About an hour later, when things had settled down but no one was feeling encouraged, we starting burning the bodies of the innocent. It was for two reasons specifically: so they wouldn't come back as ghosts and so no nightmarish creature or insect could finish them off.
No one had spoken in that hour; it was like we all connected telepathically and knew what to do, no words were needed. The rest of us focused on Maeve as she watched her aunt be eaten by red flames, and how they glinted off her tear stained face. Odis eventually approached her and put an arm around her shoulders. She accepted the gesture and fell into him when he hugged her, beginning to cry heavily once again.
After a few minutes, when her crying started to fade, I hit my fist against a tree so hard it started to bleed. "Maeve, I'm so sorry. If I wasn't so useless I could've killed him for you," I admitted. If only I knew how to use my powers...
"Bella, don't you dare start blaming yourself. I understand your position and I'm not at all mad at you. I just don't like how Vivian had to suffer for something she really had no part in," the weary witch stated. Her words didn't dull my guilt. I was actually the reason we were in this situation. It all trailed back to me being a whiny baby at home.
Maeve came over and hugged my neck tightly, sniffling back her remaining tears. "I love you too much to ever hate you," she whispered. "All that matters to me is that you actually tried."
I hugged her back as another small voice joined the conversation. "Vivian?" It whispered. I looked to my right to see little Delilah staring at the fire with wide eyes. That was all she said as she watched her friend burn and disappear for good. The look on her face wasn't all shock, mainly sadness and disappointment.
She eventually looked at Maeve and tried to smile. "I would hug you if I could," she then whispered.
"Oh, it's fine, sweetheart. We all need to stop moping around, anyway. We apparently only have forty-eight hours until Salazar returns with his army. It's best if we go ahead and rest up for a few hours so we can move on and put this behind us," the witch replied with a dainty smile.
"Maeve... are you okay?" Kade asked. He put a hand on her shoulder and brushed away the crimson hair that had fallen in her face.
"No," she said. "But I will be." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek gently. Kade was so much taller than her that he had to bend over just to hug her back and she had to stand on her toes. She brushed down his raven hair and pulled his face in front of hers, keeping it steady as she studied his eyes.
"I've already lost one family member... I'm not gonna lose another," she whispered. "We'll figure out a way to cure you, I promise. If we get to Galendale, maybe he can help you too."
The way she said "if" and "maybe" made me flinch. I was more worried about their lives more than I was mine. If we made this trip for nothing, what will happen to them? What if Salazar's plan succeeds?
"Sorry for not saying anything about Kade's sickness. I just didn't want-" I began to say before Kade clamped his hand over my mouth.
"Stop apologizing for everything. We understand you didn't want us all to die. It's okay, Bella," he assured.
"But you're still dying Kade. The sickness..."
"We'll worry about that later." He even smiled down at me as if it would make me feel better. Somehow it did... just a little.
"Alright. We better start resting up," Odis butted in. And we did. Minutes later we were all settled on our blankets and relaxing by listening to the blazing fire, even though it was technically burning two bodies. Delilah, since she couldn't sleep, was going to keep watch over night to ensure no one... or nothing tried to attack us.
I was asleep in no time and I'm sure the same thing happened to the others.
***
The next morning, at least I think it was morning, I woke up due to something tickling my leg. I wasn't fully awake but aware that I was conscious again. My eyes stayed closed as I jerked my leg just slightly to get whatever it was off. I figured it was some bug that randomly landed on me and decided to be a nuisance because it didn't go away.
When I realized I was wearing pants and that a regular bug wouldn't be able to do such a thing, I jerked awake and looked down at my feet in a panic. My eyes landed on a small creature, a little shorter than half the height of a regular man, with a greenish skin tone. It had a long, sharp nose and huge pointed ears that protruded from the side of its round head. Its large mouth, although closed, had a couple of keen teeth overlapping its thick upper lip as the creature stared dumbfoundedly at me with deep brown eyes. Brown cloth was wrapped around its body in the form of clothes, covering it just barely but exactly enough. The thing soon displayed all of its mildly pointed teeth in an angry snarl when it realized it had been caught in the act of whatever it was doing. When it hissed at me, I finally let out the scream I had been holding back and didn't refrain from kicking it in the face with my other foot.
It went flying with ease and landed on all fours, removing the smallest sword I'd ever seen from the sheath on its back. It was preparing to attack when Kade scrambled to his feet and immediately jumped beside me, not even seeing the creature until it pounced.
Its sword pierced my leg but didn't sink completely in. I cried out in pain and tried to swat it away but it ended up cutting into my right hand and then swinging at Kade when he tried to fight back. He received a cut on the cheek and growled with anger and pain, then risked a good hand to grab the blade of the creature. It slipped away easily, meaning Kade's new wound was for nothing.
The thing hopped back and hissed at us, then said something in a language that apparently neither of us understood. We exchanged questioning looks just as the numbers in our battle increased. Odis and Maeve jumped in, startled and confused. At the same time, more creatures, identical to the first one, leaped from the surrounding bushes and drew their small blades.
