A/N: I am much the lazy little person aren't I? Well, here's your next update. I needed to just get this up there.
WyldeHeart: Yes. Yes he is. I mean I guess he always kinda is but right now right now it is bad time.
Shadowfang14: Bringing characters in is so much horrid fun! I admit I was curious too until it decided to write itself in a different way than before as you see below.
This chapter…this chapter actually has little to do with our band of crazies on their adventure and actually is told from the point of someone completely new to the entirety of this story. Let's see how this one goes, shall we?
Woodsman's POV:
Dark, dark was the night that fell swiftly. He'd been out and about for hours, searching for any sign of wood that wasn't wet. But to no avail. It seemed hopeless, the rain had been going on for days in the area and both he and his daughter were freezing. Anna still wouldn't forgive him for letting that little boy-Greg, was it?-go off on his own, but he knew as well as anyone that it was the way things must happen. If the boy must find his brother, the boy must find his brother. No need to tempt fate.
Funny thing was that tempting fate was something they had all been doing here in the Unknown for as long as he could remember. That was almost the entire point of their existing here; and if someone didn't tempt fate, nothing happened at all to any problem that may arise in the woods. But each member of this place took to himself and thus the problem of The Beast had only been gone when two brothers tempted fate completely. It confused the Woodsman as much as it made sense to him and one can only imagine what it might've done to either of those boys, as he quite imagined.
But as far as he could see, it had most likely done no good to send Greg off on his own except that he had to and that was the end of that. Anna disagreed wholeheartedly, but he didn't pursue it.
The blanket of night, as it came down, did not stop his searching the ground for various chunks of wood. He would go on all night long if he had to, searching and drifting farther from the mill. He knew his way around these woods, it would be fine. Something else was also dragging him into those woods. A strange curiosity that had perked up just that very last hour or so of searching-and it continued on during the next few minutes.
That humming sound in his ears had been there since the day he'd learned the Beast was back at it again, but now as a different person and it was slowly increasing the farther he travelled. No doubt he was getting closer to that being of utter darkness, wherever he was. If he was traveling around, the Woodsman would most likely run into him. He'd not done so yet. It was a miracle he'd even managed to avoid the creature, but apparently the lantern was fueled by something else now, not elder wood trees any longer.
"If I know anything, he'll be waiting around these trees and just asking to be pardoned so he can find Greg." Under his breath came a sigh after stating this, it was a tiring job. But the mill needed a fire in it so he could survive.
The humming continued but he ignored it for now. No need to dwell on what wasn't in front of him, it wasn't right there. It would be better if they didn't come near him, if Greg had found his brother, then it would be best if they stayed away from the entrance they had come from. Although maybe he was too far away now from his house to be counted as "near the entrance", which was most likely the exact case and he just wasn't thinking.
Like any human, or well, close to human as you can get in a place like this, the Woodsman knew that thinking while in a rather comatose state such as he was in was a dangerous thing. It could land him anywhere, far away and in complete danger with a sense of calm that he didn't want to bother experiencing. Thinking while being tired about matters of the Beast certainly landed one in bad places, many had told of these places and their paralysis that seems to overtake one while in the presence of such a form. A lot went on in this place; he may just run into the most unsuspecting persons here.
It was just then, as life will have its coincidences-another lesson he'd learned to live by-that indeed he ran into two unfortunate souls who seemed rather wary and therefore had backed into him.
A screech, no, a shrill scream from what sounded like a horse was heard and a man's scoff was also heard beside this horse. Feeling exasperated, he brought up his lantern to see a rather respectable white haired gentleman standing by a horse, and both looked as shocked as he was feeling fed up with everything. Eyeing them, he gave a grunt before talking.
"And what, who, are you to be wandering around the woods at this hour?" Asking this, he felt his eyebrows rise significantly.
"We didn't mean anything by it, sir. The name is Endicott, Quincy Endicott, sir. It feels almost as if maybe you meant something by it, though." The man gave a wide-eyed look at him, but he shook his head, groaning slightly.
"I was looking for wood. What brings you to these parts? A bit late, you know." He shifted his pack on his shoulders briefly.
"We're selling tea." The horse announced proudly. For a moment the Woodsman startled, but decided to just be used to it and settled back down again. In fact, he recognized the horse from before except hadn't known he talked.
"Not around here, you're not."
"We got lost a little ways back and haven't seen anyone at all until you!" Endicott seemed like that sort of very eccentric little old man, and he prepared himself to have to actually talk with this man for a while.
"I'd expect not. The Beast hasn't found you out yet at all, eh?"
"Oh…no, we haven't seen a single thing."
"Better not to see anything." Glancing around the surrounding trees, he began to wonder how long it would take to get these two back on their way and continue on his.
"Well I think I saw a shadow back there." The horse commented. "I'm Fred."
"I suggest you get on your way. I would give directions but I'm assuming you will just walk forward and run into something. It would be best." Turning around to leave, he felt a hand on his shoulder before he could start walking.
"Wait! Before you leave, I'd like you to know that we might need a … er… few directions." The other man had a nervous lilt to his voice. Sighing, he shook his head.
"Just head until you reach the edge of this part of the forest. I'm sure you'll get home then."
"The last people you gave directions to only made it out by losing one." Fred cut the silence that had followed his statement, and he felt anger and remorse well up inside of him, thinking of those two.
"I don't even know the way out of this place. How was I supposed to tell them anything?" He tried not to let any worry fill into his voice. The man backed off a little, and nodded.
