15 Years Later...
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The forest trees rustled lightly in the breeze. Their whispers carried along the wind, speaking softly into Effie's ears as she made her way deeper into the witch's wood, gathering up plants and herbs along the way which would later be used as medicine to treat the ailments of the people of Evanore. People like Ms. Spencer and her arthritic knee, or Old Farmer Silas with his chronic cough. The forest often showed Effie where to find the exact herbs she was looking for.
Moonshadow Forest was not an ordinary forest. The very air was charged with magic, and everything around Effie was alive, from the tallest tree, to the smallest blade of grass. Everything in the forest spoke to her. Usually it was just quiet chatter among trees, words that didn't really mean anything to her, but their whispers brought her comfort, and made her feel like she was never alone. Sometimes, the trees would point her to a hurt animal that needed help, or sometimes they would warn her of some danger lurking nearby. The forest was always listening. Always watching.
As Effie bounded through Moonshadow forest that day in search of herbs, she would stop every so often to pluck a stem here, some leaves there, perhaps a root or a budding flower; whatever part of the plant she needed. Then she would carefully place them in a little basket she carried looped through her arm.
"Istrille" the forest whispered, and Effie turned her head just in time to see a large, beautifully blossoming istrille plant growing in the shade of a tall pine just to the right. Effie knew this herb well, as she did all herbs which grew in the area. She always used the white blossoms of the istrille plant in teas to calm inflammation of the respiratory tract, and the roots were good for infection when ground up and mixed into a salve.
"Oh, thank you," Effie offered up to the forest, always finding it respectful to show it her gratitude.
Then she crouched down near the plant, gently collecting all of its useful parts, before standing back up again, and heading further into the wood.
The tree's idle chatter continued, filling her ears with more of their odd sounds which didn't make any sense to her. But she enjoyed the company as she followed along a bubbling broke, trying to balance across a few stepping-stones that poked out over the top of the rushing water. And she'd nearly made it to the other side of the brook, when something jarring caused her to slip off a smooth rock and fall straight into the shallow stream. One of the trees had suddenly broke away from the chatter, and whispered something she did understand. "Intruder."
"W-what? An intruder in the forest?" She stammered, working to collect herself, and her basket of herbs from the water.
Instead of answering, the wind shifted through the trees, the breeze suddenly blowing in a completely different direction, as if the forest was using it to point her toward something.
"Intruder," she heard again. But the word didn't exactly sound like a warning. She didn't get the feeling that the trees were telling her to run, or hide. This time she felt that they wanted her to go investigate. Or perhaps the feeling was nothing more than her own natural curiosity drawing her toward the unknown. Either scenario was just as likely. And either way Effie found she couldn't resist the pull. So she began following the direction of the breeze, wondering what the forest could possibly be trying to show her.
It didn't take long before she realized that forest was leading her up to a clearing that she knew quite well. In the center of the clearing was a clear, sparkling pool of water into which the little brook emptied. Why did the forest want to show her this pond? She'd been here countless times before; sometimes to wash her face, or to bathe, or to steal a sip of its sweet, refreshing waters. So why...?
But when Effie poked her head out from behind a tree to get a good view of the pond, she suddenly saw what the forest was trying to show her. It was not the pond itself, but rather the mysterious person standing next to it that the forest wanted her to see.
A man dressed fully in chain-mail armor was tying his white horse to a tree nearby the pond. And though he was dressed in armor not unlike the royal soldiers Effie had encountered before, somehow this man did not give off the same kind of dangerous aura she'd felt from the others. Somehow, this solider was different.
Her stomach tingled with danger and curiosity. To get a better view of the man, Effie quickly scaled a nearby tree, and scooted out onto one of the long branches which reached over the top of the pond. The soldier down below hadn't seemed to detect her presence, as he pulled off his helmet, and a long braid of pure white hair, like the color of snow, unraveled from beneath the helmet, falling down to the man's waist.
Effie was in shock. She'd never seen hair quite like it before. Especially not on a young man such as himself, who didn't appear to be much older than she was.
A thick fringe of white, downy eyelashes, like the feathers of a dove, framed a pair of eyes that were golden and warm, reminding Effie of two blazing suns. His face was angelic, almost as soft as a woman's but with enough hard lines to maintain its masculinity. He was, without a doubt, the most beautiful man Effie had ever laid her eyes on. But what was he doing out here, so deep inside of Moonshadow Forest? She continued watching him from the shadow of the tree to find out.
But as he started to remove pieces of his armor, warm blood quickly rushed to Effie's cheeks realising he was probably stripping down and preparing to bathe in the pond.
'Turn around, Effie,' she thought to herself. 'You're a decent girl, not some disgusting pervert!'
But why couldn't she look away? Hadn't the forest brought her all the way out here just to find this man? If she looked away now, she might miss whatever it was that the forest wanted her to see. In the end, her curiosity overcame her sense of decorum, and she continued to watch him, even after he had peeled off the chain-mail armor, and then the white undershirt beneath it, right down to bare skin.
