On
Falling In And Out Of Storyside...
Part
10
"So
then I said 'are you gonna kill him?' and he said
"no", so I said, 'save yourself, dweeb! And you better hurry;
he looks serious.'." The spellbound guards sitting around Mia laughed as
she continued, while her father, proud of having successfully thwarted the lot
of them without help, stood by observing with a slight smile. It had been at
least 10 minutes since he'd seen Naomi and Jerry, however, so he was a little
worried. After all, his original plan had been to find Naomi, rescue her if
needed and return little Joshua to her. The whole "meeting Jerry"
part had been a complete departure from that. After obtaining Jerry's help, he
had felt compelled to help this somewhat awkward human find his way back home
in return. But now, he thought I don't even know which way they went,
she ran so fast.
His
thoughts were broken by the sound of hoofbeats near
him. "Ho, there!" came a man's voice. Instinctively, he moved aside
and the horse stopped about 2 feet from him. "What manner of folly is
this?"
The
guards, who'd been listening attentively to Mia, now threw themselves prostrate
on the ground. "Your Majesty!" they called out apologetically.
Magbert took a good look at the Fairy King and was
impressed. He was rather tanned, but his hair was so fair as to almost be
considered albino. He sat erect on his mount, looking imperiously down upon his
guards, but at the same time, looking kind enough for Mia to run over to him
without fear.
"Are
you King Daniel?" she asked him.
"Yes,
my dear, I am," he replied, leaning down with a smile. "I hope you
are not the one responsible for these men shirking their duties?"
"Well,
sorta," she said. "See, my dad was afraid
they were going to attack us, so he made them listen. Naomi and Jerry woulda helped, but they didn't know we..."
"Did
you say Naomi?" he asked, interrupting her.
"Yes,
she did," Magbert said. "You know of
her?"
"Most
certainly," said King Daniel, frowning and smiling at the same time.
"Who are you and how do you know of her?"
"I
am Magbert the Gnome and this is my daughter
Mia," he said, bowing. "We have been trying to assist Naomi in
escaping from a Lady Eris. Perhaps you know of her?"
"My
Counselor Supreme," the king nodded. "But why is she holding Naomi
prisoner? What's Naomi done this time?"
"I
don't believe Naomi is the problem this time, your Majesty, but perhaps Lady
Eris could explain better than I," Magbert said.
King
Daniel gave him a scrutinizing look, then, realizing there was more to the tale
than met the eye, said, "Come, then. We'll sort this out at the
castle." He reached a hand out to Magbert to
boost him up on the saddle behind him, then said to
the guards, "Return to your posts at once." They scrambled to their
feet anxiously, while Mia flew up to the horse's back. "Where is Naomi
now?"
"The
last we saw of them..." Magbert began.
"Them?"
"Yes,
Naomi is with a human named Jerry. They had gone back the way we had come after
the guards saw us," Magbert replied, pointing
toward the brush they'd straggled out of.
"Well,
that would lead them back to the castle," the king nodded. "Surely
she would have known that. Why would she want to return if she knows she is a
fugitive?" He was silent a moment, then said, "Well, if nothing more,
I've had to give her credit for cleverness." Magbert
thought he heard a trace of fond amusement in the king's voice, but before he
was sure, King Daniel added, "She must have had some reason to return;
otherwise, she'd have made her getaway long before now.
"Well,
maybe she was waiting for us," Mia suggested. "After all, Joshua's
still with us."
"Joshua?
Christine's younger brother?" the king exclaimed, nearly turning around in
his saddle with surprise. "You two are more involved in my life than you
realize! Now how do you know little Joshua?"
"My
friend L.D. goes to school with Christine and she said Naomi babysat her and
Joshua afterschool. I've never met Christine, but I
heard she's supposed to be an empress," Mia said.
"That she will be, with proper training."
"We
found Joshua in the woods earlier today crying for his "oh-bee",
which is why no matter how wrong Naomi may actually be, she could be no more at
fault than those who grabbed her and left the little boy alone in the forest
without so much as a thought to his safety," Magbert
said.
The
king frowned, obviously agreeing with him. "Where is Joshua now?"
"He's
with my wife at our home in
"Then
you, your wife and your daughter may be my guests here at the castle. Send for
her and have her bring Joshua with her. I know someone else who may be
interested in his whereabouts and can get him home safely. Afterward, I can
talk to Lady Eris and perhaps even get Naomi and question her as well. We'll
get to the bottom of this, no matter who's at fault."
Naomi
groaned, deeply agonized. She had listened to Daniel talking to Magbert and Mia as they passed overhead about the whole
situation and bringing Joshua to the castle. She knew she didn't stand a
chance. Eris would say it was Naomi's fault, Daniel would believe her, then remember she was on probation and that would be the end
of it.
This
human with her was as much a problem. He wasn't seasoned enough in survival
here and he was already getting somewhat lightheaded from the pain and blood
loss. If she didn't get him somewhere soon to get his wounds properly taken
care of, he'd be dead soon and she'd have another crime to atone for. The best
thing to do was to leave him here, go hide in the castle until Joshua came,
then get him back and go home. After all, she had a life to lead that didn't
include some scraggly human. Screw him if he can't hack it!,
she thought determinedly.
She
was actually ready to teleport away when she looked at his face. His eyes were
closed, as he was trying to concentrate on not feeling the pain.,
but looking at him definitely made it harder to abandon him. He looked so
ridiculously kind and sensitive that Naomi felt a rare pang of guilt. She
really couldn't just leave the sap here to suffer. Besides, she thought,
what if he's one of
She
pulled out her dagger and began silently cursing herself for her stupidity
while vehemently stabbing the underside of the drawbridge.
Suddenly,
she stopped, considered something else. Hey, if he really is a nice
guy, then if I tell him he's dying, he'll tell me to go on without him.
"Jerry,
I hate to tell you this, but I think you're dying," Naomi said softly to
him.
"Really?"
he answered, voice strained. "That's twice today."
"You've
done this before?" she gasped.
"Yeah, when those two guards grabbed me. I guess I'm
getting a little more used to it now."
"Holy
cow, you must be..." Naomi shook her head. Either this guy was a better
sorcerer than he was letting on or he was good and didn't know it. Either way,
anyone who could cheat death that easily was obviously an excellent ally. She
had to get him fixed up again. "I've decided to move us to a safer place.
Daniel knows we're here and..." Naomi paused as Jerry began giggling.
"What's so funny?"
"Daniel's
nose is here and boy, does it smell!" he replied, chuckling to
himself. He paused for a moment, then said, "Oh, God," and passed
out.
He
doesn't know it, Naomi decided. "I'm getting you some help,"
she said. She concentrated for a moment and they
teleported away.
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