Bonds that Burn and Bind

Chapter 4 Part 1

AN; Thanks so much for the 45 votes and 144 reads! -Sam
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Back in the blue, foggy world of No-Land, the events that had just occurred felt like one of many nightmares that plagued me. But the weight of the fairy's necklace in my pocket told me it was all too real.  I reached out a hand and stepped towards the border. My fingers found solid coldness, like a wall of ice.

There was nothing I could do for Winnie now.
Tears gathered in my eyes for the girl my actions may have condemned to a horrible death. They tumbled down my cheeks, like pebbles down a sheer mountain face, until one veered off course and landed on my bottom lip. I lifted my hand and brushed it away. The rage I had felt when the Fae Prince touched them came bubbling back up along with the answer as to why.  He, the one I longed for so much,  always brushed my lips with his thumb right before He kissed me. 

I drew in a few gulps of air, removed my hand, pulled myself together, and walked away. Like I had walked away from so many other things before— it never got any easier each time I did it.
If it was about to be night, I had to hurry. Although, No-Land looked no dimmer from when I had left it. How could so much time have passed anyways? What else had those books failed to tell me?

It took some time to find Winnie's dagger, but I found mine easily enough, still embedded in the earth, by following the drag patterns we had left behind.

I continued on the path our bodies had traced until I arrived back at the dead tree. The rest of my possessions lay scattered around it, including my bow and quiver, which were miraculously still intact. Even my overturned basket still held the two Efa's rubies, the pathetic wren's tail, and the fairy's knife.

I buried everything that had fairy blood on it, then washed my hands and face in a shallow pool at the base of a tree.

Once I had secured everything necessary to my person, I picked up my red yarn  trail and followed it out.

Sunlight blinded me when I broke through the wall of mist, much to my confusion. Holding my hand up as a shield, I found the sun's position in the sky.

It was still morning, so it wasn't night?  I thought.  How could it be morning here, when it looked like it was about to be night there? Was this even the same morning still?

I went to my tether and undid its knot, tucking it into my basket while I actively avoided looking at Winnie's twine.

The Fae could be tricksters, but I never knew they could manipulate the sun or perhaps even time itself, but for what purpose? That led to many more questions, like what the prince had meant about compelling.

I put everything in one corner of my mind for later examination while I got my bearings and found the narrow trail that led back onto The Path.

The Path connected most of Dalmar. Despite its namesake, it was less of a path and more of a highway—wide enough for at least three carriages to travel side by side.

Fear numbs things, and although I had not allowed it to take over my mind, it had taken over my body. Now that fear had left, pain unleashed its claws against my flesh. Both my front and back ached from my unexpected journey into Fae land. The ache worsened the more I walked.
Despite my discomfort, I still made it a point to remain vigilant while I walked.

From a very young age, my father had taken me and my brothers on hunting trips in these same forests and had drilled a keen sense of awareness into us.

I paused, noting a suspicious rock formation in The Path up ahead. Its highest point appeared too smooth, too round to have been made by nature, and I didn't remember passing it. The air hung still and silent, except for the occasional bird song, while my ears listened.

The soft rumbling snores emanating from it had me backing away in search of a way around the rock troll sleeping in the middle of The Path.
Rock trolls mostly slept during the day and became active in the evenings and late hours.

However, they were known to position themselves in areas highly trafficked by travelers in the hopes one would walk too close to them, awakening the troll to a quick and easy snack. Rock trolls were one of the few magical species that were resistant to magic, but they were as dumb as the thing they camouflaged themselves as. I could've taken it on, but I didn't have the time, especially alone.

So, I did a wide loop around, taking care not to make noise or lose sight of The Path. It wasn't hard to get lost in the sea of dense trees, and lost travelers made easy meals for things far worse than rock trolls. Things that the foot-high stone markers, carved with protection wards lining The Path, kept travelers mostly safe from.

When I was a safe distance away from it, I arranged some sticks and stones in the universal warning sign for danger ahead. I also decided to warn any fellow travelers I may pass verbally.
It just so happened that the first people I encountered were a group of soldiers. Unlike the Fae soldiers, their armor was rusted, dented, and somewhat ill-fitting. I flagged them down but kept my distance when I received weary looks from them. Again,  the Witide people were not a common site on the mainland.