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Blue Valley Underground - Part 4 - Nymph

Until further notice, Isaac was sentenced to the second floor. Like a prisoner, he thought, because he'd done something wrong. He sat on his bed and slipped off his armor, figuring he wouldn't need it any time soon. He avoided eye contact with Evan as the superior walked upstairs and slammed the trap door behind him.

"I believe your immigrant was a cecaelia, Glen..." Isaac heard his muffled voice from above. He listened closely as Glen replied,

"Really? No...Sir, it couldn't be! I saw a human or an elf--I'm pretty sure!"

"It's alright. It was dark. Just be more mindful..."

"Well, shit. My apologies, then."

The voices dropped to a quiet mumble, too indistinct for Isaac to hear. He had a feeling they were talking about him. He sighed and collapsed on the bed, then heard delicate footfalls creeping up the stairs. Dolly entered the room, wrapped in all her long robes and scarves. She always wore so many layers, even in Summer.

            "I heard there was an incident..." she droned. Isaac just lay there and sighed,

"Evan took my sword away. He told me to stay in here for...I don't know how long."

"Well then..." the hybrid fae laboriously folded her long, furry legs and sat beside him, "This is a good opportunity for you to study." She reached into her satchel and pulled out a book with blank pages. The cover was made from crude leather, the paper rough and discolored. She plucked a pen from somewhere in her robes and began writing along the top of a page.

"Are you familiar with the alphabet?" she asked. Isaac shrugged,

"Most of it."

Dolly finished her scrawling and pointed to the long line of letters,

"Then we shall review. Read this to me."

Leaning over the book, Isaac cleared his throat and began,

"A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K...L...Uh, M...O...P...O?" he trailed off and glanced up at her, sure he was wrong.

            "That is a 'Q', Master Isaac," the fae pointed to the bottom of the letter, "Notice the line here. In this language it's often accompanied by a 'U'," she pointed to the U, "For example, in 'Queen'..."

Isaac watched as she wrote 'QUEEN' on the page. She passed the pen to the soldier and said,

"Draw a 'Q'."

Isaac obeyed, then she pointed to 'QUEEN' and explained,

"We perceive this word as 'queen' because there are two E's, which produce the 'ee' sound..." she pointed, then moved her finger to the 'N', "followed by the 'n', which makes...What sound?"

"En...?"

"No. 'Nnnn'."

"Oh."

"No, that is an 'O'..." she drew a circle on the page and grinned at him. It took him a moment, then he grinned back.

            All day, Isaac was kept in his room. He was periodically offered gruel, which he refused, so Dolly gathered bowls of roots and mushrooms for him. She tutored him until it grew dark. Evan was watchman now. They heard the door open and Glen whooping,

"We got three of the bastards! Three!"

There were quick footsteps banging up the stairs. Isaac and Dolly saw Glen and Abraham run passed the doorway and up to the third floor. The trap door opened and closed.

"Three elves!" announced Glen's muffled voice. Still loud, as always. Evan's was harder to hear as he replied,

"So I saw. Did you see the carriage driver on the way back, by chance?"

"No. You know Kelvingyard drivers, they ain't never on time! We just chained 'em to that big tree for now."

"Good work. I need to go inside for a moment. Abe, you're on watch."

            The trap door opened and closed again; slow but heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. Evan stopped in the doorway and Isaac quickly turned back to his book.

"Good evening, Master Evan." Greeted Dolly. Evan shot her a nod and said,

"Evening, Dolly. Why don't you go upstairs? I need a minute with Isaac."

"As you wish." With that, she let Isaac keep her book and lumbered out the doorway. Isaac folded the old tome and set it aside as his superior approached him.

"What have you been up to here?" asked Evan, briefly jutting his chin towards the book. The cut on his face was scabbed over now. Isaac shrugged and hesitated before answering,

"Dolly's...Teaching me."

"Teaching you?" Evan sat on the bed across from him, "What does a woman know that you don't?"

Isaac was silent.