Kade was the first one to be attacked and he wasn't even expecting it. One of them jumped onto his back and stabbed his good shoulder with a maniacal snicker. Another one cut across my left arm and scampered away before I could do anything. Two went for Odis and Maeve, Odis receiving his first cut across the chest and Maeve on her side.
It wasn't like we weren't trying or anything, the little bastards were just too fast and small for us to hit. I eventually had to bring up the obvious question when all we could do was start dodging their attacks.
"What the hell are these things?"
Maeve quickly swerved passed one of them as it lunged at her. "Goblins!" she shouted. "They must've been trying to rob us while we slept. That's what they're known for at least." Goblins? Those things existed too?
Their numbers started to double until there was at least a dozen of them or more. They didn't try to attack all at once, though, they just took turns at beating us down. Eventually, I grew tired of it and tried to do the same thing I did with the snakes awhile back. Concentrating hard on my targets, I inhaled a deep breath and shouted "stop" as loud as I could, and immediately the little guys froze.
They all turned their heads to me but their eyes weren't purple like the snakes. Maybe it was because they weren't as simple minded? Or maybe because they weren't as weak?
"Witch!" One shouted in a scratchy voice. They all nodded in agreement until Maeve raised a weak hand.
"No, that would be me," she breathed in relief.
I eventually smiled and studied the ugly goblins. "Try a goddess," I said. Their gasps, all at once, made me jump and lose my smile.
"Liar!" One exclaimed.
"No, brother. She has the eyes," another said. They started whispering and watching me suspiciously... as if thinking I was planning to kill them any second. Surprisingly, I wasn't. But I still wanted to have some fun with this, especially when awe began mixing into their expressions.
"That's right," I stated proudly. "And I don't appreciate you trying to steal from me and my friends and then attacking us." I glared at them and barely bit back my smile.
Fear struck their green, wrinkled faces as they started whimpering. "We're terribly sorry, your highness. Oh, goddess, please have mercy on us. We didn't realize who we were stealing from. Theft is kind of our thing!" One begged. I looked at him and pretended to be considering something.
"Who is your leader?" I asked. He gave me a dainty smile and awkwardly glanced around.
"That would be me, miss," he mumbled.
"Very well," I said nodding. "I will take mercy on you and your men if you return the things you stole and offer your full, temporary service to me and my friends."
"Of course, of course. It would be an honor!" he exclaimed. "The name is Darwin, in case you were wondering."
"Bella."
"Bella... what a beautiful name for a beautiful goddess," he said. I smiled and snapped my fingers, hoping it would do the thing I was thinking. Luckily, it did and the goblins collapsed to the ground as they were released from my mysterious hold. I started realizing how that was similar to Salazar's power and suddenly felt uneasy by the trick.
"Quickly men! Return everything!" Darwin shouted. The other goblins rushed into the bushes and eventually returned with a lot of food and a couple of blankets. They actually hadn't taken much which really surprised me since there were so many of them.
Afterwards, it was recovery time.
Lucky for us, Vivian had packed plenty of bandages. Maeve and I, against their wishes, started with the guys before we helped ourselves. Kade's other shoulder needed serious bandaging, more than my own wounds.
Maeve took control of Odis while I sat my guy down by a tree and forced him to take off his shirt so I could get to the gash. Once I saw it, I winced and couldn't imagine how bad it hurt, but Kade seemed to be holding himself together pretty well. He barely flinched when I touched around it.
"Maeve, are there any cloths or rags in that bag?" I asked. Out of the two, she reached inside the one closest to her and tossed me a handful of raggedy white rags, more than I needed actually.
As I wiped away the blood from Kade's wound, Darwin approached us with a very guilty look. I could tell it was him because he was a bit taller than the other goblins and had a small gold ring in his pointy ear. "I'm sorry for the damage we've caused. Is there anything we can do to make up for it?" he asked.
I started patching up Kade's shoulder and didn't look at the creature when I spoke to him. "Yes, actually. How often are you prepared for battle?" I asked.
"Always, miss. As you can tell, our techniques don't always work so we have to be ready to fight at any moment," he answered. "Why do you ask?"
"We'll be going against an opposing force soon... and we could always use the speed and skill of your team," I said.
"Sounds exciting! We'd be honored to fight alongside you," Darwin growled happily. I felt a little relieved that we actually had a skilled and useful ally on our team... more than one actually. I was starting to feel bad for using them but they kind of deserved it.
I had patched all of Kade's wounds in no time, even the one on his cheek. After he slipped his shirt back on, I crawled up to the tree and we switched positions. My leg was killing me, so was my arm that had soaked my blouse in blood. Even though my pants had received the same stain, I didn't have a change of clothes. None of us did.
Kade picked up a cloth and gently wiped away the blood on my left leg, doing careful strokes like he thought I'd break if they were too strong. Darwin studied him with curiosity and then glanced over at Odis and Maeve.
