Chương 47: Chapter Forty Three: Road Trip….Into The Woods To The Exile’s House!

Three hours earlier…

"So where are we going exactly? I know you said the Sunless Forest … but where is this house?" Is it near the Palace or closer to Eammon? I am not ready to be stuck in a carriage with anyone let alone a bigger princess than me for forty eight hours. Erichean pushes me deeper into the carriage and hauls a bag filled with essentials in as well. The side eye is insane on my side. I don't know why we can't just put it in our space bags but sure. I'm all for the drama. You, do you bro.

He tilts his head towards the sky and then hops in without explaining. That's fair. I guess he is exhausted. Everyone has been non-stop packing for our little excursion. We have an entire carriage behind us devoted to clothes, toiletries, and dried food. It feels like I'm being exiled or something. Derrick if it makes you feel any better what goes around eventually comes around. But time is of the essence according to… well everyone.

He shuts the carriage door and lays back in his seat drained, "Honestly, I don't know."

"You don't know?" That's odd. You usually know everything. He guffaws and finally meets my surprised look.

"Yes. It's hard to map out the forest."

"Why?" He takes out a flask filled with what I hope is wine. The red liquid sloshes around as he takes a swig of it and sighs in satisfaction. His porcelain cat teeth and fangs become stained with the crimson substance and I grimace. Gross. I'm not exactly at the blood-drinking stage yet. Most of my blood intake is mixed in my food or drinks so I don't notice it. I don't think I'll ever get used to that. He slides his flask back into his bag and explains succinctly.

"The forest frequently changes erratically. And you can't exactly use the sun or the sky to navigate or pinpoint your location. So it's easy to get lost without an experienced guide or an apostle from the Temple of Night."

"Wait what? Run that back again?!" An apostle! We didn't discuss that. Penguin?! [Bawk. Bawk.] Useless! Erichean is holding his stomach in laughter and guffawing at me, "That's an interesting saying. From the mouth of babes…Anyway. Yes, an apostle. I know that you are averse to them but in this case, they are a necessary companion. She won't be riding in the same carriage as us if that provides you any comfort."

"She?" He nodded.

"Yes, Efret. Since you chose her last time, I assumed you would be more amenable to her presence." I groaned and kicked my feet. Not that blind bat. The one who basically dunked me in the bowl of religious trauma? That one? I glared at Eric and he gave me a bright smile.

"When is she arriving?"Maybe if we set off without her we can outrun her. Eric pulls aside the curtain closest to him and remarks, "She's here." I almost pull my hair out from frustration. Fine.

"Just keep her away from me." He mimics my high-pitched voice and salutes me, "Aye. Aye." I barely ever do that. I give him a withering look and he snorts. He's so much more sarcastic in private. It's only when we're alone that he ever shows this side of himself though. My eyes roam around and catch on that bag. It's still bothering me, "What's in the bag and why are you carrying it manually?" He smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes.

"You want to know what's inside right?" I lose my grin and eye him with caution. He continues without looking for an answer." Nunya business." It's such a throwback I can't even retort it on demand.

"..." Penguin hollers inside my soul and the picnic basket next to me begins to levitate off the seat. Erichean uses his right foot to push it down back onto the carriage seat. Mirth is dripping from his eyes and I look away. I'm ignoring everyone. You're all canceled. Erichean reaches into his soul for mercy and stops teasing me, "Don't be upset. Come here. I'll show you." I begrudgingly allow him to pick me up to save time and he places me on his side of the carriage.

The bulging brown leather bag lands on his lap, from within he fished out… is that a dagger? One after the other he takes out weapons, clothes, rations, and flasks full of blood. Oh my god. Is that a makeshift tent?! My mouth dries and I whisper-yell." Eric, why do we need this?" We would never go anywhere in my first life. You are a walking airport violation. Erichean gives me a look and puts everything back in the bag.

"We're most likely going to spend two days at the very least trying to get to the Hawthorne's lair. After that…we have no idea how long it'll take for you to become proficient enough in your ability that you'll be able to control it."

"Ok…I understand why you need the blood. But why are there weapons? And why can't you carry it in your space bag?" He grins toothily and delivers the bad news while smoothly avoiding my loaded question, "No unsanctioned magic in the forest."

"What?!" He explained softly, "Space bags are products of Sorcery. Not witchcraft. So they're not allowed within the forest. They'll be rendered useless upon entry. That's why we need to carry everything manually." Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. His eyes carried a sadistic glint as he watched me freak out over the lack of space bags. Why didn't anyone tell me this beforehand?!

"Brother?!" He laughs at me and I shoot him mentally. With my slingshot. A thousand times. Using sharp pebbles. He takes glee in my angry glare until the carriage door receives a knock. Oh no. I scramble to hide behind Erichean. Please don't be the witch. He places his bag on my head and I kick him in his side. He calls out."Yes?"

"It's me. I have her bag." Kissae opens the door and delivers something to Erichean. It rustles and he thanks her before asking about our estimated time of arrival. Kissae responds without any reservations and in a slightly dreamy tone. Yuck.

"We're all set sir–Lord–We'll be setting off within the next five minutes. Would you like me to send for a maid or valet to ride with you?"

"Hmm. Send for Lowell. He'll accompany us along with you." She gets flustered and nods without any verbal confirmation. She closes the door and retreats to go find him. The name rings a bell with me and a slow shit-stirring smile spreads, "Is that the pretty dryad who smells like you—" He shushes me with a hand and lifts the bag that was crushing my legs off of me. I grin and poke at him." Ooh. Eric and Lowell sitting in a tree…" He grows progressively redder as I sing the letters in our language.

