Jack woke with a start at the hand over his mouth. He stared up at the woman who had a finger to her lips. She was an older lady -- regal -- smelled nice, too -- and he sat up against the wall, his hands pulled up against his chest as if he held a blanket.
"Who are you?" he breathlessly asked, his eyes flicking over to Fi. She was asleep, and she didn't seem to have noticed the woman who had come in. And what of her brothers?
Suddenly, Goose honked raucously, loud enough that Jack jumped in his spot.
Straightening, her eyes moved swiftly from the boy to the bird and narrowed, "Oh, stop all that noise, Erigor. You'll wake the poor girl."
Turning back to Jack, the woman smiled gently, with a shake of her head, "I'm not here to harm you, Jack. My name is Aladria... and I need your help."
Jack perked up at the mention of needing help. Yes, so many people needed his help these days, and he was more than happy to give it! Jack nodded emphatically, putting his entire trust in the woman.
Goose, however, seemed less impressed, making a hissing noise that could have been mistaken for a hiss. He fluffed his wings and stuck his golden bill under his wing, going back to sleep -- though he kept an eye open.
Crouching down again, the smile softening a little, Aladria looked out of the hut at the girl, still fast asleep on the ground, "She's a very special girl, Jack. I think you might have guessed as much. Uncommonly kind... Like her mother. The woman who did this to her brothers, she was a horrid creature, twisted by bitterness and jealousy. Fiora has done so much to try and break the curse, but I'm afraid she'll find it much more difficult now that my step daughter knows of her existence. I can help you... I can help her, but first I need you to convince Fiora to come to the mountain. Fool's Mountain. You cannot tell her why... She must come of her own accord. Do you understand, Jack?"
Jack frowned, trying to process the instructions he'd been given. He wasn't particularly good at instructions, if he was honest, and sometimes it took a couple times for him to get it.
"W...What?" he finally said. "But... why? Shouldn't I just tell her you just want her to come over to the Fool's Mountain 'n she'll come with? Why's she not got to know?"
Jack scratched his face with perplexity.
"How do I explain all 'at to her?"
"Because, understandably, Fiora doesn't trust magic. But she does trust you, Jack. She's quite fond of you... And if you tell her that's where you need to go, she'll follow."
Shaking her head, she smiled pleasantly, if not a bit dryly, "I realize I'm a stranger, and I've given you no cause to trust me, either... But I need your help and I believe you can do this. And if it makes things any easier... Your dear Goose friend knows well enough who I am..."
Jack whipped his head to look at Goose, who was still fast asleep on Fi's bed. Just as Jack looked back Aladria, the gander's tail wagged every so slightly as an eye opened to stare at the woman before closing.
"I... I guess I could do that... But
why? Ain't no one followed us. We're safe here, aren't we?" Jack asked, still quite befuddled. He would have never thought to move from this place, not if it seemed safe. If it weren't for Goose's needling, Jack would have long ago stopped at one of the many towns they'd spent the night at to while his days away playing his lute and trying to get a hold of people's apples out their orchards.
"If the queen knows who Fiora is... If she even suspects, then no. She isn't safe. Not remotely. You need to move quickly, Jack. As soon as I'm gone... wake her and leave. Promise me you'll do this... Please?"
Jack hesitated but finally he nodded. That was right. The queen had seen them and then there had been that moment where Fi had wanted to leave so badly, and now look where they were?
"But what's the queen gotta do with Fi?" Jack asked, still full of questions. "I mean-- I'll do what you say! I just... I wanna know. And I wanna tell Fi if she asks, cuz I'm kind of..."
Jack knocked on his head with a chagrined look to indicate his wooden head.
"Like hell you are, young man. Perhaps you're not bright like some people... But I would bet my left arm you're still smarter than most in very many ways. All the ways that count..."
Looking to Fi, she considered silently for a moment, then nodded, "Very well. I suppose I can give you the short of it. Fiora is my niece, Jack... And poses a very real threat to usurp Eirlys's rule...Now you understand why we must keep her safe, Dear Heart?"
Jack stared, open-mouthed, before shaking his head numbly. Eirlys? Rule? Usurp? These were words not particularly well used in Jack's vocabulary, and it was perhaps apparent. While he was flattered that she thought him smart in the ways that counted -- whatever those ways were -- but he definitely was not in the loop here.
