I don’t know how, possibly from the strange power I absorbed from the rusted knight, but I found myself knowing the woods as if I had always lived within them. The trees and paths were familiar, the stones reminiscent of a distant memory. I could traverse these deep woods without any threat of losing my way. I eventually realized, after only a couple hours of walking, that I would soon exit the forest where I had initially entered.
As I came closer and closer to the forest’s end, I saw more and more signs of disruption. The ground was ruffled, branches broken, leaves displaced, like a horde of people bumbled into the woods completely lost. Thankfully there seemed to be no sign of any relatively recent disturbances, the tracks I had found felt old by several days but how I knew I couldn’t tell, so the forest was still mostly quiet save for the animals. It seemed that it was late evening, the sun just barely past the horizon with wisps of light streaking across the high clouds. I came to the edge of the forest just as night was fully falling, and I wondered how long I had been gone.
The city was exactly as it was. A part of me wondered if it would’ve tripled in size while I was aimlessly wandering in the forest like it had while I was asleep, but it remained the same. Lights dotted the edge of the tall stone wall, and the gates were still swung open. Two figures stood outside with torches lit, watching the rolling hills ahead suspiciously and occasionally darting their eyes towards the trees.
I wondered how to approach. The knowledge I absorbed from the rusted knight told me I should rely on the Elves’ wisdom to find what has cursed me, but at the same time I now know they would try to kill me if my curse was revealed. I had to find my savior, not just for my own benefit but because part of me worried if she had recovered from her injuries or not. Yet even as I watched and was deep in thought, I realized the gates were slowly closing. Without any time left to actually debate, I rushed out of the treeline towards the gates. I had to sneak in, or somehow enter to skulk towards my savior, wherever she was.
The guards saw me almost instantly, I was almost surprised. One called out a shout, and two other guards popped their heads over the wall’s edge to see what was happening. I couldn’t very well scale the wall, they would probably try to hunt me down, I also couldn’t fight my way through without indirectly hurting my savior by harming her kin. So I did what I wanted to do the very least.
Slowing my pace to a walk, I waved towards the two guardsmen. They were cautious, but stopped shouting. As I approached they tensed and I saw them reach for their swords at their hips. Three other guards suddenly appeared in the gateway, having gathered themselves to meet whatever intruder startled the gatesmen. “Stop!” called a feminine guard with a red plume decorated onto the left of their breastplate. I did. I stopped dead in my tracks. Did I just understand them? I questioned myself. The guards seemed almost as surprised as I was, probably not thinking I would listen to them. “Approach slowly outsider.” Said the same guard, somehow still I understood them. I did as she demanded, almost entranced by the guard’s knowledge of my language.
Yet as I slowly approached, a whisper began echoing in my head. Not a word of power, or magic begging to be used, but like the echo of a thought that wasn’t mine. The book… It will protect you… It guards knowledge, and I unlock this vault so that you may join us one day… The echoing thought felt familiar, the voice of the ethereal words seemed almost to belong to the rusted knight but without the strange speaking mannerism. As I came closer, the book then began to beg in its telling way. The book asked to be used, and from my mind’s eye I could see words etching into the pages without even looking: Disguise, conceal thy true nature.
No other words spoke to me, the whispers of magic were quiet, but the book’s new phrase bore a tantalizing opportunity. I had an inclination of what it meant, what the effect might be, I seemed to unconsciously understand what the magic would do now where before I could only guess by the name. I needed to hide myself, my face, from these people to enter the city and see my savior, I needed to be someone else. I whispered the words, I evoked the charm, and I envisioned the rusted knight in their youth as what I imagined was a fit young man. The magic took hold, and I felt it wash over me in an invisible wave.
The guards at the gate were cautious, understandably so. Whispering to each other after I approached and stood a spear-thrust’s away. The light of the torches barely reached me, illuminating only the barest of features from my hooded robes and basic outline. I likely appeared as a weary traveler, a wandering mage, a ragged soul. The leader of the group, the feminine guard with the plume on her chest, spoke to me, “What purpose do you have here?”
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“I simply seek refuge for a time…” I quietly returned, my voice had lost its crackle and was firm and bold as a slow rumble.
The guardswoman seemed almost annoyed by my reply, “I haven’t seen you before and you came out of the deepwood without a torch. Are you trying to seem suspicious?”
