This was it, or so I thought. As I hung in the air, gasping, suffocating, a blade flew past me and plunged into Khandre's gut. It was Lyra's curved dagger. She had some pin point accuracy!
Khandre's magic broke and I fell to the ground once again, but at least I was able to to breath. As I honked a couple gasps, Lyra moved in quickly and pulled out her dagger, kicking Khandre's body back. She then backed off and picked me up.
"I'm telling you now little princess! You should have killed me dead." said Khandre leaning back over, spitting out some blood onto the ground, clenching his stomach wound.
"Dead men can not be held accountable for justice." said Lyra, putting away her dagger.
Khandre fell over passing out and Lyra carried me as she began running away through the woods. I was groggy myself, drained.
I'll just get a little rest.
I blacked out.
"Duc? Duc?"
I slowly awoke to Lyra stroking my head. We seemed to be moving. My vision cleared and I could see we were on the back of a horse-drawn wagon. It looked to be transporting some vegetables and other goods.
"Phew, you seem okay," she said. "I got us a ride, for now. We'll have to get off at the next town because the driver will be headed back this way. You were out for half a day."
"Quack?!"
That long? What the heck!
"Don't worry. I'm pretty sure we're in the clear for now. We just need to make some changes in the town. Getting back to my home is gonna be a challenge now. Getting out of this kingdom alone would take about a week or more walking, or a few days by wagon. But I don't have much money to get us that far."
I know I can't communicate with her, but I wonder what she's gonna do if we're in a human kingdom and she's a white-haired elf princess, she might be pretty easy to spot. Well, I have to try something.
I climbed off her lap and raised my wing as if to point at her.
"Hmmm?" she looked at me curiously, so I scooted closer and ruffled her hair and ear.
"Oh, you think they'll notice me. Well they might… I guess elves might be pretty rare, but they do travel. My hair however, that might be a giveaway." said Lyra trying to think of what to do.
I've never tried magic like this before, but I have an idea.
I calmed myself and closed my eyes, searching for the elements around me. It seemed not only were there vegetables on board, but amongst the other goods were coffee beans. In my last life I had once learned that drinking coffee can actually darken your hair color. Seeing how I don't know how to approach messing with melanin and other factors that determine hair color, maybe I can somehow dye it.
I floated a handful of beans over and crushed them into a fine powder and then conjured up some water with soap, something I taught myself long ago in the cavern trenches with a lot of dirty water, coming up with how to make soap became a want pretty fast. I had to use monster fat and lye, but I know you could use vegetable oil to. All the ingredients needed seemed to be on the wagon. So, I crafted and began mixing the coffee grounds and soap throughly hoping it's enough to act as a dye.
Lyra sat and watched in confusion until I started hovering the mixture towards her.
"For me?"
"Quack." I said with a nod, putting my wing on my head, hoping it translated.
She began to rub the mixture into her hair.
"This smells funny. I've never liked coffee, but dire times."
"Quack."
She finished getting it through most of her hair and realized a shortcut. She took out her dagger and cut her long hair at the shoulder.
"Quack?!"
"No worries. It'll grow back someday," she said dropping her hair to the ground, "I should look a lot different now."
She did. But I didnt want any traces so I took the hair she cut off and burned it in the air. It only smelled like coffee now. I looked back over Lyra, and the dress she had been wearing this whole time, while now a little dirtier, still stuck out.
I don't think I can change this. She has to know it's a dead giveaway. What to do?
I flapped one wing onto her dress a few times to see if she would understand.
"Quack?"
"Oh, I see," she said looking down and brushing some dirt off, "Elven silk. One of my favorite dresses. There should be a tailor in the town that would trade or buy it. I can get something more low profile."
I nodded my head in agreement.
"You know you're a pretty smart duck," she said with a smile, but then sadness washed over her.
I could tell she was thinking about the attack, all those deaths, and her friend Gavin. Lyra shed a couple of tears, but wiped them away quickly.
"No, I can't grieve anymore. I can't let his and their sacrifice be for nothing," she clentched her fist, "They're essentially trying to start a war. I won't let them. That's what this is about. If they were to stop me, they might take my father by surprise and actually win somehow. But if I can warn them and we prepare and set up defenses, there's no way they'd beat us. Plus, if the other human nations knew, they would be on our side. We've always remained neutral from their wars, traded for what we needed, and stayed peaceful. To think they'd do this at a chance get any of our land or resources is just insane. Unless… there's more to it."
I cocked my head, listening but still not sure of the politics of it all. Unfortunately, I can't just ask. Hopefully, she or I can piece it together soon. Either way, I'll protect her.
The wagon came to a slow, breaking both our trains of thought, as we seemed to be entering our destination. The driver told us we had in fact arrived and slowed to let us off. He said the city was called Zeele and a tailor was just around the corner. So, we were on our way.