I'm pounding this sucker out at an absolutely amazing rate. (pats self on back) Here you go, another, longer chapter! And a new character! Keep your eye out in the next couple of chapters, I shall prolly be writing about Hilde at the feast pretty soon.
There followed several days of trudging up the mountain path and several nights spent in watches. They always stayed on the path. It had been a week since they'd left the little village but there were a few animals around. Will was more than a little disturbed at the way that deer had walked up to him and stared madly at him until he'd shot it. At least they had more meat. The place they had camped at last night was at the bottom of a wall of rock that turned out to be a cliff beginning four hundred feet above. It was cold and clear that morning, with an odd tang to the air.
Somehow, Wilhelm Grimm could smell the sea.
That was especially worrying, because they were at least eighty miles from the nearest ocean.
Will was poking at the fire, waiting for his eggs to finish, when he heard someone stumble. He whipped around to see a little girl brushing herself off. She was a very slim child, looking to be about five or six years old, dressed in a tattered shift of silk and satin. He wondered why her clothes looked like any other peasant child's but were made of such good cloth in such good condition.
Satisfied that she had gotten all the dust off, she continued tiptoeing towards him.
Will shook his head and blinked. Yes, she was still there.
"Little girl?" he began, then broke off. What was he supposed to say to some kid who'd followed them up there?
"Shhh!" she hissed, glaring at him. She put a small hand to her mouth, index finger against her lips. She pointed with her other little white hand to Jake, who mumbled something about trees and fairies and snuggled further under the blankets.
"He's sleeping," she scolded.
"Yes. Now, little girl, what do you want?" Will inquired, laying on the charm.
"I have a story," the girl told him solemnly. "I'm looking for--"
"That's lovely, little girl. You can tell me while we go find your parents, okay? Did you follow us up here?"
"No. I followed you down. We're down the mountain, stupid," she admonished. "And stop talking like that. I'm not stupid. Mama and Papa are still at the feast. I told them I was going for a walk," she informed him. "Even the queen said it was okay. I don't have to be back for ages! And don't interrupt, cos it's rude."
"Look, kid. I don't know who you think you are or what you think you're doing, but--"
"Will?"
Jake had woken up. He threw off the blanket and hastened over. "What's going on? Who is that?"
The girl opened her mouth but Will cut her off.
"She's some kid who followed us here. She says she has a story and that her mama and papa said she could come out here. Probably Hilde's sister or something."
"Nooo! Hilde doesn't have any sisters, stupid! We can't be sisters! And stop interrupting me!" She turned to Jake. "Who are you?"
"I'm Jakob Grimm, and this is my brother Wilhelm. Although it sounds like you two have met," Jake added under his breath.
To his slight surprise, the girl curtsied inexpertly to him, then gazed at him in awe.
"You're really truly the Brothers Grimm?" she asked in a small voice.
"Yes," Jake replied with a grin. "We're really truly the Brothers Grimm."
"I've been looking for you. I have a story for you," she told him solemnly, just as she had tried to tell Will earlier.
"Well, girl--I'm sorry, what was your name?" Jake asked.
"Katherine. My Mama is a maid for the Queen, you know," she added. "And my Papa is the Queen's doctor, too. He helped deliver…" her forehead creased delicately as she thought hard. The brothers exchanged glances.
"Dorian! That's the little baby's name," she said finally. "He's a pretty baby. And I got to hold him. The first day of the feast I was the eighth one to hold him, and did you know that my Papa was the first to hold the baby? Because the Queen was the third one to hold Dorian. That's the baby. Cos Dorian was all icky and slimy until they wiped him off. I saw him being born, you know. I was fetching water and cool cloths for the Queen. It didn't take as long as the human stuff does, sometimes, Papa says, Papa sometimes goes and drops off the changelings, so he would know, and one time I got to come along and they didn't even notice! And it was the village down at the bottom of the mountain. Which is where Hilde is from. And my cousin went to get Hilde, he wore his cloak that he got special. He let me try it on once and I sneaked around the feast and I stole sweeties and they were raspberry and they were sticky and good but I got sticky all over the floor because I stepped on one by accident and Lord Thicky slipped on it and fell, it was funny. That was after Dorian wet himself all over Lord Thicky. Lord Thicky isn't his real name, I just call him that because he is."
