Just as promised, when the sun had risen, the two boys had thanked Ciara and her mother for inviting them to stay. Breakfast was welcomed, Faddei shocking himself with how much leftover stew he managed to eat that morning, even getting called a Devourer of Worlds by none other than Ciara. While here sitting on an old, ragged table, being made fun of by an illiterate teenage girl, it brought a lingering thought of home. How did Yulia sit at the table with Father thinking that Faddei was deceased? Did they manage to pass time by alright? He hoped to find them soon and clear this tragic misunderstanding so everyone can move along with their lives normally once more. As he thanked Ciara and her mother again for their kindness, they gathered what small belongings they had and set out to the roads.
The two were led to a post with road signs along dirt paths by Ciara's mother, to which he still didn't know the name of. He was certain he would never meet them again and decided it was not useful information with their current situation, with all three standing just on the outside of their village, which he learned was called Grenivik.
"I'm sorry we can't be much help with your situation, dear. I'm really not comfortable with you goin' out like this, but if ya must go, then please stay on th'trail. It'll lead ya to Ferstika."
"Will Ferstika aid me enter the castle?" Faddei finally felt the cold wind against his body today. He tucked into the fur capelet that smelled like saw dust and something soggy, holding his breath in order to not smell it as much. It was Ciara's mother who gave it to him and despite it smelling awful, he realized just then how much he needed something like this.
"Well, I'm hopin'." She sighed with a certain look of anxiety, tucking into her own fur coat. "If they don't then I'm sure you can keep up the trail, but without proper clothes an' parents I fear the cities won't accept ya. Do you really not have any family to go back to? Is it really so important to meet with the Queen?"
"It is all I have left. I must speak with her."
She sighed. This lady looked tired and worn, with minor shades under her eyes and some skin softly sagging from her cheeks. She was definitely an older woman, maybe around the same age as Ksenya. She looked more like a servant than a mother. Granted for the boy, the only image of his mother was a painting in the castle's foyer for reference of what a mother looked like, though despite that, it was a harmless speculation where no second thought was given.
"Okay, dear. If that's what you want. Remember to stay on the trail an' keep wary to strangers. There aren't always kind people, I'm 'fraid..."
"I quite understand that. I will see to my journey now! I will write to you when I can."
"Right. Right, be careful, dear!"
They exchanged a wave farewell as she made her way back down the hill and into the not-so-fancy village surrounded by forest. He wondered how such people could live like this, knowing the forest was infested with possible beasts prepared to kill.
"Why would they live like this?" He wondered aloud. Well, it doesn't matter now. He wouldn't be seeing them again if all went smoothly. "Alright, Gustave, let us fetch the sword."
The teenager pressed opposite of where Ciara's mother told him to go - away from Ferstika.
The trail was easier to find than last with the help of Gustave, as Faddei's memory was foggy since awakening. His cognitive functions were getting better but it would still take a while, he could tell, to remember every detail of what had happened in his childhood. No, Faddei couldn't recall some memories, and the night with the Archbishop was quite fuzzy, too. He knew there was a watchtower and that Father was sick, and the Archbishop tried to kill him. Faddei remembered very clearly the pearl and what it had done to him, however. It was something he didn't think he could forget even if he wanted to.
With great difficulty, Faddei would get the sword. Not before he pressed his face into the capelet, held his breath, and with considerable speed, crawled into the damn thing and snagged it as quick as he could without looking at the clear dead corpse of the Archbishop.
When back out of the grotto, Faddei gave into a shake and sickness so badly he fell to his knees. Gustave would be by his side to aid the young boy out of this, worried sick of what was going on to Faddei. After a while, the trembles slowed and Faddei was wiping tears. He complained his face now felt colder and suggested with annoyance the first thing they would buy would be a scarf.
It took a few tries but he was able to slide the sword in the holster attached to his belt; a little gift that was given to him from Ciara, but she was quick to tell him that she stole it from the big scary lady's stash and promised she wouldn't miss it since it was so worn and torn. Faddei didn't believe her. Still, this did help. It would keep this sword near when danger arose, but...
