The Maids of Silva (By Happily Ever After)
Chapter Ten By Goldberry



The magical wood of ages stood before her, a remembered image
superimposed over the face of the present forest. It had seemed

grander when she was a child, so full of life and love and
happiness. Now it seemed that shadows clung a bit tighter to the
trees, the light a bit dimmer than the shining rays she remembered.
The forest was clearly still enchanted though, even with the loss of
its queen. The seasons dared not touch the bright leaves as long as
the king still drew breath.

Sally took a calming breath, her hands clasped together in silent
prayer to her ancestor as she looked at the trees, trying to
determine exactly what to do. She remembered very clearly the cold
reception she had received when she had come for her blessing so long
ago. Would the spirits turn her away again so quickly, making her
unable to deliver her urgent message? She had no illusions of
speaking with the Faerie King himself, even in the time before the
queen's kidnapping, humans had rarely come to the wood, even fewer
allowed to glimpse the patriarch just from a distance. It was said
that on the brow of the king sat such a jewel that would blind mortal
eyes that gazed upon it. She wasn't sure if the legends were true but
she would be satisfied to give her message to any fairy rather than
stand in the king's presence when he learned what had happened to his
queen. Even Wufei's fury would pale in comparison to that.

Glancing at her husband, she noticed the tight grip he had on his
sword hilt and smiled slightly to herself. She knew exactly what he
would do in her situation, rush in with bared steel and demand to
speak to someone in charge. Unfortunately, in the current situation
that would be disastrous. Tensions between humans and fairies were
strained enough as they were, it wouldn't help her or the queen to
damage the relationship further.

Blinking suddenly she realized something. The king must at least have
a suspicion that his queen had disappeared under less than natural
circumstances and probably with the involvement of a human. Why else
close the wood to men? If the king thought Lucrezia was dead, he
would have had no reason to despise mankind.

"The king believes she's alive," Sally whispered to herself. Wufei
grunted.

"That may be, woman, but that doesn't mean he's going to welcome you
into his domain with open arms, no matter what your lineage may be."

Sally snorted, a very unladylike sound. "There's appears to only be
one way to find out. I'll never deliver the queen's message if I
don't try."

Stepping into the glen, she let the pale sunlight warm her as much as
possible against the chill of winter before starting her trek across
the clearing towards the forest still celebrating spring. Wufei
quickly moved to cover her back, his black eyes watching everything
that moved and even some that didn't. After following J for reasons
of his own, he had been surprised to meet her at Dorothy's estate.
She had explained Dorothy's summons to her and told him all about her
meeting with the queen. They had set out for the wood immediately,
Sally suspecting that Dorothy had asked for her opinion of the
queen's health because she wished to breed the Faerie Queen as a sign
of her power of all magical creatures. The very thought of it made
Sally's blood curdle. If her thoughts were true then Dorothy would
need to capture a fairy the way her father had and that meant a trip
to the enchanted forest, leaving Wufei and Sally very little time to
get in and out before she arrived. Once the huntress had a trail she
never gave up and Sally had no intention of becoming her next target.

The first line of trees welcomed her with the kiss of eternal spring
and she threw back the hood of her cloak, reveling in the warm
weather. Wufei's hand never left the hilt of his weapon. He didn't
trust things he couldn't see or touch.

Once past the boundary, Sally stopped and dropped to her knees,
bowing her head in supplication. "Spirits of the forest, please hear
me and do not judge. I honor the will of the Faerie King and I come
in peace. Please, hear my prayer and come to me in this dark hour.
Hearken unto me, the bearer of news more grave than winter's touch."

Squeezing her eyes shut, Sally willed a sacred spirit to find her,
prayed with every ounce in her body that her wish would be granted.
After a few minutes she felt a light hand on her shoulder and opened
her eyes to meet the gentle blue gaze of a luminescent being, a fairy
whose white blonde hair and kind face made him look like a man except
for the magical aura that surrounded him. His voice seemed to echo in her
heart when he spoke.


"Welcome to the wood, child of Yulian. Do not be afraid. We will not
harm you." As the fairy moved to the side she realized she had called
not one but two spirits, the other staying farther back into the
trees, long brown bangs hiding his expression though she thought he
looked wary. The pale-haired fairy watched her calmly.

Despite the relaxed greeting, Sally didn't stand, choosing to remain
kneeling in the presence of these great beings. "Please, you must
listen to me. I come with news that cannot wait a moment longer. I
know I push the limits of the King's tolerance but my message is such
that I must risk his wrath in order to bring it to you."

Quatre's face hardened fractionally and worry suddenly entered his
eyes. The fairy behind him shifted and Wufei's knuckles turned white
on his sword hilt.

"Speak quickly then, lady, for I feel a shadow approaching that soon
might cover us all."

Sally paled, realizing he meant Dorothy. She must have learned what
she wanted from that dwarf and was coming there to hunt her prize. If
she learned of this meeting…

Sally opened her mouth to speak and was interrupted by a young voice.

"Quatre? What's going on? Is everything alright?"

Two girls stood only a few feet away, one with hair like liquid
sunlight, the other with lips as red as rose petals. The pale-haired
one had a beautiful white falcon on her shoulder while a great
hunting cat sat on the other girl's feet, the knowing eyes watching
everything. It was the blonde haired girl who had spoken and she
had a worried look on her face.

The fairy standing in front of Sally, Quatre the girl had named him,
seemed immediately on edge. The other fairy was suddenly by his side,
one green eye focused on the two girls.

"You shouldn't be here," he said, his voice flat but still carrying a
warning. "This is no place for you now."

"Girls, you must go. The wood is becoming unsafe, even for you. Go
back to your cottage." Quatre said, more calmly. The dark haired girl
frowned.

