I saw the light coming down as we were approaching. Tia and I got close enough just in time for our ears to pick up everything from the moment Eirlathion tried to hand the boys over. Tia got angry, and I wound up having to hold her back. I’m quite sure she could have overpowered me if she wanted to, but the shock of hearing the conversation in English that started up afterward was enough to shock us both into calmly listening for a while to see what happened.
I almost wanted to kick myself as I realized how easily we were able to hide from them as we approached. We could have easily just continued on running without being noticed, right? It wouldn’t have even mattered that they were in a grid search. I had panicked. But I had felt some pretty strong sense telling me urgently we would be able to reason with this guy and it was actually better to go back. Seems my sense was right on the money seeing as how he’s actually from Earth like us.
A great fairy who is actually reincarnated from someone on Earth. According to what Eirlathion had told us, Tia and I ought to have wound up exactly like him. So, I could have been a fairy with my former 60 year old male body instead of being reborn as an elven girl. I have to admit, that would have made a lot of things a whole lot easier.
We hunkered down just at the edge of the area still covered in shadow as we listened to the conversation. The notion that this was Samarael’s “savior” kept annoyingly nagging me in the back of my mind the whole time, but I felt it was better to sit back and listen anyway. It wasn’t until I heard him actually mention talking to an angel that I decided to come out, if only to correct the notion of that thing actually being an angel. Samarael had not really done anything overt yet, but there is nothing angelic about the way my skin crawls whenever that creature is near.
“So, that really was it after all. I suppose that means you are this ‘savior’ who that creature arranged for us.”
Everyone’s head turned to face me as I made my entrance back onto the scene, and my eyes were locked on the fairy man.
He scratched the back of his head with an uncomfortable look.
“Ahh… well, I don’t know about any of that. You are the other two then?” He asked.
“Yes, the four of us would be the ones that message referred to. Can you give us any information on the objective of ‘the queen’s forces’ in ‘pursuing’ us?”
He glanced over us. “That dragon leading this thing said the village magus had stolen two highly powerful humans from the village. His orders were to slay the grey elves they were attached to and to retrieve the humans as they could be a powerful aid to the kingdom’s efforts.”
“Hah!” Rolwen scoffed.
“Wow! It’s exactly like Asaren told us!” Levin said.
“Not quite.” I corrected him. “I didn’t realize the real objective was the two of you. However, it seems someone here was very aware of that part and chose not to tell me.” I said, giving Eirlathion a glance. He looked perfectly lost as he was unable to follow a single word of the conversation.
“Hmm…” Rolwen mused. “Yeah, now that you mention it, the very first thing he did was try to hand us over.”
Eirlathion seemed very aware that the attention was suddenly on him, and it was certainly making him uncomfortable.
He coughed nervously. [Umm… Asaren? I’m sorry, can you please tell me what is going on?]
[We were discussing how you tried to give Levin and Rolwen to this man. I am going to guess at your motive for this. You were aware that the boys were the true reason we were being cased. So, you hoped if you surrendered them that the rest of us would have the chance to break away as they would put efforts into bringing them back and lighten the search for me and Tia.]
Eirlathion staggered a little uneasily when he heard my assessment of his thoughts and seemed to look even more uncomfortable.
[Well, that is. Something like that, yes. But I did not know the importance the boys held or the reason behind the spiritual strength they had before. I… I am sorry about concealing my intentions from you, but you can be certain I will not try something like that again now that this man of the ether has appeared.]
Stolen novel; please report.
I raised an eyebrow. He seemed pretty rattled. He was not making any sense at all. “Uhh… did you two say something weird to him while Tia and I were away?” I asked the boys.
“Uhh… noooo?” Levin said.
“We didn’t even say a damn word till this guy dropped out of the sky.” Rolwen said.
I sighed. “Great. Well, the bad news is that Mr. Eirlathion seems to have pulled some kind of mistaken impression from somewhere and, given the present situation, I do not think I have the time to sort out whatever it is. The good news is, assuming our new arrival is in alignment with our goal of getting safely out of this forest, I do not think he will be any sort of liability to us.”
The fairy man suddenly had a very exhausted look on his face and rubbed his eyes.
“Goood daaaamn.” He muttered when he realized his motion had caught our attention. “I’m getting fucking vertigo just watching you lot talking like that. Knowing you have adult intelligence in those little two and three year old bodies is one thing. Actually hearing you talk like adults in those bodies though… damn! It just seems, well…. WRONG!”
