She had a headache. A very very big headache.
The fairy kept her eyes shut tight against any light that might come and make her headache worse. Then she remembered they were in the desert with not-fairies and something had attacked her and it wasn't hot like it should have been for the desert. It was cold actually even though it shouldn't be winter and that made her open her eyes cautiously to see where they were or if it had changed to winter all of a sudden because that had happened once. It wasn't winter though. It wasn't even outside! They were inside some sort of room that wasn't wood or stone or anything she knew. It was a strange gray color too. It made even Wefios look very dark lying on it and Wefios didn't always look dark especially when it was bright outside. Wefios didn't have anything to say about that which was weird because he usually said something and she panicked and went to him and shook him a little because he wasn't moving and then he grumbled a little and pawed at her until she stopped shaking him. The mule muttered to himself for a bit before scrambling to his feet to look around them.
“Wefios it's cold in here and I've never seen walls made of this or the floor it's just like the walls and cold to the touch and a weird color. And there doesn't seem to be a door at all. Or windows! It must be somewhere poor.” Her voice echoed strangely in the chamber and the mule twitched his ears back in annoyance. Hearing her once was more than enough most of the time. The familiar was not nearly as excited about the fact that there were no windows or doors to escape this chamber. Reece approached one of the walls and put her hand on it and then her forehead She felt nothing but a vibration that seemed to be part of the wall. Beside her Wefios kicked at the wall and she drew back with a yell when the sound went straight to her aching head. For the first ten minutes or so she occupied herself with circling the room to try to find a secret passage out but there wasn't any and she got bored of it after the second trip around the room. Wefios was not content to do so and began to bray at the top of his lungs while stamping on the floor. Someone had to hear that. Someone had to come let them out. Reece yelled at him to be quiet as she shrunk to the ground and covered her ears and tried to burrow into the hard floor but there seemed to be a hundred Wefios' braying and stomping all around her. It went on for long enough that the red-head was whimpering with pain by the time he stopped.
No one had came to see what the fuss was about.
Wefios stopped, tired, and stare around for any change. No windows, no doors. No way out, no way for air to come to them, no wind or sun on their back. The idea of being stuck in here without the sun or wind caused him to panic and the panic jumped from familiar to fairy in seconds. The fairy looked around her before running up and down and banging on the walls with her own hands to try to get the attention of whoever had put them in there. Her hands began to bruise as, unseen by them, men watched the fairy and familiar on a tiny screen. Two discussed whether or not they should sedater her before she hurt herself while some debated whether or not they should be separated and a sixth man speculated loudly about her supposed power to create crystals like they'd been told. The last sat quietly in front of the screen and watched sadly as the fairy ran from one side to the other and yelled in a language he remembered vaguely. It had been so long since he had heard it spoken by a native. He could not guess how this fairy had happened to find herself in the desert but he could not let her stay in the hands of the scientists. He had used a little bit of magic to put himself in this team but there was no magic that could get her out of the cell without alerting everyone that there was a magic-user here. There was nothing he could do until they allowed people in to observe her and he could find some way to sneak her out. That wouldn't happen until she calmed down or they were forced to intervene with the way the humans were arguing.
Hours later Ree finally exhausted herself. With a final yell the girl went to her familiar and curled up against him. The walls seemed to close in on them as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. Both their ears still rang from the repeated yelling and banging but Wefios remained awake and alert to any new noise as well as ready to get to his feet in a hurry should someone finally appear. Even his patience could not outlast hours of nothingness and when the door finally slid open he was asleep. The scientist looked at both of them before stepping in and nudging the fairy awake with a foot. The fairy awoke in an instant and stared at him with wide eyes until Wefios woke up and knocked her sprawling with his hasty rise. The mule was ready to attack him when the man said simply “bray”. Neither his voice nor his voice changed but the shock of hearing someone speak a language they understood was enough to make him start to bray as he was asked. The sound echoed around the chamber as the man began to talk urgently. He was speaking her language! She wanted to ask how, who he was, if he was from Shaman, a thousand other things but the man gave her no chance to speak. He told her that he would lead them out, that he would get them to safety, that he wouldn't leave them in the hands of humans.
The plan went over well until he brought out a halter. Wefios stopped braying immediately to stare at it and the man holding it with pure hatred. He was a familiar! Halters were for animals and stupid beasts and... and... prisoners! Reece shook her head at whatever the man was saying when Wefios lapsed into silence and huddled against her familiar in distrust as he hastily tried to explain the necessity of the halter. Both continued to shake their heads and the man grew louder and more angry. Before long Reece was yelling back at him because he didn't understand that putting a halter on Wefios would be turning him into a stupid animal and that had already happened and she wasn't about to let it happen again.
Let him Ree. His voice had gotten quiet and scary again. They needed to get back to Shaman where things made sense and people didn't yell things she didn't know the meaning of and people didn't hit you over the head because you knew how to use magic against them when they were mean. Her hand went up to her head automatically to rub the spot where she had been hit while she looked at Wefios. But Wefios... They won't let us leave otherwise. I believe him. But Wefios, it's a halter. To put on you! Any other objection she might have had was interrupted by Wefios moving forward and lowering his head for the halter. The thought of wearing it still made him sick and he started shaking when it was placed on his nose but they had to get out and get to Versailles, wherever that was. When the fairy made a show of leading him out on the harness he pulled against it out of instinct and revulsion before walking behind the man. Ree followed beside him, patting his shoulder and telling him that it would be alright and that she didn't think any less of him because he was wearing the halter and that they would be back soon and everyone would pay for treating him like this and promising never to bounce on his back again after this. |
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