November 4

Word Count: 3,237

Lynah followed her father down to the head table and the meal finally began. As usual, the conversation was limited to the accomplishments of current nobles in favor.

"Lord Neelen's son bested five opponents today during their sword fighting match. Lord Beeton has five estates. Lord Vanlew has just acquired a prime stallion. Why it raised the value of his stables threefold." Lynah managed to smile and nod as each boring detail of the men expounded on. She had the whole system down to an art form. She could giggle, be flattered, blush, smile, be coy, amused, and attentive, all without thinking a single thought about the conversation.

The noblemen preened, displaying their wealth and whatever talents they possessed, but not one of them truly thought of anyone but themselves. They were strangers still, even the ones who'd been at court since before she came of age. She knew their names, titles, the number of estates they held, what instruments they played, the condition of their stabled and how much their total fortune amounted to. They were all a mass when they showed her affection. Each one schemed on outdoing all the elaborate presents given before, but not one of them touched her heart. And until she chose one of them, the rest would not back down. Perhaps that was the only way… to choose blindly and hope for the best. After all, the noblemen were all the same.

"What do you think Lynah?" Her father asked her. For once she was caught off guard… and didn't know the question. Her silence touched off a spark of annoyance in her father's eye, but he covered for her all the same.

"I think you have stunned her with your startling revelation, Lord Beeton."

"Indeed," replied Lord Beeton, looking overly pleased with himself.

"Papa," Lynah spoke out. Saying this in public would seal her fate. She wouldn't be able to back out. "I will announce my decision tomorrow night," she said quietly. The entire room fell silent and stared in wonderment. Lynah stared at her hands. Her father seized the moment with both hands.

"This is wonderful! I shall prepare the celebration! We shall have a feast tomorrow night to commemorate this joyous occasion. Let us drink a toast." Her father stood up and everyone scrambled to their feet. "To Princess Lynah and her future husband. May all their tomorrows be filled with joy and happiness." The crowd cheered and toasted in unison. Lynah simply concentrated on breathing.

(*)(*)(*)

"What did you do?" Trevelyn said the minute the door was closed. Lynah had already torn off her cap and thrown it across the room.

"There's no use procrastinating. They're all as bad as the next. I'm going to toss all their names into a hat and whichever I pick out first, I'll marry."

"You've lost your mind!"

"Yes, but it feels exhilarating. Think about it. No more suitors, no more bad singing underneath the windowsill." As if on cue, a lute struck a note from below. "They'll all go away." She twirled, her hands high in the air.

"All except your husband." A knock sounded on the door. Trevelyn opened the door and took the scroll from the servant who offered it. "What's this?"

"Oh, I asked for a list of all the nobles. That way, when I throw them in the hat, it will be quite fair." She glanced at the list. "Oh all right, I will definitely have to cross some of these names off. The truly horrid ones anyway. Oh but Trevvie, you must be a dear and have one last outing with me, as a free woman. It's not far. Toomas told me this wonderfully quaint story about dragons in the forest, and I just have to check it out. One last fun trip?"

Lynah had Trevelyn in the palm of her hand. They would be going dragon hunting tomorrow. "You could even help me cross names off the list on our ride. Think of how happy Momma will be when she can start designing my wedding dress. And Papa will want to bond with his new son. I won't have time for any adventures after tomorrow." When Trevvie sighed, Lynah knew she'd won.

"Alright, Lynah… but we back strictly on time for dinner."

"Of course my dearest Trevvie. Of course."

Trevelyn felt an impending sense of doom. Dinner was an hour away, and they'd been travelling for the better part of the day. Trevelyn had completely lost her sense of direction, but Lynah kept swearing she knew the way. The pair was going to get into trouble. No, restate that. Trevelyn was going to get into trouble.

It really wasn't fair that every time the princess got herself into trouble, Trevelyn got the blame. That she, the commoner - daughter of the queen's favorite servant, was a bad influence on the princess was a bit backwards. It certainly wasn't her idea to climb the East Tower's steps with two large pails of water. And she'd certainly objected when Princess Lynah had tipped one over the edge of the battlement, giggling as the water streamed down onto the perfect shining bald target of Brother Valdin's head. Yet while the princess was sent to her room, to grump, Trevelyn had received an hour lecture from the King himself. She had been sent to personally apologize to Brother Valdin and dust all of his books. And Brother Valdin had a lot of books. Trevolyn really didn't follow the king's logic that she was technically older than the princess by two whole minutes and therefore, should know better.

The truth was the King's largest soft spot were his wife and daughter. They ran the household the way they pleased. Once, when someone made the suggestion that a princess's closest companion should not be a servant, as highly valued as she was, the king had sent Trevelyn away to her aunt's house. She was promptly brought back when the princess refused to eat for three days. She'd been eight, and no one had tried to separate them since. But despite the misconceptions, Trev adored the princess, and Lynah treated her like a sister… most of the time. And the two always had marvelous adventures.

