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I wanted to accept that, but… ”Did you kill my parents?”
Her entire body stilled, but her gaze was steady when it met mine.
“It is much more complex than that, and there may well be pieces of it that you will wish you hadn’t heard, things that will tarnish the way you see those you would prefer to hold dear.” She raised a hand when she saw my protesting expression. “I am not unwilling to tell you, but it is not a story I will impart tonight.”
Her expression softened.
“You need rest, little one. And time, I believe, to process. There will be plenty enough tomorrow, if you insist on hearing it, but just remember that a truth given, cannot be taken back.” She smiled sadly before sweeping gracefully into the hallway, leaving me there with only my churning thoughts for company.
36
Edrich
For all that I had appreciated the wonders of the world around me last night, the dangers were even more apparent by the light of day. From atop Maggie, I could spy all manner of activity going on around me, and there was something to be cautious of in each of them.
Fire ants marched in perfect order, and all I could think was that a bite from them could set half my leg searing with the size I was now. Dragonflies flitted by, their wingspan longer than I was, and even the field mice could probably have bitten me in half, if they wanted to.
This peaceful valley managed to feel infinitely more dangerous than the forest had, unarmed and off-kilter as I was in this new, unfamiliar size.
I was so focused on all the remote possibilities of danger that I nearly missed the reality of it, even when Maggie balked a bit, shuffling away from the direction we had been headed. When Rumple looked sharply around, and the grass near us began to rustle, I finally looked to my left.
I had just enough time to reflect on how ridiculous it had been of me to call the earthworm from the night before a snake. There was no mistaking the thing looming before me, jaws opened at an impossible angle to reveal razor-sharp fangs as tall as my hand.
A fairly common valley snake, one I never would have had to worry about as an adult human, but it could kill me now. Maggie tried to run, her quills standing on end and pricking at my legs. It wasn’t long before she curled up into herself, throwing Rumple and me to the ground.
I barely had time to register the fall before the snake slithered closer, its speed otherworldly. And from the way it was reared back, poised for a strike. There was no way to tell who it was aiming for, and no time to dodge. I only had time enough for a single thought.
One of us is going to die.
The snake lunged forward, its fangs longer than my torso, and sharp as steel. Just before it could end our lives, the four of us were startled by akakkingsound, one so much louder and richer and more ominous in this form?but familiar, nonetheless.
Pepper.
My gyrfalcon shot in with an unparalleled speed and grace, gripping the snake in her claws and knocking us over with the intensity of the wind from her wings.
Once the snake was in her grasp, she soared up into the sky with it until I lost sight of her. Rumple and I risked a glance at one another, both of us speechless as we contemplated how close we came to death.
“How did you survive being this size before?” I asked, panting, as Maggie came over to rest her snout on my leg.
“By having the basic amount of sense afforded most intelligent creatures, and not travelling with people who didn’t.” He practically spat the words at me, but I didn’t miss the way his breaths were coming in too fast, or the panic in his eyes.
He is just as scared as I am.
“Feel free to offer some better advice then, for how to get to Lina,” I shot back. “I am very open to suggestions.”
He rolled his eyes and stood to brush the dirt off his knees, while I picked up the few items of Lina’s that had fallen from Maggie’s pack.
A hedgehog was definitely not the most suitable steed, given that she could turn into a ball of sharp spines when it suited her. I was glad she was safe, though. An attack like that with Hobgoblin could have been the end of him.
Another several minutes passed before Pepper swept back down, coming to an abrupt stop right in front of us.
Pepper tipped her head, examining me. For a moment, I thought she might try to eat me, but she only gently moved forward until her beak was within arm’s length. I put a hesitant hand out, stroking the tiny feathers above her beak, and she fluffed her wings contentedly.
Thank the fairies, she recognizes me.
She caught sight or whiff of Rumplestiltskin, though, and hopped several paces backward, fixing him with her predator’s stare.
“I guess whatever you’re exuding isn’t too diminished.” I raised my eyebrows at the small green man.
