In the Margins

    Nothing comes out of the Haunted Woods but monsters, super-villains and con artists.

    Tavasz was just as bad as everyone said. Just as petty, selfish, and mean.

    She was certainly no hero.

    "Cleo, I'm sorry," she moaned into the unfeeling sky. "You listened to me, you tried to understand, but I never listened to you. Of course you love the faeries, they treat you like a person. I treated you like a tool, an object to use for my own convenience. I'm sorry, I'm such an idiot."

    She buried her head in her hands, wrapping her sodden tail around herself in a vain gesture of comfort. The bandage on her paw rubbed against her cheek, reminding her of the way she'd jumped to grab a scalding hot teapot for Cleo's sake. And yet, when the opportunity presented itself, she hadn't been able to come clean about her real intentions. She'd been too fixated on carrying out her plan to just do the right thing.

    "I warned you, did I not?"

    Tavasz tensed, whipping around and squinting through her swollen, blurry eyes. She hissed in fury when she recognized the bright scarlet eyes winking out of the dark.

    "Sorceress," she rasped thickly. "What do you want? Come to gloat?"

    "And what would I gain by that?" the aisha demanded, emerging from the trees. "Our Woods would still be imperilled, would they not? But the draik was deadweight, she proved that just now. You're far better off doing this without her."

    "Oh, yes, naturally," Tavasz drawled sarcastically, rubbing her eye. "Let me just waltz in there and take down three faeries on my own. Three members of a race renowned for their raw magical abilities, with a giant light magic battery right at hand to supercharge them. That will go splendidly, I'm sure. Certainly I won't get blasted by their de-Haunting spell and lose all my magic instantly."

    "Tavasz, peace," the Sorceress soothed, reaching out a hand placatingly. "You're upset, I understand that. But I'm not the one you're upset with, and lashing out at me isn't going to help either your emotions or the situation."

    …She was right, of course. It wasn't the Sorceress that Tavasz was mad at. No, she was angry with herself. The lutari clenched her eyes shut again, running her talons through the fur on her head. At this point she would probably never see Cleo again. As much as she wanted, sincerely, to apologize to her friend-

    Former friend at this point.

    -There was probably no real chance of that anymore. But the Woods were still in danger, and worthy or not, Tavasz was the only person in a position to do anything about it.

    She finally looked up again, dropping her hands to her side. "Where are the faeries, anyway? With all the shouting we were just doing, I'm surprised we didn't lead them right to us."

    The Sorceress chuckled. "The storm is working to your advantage in this case. Such sheltered, spoiled Faerieland elites aren't used to braving the elements. And their powers being light based, any attempt to shield themselves from the rain would create a beacon that advertised their presence for all the Woods to see."

    “Hm. Small miracles,” Tavasz mused. "But it still doesn't tell me how to stop them. My magic can't destroy their crystal- you're a dark mage, you know the rule. The closer you get to the light, the longer your shadow becomes-"

    "And light shines brightest in the dark," the sorceress finished, folding her arms. "You're right, of course. If you try to use magic on their light crystal, it will just feed the thing and make it stronger. But you're a Woodlander, Tavasz, and you need to think like one- there are clever ways around any problem."

    She beckoned, and as she started off into the forest, Tavasz reluctantly followed. She paused just long enough to look over her shoulder into the sky, but the clouds had blotted out any trace of the stars Cleo loved, and she was long gone with them. Sighing, the Lutari picked up her pace and followed the Sorceress.

    They travelled for several minutes in silence, the Sorceress being her usual mysterious self and Tavasz's mind still not completely in the present. Finally, though, the aisha stopped, rubbing the burned wrist where she'd been banded anxiously. "I'm sure you know that, vast and ancient as these woods are, there are a number of powerful and dangerous artefacts that have been hidden here for their own protection."

    "Yes," Tavasz agreed duly. "Like the artefact that turned the faeries to stone, or the… Swords of Fire and Ice."

    Aethia's swords.