“Stop acting like that!” Tia barked at him as he was pacing around in his agitation. “Your actions are making our parents nervous. They cannot understand your words, so they seem to be assuming the worst. You have extraordinary power now compared to the locals of this world. You have to be mindful of what your actions are doing to others.”
She scolded him. Indeed, Eirlathion and our mother were watching the fairy man like they were fearing an approaching storm, cringing at every strong exclamation and agitated gesture he made as they did not understand the actual words he was saying.
Leave it to a former goddess to have that be the first thing her mind would realize. But wait, didn’t she say something strange just there? Did she just say, ‘our parents?’ As in, plural?
The fairy man stopped in his tracks at the scolding and looked over to mother and Eirlathion with an apologetic face.
“Uhh… yeah. Sorry about that.” He said as he looked down at Tia. “Uhh… could you please apologize to them for me?”
“Sure.” Tia said politely and turned on her heel. [This man would like to apologize for scaring you two. He was not aware of how the actions he did affected you two because you didn’t know what he was saying.]
[Ahh… yes, that’s quite alright… umm… what WAS he angry about?] He asked.
[Well…] Tia shot me a look. “We probably shouldn’t tell them he was confused about us being so intelligent for our age if this is supposed to be normal here.” She said.
So, I guess that means I’m the one on cue to come up with a good lie, huh?
[He was surprised that humans and elven children retained memories from a past life.] I said and gave Tia a strong look. After all, it was supposed to be an ability only normal with fairies.
[Ahh…] Eirlathion responded. [So, the boys really did retain memories. I thought so. Why didn’t you…] He suddenly glanced up at the fairy man and then back down to me as he suddenly seemed to have second thoughts about grilling me on this. [But… yes. That is very strange. Not just you but the boys too. But… knowing they retained memories as well explains a lot of things. Was he… at all agitated they were in the form of humans? Is this Ok? Is he at all displeased they are the birthmates of you two?]
[Nothing is wrong with any of that.] I told him.
[Alright. But, be careful not to anger him.] Eirlathion said.
Right. I don’t think it’s anywhere near as much of an issue as he thinks it is, but I guess his behavior is appropriate if he thinks this guy is… wait, what DOES he think this guy is? Why the hell is he just accepting this situation? By all rights, he shouldn’t be. He should think this guy is here to capture us or something. Why didn’t he even raise an issue to the prospect I raised that he might be here to help us get out?
This is all just too much to sort out right now. Also, I do not think I have the ability to give him the assurances he needs. It would be so much easier if we just told him everything about Earth back in the freaking village.
I sighed. “Hey, what does everyone say to filling Eirlathion in on the whole Earth thing once we get to a safer place?” I asked.
“That’s probably a good idea.” Levin agreed.
“That’s a good idea specifically because nobody ever does it in web novels.” Rolwen commented.
I think that I will take Rolwen’s comment as a yes.
Alright. Time to get down to actual business. But first, a round of introductions. Can’t keep calling our fellow Earthling here ‘this guy’ or ‘the fairy guy.’
“Well then. My name is Asaren. My sister here is Tiaren. That’s Levin and Rolwen over there who you’ve already met. Our mother’s name is Kiriia, and Eirlathion is the magus of our village and has been raising us like a father. Well, I think Tia just decided to officially adopt him as our father though.” I gave her a smile. “Oh yes, you can call us Asa and Tia for short. So, what’s your name?”
“Ah, are those all names of this world?” The man asked and then shook his head. “Ah, sorry. It’s just… Ok, well… my name is Mathew. Mathew Adderson. Friends call me Terry though. I don’t suppose any of you have last names here since you’re using your names from this world, huh? I haven’t heard of anyone in this world having a last name anyway.”
“Well Mr. Adderson.” I said. “This moment of levity has been a nice distraction, but I think we both know that we are in a pretty serious situation and should probably start making a plan.”
Suddenly, Mr. Adderson’s face seemed to melt and that awkward smile faded into a stony and serious expression. It was almost like a light-switch flipped and suddenly he looked like an entirely different person.
“Yes, yes it is.” He said. “Let’s start off by asking all of you your age and occupation from back on Earth and if any of you have any kind of training relevant to this situation or any kind of medical, military, or emergency services background. I need to know what capabilities everyone here has if we’re gonna get you all out of this alive.”