Highwater and Glass

The White Stag, Chapter 2 - Eloise

Fear was a powerful emotion, flooding and overtaking, a tidal rush of primal instinct silencing intellectual minds. Fear made mortals into selfish fools and easy prey for the calculating hunter. It was the second time fear had bade Annette run away from her protectors. The first had been out of fear of embarrassment as an insolent child. Now, she had fled out of fear for her death as an insolent woman.

Luckily, she was easy for Eloise to track. Annette had made no attempts to conceal her footprints or avoid the breaking of branches in her wake. Oran trailed behind her as they moved quickly through the wood.

"She couldn't have gotten far," he huffed.

Eloise found the whole situation amusing. She knew Oran was worried for the safety of the Princess, but Eloise didn't entirely subscribe to his reasons as to why. In the worst-case scenario, wherein the legend of the Dread Wyvern was true and Annette was destined to ascend into an all-powerful creature, Eloise felt her death would be a relief. Why not simply allow the assassins to kill the Princess so the beast would never awaken? She knew Oran wouldn't approve.

Annette's voice echoed beyond the trees, a sharp "oh!" indicating surprise or danger. Eloise quickened her pace and found a muddy clearing littered with fallen timber. Annette was on her hands and knees just beyond the tree line.

It took Eloise a moment to realize what had startled the princess; the figure was standing so still. It was a woman in a dark gown and long black hair, knotted and shining with metal rings and raven feathers. Her skin was unnaturally pale, painted perhaps with gray and white ash. She held a white fan in her hand, a wing torn from an unfortunate bird.

"Hello poppet," said the woman.

She sounded disaffected as she said this, but as Annette stood and began to slowly back the woman held out her fan to stop her. Annette yelped as an unseen force pulled her to the woman's feet. She placed a heeled boot against the princess's throat. Eloise drew her bow.

"Mmm. Shall I do it like this? I've never ended a life beneath my heel before," said the woman.

Eloise fired. The woman twisted and fell to the ground as the arrow struck her. Eloise felt confident the arrow landed in the woman's torso, but as she and Oran breached the clearing, her victim spun back around revealing the arrow gripped tightly in her hand.

"Crah Roah Reas!" she shouted as she tossed the arrow back.

Eloise's eyes widened. The arrow transformed into a large spear as it sailed in her direction. Yet Oran shouted words of his own and she found the spear splinter apart down the middle to follow new flight paths on either side of her.

He dove past her and pulled two potions from his bandolier. He threw them in opposite directions, striking the woman and Eloise simultaneously. Glass shattered against Eloise's armor and orange smoke plumed around her. When the smoke cleared, she found herself standing with Annette at her feet. The woman now stood behind Oran.

It disoriented Eloise for a moment before she realized the dueling potions had caused her to switch places with the woman. She understood the strategy, to keep the mage assassin away from her target; Eloise only wished she had been privy to its execution.

She watched Oran toss a third potion. This one landed at the hem of the woman's dress and erupted into a bonfire with towering flames. Her screams were torturous as her image was lost in the white-hot pyre.

Oran turned to face Eloise. "I think she's-" He didn't finish his words. Instead, he fired a bolt of electricity over Eloise's left shoulder. Eloise didn't care to investigate; she focused on the burning woman emerging from the flames. Eloise shot an arrow and caught the mage in her shoulder before she succeeded at tackling Oran to the ground.