When Trees Talk

Chapter Two: Strange Storm

"Thank you again, Ronno, you really are such a huge help" Freya nodded, to the burly man. To anyone unfamiliar with the Faye or Fauns, Ronno would appear to be an ordinary man who might be a sailor for work. But, to Freya, Ronno was noticeably a Faun due to his pointed ears which any un-magic folk would just assume was a deformity of some sort. Freya had pointed ears herself, but not as noticeable, from her father. Ronno was average height, with a long bristly beard that was a russet shade. He had a kind smile and warm, almost yellow eyes.

"Of course, Orla. I told ye not to mention it" Ronno spoke, with a thick Irish accent. Freya felt a smile spread across her face at the nickname he had called her for the years she had known him. Orla, it meant golden princess in Irish. Even after Ronno had first told her what it meant and told him she was nowhere near a princess-let alone a 'golden princess'-he had always insisted that she was, to him at least. "How's Teo doin dese days?" Ronno looked around over Freya's shoulder, even though he couldn't see past the shield which was just behind her.

Just as she was about to answer, Theo walked out of the shield appearing beside her.

"Hello der, Teo" Ronno bent down onto his knees to meet Theo at eye-level.

"Hi, Ronno. Anything for me today?" Theo rubbed his head against Ronno's knee, before standing on his hind legs and positioning his front paws onto Ronno's right thigh awaiting an answer.

Ronno let out a bellowing laugh while throwing his head back, "Straight to da point are ye?" He stroked the space behind Theo's ears before reaching into his worn-out sandy satchel and pulling out a container full of some sort of plant it seemed. Theo tilted his head to the side while examining the container, sniffing it suspiciously. "It's catnip, put it in some of yer milk and you'll tank me for more later" Ronno winked at Theo, then handed Freya the container. Theo mumbled something about fish before Ronno interrupted "I was meaning to tell ya, Orla..."

"Yes?" Freya looked at Ronno questioningly. She could see a troubled expression growing on Ronno's face as he looked behind him. The wind seemed to pick up and the grass beneath Freya's bare feet tickled her ankles. Ronno faced her again and nervously fiddled with his beard. "Ronno?" Freya looked up at the man through her eyebrows and shaking her head in question.

"Der has been some talk goin around town" Ronno adjusted his stance, as Theo looked up at Freya and he continued "Kane has been seen around."

Freya's eyes grew in shock, "Kane? As in Iron Kane?! But...how would he know to look in Kenmare? Let alone Ireland??"

Kane-or 'Iron Kane' as the Faye and Fauns would call him- was a human man who kidnapped both the Faye and Fauns to keep as slaves whom were at his mercy until he decided when their time was up. Every magic-folk taken by Kane, would die a slow and torturous death. The name 'Iron Kane' was given to him due to his methods of kidnapping and eventually killing magic-folk. He would seek out the most powerful of the Faye and Fauns-no matter how long it took to find them- and trap them with any type of iron weapon one could imagine. Since iron was the one thing that could weaken the magic-folk's abilities-and Kane knew this very well-he would only wear iron plated suits and carry as much iron as he could fit on him at all times. Kane knew that if a human man and a Faye were to mate and the child were to be born a female, then the newborn was automatically a Faye. Kane was so corrupt with the idea of power that he would turn to sinister acts such as raping Faye-sometimes in front of their spouses to further prove his authority-in order to conceive a Faye child, if the child was born a boy, it ended horrifically for both the mother and the newborn. Two things were unspoken agreements amongst the Faye and Fauns. One, no matter how much Kane would torture them, they could never reveal The Forest of the Faye or The Field of the Fauns, they would rather die for the safety of the magic-folk. Two, if Kane is seen, the feud between Fauns and the Faye means nothing, they would inform one another of his appearance.