Chapter 2 – The Village
First thought: ow. Second thought: something’s on my leg. Third thought: I think my brain imploded.
I felt myself trembling, but not from cold. It was warm, actually, like the warm you get when you lie on the grass under the sun on a spring day…exactly like that, in fact…
“What the…!” Alye hollered, breaking into the calm. I opened my eyes, blinked, then shot up, blinking and rubbing my eyes, trying to convince myself I was hallucinating.
“Oh good lord, where are we?” Philipia groaned, pulling herself off the grass (and relieving the pressure from my leg). We all glanced around. This was NOT the library.
As far as the eye could see, green grass blanketed the ground, broken only by tall pines and other trees that formed a massive forest. I could see a few deer grazing far off. We were on a hill under a bluer sky than any I’d ever seen, with only a few puffy clouds floating around. Far in the distance, I could make out a tall, stone castle, rising above what looked like farmland. Philipia’s glasses, as well as mine, lay broken in the grass. And then I decided to look at myself.
My tomboyish side was revolted. The 1% of me that cared about clothes had a pretty similar reaction. With a tight-fitting bodice/vest/thingamajig over a long shirt and a kiltlike skirt, I looked like a Halloween joke gone wrong. Philipia and Alye wore clothes in the same style; Philipia’s was simple and brown, with green trim and golden bracelet things on her arms, but Alye’s was kind of…um…revealing? It was one of those open shirts that didn’t start until the shoulders and went a few inches down. Yeah…
Alye was freaking out, frantically pulling on the shirt while Philipia tried to stop her from tearing it off entirely. I jumped in and yanked the hysterical girl’s arms to her sides.
“Calm down, you nut!” I hissed. “This is NOT the place to go crazy!”
She gulped down a few deep breaths and stopped trying to annihilate her clothes. Finally, she relaxed.
“I repeat my question, WHERE ARE WE?!” Philipia demanded. We shrugged. I stood up and looked around, trying to see if anyone was nearby. To my joy, I spotted four dots moving towards the hill we were standing on.
“Let’s go see if those people can help us,” I suggested. The duo nodded and we trotted down the slope.
As we approached, I could make out their features. Four soldiers, dressed in mussed tunics with a few scraps of mail, walked along, with only a knife for each. They stopped as we ran up to them.
“Excuse me, don’t mean to bother you…” Philipia started, but one of the soldiers cut her off.
“And what are three fair damsels doing alone in this part of the wood?” he asked smoothly, roaming his eyes over the three of us. The others with him raised their eyebrows. One licked his lips.
“Should we not escort these ladies back to the village?” Licker said, his expression indicating he wanted to do anything but.
“Nay, first we should show them the wonders of the forest,” another replied.
We three exchanged glances. “Um, thanks, but we can probably find the village just fine by ourselves,” Alye announced.
They gave us an ugly smile and closed in around us. We bristled. Not a good situation. Philipia was trembling and we huddled together. She felt…odd…fuzzy. Must have been her shirt.
“Now then, damsels, should you cooperate, we will not harm a hair on your heads,” the guy who licked his lips told us soothingly. “But if…if…I-I-I…”
The men’s eyes were fixed on Philipia. Alye and I glanced at her.
And nearly passed out.
Philipia is not a short person, but now she was at my shoulder…and shrinking. She plopped down on all fours, and I stared as her arms and legs thickened, revealing muscles that absorbed her clothes and looked like they could swipe the head off a man. A freaking tail appeared! Her head changed and reshaped itself into a lion’s face. The soldiers backed very far away, and I didn’t blame them.
“Oh God oh God oh God,” I breathed, inching away from the creature that had been Philipia a second ago. She…it…whatever…looked at me and winked. A lion winked at me. The world was ending.
The animal then turned to the soldiers, who had drawn their knives; the little things looked like gray toothpicks. She opened her mouth and growled. When that didn’t send them running, she roared.
A shattering snarl blasted our ears and the soldiers bailed, tripping over their flung-down weapons as they disappeared into the woods. The lion grinned with satisfaction and started to change again. Limbs shrunk, the tail disappeared as the creature rose back on two legs, and the face rearranged itself to that of Philipia, clothes intact, thank God.
“Sweet!” she smiled. Alye and I gaped.
“How-how-how,” I stammered.
“I…” Philipia paused, “I don’t know. I was wishing I could make those guys go away, and the next thing I know…I’m a lion.”
Awkward silence. “So…” Alye began, “you have mystical voodoo powers?”
We walked. Mostly in silence and with great caution. We didn’t want to run into those soldiers again. Thankfully, a path was worn through the woods, with a wooden stake every few yards that marked our way. We followed the little trail without much hesitation. The only real sound was the crunching of our heavy shoes on the leaves and dirt, while small birds chirped quietly above our heads. Occasionally, a rabbit darted away with only its white fuzzy tail showing amidst the green and brown.
Gradually, the trees began to thin. I spied stumps jutting out of the ground. These reminders of human activity became more common as we continued. Finally, we broke out of the trees and brush.
A relatively large village met our eyes, with small brown huts on every street. The roads were dirt (must have been torture during storms) and a sick smell hung over everything. The people I could see were thin. Mothers kept their pale children close. The clothes people wore were little more than rags. I couldn’t see any animals, although I could spy some crops and small farmland in the distance. The largest thing in the village was an inn of yellowish-brown brick with a tattered sign in the front. A faint whiff of baking bread caught our noses. Our stomachs growled all at once.
Alye pointed toward the inn. Philipia nodded. We trotted off towards the building, breaking into the tight circle of the village. I could feel the wary eyes of people staring at us from buildings. It was not a homey place.
