I don't really have any notes except that I've found grumpy guys is extremely fun.
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The morning was sharp and cool when Sutton woke and stretched her limbs out from where they were curled against her body. Sprinkles huffed and grumbled as the movement woke her in turn. But it was daylight, and being able to see brought a renewed hope to Sutton's endeavors.
The tree limbs arching over them blocked out enough light that the spot had been a good place to hide; and clearly no one had found them. Sutton didn't think Fraus, whoever she was, would bother them anymore as long as they stayed away from that cottage. Hopefully.
Sutton patted Sprinkles' head and shifted to reach into her bag for their few remaining bits of food. There was enough for a small breakfast, enough to take the edge of hunger off. But she needed to find that apothecary's hut quickly and hope for a better reception.
She split the remaining food in half and placed Sprinkles' share in front of her as she nibbled on her own.
Rustling in the branches above their heads drew Sutton's attention up as she slowly ate. It was hard to decipher any shape at first, but she caught movement as one of the branches bounced and finally spotted the culprit. The glistening of glossy black and white wings fluttered and a dark, round eye peered down at her.
Sutton gaped as she noticed the rest of it. It wasn't just a bird, a long black tail flicked excitedly behind the creature, the tip of it shimmering in an iridescent green, and little clawed paws gripped the branch under its feet.
A gryphon!
A little one.
"Oh, hello," Sutton cooed at the creature. "What's up, little guy? Are you hungry too?"
The gryphon tipped its head as it studied her. The bird half looked like a magpie and when it fluffed out its wings, Sutton noted the sheen of more iridescent blue-green feathers.
"Okay, okay. Here you go. If you're brave enough."
She ripped off a piece of bread and held it up for the creature to take. Sprinkles watched the interaction and studied the gryphon as well. The gryphon made a couple screeching sounds in their direction and Sprinkles snuffed.
"This is his house. He wants to know if you have shinies for breaking in," she informed Sutton. "But bread is okay too."
The gryphon swooped from his branch and nabbed the offering of bread then landed once more across from them.
In the light, Sutton was able to notice a small pile of trinkets and shiny scraps tucked in the back of the small tunnel they were in. They really had just barged right into the poor thing's nest. It's collection was interesting though. A pair of sewing scissors, a necklace, a chunk of metal that might have been thrown out by a blacksmith. There looked to be beads and quite a few glittering rocks.
One stone stood out from the rest. It was the size of Sutton's hand and was oval shaped and smooth. Almost like an egg. The color of it made it stand out. It was bright yellow with black spots on it, but the yellow glittered when the light hit it. She could see why the gryphon would keep it.
"Sorry for intruding, we didn't know! Unfortunately I don't have anything shiny," Sutton said. "Maybe if we were at the castle."
"Yes," Sprinkles agreed, still with obvious disgruntlement. "The castle has lots of shiny things."
The gryphon squawked and Sutton tossed him a small bite of cheese. She didn't know if bird-things ate cheese; but some birds ate whatever they could get a hold of. This one was no different. The gryphon snapped up the chunk of cheese and gulped it down.
"Sorry I don't have anything else to share," Sutton said. "Thank you for not attacking us in our sleep. It was… nice meeting you? You're a very pretty… gryphon. Very shiny yourself."
The gryphon squawked in a way that sounded excited. Sprinkles stood and shook herself.
"She calls lots of things pretty," she told the gryphon. The gryphon trilled and screeched again and Sprinkles sighed. "No, My Girl does not call everything shiny."
The gryphon puffed the feathers on his chest in victory.
Sutton dusted off her skirt and pushed herself to her feet as she gathered up her garment bag.
"We'll find the apothecary today and get more food," she said. "And maybe even a job, if I'm lucky."
"We should go home," Sprinkles argued yet again. "I don't like it here. It smells like snow."
"Snow?" Sutton parroted. "It's not winter. And I thought you liked snow."
"There's no inside if we're not home," Sprinkles explained in annoyance. "And my paws get cold."
"Well, it's not going to snow at this time of year," Sutton said. Then she remembered the time at breakfast, seeing the flakes of snow out the window against a clear blue sky. She looked around uneasily. "Not without magic, probably," she said. "Maybe we should get going."
It was cool enough that Sutton didn't want to move, and twigs cracked and snapped under her feet as she crept from under the branches into open space. When she crawled out from the branches, her joints and muscles ached from her crouched position all night. She groaned as she attempted to straighten herself out. Sprinkles stretched in a downward dog next to her, but looked better off than Sutton felt.
