Home > Cinders & Ashes Book 2 : A Gay Retelling of Cinderella(10)

Cinders & Ashes Book 2 : A Gay Retelling of Cinderella(10)
Author: X. Aratare

They were concealed in thick underbrush about twenty feet from the village’s edge. Leaves as large as Rohan’s head grabbed at him as if they were predators, blocking his view of the village. The ground also crawled with vines and the massive trees creaked and loomed all around them like enemy soldiers. Unlike the Lupine Woods where plants and trees grew stunted and twisted when they grew at all, here life exploded everywhere. There wasn’t a square inch that wasn’t seething with vegetation, animals or insects.

Rohan again pulled down one of those massive leaves from in front of his face to get a clear view of the village. He hadn’t expected Fae architecture to look exactly like what he had seen in the books in his castle’s library--and since this was just a village, he had guessed it would potentially look less elegant and imposing--but he was wrong on all counts.

The village was lit by massive glowing mushrooms that stood four times his own height and had caps with delicate fluting undersides. They rained blue and green light over white stone paths that let out their own ghostly luminescence. The houses he could see were made of silver-colored wood with slate roofs. There were few sharp angles with everything taking on flowing, natural curves. Most homes were multiple stories with balconies that jutted out from every floor making the outdoors as much a part of the home as the indoors.

Winding staircases connected the balconies on the outside. They were covered so even when it rained they could be used without fear of getting wet. Gutters lined the edges of the balconies and rainwater was sent into the streams that criss-crossed through the village. Delicate arching bridges went over these burbling brooks and Rohan could see fish leaping into the air. He thought of his uncle’s statement about how the fish in Bolan jumped into its citizen’s nets. While Hugues might have been exaggerating about that kingdom, here it looked to be true.

The Empire teemed with life. In fact there was almost too much, and maybe that was the reason for the difference between what he had seen in his books and the reality on the ground. For around the entirety of the village were black metal pillars that he had not seen or read about. Fae writing, in a dialect Rohan didn’t know, was etched into their matte finish. The letters glowed redly. Stretched between these pillars was a delicate-as-starlight, translucent magical web of the same red color.

Rohan watched as a questing vine crawled from the forest towards the village and touched one of the red strands. There was a snap! And then a hiss! The vine lay blackened and smoking on the ground. It curled like a shriveled snake skin under a baking, desert sun. As Rohan looked more carefully, he realized that there were dozens upon dozens of these shriveled vines on the ground between the forest and the village.

“They have Battle Mages at the entrance to the village. Is that normal?” Serxio asked.

Serxio was referring to the one entrance into the village that they could see. It was the one place where the magical web did not block the way inside. But it was guarded by two, formidable-looking Fae Battle Mages. They were dressed in red and black flowing robes supplemented with armored greaves and braces that were etched with Fae writing that glittered with magic. Two-handed longswords were strapped to their backs. Daggers with curving blades were slid into sheaths at their waists. Both of them also carried long, polished, wooden staffs with jewels stuck into the ends.

“Is there something special about this village that they have so much security?” Serxio continued.

“I cannot imagine what it would be,” Rohan answered hesitantly.

“But the wall and all of these Battle Mages… it seems like overkill for a place with what? A few hundred inhabitants?”

The village was small. They had been lucky to find it in the vast forest. Luckily, Rohan’s tracking skills had led them to a road, which had further taken them to this village. They’d circled the entirety of the settlement, looking for breaks in the magical wall or another less guarded entrance, but they hadn’t discovered either. The village was locked up tight.

Two more Battle Mages rounded the corner of the village. One of them had his hands outstretched to the sides. A reddish mist was flowing from his armored fingers that flowed over the ground. When the red mist cleared, there was more dead vegetation. The trees nearest the mist seemed to lean away from it.

“I think the village is under siege,” Rohan whispered to Sergio.

“From who?” Serxio asked, his face turning towards Rohan and looking like a pale bloom in the darkness.

Rohan felt a vine close around his ankle. He brought out his dagger and viciously cut it. The vine let out what almost sounded like a whine as greenish-yellowish ichor flowed from the cut ends. The wounded vine slithered back into the forest.

“Not who. What. From the forest itself,” Rohan answered as both he and Serxio looked at where the vine had been. “Something is very wrong here.”

“Like what’s happened to Rirea?” Serxio asked.

“Not exactly the same. Nothing grows for us, but here… life is bursting at the seams, but it's become predatory,” Rohan stated.

“So does this mean the Fae and the Wall aren’t responsible for what’s happening to Rirea?” Serxio asked.

“Not necessarily. Perhaps what’s happening here is because they are stealing life from our side. It has nowhere to go,” Rohan stated.

“Think of how much they must hate us though if that is true.” Serxio shook his head. “To be prisoners in their own villages? To need Battle Mages to patrol all the time? Think about what they have given up to make us suffer. It’s inconceivable.”

He was right. From what Rohan could see, this village and maybe every single one like it had to protect itself from the very vegetation around it. Knowing how much the Fae were attuned to nature and loved it so, Rohan couldn’t imagine that this wasn’t adversely affecting them. Another vine crawled atop his boot and Rohan stomped it into paste.

“We can’t stay here,” Rohan said with a grimace.

“Well, we can’t very well saunter past those Battle Mages!” Serxio rightly pointed out. “What do we do? Look for another village? Go back to the tree?”

Rohan’s heart clenched in his chest. Every moment that Finn was without a healer was one more moment that he was that much closer to dying. Going back without a healer was not an option. Finding another village? Even if they could...

“I do not believe we have time to--wait! What is that?” Rohan pointed towards a point within the village.

Three Fae in rich purple silk robes walked stately down the main avenue of the village towards the entrance. The Battle Mages stepped to the side and bowed their heads as this procession exited the village. Behind those Fae were four others, but these people were dressed in pure white. They were also shackled at the wrists and ankles and were connected to one another with thick chains.

“Humans!” Serxio hissed and half stood up from their hiding place. “The prisoners are humans, Rohan!”

Rohan reached over and yanked Serxio down just before he was spotted. One of the nearest Battle Mages narrowed his crimson eyes and took a step towards them, but another caught his shoulder and pointed to the procession who had split off from the main road and were marching down what looked like a lesser-used path into the forest. Those large mushrooms lined this path, covering it in an eerie but beautiful glow.

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