Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety-One — Let Them Eat Fruitcake
Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety-One — Let Them Eat Fruitcake "Marco!" I shouted."Polo!" Came the reply from my left, and then a moment later, another "Polo!" from my right.It was a system I'd come up with to make sure we weren't lost. When I heard a distant 'Polo' I added my own shout of 'Marco' to the call.It would have been a lot more fun to stay together in a tighter group where we could chat and laugh, but the cave we were looking for was in an area that — although it looked like a blip on Amaryllis' map — covered over fifty acres, according to Calamity. That was enough room to hold two whole villages with room to spare.So, if we didn't want it to take several days, we had to split apart and search a wider area. That meant forming a slow-moving line. I could see Desiree to my left and Amaryllis to my right. She was in the middle, with Awen on her right and then Calamity capping it off.The shouts were just to keep track of each other as we moved through the brush. It was actually super hard to walk in a straight line through a thickly grown, untamed forest. There were bushes and fallen branches all over, and the occasional muddy patch or steep hillside to navigate.Without calling out, it would be way too easy to lose track of each other, and that would be terrible. I could imagine being lost in these woods, all alone. It made me want to shudder and hug my friends close."Marco?" Desiree called out."Polo!" I shouted back. I expect to hear another 'Polo' from my right, but instead there was a bit of quiet."Hey! We didn't agree on what to say if there was trouble, did we?" Amaryllis asked."Uh, I guess we didn't?" I shouted back. "Is there trouble?""You might want to come over," she said.I turned the other way and cupped my hands over my mouth. "Desiree! Come over! There's something going on!"It took a minute or two to reach Amaryllis with Desiree by my side. We trudged through the forest towards Amaryllis who immediately gestured to her right. We carried on that way until we made it to where Awen was waiting. She was crouched behind a fallen tree on the edge of a slight hill. Calamity was next to her, in the shadows. He was pretty sneaky when he wanted to be."Hey, wh-" I started.Awen placed her finger over her mouth in a 'be quiet' gesture. Her eyes were a little wide as she gestured us closer. I came over and knelt down next to her, staying low. "Sorry," she said."It's fine," I replied with a smile to soften it. "What's up? Why are we being sneaky? Is it bandits? An evil monster? Ghosts? An evil monster ghost bandit?"She shook her head, then gestured further down the slight hill. "I saw something further out. I don't know if I was seen. It looked like it was a pixie?""Urgh," Amaryllis said."Yeah, they can be a pain," Calamity agreed.I looked to Desiree to see if she had commentary about pixies too, but she just shrugged. "I'm afraid that I lack knowledge here. What is a pixie?" she asked."They're itty-bitty people," I explained, moving my hands to show how big they were. "They're all glowy and pretty, with little butterfly-like wings.""They're pests," Calamity said. "Dangerous if you're not a fighter of some sort. Otherwise, pretty harmless. On their own they're not so strong. But they swarm.""I can cast a flamethrower spell," Desiree said. "And I'm certain that Lady Amaryllis can have her exquisitely powerful magic chain from one of these little ruffians to another.""No!" I gasped. "We don't want to kill them. Look, does anyone have anything sweet on them? Candy?""We don't have Caprica with us," Amaryllis said. "So no, I didn't bring anything to rot our teeth out when I packed our food.""Darn," I said. I'd been carrying a jar of honey around with me for months but just the other day I'd taken it out of my pack and put it away on the Beaver because I didn't think I'd need it. That was really biting me in the butt now. "Okay, we do have some bread, right? Fruit?"Amaryllis' eyes widened. "I'm a fool," she said."No, I'm certain that your intellect is at least average," Desiree consoled her.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original."What? No, I was being rhetorical. We do have fruit, and nuts as well." Amaryllis spun her bag off of her back and rifled through it for a moment. She came out with a small cloth baggie that she uncinched at the top to reveal little trailmix disks.They were a sort of syrupy-sticky stuff, with bits of dried fruit and an assortment of nuts mixed in. Each was about the size of a loonie, but a bit thicker, like a sweet little wafer. "Perfect!" I said. "Give me a third," I said."A third?" Amaryllis asked. "These are a snack more than anything, we can afford to part with the whole bag, I'm sure."I shook my head. "Pixies are shrewd negotiators," I said. "It's best if we make a gift, then make an offer, then sweeten the offer after. That's at least three portions."Awen at least seemed to catch on to my logic. "Ah, will we be negotiating with them, then?""Yeah," I said. "Otherwise they might decide that we're in their territory, which we might be. That could be a bunch of trouble, you know?""We're walking separated. They could easily drop a rock on one of our heads and take us out one at a time," Calamity said.I wasn't thinking about anything so violent, but it was probably a valid concern. We could be attacked, even if pixies were small and cute. Just being small and cute didn't mean that something was harmless."Alright, I'll go see the pixies. Stay here and don't come out unless things go bad, okay?" I asked as I took the pouch from Amaryllis. My friends didn't seem super happy about me walking out into danger, but they stayed behind the trunk as I hopped over it. As a