Chapter 21, The Moonlight forest
"Lise, wake up."
"Mhm, hmm?"
She yawned and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.
"What…?" she mumbled.
"Ah well… the Father of the Winged Ones says she is girl."
"What?"
Lise's eyes flew open and she blinked up at Kevin. He pointed at the same entrance of the alley that the harpies had chosen not to enter through last night. Blinking again, the princess sat up only dressed in her usual long tunic.
A big, furry and most of all beautiful creature looked back at her with warm curiosity.
It's fur was purely white without any kind of stain, wings and the big happily twitching ears lined with a deeply green color. And on its head was a tumbleweed of fiery hair, from which two briskly clear-blue eyes peeked out behind.
From the beak alike mouth a soft chirping came as Lise stood up and walked closer, in her fascination forgetting about her bare feet on the cold ground. Very carefully the princess reached out, and the dragon-creature happily chirped and fondly rubbed against the hand that stroke her face.
"You're beautiful," Lise warmly mumbled, speaking out the thought without caring about considering it.
Happy chirp.
"She likes you too," Kevin said, moving up to the two with a soft look in his eyes.
Lise caught up with what he had said and tilted her head, still stroking the furry creature's cheek.
"Can you understand her?" she asked, not exactly just a little bit surprised.
"Gah, a little. And smells and hear in sound she makes…"
He trailed off, failing to explain his world. After a moment Lise nodded.
"You keep surprising me," she commented with a friendly chuckle, "have you talked to her about our situation?"
"Yes," the half blood reported, "she'll take us."
The beautiful creature nodded and even winked with one eye, to Lise's further surprise. The princess smiled again.
"Just give us a moment to pack, alright?" she said, receiving another happy chirp.
Lise backed a few steps before turning around and walking back into the alley.
Her older and newer friend watched her go. Kevin smiled at first, but when he turned to the dragon creature his glad expression fell aside.
With a sigh he reached out and placed a hand on the big girl's cheek.
"But know…" he muttered, more or less only to himself, "still no like going there, gah… dangerous…"
'No… rt Lise…'
He blinked and stared at the ground without really looking at it. Now what had that been? That chanting again? But…?
'Don't be sad.'
The "Father" kindly pushed at his hand.
"Not sad, worried," Kevin mumbled back.
'Same thing.'
"Not really but…"
He managed to smile a bit.
"Ah, I'll try not to, then."
'Good.'
The bigger of the two purred and gave him a push towards the alley with her soft beak.
'You better go to her now.'
"Alright…"
He tried to get a grip of himself and walked towards the natural corridor where his traveling partner still was fastening the laces of her armor.
It didn't take long to get everything packed again since they weren't heavily equipped and also were becoming experts on taking care of what they had.
When the two warriors exited the alley, the friendly guardian of Rolante laid down on the ground to make it easier for them to mount.
The soft, thick fur tickled Lise's legs as she sat down behind Kevin.
Chirp.
"Says hold on, will not hurt her," the half blood translated.
"Alright."
Still Lise was very careful when she buried her hands in the pure hair, and she noted that Kevin was quite cautious as well. To hurt the innocent dragon in any way seemed like an unforgivable sin.
With another swirling chirp the guardian rose up on her paws and flapped with her wings. The next thing Lise knew was that the wind was sending her hair flapping like a cape behind her, and the high spires of the world's tallest mountains were zooming away far below. But that was only for the first few seconds, then the dragon turned her stomach towards the ground and claimed a calmer pace of the journey.
A bouquet of fiery mane tickled her face and caused her to snort with a smile. Kevin looked around and let go of the fur with one hand to hold back his hair with a sheepish look all over his face.
Lise just shook her head and smiled at the shyness that she had grown so fond of.
Ah, Kevin…
The memory of him draping the blanket around her last night fluttered in her mind. She would never had thought that he'd dare to do something like that.
Come to think of it she had never thought that anyone would do something like that for her. And it wasn't that much, come to think of it… so why did it feel important, still causing her to feel warm despite the rather chilly air?
Hmm…? Maybe…?
No… how dumb, even for a beginning of a thought.
She forcefully pushed it aside, instantly wondering why Kevin didn't ask if something was wrong.
Oh, the wind wasn't on his side, he couldn't smell her… whatever it was.
Ahem.
No. No.
Begone, stupid thought!