"My team is far too big to introduce but I'd like to know the names of your friends here," he said. I weakly told him what he wanted to know, apparently satisfying him because he smiled afterward. "If you don't mind me asking, Sir Kade is your lover, right? I gained the idea by how he jumped to your rescue and how he's so gentle with you."
I started blushing when Kade looked at me from the corner of his eye and gained a small smirk. He finished wrapping my leg in bandages and moved up to my arm as Darwin waited for an answer.
I had a feeling Kade was imagining a different kind of lover.
"Yes, we have a... very close relationship," I replied. He leaned close to my ear while still paying attention to his work.
"Right," he whispered sarcastically. "That's what it's called." I playfully rolled my eyes as Darwin continued to watch him.
"A very fine lady you have, Sir Kade. I suppose you take very good care of her?" he asked. At first, I thought he was just trying to suck up to me but now it seemed he really admired me as a goddess.
"Hell yeah," Kade answered. He made it sound seductive and when our eyes met, he smiled and looked down at my arm just as he finished with the bandages. My hand was next which took less than thirty seconds to fix. By the time we finished, Odis and Maeve were already packing our stuff.
"Where the hell is Delilah?" the witch growled.
"Right here!" The needed voice replied. To our left was our lost ghost, standing with a guilty -but confused- look on her face.
"I thought you were supposed to be keeping watch!" Maeve complained. Delilah's face twisted as she began to speak.
"I did! I just wanted to look around a bit more. It was morning so I figured nothing was going to try to attack you."
"Well, you were wrong," Odis said as he motioned towards the goblins, flinching as he flexed his injured arm. While the others continued to scowl and groan as they moved, I explained to the little ghost about our arrangement with the new allies and she seemed pleased. Afterward, we finished packing and started to follow her again, even though it hurt to walk on my leg. I powered through, just so we didn't waste time sitting around.
The goblins were by our side, and somehow at one point, their numbers multiplied and there were way more than a dozen. I didn't even see it happen since they mainly stayed at the rear, but it was quite startling to turn around to. Even with so many, it stayed awkwardly quiet until I was the one to break it again.
"Darwin?" I asked, glancing down at him because he was walking alongside me. Like the others, he was barefoot, displaying his large ugly green feet, but he didn't even flinch when stepping on stray sticks or rocks.
"Yes?" he responded.
"Have you heard the warning 'don't wake the baby' around these parts?" I questioned. The rest of my gang looked in our direction with curiosity.
Darwin's face twisted with annoyance as he groaned. "Ugh, that's all I hear!"
"Do you know what it means?" Maeve butted in.
"Eh, I've heard rumors. But I can't confirm any of them are true," he answered, pausing momentarily to dodge a bush. "There's talk about some ghost lady and her baby who died out here in these woods. The guy who did it was a serial killer, though I'm sure he's dead by now. Rumor has it, he chased the lady -with her baby- in here and promised to let the baby live if she let him carve out her eyes."
"Ew... why?" Maeve gagged.
"I don't know. Apparently that was his theme, he always stole the eyes of his victims, whether they were dead or alive. Anyway, the lady agreed to the deal because she loved her child so much. But like the scum he was, the man tied her up, killed her baby, and then stole her eyes. She was the next one to die but apparently she never moved on. Some say she can be seen rocking her baby to sleep, and if anyone were to wake it, she'd let out the deafening screams of her final moments, causing her victims' ears to bleed. Then she carves out their eyes and leaves them to die."
I felt my stomach twist into a knot as I thought of the scene. How awful that would be! How disturbing...
"Oh! And it's said you can hear her humming and/or singing that old nursery rhyme 'London Bridge is Falling Down' because that's what she used to sing to put her baby to sleep," Darwin added.
Okay... how creepy.
"I've never heard that rumor before," Delilah said, seeming surprised that she didn't.
"I've never seen her but I've heard things say they have," the goblin continued. It worried me when he said "things" instead of "people".
Silence once again followed, the only sound coming from the heavy footsteps of me and the others and the pitter patter of the smaller ones from behind. We walked like that for literally hours, stopping only for a few minutes to rest and then moving for possibly miles again.
In no time, night had returned. The part of the woods we were in seemed even eerier than the last, strange shadows in places that moonlight didn't even reach. Trees and bushes still rustled even though there was no wind. Either the others didn't show their fear or they weren't worried at all. Something just seemed off to me.
Things really kicked into action when we came across another large opening with trees, lit by held torches in its middle. There were creatures of all kinds there, rooting and hollering with deafening screeches and squeals. I couldn't even get a good look at them, they were so horrifying.
Some were oddly shaped, some scarred, others skinless. Some were covered in fur, some were actual animals, others looking like humans. It seemed like some kind of freak show with mystical animals and people... who didn't appear friendly at all. Some creatures were so hideous that I couldn't even look at them without gagging.
The thing that caught my eye the most was a large tree, taller than the rest, standing at the edge of the opening.
From its most obvious branch hung a rope. And from the rope hung a man who scratched at the restraint around his neck.
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Are these chapters too long? Ï_Ï