Fevered

A Request

Ben walks around the forest, running his hands over the smooth tree bark, and brushing his hands over leaves. I stand behind him, a blade held out between my hands. If anything comes for us, I have his back covered. I fear that I might be too slow to notice a wolf.

"Come," He says, following an indistinguishable trail through the grasses. We leave Bowen's sleeping body behind. He'll be fine.

"Anything?" I ask quietly. Ben shakes his head, but continues.

"What about the trees?" I ask, looking up as we go. Nothing has stuck out to me yet, and I'm itching to try a finding spell.

Maybe that's the trick. The garden pulls at magic, making us use ours, and sucking it all away. Maybe that's why it has tired Bowen so much. And all without him finding anything. The garden's concealment is designed to keep magic out. To keep the apples safe. That could have been it all along. All those years ago, that failed expedition...

I'm tried and weary as I follow ben, realizing I can do nothing to help.

"I'm glad that summoning me has done you at least some good," Ben says, pushing through the branches.

"Me too," I say distractedly. We continue and the sun has nearly set. I don't know how he sees anything now. I feel the familiar chill of fear on my neck.

"What about the mushrooms?" Ben wonders, observing a small white fungus sprouting out of some moss, "Mushroom rings mean magic, don't they?"

"That's a funny idea," I say curiously, "I don't think so. At least not in my world."

"Maybe that's it then," Ben says with a low laugh, "Maybe the mushroom are a key,"

"Maybe they aren't though Ben. That's ridiculous," I say, sipping my tired eyes with my palms.

"That's exactly why. You and Bowen wouldn't have suspected a single thing, but to anyone from my world, that's completely out of the ordinary," Ben says.

Maybe my doubt is coming from the garden's defence systems. Maybe he's right. I follow him along a trail of small white mushrooms, and he watches the ground like a hawk. We close in onto a small ring of the mushrooms, "A fairy circle," Ben says.

I shake my head, mystified. "Fairies?"

"Nevermind," Ben says with a sigh. I follow him further into the trees, hopping from one small mushroom ring to another, until we find one big enough for both of us to stand in.

"Maybe they're like portals or something," Ben says, "But we wouldn't want to try magic on them."

The grass crunches under my feet and I sigh, this seems like a hopeless cause for me.

"Maybe if I just, ask or something?" Ben suggests, "The garden might just... let me in?"

"I doubt it. Even if the garden itself let you in, the Hesperides won't bee too eager to let someone like us in. And then there's the dragon. Every thing about this place is meant to keep people like us out," I argue patiently.

"You mean people like you, magic people. People who expect so much out of the garden, looking for a magic tree guarded by a magic dragon. Maybe it's meant to be found so simply you'd never suspect, with little details as clues, things you'd overlook."

"But what if the mushrooms are just... well, mushrooms?"

"Then we've done no harm, Bee," Ben sighs, and reaches out an arm. He pulls me into the circle with him, careful not to damage anything.

"Um..." I say, unsure of what we'll do now.

"We would like to be granted access into the garden of the hesperides, to find a golden apple. My sister's adoptive mother is very sick, with the fever. We need to be let in,"

His is a good argument, if we don't find a cure, and the fever spreads, an army of magicians will come and burn down the entire forest. The Hesperides won't like that.

"A little much?" I whisper.

Ben glares at me, "You ask now, I can't ask for you."

"I need to save Marcie. I need to. I don't know how I ended up here, if it was the gods or the muses or the stars, but I believe that there must've been a reason. Now my brother is with me, and I would give up anything to save the only mother I've ever known," I say quietly.

I feel Ben take my hand and I smile sadly, not meeting his eyes. This man is my brother. This man in strange clothes from another world, where the stars tell stories, and where there's no magic.

I am glad to have met him. And, though I can hardly bring myself to think of it, if I do lose Marcie, I'll have found another family member.

I look out into the trees, at the dimming light, and into the uncertainty. There are animals in this forest, and we're anything but safe. But I have my sword and my magic and my brother to watch out for me.

"Please?" I say quietly, my voice cracking.

The Hesperides must care for their garden very much, but I hope that they will risk it's safety if only a little bit, so to save a dying woman's life.

I don't know how the village would go on without her, she has taken her husband's place as the most important baker in Ogya. The villagers will lose one of their main food sources. I worry for those people. The people that have accepted me in their own way.

"We accept your request," A quiet voice whispers faintly on the breeze. It's as if it has spoken from us, stealing our breath to do what it needs.