In the Margins

     Tavasz flicked her ear at the question, glancing sideways at her companion. "Have you ever heard the legend of what's behind the Brain Tree?"

     Cleo tensed, but Tavasz waved a hand in hurried reassurance. "Don't worry, don't worry, we won't be running into that particular terror. The Brain Tree has it well restrained. But I was just using that as an example of how we'll know the boundary- it's past that point in the forest. Even if we don't go near the Brain Tree itself, its roots run far in both directions, creating a natural boundary line that most in the Woods recognize and know not to cross."

     "So," the draik summarized, "We look for the roots of the Brain Tree?"

     "Mm-hm," Tavasz agreed. Cleo clicked her tongue softly.

     "Why is it so much more dangerous past that point?"

     Tavasz rubbed her paws over her face thoughtfully. It was a valid question; the Woods as a whole were far from safe, but this was by the lutari's own admission a place even the natives generally stayed clear of. Yet, this was information Tavasz had been reared on since she was tiny, and it was such second nature to her that putting it in words was difficult.

     "Let me answer that question with a question," she finally replied. "Why isn't there anything that dangerous in Faerieland?"

     Cleo folded her arms. "Because the faeries protect it."

     "And Merridel? Brightvale?"

     She shrugged. "Their knights do the same, I expect. As do the armies of the Lost Desert or Shenkuu, or the Defenders for Neopia Central."

     Tavasz nodded. "Exactly. There are armies in all of those places to chase away the sort of people and creatures they don't want around. Thieves or monsters, sure, but also… I suppose they'd call them 'degenerates.' Those who don't play by polite society's rules.

     "So, driven out of all of the honest places of residence, they end up in the most lawless places they can find. The Ice Caves, for example. Krawk Island." Tavasz nudged her chin into the trees, and added, "The Haunted Woods. But the real monsters, the scariest of creatures that even pirates and Woodlanders fear, they have to go even deeper. The top of Terror Mountain; the deepest recesses of the Haunted Woods. They hole up in those places because they've been driven out of everywhere else, and that's why those places end up so dangerous."

     The draik's tail swished back and forth, but she didn't reply to that. After a moment's more of trudging through the woods in silence, Tavasz put out a paw to stop her, and pointed with her other claw. "We're at the boundary now."

     Cleo's eyes followed the direction of Tavasz's finger- there, knotted through the earth, was a long russet colored root. It stood out starkly from the black, grey, and dull brown trees all around it, and stuck up from the ground enough that Tavasz knew from experience it would trip anyone who walked up to it and managed not to register that it was there.

     "So… past this point, I'd guess we need to be on even higher alert?" Cleo asked. Tavasz chuckled.

     "I think you'll be fine; I on the other hand might get complacent since the trees here look like the trees everywhere else, so don't hesitate to poke me if it looks like my attention is drifting."

     That managed to prompt an eye roll from Cleo, and while it was difficult to tell the exact emotion behind the gesture, Tavasz hoped it was the amusement she'd been going for and not the derision she'd gotten far too often from outlanders.

     The duo stepped over the root, making their way into the deeper part of the Haunted Woods. At a glance it really didn't look all that different, but if you paid attention the signs of danger were everywhere. There was the lack of animal noises, for one thing- not that there were no animals here, but they were going out of their way to be a lot quieter and stay mostly out of sight. She also started noticing signs of hostile creatures passing, like claw marks in trees or scorch marks in the underbrush.

          Tavasz could see that Cleo had noticed all of this too; her eyes flitted from trace to trace, and her frill twitched at every small noise. Loathe though Tavasz was to admit it, probably the draik's instincts would be more useful here than Tavasz's own. The Faerielander was trained specifically to find hostile creatures in the woods, after all, and had been doing just that for nearly a year.

     So when she tensed, freezing mid-stride with her frill stiff, Tavasz was only a hair of movement behind her.