            "Anyway," Evan sighed, "I've been on watch all day. Had a lot of time to think up there. I was thinking about the incident this morning, and I decided..." he paused until Isaac looked up at him, "I decided I was a little too tough on you. A little. I know you're young. I know this is your first combat mission." He leaned forward a bit, his stare too intense for Isaac's liking, "But you're piss-poor at following directions, and I want you to work on that before you get someone killed. Men die because of mistakes like these. You've been very lucky so far."

            Looking at the ground again, Isaac could only nod. Evan went on,

"I do like you, Isaac. You're a nice kid, and I know your heart's in the right place. You just have to wise up, alright? Because believe it or not, I don't enjoy yelling at you." Evan stood up and approached the wall where Isaac's sword was mounted on hooks. He took it down and brought it to the young soldier, holding it out sideways in his gloved hands,

"I'm going to give this back to you for now," he said, "But if you misuse it again, I'll have it melted down and send you back to a year of novice training. Understand?"

            Isaac's stomach flipped. Oh, novice training. Being skinny and sixteen, carrying a wooden stick in place of a sword, getting mocked and shoved in the trash by apprentices...

"I understand."

"Good." Evan set the sword in Isaac's lap, "Don't make me regret this."

            That night, Isaac found it hard to sleep. He was nervous. He was always nervous. Why couldn't he stay calm like the others? They went into combat with confidence--there was no trace of fear on their faces, no tremble in their hands. Isaac wrapped his arms around his gurgling stomach and rolled over. His damn stomach, too! It was never calm either! The soldier let out a disgusted, frustrated sigh directed at no one but himself, rolling over multiple times, and suddenly very aware of Glen's loud snoring. Usually it didn't bother him, but now...

            There was another sound too, he realized. A strange sound. Crying? Distress of some sort, coming from outside. He could just barely hear it over Glen's snoring and the pouring rain. Surely Abraham noticed it as watchman? But it continued, and Isaac decided he should do something about it and prove he was competent. He crawled out of bed and approached Glen, roughly shaking him awake,

"Glen," he whispered harshly, "Glen, wake up!"

The blonde man opened his eyes and grumbled,

"What...?"

"Come outside with me. Evan?" Isaac turned to his superior, who was already waking.

"What is it?" Evan asked, sitting up quickly.

            "I hear something outside." Explained Isaac. The three listened for a moment.

"Yeah, I hear it too!" whispered Glen. Evan tossed his blanket aside and rose to his feet,

"Abe better not be asleep...Suit up. Let's check it out."

The trio put on their armor and hurried downstairs. They woke Dolly on the way, who was sleeping while standing by the table. She followed them outside into the rain and darkness. Glen and Isaac held their shields over their heads to stay dry while Evan held up a lantern.

            They followed the noise to the enormous tree where the elven captives were chained. There was a young man, a middle-aged woman, and an old man, all staying relatively dry under the giant leaves of the tree. The summer nights were terribly humid on this part of the continent, so they did not freeze. However, the old man seemed to suffer from something, as he was lying motionless on his back. His eyes and mouth were open, unblinking, unmoving. The sound was coming from the two other elves, crying and whimpering as they fretted over him.

            Evan tried to inspect the man, but the other elves kicked and bit at him. He sighed and turned to Dolly,

"Maybe you can get in there?"

Dolly bowed and cautiously stepped towards the elves. They eyed her suspiciously, but didn't fight. She was fae--a magic-user--just like them. They let her inspect the old man briefly, but the female elf shoved her away once she touched him. Dolly returned to the soldiers and announced,

"I believe he is dead."

            Evan sighed and set the lantern on the ground. He pulled a small key from his belt and handed it to Isaac,

"Glen and I will restrain the others. Isaac, you unlock him. Watch their teeth." He tapped his nose, still scraped by the faun mother. Evan and Glen rushed at the elves and held them tight. The elves squirmed and groaned in pain as their fae skin was pressed against the soldiers' iron armor. Isaac fumbled with the key and unlocked the old man's shackles, dragging his corpse away from the tree. Glen and Evan released the elves and stood beside him.

"We gotta bury the poor bastard, huh?" queried Glen.

