Mystic

Chapter 16; Matthew

Matthew waited quietly in the trees, watching the grove of old trees ahead of him intently. He was sure that he had seen a redcap here before, and wanted to investigate while Amira was still asleep. He made sure that he had a quick way to escape in case the redcap spotted him. They were incredibly violent creatures, and though they were not very bright, Matthew didn't want to take any chances. He gazed down at the forest floor for a minute, then leaned his back against the tree. Then, he heard an unexpected creak above him. He quickly looked up to see a redcap glaring down at him, it's beard tangled and a dagger in it's hand. It dove down, ready to kill, but Matthew caught it by the foot at the last second. The redcap dangled there, slashing the dagger in all directions. 

"Try picking on someone your own size." Matthew said to it. It grumbled something in elven, then folded it's dagger into its sheath. Matthew transferred the redcap from one hand to the other, holding it upright by the waste this time. The redcap slammed his little fist down on Matthew's hand and shouted at him, but Matthew ignored him and studied him more closely. 

"You're a fiesty one, aren't you?" Matthew muttered.

"Matthew?" He heard Amira call. Both he and the redcap turned their heads in the direction of the sound. The redcap looked up at him expectantly, but when Matthew didn't release the redcap, it folded it's arms.

"I am not giving you another chance to kill me." Matthew said. He made his way down the tree with one hand, holding the redcap tightly in the other. He found Amira back at the campsite pacing. She looked over at him, then at the redcap.

"What have you been doing!?" Amira asked, seeing the red stains on the redcap's clothes. Matthew and the redcap looked at each other at the same time, then Matthew started laughing.  Amira thought he had hurt the bloodthirsty creature. 

"What's so funny? What did you do?" Amira asked. Matthew tried to pull himself together and said,

"I didn't do anything to him, he tried to kill me!"

"The little garden gnome tried to kill you?" Amira asked skeptically.

"He's a redcap. They enjoy killing for sport. They use the blood of their victims as facepaint and dye for their caps, which is where the name comes from." Matthew said, this time seriously.

"Then why did you bring it into camp!?" Amira screeched, shooing him away. "Go get rid of it!" 

"Not until I have him pose for a sketch." Matthew said, heading over to where he had left his satchel. He pulled out a bit of rope and started tying up the poor redcap.

"You brought a murderer into camp, and all you can think about is getting a SKETCH!!??" Amira shouted.

"Um, Yes?"

"Ugh! Boys!" Amira stormed back over to the empty firepit, then sat down and folded her arms. Matthew finished tying up the redcap, then set it down on a flat stone. He then started to sketch the creature under the page of his notebook labeled "redcaps." The creature gave him evil eyes for the first few minutes, then gave up and adopted a dejected look.

"Oh, cheer up, you little monster. I'm gonna let you go once I'm finished." Matthew told it. It just shook its head sadly and went back to it's moping.

"Let it go!? You better put that thing down!" Amira shouted over.

"If I did that, then I would be no better than him!" Matthew shouted back. 

"What if it follows us?" Amira asked, coming over to Matthew and eyeing the little redcap suspicously.

"It won't be able to. Orion can easily outpace this little fellow." Matthew answered.

"Right." Matthew could feel Amira's eyes on his sketchbook, and the quill slipped out of his hand. He had accidentally given the sketch a nasty cut over the redcap's right eye.

"Great." Matthew sighed, shoving the quill back in his bag to avoid messing anything else up. He left the book open to dry. He had managed to finish most of the sketch, and he could remember well enough that he could add to it later.

"That's really good!" Amira said, leaning over his sketchbook. Matthew's stomach tied itself in a knot, and he resisted the urge to hide the book.

"Thanks." he said, trying to focus on untying the redcap. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Amira flipping through the pages.

"Why are there so many empty pages?" Amira asked.

"Because there are so many creatures I have yet to study." Matthew said, walking over to the edge of the woods and setting down the redcap gently. It immediatley lunged for him, but Matthew plucked the dagger out of his hand and hammered the tiny thing as hard as he could into a nearby tree.

"Good luck getting that out, tiny." Matthew said to it. Amira had finished snooping and had come over to watch the redcap. The creature attempted to climb the smooth-barked tree to no avail.

"That should keep him distracted for a while. Let's get going. Matthew said." Amira handed Matthew his journal, and he stuffed it deep into his satchel. Orion bounded over to them, accidentally hitting the redcap with his tail and sending the poor thing flying into a large boulder. "Go easy on him, O, he's had a rough day." 

Orion snorted as if to say, "I was doing you a favor. You should be grateful," Then allowed Matthew to help Amira onto his back. Matthew climbed on after her, then took off. The dragon gained altitude, and Amira screamed in delight. Matthew closed his eyes and felt the wind on his face, and instanly forgot all of his worries. Once the dragon had gotten above the clouds, Matthew opened his eyes again. He looked behind him to see Amira staring in awe at the pillars of milky white clouds around them and the sheet of clouds below that covered the world like a blanket. 

"It's beautiful." Amira said.

"It is." Matthew admitted. Orion started to swerve downward, and as they entered the mass of a large cloud, Matthew shielded his eyes from the mist. Amira giggled behind him. They exited the cloud, and suddenly they were flying over a town, still of Javan design, but smaller. 

"It's over?" Amira asked sadly, "Can we go up there again?" 

"We have to land, otherwise we'll be targeted." Matthew said.

"Targeted by who?"

"By hunters. Dragon blood is extremely valuable on the black market. In the Javanese sections we don't have to worry about the town's defenses, but there are individuals who might get greedy if they see a dragon hovering over them." 

"Okay, okay, but can we please do one more lap around the village?" Amira asked. Matthew relented.

"Okay, just one more lap."