"This thing is so heavy!" He hissed and shook the belt. "I am not built for this!"
"Kwa!"
"But Gustasve! It's ridiculously heavy! Is there not a carriage of some sort we can use? Perhaps ask the village for one–" The penguin bleaked. Faddei crossed his arms and started walking off with a huff. "Okay, fine. Don't cry if I fall down a cliff and die."
They were back on trail to Ferstika when Faddei gave another sigh of frustration about the sword's weight. As he played with its hilt, Faddei had started to wonder something.
"Hey, Gustave, my friend, I have a question for you. I understand you say you found me in that cave, but... I can't grasp how. Did you continue to dig for me through areas that weren't seen by most? It's quite impressive and would make sense why you took three years to get to me."
The gobby-penguin chirped.
"You..." Faddei stopped. "You what?"
Gustave tensed but otherwise looked truthful.
If what Gustave said is true, then... "You sensed me? Because i-it's still inside me?" He clutched at his chest and pulled apart the buttons to stare at the hideous, almost root-like scar that traced his entire middle chest, always reminding him he was... cursed .
Now that it was mentioned, Faddei could indeed feel it, albeit a little faint. It seemed to thrive living there.
The beast leaned up to the boy and calmed him down with more bleaking. Faddei hadn't realized he had been breathing harshly until he was relaxing somewhat. "So, that would mean... beasts can detect it. This may be troublesome. You don't think that the beast— that boar, was after... me?"
He felt ill.
Faddei remembered the time he was in that other world... more or less. Was there a way to return? To begin with, where did it come from? Maybe he was just very high on some cloud during his dream, but if there was a chance to go back, then he would love to ask the beast more questions. It seemed to be a reliable source, especially about his current situation with the pearl.
Since the sun's rising, Faddei and Gustave made significant progress in travel; the sun was nearly around afternoon when they'd met with their first traveler. He was but a traveling merchant that had a donkey carry his wagon of goods, along with two smaller children who hopped on back, hiding the moment they'd spotted Faddei and Gustave passing by. They waved to the man and he did the same, crossing their own paths. An hour into the trail were more and more folk passing by the trail, their clothes not too different from Grenivik but they did seem cleaner about it.
Only, now he was noticing something about all of the people, both in Grenevik and in Ferstika who traveled were keeping swords to their sides.
It was no joke. These people are scary.
Cracking through a steeper side of the trail, the amount of people hanging around confirmed the entrance was merely minutes away now. Just up ahead were thick, wooden poles standing wide apart which looked to be a gate entrance, though they were tilted and cracked with age. At the top was a worn down and crooked sign that if Faddei winced, could see said Ferstika.
"My feet hurt, my dear Gustave. I don't think I can handle walking anymore..." The blond brooded; his feet ached and his waist felt sore from carrying his sword, and his lungs were burning with the cold! During his break in the village, Faddei examined his limbs and pressed on his biceps and his thighs. "This is why I am not suited for strength and force." He slumped against a wall and pulled at his belt with frustration. "Ciara's mother gave us a few coins... I wonder what to use them for."
"Hey, kid, if you ain't gettin' anythin' then get off."
Faddei jumped off the wall and gawked at it, now seeing that it was actually a support for some kind of small wooden thing... There were baskets of fruits and vegetables in front of it and the older man hid behind it. He was surprised to find someone huddling under such a thing.
"Oh, food. I'd like that–"
"Kid, there's a line! Can't you see the customers you're holdin' up??"
"... The customers?"
That seemed to make the man's brow twitch. "Yes, the customers! You're holdin' up the line! Shoo, get out!"
When Faddei looked around, he saw no such line in sight.
"I uh... why would there be a line?"
"Are you stupid, boy? Nevermind that, just get off my stall if you ain't buyin'!" He was getting up from his seat with something that looked like a metal bar and Faddei trotted away before he could impose any real threat.
