The pair didn't wake her for the meal. When she woke up in the morning, a surly Tamival shoved a warm bowl of stewed rabbit into her hands and told her to hurry up and eat it so they could get back on the road. Violet wolfed down her breakfast, feeding bits to Chi-Chi between bites, then hurried to gather up her belongings. As she stooped to roll up her blanket, she started to see a pair of shining eyes peering at her from under a nearby bush. Another fae. Looking around their camp, she caught a flutter of gossamer wings and a flash of color that belonged to no normal woodland creature before Nori appeared and wound around her shoulders with a happy purr. The beloved familiar rubbed her head against Violet's and images flashed through her mind. The forest surrounding their campsite was crawling with small fae.
Again, Violet wondered if the creatures were naturally more prevalent here in Faerun than on Earth. She made a mental note to ask Tamirell about it.
As if thinking his name summoned him, the elf stepped silently into the clearing just a fraction of a second before Nori vanished from sight.
"We have a long journey ahead of us today," he told her taking the empty bowl. "Is there anything you need to tend to before we depart?"
She blushed. "Well, I need to…," she trailed off.
He smiled and pointed, "that way." Turning and pointing the opposite direction, "we'll wait for you at the road." Taking her belongings from her, he headed off, again vanishing almost instantly upon leaving the clearing. Chi-Chi followed; her tail held high behind her.
When she joined them on the road a few minutes later, her stuff was already stored behind a mounted Tamirell, with Chi-Chi curled up on top of the pile. His brother stood, holding the harness of his horse, and frowning sourly.
"I guess I'm riding with you again," she said with resignation and stepped up to the side of his mount.
Not bothering to respond, Tamival held the horse still while she mounted. She winced as she settled on the saddle, the insides of her thighs and other unmentionable areas still sore from the day before. When she started to scoot back to make room for the elf, he motioned her to stay.
"Stay, I'll ride behind you today. You moved around too much behind me yesterday," he told her testily and handing her the reins.
Violet held still clutching the reins and the horse's mane while he mounted, then his arms reached around her and took the reins. As they started out, she tried to sit up straight on the saddle. Unlike the saddles she was used to seeing, this one didn't have a pommel in front. It was more of an oval leather pad than a saddle. As such, there was nothing separating her from the elf riding behind her. Every time she relaxed, everything from her butt up to her shoulders touched him. The heat from his body seared through her clothes and she would immediately straighten up, pulling herself away from his body.
After several times, he grunted and wrapped an arm around her torso, pulling her back firmly against him.
"For the sake of us all, just stay there and be still," he bit out.
Tamirell chuckled, "he won't bite."
"Maybe not you," Violet muttered under her breath, earning her a hearty laugh from him and a snort from Tamival.
Keeping herself upright was tiresome, so despite her reluctance she stayed where she was. It was more comfortable to ride that way if she could just ignore the heat of him against her back. To distract herself she decided now was a good time to ask them about the fae.
"Do you normally have this many fae around here?"
"No," Tamirell replied. "They seem to be drawn to you."
"Or that pendant," Tamival's voice rumbled against her back.
"Oh," she swallowed, "I was afraid of that." After a moment she asked, "so you can see them?"
"Of course, we can," the elf at her back snorted as if she was daft.
"There's no reason to be rude, you know," she told him, his attitude starting to grate on her. "It's a perfectly reasonable question. Most people on Earth cannot see them unless they want to be seen."
"As you pointed out," Tamirell answered before his brother could respond, "you have no elves where you're from. Humans here cannot normally see them either. We can."
"Oh."
"So, you can tell your pet there's no need to keep hiding from us," he added with a smile.
"Oh! You've seen Nori?"
At the sound of her name, the fae appeared and flew around her and Tamival with happy chirps. His horse snorted and danced sideways to avoid her.
"Stop it," Violet scolded lightly. "You're scaring the horse."
Nori tried to wrap herself around Violet's shoulders, but Tamival swatted her away when her wings fluttered in his face.
"Stop!" he snapped.
Nori hovered near by, hissing at him. Chi-Chi, hearing it, growled from the back of Tamirell's horse.
"Nori go ride with Chi-Chi," Violet said gently to break the tension, secretly agreeing with her familiar. If she could, she would hiss at him also.
With another hiss aimed at the elf, Nori flew over to Tamirell and settled on the packs beside Chi-Chi.
"Are all fae like this around you?" Tamival asked.
"Are they all like this around you?" she countered.
Tamirell burst out laughing and said something in their language to his brother, who snapped an answer back at him that made him laugh even harder. In response, Tamival urged his horse into a faster pace and surged ahead.