Branches rustled again and wings beat behind them. The magpie gryphon landed on Sutton's shoulder, his little talons and claws sinking into her cloak as he found purchase, and Sutton let out an 'oomph' in surprise. For a second she didn't move. She'd never had a bird even allow her close before, let alone land on her, and she wasn't quite sure what to do now that one had.
"Um," she said, "I don't have any more food, unfortunately. I'm afraid I can't help you there."
But the gryphon settled down with a chirp and a fluff of his wings, his tail curled around the back of her neck.
"We are going back," Sprinkle seemed to assure him. "My Girl is being silly. I got this shiny thing there."
Sprinkles raised her head and showed off her collar and medal and the gryphon hopped in excitement.
"Stop enabling the wildlife," Sutton told Sprinkles. "He lives out here, in the wild."
The gryphon screeched, gave a strange bird-like sneeze, and Sprinkles nodded in understanding.
"He likes shiny things and food more than he likes the branches."
"Wait, is he trying to come with us?"
"Yes?" Sprinkles said like it was obvious. "He says we're friends. I told Magic Tony that you are very good at talking to strangers."
"I'm not sure that's exactly accurate. Or a compliment," Sutton deadpanned. "But, I suppose he can tag along as long as he wants to. I should probably call you something. Does he have a name?"
Sprinkles looked at the gryphon and he exclaimed a series of sounds in a pretty little song. Sprinkles frowned.
"I can't say that," she decided. "Dogs don't say those sounds."
"How about if I call you something else, like a nickname?" Sutton suggested. "What about… Glitter? Glitter is very shiny."
He seemed to like that idea, with the way he darted back and forth over her shoulders and smacked the back of her head as he flapped wings and screeched.
"Uh… do you want me to get your shiny trinket pile? I mean, it'd be sad to leave it for another gryphon to take."
Glitter seemed to heartily agree and appreciate the idea, so Sutton crawled back in and gathered his hoard. The yellow and black stone was actually warm to the touch. That was interesting.
Finally they were able to get going. Trees stretched out all around them, their limbs and leaves reaching up towards the sun. Enough light broke through to make navigating easy, at least, as long as Sutton could figure out the right direction. She turned in a circle a couple times before she sighed and looked down at Sprinkles.
"Do you know which direction we came from?"
Sprinkles' nose twitched, and she sniffed the dirt around the entrance of their bramble hut before she let out a snort.
"Yes."
"Oh," Sutton sighed. "Good. Can you lead us back?"
"I don't want to go back to Bad Fraus! You said!"
"No, no!" Sutton rushed to assure. "Just to the road, we're not going back to her house, okay? I don't want to go for round two either."
Sprinkles eyed her suspiciously until she felt like Sutton truly wasn't lying, then relented silently; she trotted off into the brush and Sutton rushed to follow. Sprinkles confidently followed an invisible scent trail through the woods until the trees thinned and finally opened up. Sutton stared at the open ground in confusion.
She still didn't know where the road was. A field sprawled out before them before it sank back into more trees some distance away. But there was no cobblestone, or even dirt, road like she thought there would be.
"This can't be right," she said.
The cold bit at her and she pulled her arms under her cloak to rub at them. Glitter chittered and hunkered down deeper into the hood of her cloak. There really ought to be a road.
"This is right," Sprinkles argued. "I can smell us."
"But where is the road, then? Or the cottages?"
Sprinkles looked back and forth across the field briefly.
"Not here," she said simply.
Sutton rolled her eyes.
"Clearly."
But concern rippled through her. It didn't make sense. They hadn't wandered that far off the road. Had she really gotten that turned around in the heat of the moment? Perhaps if she could find Fraus' cottage they could retrace… but no. There should be a road to her cottage in the first place.
They desperately needed food. And water. And shelter. And Sutton was starting to think maybe she'd not planned this out so well.
They trekked further in the direction Sutton hoped the apothecary's cottage was. After all, they were likely closer to it than they were to the castle now, and there was no sense in wasting time backtracking. And besides that, she wasn't confident of the direction of the city anyway, like she was last night. Running off the road was a bigger mistake than she anticipated.
It didn't take long on their walk for Sutton to notice that she could actually see her breath now as she huffed. The cold was seeping through her cloak and she felt another pang of guilt that Sprinkles didn't even have a little sweater. At least Glitter was taking advantage of her cloak. The cold still didn't make sense. It wasn't winter yet and it was colder now than it had been when she first woke up.
She stopped walking and Sprinkles halted next to her and looked up in question.
