Scout Stories: Bruised Beginnings

Feathers and Flame

Satisfied, Faye relaxed and pulled away slightly from the tree to get a better look at them. She had two of their names now. Getting out of the situation seemed like a lot less trouble all of a sudden. The plan took no time developing. It was no surprise really as she had used similar tactics many time before. Identify the weak link in the group and use that to turn them on each other. Then she could escape without notice while they bickered amongst each other. She almost felt sorry for the two younger boys. Well hopefully her actions would make them turn their lives around while they still had time and a full head of hair.

She glanced around before continuing, checking between and above the trees. She watched each spot carefully before moving onto the next. She was deep in the territory of a Forest Guardian, a type of Aed that had once been an animal. She might not be able to see it at all if it knew how to hide or camouflage. She could see no traces of it, but the sense she barely had told her that it was there. Still, she couldn't sit back and wait to be captured. It wouldn't take the men long to think that she might be in the trees. She would have to proceed with caution and be ready to run at the slightest warning.

Faye had only seen Aed after she was picked up by a Council Scout, and never been alone this close to one before. Even the idea of them still made her anxious. A born Aedly-no Aed had given her the gifts. Those she had were not strong and skipped generations of her family. She remembered very little of her Grandfather, who'd had a weaker version of her ability, but he was the one who had begun her teachings. She remembered some of his lessons that had all been focused on hiding her abilities. He had told her that the worst thing an inherited Aedly could ever meet was an Aed. To the monsters, she was a living insult.

The forest was less dense here. The undergrowth was easily stepped over and even at it's largest didn't come up passed Faye's knees. The trees were mostly oak with a couple of sycamore and only one ash tree that Faye could see. She could maybe jump across to one or two more, but she couldn't escape using the tree tops. The ash tree didn't have any runes tied to it or protective marks etched into its bark. That didn't bode well for her chances for running into the Forest Guardian.

She would need to be careful before deciding to move on to the next step. She waited for several long minutes while the men before shouted continued to call out to her.

"Come out!"

It wasn't hard to ignore them when she focused on watching the surroundings. It was far more difficult to ignore the pain in her arm. The paste had numbed it slightly but the climb had stretched it. It was twitching in pain and there was nothing she could do to stop it. After what felt like eternity Faye closed her eyes and nodded slightly. She was almost certain that it was safe, and it wasn't going to get any better than that. Faye pulled some dried fruit out of her pack (in case she would need an offering) and began.

Faye closed her eyes and steadied her breathing to a slow and constant pace. A breeze caught her arm and made the exposed nerves think that something was stabbing them again. Faye flinched and put her other hand over the bandage in a protective way. She started again, inhaling slowly and exhaling gently. When she opened her eyes again, the view had changed.

She could now see a swirl of colours in the shape of a small bird in the branched of the tree she had come from. Faye could see this swirl through the trunk of the tree. It was probably a finch or a robin. Judging from the colours, it was aware but didn't care about the men below. On the branch she crouched on a few dots of colours walked along. A line of ants walked around her shoes. Faye looked at the two men below her and could see an almost transparent blanket of dense air surrounding them. The auras surrounding them were murky, and there was a yellow tint to the youngest one, Colm, that swirled in an uneasy pattern. He was an easier target, but Faye focused on the other man, Lorcan, because it appeared to her that he influenced the others.