A guard from the back poked his head around the small group and recognition flashed in his eyes, “Captain! This is the man who saved the expedition and delivered everyone back here! I saw him escort them here personally about a week ago!”
A week ago? I thought in surprise. How could it have been a week since then, it only felt like hours… maybe a day. The revelation startled me, but the guards didn’t seem to notice. They spoke to each other in hushed words discussing the state of the survivors, all of the guards but the captain who only ignored them and glared at me. As they talked about the survivors and tried to persuade the captain, they revealed that all from the original group of some expedition were alive but many were wounded, according to the young guardsman at least. I sighed in relief, if ‘all’ of them were alive that meant my savior had survived all this time. The woman noticed my sigh, “Do you have a comment? Some remark to add to their statements?” she questioned, still plainly suspicious of me.
“I am only relieved they are all safe.” I bowed slowly, trying to seem non-threatening.
“My question for you-” she stepped closer to hover directly over my bowed head, “-is why you supposedly ran from the gates after delivering a dying woman. Not only did you run, but you refused to listen to the guards and disappeared for a week into the deepwood.”
“I apologize…” I decided to be truthful, “I have trouble understanding others at times… My language is different from yours.” I admitted.
“Strange. You speak Elvish as if you were a noble’s tutor. I find this unlikely.”
Elvish? My thoughts rang, strange… “Thank you for your compliment, but I still struggle on occasion…” I deflected her suspicion as best I could.
The woman hovered over me for a while longer. I imagined her staring daggers into the back of my bowed head. Then she decided to leave me be, suddenly turning her back to me and walking back to the gate. I released my bow, the other guardsmen looked just as nervous as I felt. The captain, this imposing woman, walked back through the gate and simply demanded, “Follow me.”
I did as I was told and began to trail behind the woman. The other guards seemed stunned for a moment before remembering their own duties. The gates were slowly closed shut behind us, and the guard captain led me into the darkened streets of the city.
We only walked a short while through the remarkably clean dirt road, walking up the main path and heading straight towards the keep of the city. The woman didn’t speak on the walk there, but occasionally glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. I didn’t mind, I knew how suspicious my situation would seem. Despite saving their people, I had apparently disappeared for a week only to turn up in the middle of the night. Not only that, I had completely ignored, to their perspective, talking to any of them or their guards until just now. I felt a strange sense of guilt bubbling back to the surface, having left my savior without any word or attempt to stay with her, the guilt increased when I realized how long I had been gone. Yet I was glad to hear she must’ve been safe.
The guard captain eventually led me to a second set of gates that entered into the city keep. The keep itself wasn’t much bigger than a doubly large noble’s house, but the exterior and interior walls connected to the structure as a linchpin in their security. The interior gates were already open, and a single guard watched the entrance. When the guard noticed the woman escorting me, he straightened in a snap to be at attention. The woman gave him a nod and he stared at stiff attention until we passed him by completely.
The keep’s yard was quite simple, a small quartyard looking mostly maintained for guardsmen drill practice. Almost the entire yard was decorated by wooden targets and odd obstacles like a miniature battlefield, weapons were arrayed near the gate on wooden stands that showed clear signs of significant use. Besides the battle-worn quartyard, the doors to the keep itself were quite small and more like a normal house’s entrance. A short stair led up to the doors, and the woman quickly swung them open. As the two of them entered into a greeting room and then into a hallway thereafter she said, without looking back, “If you make a single sound that seems like magic, or twitch in the wrong way, I will kill you.”
I didn’t expect hospitality, but to be greeted with such suspicion so quickly disheartened me a little. I wasn’t sure where we were heading, but I knew better than to talk back or try to disappear from sight. We stopped in front of a new door; having walked through a short hallway left at a split from the entryway. The captain turned to glare at me one last time before opening the doors and leading me through. Standing on the other side, in a wide reception hall elegantly adorned with modest luxuries and silks, was my savior. Leaning against a window, looking out into the night sky, there stood a woman with long snow-colored hair hanging down to their waste and decorated in elegant jewelry molded like flowers intertwined into her hair delicately, a white dress that sparkled with intricate swirling flowers glittering like stars in the torchlight, as a diligent maid waited next to her. Like I had never seen her before, but unmistakably her regardless, my savior stared out into the darkness of the night with worry. The captain announced, “My lady, princess A’seri. I have brought the man you were looking for.”