This adventure was plummeting quickly into disaster. It had started off well enough. They'd mounted their horses with suspiciously full saddlebags in the courtyard. When Trevelyn had commented, Lynah smiled coyly and told her to wait and see. They'd had a pleasant hour ride towards the forest, and another pleasant hour heading deeper into the forest. The weather was perfect. The sky was bright and their air, while slightly nippy, was not uncomfortable. Lynah and Trevelyn stopped to water their horses and snack at midday.

When Lynah had turned her horse farther into the forest, rather than towards home, Trevelyn objected.

"Toomas said it's not much farther. You have to see it," Lynah coaxed.

"We're not supposed to be this far without an escort." Technically they weren't supposed to leave sight of the castle without an escort, but it had never stopped them before.

"Are we children anymore? Do we need old Magus bumbling along behind us?" Magus had been their traditional escort as children. When they were little, he used to take them into the forest, and show them how to light campfires and find water. In the past few years, his age had caught up with him. He no longer liked to ride out into the cold. "We'll be home in plenty of time… don't worry." Lynah continued in the wrong direction.

Trevelyn really didn't have much of a choice but to follow. She knew Lynah well enough to know that if she bluffed, and pretended to head back to the castle, Lynah would keep right on going. The only thing Trevelyn could do was to get lost with her. She couldn't bear the thought of what would happen if she came home without the princess. She'd probably be thrown in the deepest darkest cell the king could find. He'd dig a pit, fill it with snakes, and toss her in. It wouldn't be pleasant.

The canopy of trees was getting denser and the sunlight peered through less often. Trevelyn calculated. There was no way they were getting home before dark now. There was no way Lynah would be home in time to choose her husband either. The king and all the nobles would be waiting, feast prepared for the arrival of their princess, and would not show up. The snakes were going to be poisonous.

"Your Highness." Trevelyn only called Lynah that when she was extremely annoyed. "It's getting dark. You promised your father you'd be there to announce your husband to be. First of all, we're not going to make it back in time. Second, we'll be lucky if we don't get lost wandering about in the dark. Third, I'm highly doubtful that Toomas truly expected you to go looking for some mythic cave. Fourth, you haven't selected the husband your supposed to and fifth, I'm the one who's going to be blamed for the whole thing, so you might as well say goodbye to me now because your father will probably banish me to the farthest reaches of the kingdom." Lynah dismounted and totally astonished Trevelyn. She started crying. This wasn't the polite sniffle of a princess weeping over a dead bird. This wasn't the angry wails of a spoiled I'm not getting my way brat. This was an all out red snotty runny nose, blotchy tear streaked cheeks, snuffle gasp unable to utter a completely intelligible sentence sob.

Trevelyn dismounted and pulled Lynah into her arms. They sunk against a tree trunk to the leaf covered forest floor. Lynah shoulders heaved in wracking breaths as she buried her face into Trevelyn's cloak. Trevelyn stroked her friend's head and rocked her back and forth. She choked back her own tears. It wouldn't do to have two hysterical girls in the forest.

When Lynah's sobs quieted into hiccups, Trevelyn whispered, "I'm sorry Lynah. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said that." Lynah lifted her head and hiccuped.

"It's not your fault. It's all my fault. Everything's my fault." She sighed and wiped her nose with her sleeve. "Somewhere I knew that this was all wrong. All of it. Everything's been wrong. This one last adventure has been the only thing that seemed right. I just couldn't stand it anymore. They all want me to make a decision I'm not even close to making. Couldn't we just keep riding? Find a house and just live there forever? Where we could find someone who actually loved me for myself and not the whole princess thing?"

"They'll come looking for us."

"I know… it's just a dream… but for a little while, could you just let us pretend we don't have to go back? To tomorrow at least?"

"Tomorrow at least."

"Promise me you won't ever let them send you away? You're the only one who knows me. You're the only one who has ever tried to say no to me too."

"I know. I don't succeed very often, do I"

"No," Lynah smiled, "but it's nice you tried." Lynah stood up and walked over to the horses. Thankful that Lynah was now in a cheerful mood again, Trevelyn stood and watched her unpack the saddlebags.

"I think here is as good a place as any to camp."

"Camp. This was supposed to be a day trip."

"Yes, but you know those noblemen, bat your eyes and ask for a snack and they pack you a week's supplies. Oh look. It's a tent! See what's in yours."

Trevelyn was amazed and glad that Lynah's suitors leaned toward the over exuberant. Between the three she'd asked, they'd managed to pack a complete set of camping gear. Pans, pots dishes, food, tents, flint, and bedding.

Before long, the two of them were giggling back and forth, setting up the tent, starting a fire, and pretending they didn't have a care in the world. Darkness settled in around them like a blanket, and the girls settled themselves in front of the fire to watch the logs burn down deep into red-hot coals, making fantastic wishes on the tiny sparks that flew above the fire, floating for a moment before winking out into wisps of ash.

Lasser had a hard time understanding townspeople. Once he caught a whiff of the scent of hundreds of people living in closely built houses, he felt like retching. He much preferred the perfume of the pine trees and wet earth. He hated haggling over his meal. It was so much easier to kill, skin and roast the meat himself. It wasn't that he didn't like people. He had many friends on the fringes of the forest. He watched them and for the most part made sure they never went hungry. It was easy enough to drop a meal silently on the doorstep, and when he wished to share a meal with the simple cottage dwellers, he was never refused.