            "That's right," replied Evan, taking the body's wrists, "Grab his ankles. We'll take him into the woods over there and come back for the shovels. Isaac, you go back inside."

The two then picked up the body and started taking it away, behind the tower, into the woods and out of sight. Isaac began walking to the tower. He stopped, then looked back at the tree. Dolly was speaking softly to the elves in a language unfamiliar to him. They were sobbing helplessly. Isaac felt the weight of the iron key in his fingers. A light weight, but solid. A little sliver of control, of power, and he held it right in his hand. The elves were in agony, their wrists burning from the shackles, as they would for the rest of their lives from this day forward. Isaac's chest felt hollow. It ached. He knew this was a terrible idea...But it was as if his hands were thinking for him, and before he knew it he was kneeling behind them and unlocking their shackles.

            The two elves rubbed their raw wrists, looking at Isaac in pure disbelief.

"Go!" soldier whispered and pointed in some general direction, "Hurry!"

They understood, and scrambled to their feet. He watched them disappear into the darkness, rustling through the thick forest until there was only the sound of rain. Isaac couldn't believe what he just did. He felt good about it. Also completely awful. His mind was racing, stomach turning. He looked up at Dolly and pleaded,

"Please don't tell the others I did that. They..." he thought for a second, "They escaped, okay?"

With that, Isaac ran back into the tower. He almost shrieked when he ran into Abraham on the stairs.

"Abe..." he sighed.

"What's going on down here?" asked the archer. His eyes were bloodshot and he sounded groggy.

"The captives," Isaac began quickly, hiding the key in his fist, "Um...One of them died. He's being buried right now."

"What?" Abraham's eyebrows shot up and he shoved passed the young soldier, rushing outside. Isaac chased after him, then stopped at the door. He left the key on the shelf before going further.

Halting a few feet from the tree, Abraham stared at the empty shackles.

"Where are the rest of them?" he asked. Isaac swallowed and replied,

"I don't know..."

            Abraham glared at him,

"What the hell do you mean you 'don't know'? Were you not just out here?"

Isaac stammered,

"I-I don't know! I was inside, putting the key away! They must have escaped!"

The archer whipped his head back to the shackles, then to Dolly, who was standing several feet away. He pointed at her and snarled,

"You! It was you, wasn't it?" he stormed towards her and grabbed one of her scarves, "Did you free those elves?"

"I did not, Master Abraham." She replied calmly.

"Liar!" he growled, "Of course you would! Saw your chance and you fuckin' took it, didn't you?"

Isaac rushed over and grabbed Abraham, pulling him away from the hybrid,

"Abe, come on--"

"She did it! She's a traitorous rat and I knew it!"

            Just then, Glen and Evan returned. They were heading inside for shovels, then made a detour to the group.

"What's all the shouting about?" asked Evan. Then he noticed the empty shackles and his eyes grew wide. Abraham pointed at Dolly,

"She let them go!" he accused, "She was the only one out here, it had to be her! We should kill this traitor where she stands, Sir!"

Evan kneeled beside the shackles and inspected them. The others gathered around him. They were closed, but blackened and slightly warped, as if scorched and melted.

"Magic." He concluded.

Abraham smirked,

"I knew it!"

            Evan stood up and turned towards Dolly.

"Dolly," he began in a clear voice, "Did you set the captives free?"

"No, Master Evan. I did not."

The man nodded,

"Alright then. Looks like they used their own magic."

"She's lying!" exclaimed Abraham. Evan told him calmly,

"Faefolk don't lie. They're incapable of it."

"It's trickery! Sir, she--"

"That's enough!" Evan narrowed his eyes at the archer, "I saw the evidence and I made my decision. The elves escaped when we had our backs turned. We all just need to keep watch," he emphasized to Abraham, "More carefully as watchmen. No sleeping, no daydreaming." He paused, "In fact, Abe...If this is anyone's mistake, it's yours." Then he turned to Glen, "Glen, you're competent. Take his place for now."

With that, Evan headed back to the tower. The others followed silently from a distance, looking like scolded children.

            Isaac was permitted to study with Dolly for a few hours that day, until late afternoon when Evan approached him and said,

"Let's take a walk."