    The sorceress shot her a crooked smile. "Yes. Like that."

    Tavasz felt another stab of guilt, but she shoved it away. She could wallow in self-accusation later, right now she had to focus on doing what needed to be done to save the Woods.

    "Look there," the sorceress said, gesturing to a tree a few feet away. Tavasz frowned, cautiously approaching it- it wouldn't be the first time someone had directed her towards a tree that was sentient and took offense to her nearness. But this one made no move to attack, and there was no face in its bark. Only a small knothole, just big enough for her to fit her hand into.

    "And I'm meant to presume something of worth is inside there," Tavasz asked, quirking an eyebrow at the sorceress. "Something helpful. What's the catch? This sort of stuff is never left unguarded, and you don't live your entire life in these Woods by shoving your hand into dark, mysterious holes. At least, not and keep all of your hands attached."

    The sorceress smiled more widely, striding slowly around Tavasz. "I've always liked that about you. You're clever, you ask questions. Suspicious of everything, take nothing at face value. After all-" she spread her wings in a shrug. "Trust will only get you hurt- everyone has their own agenda."

    Tavasz blinked, her ears swivelling backwards as she turned to keep the sorceress in her line of sight. "That's not true. Woodlanders survive by trusting one another and looking out for each other!"

    "Do they, now? You have an awfully funny way of showing that," the aisha remarked with a laugh, taking another step so that Tavasz had turned fully away from the tree to face her. "Tell me- how exactly were you looking out for little Cleo with that slick ploy of yours?"

    Tavasz' face fell, and the sorceress smirked. "Then again, she isn't a Woodlander, is she? So perhaps she didn't count? Only looking after your own, and to the fiery depths of Moltara with anyone else the world sees as lesser."

    The Lutari had no rebuttal to offer that- she only whimpered, looking away.

    "You'll understand then," the sorceress said, lifting her scarred hand. "Why does it have to be this way?"

    She snapped, and Tavasz yelped as a root shout out of the ground, yanking her feet from under her. She toppled backwards, her head impacting the wood of the tree just above the knot-hole.

    Then, with a flash of golden light, she felt a searing, white hot bar of agony clamp around her neck. She scrabbled at it impulsively, but her hands burned just as badly when she touched it. She tried to reach for her magic, but the light only flared more brightly, and the purple flames sputtered and died on her paws.

    She couldn't see it clearly, but there was no mistake; it was a band.

    "You…" she looked up at the sorceress in horror. "You're in league with the faeries?"

    She held up the scarred wrist, and to Tavasz' horror she saw the pink, angry mark vanish before her eyes. An illusion.

    "I'm a dark sorceress, and I look like this," she gestured sharply to take in her purple fur, webbed wings, and scarlet eyes. "But I'm not like the rest of you Woodlanders. I don't take joy in being as weird and spooky as possible just to flaunt that I'm different."

    "You were t-trying to scare Cleo earlier! At the fairgrounds!"

    "I wasn't scaring her, I was warning her," the aisha retorted. "Warning her of exactly what sort of people she was getting herself involved with here. And when she wouldn't listen, when it proved you had her wrapped around your little sugar-coated finger, I just gave you a little nudge to do what I knew was in your nature anyway."

    Tavasz blanched. "I… b-but…"

    "Once the old order of the Haunted Woods was destroyed, the faeries needed to ensure nobody would try to abuse that power vacuum," the sorceress mused, smirking. "But no one likes a colonialist- the Woodlanders wouldn't have taken a light faerie's word about what was best. But me? I'm local. Raydeen and the others can set me up as a queen of the purified woods, one that the Woodlanders will accept and that the faeries can trust not to act against Faerieland's interests." She shrugged. "Sure, I'll lose my magic, but I'll gain the power that comes with rulership. That is just as potent in its own way."

    "You're not better than us, you're worse!" Tavasz spat, struggling to her feet despite the searing pain around her neck. "You turned on your own people! You sold us out!"

