Year 23-8

After the ambush in the woods, I awoke to a familiar sight.

The Cottage.

Tied up and bound to a chair, I saw who had captured me. They neglected to treat Tucker the same. While I was silenced and abandoned in a corner, the sorcerer conversed with creatures big and small that had taken over my dwelling. Never had I seen so many outlawed fae in a compact space like that day.

Trolls, blue-skinned, tall, with tusks, were rarely found below the mountains. Goblins, green, short, and cunning, were seldom found above ground. Saurian, lizard-skinned warriors with natural claws and animal instincts, were rarely found far from water. The King had outlawed all of them. If hunters had found them, their deaths would have been imminent, as they were not deemed worthy of capture or trial.

Scarcely mixed among them were ordinary fae like satyrs and elves.

They formed a circle in the main room, with me outside it and Tucker at its center. Beside me sat Penn, already eating through the food that had cost most of my remaining funds. I struggled to get his attention while my voice was muffled, but I’m sure he ignored me purposely to focus on his brother’s trial, if not to finish his feast.

“Imagine our surprise, can’t you? It’s been several cycles since you’ve been seen in the fight,” said who I assumed was the leader of the trolls.

Dressed in furs and pelts paired without coordination, the head of the blue skins carried an ax on his hip large enough to cut down a door. Trolls, though they could be lithe creatures, were far from weak.

“I never stopped fighting,” Tucker debated.

“You abandoned us, worse you tried to make peace with those who stole our land, butchered our brothers, and abused our women,” the troll added, but he spoke to the crowd.

“All that matters now is what you intend to do next,” said the leader of the goblins.

The green skins wore coordinated white and black light leathers. Their leader carried many small blades strapped to his person. Still, it was clear his real weapon was sharper than the troll’s.

“Will you stake a claim for the crown?” the green skin asked.

There was a pause, brief but long enough to grip the room, before Tucker spoke.

“No,” he said to the room.

“Then you have wasted our time,” the head troll remarked, and his allies reacted.

“I have other plans,” Tucker said softly while the creatures dismantled my home.

They ripped floorboards, broke windows, and smashed anything not nailed down, and all I could do was struggle and rock in my seat.

“For peace?” the goblin questioned.

“For liberation,” Tucker said.

“You expect us to believe you’ll free our people when you refuse to raise an arm,” the troll leader laughed.

“I will free my people, our people, and your help would be valued,” Tucker continued.

His answer was enough to stop the mayhem, but even I could see it was only because the beasts occupying my house were shocked and speechless. If nothing else, the Saurians were entertaining. They tried to contribute to the conversation, but their language was little more than hissing and screaming. In the end, I was less than surprised by their deliberation.

They laughed-all of them. Even the scaled lizard men took Tucker’s words as jokes.

“We would do more than simply open cages,” a voice from the crowd remarked.

“The boy is young. He dreams of the impossible, but we have seen the work of his magics. I say we help him rescue our brothers. We can go to war, with or without him,” the goblin leader said, to the surprise of everyone around him.

There were shared glances and side conversations. They weren’t in agreement, not yet.

“There’s still the matter of it,” said the troll’s head before he pointed across the room at me.

Penn, in an embarrassing fashion, misunderstood the gesture and assumed the troll referred to him. The satyr quickly left my side, and I gave up on struggling in my seat. “He is mine,” Tucker said.

“You travel with a human now,” another lone voice in the crowd remarked before laughter erupted again.

“The Prince wishes he was one of them. Just look at his skin and how he hides his ears,” the troll leader joked while reaching out to grab Tucker’s hood, seemingly to pull it down.

Before those rough blue fingers grazed Tucker’s hair, a knife flew through the air, stabbing the troll’s palm deep enough to warrant the retreat of his limb. The blade, of course, had come from the goblin leader.

The troll snarled at the more minor monster while pulling the blade from his bloodied hand. I was sure the two would fight, but they showed restraint.

“If the Prince wants our help, he should prove loyalty to his blood,” the troll proposed.

“Kill the human!” several voices in the crowd yelled.

“I said he is mine. I have taken him as my Right,” Tucker spoke, finally raising his voice.

Great winds rattled the room, giving him further space, but only the underlings and subordinates were impressed.

“You dare,” the troll leader barked, preparing to swing his ax.

“I do not answer to you,” Tucker said with his eyes clouding up the room.

They stood opposed to one another until the blue skin gave a grin and lowered his weapon. Watching it from a distance, everything moved swiftly. To think my life was in danger and saved in nearly three breaths.

“So be it, boy. If it betrays us, I’ll have both your heads up a bear’s ass,” the blue skin remarked before signaling his men to leave.