She couldn't help noting how surprisingly muscular his chest was despite how lean he had appeared with his armor covering it. His alabaster complexion was nearly as fair as his hair was white, and Effie found she couldn't tear her eyes away from his sheer unusualness. Effie's eyes tracked his every movement, all while silently wondering what sort of soldier this man was. Did he hate witches as much as the others who had hurt her... who had killed her mother? Or was this man different?
Before she had the chance to think about it any further, the man turned his back to her and began hanging his chain-mail and shirt over a tree branch. Immediately Effie noticed a strange, blue tattoo marking the skin between his shoulder blades. But from where she was sitting in the tree she couldn't quite make out the tattoo in detail. So she slid further down the branch, inch by inch, until she was almost directly above the man. She leaned forward, squinting her eyes, trying to make the tattoo come into focus. But then...
CRACK!
"Ah!"
The tree branch she'd been sitting on snapped under her weight, and then Effie was falling through the air, tumbling toward the ground. Just in that moment, the soldier below her had heard the snapping branch, and looked up just in time to see the girl falling from the sky. The expression on his face was mostly a blank one, mixed with a hint of surprise, and instinctively, he held his arms out to try and catch her before she landed. But at the rate she was falling, Effie crashed into him with too much force, and the two of them crumpled to the ground, Effie's rear-end planted firmly on top the poor man's chest.
"Oh my!" She cried, promptly jumping off of him. "I'm so sorry. It's not like I was up in the trees spying on you or anything. I was only-" Effie paused when she realized the man was not responsive.
There on the forest floor, his face looked so serene and beautiful, like he was simply sleeping. But panic rose in the back of her throat when she saw the blood trickling out of the back of his head and clotting in the dirt beneath him. During the fall he seemed to have struck his head against a jagged rock, injuring him.
"Ah, what have I done?"
She flailed, glancing back and forth in a panic, trying to locate something she could use to try and stop the bleeding. But nothing came to mind. And there was no time. He was losing blood fast, and out here in the middle of the forest she didn't really have a lot to work with in terms of medical supplies. Not to mention, there was simply no way she could get him to the apothecary in time to save him. But maybe... maybe there was still another way she could save him.
But no... it was too risky. Effie hadn't used magic since she was very young. Not since the night it awakened within her fifteen years ago. Using magic now was just too risky. She risked being discovered as a witch by the king's royal army and being executed for it. But she also risked something potentially far worse- losing control of her power, or having the shard of darkness on her heart grow in response, turning her power rogue. She and Anise weren't certain if that would be the result of using her magic, but they hadn't ruled it out.
On the other hand, here lay a man, dying on the forest floor, all because of her. And if he did manage to die right here, would his death count as another one of her killings, even if inadvertently? Could... could it possibly push her heart past the tipping point and cause her power to go rogue? Effie had no idea, and she was afraid to chance it.
But then there was the matter of him being a royal soldier. Effie retained a specific hatred for pretty much all of the the kings soldiers for the atrocities they had committed against, her, her family and so many others out there. Maybe she should just leave him on the forest floor to die simply for the sin of being a royal soldier? Yet... staring down into his beautiful face, watching the way his soft lashes lay gently against his cheeks, Effie didn't sense the same sort of evil intentions that she had sensed in the other soldiers from her past. Maybe his life was worth saving after all.
As if in response to her thought, a strong breeze whooshed through the trees around her, exciting all the plants, bushes, and loose leaves along the forest floor.
She was going to do it, wasn't she? She was going to save this man's life.
His blood felt sticky and warm between her fingers as she cradled his injured head in her hand. Then she closed her eyes in concentration, focusing all of her energy into a single point at her hand. Her hand began to warm with magic. It was nothing like the excruciating, all-consuming flame of magic that had engulfed her body fifteen years ago when she had let it rage out of control. No, this was not destruction magic. This was the warmth of healing magic, gentle and mild, causing her hand to tingle. Then, against her palm, she could feel the deformed crack in his skull begin to mend, and the yawning gash across his scalp started closing up, until not even a scar remained.
After that, his breathing began to stabilize, and to her relief, Effie knew that he was going to live. Her job was done, and nothing terrible had happened to her for it. Now all she had to do was get far, far away before he woke up and got a good look at her face. Because if he did... well she assumed he would have her burned at the stake for being a witch. With him being a soldier of the king, there was no other outcome to be expected. Was there...?
As she stood up, Effie found herself asking the forest to watch over and protect his body until he regained consciousness, though she didn't know why she would do such a thing for a soldier. Then she picked up her basket, and all the herbs that had spilled out when she fell. Then she fled.
And her biggest regret was not having thought about taking the opportunity to get a look of the man's strange tattoo before making her getaway.