"Why is it so cold?" Sutton asked aloud. "It shouldn't be this cold, right? I mean, I know we're in a new world, but seasons should be similar, shouldn't they?"
"I don't know," Sprinkles said.
Glitter trilled and climbed back up onto her shoulder, his beady eye stared intently at the treeline.
"What is it?"
A twinkling caught her eye and Sutton shifted to peer into the trees. She took a few steps toward the flickering light and the grass crunched under her foot. Like it was crisp with frost.
"Is that ice?"
The ground glittered further under the trees, sharp shards of ice climbed up the trunks of trees and icicles dripped off some of the branches. Sutton remembered the snow during breakfast again. She took a step away from the treeline.
"Maybe we should get out of here," she suggested.
"To King Steve!" Sprinkles perked up, as if the ice was enough to send Sutton running back with her metaphorical tail between her legs.
As if she could ever stomach crawling back there when no one even cared she was gone.
"Well," she hedged as they moved away-
A grunt and the pounding of footsteps tore her from her thoughts and she turned to see a large figure barreling towards her from the trees. It was a man, a giant man, with alarmingly blue skin and a huge club of ice gripped in his hand. He snarled as he burst through the branches and Sutton shrieked in terror. Glitter squawked and cawed in alarm and flew off her shoulder, and Sprinkles snapped to alert as Sutton scrambled backwards, her hackles raised high and she bared her teeth.
"Stay back! I'll bite you!"
"Sprinkles, come on!"
The giant swung his ice club and Sutton dove to dodge it with Sprinkles on her heels. Overhead, Glitter made a ruckus in outrage, but he was just a little guy. He flew to perch on a nearby tree branch and yelled angrily, as if his ire would help at all.
More thundering grew closer and pain shot through her chest; the monster had a club! Her panicked thoughts could only assume the coming thunder was more monsters. More clubs. More danger.
Sprinkles continued to bark loudly, deep from her chest, and Sutton's feet slipped as ice spread across the grass. She hit the ground and continued sliding, her bag gripped tightly in her fists; the air was knocked out of her lungs and left her silent. Sprinkles didn't like that one bit. She whirled around with a snarl and positioned herself to stand her ground.
"I! Will! Bite!"
A new voice bellowed over Sprinkles' proclamation.
"Don't touch him!"
The thunder transitioned into a more identifiable sound of hooves racing towards them. Sprinkles darted to Sutton, out of the way of the dark horse barreling between them and the approaching giant.
The rider drew his sword in one swift motion and swung it upward, slicing the chest of the giant, but the giant fell back enough that the strike didn't bring him down.
Sutton gasped in an attempt to catch her breath and managed to finally breathe just as Sprinkles grabbed her by the back of the cloak and dragged her backwards.
The rider circled back around on his horse and a ray of light reflected off his left hand, metallic silver where skin should be. Bucky.
The giant swung his club at Bucky, aiming for the horse, and Bucky pulled on the reins quick enough to direct his steed out of the way. The horse reared up and Bucky slashed down at the giant's shoulder; dark colored blood gushed from the wound and the giant yelled in rage. This time it swung wildly at Bucky's head, and he dropped in the saddle, hanging off the side to avoid the hit.
He righted himself in the saddle again and spun the horse around with a kick of his heels; the horse turned and kicked the giant with its back legs, full force. The giant staggered back.
With its center of balance gone, Bucky rushed back in. He urged his horse forward and stabbed his sword down between the giant's ribs. It fell to its knees with a gurgled gasp and Sutton watched as the light drained from its eyes.
Bucky slid off the horse to press the sword in further; he didn't remove it until the giant slumped to the ground, truly dead. He pulled the sword free of the giant's body with a sickening squelch and Sutton scrambled to her feet as she forced her eyes away from the sight. She dry heaved once but managed to keep it in.
He'd killed someone, actually killed. It was a fairy tale world and a monster actually tried to kill her and Bucky actually killed him instead. His ferocity with the sword was actually intimidating? For some reason the idea didn't click in her head that that could be a possibility.
Bucky wiped his sword on the scraps of clothing the giant wore then sheathed it and turned to face her. He looked… irate.
"Bucky," Sutton said, still mildly breathless. "You-you actually killed him. I- What are you-"
"What were you thinking?"
Sutton's mouth opened and closed in confusion; Bucky stalked forward like now that the giant was out of the way she was next. The tone of his voice was harsh and accusatory and it made Sutton bristle.
"What?"
"What?" He mimicked back. "What were you thinking, leaving the castle grounds alone? Wandering out into the wilds as if it isn't dangerous."
