A Nanny Fairy Tale
Chapter 10: What those meadows came to see
Niles took his horse and started riding Northeast through the meadows the quickest he could. He needed to find the witch and make sure she was not exposing the Kingdom, King Maxwell and/or herself to danger.
It was obvious to him, now, that there was some kind of problem going on. He just couldn't believe those two guys, Chandler and Colin, who had failed pathetically before, now could have assembled a good plan.
If he was right, it let him two possibilities: 1-they had support among the people who had sent the witch; 2-they were lucky, said the right thing in the right context, and messed with an otherwise peaceful situation.
If he was wrong, it let him other two possibilities: 1-the witch was a spy who was acting alone and had taken some interest in him while gathering information, and now he had to stop her to save his land; 2-Chandler and Colin had made everything on their own, fooling everyone, and now he had to stop the witch from making something stupid.
The more Niles thought about all of it, more it seemed he was not able to discover the truth without reaching that woman in time.
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The witch had been walking for hours without stopping. Her magical powers gave her the ability to do that easily; however, she was nervous about what she had seen before leaving the Castle, and it was not helping her to concentrate.
Niles was in prison. What would those men do to him? What do they know about his relationship with her?
She should have known something was wrong when she recognized them in the dinner the King had invited her; she should have said something… What if now it was too late?
All she could do was walk and reach her people while she thought they still would hear her.
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He saw the white piece of cloth blowing in the wind, interrupting the perfect green of the meadows, and knew it was her.
She heard the horse's gallop intensifying, interrupting the perfect solitude of the meadows, and knew it was him.
Once her walking was not that quicker than what a human could do, he soon was by her side, dismounted from the horse and positioned himself in front of her, making her come to a halt.
'Thank God I found you!', were his first relieved words.
She didn't want to see that joy in his eyes. 'It was not your God who let the message on that wall'.
'You're right. It was you'. He was still obviously happy to see her, but his face frowned in concern. 'Why?'
'Because, if I failed, you would know exactly from where the danger would come'. He nodded, and she made the hardest face she could muster at the moment. 'Time is precious. I must go'.
'Wait'. His hand came to her arm. 'What is happening? I was in jail, and I take it Chandler and Colon knew something about your people'.
'Colon? You mean Colin?'
'He seems more like a Colon to me', he made a disgusted face and she had to suppress a smile. 'What is it they tried to do?'
'I have no time to tell you stories'.
'I was arrested because of them'.
She sighed in impatience. 'They discovered my people would have the leadership in this matter of the forest and went to meet us. In different times, both of them tried to seduce us with proposals. It was easy to see they were pretending to admire my people, when all they wanted was the power in their hands. We never agreed to make plans with them'.
'They pretended they didn't care anymore, waited for your arrival and acted as if the deal had been made?'
'Maybe a deal was made… with someone else. I still don't know. I intend to find the leaders and project an image of me explaining the situation'.
'What if there are enemies among the leaders? It is dangerous to you'.
She was all impatience again. 'Are you deaf? I said it will be just an image of me'.
'Do you think I'm stupid? You told me there was something of you in the image projected. It means projecting for a lot of people, risking violent actions from some of them, is dangerous'.
She was silent at that. 'It is the only way'.
He understood her sureness. 'All right. Let's go and see what we can do'.
'You're not going'.
'Why not? I can take you with me, or just follow you, if you are quicker than my horse'.
'You are a Christian knight. Your presence can be seen as a menace, and used against me and my message'.
'People can't be that unreasonable…'
'I'm going alone'.
'Of course, they can'. He crossed his arms on his chest. 'You are being unreasonable'.
Silence again. She looked away, anxious and not sure of how to answer. Finally, she seemed to decide and stared at him again. 'It was my mission, since the beginning. I have the responsibility to make things right on my own'.
He smiled tentatively at her, uncrossing his arms. 'You don't have to be on your own anymore'.
The woman shuddered and crossed her own arms, as if protecting herself.
Niles noticed her reaction and tried again, trying to put things lightly. 'Listen: if it is a matter of witchy pride, I can hide myself and just be around to make sure you'll have a backup in case things go bad. How does it sound?'
She tensed her jaw at that. 'I said no'. And uncrossed her arms and turned around, leaving him stunned for some moments.
She was starting to believe she had won when he came to walk by her side, almost running to follow her long strides. 'Why do you do this the worst way? What is the point to make me worry when I could help you?'
'You should not worry. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself'.
'It is not what it seems, because I gave you a very reasonable suggestion and you turned it down without a second thought'.
'I know what I am doing'.
'How can you be so sure?'