"How do you suggest we continue once we get to the forest?" she asked, forcefully keeping her voice neutral.
He didn't seem to notice any sort of trouble within her. Phew…
"Better not land close to castle," he said, "and only other open area in forest by the Moonreading tower. Gah, be seen there, not safe. Land by Mintos."
"Very well," Lise nodded.
He was the expert on the area they were heading too, and it sounded as if he had given it some thought.
"By the way, is it true that it's always night in the forest?" she asked.
"Yeah. Luna's work…"
Kevin sighed a bit.
"Sad…" he said in a low voice, "I had never seen sun before leaving forest. Karl never got to see…"
It was long ago that she had heard him talk about his dead friend, and had hoped that the pain had eased a bit. But by his words Lise understood that so wasn't the case; every letter was still filled with bitterness.
It pained her to see her friend's agony.
Carefully she edged closer and put a hand on his shoulder. This time he didn't look quite as surprised about her touch as earlier, there was more careful gratefulness in his eyes than anything else.
"It wasn't your fault," she said in a smoothing voice, "don't be sad."
There was an agreeing chirp from the big head in the front.
Kevin closed his eyes and turned away for a moment.
"I was afraid…" he muttered.
"Hmm?" Lise said, kindly.
He turned back, but his eyes were tightly shut.
"Afraid yesterday…" he whispered, "thinking of Rakadra cast spell on me… and going to Moonlight forest, where I…"
He took in a deep breath, and there was a shiver in it. He didn't try to hide it either.
"… I killed my first best friend. Afraid to…"
Still he didn't open his eyes, just pressed them even tighter together as he clenched his jaw.
A cold hand grabbed Lise's throat as she realized what he meant. Not of fear, though.
She couldn't see a threat in Kevin, they were far too good friends for that… they had come so far together.
But he went through such mental torture, and she was the one that had gotten him worried about it.
"Kevin…"
She squeezed his shoulder, trying to bring him out of the locked pain.
"Listen, Kevin. You don't scare me at all, I could never be afraid of you."
He opened his eyes, the sadness in them stronger than ever before. Lise shook her head.
"I trust you, whether you're afraid of yourself or not. I'd never believe you'd try to harm me."
"Lise, I… I promised to protect Karl and I…"
His voice trailed off.
"You were fooled. I'm sure he knows that," Lise said in a low voice.
Very slowly Kevin's hand rose up and his fingers hesitantly touched hers as lightly as a breath before carefully lying down on top of her hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks, Lise…"
"Don't be sad, my friend," she mumbled again, kindly.
He managed a smile, his fingers tentatively moving on hers.
It didn't take much longer before the dragon swept down towards a small beach between one sea of water and one of trees. She was faster than the beastmen's birds. And much more comfortable to use for transportation.
Kevin and Lise slid off the dragon, and she purred when the half blood stroke her cheek again.
"Thank you," he softly said.
'No problem at all.'
"Wait a moment…" Lise muttered, digging around in her backpack.
After a moment she took out a large piece of bread, which she offered the dragon. The big creature very carefully caught the gift in her mouth and chewed while purring even more.
"She like," Kevin commented.
"Yeah, I see that," Lise warmly responded and caressed the pure fur.
The guardian of Rolante softly nudged her friends with her big head before purring one last time and leave the ground.
Lise and Kevin waved after her until she was out of sight. Then they turned and began walking towards the forest, up a small path leading away from the beach.
It seemed to be very dark between the trunks, darker than the shadows normally should be able to be in the still rising sun. And there were distant lights, as if from candles, deeper inside.
It was like walking from a lit up room to a dark one. Lise stopped dead of surprise when the morning turned into night just as she passed the first tree.
"Whoa…" escaped her before she could stop it.
"Yeah," Kevin agreed, "I know. Be careful not to fa…!"
Lise instinctively reached out and found his waving arm just in time to stop him from falling, despite the dusk getting a grip. She was about to loose her own balance because of his weight before he regained control.
"Thanks," he sheepishly muttered, "be careful of roots and stones."
"I will, don't worry."
She picked her tone of voice carefully, to not make it sound as if she was amused.
On the other hand, if she had been amused at his broken warning he would have smelled it anyway…
She smiled a little to herself, without really knowing why.
It became easier to see after a while, as their eyes got used to the darkness. Which didn't really matter when they came closer to the distant lights.