Violet wondered what had been said and why Tamival disliked her so much. Was he just a disagreeable person or was it something she had done that so offended him?
As the morning wore on, Violet relaxed enough to take in the scenery as they passed. As she had noticed that morning, there were an unusual number of fae to be seen just within the cover of the trees, watching silently as they passed. Nori seemed unconcerned at their presence giving her no reason to be alarmed. Still, it was disconcerting to know they were flocking to her. So far it had been just small, relatively harmless fae, but what if larger, more dangerous fae started to feel the pull of the pendant? The thought gave her chills, and she was glad the two brothers had joined her for the journey to Highmoon.
Midday, Tamirell announced a break for them and their horses. Violet was more than happy to get off the horse and managed not to fall this time while getting down. Hobbling slightly, she sought out the shade on the edge of the track and stretched like a cat, then bent over to touch her toes, working out all the kinks and stiff muscles from the morning. Her dress constricted her more than she was accustomed to, but it still felt good.
A strange noise behind her made her spin around. Still standing in the middle of the track with the horses, Tamival looked like he had just swallowed something awful as he stared at her. Violet met his eyes defiantly, daring him to say something disparaging about her. His eyes flickered to something beyond her and widened with alarm.
"Run!" he commanded, drawing his sword, and rushing towards her.
She hesitated, turning to see what had caused such a reaction and yelped.
Coming at her was a creature running upright on two legs but covered with mottled brown fur. Long, yellowed teeth snapped at her from its hyena-like head. Violet ducked under its outstretched claws and ran towards the trees, only to come face to face with another of the creatures brandishing a crude spear.
Coming up silently behind the spear welder, Tamirell slashed it with his sword. Roaring in pain and anger, it turned to confront its attacker.
To Violet's left, Tamival engaged two more of their attackers, spinning quickly to avoid a spear thrust, then catching the other across its unprotected stomach, spilling its intestines out onto the dirt before it collapsed.
Violet was spun around as the creature behind her swiped, catching her arm with its claws, ripping through flesh and fabric in a glancing blow that was painful, but not life-threatening. She staggered back, tripping over a limb, and landing hard on her butt.
Over the snarls of the beast closing in on her, she heard the distinctive twang of an arrow being released. Another creature standing farther down the track, fired an arrow at Tamival and missed. One of the two creatures attacking him tried to take advantage of the distraction, thrusting its spear straight at his chest. Tamival deflected the spear and stabbed it with his sword, finding a gap in its armor. With a whimper, it dropped to the ground.
Tamirell was pushing the spear-welding attacker back in a frantic effort to reach Violet, but this opponent was more cunning than the others. Instead of coming at the elf straight-on, it dodged and ducked his attacks, but stayed between Tamirell and Violet.
Violet's attacker lunged at her with its teeth bared and she instinctively raised her hands in defense. "Èist fiadhaich ionnsaigh!" she yelled.
A white-hot bolt of flame shot out from her hands at the monster. It yowled in pain and the air filled with the smell of burning hair. Charred, it fell forward, landing on top of her.
"Violet!" Tamirell yelled, kicking his opponent to knock it off balance and delivering a killing stroke that nearly severed its head.
The creature down the track raised its bow and took aim at the frantic elf, whose attention was focused on Violet, as another rushed in with its spear held high. A flurry of purple fur and claws descended on the one with the bow, causing the arrow to just graze Tamirell's side.
With a shout, Tamival ran his remaining attacker through, leaving only two of the beasts standing: the one with the bow and one with a spear. The bowman scrambled to get away from Nori while knocking arrow; the other one leapt at Violet with its spear raised in a killing blow.
Violet blindly shoved the heavy body off her, causing her to roll out of the way as the spear dug into the ground where she had just been. The force fractured the pole, breaking it in half and the creature's hands lost their grip on the spear as it fell forward, carried by its momentum, impelling itself on its own weapon. Turning its head to stare at her in astonishment, it gurgled and died.
The last creature alive, realizing it was outmatched, dropped its bow, and raced away, only to be dropped in its tracks by two arrows loosed in quick succession from Tamival's bow that he had retrieved from the back of his brother's horse.
For a moment, the forest was dead silent as Violet lay stunned by the battle that lasted less than a minute. Then Tamirell was on his knees by her side shaking her.
"Are you alright?"
She blinked and looked up at his face, concern clearly written across his expression.
"I think I'm going to be sick," she managed before rolling over onto her side and heaving up the remains of her breakfast on the leaves that covered the ground under the trees. When her stomach was empty, he helped her to her feet.
"We need to go in case there are more of them around," he said as he led her to where his brother held the horses.