It took Lasser a while to pinpoint the change in the forest. Whatever it was, it was old, like a tint of rust in the air. Something ancient had begun to wake in the forest. The trees were almost singing with it. The animals were restless, and even the waters couldn't seem to sit still. Lasser had yet to decide whether this was a good thing.

  The forests of Galadin had always been the last refuge of the old magic. Once the forests had been alive with dryads and nymphs. The playful chatter of the tree folk had whispered through the tall canopies. Although they had long since disappeared, most Galadins still believed you could hear the voices of the trees if you truly listened. The city dwellers had long since forsaken the old ways as myths and fairy stories. The trees were treated with reverence, out of habit more than anything. The people lived mostly in the plains of Galadin, with only minimal incursion into the forest. For the most part, hunting was plenty and the balance of the forest was well maintained. Yet still there were parts of the forest which seldom met with human eyes.

Lasser was one of the very few men who traveled deep into the forest on a regular basis, which is one reason he was surprised to see the fire in the distance. The other was the sound of laughter - female laughter that rang like bells in his ears. For a moment, his breath caught. He was certain he had, for the first time, spotted dryads frolicking in the moonlight.

"That's ridiculous, Lynah. There's no way that a dragon who had ingested an entire boulder could ever get airborne." One voice giggled loudly.

"Who's telling this story, silly. Now be quiet."

Definitely not dryads, but Lasser was no less surprised. Girls alone in a forest were almost as rare a sight. He crept up to a nearby tree and silently climbed up to the higher branches. He found a comfortable seat to watch the two strange girls.

"Okay… so the dragon didn't fly back to his cave… the dragon slunk… with a huge stomach ache, and by morning, the poor thing was crying."

"Well if he was so greedy to eat the entire thing, that was his fault."

The two girls had wrapped themselves in thick blankets, so only the tops of their golden heads appeared. Between the firelight and the moonlight, they hair glowed cheerfully in the darkness. Lasser decided they must be sisters. They couldn't be here by accident. They were too well prepared. Their supplies were carelessly littered across the ground. They were used to wealth and privilege. They were used to servants cleaning up after them. What were they doing in the middle of the forest?

"So the poor dragon promised the mage, that he would never try to eat anyone again. That he would stop pillaging and burning the houses, and never ever chase the cows in the fields, unless he got permission from the farmer first."

"You're being so unrealistic… what farmer is going to give a dragon permission to chase his cows? And what is the dragon supposed to eat? He'll starve if he doesn't eat anyone."

"Trevvie… it's a story… it doesn't have to make sense alright? Okay… so the mage casts a spell and the dragon is suddenly free of the boulder, right… but he's also the size of a chicken. Now he can eat bugs. And what farmer would mind a chicken chasing his cows?"

"Really Lynah, you are being ridiculous… you are being ridiculous."

"What about trolls? You should add trolls into your story."

Lasser nearly fell out of the tree when he heard the gruff voice speak out from the darkness. He'd been so entertained by the story, he hadn't even heard anyone approach. The girls themselves were a little less discreet. They screamed and jumped up. Lasser silently raised his bow and took an arrow from his quiver.

A man stepped into the reach of the firelight, or at least Lasser thought he looked like a man. He was short, and incredibly dirty, almost black with caked earth. His hair was wild and his eyes were big and round, bulging slightly from their sockets. The man was stocky with very little neck and arms that were slightly too long.

"Well?" He asked. He grinned wide, showing sharp yellow teeth. "Are you two pretty tasty things here all alone?"

"Of course not," one girl said.

"Don't be ridiculous," the other joined in. "They're here. You just can't see them."

"I don't like being lied to, pretty girl." The troll took a step forward. Lasser quickly notched his arrow and shot it neatly into the ground at the troll's feet.

All three of them stared at the arrow for a long moment. When the troll man didn't move, Lasser pulled another arrow from his quiver and shot it less than an inch away from his big dirty foot. The troll then had enough sense to scamper back into the protective darkness of the forest.

The two girls continued to stare at the two arrows planted firmly in the ground. They'd never get to sleep if he didn't reassure them that he wasn't out to kill them. With an uncharacteristic amount of noise, Lasser climbed down the tree and shuffled towards the firelight, allowing the girls plenty of time to hear him approach.

The fun had gone out of their faces. Even their hair seemed to lose its color in the fading firelight. They huddled together, still wrapped squarely in their blankets. In big movements, Lasser removed his dagger sheath from his boot, and held it out to the girls.

"The forest is a dangerous place at night." One of them reached out and grabbed it from his hand, pulling it into the folds of her blanket.

"Go to bed. I'll keep watch and make sure he doesn't come back. We'll talk in the morning." With that, Lasser turned and walked back into the darkness of the forest, and back up his tree. He settled back against the trunk, pulled his cowl over his head, and watched the girls disappear into their tent.

Lasser sighed. It was going to be a long night.