The Regal Rogue

9. Will I Ever Know

I opened my eyes to see the trees slowly moving in front of me. I looked up to see Callum's face. He was carrying me.

"What happened?" I raised my hand to my head.

Callum looked down at me seeing me awake.

"You had a fever this morning. You were half awake when I gave you the herbs. You already know they make you sleep because that's how they heal. Given the circumstances, you were not sleeping in the easiest of times. They still worked, but you make experience a headache and some fatigue, but nothing fatal." I could hear Serenity leading.

"How long was I out?" I asked in my stupor.
"All morning. And it's just afternoon now." Callum told me.

"How close are we?" I went on asking.

"Maybe one more night. We'll rest a short time this evening and go on in the night and rest of tomorrow."
Roselyn huffed, getting annoyed with my questions.

I suddenly felt uncomfortable in Callum's arms when Roselyn gave me a shadowy glance.

"If it's all the same to you. I think I can walk now." I told Callum softly and he let me down.

I was a little wobbly, but I'd prefer uneasy walking than Roselyn's eyes on me like that.
We took turns riding Fey and the blackbird circled around over us, following.

I thought it mad that there was four of us and we had nothing to say. It became a bit awkward.
I tried to busy myself by observing the greenery I could see through the constant fog.

It seemed like hours since anyone had spoken and I couldn't take it.

Bravely, I decided to speak to Roselyn.
"Roselyn. I don't know if you'd care to talk about it, but it may do you good. What was it like living in your castle?"

"Torture, misery, hell......need I go on. I have more." She spat, not even looking at me.

"Let's talk of something else then." I said, selfishly hiding my sympathy.

Her eyes trailed back and forth at the ground as if she thought it over.
"Like what?" She asked, still sounding tough.

"Well we'll be there within a day. So why don't you explain specifically what to expect." I shrugged.

"All you need to know is that the gypsies are not like witches. They may seem like it but they're not. And they are considered everyone's enemy because they are allied with both good and bad." She tried to expand a brief description.

"But what exactly do they do?" I asked, pulling my cloak closer as a cold sweep flew down.

"Exactly what we're going for. Magical substances. I find it interesting how they keep all of them in one little band wagon." She said.

"What do they carry? Besides Crossing Incense." I asked just to keep conversation.

"Gods. Tons of things. Fangs of the snake, newt eyes, owl feather, lion heart, fox's foot, even the rare bat wing, all sorts. But those are just the ingredients. They also sell haluccinogines. Potions like Goldglobe and blackthorne. Even powders like the one Serenity used on the Hallowgoons, Flameshot. And....," She stopped, seeing my stunned face.

"You seem to know a lot." I told her, wide eyed.

"Like I had mentioned before. I had befriended them and learned about the dark arts, but then they turned on me." Her eyes turned soft and she bit her lip.

She looked up at the ghostly sky and let out a breath. I could tell she was desperately trying not to cry.

"We should rest for the evening and proceed when night falls." Roselyn called out, a faint quiver in her voice.

We didn't build the tent, but used the quilts to cover us since we wouldn't stay long.

I lay silently next to Roselyn and Serenity who had fallen asleep quickly.
I looked up at the fiery sunset turn purple. I let my mind wander.
How wicked could traveling, Irish hags be?
But I remembered there were a great many demons in this forest I had never faced. This could only be the beginning.

The foggy sky began to glow with deep blue and faint green. It was night. I thought I might as well wake everyone up.

I shook Roselyn's shoulder. "Is it not time to move on?" I asked, not knowing why I was whispering.

"Aye. Tis." She answered, sleepily and shuffled to wake Serenity.

I helped Roselyn with the quilts while Serenity got Callum.
We started off and Serenity rode on Fey.
We walked behind her together and kept as silent as the night.

We didn't want to irk anything unseen in the dark. Serenity looked back curiously and I thought she was just making sure we were all still here. But she was looking pass us. finally she turned back around and we walked in silence again.

We found ourselves on a hilly plain with low hanging fog over it.

"I know this place. Callyway Valley. The woods aren't too far off. Come on." Roselyn told us and began to quicken her pace. I tried to keep up but ran into a stone.
I got as close as I could to see through the fog.

It was a celtic cross crumbling from age. I began to breath heavy and ran after everyone.
"You didn't tell me this was a cemetery!" I tried not to sound shrill.

"Does it matter? We're almost there." Roselyn called back.

Suddenly I heard Serenity hush us harshly.

I began to look around to see why she wanted us quiet.
I was skimming through to the forest line we'd just left and saw two, glowing ruby orbs floating around. I could hear the sickening growl from afar. It was Lorcan.

Serenity grabbed Roselyn and pulled her up to sit behind her on Fey's back. Roselyn did the same for me and Callum jumped on sitting last.

Fey darted off. I held to Roselyn's waist tightly, keeping my eyes shut. We were going so fast that impossibly, the fog was blurring. We heard the heavy tread of the hound and felt Fey jerk to run a different direction.
As scared as I was my eyes flew open. I could feel the chill on my back. Callum wasn't behind me anymore.

"Callum is lost!" I cried out. Serenity turned and looked. To my horror, she had Fey stop and I expected to be dead within seconds.

We sat and waited, listening to Fey's panting.
No Hellhound, and no Callum.

Serenity just stared blankly out in the fog, tears slowly falling while Roselyn cried in bitter silence against her back.

I was too shocked to know what to feel. I didn't even notice when Fey started moving again. We entered the grey tinted wood and wandered. Roselyn told us the gypsies would find us on their own. And they did.