Riftwalker, I was the only one in our group that could talk to the pixies in their own language and hope to be understood.The last time... actually, the last time, the pixies I'd met had been somewhat non-verbal. They didn't talk with words so much as they danced and moved and expressed themselves in other ways. Oh, they did chirp a lot, so I suppose they weren't quite non-verbal.Creeping along the hill's edge, I made my way toward the place where Awen had pointed. The forest was quiet, save for the occasional chirp of a distant bird or the rustle of leaves. My heart pounded in all four of my ears.I held the pouch of trail mix tightly, hoping it would work as a peace offering.There was a bit of a clearing just past the bottom of the hill, with a small still pond and a large patch of wildflowers warmed by the sun. I saw them-dozens of tiny, glowing figures flitting about the flowers and ferns. Their wings shimmered with a spectrum of colours as they moved around, darting and playing.Clearing my throat gently, I held up the pouch and spoke softly. "Hello? Hi! My name is Broccoli Bunch. I brought gifts. I just wanted to meet you all, and maybe become friends?"The pixies paused in their darting, a few hovering in place with a curious tilt of their tiny heads. One of the bolder pixies, a big guy with blue wings, fluttered over and hovered a few feet ahead of me. It blinked, then its eyes narrowed suspiciously."Here," I said as I emptied the entire pouch (the other two-thirds were back with my friends, of course) into my hand and presented it to the little guy. "A gift! It's dried fruits and nuts. It's very sweet!"That was enough to tempt him. He turned and squeaked a few times at the others, warning them to stay back for now. Then he landed on the tip of my middle finger and scooped up one of the disks. It was bigger than his head, but he munched on it all the same.I smiled without showing any teeth. I was making friends!His face lit up-quite literally-with a bright glow, and it zoomed back to its friends, chattering in a rapid, high-pitched squeal that seemed like approval.Encouraged, more pixies swarmed around the snacks, their tiny hands grabbing pieces and tasting them. Their delighted giggles filled the air, a sound like the tinkling of a wind chime in a gentle breeze.Seeing their positive response, I continued, "We're actually looking for a cave in this area. It's important to us, but we don't want to disturb your home without your permission. Could you help us?"Now the suspicions returned, but not for very long."I have more snacks if you agree," I said.Gosh, I was a great negotiator!
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Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety-Two — Taking Your Leader with Me
Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety-Two — Taking Your Leader with Me "Mhm," I said.The pixie leapt and bounced through the air, his voice a high-pitched, high-speed series of squeaks and chirps.The other pixies were alternating between watching their boss and nibbling on the snacks I'd laid out for for them. Sometimes they'd look past me, towards my friends who were gathered a few steps behind me, far enough away that they wouldn't spook the pixies."And where was that, exactly?" I asked the pixie boss-man.He scrunched his little face up, then rubbed at his chin for a good while before squeaking some more and gesturing. He pointed deeper into the forest, then back to where we were. He shook his head, squeaked a few more times, nodded, then crossed his arms smugly."I see," I said. "And how many were there?"The pixie considered it for a moment, then shrugged and squealed while making a gesture with his hand."I wonder, does Captain Bunch actually understand their every utterance, or is she merely good at guessing?" Desiree asked in a low whisper. The sound had the pixies look her way, but they were busy devouring their snacks and my friends hadn't made any threatening moves, yet."I trust that she does," Amaryllis said. "Her Riftwalker magic is actually very impressive. Like a powerful and high-ranked linguistic skill.""I still remember her talking to the bee-people," Awen said."Yes, you would," Amaryllis replied dryly.I smiled-without teeth-to the pixie, then bowed my head a little and stepped back towards my friends. He dove down onto the snack pile and plucked a big nut from the top and started to take some big nibbles at it. "Okay, so... translation time, I guess?""We'd certainly appreciate it," Desiree replied."Mhm! So, Bossman-that's the pixie-said that there aren't too many people that come through here, and when there are, they're usually teams of grenoil or sometimes younger grenoil from the town nearby venturing out to cause trouble.""Bet the pixies love interlopers like that," Calamity said. "Pushing into their territory and all.""I think they do," I said. "They... kind of bully those younger grenoil, steal their lunches, then run them off. I don't think they actually hurt anyone, though-if they did that, people would probably stop coming here, and the pixies would lose their supply of free lunches. Anyway, that's what they're used to seeing, but it's not the only sort of person around. They said that they saw some stronger people too, recently. A group of five.""A group of five," Amaryllis repeated. "That could be our man. Did they mention the races?""Uh, the pixies have a hard time with that," I admitted. "They're of the opinion that any big person that walks on two legs is the same." I was more or less quoting the pixie there, and even then I felt my cheeks warming up a little. That was kind of a speciesest thing to say, wasn't it?"What do we know about this explorer anyway?" Calamity asked. "Feels strange that we're looking for this guy without knowing the first thing about 