Hood Part 1

Elvish

I heard a titter behind the trees. I walked toward the sound and caught a flash of green fabric. I chased after it. Here and there I caught more flashes, but I never fully saw what I was chasing. Then something slammed into me and I fell to the ground.

"Hi Phillip," she giggled.

I looked up to find Robin laying on top of me. She wore the cloak she'd worn the first time I ever saw her, but she was also draped in heavy expensive jewelry and she wore the most expensive looking dress I'd ever seen.

"Where are we?" I asked. It didn't look like the forest around Sherwood.

"We're no where and every where."

"Okay. Why are you dressed like that?"

"Because it's what I was born to wear. Just like I was born to be yours."

With that she leaned down and kissed me. Good Lord it was wonderful, but there's was something wrong with it. She pulled back and when I saw her face again it was Elaine's face that looked back at me.

"Why did you let him kill me?" She asked.

"I didn't! I loved you! I would've taken it for you but I wasn't fast enough!"

"You let him kill me, so it's just like you killed me."

"No I didn't! Please!"

Her confused demeanor turned angry.

"You killed me! It's all your fault I'm dead!"

"No!"

She reached for my throat, but her form shuddered and she became Robin again.

"Phillip," she said. "Wake up. Wake up."

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My eyes snapped open and I found Peter standing over me shaking me awake.

"Come on, I know you're tired, but you have to get up."

I groaned but rolled out of bed.

"How's the girl we picked it up last night?" I asked him as I got dressed.

"She's still unconscious and we can't wake her up."

"Can I see her?"

"I dunno. Julianna's taking care of her and she's being sort of weird about it."

Once I was dressed I went directly across the room to the girls' curtain, which was still closed.

"Hey, ladies. Is it safe for me to come through?"

The curtain opened a slit and I found myself looking into Robin's pretty green eyes.

"Morning," she said.

"Oh, um, hi, uh," I said stumbling over my words.

"You don't usually hang out in front of the girls' curtain," she said teasingly.

"Well I was hoping Julianna would let me in to see the girl we picked up last night."

"She will, but only if you let her stay with you. The girl babbled gibberish all night last night."

"Maybe I can figure out what she's saying."

I grabbed a quill and piece of parchment. Robin parted the curtain and let me pass.

"Juli," Robin said. "Phillip wants to see our new friend. He says he wants to figure out what she's saying."

She nodded once and showed me to a hammock at the end of the row. There lay the girl we had brought back. She had black hair pulled into a tight braid and porcelain skin. She wore a strange type of golden armor. I looked to Julianna for permission to touch the girl. She nodded and I noticed that she held a sedative in her hand. I turned back around and laid my hand on the girl's arm to try to wake her and immediately she sprung awake. After jerking away, she looked at me with sapphire eyes and began shouting a jumbled up mash of letters. I grabbed my pen and began to scribble what she said.

"Æ on Qsupditt Toqqjusi! Jex fosi aye veydj ni!"

Then she moaned and her voice softened.

"Xja fe æ odji muli vjut? Fuf æ fsoup natimh ohoup? Xouv. Xjisi on æ?"

Then she began to scream again. Only this time she sounded scared, not angry.

"Xjov ut vjov? Pe, pe, pe! Qmioti fep'v jysv ni! Pe!"

After that the girl quieted and I looked up from my writing to see Julianna standing over the girl, the sedative gone.

"What did you do to her?" I yelled.

"I sedated her."

"I can see that, but why?"

"She was just babbling."

"I don't think she was. I'm fairly certain that she's just speaking another language."

"She must be from some far away kingdom if she doesn't speak our language."

"Unless she's not human. She not small enough to be a pixie, or ugly enough to be a troll. She's too small for a giant, she could be a shifter but they usually live among us. It's possible she's a faerie, but they usually stay far away from us. She might be a nature spirit."

"She's not."

"How do you-"

"She's not. Don't ask me how I know. I just do."

"What else could she be?"

By this point we were out in the common area.

"Let me see," Thomas said.

I hadn't had much interaction with Thomas since I'd been here, but he seemed fairly intelligent. I handed him the paper.

"All except for the strange character that looks like an a and an e combined it looks like it's some sort of code. Each letter stands for another letter."

"Let me look," Christina demanded.

Thomas handed over the paper.

"This looks weirdly familiar. I think I might have come across it in a book once. I can't remember exactly what language it is, but its not a human one. I think that you just take all the consonants and change them to the previous consonant. Like this."

When she was finished it looked like this

Æ om Prunciss Sopphuri! Hew dori aye teych mi! Wha de æ ochi luki thus? Dud æ droun masilf ogoun? Wout. Whiri om æ? Whot us thot? Ne, ne, ne! Pliosi den't hyrt mi! Ne!

"What now?" Thomas wondered.

I tried to read the paper again and found I could get through the first two sentences fairly easily.

"I would bet anything that u is i and i is e."

We went through and altered it again.

Æ om Princess Sopphire! Hew dore aye teych me! Wha de æ oche like thus? Dud æ droun maself ogoun? Woit. Where om æ? Whot is thot? Ne, ne, ne! Pleose den't hyrt me! Ne!

"What if o is a and e is o?"

"Try a equals y and y equals u!"

I plugged it all in and it worked very well. But I tried an idea of mine too.

I am Princess Sapphire! How dare you touch me! Why do I ache like this? Did I drain myself again? Wait. Where am I? What is that? No, no, no! Please don't hurt me! No!

I read it out loud to the group and when I was finished I heard slow clapping and looked toward the girls' side of the room. There stood the girl, apparently Sapphire.

"Congratulations," she said dryly. "You can now read Elvish."

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There you go guys. I'm exhausted so I'm going to sleep now. See you next week. Maybe.