    "You're not 'my people' just because we share an elemental affinity the rest of the world scorns," the sorceress retorted. "Frankly? You people are embarrassing."

    She grabbed the collar with a spectral hand of purple light and it flared, making Tavasz shriek with the pain of it. Then she threw the Lutari down sideways in the dirt, where she lay too winded to rise.

    "That should see to it you don't go interfering again. I'll go let them know I handled the little pest. Goodbye, Tavasz; when we meet again, it will be in a better world."

    Tavasz pressed her face into the dirt as the sorceress' footsteps receded. Hot tears of shame and despair boiled out of her closed eyes, and she sobbed quietly into the mud. For what felt like an age she lay there, defeated and utterly spent.

    Then, over the drone of the rain, she heard a bark.

    Startled, she lifted her face from the grass. There, standing next to her with a fast-wagging tail, was a one-eyed ghost doglefox.

    "Biscuit?" She demanded, lurching into a sitting position. "What are you doing… here…"

    Her voice trailed off as she realized the Doglefox was not alone. She also saw the Droolik that had lowered the ladder to Kahlfu's cottage; the altabriss that flew them across the marsh; the crocolu that met them at the edge of the barrier; and many others. Their spectral forms watched Tavasz curiously, and she found herself softly laughing.

    "Kahlfu sent you, didn't she?" she mused sadly. "Just like her to fret. Woodlanders stick together, as she'd remind me."

    The Lutari blinked, a thought suddenly blooming in her mind. Woodlanders stick together…

    "Hey," she looked up at the petpets. "You're ghosts, right? Can you fly? And…" Ignoring the pain, she forced the tiniest mote of dark energy out of one talon, and asked, "Can you carry a message?"

    *

    The mausoleum from earlier wasn't the best shelter, but Cleo wasn't in much of a state to try and find better. Ducking under the overhang so that she was out of the worst of the wet, she paused, panting hard from the exertion of flying so far so fast.

    Then, with an inarticulate scream, she yanked off her hat and threw it to the ground. She hauled her quiver over her shoulder and flung it into the grass so the arrows fell helter-skelter. She turned against the door of the mausoleum and banged on it with a closed fist, over and over again, until her hand hurt from banging, her eyes hurt from crying, and her throat hurt from screaming.

    All at once the energy of the anger ran out of her, and she slid down along the door until she lay ragdoll on the cool tiles. She draped one wing over her head to block out the world, and for what felt like eternity she just lay there. She was too exhausted to do anything but drift. Distantly she was aware that her hand was throbbing, and her wings were sore, and her wet clothes were clinging to her scales uncomfortably. But she couldn't even process that information, let alone try to do anything about it.

    Finally, her awareness of her body retreated, and she slept.

    She had no idea how long she was out. Long enough for the rain to stop, but not so long the clouds had parted to reveal her beloved stars. At first Cleo was tempted to roll over, and slip back into sleep.

    But then, in her peripheral vision, she saw a smudge of darker black move against the shadows of the forest. A smudge that was shaped like a person: she was not alone.

    Cleo bristled angrily- it was Tavasz, it had to be. She opened her mouth to tell the Lutari to go away, but the only sound that emerged was a vaguely surly moan. Frustrated, she tried again, but with no more success.

    Not this again, come on! she thought, her frustration mounting. But then the figure standing at the edge of the tile moved again, and Cleo caught a glimpse of large, erect, shell shaped ears over a wide hood.

    Not Tavasz- Kahlfu.

    "I saw you flying past overhead in the light of a lightning strike. I followed to check on you." the bori said, her voice soft and soothing in the way one might talk to a spooked petpet. It helped level off some of that building frustration, and Cleo gave a sharp, loud sigh out of her nose.

    "Are you okay, Cleo?" the bori asked, and Cleo huffed again. As the silence dragged, Kahlfu clearly waiting for an answer, Cleo gave an inarticulate noise that was half growl, half moan.