"Very well then. Fred, we will continue."
Rustling from a bush behind them caused each to turn quickly and look at the place it had come from. Even his nerves were up in the air, although normally he wasn't this concerned about where he was in the woods, or of the Beast and encountering the creature that was turning into said Beast. And suddenly someone fell through the bush. He hadn't expected to be this far in the thick of the place, but it was in that moment that the Woodsman realized how truly far he was from the mill. That was very far indeed. Closer to the outskirts near the swamp lands than he'd been in ages.
The person that fell through the bush stumbled up and stared at them with wide eyes. A very, very pale girl with brown eyes and soft brown hair analyzed his face before moving onto the others. And then voices through the thicket. The humming in his ears increased as he heard them. So the boy had succeeded. Things were about to get messy, he didn't need his future read to be told of that.
"Lorna!" A little boy's voice called through the darkness.
"Y-yes, Greg?" She piped up, her voice as timid as he'd expected, still staring at them.
"Lorna, why don't you get out of there?" His voice was confused. More rustling through the bushes, then it stopped as another female voice came from the other side of the bush.
"Greg, I don't think we should go through there. Lorna, get out of there. I don't care who's over there, get here." It was an older girl. A voice the Woodsman was trying to identify, and suddenly he remembered a bird…that bird, Beatrice. The name hardly came to him, but he knew it alright.
"You…you may want to see this." Lorna breathed in, her eyes growing wide in the dim light.
"Hush, girl. You'll alert them and we'll be in danger. You're taking a bigger risk than you think." He moved quickly over to her, standing right in front of her and staring into her eyes. The lantern light revealed her clothing, and a bit of the thicket behind her.
"Greg, please come." She was scared, but she was also firm in the way she said this. "Beatrice as well. And-"
"If you dare call him over here, girl, I'll have to use my axe on more than just that thicket." He wasn't hurting anyone else but that Beast, and saying this in a low growl hopefully reinforced it. She shut up after that.
But by then, it was too late. The boy and the older girl were over there already, staring at him and the other two. Greg was the one to break the tension, running up to Endicott, and throwing his arms around the man. Instead of paying attention to that, the Woodsman faced the creature that soon came through the thicket, dark, brooding, but yet with a sympathetic face as it looked on at Greg. Then hardened as it turned to him, almost a glare as if he'd just hurt the thing.
"Anna might've been right: it was a bad idea to go out looking for wood this late." Saying this with as much emphasis as he could, loud enough so everyone there heard, he sighed and turned to look at Beatrice. "You're the only sensible one here now, eh? Or perhaps you're the guilty one in this band of lost souls."
"Actually, I am the only sensible one, and in case you were wondering, I did indeed set this up. But I hadn't intended running into anyone on our way. I should've known people are out and about this late at night all the time." Her sarcasm annoyed him, and he stared at the red head.
"Uncle Endicott?! You came back!" Greg had released the other man now, and was staring up at him.
"Er, well, I guess I did. Or you did." The man offered up. Nervous as ever.
"You thought you could escape anyone at all? What did I tell you, boy, it's not worth searching these woods because you're bound to run into anyone." But he didn't look at Greg, he looked at the Beast while saying this. "You should never have gone to try and find him. You've already lost your brother, Greg. He's not himself even if he's acting like it."
"And what might I ask do you know of it?" It was the older boy's voice, not the Beast's, that he knew, but cynical and angrier than it had ever been before.
"I've seen this before. Or at least known for the most part of what it can be like. You never listened to my warnings in the beginning, and look where you landed now." Shaking his head, he looked at the ground, then back up. "I suggest reconsidering what you've done." He directed this at Beatrice, she looked guilty and he knew she was. It was all too obvious that there was more than a normal friendship in her motives.
"I have very well, and I've thought about it a lot. And it's going to work." The girl replied.
"I would like to know if any of you'd like to buy some tea?" Fred interrupted, the horse had now moved forward and was staring at them all, hardly phased by what was happening in front of him, perhaps trying not to.
"What has happened to you?" Quincy Endicott had finally recognized Wirt and stood beside the Woodsman now, who shook his head in amazement at the clueless one.
"He's dangerous now." Without letting the others talk, he stated this. "I need to get back to Anna. You can stay, or you can go. It's bad enough we've collided like this, it would be best for us to go our separate ways."
With that, he left, leaving them and feeling more at ease now. The humming faded as he headed back home, knowing which way he needed to go now. If they were going to be ignorant and in danger, it was on them. What that Quincy man didn't know wouldn't hurt him. He had seen the hurt face Greg had worn as he left. The boy should've known better.
The prideful look on Beatrice's face. He barely knew her, but if anything, she wasn't making as much sense as human as she had as a bird. Taking a creature like Wirt was now was far too dangerous.
Lorna was innocent as far as he could tell. A member of the group who wasn't sure of where she stood obviously, with some tension between her and Beatrice, most likely over the older boy. Children would be children.
Then there was of course the Beast himself, who no doubt hated his guts. The man couldn't blame him, but he didn't think there was much between them yet.
The Woodsman returned to his house as soon as he could. Things were nasty now, but he wasn't going to get caught in them this time. No, he would stay as neutral as possible. Not even bothering to explain to Anna why he had twigs and one log, he went outside to the mill and worked until the break of dawn.
A/N: Whew wow it was exhausting tying these people altogether and having them all have to interact and I hope you all liked it. Well, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! That was chapter 9, chapter 10 will be out as soon as possible! Thanks again and please, review, review, review!