"But I... understand that Fi is important. And this queen lady doesn't like her. Will she... hurt Fi?" Jack asked, lowering his voice to a whisper as he looked over to the sleeping girl.
"If she can, Jack... she'll kill her." Shaking her head, Aladria moved closer to the entrace, "I must go... I can't risk being seen. Please, be careful. Goose knows the way..."
Jack's eyes widened and he hissed, "Wait!"
He grabbed a hold of her hand for a moment, and his eyes seemed to plead silently to the woman who was leaving such a burden on his shoulders. He was just a fool from Renloth. How could he protect a girl from an entire kingdom?
"...Is there nothing you can give us to help us? I... I have no weapons, and I... I'm not clever or-or-or bold or good at much."
Covering his hand, Aladria nodded, "Yes... I do suppose it's a bit of a burden I've given you. Fair enough." Stepping back, she pulled a chain from around her neck, at the end of which was a round amulet. Slipping it off, she held it out to Jack.
"It's old magic... And it won't work for long on an ordinary man, but it will protect you long enough to reach the mountain ... If you leave today. You cannot tarry, Jack."
Cupping his chin, she leaned down to kiss his forehead, "You are so much better more than you realize. Remember that and take care not to lose heart. Goodbye." There was a snap, like leather slapping hide and with a small burst of wind, Aladria vanished.
Jack jolted at the sudden sound as the woman -- Aladdin? A Lad? Aldia? -- disappeared without a trace, leaving him with just the amulet in hand. He stared at the amulet, the piece of jewelry glinting in the newborn morning light.
If they were in danger, they needed to leave. He jostled Goose awake, barely avoiding a peck, before going over to Fi.
She looked so much more relaxed in sleep, and he hated to wake her. There was a part of him that realized that she was more than just beautiful -- her heart was full of selflessness, but it was also tired, broken by the world around her. Had he been a wiser man, he would have noted that she seemed so much more herself now because she was no longer thinking of the worries life had burdened her with. Alas, he was not a wise man, and so he merely wondered.
Finally, he shook her shoulder gently, saying, "Fi... Fi. We've got to get up and go. There was a lady here who gave me this to protect us and said we've got to make a way to Renloth. It...It isn't safe here. She told me that Goose knows how to get back."
Fi woke with a start at the sudden jostling, Jack's flurried speech entering her foggy mind like a lead weight. As she tried to disect it into anything that made sense, she sat up, running her hands over her face.
Finally, giving it up for loss, but trusting it was all important nonetheless, she nodded and made to her feet.
"Oh! Here. You should probably wear this," Jack said, putting the amulet around her neck. "Goose, where are we going?"
The foul fowl honked and threw it's head back before taking off into the air.
"Is there anything you gotta take with you? I don't....I lost it all," Jack said, shrugging his shoulders.
Blinking, Fiora looked to the hut, to a small patch of grass by the lake, where her brothers lay sleeping. Her life, in one small, simple hovel.
And there was a chance she'd never see it again.
As Jack slid the necklace over her head she turned back to him with a small start, catching his hands, her head shaking in protest.
'You...' she mouthed.
"What about me? I was asking you! Silly," Jack laughed as Fi held his hands.
He looked over his shoulder to the lake and hut, frowning.
"Too bad we gotta leave. This is a nice place."
Shaking her head again, Fiora gestured to the necklace, then to Jack. It had been given to him. To protect him... That much she had understood, in all his wild explaining. That much was clear, even if nothing else made much sense.
"Are you sure? I'm getting tired..." Jack sighed, exaggeratedly leaning forward. He looked ahead to the cart that was about to pass them by, but he obediently let it go. The farmer with the cart waved to them congenially, and Jack waved back.
Frowning softly, she watched the cart go by. If she were wrong... if she made the wrong decision...
But he had been traveling with her for so long, without complaint, and if the just rested for a while.
Biting her lip, she gave the cart a glance again, the man waving to them, and nodded, she gestured to it.
Jack smiled and bounded back towards the man, and there was a wild gesticulation of gestures. The man shrugged his shoulders and patted his cart.