    "You… can't talk?" Kahlfu guessed, edging closer through the darkness. Cleo nodded shortly. "Okay, um… tap with your tail once for yes, and twice for no. Are you bespelled some way?"

    Cleo tapped twice. The bori hummed. "Are you hurt?"

    Another negative. Her hand was still sore, but that had little to do with it. I'm upset, I'm tired, it will pass, she wanted to say, but her tongue and throat refused to behave.

    Kahlfu folded her arms, head tilted to the side. Frustrated, Cleo folded her arms and buried her face under them. Very softly, the bori asked, "Did Tavasz do something stupid?"

    That was so near to the mark that Cleo's head shot up again, and she stared at Kahlfu in surprise. The bori sighed, sitting down on the edge of the tile and leaning against one of the support pillars. "She upset you?"

    Cleo tapped her tail once, rather brusquely. She fidgeted with one of the buttons on her shirt, stimming mindlessly with it to keep herself distracted and keep her temper from rising again.

    "I wish I could say I was surprised," Kahlfu said tiredly. "She's my childhood friend, and I care about her dearly. But I'm well aware that she can also be a selfish jerk at times. That's why I warned you that she'd need calling out sometimes when she's being a blithering moron."

    Cleo frowned a bit, giving her wings a vigorous shake. She couldn't entirely tell if Kahlfu was sympathizing or if she was blaming Cleo for not listening well enough, and consequently she didn't know how to feel about the comment.

    "When we were kids, she would get these hair-brained plans and run with them without stopping to ask anybody else's opinion on the matter, not that it would've stopped her if someone else told her it was a bad idea. All of us were taught that cleverness was how you survived the Woods, and so she was determined to be the cleverest witch of them all so she could protect the more vulnerable of us. And while she certainly is clever, she lacks a certain… emotional intelligence to realize that other people don't always want her help."

    She looked straight at Cleo, and added softly, "Or that tricking people into doing something instead of just asking for their help isn't entirely in the spirit of the whole Woodlanders Stick Together rhetoric."

    Cleo's mouth fell open, and she growled softly. Kahlfu raised both hands and shook her head.

    "No, no, whatever she did to you I wasn't in on it. That was just a guess based on some past experiences. Tavasz isn't malicious, usually, but outsiders underestimate her and treat her differently than other Woodlanders because she’s a Candy pet. It really gets under her skin, so she doesn't like asking for help when she needs it. Tricking someone else into giving her what she wants lets her feel like it was all her idea and like she's a proper, tricksy Woodlander even if she's bright pink and 'normal' passing. It's a pride thing, and that cursed stubborn pride and refusal to just ask for help when she was in over her head was one of the things that ultimately caused us to break up."

    Cleo's frill drooped, and she looked down at her claws. Swallowing hard, she managed to rasp, "T… tr… ck… lie. Ussse."

    Kahlfu's ears drooped, and she bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Cleo. I'm so, so sorry she did that. You didn't deserve it."

    A strangling sensation rose up in Cleo's throat, and she gurgled helplessly against the wave of release that followed those words. Curling in on herself, she pressed her face against the tiles and sobbed quietly. This time, however, the tears were like a hole that had been popped in a too-full waterskin. The pressure of overload drained out of her, and when finally she ran out of tears Cleo felt anchored in her own skin once more.

    "...Thank you," she murmured softly.

    "Of course," Kahlfu said. "Do you want to talk about it? I can't make excuses for Tavasz nor can I speak for her, but at least I can sympathize with her being an idiot."

    That startled a weak, sad laugh out of the Draik, who pushed herself up into a sitting position. She shook her arms roughly, then she started talking.

    "She told me before that she's… resentful, I guess, that minor faeries like Psellia get into the Gallery of Heroes just for saving one person from falling, but people like Sophie or Bruno are excluded just because they're Woodlanders."

    Kahlfu winced. "I've heard that from the mouths of many in the Woods. It's a pretty easy point of double-standard to reach for to make a point. Go on."