He pursed his lips and Gustave gave a concerned bleak. "I don't know what that man's problem was. What did he mean? What was I supposed to buy?"
As he walked, he nearly got clipped by another person. No apologies whatsoever! Standing there stunned, Faddei got a good look at this section; it was a very small circular stone path filled with these so-called stalls with different types of foods, and branching out were larger buildings he couldn't recognize. People came in and out of one with these metallic mugs similar to the ones the guards had back in Grenevik and they looked quite happy and loud. Another building made loud banging shrill noises and blew out jet-black smoke and he could smell it all the way to the food stalls! It was just a tad more populated than Grenevik but, somehow, it seemed more lively. Quite ruder, though.
There was someone shouting in the streets that flailed papers in his hands. Not many, but it seemed some people's attention was drawn and they stopped to speak with the lad. Faddei approached after he was finished talking and cleared his throat. The lad was a little younger than Faddei, around perhaps twelve, and looked a little dirty, but his smile was filled with delight.
"Hello, sir! Would you need a weapon, perhaps? A sword for when you go out?" He pressed a rough sheet of paper in Faddei's hand. When looking at it, there, written in neat handwriting along with a crest of sorts in the corner, was about something called a blacksmith.
"A blacksmith? What's that?"
"What's a blacksmith? Why, the thing that'll keep you alive, 's'what it is! Here, see over there, that building with the smoke? That there's where my dad works. He makes all kinds of weapons. We've been booming these last few years for sure, but just this month we've had more commissionwork than ever before! So? What do you say?"
Faddei patted the holster of his sword. "I already have a weapon." Though he hated weapons, he was very smug when talking about it in front of this kid.
"Ah, I see." The kid with curly black hair rubbed his nose but it only created another smudge.
"I want to ask. Where would I go to get a carriage to the castle?"
The twelve year old looked at him as if he'd spoken another language. "The castle? Why do you want to go there?"
Faddei held back rolling his eyes. "No reason. So can you tell me or not?"
"Well... Maybe dad knows more, but... there are some weapons that the castle commissions themselves. We're the best blacksmith family in the whole Kingdom, sir!"
Faddei wasn't sure how to feel being called sir when he was only twel- fifteen.
"Right. When's the next batch? I'd like to hop on a ride."
"Sir, I don't think that I know. My dad's the one who–"
"Your father is in that building, yes?" The boy nodded and Faddei walked past him, leaving the boy to continue giving out his papers.
On the building's front is the same crest from the paper. It was quite simple, really, with a large anvil and two hammers crossing underneath it, a horseshoe caressing the entire thing, finalized with a banner at the bottom, with the words Blacksmith Faber carved in the wood. The smell was stronger than ever before - something like black and dusty and quenching steel - that was the only way he could describe it. The heat was also insane! Faddei could hear a hammer going off somewhere nearby and followed it on a cement balcony coiling around the building to a fiery forge and a man continuously beating on a long metallic rod that glowed yellow and red. It had worried Faddei and even ushered Gustave to stay behind him, the man finishing by splashing it in water, the area now creeping with a white smoke that caused Faddei and Gustave to cough.
The man noticed this and after some minutes of finishing his sword, he placed a rag over his hands and arms and neck and practically everywhere where naturally dark skin showed. His clothes were soaked with sweat and it surprised Faddei how little he could smell it at all.
"What do you want, boy? You Odis' new friend?" He whipped the rag over his shoulder, taking steps around the forge to cool it down. Through the smoke he could see the creases of hard work on his face as well as a thicker, well defined body he carried around. Through all of that, Faddei didn't think he was near mid age at all with how... young he looked.
"Uh... I am looking to take a ride on your carriage to the castle." He said through coughs, "When is the next scheduled?"
The man gave a questioning look and calmed down enough to really give a good eye to the blond boy. "What makes you think I'll be letting you ride the carriage?"
Faddei opened his mouth and then closed it. Why, if he knew that he was the prince, he'd regret saying that, he was sure of it.
