They breathed in the deep forest air, Grace could tell there were mushrooms and that smell was singled out by Jefferson's nose as well. Eilonwy simply looked around so happy to be home.
"Where are we do you think?" she asked.
Jefferson looked around, still holding both of their hands, the sun was a few hours from setting and he could tell the direction but as to where they were, he was unsure.
"I don't know for sure, in which direction does Llyr lie?" he asked.
"To the west, it was always grand to watch the sea at sunset" she said wistfully.
"Than west we go, and sooner or later we'll find the sea and from there your home" Jefferson took a deep breath of the wonderful air of home.
"But shouldn't you two be going home yourselves?"she asked.
He blushed and Grace looked away "ours isn't much to go home too. A new start would be nice" he confessed.
"Say no more!" Eilonwy said beaming at the two of them "Llyr will find a new home and start for the two of you" she promisded.
"But we wouldn't want to inconvenience you" he said a little awkwardly.
"Nonsense, I owe you. You saved my earring remember?" she said, and cast a sad glance back at the door they had come through. He gave her hand a comforting squeeze and she looked up into his blue eyes, sadness in her own. Out of compassion for her he leaned over and consolingly placed a kiss on her forehead, Grace had ran just a little ahead and picked some mushrooms. Their two hands separated and the three walked together towards the sun.
As dusk began to fall an air of dread and apprehension began to fill the travellers, especially the two adults. A fell howl rent the air and Grace shuddered and grabbed her papa's hand.
"Wolves" he said and sighed. "We need to find somewhere safe, a cottage or a tree or something" he looked around, as if saying it might make some such shelter manifest itself. He was not going to lose the two people most precious to him after so much work. "I'm going to scout around ahead, keep walking west, go straight towards where the sun set, I will try and find us some place safe" he said as another wolf howled.
"But papa, I want to stay with you" Grace pleaded.
"No sweetheart" he said sadly "stay with Eilonwy, I have to keep you two safe, she's a princess after all" he added giving his daughter a strong hug before letting go and rushing ahead. There had to be a scalable tree or an abandoned woodcutters cottage. He passed a well and his hopes grew, surely someone lived nearby. He called out but silence returned him. He began to look around frantically for a path or a house, everything seemed weed covered and overgrown. As if the people who had lived in the area once had vanished. Which was not unlikely he knew.
The two girls proceeded, the princess trying to act brave for the peasant girl's sake. She had tight hold of her hand and they walked at a brisk pace. The howls coming louder, and they could hear the gravelly voices of the wolves talking to each other. Fear quickened their feet even more. Suddenly a large wolf bounded up and landed in front of them bristling and licking it's lips. Eilonwy moved Grace behind her protectively.
"Well, what a lovely morsel we have here" the wolf spoke saliva dripping from it's fangs.
"Let us be" she demanded, frightened far more than she dared show.
"Or what?" he laughed maliciously, baying for the rest of the pack to join.
"I'm a princess, perhaps we can make a deal" she said in desperation. The wolf only laughed more and the nearing pack members laughed as they came up. Suddenly a cry broke the air. One wolf had snuck up and grabbed Grace's leg. Eilonwy sent a hard kick to it's nose as she picked Grace up and threw her out of the closing circle of wolves. "GET UP A TREE!" she yelled, fully prepared for those to be her last words. Then a light filled the clearing, bouncing around and spooking some of the wolves while others tried to fight the large luminescent orb of mysterious origins. It struck the first wolf on the snout and they could hear it's laughter. Grace had gotten into the lower branches of a tree and she watched. One of the wolves caught hold of Eilonwy's leg, sinking it's teeth into her flesh. She let out a cry of pain that echoed to where Jefferson was. He ran back, he didn't care that they had nowhere to go, he didn't care which of the girls it was who was in danger. He had to get there. He picked up a large stick as he ran and bounded into the small clearing, striking one of the few wolves that still remained full in the rear. It yelped and howled and ran off. The other three left following it.
"Grace!" he called out.
"I'm up here papa!" she said and he helped lower her out of the tree. Eilonwy lay on the ground, her leg bleeding from the wolf's bite and his fangs having raked down her leg when her bauble had come to her aid and distracted him off of her. Jefferson bent down beside her.