"I- Wandering? I wasn't just wandering around! I'm heading to the apothecary's house."
Bucky's right eye twitched.
"Apothecary? There's no apothecary out here! And even if there was, you can't just run off by yourself."
Sutton blinked as his words processed.
"You came out here looking for me?"
For some reason, everything she said so far only seemed to push Bucky more into a fit. He threw his hands up into the air and looked like he might say something, then thought better of it and changed his mind. He whistled and his horse obediently trotted up behind him.
"We need to leave now," he said. "There may be more; the Frost Giants should never have gotten this deep into our lands and I need to report it."
"I can't go back to the castle," Sutton argued. "I left for a reason-"
"A stupid reason," Bucky snapped back. "Do you realize that you just nearly died? If I had been any slower, or if you knew how to mask your trail at all, I would not have made it in time. Do you understand what sorrow that would have wrought?"
That also didn't compute for Sutton.
"You would have… been sad?"
"Oh Fates!" Bucky cursed angrily. "Is it such an insane idea? Do you not realize that people here care for you? Has every effort to ensure you are welcomed and taken care of been in vain?"
"No." Sutton snapped back, only because he said it in a way that made her seem ungrateful. "I just- my presence is causing trouble."
"Your presence is desired. Now get on the horse."
Desired? Desired? They wanted her in the castle?
That didn't make sense.
They liked her enough to look for her?
Sutton hesitated and Sprinkles rounded her legs to urge her into compliance. Her hackles were only half lowered and she kept an eye on the giant as if there was a possibility it could get back up.
"Come, come," Sprinkles cajoled. "We should go before Bad Fraus comes back too."
Bucky's eye twitched again and his gaze somehow darkened and sharpened at the same time.
"Bad Fraus?"
His tone was that dangerous low pitch and Sutton rushed to do damage control.
"It's nothing. It was nothing-"
"Bad Fraus yelled at My Girl!" Sprinkles tattled. Sutton attempted to grab her muzzle, but she dodged out of the way. "She wanted My Girl to touch the sheep winder and My Girl said 'no, no, no', so Bad Fraus got mad! We had to run-"
"Sprinkles, shut up-"
"And we slept outside but Bad Fraus didn't find us!"
The silence that followed was more threatening than if Bucky started yelling. Sutton held up her hands and tried to look stern.
"Don't freak out. I'm not stupid enough to touch a spinning wheel, okay? I don't think whatever it was even chased us into the woods."
"Excuse me?" Bucky questioned, far too evenly.
"I mean she. I think."
His jaw ticked sharply and Sutton winced at the vein bulging in his forehead. He barely managed to grit out "tower" through clenched teeth before he stalked toward her, grabbed her around the waist, and tossed her onto the horse. Sutton yelped in surprise, but didn't have time to try and get down before he swung himself up behind her.
Angry screeching commenced again at his manhandling of her and Glitter dove from the air at Bucky's head in her defense. Bucky grunted in surprise and swung his arm above his head to protect himself as Glitter made another turn at him.
"What in Andolasia?"
"Glitter!" Sutton called. "It's okay, Glitter! He's a friend! A really grumpy, obstinate one, but it's okay. He's not going to hurt us."
"Fates," he cursed yet again. "Tell me you didn't pick up a magpie in the-less-than-a-day you were gone."
"We accidentally crashed in his nest apparently," Sutton said, sheepish. "But he's been very nice to Sprinkles and me. And look how shiny his feathers are."
Glitter preened even more at the compliment and wrapped himself over Sutton's shoulders again. His tail flicked against her cheek and it nearly sounded like he hissed in Bucky's direction.
"You can't keep it," Bucky said flatly.
"I'm not making him do anything," Sutton said. "He's going where he wants to. But," she held up a finger, "I think I can mend things here."
She reached back, grabbed Bucky's chain mail arm, and hefted it up into the air so it reflected the light.
"See," she said. "He's shiny too."
Bucky pulled his hand away and Glitter trilled in delight. He lunged at Bucky's arm and gripped it with his little talons as he pecked at it with his beak, looking for a spot to pull some of the chain mail away. Bucky growled in insult and shook his arm to dislodge him, much to Glitter's irritation. He flapped his wings then pushed off Bucky's arm with his back paws and resituated himself on Sutton's shoulders, but kept his beady eye on Bucky's arm.
The horse shifted impatiently on its hooves and Bucky let out an irritated, defeated sigh.
"Can you keep up, Sprinkles?" He called down.
Sprinkles snapped to attention and looked disgruntled at the question.
"Yes! I am very fast. The fastest dog."