"Go back to playing with Odis, will you? Boy don't have a lot of friends."
The cloud was finally disappearing enough for his lungs to pause on spasming. "I need to go on that carriage." He pulled out the coin bag Ciara's mother gave him and held it in the man's direction. "This should be enough."
Only, the man let out a dry chuckle and the wrinkles from his face softened vaguely. "Yeah, that ain't gonna cut it, kid. A ride to the castle's more than just a pound of coin, but good try." He threw the rag over an old rack. "I'd also recommend not going. Especially a young one like you."
Yes yes, he'd heard that before.
"If you won't let me on the carriage, what will I have to do to convince you? I can do your son's job for an hour if it really needs to be done."
Now this raised an eyebrow to the man. He seemed to be done cleaning up the forge and yanked the sword out of the water and placed it down on a table to examine it. He hadn't said anything for a few good minutes as he seemed to be entranced in every angle this sword had. Faddei didn't have the patience but he had no power over these people despite it being the truth, but over all of that, he'd say this man intimidated him greatly. Perhaps not out of fear like the scary lady but he couldn't shake this feeling.
"Alright kid," The man finally sighed and relaxed from the sword. "You want on that carriage? You needa pay for it." He turned from the stool and stood up, hands to his knees, grunting as if it was uncomfortable, and walked to him with an arm over the corner of the building. "These hardworking folk need help around the village. They'll be nice enough to give you a pretty coin or two if you manage to do the job right."
"Wait— help them?"
"Precisely."
"You are mistaken. I will not aid peasants—"
"Then you aren't getting on the carriage." Without another word the man walked past Faddei and shuffled back into the building. It was Faddei's turn to cross his arms and pout over this entirely unfair situation. As he walked off the balcony, he nearly wanted to scream.
"Gustave, none of these people are kind to me. I have had it. I tried being nice, I tried being reasonable, and I even tried paying for it, fair and square. What is up with these grumpy, lowlife people?!" He stomped the ground as he faced Gustave, hands into fists, and lips pursed together.
The busy road got a little too quiet. He looked around and that's when the realization that people were giving him a weird look kicked in, so his face heated up. This was the kind of image that led to humility...!
"Come on Gustave." They left the general area and into the nearest tree line which admittedly took a ten minute walk or so, unlike the other village, where he would find solace in isolation. There in the trees Faddei decided to take a deep breath and try to calm down but it really wasn't working. Instead he was releasing his frustrations in words to Gustave; it had taken a little bit for Gustave's words to ground the prince back to rationality with the sound of birds fleeing trees nearby, which had fully caught both of their attention, as it was in the opposite direction of the village, following a soft cry that was covered mostly by bushes rustling alongside a deep growl.
Gustave and Faddei stared at each other.
"What... do you think that was?"
"... Kwa."
Someone in peril... Faddei tensed, his feet shuffling to hide behind the gobby-penguin. This was not good. Quick learning taught him that beasts roamed the forests and only skilled Beast Hunters would stand a chance killing them and he was NOT that.
Another yelp was heard, this time farther, and so Faddei curled in on himself. He peeped and there stood Gustave glaring back at him with a raised brow, then waddled over toward the noise without hesitation. Faddei gawked in disbelief.
"What are you doing?!"
Gustave did not answer. His chubby body was slowly curling into the bushes, once being difficult to notice, to now being completely gone.
Faddei stood alone in the area with balled fists.
He looked around with a puffed face. "How dare Gustave..." Heart palpitation had occurred as he thought about many things in the current moment. What if the monster came to him during this moment of vulnerability? Incredibly infuriating, it would all be Gustuave's fault...! Wait, there's also a chance that Gustave could be killed because Faddei isn't here to protect him. He was the one with the sword after all! Except, if he has the sword, then the excuse of vulnerability wouldn't be held so strongly... "Ugh!"
This was NOT supposed to be happening right now!
The young prince stomped deeper in the forest after the sounds of peril. If he was going to die then he'd blame it on Gustave, the little...!