"Mintos," Kevin said, and Lise nodded.
Those weren't candles, they were lanterns. Placed here and there, in trees, hanging from roofs… quite natural considering the inhabitants' circumstances.
Everything seemed peaceful, not at all what you'd expect from a village so close to the feared Beast Kingdom. The few people moving about seemed perfectly calm, save that every grown-up seemed to carry a belt with a dagger in.
"Are they expecting trouble?" Lise asked in a low voice.
"Not from beastmen, gah."
Kevin shook his head, even though there was more light in the village she couldn't see his face well enough to read an expression.
"But there are monsters in the forest. True werewolves, ghosts and mad wolves."
"Aren't beastmen the werewolves?" Lise asked, puzzled.
The ghost remark didn't startle her. Unlike the people of Byzen and other humans not too familiar with the monster encyclopedia the amazons knew about undead beasts. The point of Lise's spear and of all her warriors' weapons had a small amount of silver for those cretins. In Rolante there were just zombies and chibidevils, but the princess had heard about other sorts too.
"No, beastmen only like that in battle," Kevin explained, "ah, there are werewolves who can't change."
"I see."
"Hey, look! Even more strangers!" a small boy's voice suddenly called.
"Sam!" an older sister or friend of the child snapped.
Kevin and Lise looked at each other's shadowed faces.
"Excuse me, have there been other people passing through into the forest?" the princess asked the two youngsters.
The girl elbowed Sam to make him shut up before she replied:
"Yeah, there were some women in strange clothes coming through just a few hours ago. Emanuel said that they were from Altena. But they just went through without bothering anyone."
"And those three weirdoes!" Sam chimed in.
The girl sighed but nodded.
"Yes, there was a young woman with a staff, a swordsman of some kind and a really squeaky kid wearing a pointy hat with bells."
Lise blinked.
"Thanks," she said and smiled a bit before she started to walk off.
Kevin went up beside her again, she let him lead her through the village while they talked.
"Remember those three warriors I told you about, who helped freeing Rolante?" she asked.
"Yeah. Them?" Kevin wondered.
"Definitely. Then they must be here for Luna. But how in Jinn's name did they get here?"
"It's strange," he agreed and growled, "and Altena? Aren't they after Mana stones?"
"What a mess…" Lise grunted, "but if needed Duran will surely be able to protect the stone here."
"It's in Moonreading tower. There."
Kevin pointed. When Lise followed the direction of his finger with her eyes she faintly saw a distant, high structure against the lowest moon.
"Been sealed for long," the half blood told her.
"Then the stone's hopefully out of danger," Lise summed up with relief.
They passed the last house of the village and walked over a small bridge over a dancing, dark stream. There was a path on the other side, but not for more than a few yards. Then it was merely a tunnel between the tree trunks.
Even though the moonlight seemed brighter than Lise ever had believed possible it was still not much, being forced to work its way through the net of leaves and branches to reach the ground. Yet it was beautiful. The rays were visible, thin poles of transparent silver reaching down from the broken roof above. A delicate mist hung in the air and the weak wind was rather chilly, but not really unpleasant.
She heard Kevin sigh and turned to him. Now as her dark sight had drawn back due to the lanterns' light she could only see him as a black silhouette.
Come to think of it, he had more or less fled this place, his home… it must be much like she had felt about returning to Rolante…
"Are you alright?" she softly asked, "being back like this?"
He took in a deep breath before he replied.
"Yeah, I guess…"
"It's beautiful."
She heard another sigh after her low, warm comment, but this one was much softer. Kevin slowly nodded.
"Think so too."
He made a stretching movement with his arms, obviously trying to get back to the here and now.
"I transform now, then we better wait for eyes to get used to dark."
Lise nodded in agreement, raising her hand to save her eyes from the intense light of his transformation.
It was long ago that he had learnt to master his transformations, he didn't have to see an enemy anymore to trigger it. The howl tore the silent night into pieces and echoed through the forest, shaking the bushes more than the calm wind could do.
Standing on top of the castle, Beast King looked up. And a smile almost touched his lips.
Karl of course started jumping up and down, yapping like crazy.
The king didn't bother about the little drama of the moment being ripped apart by a wolf pup. He turned his heel, scooped the happy puppy into a safe grip and walked towards the stair leading down into the throne room.