Away with the Fairies

*°•○Part Ten○•°*

It was a very long fall.

Hans held Louise as close to himself as he could, while their water lily leaf fell down the roaring cascade. Luckily, they were not in the mainstream, submerged by the rushing waters, but rather gliding down fast, alongside it. They were getting wetter and wetter as they precipitated, but at least they could breathe...

"Now!" Skylar, peeking over the border of the leaf, called as she took flight a few moments before it hit the dark surface of the churning pool, and Hans and Louise were thrown off board by the impact.

Hans, having expected that this would happen, managed to take a deep breath, hoping that Louise did, too. What he didn't manage was to hold on to Louise when they hit, then broke the water's surface-- she was snatched from his arms by the force of the waterfall now falling on top of them. The boy, feeling short of breath, swam quickly upwards after he turned around frantically a few times but could not see his friend anywhere.

There, he found Rosalind and the two elves swimming towards the shore, but Louise was not with them.

"Come, you must help me!" Hans urged the fairy desperately, and she followed him back under the water.

As soon as the fairy mumbled some inaudible words, the tip of her wand started to glow brightly and they saw Louise struggling to reach them through the thick curtain of bubbles dancing crazily around them, the air held prisoner by the constantly falling water. Rosalind pointed her wand at her, and the girl started to float towards them with ease. Hans took her by her hand as soon as she was within his reach and dragged her towards the surface.

"Just what do you think you are doing?!" Hans turned at Rosalind angrily as he helped Louise out of the pool. This was the second time in a little more than as many days that the girl nearly drowned because of her.

"I'm sorry, Hans, but Rolo overheard the Tree Elves' conversation," Rosalind said, looking so crestfallen that his anger dissipated instantly. "Apparently, they noticed us and were about to send someone to see who we were. And what's worse..." she trailed off, pointing her wand first at Louise's, who was trembling with cold, then to Hans' wet clothes.

"One of them just got back from a journey and knew about Princess Rosalind's disappearance..." Rolo continued.

"Which bodes ill. Their Majesties know that we are gone. All Terra Sonalis knows. Anyone whom we meet from now on might recognise the Princess. We must hurry," Orangebeak, who joined them by the pool, concluded.

"We found a place for you to hide until sunrise, follow me," the blackbird added, starting to hop along the bank, farther down the river, away from the cascade.

Hans took his glasses from his pouch, where he kept them at nights and put them on, then laced his arm around Louise's waist to help her walk. She was still very unsure on her legs.

"But won't they help us? Those who might recognise you?" Louise asked Rosalind, thinking of all those helpful, friendly creatures they met so far.

The fairy shook her head sadly as she helped Hans wrap a new blanket, which she just conjured up with one swift movement of her magic wand, over Louise's shoulders. They had left behind most of their belongings, blankets included, when they ran from their camp.

"As I've told you before, they are not all as helpful. And those who are, are loyal to the king, rather than the princess," Rosalind said as they followed Orangebeak. "Last time, when I ran away with Blue, we were found by a group of my parents' friends who took us back to the Rose Castle... My father then let Blue go unpunished, but only on condition that none of his butterfly kin would ever come near our castle again."