The Girl in the Woods

Chapter 5

Inside, it was as simple as the exterior. There was a bare minimum of wooden furniture, and light blue rugs covered large parts of the stone floor. A huge fireplace took up one wall, and a doorway to the right led to a small, homely kitchen.

"Make yourselves at home, I'll just fetch the coffee. It's as if my old bones sensed you were coming." Gantris disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Apollo and me to look around.

I wound a lock of my red hair around my finger as I looked around. Being in other people's homes always made me awkward, and the level of my discomfort seemed to skyrocket here, in this beautiful faerie's home. Apollo plonked down on a wooden chair, but I drifted to the wall, where several pretty water colour paintings hung. I had a feeling that Gantris had painted them himself; there were paintings of wildflowers and watery sunsets, and my eyes were drawn to a portrait of a nice faerie family.

The father in the picture was obviously Gantris, except a far younger version of him. I was pleased to notice that his hair was once red, like mine. The beautiful dark haired faerie beside him was obviously his wife; she had soft eyes and a shy smile, and she was absolutely gorgeous. Standing in front of the beaming couple was a small, red haired girl who looked about six; she shared her father's bright blue eyes, except unlike her parents, her face was strikingly sombre. I leaned forward to inspect her a little more. She looked like she had wise eyes, wiser beyond her years.

"Her name was Lily."

I turned to find Gantris sitting beside Apollo, the two of them watching me. I hadn't even heard him re-enter.  Three steaming cups of coffee were sitting on the stout coffee table, and Gantris' face looked strangely weary as my eyes met his.

"My wife Heitka and I wanted a simple name for her." His voice was quiet. Beside him, Apollo looked strangely cautious as he looked back at the faerie.

I looked back at the little girl - Lily - and her wise eyes suddenly filled me with dread. Her father had used the past tense when he'd spoken of her.

Apollo cleared his throat, and I abruptly turned away from the painting and dropped into the chair on his other side. I couldn't meet Gantris' searching gaze, so I picked up my coffee.

"So," Apollo's voice was nonchalant, casually moving the conversation away from Lily, "I presume you know why I'm here?"

Gantris looked evenly back at Apollo. "I assumed it was because you longed to see my attractive face."

I stifled a laugh, and Gantris winked at me. He was obviously keen to move the conversation as well.

Apollo smiled and took a sip from his mug. "Well, that's one of the reasons. However, have you heard of the mass slaughters happening in Saii?"

"I have." Gantis nodded.

"Why were you not at the meetings?" Apollo asked boldly. "I'm sure you were invited."

Gantris' responding snort surprised me, and the voice he spoke with was hard and bitter. "I'm sure as well, Apollo, but I chose this place to live for a reason. Even if those treacherous fools scoured every inch of the earth, they would not find me unless I wanted them to."

"I see." Apollo's voice was quiet.

After a few moments where Gantris waited fruitlessly for him to go on, he spoke again."What have they decided to do at the meetings?"

"That's the thing," Apollo set down his mug, "they didn't."

"Pardon me?"

"Do you know of a faerie named Neroii? He was married to the daughter of Banye."