"I'm sorry" he said stroking the hair, mud, and grass out of her face. He took off his scarf and used it to bind her leg. Then he helped her to her feet, putting his shoulder under her arms, and Grace without even being asked coming and supporting the other side. He turned to the magic sentient orb "can you find us a place to stay?" he asked. He knew it was a guiding magic, perhaps it could. He heard it's trilling laughter and it moved, he followed it. The wolf cries started up again but still the orb moved at the same pace. Eilonwy was weak and unstable and Jefferson's frustration grew as it seemed the orb was leading them through all the roughest patches of ground. The princess tried not let her pain show but she fell into a swoon and Jefferson caught her and carried her in his arms. Not long after though the orb brought them to the front of a worn down hovel. It wasn't much but it would suffice and with some barricades added it should keep the wolves out.
He pushed open the door after pulling the ivy that had grown over it off. The orb moved inside, illuminating the interior of a small little house. Jefferson's eyes grew wide as he saw the tea set on the table and the stuffed, handmade white rabbit in a chair next to Mr Turtle. Had he had time for such things he might have burst into tears then and there, but he was too concerned with Eilonwy to have much care for sentimentality at the moment. He set her down on his bed which let out a puff of sawdust and feathers at having weight on it after so many years of deterioration and disuse.
He checked her wound, finding a new piece of cloth to wrap it with. He didn't know what else to do. Grace laid out the mushrooms that she had picked earlier, looking around her old home. She picked up the old rabbit, putting the one her papa had bought her down and fondly staring at the one he had made by hand.
"Will she be okay?" she asked coming over the bedside.
It took him a moment to realize he had been spoken to. "I think so" he said unsure "I hope so" he said returning his eyes to the injured maiden's face. He gave her hand a firm squeeze. He wasn't a doctor, he didn't know what more to do.
"What happened papa?" she asked as the two of them ate two thirds of the mushrooms. She looked at the scar that ran around her father's neck.
He winced, heartbreak in his eyes. "Do you remember when we lived here, and I had to go away, that last time?" he said trying his hardest not to actually think about what he was telling her about. The memories still hurt.
She nodded "Why didn't you come back?"
He took her two hands in one of his and used the other to point to his neck.
"I'm so sorry papa" she said rushing over and hugging him tight. He held her like she was all that mattered to him.
"I'm so sorry Grace" he sobbed. "I kept trying to find a way home, day after day I did!" She kissed his cheek and used the sleeve on the rabbit he had made her to dab his few tears. He smiled and kissed her forehead.
Jefferson got up. "It's time you went to bed" he said paternally, clearing off the bed that had been hers so long ago. She took off her little coat and his eyes went wide as he saw her arm was bloodied, not badly, but a small cut ran down from her elbow.
"What happened?" he bent down to examine it, using his shirt sleeve to wipe the blood away. It wasn't much and there was no more bleeding. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"When Eilonwy kicked the wolf that had my foot in it's paws in the nose to let me go, she picked me up and tossed me out of the circle of wolves, I think I scraped my arm on a tree root" she said looking at the minor wound.
"Eilonwy did what?" he asked in surprise.
"A wolf had my foot and she came and kicked it so it would let me go" she explained again. Jefferson looked from her over to the injured princess and then back.
"Well I'm glad you're okay" he said and kissed her cheek goodnight, going over to where the brave maiden lay. He sat down on the edge of the little bedroll on the floor and looked at her. She was breathing but her face would contort in pain occasionally. Her orb hung over her head, silent in concern for his mistress. "Don't die Eilonwy" he begged the thin air that surrounded him "don't let her die." He looked down at her fair face, holding one of her hands for his own comfort more than her unconscious comfort. He was not prepared to part with another person dear to him. He had lost his wife, he had lost Grace twice and only just got her back. He owed her Grace's life now too. He thought about her bravery, and how the princess cared for his daughter enough to sacrifice herself for her. He studied Eilonwy's face, unable to sleep, willing her to recover. In the wee hours of the morning he sighed in exhaustion, his mind still in turmoil but some things becoming clearer. He bent down and pressed his lips to her forehead. "Please wake up" he said and then on the floor by the little sleeping pallet he lay down and fell straight to sleep. Sleep giving him rest as beside him the colour returned to Eilonwy's cheeks and her wound began to heal under the bandage rather than stagnate with no healing occurring. She woke up briefly, a few hours before dawn, she saw Jefferson laying beside her with no blanket while she had three piled on top of her. She smiled, gingerly moving because of the pain and putting one of them over him and looking at him fondly. She sighed and laid back down.