'I've been doing things like this for more years than you can guess'.
Niles stopped and tilted his head to the side, analyzing her, and shouted. 'Oh, now I understand!'
She should not have stopped, but his tone made her feel defied. 'What do you mean?'
He walked to her, slowly, watching from behind how her shoulders tensed. 'Since the first time I saw your face, I knew there was something ancient about you'.
She turned fully to him. 'Yes. My knowledge. What is your point?'
He reached her. 'Don't sell yourself short. There are a lot of ancient things about you. Your appearance, for example'.
She snorted. 'Your appearance is visibly older than mine'.
'Not that much. And, considering you are a magical entity, if this appearance I see is the best you can do… that means either you are a bad magician or are too old to even manage to hide it…'
She gave the steps that were lacking for them to be nose to nose. 'You find old unattractive?'
'It depends on what we are talking about… Why? Do you?'
'If I did, I would have never let your lips touch mine'.
Niles was smiling at her smirk. 'I walked right into that one, witch'. He put a hand on her cheek, came closer and whispered, looking into her eyes. 'I hope you haven't changed your mind and I'm still permitted to do that'.
She sighed. 'You are'.
Once authorized by her words and the needy expression on her face, he kissed her, feeling that the tenderness and belonging were still very present, but with a new anxious touch that made Niles understand she was as worried about all of this as him.
Maybe, just maybe, he would be able to convince her that the situation would improve considerably if she let him be with her.
When they let go, she maintained her hands enlaced behind his neck, clinging to him, but her eyes kept studying his face as if trying to discover how to detach herself without such suffering.
Then she talked. 'You should never try to compare to me'.
The knight caressed her sides. 'And you should not choose to be alone when you have someone that wants to be by your side. Each one of us must deal with their own faults'.
'You don't understand. I'm a powerful witch in a very important mission to be accomplished. I have decided what to do and I will follow my own choices, faulty or not'.
Niles' face showed his aggravation at her. 'I understand you're used to do things alone, you stubborn woman, but I intend to change that'. He said and pulled her closer to him, showing how perfectly their bodies molded together.
Her voice trembled, showing how well she understood the physical signs of belonging and security. 'Maybe I can think of it after all of this is done. Now, I must do the things I know are right'.
He never answered to that with words. He just touched her forehead with his.
It was difficult, but she managed to break the strong feeling of comfort that washed over her. 'What are you trying to do?'
'I'm trying to show you what you are throwing away when you decide to sacrifice yourself like this'.
'Certain things must be done, Niles'.
'Exactly, CC. As making us happy'.
She smiled at the sweetness in that, and then frowned, realizing how close to surrender she was by letting him touch her body and her feelings.
With a kind of force of will she didn't know she still had, the witch separated their heads, put her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eye. 'I need to go'.
'And I need you. Who wins?'
She closed her eyes. One of her hands came to rest behind his neck again, while the other went from his shoulder to his arm, and from there to his hip.
'I'm going with you, witch, because it is what I know is right'.
She didn't answer neither opened her eyes, and Niles noticed she seemed far away from him, deeply concentrated on something.
He looked at his side when he felt her hand going quickly from a hot touch on his hip to an invading heat, and suddenly to piercing pain.
There he saw, in her hand, just the hilt of a shining dagger.
He had a lot of experience with wounds of battle, but the pain was surprisingly quick and strong, making him feel like the dagger was dilacerating his insides.
A twisting movement of her hand took his breath away and made his knees go weak.
Of course, his heart hurt too, physically, for reasons that were far beyond physical. Treachery was something he couldn't stand, normally; under these circumstances, with this person... it was unbearable.
The witch supported his weight and helped him to sit on the ground, one hand on his back, the other on his chest, while she knelt by his side.
He was confused by her care, but realized the closed eyes meant she was using her magical powers on him.
Until she opened them, he was not sure of what she was feeling.
When she finally did it, he could see she was hurting badly, and that she wanted him to know it.
The pain was very strong, but he felt better just knowing she didn't really want to do it.
She spoke in a tender tone. 'Remember: I did what I had to do, not what I wanted to do. I must do it alone'. She caressed his pained face, touching the hair on his forehead. 'Please, never, ever give up on me'.
The hand on his back was gone and the one on his forehead went to his chest again, this time to make him lay down.
He felt that breathing was a bit easier like that, but still not enough.
Satisfied by his calmer appearance, the woman gave him a brief kiss on the lips, got up and resumed walking without a look behind.
When he had gathered enough air to speak, she was not visible anymore.
Sir Niles, the Clever, realized those meadows which have seen some of the most important meetings of his life would probably be the place where he was left to die.