     "What is it?" the Lutari asked in a hiss, but Cleo's only response was a harsh shushing noise. Her frills flicked, and Tavasz perked her ears to try and figure out what the Draik was hearing.

     Then, she caught it too- a low, harsh whimpering.

     Tavasz frowned. Some of the more intelligent creatures in the woods might have played at being innocent, hurt creatures to lure prey closer. Some, but not most; most would just as soon track their prey for several minutes, then make a show of terrifying them before going in for the catch. On the other paw, most of the natives of the woods would know better than to make noise like this to draw attention to themselves, even if they were hurt.

     Cleo shot Tavasz a glance, and pointed in the direction of the sounds before raising both palms in a shrug. A question- what should they do? The Draik was deferring to Tavasz as the one experienced in these woods.

     Tavasz clenched her jaw. Woodlanders stick together. If someone is hurt, I have to do something about it.

     She gave a jerk of her head in the direction of the noise, and started cautiously forwards. She pulled her power around herself like a veil, casting the spell of translucency just in case. Cleo, her wings pulled tight to her back, melted into the trees without another word, vanishing so thoroughly that Tavasz couldn't help but be impressed. How did she do that without even a trace of magic?

     Shaking her head, the lutari focused on the task at hand. They had to find the source of the whimpering.

     A few minutes of careful progress through the trees later, Tavasz almost jumped out of her skin when Cleo suddenly appeared, hanging upside down, directly in front of her nose. She clamped her jaws on a yelp, jerking backwards. It seemed that at some point the draik had climbed a tree, and was now hanging from a branch by the talons on her feet and her tail.

     "By the dark of Kreludor, don't sneak up on me like that!" Tavasz hissed, the fur on the back of her neck fluffed up with fright. "There are vampires in these woods you know, I have a very thoroughly programmed assumption to something hanging upside down in front of me!"

     Cleo tilted her head, expression unreadable as ever, but after a moment she coughed. "Right. Sorry, that didn't occur to me. I just… well I found who's making the noise?"

     Tavasz gave a long, frustrated exhale out of her nose. "Right. And?"

     "It's a blumaroo- kind of sandy colored and very wrinkly."

     Tavasz's ears perked up with her surprise. "The Fetcher?"

     "Oh, friend of yours?"

     "Not exactly," Tavasz admitted with a shrug, though she dismissed her protective magic and walked around Cleo to keep progressing. The draik let go of the branch and fluttered down to land beside Tavasz, walking along. "But just about everyone in the woods knows of them. A mutant blumaroo who gets sent out after various magical ingredients for their master. Nobody knows exactly who that master is, they're too lazy to ever come out themself, but the Fetcher is all over this forest constantly."

     As they drew closer, Tavasz frowned- she could make out a shimmering of yellow light through the trees. "Is that…"

     "They've got a band," Cleo confirmed grimly. "It's on their tail."

     Tavasz swore softly, picking up her pace so that she was trotting through the brush. The Fetcher tensed at the rustling, their gaze swivelling towards the sound, but when the lutari and draik emerged into the open they slumped visibly.

     "Oh thank goodness," the blumaroo rasped. "I thought you were a m-monster. Who are you?

     "I'm called Tavasz," the lutari replied, coming over to kneel down next to the Fetcher with her brows pinched in concern. "I'm a witch."

     "I'm Cleo," the draik added, her toes curling and uncurling as she spoke. "I'm a warrior from…"

     She broke off, visibly hesitating, and Tavasz shot what she hoped was a reassuring smile over her shoulder. She doubted the Fetcher would particularly care if one of their rescuers was from Faerieland, considering the circumstances. Unfortunately Cleo only glanced the lutari's way uncertainly, before giving a shrug and letting the sentence drop unfinished.

     "Well, it's good to meet you both," the blumaroo said, grinning weakly. "I ah… I don't suppose either of you is versed into breaking whatever magic this is? Master will be very displeased if I return to him empty-pawed, but it…"

     "Hurts?" Tavasz guessed, facing the blumaroo again. They nodded emphatically.