She turned to Will, who had been morbidly fascinated by her monologue. "You look a bit like Lord Thicky, you know. He's stupid and rude too, just like you."
Jake cleared his throat, cutting off Will before the situation could turn nasty.
"Katherine, was it? You said you had a story for us…" he prompted.
"Oh, yes. That." She stopped and tilted her head as she pointed at Will. "He's not Lord Thicky, is he?"
"No, I don't think so," Jake assured her. He was very proud of himself; he hadn't snickered.
"I'm hungry. Do you have any food? Because I haven't eaten since a while ago and I don't remember which way it is and the rabbit got away," she informed them.
"I--we have some meat, if you wish," Jake offered. "A stroke of luck, for we'd have run out of food otherwise. The map we were given is useless."
She asked for the meat and Will went grumbling off to fetch it while Jake talked more with the odd little child. She told him the story in the manner of five-year-olds everywhere, the narrative meandering and skipping around the actual events, her talk focused mainly on her own small experiences rather than the main event.
Will came back with the preserved strips of deer flesh to find Jake listening politely as Katherine told him in detail about how Silas had been pulling on her hair and how she had kicked him in the shin and put dirt in his breeches and shoved him in the mud and how subsequently Silas and his friend had taken turns throwing pebbles at her while the king was making another of his really boring speeches and how Anatalia had told her that Silas liked her which was icky.
She thanked them, set the meat down, delicately tucked her lengthy hair behind her ears, and said the strangest prayer the brothers had ever heard:
-
"They'll call it chance, or luck, or call it Fate--
The cards and stars that tumble as they will.
Tomorrow manifests and brings the bill
For every kiss and kill, the small and great.
You want to know the future, love? Then wait:
I'll answer your impatient questions. Still--
They'll call it chance, or luck, or call it Fate,
The cards and starts that tumble as they will.
-
I'll come to you tonight, dear, when it's late,
You will not see me; you may feel a chill.
I'll wait until you sleep, than take my fill,
And that will be your future on a plate.
They'll call it chance, or luck, or call it Fate."
-
When it was said, she clapped her hands and giggled, then picked up the meat and began to eat.
Both brothers' eyes had widened and both were making small, odd, squeaky sounds, but for slightly different reasons. Will's reason was the 'prayer' the girl had uttered. Jake's reason was her act of tucking her hair behind her ears. Her pointed ears.
Even more A/N! Yay: The poem-prayer is by Neil Gaiman; "Reading the Entrails: A Rondel". I wanted to nick an actual Brother's Grimm rhyme, but this fits so much better. Neil Gaiman is totally awesome and he's like my absolute favourite author. Go read his stuff, he is AMAZING. Coraline is a particularly good read for younger people, but all his stuff I've read so far is awesome.
Read my other stuff and please review! Thanks much to Brilliant Disguise, by the way. Fluffy feelings abound when I read your reviews! Thanks to AbCarter too.
(The rest of you--over a hundred hits. Two people reviewed. Slight discerpancy..? Yes. Reflects the will of the people? Entirely possible. As average stories don't tend to get many reviews, it is a valid view. Reflects that my story is slightly better than average but people are too lazy to click the review button? Equally valid view. However, hits are good too. They make me happy, for it means I write good summaries and people return to my story even if they don't care enough to review.)
Reviews are love but have no bearing on the speed at which I crank this bunny out, because this is the fastest I've updated any story ever and I don't think it's physically possible for me to update faster unless I get unaddicted to FreeCell and the massive loads of laundry do themselves.
I also want to add that I absolutely love this little elf girl. Now I'm going to go back to laundry and housecleaning and end this painfully long blurb. Hope you're enjoying this fic as much as I am.