Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety-Six - The Unnatural Power of Love

Awen and I looked at each other, then turned towards Sir Aberrforth. "So, uh, how are your wrists?"

The older gentleman laughed and shook his hands out. "Well enough! It's nice to have blood in my hands once more, I worried that they might fall off, sooner or later."

"That's kind of concerning," I said.

"Bah! I'd show my dear Laine my devotion, hands or no!"

"Uh, alrighty then," I said. Awen shared a small, clueless shrug with me. She didn't know what was going on with this guy any more than I did, it seemed.

Sir Aberrforth didn't seem like the kind of person that was in any way easy to understand. What was a little weird was his obsession and the degree he was going for it.

Laine didn't seem like the sort to ensorcel someone. If she did, I think she'd use it to tell Sir Aberrforth to buzz off before anything else.

"Have you ever fallen in love like this before?" I asked.

"Oh, several times!" he said.

"Ah," I replied. "And was it always this... bad?"

"If by 'bad,' you mean has the aching longing of love in my heart? Then no, this love exceeds all the others, Laine is truly the most special of them all."

"Uh-huh," I said. "So it never worked out with any of the others?"

"Alas! Those I have fallen for have oft told me that my love is too great," he said.

"Love certainly can be ... overwhelming," I said. "Maybe we can work something out? I mean, I don't mean to brag, but I'm something of an expert at love making."

"Awa?" Awen awa'd.

"I love all of my friends, and they love me back, I think!" I nodded. "So you could say that I'm an expert at creating love!"

"Broccoli, I don't think, um... oh, nevermind."

Laine returned then, dressed in a set of robes and holding a bag under one arm. Her staff was gone, replaced by a walking stick. "So," she said, looking a bit crosser than before, "You intend to help Aberrforth's men?"

"Um, yes?" I replied.

"Good. They can escort him back to his guild and he'll be out of my hair. I'll come along to keep an eye on things and to ensure that he doesn't try and do anything stupid."

"That's good, I think," I said. "I'm not really sure what to do with Sir Aberrforth here. He seems, um, set in his ways."

"He's an idiot," Laine said.

I bit my lip. It was true that Sir Aberrforth didn't seem ... rational ... but calling him an idiot was a bit mean.

Awen cleared her throat. "Shall we get going, then?"

"Actually, two things. First, what's in that cave? You panicked a little when he mentioned it," I said.

"Ah," Laine said. "This place used to be a small town. There was a cave nearby, and the village was a sort of staging area for adventurers to go in and bring out the ore." She gestured past her garden and to a small rock wall. "That used to be a home. That over there, the mound? That was an inn, and that one," she said, pointing to a large flat stone, "was a communal oven."

"Was it a grenoil village?" I asked.

"No," was all she said. "It was human, long before the grenoil moved out of their marshes. But it doesn't matter. It and its neighbours are gone now."

"Oh," I said. "You still haven't said what's in the cave."

"The town had a problem with some monsters in the mines. Some brave young souls went down into the mines and didn't come back, then some went after the first ones, and more, until there were too many missing and the mines were closed."

"And now the cave has something living in it," I said.

"I think there's been something living in that cave from the very beginning," Laine said. "What was that second thing? I don't want to linger."

"Uh, sure. The second thing is, well, I was wondering when it would be a good time to mention that Awen and I didn't come here alone?"

Laine scowled at me, then gestured in a small circle with her walking stick. I felt something blow past me, like a subtle wind, but more. If I hadn't been practising with magic so much, I wouldn't have noticed it at all. She huffed. "You can come out now!" she called out towards the forest.

I turned that way too. "Uh, it's safe!" I said before waving. "She's actually kinda nice!"

Calamity stepped out first, hand on the shaft of his bow, but he hadn't nocked an arrow. Then Amaryllis and Desiree followed him out of the brush. They were a whole lot noisier than the catboy. "Hello!" Calamity said.

"Why are so many people invading my corner of the woods today?" Laine asked. "How did you even find my place?"

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"We asked some pixies," I said.