     Tavasz held out a paw, saying, "May I?"

     The Fetcher nodded, and Tavasz gingerly touched a claw to the ring. A feeling that was like a combination of searing heat and a static shock hit her instantly, and with a yelp she yanked her hand back. "Sonuva-"

     "May I?" Cleo asked softly, earning surprised looks from both Tavasz and the Fetcher. Her wings fluttered anxiously, and she added, "I mean, I'm not a dark creature, right? So maybe I can help in some way Tavasz can't without getting hurt."

     The lutari shuffled to the side, gesturing towards the blumaroo with a shrug. "Have at it. I can keep trying, but I'm probably gonna start snarling some things that aren't fit for polite company, and besides that I imagine a burned hand won't help us much with our mission."

     "Probably not," Cleo agreed matter-of-factly. She stepped closer, kneeling next to the Fetcher. "You're okay with this?" she asked them, and they smiled thinly.

     "I wouldn't care if you were Captain Scarblade, Miss. I just want this thing off my tail."

     She reached towards it gingerly, and when her fingers touched the glowing energy Tavasz instinctively tensed up. But there was no gasp of pain and no sudden motion of her withdrawing her hand. As she started to manipulate it, experimentally tugging and digging at it with her nails, she did start to look uncomfortable. When she tested how much give it had, shuddering hard as she pressed on the Fetcher's tail, Tavasz realized her unease was more to do with having to directly touch the Fetcher's dry, leathery skin than the magic in the ring.

     Still, when the blumaroo gave a whimper at her ministrations, she flinched and looked up at them with her frills drooping. "Sorry, sorry, are you all right?"

     They shook their head, but she snorted and dug her toenails into the loamy dirt. "Don't lie, I want to know if I'm hurting you. That's the opposite of what I'm trying to do here."

     "It hurts anyway, Miss Cleo," the blumaroo said with a shrug. "And it's none worse than the master would give me for failure to get his spell components."

     Cleo bristled her wings. "He hurts you?"

     The Fetcher gave a wan smile. "It's only what I earn for failure. He keeps me safe from the monsters in the Woods, I get him what he needs from the forest."

     "That's barbaric!" the draik insisted, startling Tavasz with her vehemence. The Fetcher looked equally surprised, but then they laughed.

     "Didn't think I'd ever get such kindness from an outlander. Sloth's rejects like me end up in these woods because we make most folks uneasy, y'know?"

     Cleo shuddered, flapping her hands. "I… have my own experience with making people uneasy. Aethia took me under her wing- I'm sorry you ended up in the grasp of someone less principled."

     Tavasz's ears flicked with her astonishment- was the Faerielander empathizing? She would've expected Cleo to lecture the Fetcher, and tell them how they should leave their master, as if escaping such a situation were that simple for the person caught up in it. Instead, Cleo seemed to understand, and let the topic drop.

     She pulled one of her arrows from the quiver, experimentally hitting the point against the band's glow. It didn't seem to do the magic any harm, and the draik gave a frustrated hiss. "I wish I'd studied magic when I was training; I've never had a knack for it, but at least taking classes in the theory might have given me a better idea of how to get this off."

     "Unfortunately, we really don't have the luxury to linger here and keep trying things," Tavasz put in reluctantly. Cleo looked towards the lutari, opening her mouth to object, but the Fetcher spoke first.

     "Miss Tavasz is right- the woods are dangerous, especially if you sit in one place for too long." They struggled to their feet, moving gingerly so as to avoid jostling their tail. "I'll go back to my master- he'll be unhappy, but I'll be safer than out here."

     The draik looked far from happy about that, but finally she sighed. "We're trying to figure out what's going on with all of these snares. Hopefully we'll figure out how to get that off of you in the process."

     The Fetcher smiled. "I wish you luck, then. Both of you."

     "Thank you," Tavasz put in, feeling very bad that they had to leave the blumaroo like this. "You too."