Isaac followed his superior outside. Without a word, the two headed down the trail they arrived from. Isaac didn't know what this was about. Well, he had an inkling, but he tried to tell himself he wasn't in trouble to keep his stomach settled. Evan didn't look angry. In fact, he wasn't wearing any expression in particular. They eventually stopped where Glen couldn't see or hear them from the watchtower.

            "I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Isaac asked sheepishly. Evan raised an eyebrow,

"Why do you ask that? Did you do something to warrant trouble?"

The young soldier lowered his eyes. He couldn't answer. Evan sighed,

"I brought you here to talk about the captives. You had something to do with that, didn't you?"

Isaac winced and nodded, looking everywhere but at Evan,

"I just unlocked the shackles. I don't know how they got all messed up. Maybe Dolly--"

"Isaac," Evan interrupted calmly, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I'm not going to yell at you because obviously it's not effective. I understand you were trying to do the right thing. Believe me, I do..." he frowned, "I did the same thing on my first border guard mission. I freed a slave once and only once, because I was almost accused of treason and executed."

            "You..." Isaac began. He didn't finish. Evan grabbed his shoulders and told him,

"I covered you this time, but I can't do it again. What we're doing hurts, I know. It hurts." he had sincerity in his eyes, giving Isaac's shoulders a little shake, "But I'm not willing to lose my head to free a captive. I don't want you losing yours either. Don't talk to anyone about sympathizing with the captives and you sure as hell better not free another one."

"I thought you'd be proud of me..."

"I'm proud of what you have in here," Evan pointed to Isaac's chest, then knocked on his head, "But I'm going to strangle you if you don't fix what's in here."

Isaac frowned,

"Sir...Am I the worst soldier ever?"

            Evan wanted to keep a straight face. He failed.

"No. You're just..."

"Dumb?"

"You're immature."

"Oh..."

"You know I only scold you like this because I worry about you," Evan admitted, "I see kids like you die every year, making the mistakes you do. I've seen other soldiers die because of them. Don't make me go to another funeral, Isaac."

The young soldier swallowed back bile and croaked,

"I won't, Sir."

            That night at dinner, Isaac took a walk with Dolly. They strolled along the riverside, just to forget the mission for a while. Isaac couldn't count how many times Evan had to pull him aside and tell him what a failure he was so far, but his self-esteem had never been so low.

"You messed up the shackles, huh?" he asked the fae.

"I had no choice," replied Dolly, "Your plan was far from clever. You would be damned to the guillotine had I not."

"I know..." Isaac sighed, "You didn't have to do that. They almost accused you."

The fae absently scratched at her wrist irons,

"I was hoping they would execute me for the crime." She said indifferently.

            Isaac quickly turned to her, "Dolly..."

She never replied.  They rested on a fallen tree by the river, simply sitting in silence. This kind of serenity was foreign to Isaac. For once in his life, he didn't hear screaming orphans or rowdy soldiers. Just the babbling river. It was unfamiliar. Alien. But the longer he sat there, the more he began to relax. His stomach even settled for once.

"It's growing dark," Dolly said after some time, "We should return to the tower."

The ancient fae struggled to stand, her long legs popping and quaking. Isaac hurried to his feet and pulled her up. She smiled and patted his head, then started leaving.

"I'll be there in a minute!" he called after her. He sat down again and exhaled deeply, letting his muscles relax. Closing his eyes and lowering his head, Isaac tried his best to clear his anxious mind. He refused to screw up again. He needed to prove to Evan and his barracks that he was capable. If he couldn't cut it in the military, he would be on the streets.

            Isaac wasn't sure how long he sat there and reflected on things. He may have even fallen asleep for a moment, it was hard to tell. When he finally did open his eyes, he saw feet...And not his own. He snapped his head up and grabbed the handle of his sword, surprising whatever this creature was. She stumbled back and stared him down; a chubby, naked, young woman with dark rose-colored skin. Her head was covered in untamed pink curls with white flowers stuck in them. Isaac's jaw dropped slightly. She was gorgeous; the most flawlessly beautiful creature he'd ever seen.

