A tale of song, swords, and flowers

Chapter 5

Upon stepping from the trees, Florian nearly jumped out of his skin to see Henrietta standing nervously by the cart full of children, thin frame trembling. The baby was still wailing and her face was stricken with a truly horrifying expression somewhere between terror and desperation.

"Oy Woman! Didn't I tell you to shut the damn baby up? " snapped what sounded to be a rather tipsy bandit sprawled out at one of the closer fires. "Come on Hargrove get off your lazy ass and let the bitch into the cage!"

"Ah shut up! I'm working on it!" Florian replied, replicating The other man's accent and vocal pitch with uncanny accuracy. He made a show of fumbling around with the ring of keys he had pilfered, before gently reaching out and grabbing Henrietta's arm. Instinctively she flinched away, Head shooting up in alarm.

"Shh! It's all right lass" he soothed, Watching as she hesitantly reached up and touched The far too delicate hand at her wrist. "It is I, Pansy!"

"You!" She gasped, brown eyes meeting blue. "But how?"

"No time for that now! Make sure to sit near the bars so I can speak to you without being overheard." swiftly he unlocked and opened The door, wincing as it screeched on rusty hinges. " now hurry up and get in, I have a plan to get the little ones out of here, but we must act fast!"

With surprising alacrity, Henrietta scrambled into the cage, immediately snatching up the wailing bundle One of the older children handed her. "Oh my boy!" She murmured, carefully settling her self in a corner, back pressed against the bars. "My sweet sweet William!"

Heart squeezing painfully, Florian leaned casually up against the side of the cage nearest to her, groaning as he was finally able to take the weight off of his injured leg. "Do you remember how to get to Tasadia from here?"

Henrietta nodded, pulling dark hair over her shoulders in a paultry attempt to give herself some privacy as she pulled down the top of her dress and set the whimpering baby to feed.

"If we can get them all into the trees, you can escape to the road and reach the Town. You should all be safe there!" Mind spinning with half formed thoughts and plans, Florian also climbed into the cage, but stopped upon watching the children shrink away from him. "It's all right! I'm not going to hurt you!" with a flourish he removed the Straw hat disguising his features, chuckling quietly as the children's eyes widened at the side of his red hair.

"You're not Hargrove!" whispered one of the younger girls, an adorable little thing with messy, brown pigtails that hesitantly shuffled forward. "Who are you?"

Making sure to keep his smile soft and gentle, Florian placed a hand on his chest and bowed as best as he could while sitting on his knees. "I My darling am a magical forest fairy here to help you escape from the bad man, but you have to do exactly as I say understand?"

The girl nodded expression determined. "My brothers can come too right?"

"Of course!" Florian reassured, scanning each of the dirty, pale, and malnourished faces in turn. "You can all come, but you must do everything that Miss Henrietta and I tell you to do yes?" upon receiving nods from all of them old enough to understand, florian extended a hand. " I need the oldest of you to come first!"

Swiftly a boy and a girl scrambled forward , looking to be no older than eight or 10 summers. Carefully Florian helped them from the cage, before Extricating The youngest pair he could find.

"See those trees over there?" florian pointed with one finger, while placing the little ones on either side of the older girl and interlocking their hands. "I need you to take these two and run to them as quickly and quietly as you can. Hide in the bushes until you hear Miss Henrietta calling for you!"