"But, we only came to ask— "

"The queen is alive," Sally blurted out and the two fairies turned to
her so quickly she almost raised a hand to defend herself. Wufei
moved closer to her. "That's what I risked coming here for. I have
seen her myself but an hour ago at the Catalonia estate. She is held
in bondage and against her will and she wishes for her king to come
to her there." Sally looked at them both beseechingly. "Please, you
must believe me. No one of the line of Yulian could fail to look upon
the Faerie Queen and not know her. I speak the truth."

"I pray that you do, mortal," the green-eyed fairy said, his tone as
hard as steel. "To lie about something such as this…"

"My wife is not a liar," Wufei barked angrily, "She does not risk
herself needlessly. You would be a fool to doubt her word."

"She's not lying, Quatre," the girl with the falcon said suddenly,
her blue-green gaze on Sally. "I don't know how I know, but I do. She
speaks the truth."

Quatre glanced at the girl before turning back to Sally. He opened
his mouth to speak but suddenly grunted and fell backwards, a crimson
circle blossoming on his shoulder around the buried shaft of an
arrow. Sally cried out and Wufei whirled to face the threat, his
sword ready in his hand. The two girls had thrown themselves to the
forest floor, the falcon taking wing and the big cat growling as it
hunched near them. Sally, knowing in her heart what was happening,
turned in a daze, her eyes finding Dorothy striding towards them,
still outside the forest but coming closer with every stride. She had
another arrow nocked and a victorious look on her face.

Time slowed to a crawl.

It seemed to take ages for the next arrow to fly but when it did, it
grazed Sally's cheek and embedded itself in the green-eyed fairy's
thigh. He staggered back surprised but had pulled the shaft free in
an instant, ignoring the blood that ran down his leg as he locked
both arms around her and began to pull her away, farther into the
forest. Everything was moving so slowly that she barely resisted, her
shock wearing off only enough for her to call her husband's name.

"Wufei!"

"Two for the price of one!" Dorothy crowed, pulling another arrow
from her quiver. Only the ice falcon dropping from the sky with a
scream, its talons ripping across her shoulder saved them all. The
blonde huntress screamed with something like fury and fear but behind
Sally, the green-eyed fairy pointed at the girls with a finger, his
voice strained.

"Go!" he commanded and with a startled gasp the two girls and their
animals blinked out in a sparkle of white light as if the fairy had
simply erased them. He then began to pull her again, deeper into the
enchanted wood. Wufei followed, more concerned with her than the
approaching huntress. As for Dorothy, she seemed unconcerned with
their flight into the great protection of the trees but went straight
to the fallen Quatre and slapped an iron collar around his neck, the
click of it echoing in the forest. Around her, the trees began to
scream.

"Wait," she said, flinging a hand towards Dorothy and
Quatre, "Wait, we have to help him! She means to…"

The strong arms around her did not release their hold but the voice
that reached her was filled with pain and grief and a bitterness she
did not understand. "It is you I must save, mortal. Only you know
where the queen is kept and I can only guess that Quatre will be
taken to the same place. You are the one I must protect. It is you
who must come to the king and repeat everything you know. I pray, for
your sake, that you were not lying."

She stopped struggling and felt tears well in her eyes.

Dear Yulian, protect us. Protect us all.

* * * *

Hilde held onto Relena's shoulders as her sister wept into her lap,
her fingers running soothingly through the other girl's long sun-gilt
hair. She tried to make comforting sounds but her own stomach felt
tied in knots and salty tears crept silently down her cheeks,
dripping into the snow. She barely felt the cold wetness around her,
every part of her remembering the blood on Quatre's tunic, the way he
had fallen, so surprised he had been wounded. It just couldn't be
true. Quatre couldn't be hurt, he just couldn't be. He had been with
them since they were children.

"It can't be true," she whispered into the icy wind. Leaning against
Relena to keep her warm, the cat looked at her with golden eyes, for
once not saying anything. The falcon, whose splint had been taken off
the day before, sat perched on a tree limb above their heads, his
sharp eyes scanning the terrain as if he expected another attack. Not
that it mattered, she knew that they were safe. They were only a few
feet from the cottage and besides, Trowa would not have transported
them to somewhere they might have been hurt.

Go!

She closed her eyes briefly and felt Relena look up at her.

"Hilde, we have to do something."

She opened her eyes to meet her sister's teary, but determined
gaze. "But what can we do? That girl, that huntress…"

Relena shook her head. "I know but I can't just sit here. I have to
know if Quatre's alright. He's done so much for us."

"I will go with you," the falcon said quietly and the cat echoed
him, "Fee moo."

It was Relena's turn to hesitate. "But, what about Peygan?"

Hilde rose silently, something warm awakening within her. "I will
give him a gift, Relena." She turned, opened the cottage door and
stepped inside as if in a dream. Peygan was sitting in his chair and
he turned to regard them as they entered.

"Girls, there you are. What have you…" He trailed off as Hilde laid
her palm against his forehead, her eyes liquid and soft, her voice as
light as a breeze.

"Sleep, dear Uncle. I give you sleep so that you may never know the
shadows of this night. Sleep and awake when the sun shines again."

Amazingly, Peygan's eyes drifted closed and he began to snore almost
immediately. Hilde shivered as she snapped back into herself. Relena
was watching her wide-eyed.

"Hilde, you… you cast a spell!"

Hilde met her sister's gaze. "It just came to me and I knew what to
do, but we must hurry, Relena. I feel that time grows short."

Still amazed by her sister's sudden powers, Relena managed to nod and
they hurried from the cottage, moving back towards the forest as if
drawn, knowing that only there could they hope to make a difference.

The coming night was going to be very long indeed.

TBC...