The Candlebar Inn was much cheerier. Parties of somewhat rowdy mud-stained villagers crowded around sticky tables. A few soldiers also had mugs of God-knows-what in their hands, which they sipped freely while goggling at the serving girls. As we entered, the inn fell silent. Every guy ran his eyes over us. We kept our heads up and headed straight for the counter.
“We’d like a room please,” Philipia asked. The innkeeper, a middle-aged man with graying blond hair, nodded without a change in expression.
“Three girls?”
“Yes.”
“One room?”
“Yes.”
“Dinner as well?”
“Yes please!” I piped up. A snicker of laughter cycled around the room. I gave a glare at the nearest man who laughed. He stopped and stared into his drained beer mug.
“That’ll be six shillings.”
Crud. We stared at each other and patted our non-existent pockets. No money = no dinner = three very peeved girls who are in a freaky situation.
The innkeeper waited impatiently. “Am I to understand that you three have no money?” It was a clearly rhetorical question.
“Um…no?” Alye whispered.
“Then no lodgings or food. Move away from the counter.”
A strange, highbred voice spoke up. “I’ll pay for it, Clance.” We turned to the source. Alye gasped.
A man, not older than eighteen, stood up from his isolated table. His dinner was the most luscious one we’d seen yet in the inn. Expensive-looking pork, beef, and other such foods were piled onto his plate. It looked like he had the contents of a barn on his table. A cup of something (tea, my nose said) dangled nonchalantly from his hand. His hair was a golden-blond and he had a pair of VERY blue eyes. I could feel Alye trembling slightly and nudged her.
The inn went dead silent when the guy spoke. The soldiers whispered and elbowed but made no other comments. The villagers were quiet, but I could feel resentment…anger…or something else wafting off them. Not at us, but at him. Fear?
He gave a smile that was particularly centered toward Alye. He advanced; Philipia and I bristled. His face grew even more charming as he approached and he gallantly kissed Alye’s hand. She nearly dropped on the floor. He held out his hand for ours but we kept our fingers to our sides and gave chilly smiles.
“Do I have the pleasure of making your acquaintance?” Geez, his voice was so cultured. It made me feel like pond scum.
“I’m Philipia. This is Alye and Tanya. We’re…just passing through but we…lost our money…on the road.”
His eyes twinkled. “Then I am glad to have been of service. Would you like to dine with me?”
Alye nearly squealed. “Please may we?” When was the last time she said please to a complete stranger? Heck, when was the last time she said please to ME?
The man led us to his table and pulled up chairs; we sat only after sweeping them clear. A serving girl came and we ordered basic stuff: bread and butter, water, things like that. Only food I’d dare eat from this village.
“So what brings you ladies to the village of Glovebern?” the guy asked.
“First,” I interrupted, “don’t mind me for being rude, but who are you?”
No anger or anything like that. “My name is Aubrey.” Girl’s name for a guy. Creepy.
The food came and we dug in. My stomach felt like an empty barrel. But we tried to avoid making slopping noises. Aubrey didn’t blink an eye as we ate. Finally, after at least two refills, we pushed our plates back and sighed.
“Thanks…” Philipia said reluctantly, “for paying for the meal.”
“You three obviously needed it.” He paused. “May I repeat my earlier question?”
I chipped in. If Philipia didn’t want us to say anything about who we were, I certainly wasn’t going to pour out our souls. “We’re travelers, looking for a new home…Our old village burnt…so…we’re going around, investigating other villages. This one is nice,” I added cheerily. “We might settle here!”
Aubrey relaxed again. Our explanations satisfied him. But he still creeped me out.
Philipia broke through the silence of our little corner (the inn had gone back to its usual bustling activity). “Again, thank you…Aubrey…for the food. And for paying for our rooms.”
He waved his hand dismissively, “Think nothing of it. It is the duty of my kind to help damsels in need.” He stood and walked over to the counter, slapping a pile of coins down on the wood. The innkeeper took them with a gruff (but respectful), “Thank you, sir,” and turned back to the beer barrels behind him. Aubrey bowed again, his gaze lingering on Alye. “Adieu, fair ladies. I hope we meet again soon.” He ducked out, the group of soldiers following him.
“Stalkers,” Philipia mumbled.
Our one room was a crowded, small, but infinitely cozy little box, with three tiny beds and a little glass window facing the east. A miniscule fireplace warmed the undersized room and sent firelight dancing off the windows. We flopped on our beds with sighs.
“He is so cute!” Alye exclaimed, reaching for a glass of water a maid had brought us.
Philipia snorted. “Yeah, and he gives me an inferiority complex.”
“You too?” I asked. “He has a voice that’s more condescending than anything my dad’s ever pulled off.”
“Oh, shut up, you two!” Alye muttered. “Worrywarts.”
“I’d say we have a lot to worry about!” I retorted. “We’ve been dropped into a jacked-up fairy tale. I’m wearing a bodice! Philipia turned into a FREAKING LION!” I would have continued, but a shattering noise stopped me. Alye’s glass had broken, spewing water all over her nightgown thing the inn had laid out for each of us. Glass littered the floor and a few pieces had made their way to our beds.
“How…how did that happen?” Alye asked faintly.
“Did you grab it too hard?” Philipia demanded. Alye rolled her eyes.
“If I had, I would have glass splinters in my fingers, genius.”
I was silent. My brain was on fire. “I…I think I know…” I stammered. “I made that glass break.”
“How?” the two of them asked at the same time.
I shook my head. “I was really angry, and I’m exhausted, and scared. And…I was staring at her glass…I think I shattered it with my mind.”
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