling, but this was the first one they both agreed on, so it was where they stopped. It was a large, cleared-out area in the woods, most likely where a hunter's cabin had stood at one point; whether it had or not, there was no sign of any habitation now, and there were the clear signs of deer prints within, so apparently it was safe from hunters now.

Rella was more than ready to stop by the time they finally did. Her feet were aching and blistered, unused as she was to walking this much; her shoulders were aching from the strain of carrying her pack, light as it might be. She was also sweating from the exertion of walking so far, and when the cool night breeze brushed against her, it cooled her sweat, making her cold but out of breath--not a very comfortable combination.

Once the three were safely inside the clearing, Ruby produced a pack from somewhere; wherever it came from, Rella was entirely certain it hadn't been there a few moments before. Emerald began to lay out a set of three bedrolls; Rella wondered for a moment how comfortable she would be sleeping with only a fairly thin layer of padding between herself and the ground, but then decided it couldn't be any less comfortable than her bed back at Rhianna's.

Ruby handed Emerald a lump of blankets. The other fairy accepted them and untangled them, spreading them out over the bedrolls, followed by three pillows. Once the beds were made, Rella didn't wait to see what the fairies did next; instead, she headed towards one of the bedrolls, half-falling into it. Her head hit the pillow, much softer than her improvised pillow at Rhianna's, and she pulled the soft, warm blanket around herself, and she was asleep.