The Trembling
DAPHNE
For a moment I think he's going to do it, he stares at me so long, but then another laugh escapes him and he bellows loud and proud, "That is a good one, claiming to be the dead princess." He giggles so uncontrollably right then, that I can see no other choice but to grant him a little show.
I cloak myself, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
His laughter stops as I close my eyes to view him from a muted perspective. Except... he isn't muted. Not at all. He is... transformed.
What I see before me now is a man not much taller than me, draped in the same armor and flowing green hair, but humanoid and covered in a pale green aura. His skin is a flawless coffee brown and just now he doesn't quite understand what he is seeing. Or rather, what he is not.
Does this mean he is Hidden Fae?
Does my cloaking sight uncloak everyone else?
It certainly seems to.
I silently step beyond him, raising a hand up so that Trielle does not follow. She heeds me with an irritated neigh and then turns her back to face the ever growing barricade that Silvan and Klyesque continue to battle.
"Where did you go, little faerie?" the man calls out, spinning in a swift circle, axe at the ready.
I reappear behind him, clearing my throat to gather his attention.
Once again he is that enormous guard and when he sees me standing on the pathway upon the knoll he is the angry guard, hefting his axe toward my neck.
"Shall I disappear again then?" I ask, stepping to the side of his enormous blade.
"Listen to me now, girl. I don't know what you are or how you were able to play that little trick on me but I tell you here and now, I'll not be chasing ghosts around the grounds, so keep to where I might see you."
"Trick? I assure you, 'twas no trick. Simply magic," I tell him, thinking of his truer form. The one he hides. "What are you and why do you hide your true self from me?"
His eyes narrow on me then he snorts. "You're the queen," he bites out in a voice heavily laced with sarcasm, "shouldn't you know what I am?"
My gaze floats about the grounds on this side of the woods and tunnel, noting what serves as a wall are piles of twined vines, heavy with thorns as long and sharp as a fat blade. Other than that, there is nothing and no one. No armored guards other than him.
Would the Meadow King have left this place so unprotected?
"Tell me this," I whisper stepping closer to him, despite his apprehensive behavior, "were you the only guard left behind?"
He snickers. "If you think to invade this palace, think again girl! Magic rules here. And magic protects. I am hardly needed."
Magic protects.
My magic if all that I've come to know is the truth that is to be believed.
I fix my gaze on him once more and say, "You are too young to be left here in charge. One must wonder... why leave you and take all others."
He flinches, dropping his axe and lowering himself to one knee so that he can look me directly in my eyes. "How do you know that I am young? Are you tree folk?"
I grin thinking of the pale pulse of his aura, not that I know much about them, but... his felt kind. His felt new. "The sight I am gifted when cloaked shows me much," I confess, gesturing toward him in his entirety. "It showed me you in your truer form. Young and handsome, with evergreen hair and coffee skin."
He gulps loudly, his voice falling out in a gasp, "This is my true form, for I am a nymph. I have only ever known one shape, as nymphs have not been able to shift since the death of our queen."
He must be even younger than me.
"Then now, with the return of your queen, you should be able to, should you not?" I ask, startling myself with my brazenness.
The guard laughs, "The return of my queen? I suppose I could, should she return."
"Well then, do so," I command him, "because as I have said once already, I am Clayeira's heir."
"If it were that easy, little faerie, I would, but I must confess," he replies with a shrug, "not only do I not believe you... I would not know how to if I did."
Why did Magda not tell me something like this might happen? Why did I not ask her how to prove myself should a problem like this one arise?
But then, a whisper on the wind finds its way to my ears and says, Bleed for him child. Bleed for him and he will see. Bleed for me and I will know you. Bleed for every single tree.
Schooling my features, I cast a gaze about the trees. "How? How am I to bleed for you?" My eyes fall toward his discarded axe as the guard studies me with great interest. "How sharp is your blade?"
He draws himself up proudly, gazing down at the slice of his weapon with wary eyes, he lifts it, balancing it in front of me like an offering. "Sharp enough to split bone."
Just a prick for us to lick.
Just a taste, we shall not waste.
Fine. If I must bleed to put an end to these queries, then that is what I must do.
Drawing one of my gloves off of my hand, I reach forward to touch the tip of the axe and the guard yanks it back. The fear in his eyes when he speaks is palpable, "Just what are you aiming to do, little faerie? I've just told you, this blade might split your wig and you deign to touch it?"
I cock my head at him, unable to hide my amusement of his sudden fears. "A moment ago you were ready to behead me and now you're afraid that I might harm myself? You are an extraordinary creature... little nymph," I jest.
He smiles wide, the hollows of his cheeks beating with a pulsing green glow. "I think you know better than that. I'd not like to hurt something as pretty as you."
My chest warms as I return his grin with one of my own. I promise, "Just a taste. The woods demand it."
He loses his smile, the dark green caterpillar brows of his striking upward in question. "I see."
He holds his weapon out once more and I waste no time, pricking my finger on the bit with a wince.
My blood beads on the edge of the blade and the guard stands to his full height then swings his arm in a high arc until the bevel embeds itself into the ground and he jumps back as if it might explode.
A moment passes.
Two.
The guard begins to laugh again, and my confidence deflates, but then...
...the trembling begins.