'im.""How do you even know it's a man?" Amaryllis asked... then she recanted. "Not that he isn't. His name is Sir Aberrforth, a human member of the Exploration Guild in good standing. From Mattergrove, I think.""Oh," Awen said. "The Aberrforths are a smaller family. I've heard of them. I didn't know any were in the Exploration Guild, but that's not too surprising.""It isn't?" I asked.Awen shrugged. "The Guild is pretty popular for third sons and such? It's the guild or the army, and having a member of the family join the guild costs a lot less than turning them into a knight. Horses are expensive.""Huh," I said. Awen didn't always open up about Mattergrove stuff, so it was interesting to learn. "I guess it's not too unusual to have someone from Mattergrove here? We're right on the edge, right?""The actual border is this forest," Amaryllis said. "Both Mattergrove and Deepmarsh claim the entire thing as their territory, and neither are able to nor care to enforce that fiction. The western end is definitely Mattergroves and this end is definitely Deepmarsh's, but the actual line between the two? That's for cartographers and politicians to fight over.""Well," I said, rubbing my chin, "I guess the specifics of the border don't matter too much to us. What does matter is that the pixies got us a lead. Those five people they saw."If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.Amaryllis nodded and pulled out a small notepad. She plucked a feather, did a spell to sharpen the nib, then dipped it into a tiny inkpot and scribbled some notes. "Good, so how were these people dressed?""The pixies don't do clothes," I said."I see. That's unfortunate, but it makes sense. Which direction were they heading in?""That way," I said, gesturing vaguely in the vague direction that the pixie had pointed in."Amaryllis frowned. "Uh huh... well, it's something. And how long ago was this?""The pixies don't know. They don't really keep track of time in days, more like... weather?"Amaryllis finally looked up from her notes, then she glared and turned the page towards me.Five (?) membersUnknown racesUnknown outfitsWesternly directionUnknown dates"Wow, that's not a lot," I said. "Well, I guess it's a lot of unknowns?""Broccoli, I could fill libraries with everything we don't know," Amaryllis said. "I'm more interested in actually knowing. Anything, at this point.""I could question the pixies some more, but, uh, I don't honestly think they'd be able to help all that much?" The pixies were nice, when I had them distracted with food and they weren't in the mood to be little pranksters. I glanced back at the glowing pixies and discovered a few of them sitting back on a stump, tummies stretched out with their big meals. "The boss did say that we could move through their territory, no problem. I think that's something, at least.""And if we meet more of them along the way, we can always ask them what's going on," Calamity said.I nodded. It was a plan!I returned to the boss pixie and smiled as I explained to him that my friends and I wanted to cross his territory. He considered it for a moment, hemming and hawing, until I revealed that I had an entire mini-loaf of bread. It was a little hard by then, but it was also bigger around than the whole pixie, and when I broke off a piece and gave it to him, he nibbled on it happily and agreed to come with.The pixie settled on my head, right between my ears, and we headed out in a westerly direction. We quickly figured out a way to navigate where he would tug on my right ear for us to move right, and tug on my left to turn left.I think he made us go in a little circle on purpose at some point because he was giggling to himself, but I didn't stop him. The Broccolimobile was all about fun!It didn't take too long before we met other pixies, but a few chirps from the boss and some shared bits of bread-which left crumbs in my hair, but that was fine-and we were left alone for the most part. A few of them did recall seeing five people, and they pointed us further into the forest.By the time midday rolled past and we were considering stopping for lunch, the boss pixie had found us some other pixies who had seen what we were looking for.He flew off my head and chatted with the pixies with chitters and squeaks so fast that I couldn't keep up, but eventually he flew back to me and gestured rather urgently. And then he said that because that spot was the space of the pink one, he wouldn't be accompanying us, not for all the bread on Dirt.I thanked him, which I had to do quick because he was fast to dart away and back into the woods."Should we, ah, be concerned?" Awen asked."I think so," I said with a nod. "He said something about a pink one? It sounded dangerous. But the other pixies saw our explorers that way.""What is the 'pink one?'" Desiree asked. "A name for a creature local to this area?""I don't know," I said, and neither did my friends."The good news is that that way," Calamity said as he pointed in the same direction the pixies had. "Is north. We've been going west for a while now, so if we turn and head out that way we'll be coming up to the base of the mountain range again.""And that's where the cave is!" I said. "Right, so we really are on their trail! We'll find them in no time!""Actually, um, this explorer, was he meant to be alone?" Awen asked."He's the only Exploration Guild member, but the others could be hired help," Amaryllis explained. "It's plausible enough, I think."That made enough sense for me. So we continued, sans pixies, towards the north. I expected to find the whole group in a camp or something, or near a big cave. Maybe they'd just forgotten the time?Instead, what we found, were effigies hanging from the trees like cheap Halloween decorations.
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