     The two partners watched the Fetcher go until they were out of sight, and then Tavasz turned back towards the deeper part of the Woods. Tentatively, Cleo murmured, "Will they really be safe?"

     "Impossible to say," Tavasz admitted reluctantly. "I told you earlier that there are far worse things in the Haunted Woods than the carnies in the Deserted Fairgrounds or hermit witches like Sophie and Edna. Those of us who can look after ourselves and each other, we manage okay. But there's always those who fall into the wrong clutches before our communities find them. Or those who have resources even we can't do without. And the really evil beings in the Woods, they take advantage. After all, who else can we turn to?"

     Cleo didn't reply to that, her wings pulled tight around her chest in a gesture that looked like she was hugging herself. Finally, she murmured, "Be honest, Tavasz. Do you hate me? A Faerielander who has every privilege of safety you've been denied?"

     Tavasz was a little taken aback, but by now she figured she really shouldn't have been. Cleo had proven herself over and over again to be very direct about what she was thinking.

     "...No," she said, surprising herself when she realized she meant it. "I hate the systems you're sworn to defend as a soldier of Faerieland. I hate those in power who benefit from sweeping people like me under the societal rug where they don't have to see or deal with us. But no, I don't hate you."

     *

     Cleo flapped her hands, venting the anxiety she'd been holding in while she waited for Tavasz's answer. Not that it would've been an entirely new experience, to be viewed with disdain, but she had to admit that she liked this Lutari. She wanted Tavasz to like her back.

     She opened her mouth to reply, but Tavasz abruptly stopped, a hand lurching out to bring Cleo to a halt as well. The Draik tensed, hand lurching up to grasp her bow. "What is it?"

     "Look," Tavasz replied, edging forwards and kneeling down to the ground. Cleo followed her companion's gaze, frowning as she saw a spot where the ground was badly churned up and the leaf litter disturbed. In the midst of the mess, there was a dark metallic shimmer.

     Tavasz gestured with her paw, and an aura of purple enveloped the object, gently teasing it up out of the soil. It appeared to be a short rod of some kind, no longer than Tavasz's hand, made out of black metal. At the tip there was a small piece of yellow topaz.

     "I think this must be where the Fetcher got caught in the snare," Tavasz noted, her lips curled downwards as she indicated the churned up dirt. "They were caught mid tail hop, fell, and scuffed up the ground. And this thing," she pointed to the metal rod, "is where the magic for the snare was stored."

     Cleo gingerly reached out, taking the object out of the shroud of Tavasz's magic and holding it up for inspection. "This almost looks like…"

     But it couldn't be…

     The hesitation must have stretched on too long, because Tavasz prompted, "Looks like what?"

     "Well it reminds me of the weapons that are forged in Faerieland- specifically the ones for light faeries." The Draik pointed to the black metal, explaining, "A dark metal for something like the hilt, because light shines brightest against the shadows. It amplifies the energy of the light magic. Then the crystal is the conduit for the power."

     Tavasz furrowed her brow. "I thought you said you didn't know much about magic."

     "I don't," Cleo replied, shaking her head. "But this is weapons crafting, and as a warrior it was my business to understand how faerie weapons are put together."

     "So whoever's doing this, they either learned weapon forging in Faerieland-" Tavasz started, and Cleo groaned.

     "We really do not need another Xandra!"

     "-Or," the lutari continued, shooting Cleo a look out of narrowed eyes that made her wince when she realized she'd interrupted. "They stole these from Faerieland. We can probably at least rule out the faeries themselves though, since all this has achieved so far is sending monsters fleeing directly into their own territory."

     "...Right," Cleo agreed, once Tavasz had stopped talking long enough she was certain she wouldn't be interrupting again. "But jokes about Xandra aside, why are they doing this? What's the point?"

     "I don't know," Tavasz admitted. "They must have those little emitters buried all over the woods. It's a lot of trouble to go to. And If they really stole that many, I'm shocked nobody noticed."