The forest seemed to dive a deeper grey through the cold, the only signs of green being pine trees though admittedly Faddei was too distracted by some bark being damaged on a number of random trees to see the beauty of this area. Following them seemed to lead somewhere where the visual and audible cues had gotten to a point where Faddei could authenticate an attack of a beast. And a fight. There were struggles in the snow of a human considering the flailing footprints and dropped bag of sorts. Faddei had noted Gustave's prints as well and continued. The air was getting chillier so he pressed his hands into his arms as anxiety increased in his gut, the snowfall slowly enveloping the tracks, giving him a sense of uneasiness he couldn't explain. Faddei rushed prior to tripping and tumbling, scraping his knee over something sharp that jutted from the sleet pile. With a face full of snow the boy crouched up in a gasp. He wanted to scream. He was frustrated enough to begin with but now his face was so unbearably cold!
A flipper rubbed the snow away so the Prince could feel better. Faddei nearly forgot to stay mad so he fixed his delighted face into one of a pout. "Gustave! You little... do you know what just—" He opened his mouth to give a word except the gobby-penguin was quick to push the boy over as soon as he was complaining.
When he once again gained awareness of his surroundings, Gustave was buried under snow and there was a creature that just grazed past them in its charge. It landed directly into the trees at the hill, rumbling the earth enough to drop hundreds of pounds of snow on it. This gave Faddei enough time to start reaching for Gustave. A cry could be heard just an earshot away so he paused and looked over to see a familiar little boy, now curled up in a ball, full of blood and crying.
Faddei was frozen.
A growl nearly buckled his knees, forcing him to tense up and flip back only to see the beast easily lifting itself out of the white sleet. The black creature was hairless and long and extremely scrawny. It had two horns resembling that of a bull but it had oddly disturbing horse-looking appendages and giant teeth but no visible face. Those sharp teeth looked almost translucent if not for the blood and slobber covering some of them. Through the screeching was odd cracking noises that came out of its mouth in an extremely unpleasant way to listen. Despite no visible eyes, its gaze was sure after the snow came off and immediately charged him. Faddei screamed and ran right past the red covered Odis with astonishing speed. It seemed being older had its perks after all!
He dived in between trees which covered two boulders tight enough he could squeeze in but just as he thought he was safe, the creature's horse-bending arm curled and revealed its mangy human-looking fingers as it snatched a leg, yanking him out and dangling him in the air. Its grip concerned snapping his ankle in half if he didn't do something quick, but its long tongue rolled over his body and even left its saliva over his skin, leaving a shudder of disgust and surprise at how much colder Faddei's skin was.
A shot of cold breeze tickled his pale face as it vibrated a breath. "... Orb piece... Mmm..." And another lick came, coiling itself around the boy's arm, its mass both slimy and sturdy, the mass of muscle locking any chance of escape. Tears formed during the pain around his leg and arm, doing all the thrashing he could to get loose, but the undeniable truth was that he had no chance.
He had no chance.
Why did he come here if he couldn't do anything? He was just going to die right this moment without even doing anything heroic. How foolish. Faddei let himself get killed in such a stupid, anticlimactic way...
He could see the rows of teeth slowly coming closer. Notably, he could see what looked like a boot lodged in between some of them. It was an unpleasant surprise to see, as he was inching deeper, that there was flesh coming out of it. There was a whole foot in that boot. The creature had bitten off someone's foot. He almost laughed at himself; what ridiculousness it was to be so captivated by a boot of all things moments before being eaten! Maybe he had lost his mind.
He didn't keep his eyes open when he slid down the gullet. Just like its puffing, the way down was cold and wet, having to hold his breath as throat tissue tightened around him, forcing him into the stomach. As opposed to the freezing moisture beforehand, the stomach's fluid could be called one hundred percent boiling! Possibly due to the drastic change of temperature it actually wasn't as boiling as it discerned but it didn't stop Faddei from thinking he was standing in a pit of fire.