He practically shoved her up on Tamival's horse, then the dour elf mounted behind her and sent his mount into a gallop. All Violet could do was hold on and try not to fall off. Oh, and not throw up on him. That would be just perfect, she thought.
They galloped hard for several minutes before the brothers slowed their horses down to a walk.
"How's your arm?" Tamirell asked.
Violet looked down, frowning. With all the adrenalin pumping through her system, she had completely forgot about it. Now, looking at the three gashes seeping blood and clear fluid, it suddenly burned and throbbed painfully.
"I don't think I'll bleed to death, but it needs to be cleaned up and bandaged," she replied, trying to keep her voice calm and even, though she was starting to feel shaky and lightheaded.
"We can't stop yet," Tamival said, catching the water bag his brother handed over. "Use this for now," he held it in front of her.
Violet did her best to pour the water on her arm, biting her lip to keep from crying over the stinging. Then, for lack of anything handy, she cut a strip of fabric from her underskirt using a knife Tamival silently handed her and used it to bind the wound. By the time she was done, the shaking and lightheadedness had passed, but she was so weary, she could hardly lift her arm to pass the knife back to him.
Checking her handy work, she caught sight of his forearms as he reached around her to grip the reins. His sleeve was slashed and ripped in several places and there were raw wounds marring the skin underneath.
"Your arm," she gasped. "You're hurt too."
"Just a few cuts and scrapes," he told her gruffly. "Nothing to worry about. I'll clean them when we stop for the night."
"If Tamirell will pass the water bag back, I will…,"
"No," he said firmly. "Get some rest. You're barely functioning right now."
With a childish huff, she leaned back against him and shut her eyes, telling herself that she just needed to rest them for a bit.
When she woke, she was laying on her blanket beside a campfire. Panicking, she jumped up only to sway alarmingly at the vertigo the quick movement caused.
A warm arm wrapped around her waist, steading her.
"Easy," Tamirell said softly. "You need to take it slowly until you completely recover."
"I don't know what came over me," she admitted. "I must have been more injured than I thought. I don't normally pass out like that. Except…," she trailed off, realization hitting her like a ton of bricks.
"Except?" he prompted.
"Except when I used a lot of magic cleansing the blight from my forest. Which is odd, now that I think of it. I've never been particularly powerful. In fact, none of the witches in my family were. Maybe a couple of my ancestors were a bit more successful, but for the most part we were all pretty mediocre."
"So, what changed?"
"I'm not sure," she dug out the ribbon with the key hanging from it. "I got this a few days before and I accidentally had it on me when I performed the ritual."
He examined it without touching, then frowned, "you performed a ritual for the cleansing?"
She nodded, "yes. Witches harness the magic in the world around us through rituals or artifacts. We don't have innate magic, we're just sensitive to it. That's why we can see the fae when other humans cannot."
"You didn't use a ritual or an artifact when you roasted that Gnoll," he pointed out.
"I know. Since I've been here in Faerun, my magic has changed. I'm able to cast spells that I didn't know I knew and it's more of a reflex when I do, not planned. It just kind of happens." She paused and pulled the pendant out, letting it hang from its chain. It reflected the fading light of the sun, sending a sparkling rainbow of lights out around them. "Ever since I was given this by the stag."
Tamirell nodded as if that explained everything.
"Do you know something?" she asked. "If you do, tell me, please!"
"While you were out, Tamival and I decided to make a detour. We think there is someone at our village you need to talk to. He may be able to answer your questions."
"Wait. We're not going to Highmoon?"
"We'll still take you there, but we're going to Bristar first. It'll be worth it, I promise."
She shrugged, sitting back down on her blanket, "I don't really have much of a choice, do I?"
Tamirell crouched beside her, "yes, you do. If you really want to go to Highmoon, we will take you there instead. But I believe you need to talk to Ailluin first. You are going to Highmoon for answers, right?"
She nodded.
"Ailluin may have some of the answers you seek."
Violet looked down at her hands clutching the pendant and artifact in her lap, "it's just that the last time I allowed myself to be delayed, I almost ended up in some nasty jelly."
He reached out and tilted her head up by the chin. "I promise you; I won't let anything bad happen to you," he said earnestly.
"Thank you," she whispered, mesmerized by his green and gold eyes.
His brother broke the spell, dropping a dead goose into her lap. She yelped and glared at him indignantly.
With a sardonic grin he said, "if you're done swooning, maybe you can help out by making dinner."
Tempted to throw the bird back at him, she caught Tamirell's smile out of the corner of her eye, damping her ire at his rude brother.
"Oh, I'll cook your goose, all right," she said softly, thinking about all the things she could do to make his life miserable if she was so inclined. "You just wait."