     Cleo flicked her fingers absently, humming tunelessly to herself. After a moment she ventured, "Suppose chasing the monsters towards Faerieland is the objective? I mean, like you said, they've gone to a lot of trouble, so if that is what's up they'd have to hate the faeries an awful lot, but…"

     "You'll find the motivation of 'hating the faeries' isn't all that uncommon here," Tavasz noted with an eye roll- either she was making a dry joke, or she was belittling Cleo's comment, but either way the draik couldn't help bristling a bit.

     "Okay, seriously, what is this grudge you have? Fyora didn't step in to help you one time, that's hardly a reason to resent all of Faerieland forever!"

     Tavasz's shoulders hitched up and her eyes narrowed. "Did you have cotton in your ears when we were negotiating with the dark faeries? If they'd chase out dark aligned members of their own race, what makes you think they'd do less to neopets who don't match up to their standards? Or did you think I was exaggerating when I said the Woodlanders were driven here because we aren't wanted everywhere else?"

     "The faeries are a force for good in Neopia!" Cleo objected, flapping her wings instinctively in her frustration. "They're kind, nurturing, understanding-"

     "To anybody who behaves how they want," now it was the lutari's turn to interrupt. "Do you really, honestly think the Fetcher would've ended up in the untender arms of a master who regularly sends them out into the most dangerous part of the woods if they had a choice?"

     "If this place is really so awful, why not just let King Roo make it safe for you, then?" Cleo snapped. "With one breath you're saying the Woodlanders are proud to be here and don't want it to change, and with the next you're acting like this is some terrible prison you only stay in because you're forced! You can't have it both ways, Tavasz!"

     She'd raised her voice without meaning to- they both had- and in that moment, as Tavasz opened her mouth and raised a claw to retort, Cleo finally got to learn just what was so dangerous about the so-called "Deep Woods."

     Her only warning was a low moan in the trees, and while it tugged on her attention as any unexpected noise would, she had no time to process what it was or what it meant. Then a crash in the brush snapped both of their gazes towards the tree line, just in time to see the sickly grey-green skin of a Zombie Kacheek before it lunged for Tavasz.

     Cleo bristled with horror, her hand dancing back towards her bow, but before she could pull it out a second Zombie- this one a Buzz- flew out of the trees and slashed at her with its clawlike fingers. She jumped back, but could barely keep clear of the monster's reach.

     By Fyora's Crown, these things are fast! I didn't think Zombies were so fast!

     They weren't supposed to be. All of her lessons as a recruit in Faerieland's army had taught her that zombies were slow, shambling creatures. That was their biggest weakness- they tended to attack in great numbers, but those numbers were slow. Not these things- Tavasz was barely holding the kacheek back with a wall of purple fire, and still more of the zombies were surging from the trees. Their eyes burned bright scarlet, and somehow the darkness of the forest seemed to cling to them with a malice all its own.

     Abandoning her attempt to get to her bow, Cleo instead snatched her buckler from its place at her hip, bringing it around to slam the Buzz in the chin. The Zombie gave a gurgling cry of pain, the wet raspy sound making the draik's skin crawl and her ear frills flatten. Still, it was the opening she needed, and she drew her rapier, swiftly slashing at the Buzz so that it fell to the earth.

     Tavasz was not faring so well. Unlike Cleo she was standing her ground, and a hoard of at least six Zombies was pressing at her shield. Only the fact that they weren't smart enough to go around it had kept the Lutari from being surrounded.

     Cleo gritted her teeth, jumping into the air to vault over Tavasz's head. She sailed above the Zombies, clobbering at least two as she passed with her buckler to distract their attention. As they turned towards her, she nipped up into the branches of a nearby tree, out of reach and hopefully with enough breathing space to get her bow out properly.

     A growl made the bark below her feet tremble, and she froze. What in Fyora's name-

     Then, a branch that curled like a claw reached around, grabbing her by the midriff and tossing her back to the ground. She yelped as she landed, looking up into the leering face of one of the Haunted Woods many living trees. She kicked backwards along the ground just in time to avoid being punched by another of the branches. Great, this was the last thing they needed, for the forest itself to get territorial!

