The Woods

19

There should be regular updates every week until I run out of prepared chapters.

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Beeron insisted upon playing again, now that Quinn had a coin to bargain, but Astraea returned with breakfast just in time to stop them from starting the next game. She took one look at the dice, cards, and the coin in Quinn's palm, and rolled her eyes.

"LiftWorrow," she muttered. Beeron smiled as he collected the cards, piling them neatly and wrapping them together with a thin rope.

"You don't like LiftWorrow?"

"No. No, I really don't. It's just a way that people lose money for food." She didn't say anything else, and once again, Quinn wondered about her past. Which reminded him of another time, when he was in her cave storage room. While she made a fire and put the two rabbits she found over it, he approached her with a dangerous question.

"Astraea," he said, not so confidently.

"Yes?" Hearing her voice jumbled up a bunch of new nerves.

"That map that I found..."

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Memories rushed back to her head, making it throb intensely. She started to find it hard to focus.

"What about it?" She snapped, hoping her tone would give him a hint that she didn't want to talk about it.

"Wh- Why did you freak out?" She sighed. She knew that no matter what she did, once Quintin had a question, he never let it rest.

"Before I ran away," her voice cracked. "My mother gifted me with a map. I think she knew what I was going to do and wanted to... confuse me or something. Still, everything labeled there is true, though it is a bit out of date." Astraea paused.

"Your mother gave it to you?" Quinn confirmed. She nodded. The next words came out in a whisper. "Then it was the last piece of affection she gave you?" She nodded silently a second time. Astraea expected him to ask more about her past and push her for answers, and, surprisingly, she was actually prepared to give them, but he simply walked away, grabbing a chunk of cooked rabbit meat as he did so. Her shoulders relaxed, and she noticed that she had been nervous for the no longer coming interrogation she had been expecting. Quintin had already brought a rabbit to Beeron and Bridget, leaving Astraea alone with her rabbit and her memories.

Bridget reminded her of him so much, it was impossible not to see Occhi in her. Occhi... She hadn't thought of him much until Astraea had seen Bri coughing up blood in the fresh snow. Occhi... Every time she thought of him, her anger at King Copres increased more, if that was possible. She missed him so much. He didn't deserve the fate he had received. The sweet boy had been the nicest person she knew when she grew up. And for that to happen to him when he was so young...

She hadn't even noticed she was crying again until Beeron walked over to her.

"Wanna play LiftWorrow? It's really great when you aren't feeling well." She shook her head at first, then decided she should try it. After all, the last time she played, she had been in denial of everything she knew, which sort of affected her playing. They walked over to the tree where Quinn and Bri were still sitting, and began to play. She had forgotten a lot of the rules, but with two people reminding her every two seconds, she quickly got the hang of the game. However, she still lost. Quinn then asked her to play with him, and that time she won. Following the protocol of losing, Quinn handed her the beautiful green and white egg shaped coin. She looked at it, considering every detail before handing it back.

"You can keep it."

"No, no. I want you to have it. You deserve it for everything that you've done for us, from curing Bri to saving me from the wrath of King Copres. You should have it. You won, and I'm just following the rules of the game." After much persuasion, Astraea finally accepted the coin, and they played until dark.

"I'll do watch," Beeron said as soon as they began to nod off. Astraea shook her head.

"We don't need to have a watch. There's nothing dangerous in these woods." Beeron's eyes narrowed.

"I think the woods are dangerous, Astraea. Especially with the king's announcement." Astraea had never heard an announcement, so she spoke truthfully when she said.

"I didn't hear an announcement. I know these woods; they are not dangerous."

"Fine," he said, but he didn't move to lay down.

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Quintin's dreams were filled with the flash and the emotions he had felt almost a full week before. His mind kept replaying what happened, as if seeing it again would show him some important detail he missed. But his memories remained the same, with a hazy fog over everything. He told himself it was just the shock that caused him to have the nightmares.

He woke up sweating after the dream, eyes frantic, breathing staggered, brain slow. He reached for the flask of water and took a lengthy sip, emptying it quickly. He needed to refill it for the others. He scrambled to his feet, trying desperately to be silent as he treaded across the few fallen leaves. His feet wouldn't cooperate, however, and he found himself shuffling along, making even more noise than he would if he wasn't trying to be careful. Someone moaned from the floor and sat up. He couldn't tell who it was in the darkness.

"Quintin?" The person asked. The voice was groggy from their sleep, masking their real voice. He bit his lip.

"Yes?" He hoped they would speak more clearly, maybe even with more words. He knew Beeron had an accent and probably had a deeper voice than Astraea, though he had never really compared their voices. He never needed to.

"Okay, I didn't know if it was you or not." There was nothing in the words that would tell him who it was. The sentence contained no h's.

"I'm going to get more water, okay?"

"Yep," Quinn expected the person to lay back down, but instead they stood up and walked over to him. He saw a flash of grey in their eyes and knew it must be Astraea that was coming with him. They walked towards the lake they had seen on the way, and as he filled the flask with the liquid, he gathered up the courage he would need.

"Astraea," he began. She stayed silent. "I just wanted to tell you that I- I think you're a great person, and," he felt his face burn, and he was grateful for the darkness for hiding it from her. "I wanted to thank you again for getting me out of there with whatever you did. And I admit, I was a bit scared at first," he stood up, screwing the lid on the flask. "But they were acting rashly. You- You never meant any harm, right? I mean, you're so nice. And you were the first person I could actually, well, this is going to sound crazy, but you were the first person that I ever felt I could trust, and... And I, uh, I think I might love you." He blurted out the last six words as if they were toxic and flinched, suddenly aware of how much taller Astraea was compared to him. He had never really noticed that before. That or her muscles. 

When she didn't say anything, he felt his face burn so intensely that it felt like his skin was melting off. Maybe it was too early... He shouldn't have said what he did.