"He says he's headed towards Renloth! Maybe we'll get to see my family!" Jack said excitedly as he ran back to Fi. "He said he can take us as far as Derryworth, seeing as he was originally headed to Brighthedge, but he told me it's not too out of the way."
She considered it, for a moment, and the twisting sensation in her stomach made the decision all the more difficult to make, but after a breath, and a glance at Jack's hopeful expression she managed a small smile and nodded, following the boy to the cart.
Jack happily hopped onto the cart, scootching over to give the girl a seat. The driver smiled at them, and Jack smiled back.
"Long way to walk, Renloth. Anywhere in particular?" the driver asked curiously after starting up the cart.
As she settled beside him, Fiora looked to Jack with a weary shrug. There was no sense in keeping their destination from the driver - though he was sure to find them both mad. Fool's Mountain was so named for a reason...
"Fool's Mountain," Jack said after seeing a nod from Fi.
The driver looked over at the two with surprise. His eyebrows flew to the brim of his wide hat, and he looked back forward with several nods.
"Well... bold, are you?"
"Nah, I've family there," Jack said brightly, oblivious to the fact he'd actually provided a real alibi for their trek.
"Oh! You two married then?" the man asked with a glint in his eye and a jab, and Jack professed, "Oh! No, no, no, no, I'm not, sir, she's too good for me, you know, I'm just a... just visiting family. And she's coming along. We're--"
What to say? What to say? Jack was no liar.
"--friends. Good friends," Jack said glancing at her with a smile.
Her skin tinged pink, Fiora's expression brightened as she shook her head. Too good. He was the absolite epitome of too good... and he had absolutely no idea how charming he was.
'good friends', her mouth moved, confidently confirming his suggestion.
The farmer nodded his head sagely, with a knowing smile at Fi, raising his eyebrows. Jack remained oblivious though, instead considering the farmer quite polite for not pressing any further and in fact nodding along with them.
The rest of the ride was pleasant, and rather quiet, though Jack managed to keep a mostly one-sided conversation with the farmer, who seemed to be quickly losing steam the longer Jack talked. In these conversations Jack had thus stated that roads were actually built by fairies (because Tegan told him so) and that the moon was indeed a massive cheese wheel launched into the sky (because his mother told him so) and that ganders can lay eggs (because Goose sat on an egg once).
@Doctor Jax
The cart came to a rest outside of the small cottage, and from the doorway, Elerton Rey poked out his head, his expression rolling into a frown at the sight of his daughter, rumpled and dirty, her own face bearing a look of concern that spoke of trouble, "I couldn't leave him, Papa…"
A brow lifted and Elerton stopped in his tracks, but as he did, Nicolette Rey pulled back the blankets in the cart behind her to reveal the prone form of an unconscious man. Looking him over, even at a distance, Elerton felt his chest tightened, "He's a soldier, Nicolette. One of hers, from the looks of it. What were you thinking, bringing him here??"
Slipping down from the cart, Nicolette shook her head, moving to the back of the cart, "He's hurt! Pretty badly… Papa.I know the risk, but he... he would have died."
Making a face, somewhere between amusement and reservation, he sidled up beside her, "Nick… You are too good for this world. And someday, I worry it will lead you to more trouble than you'll know what to do with. How did you even get him into the cart?"
"Amos helped." Nicolette confessed, her cheeks tinged pink.
Elerton shook his head, "Of course, he did. Come on, then. Let's get him into the house."
It was a project, certainly, for Elerton was more advanced in years than Amos Brigsby, and Nicolette was a wisp of a thing, but after roughly ten minutes, they managed to situation the man on a bed and get him out of his armor and shift. As Elerton saw to cleaning up the cart, Nicolette set to work cleaning up the most visible wounds. It wasn't deep, but he was covered in other scrapes and bruises, and it was a painstaking process, removing all of the thorns that had stuck into his skin.
He was handsome… Easily more handsome than any man she had met before, even marred the way he was, but he was a soldier, and that… that made him considerably more dangerous than she had initially thought.
Frowning, she reached out and brushed the hair from his brow, "Who are you, I wonder…"
@BearEnthusiast (Harrison)