     One of the Zombies- a Lenny- had finally caught up to her, slashing at Cleo with its taloned feet. She was too slow to avoid the blow this time, hissing as it scored a cut across her cheek and jaw. Letting go of her iron grip on the buckler's handle momentarily, she grabbed on to the exposed leg, yanking it hard so that the zombie was sent sprawling forwards across her lap. At that exact moment the tree tried to attack again, and this time the flailing branch connected squarely with the back of the Zombie Lenny's head, knocking it out cold.

     Cleo shoved the Zombie off and jumped to her feet, sparing a glance towards Tavasz. At first glance, she seemed to have disappeared, the three Zombies still engaging her looking around in bewilderment for their vanished prey. But a heartbeat later Cleo noticed an oddly person-shaped blob of air moving away from the Zombies, and realized her companion had just made herself translucent again.

     Unfortunately, Cleo had her own problems to sort out- namely, the other two zombies that were coming after her. They'd been momentarily tripped up by their unconscious comrade, but now they were closing fast. The Draik swung her sword towards one- the Kacheek who'd emerged from the forest first- and it recoiled with an angry sounding groan. She kicked the second- a Kyrii- in the gut, sending it tumbling backwards.

     Suddenly, something hard and scratchy impacted the side of Cleo's head, and she winced in surprise. Looking down, she recognized it as… a pinecone?

     "Oh come on!" she bellowed to the tree. "I'm sorry, okay?"

     The tree's jagged mouth parted in a howl of fury that made Cleo flinch. Then, she felt something warm grasp her shoulder, and flinched harder, bringing her buckler up to hit her new adversary.

     "Woah, woah, it's just me!" Tavasz bleated, and Cleo realized she could vaguely make out the shape of the lutari's face behind her. "Look, these odds are not in our favour, and this fight is pointless. We need to bail."

     Cleo's impulse was to object that she was doing just fine- but at that exact moment another pinecone bounced off of her shoulder, and she scowled. "Right. Hold on tight."

     "Hold on to wha-" Tavasz started to ask, but Cleo had already jumped into the air. Sheathing her rapier and buckler, she sailed behind the vague lutari-blob, spreading her arms and catching Tavasz under the armpits. Tavasz gave a squawk of surprise, and Cleo could feel the muscles in her arms and wings protesting just as loudly. Ignoring the spike of pain, she lifted Tavasz off the ground and dove into the trees in the opposite direction from the zombies.

     She heard several unflattering comments from her passenger, who was probably crashing into every bush and rock along the way. Still, Cleo didn't slow, pumping her protesting wings as hard as she could to put distance between them and the zombies. A few moments later, there was a flicker of purple, and suddenly the weight she was supporting felt enormously lighter, so much so that Cleo gasped with surprise.

     "Yeah, easier isn't it?" Tavasz called, no longer invisible but still wreathed in magical light. "Warn me next time, idiot!"

     Cleo's jaw clenched, and with a tremendous wrench of her shoulders she tossed Tavasz into the nearest bush, making the lutari cry out in pain and surprise. She landed a few feet off, watching Tavasz extricate herself and flicking her fingers agitatedly.

     "Do not," she hissed, "call me that again."

     Tavasz looked up, frowning deeply and pinching her brows. After a moment of tense silence, her expression went slack and she groaned. "Oh come on, you know that isn't what I meant!"

     "I don't care," Cleo said flatly. "Do not. Call me that. Again."

     Tavasz threw up her hands, making a noise that even Cleo could tell was not any sort of agreement. "We don't have time for this. We really, really don't have time for this. We need to get out of range of the zombies and it'll be dawn soon. Let's find somewhere safe to camp- in the meantime, no more talking."

     Cleo snorted, flapping both arms and growling under her breath. But then, wordlessly, she followed after Tavasz.

     To be continued…