Faye and Ruin

Fairy Pond

Sweat dripped from my brow and the loose hair from my half up, half down hairstyle clung to my neck as our swords crashed into each other once more. "Don't forget to block!" Bayne yelled at me as Deimos threw a punch. Today we were working on hand to hand combat with the use of a sword, which I struggled at. Having only one hand available was more difficult than I was used to since every instinct drove me to use two. Curse those martial arts classes I had taken.

I threw up my left elbow and shoved his right hook away from me, but my feet were swept out from under and I crashed to the ground. "Why'd you take your eyes off of him?" Bayne shouted as Deimos stood over me, breathing hard with his sword pointed at my throat.

Bayne stomped over towards us and bent down, his face near mine. He had barely broken a sweat, but then again, standing off to the side would be much easier. "Do you want to get killed?"

I glared at him.

"Just making your job easier for you." I snarled, frustrated and annoyed today from the constant battering.

"How is this making my job easier? I'm supposed to be training you so you can fight with us. What happened to all the progress?" He spouted back and pulled a sweaty Deimos away from me. I saw the relief crash through even his tired body. Both of these men were shirtless, yet Deimos seemed as hot as I was.

"Who says I'm going to fight with you?" I countered, at my wits end. Bayne raised a curious brow and I bit my tongue, cursing myself for saying that. Hoping that he took it as a frustrated blow, not the actual truth, I waited for him to say something.

He sighed and backed away from me. My arms flopped to my sides in exhaustion. "Bayne, today is unusually hot. Let's take a break cause even I'm dying." Deimos said, dragging the attention away from me and I was grateful. A small groan escaped my lips as the sweat dripped from my body, causing the dirt below me to stick to my fighting leathers.

"Sorry." I coughed out an apology, my throat dry. My heart was pounding in my ears and I was barely able to catch my breath.

Bayne shook his head. "It's alright. Today is extremely hot, so a break sounds good to me." He stepped forward and offered a hand to help pull me up. I grunted but found my footing just as my sweaty hand slid from his grasp. "Gross." He said and I punched him in the arm.

He rubbed his shoulder but grinned at me, the usual witty humor back in his eyes. Whenever we trained, he would become more serious and frightened me a little. But I understood why, so I normally never fought him on it; except for today. So I was grateful that even Deimos had wanted a break.

I offered my sword back to Bayne who magicked it away and then tilted his head. "I have an idea." Deimos glanced at me and raised both of his eyebrows before handing his sword to Bayne and then we followed him out of the arena empty handed.

Our procession was silent as we tracked around towards the opposite side of the castle. A side I hadn't been able to frequent much upon learning that the meadow was this way. Even Ethimelle avoided coming to this side of the castle. She always said it had an eerie feeling to it.

Bayne led us up and around towards the backside of the mansion and then waded into the thick, dense forest. Colors of deep green washed through me and the air went from stiff and sun baked, to damp and cooler. Shade expanded the small footpath we followed and I couldn't help but watch my feet.

Small clovers of all different colors sparkled, literally sparkled, below me. The greens eventually faded to misty purples and pinks mixed with pastel shades of reds and blue. Different plants sprouted around me, looking like things I knew from back home, but colored in all different shades.