... The boot from earlier was familiar. Made of fine worn leather built with fur inside, and a familiar symbol imprinted on its side - only someone with a skilled craftsman could create such a boot. In such a small town it should only come down to at least one family... Ah, yes, it was Odis'. The blacksmith's son. So that meant Faddei was too late, now, did it?
Hold on, now. When did he ever swear the safety of others? He was no Beast Hunter! He couldn't go around throwing himself in danger for the sake of people in danger! Faddei had his own thing to do - and that was to go to the castle and forget all of this! He would feel incredibly horrible to leave someone like Odis behind in such a situation, though... He could easily give them portions of his fortune to help the village's security. That should help them enough! That was only if he had gone to the castle in the first place like he wanted to!
Sword... Sword... Sword...
Huh, that's odd. There seemed to be someone speaking to him in the depths of this big stomach.
Oh, maybe he really had lost his mind.
Sword... Sword... Sword...
He could hear the word echoing in his head nonstop. It was intimate with no venom, no bloodlust, but it wouldn't stop. Somehow familiar... With nothing else he could do, Faddei ignored his bodily pain and focused on the voice.
There was no thought in his movements, full of panic, he dove into the voice's guidance with haste - all he wanted to do was grab the sword. His free hand reached to the holster and swung it right for the gooey sac, succeeding in putting a gash deep enough for laceration. He lost his balance as it swayed and shook, the sound of the beast screaming loudest where he stood. Faddei decided to keep going through throbbing eardrums, piercing through to the best he could, stabbing the top and the bottom, the back and the front, everywhere he could manage. He did not stop. After a while his mind had blotted out everything through the battle.
‿‿‿‿
He did not remember anything.
When the prince woke up, his arms pulled the sword and thrashed about without any rhyme or reason, screaming so feral like he was a wild animal. The monster. He had to kill the monster. The monster needed to be killed, and if he didn't do anything, then...!
It didn't take long for the cries of the gobby-penguin to reach his ears. Sweet like the feeling of home, Faddei was drawn to it, and he dropped the heavy sword as they stared face to face.
"Kwa...!" Gustave cooed warmly but Faddei was still in shock - he didn't know how to respond. His eyes instead widened to look behind him to search for the danger only to find the sight of something nauseous.
The black beast had been cut to shreds from the inside out. Its thick black blood stained the snow and everything Faddei owned with its ribs cracked open so rigidly. This scene looked like another beast had killed it. It was brutal and violent...
He looked back to Gustave after several long minutes, the beast shuffling to the side. Odis was there, looking paler by the minute.
He was still alive? After the creature he was truly disorientated but even through the fog, a solid fact still stood; Odis needed to find a doctor. Quick.
This was not good.
Faddei and Gustave held onto Odis' shoulders and dragged his unconscious body up the hill, but it didn't add up good at all.
Gustave could see that Faddei's body was breaking down; at this rate, they just wouldn't make it. However... He was a penguin which was perfect right now, but that also meant he didn't have arms to...
He let go of Odis and picked for the blond boy's fur mantle until it untied. It was difficult but Gustave managed to have Faddei's blank attention even for a second. He hoisted Odis on Gustave's back and put his fur mantle over Odis and around Gustave's neck so it would be attaching Odis to his back.
The penguin gave a quick nibble to Faddei but he wouldn't come out of it. Gustave was concerned for his best friend but this child on his back would die if he didn't move soon.
The bird bleaked. There he went, in just mere seconds the beast managed to make more progress up the hill than when Faddei helped. It was a frustrating truth but it was better for the penguin to take action in its element.
'I will come back for you, my best friend!'
Notes:
hi everyone!
new month, new chapter !! (:
faddei is a little spoiled, but that is to be expected growing up in a palace.
still, he was very brave during the battle, wasn't he?
gustave is a fierce little warrior! go save faddei!
so i have to mention i do not have a lot of chapters after this. i do not know if i can post another chapter by next month but i will see! life has been very busy lately but i'll be glad to see all of the support you all have for my story (;
thanks everyone!!