"Good," Bucky said, clearly in no mood for teasing her. "Then keep up."
He clicked his tongue as he tapped his heels against the horse and the horse took off. Sutton might have thought she'd fly off at the sudden speed, but Bucky stabilized her. It wasn't the same as with Steve. Not quite as nice.
Especially not when Bucky felt like a dark, looming cloud behind her.
"I didn't agree to come by the way," she pointed out. "This is kidnapping."
"Call it whatever you want," he said blandly. "Steve, the king, called for your return, so return you shall."
Sutton's eyes widened and she bit her lower lip.
"Steve wants me to come back?"
"Fates," Bucky cursed quietly again. "Yes," he said at a normal volume. "He's particularly distressed by your attempt to flee."
Sutton sat quietly as the horse galloped up a grassy knoll and the wind warmed.
"Huh," she finally said.
The landscape around them was largely unfamiliar from what Sutton remembered the day before. They were far from a road, apparently, given that Bucky still hadn't rejoined one to follow back to the castle. She understood more clearly why he referred to this area as 'the wilds'.
"I don't get it," she said, risking more of Bucky's ire, "we didn't run that far off the road last night. There were cottages around here. And the old lady in the market said there was an apothecary near the woods."
He stiffened at her words and kicked the horse to go faster. Sprinkles barked in insult at the act and attempted to speed up.
"Then you were lied to and that is concerning. As for the road, you left that nearly two miles ago."
"No," Sutton argued. "We only ran off the road after- ah, well, after Fraus."
"Then there is something more sinister at play. Even more reason to assign you a personal guard when we get back."
"Hey! I do not want a personal guard!"
"I wasn't asking."
"That's basically assigning me a babysitter! You're just doing it out of spite."
"You have said it."
He wasn't likely to change his mind when he was still in such a foul mood, so Sutton just hunched her shoulders to pout before she remembered Glitter was there and straightened out. They met the road before long and it was a relief to finally see a familiar sight once more. Roads were a kind of safety. The surroundings were more familiar now, and despite all her intentions, that was a relief too.
She shouldn't want to return to the castle, not after the trouble she caused, but part of her did. The same part of her that felt a little thrill at the idea of people actually caring enough to hunt her down and want her back.
The city was already in motion as they passed through the marketplace and followed the road back up to the castle. Sutton tried to hide behind her hair as passersby stared at them in curiosity. Bucky paid the common folk no mind as he raced up the road that led to the castle, poor Sprinkles followed a ways behind. The castle grew larger as they neared it and with it, so did Sutton's apprehensions. She turned her head to peer behind her, but only got an eyeful of Glitter's bold feathers.
"So, why did you really come look for me if you're mad at me," she asked Bucky.
"I'm not angry with you," Bucky said. She turned in the saddle to peg him with a look and Bucky twisted his lips to the side. "Being angry doesn't negate care," he relented. "Sometimes it is born from it. I understand the dangers outside these castle walls and I know that you do not. Of course I'm frustrated with your hasty decision. You might have been killed, or severely injured. Do you not see us as friends? Do friends not care for each other?"
"I mean, yeah. I thought you and Steve might visit if I got my own place. But I kind of figured, you know. You were all paying me back for helping you."
"I think you were more than compensated for your assistance," Bucky said flatly. "You'll understand in time." His voice grew even more flat and dull. "I hope."
Sutton swallowed as they entered the castle courtyard and Bucky directed his horse around, straight to the stables.
Once inside, he jumped off the horse and pulled Sutton off after him. She flailed at the manhandling and Glitter flew off her neck in a flurry of wings and angry shouts.
The same blonde stable hand Sutton spotted when she left was there, and Bucky handed the girl the reins.
"None of this leaves the stables, Audrey," he said. "I want my venture to remain discreet." Bucky gestured to the horse. "He's been running all night, he'll need extra care."
Audrey nodded, her expression solemn and sharp.
"Of course, Sir."
Sprinkles got to the stable doors just as they were leaving, her tongue lolled out of her mouth as she panted. Bucky directed Sutton with a hand over her arm to the castle through a back entrance and she scowled at being herded.
"I'm not going to run off if you let me go."
"Perhaps you shouldn't have run if you wanted people to trust that. And please don't mention running with the ambassadors nearby. Now less talking and more walking. We need to get you to Steve so he might finally have a moment's peace."
Sutton's stomach sank uncomfortably at the idea of a reunion. If he was as mad as Bucky, she didn't know how she'd react.
But perhaps that'd be her penance for making him worry.
Whether she liked it or not, she was about to find out.