    "We argued a few times before because I'm… I'm from faerieland, and I guess Woodlanders don't like faeries. Aside from Ilere or the dark ones. But I…"

    Her voice died again. Kahlfu was being sympathetic, but Cleo did not want to explain her entire sordid history to this near stranger, especially one who didn't even know Cleo was autistic and all that had implied for her upbringing.

    Though if she's much educated on the subject, she might have guessed when I lost my words earlier.

    "We didn't agree on our opinions on faeries," she summarized. The Draik glanced over at Kahlfu's face briefly, but between the dark of the overcast night and the fact that the bori seemed to be making an effort to keep her face and posture as neutral as possible, Cleo couldn't even begin to guess what she thought about that. I wish people didn't take 'be polite' to mean 'be stone faced' when I already can't tell half the time what emotion they're having.

    "It turned out the bands were… being set by light faeries," she admitted, shuddering at the memory. The horror, the betrayal, the disbelief… "I tried to talk them down, but Tavasz kept antagonizing them, and nobody was listening to anybody else. I just panicked, I grabbed Tavasz and got us both out of there so I could stop and think.

    "She was angry. She shouted at me. I don't fully remember everything she said, I was getting overwhelmed and just… too much. Too much everything."

    She half expected Kahlfu to ask for clarification about that- it wouldn't have been the first time someone pressed her about her overload symptoms. But the bori remained quiet, and so Cleo soldiered on.

    "I lost my temper with her when she wouldn't back off. We started arguing. She said she thought I was different and that she could trust me, and that she… she was h-hoping I was her ch-chance to prove that Woodlanders can be h-heroes. That she only asked me to w-watch her save the Woods and then tell everyone the s-story."

    The bori groaned. "Tavasz, you idiot. If we've told you once, we've told you a thousand times that we don't owe them any proof of our worthiness-" she broke off, then shook her head. "Nevermind. You don't care about that right now, I'm sure. She lied and tricked you because she wanted you to tell people she was a hero. And she threw that in your face in the middle of an argument when you were already dealing with the betrayal of the faeries. That sound accurate?"

    Cleo sighed, nodding as she flapped her wings mindlessly. "I thought she was my friend. She said she liked me, and even if she was sharp and thoughtless sometimes she never treated me with disdain because I'm… different."

    Kahlfu shimmied closer, but thankfully made no move to put out a comforting hand to touch the Draik. "If or not you try to be friends with her again is up to you. Knowing her, I have my own suspicions about her end of things, but it isn't my place to tell you how to feel or what to do. I can say that I understand your frustration and hurt- it's entirely valid for you to feel the way you do. The question then, is what will you do now? Tavasz aside, these snares have to be stopped before they hurt more people."

    You don't know the half of it, Cleo thought grimly, remembering how much more elaborate and horrifying the light faerie's full plan was. Maybe people like the carnies in the deserted fairgrounds would be okay, mostly. But what about Kahlfu's ghosts? What would this magic do to the likes of Esaphagor, or the Brain Tree? What of the vampires who'd lived hundreds of years past their natural lifespans?

    Part of Cleo desperately wanted to believe that the faeries hadn't thought of any of this. That they were seeing their actions as a net positive, and hadn't considered how many people in the Woods would possibly be seriously hurt or worse by this de-Haunting spell.

    Much though the Draik wanted to curl up into a ball and wallow in her misery and betrayal, there was just too much at stake. The dark faeries would leave after tonight, letting the monsters free to overrun Faerieland- to the detriment of both sides. And sooner than later, the light faeries would have enough magic to set their plan into horrifying motion.

    Slowly, Cleo rose to her feet. She picked up her hat from where she'd tossed it, and went down into the grass to collect her quiver and arrows.

    "Go somewhere safe," she instructed Kahlfu with grim resignation. "I'm going to make the faeries see reason. Tavasz's tricks aside, there are a lot of people here who deserve the freedom to live as they choose. I saw that. I think- I'm sure- I can convince them of that too."

    At least, I really, really hope so.

    To be continued…