Her eye twitched, just a smidge, and her mouth pursed. "Those little devils," she grumbled.

"Oh, you know them?"

"Unfortunately. They're pests," she said.

"Well, I think they're adorable," I said.

"I question your taste," she muttered.

Amaryllis huffed, a very 'yeah me too' kind of huff. "A pleasure to meet you," she said. "I'm Amaryllis, this is Desiree. I've been eyeing your spellwork on those effigies. It's pretty intricate."

Laine's response was a noncommittal grunt. "Are we going to do anything about Aberrforth's team, or not?"

"Of course," I said.

Sir Aberrforth stepped forward. "If it's alright with you, my dear Laine, I'd like to accompany our little rescue party. If my team is in danger, then I'd rather not delay. And if harm were to befall you, my dear, it would wound me more than anything."

"Please stop calling me that," she said. "We're not... ugh, whatever. You're a grown man. Come or don't, but try not to get in the way."

Laine spun around and stomped off, leaving the rest of us to catch up. Calamity sidled up next to me pretty quickly. "So, what's with the witch?" he asked with a gesture towards Laine. "And the old man?"

"Love," I said.

He chuckled. "What, really?"

"Yep," I said. "It's pretty intense, and pretty one-sided. I, uh, think that Sir Aberrforth is... nice, but maybe not the best at romance?"

Amaryllis gave the man a look. "Well, whatever. We can drag him kicking and screaming before Mathilde and he can explain himself to her later." Judging by his wince, he wasn't fond of that idea. "In the meantime, did she say anything about where we're going?"

"Oh, right! We're going to a cave! Sir Aberrforth sent his team that way earlier. Miss Laine seems to think that the place is either cursed, or dangerous, or where a monster lives? Actually, she wasn't terribly specific except to say that it was dangerous."

Laine stopped on the edge of the clearing behind her home, then raised her walking stick and thumped it on the ground a few times. There was a rustle that ran through all the trees and all the plants in her garden. "What we find in those caverns might not be any sort of joke, child."

"Child?" I asked. "I mean, I'm still young, but I'm not a child. Besides, you're still pretty young-looking too!" My mom always liked it when I said she looked young, besides, Laine looked about mom-aged.

She sniffed. "I take care of myself," she said.

"Oh, you do, truly, your countenance is most mag--" Sir Aberrforth cut himself off as Calamity touched his shoulder and shook his head.

"So, do you think the thing in the cave is undead?" I asked as I bounced ahead and caught up with Laine. "I sure hope so, that'd make things easier."

"You think fighting the undead is easy?" Laine asked sceptically.

I nodded. "Yup! Much easier than the not-undead. Uh, the living, I guess. Unless they're undead who can think and feel, which is a whole different thing."

Laine eyed me.

"What?"

"You're not lying. Not even a little bit," she said.

"Of course not. I'd never lie about undead, they're super interesting! Honestly, ideally, you can befriend undead; they make great friends! I made friends with a skull once, you know? He was a bard... before he was a skull. Well, actually, he probably had a skull as a bard and even before that, but... uh, I'm getting ahead of myself, I think."

Laine stopped, and the others behind her nearly ran into each other trying not to bump into the back of the line. The witch had pinned me with an intense, owlish expression. "Are you insane?"

"If I were, would it matter?"

"Awa, I think Broccoli is... well, Broccoli. She's hard to describe, but I think she's fine."

"Thanks Awen! I don't think I'm that hard to describe, though. I'm just friendly, right?"

Awen pointedly glanced away, refusing to meet my eyes.

I pouted. "Hey, I am just friendly, right? I'm not weird, right?"

Amaryllis snorted.

I whirled toward her. "Not you too, Amaryllis! You're one of my oldest and best friends! You can tell them the truth, about how I'm super friendly!"

She turned away, shoulders shaking. Was ... was she holding back laughter???

I crossed my arms and copied one of her "I'm done with this conversation" huffs. "Fine then!" I said. "Be that way! I don't need you to tell people how friendly I am!"

I smiled at Laine. "I'll prove it!"

For some reason, Laine got a nervous look on her face.

***