            Slowly, Isaac slid the sword back in its scabbard. She didn't look dangerous. Putting the weapon away seemed to please the stranger and she smiled. She spoke to him, but he couldn't understand her. Was she an immigrant? He couldn't fathom what race; perhaps a hybrid of some sort.

"Uh...Hello." He greeted softly and waved his hand, distracted by her exposed body. She just looked at him with a look of sheer wonder on her face, then reached out and touched his gloved hand. He let her inspect the rough leather. She accidentally pulled the glove loose and startled herself. Isaac laughed and pulled it off completely, holding up his bare hand,

"It's okay, see?"

            The strange girl-creature smiled again and reached for his shiny breastplate. She drew back the moment her fingertips met the metal, as if it burned her. She looked like she might run away. Isaac quickly repeated,

"No, no! It's okay!" then he loosened the straps on his shoulders and pulled the piece off along with his iron-studded hauberk, exposing the white cotton shirt underneath. He patted his chest and grinned. The girl giggled and then pointed to his metal-plated boots.

"Oh, uh...Sure." Isaac didn't know what he was doing or why, but a beautiful naked forest-woman told him to take off his boots and damn him, he obeyed. This pleased her, and next she pointed to his shield. Off that went too, followed by his studded belt and gauntlets, until he was left in nothing but his under-armor.

            The girl clapped giddily and Isaac grunted as she suddenly jumped in his lap. He hoped this was going where he thought it was going, but he kept his hands off her just in case. She tugged at his shirt and said something he didn't understand. The way she smiled made his stomach flutter, and he could only hope he didn't throw up on her. It wouldn't be the first time a date ended that way for him. She planted little kisses all around his face and he cautiously placed a hand on her hip. To his surprise, he didn't get slapped. Isaac wondered if loving a strange forest lady would earn him any respect with his barracks--or would Evan yell at him for this too?

            She passionately kissed his mouth and suddenly he didn't care. Isaac didn't care that it was almost too dark to walk back or that he was wasting time or being irresponsible. He didn't even care why this was happening, he was just happy that it was. The girl reached up under his shirt and groped at his chest with one hand, the other resting on his back. He returned the favor with his regrettably sweaty palms. She was clawing at his skin, lightly at first. He didn't mind and continued to kiss her. There was something 'off' about her touch against his chest. Her fingers were spreading far. Too far. Impossibly far. The pain was spreading too, growing more and more  severe--

"Ah!" Isaac tried to push her hands away. They wouldn't budge, and it felt as if she was clutching his skin between sharp claws.

"Ow! Oow! Let go!" Isaac growled and shoved her with all his might.

            The girl separated from him and reeled back, falling on her backside. A sharp, horrible pain ripped through Isaac's chest where her hands were resting. He gasped and his eyes grew huge when he noticed the blood spots on his shirt. Of all the reactions to have, the girl was laughing. Isaac immediately pulled the shirt off and inspected the wound. Stretching almost a foot long was a bundle of thin green plants burrowed into his skin. Some of it had ripped away with her, tearing the flesh. Horrified, he took a handful of the vines and tore them out, growling and gnashing his teeth as they split his flesh.

            Rising to her feet, the strange girl was still cackling. She shrieked a second later as Isaac pulled her into a tight hold.

"What the hell did you do to me?!" he shouted. She squirmed and hollered foreign words at him. Suddenly the flowers in her hair released a plume of yellow dust. Isaac shoved her away and coughed harshly. The dust had a very strong aroma, but strangely it wasn't foul. It smelled like a blooming meadow, amplified a thousand times. It overwhelmed Isaac--he smelled it, tasted it, saw it in his mind.

            The soldier opened his eyes and saw the blurring canopy above. He'd collapsed at some point. Somewhere far off but so close, the rose-skinned girl was still laughing her shrill laugh. She stepped into Isaac's view, covering her giggling mouth, looking so terribly pleased with whatever witchcraft she'd performed. His limbs felt detached, unmovable. Everything was numb and when he tried to speak, it was only a soft croak. Her laugh was fading and the forest was going with it. Before long, all was silent and black.