The next morning was calm and quiet.
We didn't move about a lot because, for some reason, we were all feeling lazy.
The day just seemed to melt away, and before we knew it, it was high noon.
"We might as well be leavin' now, lads. Me don't dink dese parts are too safe for da lot of us ta be lollygagging about."
I agreed. Within the past three days, we had been attacked by more pixies than we could count. By now, we could chase them off before they did a lot of damage, but still, we needed to leave their territory before anything major happened.
"So, this town. Seather, you called it? What is it like?"
I directed my question to Smith, who seemed to know the most about everything.
"T'is no small place, laddie."
Was the start to his response.
"A vast town of human build, whose size has not been challenged...by any other human, dat is."
His answer was almost what I expected, but the last part made me wonder.
"What do you mean by humans?"
I asked, not having left my own village much in truth.
"Me means, Me seen mountain castles dat could swalla da place whole! Forest halls dat would put its size ta shame! An ocean kingdom dat would look like a whole world when compared to Seather. Ta be built by humans, da place is pretty impressive, but by da standards of us Fae folk, t'is but a small dorpie."
Himora's attention was caught by the last part of Smith's glorified speech.
"What was that you said about an ocean kingdom?"
Himora said while leaning forward on his hands and knees. At the time, the three of us were rolling along at a smooth, steady pace.
"Oh, Me don't know much about da place, or any of da places surroundin' it, but dey are said ta be some of da strangest dorpies and water towns of all time! Ye see, we dwarves don't like ta be near dat water as often as yer types do. So me can't tells ye all ye wants ta know. Me says da best ways ta find out is ta go fer yerselves one-o-dese days."
Himora had to be satisfied with that response, for there was no other choice.
But he wasn't.
"One day...I'll look into this on my own time...but for now, I'll travel with Bastion. Maybe he will travel with me to search."
Himora thought to himself. The two of us rolled off the cart and walked alongside it to stretch our legs. We walked along slowly now, taking in our surroundings as we went. The sun was high above our heads, and it gave off a bright, warm light that seemed to warm us from our toes to our heads.
"T'is a nice day. It is."
Said Smith.
"T'is good dat dose blasted pixzys didn't about yet!"
He said, as inspired by the thought as we were.
He was right. The little women hadn't come around all day, which was really unusual.
"Do you think we might have left their territory already?"
I questioned.
Smith stopped the cart and took a good look around.
"Da leaf's look as if deir shine is a bit stronger den usual...Me dinkin' dat we might'ive come out of pixzy land...and into da land of da Fair Fae."
I knew what he was talking about this time. In my Natural Studies class, my teacher had told us about them...The Fair Fae. She had said that long ago, they had ruled the land, and peace reigned all around. Back in those times, the land was rich, and a lot of the animals were very large. I think she had called them...Dienosars?
Something like that.
"Are there still...some of them around?"
I asked the dwarf with just a hint of fear in my voice.
"Ye don't have ta wurry lad, dem Fae been gone for more years den me is old three times over! an' more! Dey say dey chosen ta lock demselves up inside da trees after da great war wit da humans way, way back. No one's been seein' dem since...Bah. Dey also say dat once in a while, dey will show demselves to a righteous man."
I didn't think that I wanted them to show themselves to me. To me, someone who lived with Dienosars must have been either really strong, really big, or really intimidating.
Maybe even all of those.
I didn't mention them again.
The rest of the day was spent rolling along steadily. We lay on our backs for a while (I and Himora) in the back of the cart. We just watched as the trees passed by rather slowly, in fact. For a moment, life was good again, in some strange, detached way. We forgot our troubles and fears for just a bit.
Suddenly.
SWISSSS....TWAK!
"OH! NOT AGAIN!"
Smith yells in anger.
"C'MON LADS, DA LITTLE 'UNS ARE BACK FOR MORE!"
Within seconds, the two of us were on our feet, standing next to the wagon. With a loud thud and a clank of armor, Smith joined us.
He was quite the sight dressed in his battle helmet, carrying his axe and shield.
"Move wit caution, boys. Dem pixzys mighty be small, but dey sure do pack a punch!"
We had decided that we would simply chase down and chase off the pixies should they come at us again. I was ready, as were Himora and Smith.
We took his words to heart and charged forth into the forest from the path on which we had been traveling. After a few paces, Smith suddenly stopped and turned back around.
"Where are you going!?"
I yelled to him as we grew further apart.
"Don't take me as a coward boy!"
He called back.
"Someone's gotta protect our tings!"
We had forgotten about the last encounter, which ended with his donkey being hit.
"OKAY! WE WILL BE BACK SHORTLY!"
I shouted.
...Ye better be."
The dwarf mumbled under his breath, and with that, we went our separate ways. As we came deeper into the woods, the trees began to thin.
"That's weird."
Himora said.
"I thought the wood would be gettin' thicker as we go deeper...but-"
I cut him off.
"HIMORA, MOVE!"
In the brief moment that we had stopped, Himora's foot had fallen upon a weird-looking stick, one that in fact had been a lever. I dived at him and we hit the ground just as a huge log smashed into the very spot on which we had stood.
"...Let's not do that again."
We didn't have much time to talk, for the log tilted in our direction and fell, slamming into the ground just as we rolled out of its way.
"Someone really wants us dead."
Himora said, drawing his side knife and putting his sword away.
"This shouldn't be much of a fight, though...Why use my sword?"
I was a bit confused, and I didn't see his point.
"What are you talking about?
I said hastily as I rolled to my feet, bracing my spear for what was to come.
"Those arrows were really small, so whoever shot them has to be just as small, yeah? Think about it."
He was right. The arrows had been no bigger than my forearm, yet still, I held fast to my spear, not having a side weapon to replace it with, nor a sheath for my father's gleaming spear. For a moment, we stood back to back on high alert, waiting for the enemy to make their move. But to our dismay, it never happened.
"Something is wrong here."
I said, turning to Himora, who had put his knife away.
"We should head back."
A strange feeling was slowly washing over me.
"...Good idea."
Was his response.
"Whoever it was must have fled when we came near."
He said, crossing his arms over his chest as he did.
I took the chance to respond.
"Or when they saw that their little trap didn't work."
We relaxed a bit and turned to head back. We had no idea that we had not chased them off, and that we were actually being watched.
-----
"Come on! we can capture those filthy humans!"
Whispered a little pixie from high up in the trees.
"No...let them go."
Said a larger, slightly older-looking pixie.
"They'll be back...and besides, they're not human anyway."
The smaller Fae looked to her elder in confusion.
"What say you now, Karina? They are obviously human. See how they walk, how they have ten fingers...what's not to see that they have to be human?"
She asked, bringing a small hand to her forehead to shield her eyes from the sun.
Kerina, the leader of the Pixie Army, looked down at her own hands. Six fingers moved easily and naturally as she examined them.
"You are wrong...humans don't have tails..."