I couldn’t recall ever stepping in a fae circle, but then, that’s how they catch you off guard. Always so inconspicuous.

“Well?” I challenged. “What do you want for our freedom?”

Aleck’s eyes widened and he rapidly shook his head, placing his finger to his mouth.

The noble slammed his hand against the side of the cart, his head resting over the wall. Do not speak, he mouthed. The action had clearly drained him, as he collapsed back into the cart.

As I stared at the scene, I heard a giggle, and darted my head around.

“Oh, joyous! I wondered how long it would take you to notice,” a light voice sounded.

There was a pop in front of me, and all of a sudden there was a tiny pink feminine figure floating in front of me, wings buzzing behind it like a heartbeat. Sparkles lit up the dim light of the morning sun.

The creature’s face rested just in front of my eye.

I fell back, startled by its sudden appearance.

“Well, for starters, you can take all that nasty iron off,” the creature requested.

I gulped, wanting to protest, but heeded the warnings of my compatriots. Aleck nodded, taking off his boots and gauntlets. His sword fell to the earth.

I followed suit, crouching to tear off my boots, and unhooking the spear from the makeshift belt along my back with great difficulty.

The fae’s gaze lingered on my gauntlet.

I stared at it, and looked to my right, where I had a very distinct lack of an arm to take the gauntlet off.

The fae gestured to continue.

I looked to Aleck, offering my arm to him. He held his hands up in defense.

“No. I told you to take it off,” the tiny sprite warned. “Yourself.”

I looked in confusion as I eventually relented. Bringing the gauntlet up to my mouth, I unclasped it with my teeth and wiggled my arm until it fell.

I made a sweeping gesture, as though I were putting on a show.

The fae giggled.

“As for allowing you to leave… well, I suppose we do stand at a crossroads,” the fae began. “You see, I was specifically requested to delay any travelers coming south.”

The wizard. My eyes tensed.

“Though I have been longing for a conversation. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to part with some of your time?” it offered.

“We accept,” I said without hesitation. Simply delaying travel a bit for a conversation? That wasn’t so bad. The whims of the fae were fickle, and I had to accept before it changed its mind.

“NO!” Aleck screamed. “YOU F–”

###

I awoke with a pounding headache, and positively starved. It felt like I had gone a whole day without food.

I looked up.

Stars glittered in the light of the night sky.

Ah, tits.

Aleck was already awake, glaring at me with arms crossed.

“...Some time has passed,” I presumed.

“‘Some time has passed,’ he says,” Aleck growled. “No bloody tits, some time has passed!”

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I looked at the cart, hearing loud snoring. “At least prince charming is still asleep.”

“Which means we’re going to need to feed him,” Aleck complained. “Manually!” he continued, waving his arms around in anger.

I grimaced, beginning to stand up.

I felt a bit of surprise at the realization that there was a compass in my hand. Along the needle, tiny, scribbled words read, “Seek, and ye shall be led.” It didn’t seem to point where I thought north was. I took a step to where I thought south should be…

…and the compass turned, just slightly, in what seemed like an entirely random direction.

Damn fae.

I sighed, picking up my boots–

“Fuck!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. My hand burned with pain as it shot away from the iron boots.

“Stupid fae magic,” Aleck muttered as he stopped reaching for his own boots, just as he was about to touch them. “There is some good, at least. Fae are tricksters, and right arses, but they are nothing if not at least a bit fair. That compass should take us on a route faster than walking normally would have, though we’ve still lost a day of travel.”

“Fae magic?” I assumed.

“Fae magic,” the man confirmed. “It’s rare a faerie would leave one with a trinket. Luck has found us today, despite our circumstances.” He jumped into the cart, took two loaves of bread, and handed one to me.

I tore into it with a satisfying crunch, pocketing the compass.

The two of us chewed in relative silence, keeping a heavy distance from our iron tools. I silently hoped that wouldn’t last long.

Once we had finished, we entered the cart and smushed bread into a pulp, slowly dripping it into the noble’s mouth.

We left the cart, ready to push, and I handed the compass to Aleck. He had two hands, after all.

Except that the moment it touched him, the compass burned Aleck’s skin, clattering to the floor.

He frowned, looking at me.

I picked it up, sighed, and placed the back of my shoulder against the cart so I could push it while holding the compass.

This would be difficult.

###

Eventually, the noble had finally awoken.

“You are a fool,” he uttered. “A bit of our time, yes, a full damned day was taken!” He fell backwards, back into the cart. He had begun to regain some movement, but it was still difficult for him to move around much. “Ugh, and this wretched curse. I am not used to such… limited mobility.”

“Yes, yes, superior upbringing and whatnot,” Aleck quoted. “We get it.”

“I should have you cut down for your disrespect,” the noble bit.

“With what?” I laughed. “I have no blade to execute him with, even if I were to listen to you.”

“We could find a… a particularly sharp stick,” the noble offered.

I barked in laughter. “And somehow I am the fool.”

The noble sighed.

With the noble – his name was Beathan, Aleck had whispered to me when he realized I had forgotten it – awake and slowly regaining control of his body, he was eventually able to begin helping us push.

His contribution was meager, but he insisted that without the curse he would be much stronger, despite his lanky build. He claimed that it was unlikely that any of the other soldiers had even begun to regain control of their bodies yet, though neither Aleck nor I could know the validity of that statement.

“I wish we could find that damn wizard, and show her our might,” Beathan muttered. Despite knowing it'd be impossible to succeed, a part of me wished to find the wizard as well, and take her into custody just to get a bit of vengeance.

I missed my arm.

“What might? There were fifty of us, and we all fell,” Aleck replied. “Compass check?”

We all stopped, Beathan sighing in dejection, as I took my hand off the cart to take the compass out of my pocket. “Tits. We must have walked too far in this direction. It's pointed somewhere entirely different now.”

Beathan groaned. “Perhaps you should just sit in the cart so you can monitor it more closely.”

“And leave me to push the cart by myself?” Aleck asked.

“I'm pushing too,” Beathan rebutted.

We both stayed silent at that.

“Well… there is some truth to what you say,” Aleck began. “We can't keep missing the compass’ turns. We'll get lost again. Ewan, why don't you get on the cart?”

I nodded my head and, with some effort, climbed onto the flooring. With a heavy sigh, I laid my back against sacks of food and held the compass in my hand. Then, I pointed in the direction it demanded we travel.

Stupid fae magic.

###

After another day of travel, and several breaks for Aleck, we had made some stark headway. I recognized several points we had crossed through on the way to the wizard, and we were blazing through them with incredible speed. It would still be several days of travel, but perhaps half as many as we would have initially taken.

The faerie may have been ordered to delay us, but it seemed to scorn its master just enough to only technically meet those terms. And the compass truly was a boon, allowing us to travel so fast, though if it only led to Evansmoor, and it could only be used by me, then it would see limited use.

While I stood, ready to hop back into the cart, I fidgeted the compass around in my hand, its needle remaining still. “I think we're close. It hasn't moved an inch.” I looked around. “But the forest isn't thinning at all. We should still have days of travel.”

“And you still do,” a familiar voice intoned. “But it seems you were not led to your beloved city. You were led to me.”

A chill ran down my spine.

“Kneel.”

Kneel.

The three of us knelt.

The wizard stood before us, leaning on a long staff.

She scowled. “Damn fae.”