"K–I–S–S–I–N–G." It doesn't rhyme as well but he gets the point. Glowering and hunching low to get in my face, "Hush!" Not backing down from his unspoken threat I taunted him, "Or what?" Erichean glares at me a rare sight on his pretty face, "No presents until your birthday." The grin drops and try to look as well-behaved as possible. I even give him an angelic smile. He doesn't buy it and firmly implores me to quit it.

"I'm serious Ria. There shall be no talk of such a thing out of this carriage. Promise me." I sit up and nod seriously. Ok, I get it. Maybe not as funny as I thought. A Fae promise is a big deal but I'm willing to do it.

"I promise brother not a word of it to anyone else without your permission ever." My heart speeds up and I grimace at the uncomfortable sensation on my hand. Fae Promises are a lot different than human ones in that we have a lot more incentive to stick to them. Otherwise, there are consequences. Like death or worse. If that's possible. Eric looks me over and finds the little golden glowing mark on the inside of my wrist. It aligns with the one that magically appeared on his and he nods.

"Good. You know I'm just—" I cut him off.

"I know. I understand brother. You don't ever have to worry about me." He stares at me and smiles gratefully after a moment. A hint of pride colors the expression like an old hen watching its flightless bird gain one skill. As you might be able to tell the Fae World is a bit backwards. So I understand why he's being so cautious with me. From behind his back, he pulls out a tiny leather bag identical to his own with flowery straps sporting. I scoff.

"No." He leaves no room for negotiation, "Yes." I shake my head no and he bullies his way into forcing it on my back. Damn it. He coos.

"Oh, isn't this just precious?" I hissed at him all hackles raised and he spares me from any further humiliation, "Quick, put your things in here before they come back." He moves to take it from me and I shrug its shraps off. I look between him and the bag that's a girly replica of his and sigh. I don't seem to have any other options. Fine. Just for now. I pop a couple of things in there off the bat. A first aid kit I had personally created with Nanny's supervision some time ago.

It's really just herbs, tinctures, and some other weird homemade remedies. Better than nothing. A set of clothes. A hairpin. My slingshot. A couple of glass jars of milk mixed with Ichor. Enough sandwiches to last me a week, a wooden comb, and a brush. Oh. Well. I added a couple of dull knives that the triplets had given to me over the years. Something tells me I'm going to need it. God, I don't like this at all. I just know some bullshit is going to go down. Family road trips are always a fun trip to hell.

The memory of the last one I took makes me cringe. My father almost drove off the road, Wendy caused some serious property damage, both twins almost drowned and I almost finished them off. Safe to say I don't travel well.

"Where's your necklace?" The sudden interruption pulls me out of my thoughts. I pull it out from underneath my shirt and show it to him. It's a tiny sun pendant carved from a piece of amber stone. Inlaid in its center is a protection spell that glows periodically. I rarely wear it due to concerns of it being stolen but it seemed like the right accessory for this occasion. Apparently it's expensive. The kind of expensive you can't buy according to Freesia.

I can't believe it's already been over a year since he gave this to me. I fiddle with it and he nods in satisfaction.

"That should do it."

"How long does it take to get there?"

"I already told you—" The door opens wide without any prior notice and my head snaps towards it. Lowell! A boy around Erichean's age enters the carriage without much fanfare. His small ears twitch and I almost jump out of my seat to pinch them. He spares a glance at me and smiles knowingly at the heart eyes aimed his way. He's some kind of mix between a dryad and a white-tailed deer shifter judging by his ears and it's so cute. His freckles are like little clouds on his otherwise tan face and it makes him look so.

An internal squeal has Penguin blocking his ears with his short metal limbs. Whenever Erichean can't personally send me something or has to relay a message he sends Lowell in his stead. So while I'm not completely familiar with him I do believe I can call him an acquaintance. An acquaintance whose gaze never strays too far from my brother whenever they're in the same room. They give each other nods and then look away from each other in an attempt to look indifferent. I ship it. I ship it hard.

They'd make such a cute couple. Tiny hearts appear in the air and I bat them away. Not important right now. Then in comes Kissae. Resident blue-head. Panting again from running around doing errands like everyone else. Tough break kiddo. She lunges into the carriage, shuts the door with a bang, and yells out the window.

"We're clear! Set off!" The carriage jerks and then the sound of clip-clops commences. She sighs in relief and pulls out a table from the wall with ease. Fanning herself for only fifteen seconds before her eyes snap open. I have to give this girl a raise. She sets up a lantern, a few cups of juice, and some assorted refreshments for us all. Cookies! And wait a minute.

"Are those churros?!" I get up on my tippy toes and peer at the perfect sticks of dough covered in what I hope is sugar. Kissae snickers.

"They're dough sticks but yes. Naomi almost pulled my ear off about not being able to go with you. So she rushed to make those and a couple of other treats for the ride over." She brought out a small sack full of little treats I knew were meant for me and tried to pass them over to me. Erichean however had other plans. He snatched the bag and searched its contents like a common fiend. Sniffing around and turning it over to inspect it like an airport dog.

Baffled I stared at his neurotic activity and blamed it on the family bonding we're about to experience. Finally, Eric yells while inspecting my goodies, " This is why you're teething! I knew it! How have you been allowed to indulge yourself like this? Are these Ichor Pancakes?" What? I make grabby hands for my sack and pushed against his protruding elbow.

"Stop it. Those are mine. Get your own." He pulls out a wax paper bag of bacon and I gasp. Holy shit it matured already? Jackpot! He admonishes me.

"This is ludicrous. Is this where all of your gold has gone too? Snacks?" I snatch the bag from him finally and shove it in my about-to-burst bag." Nunya business." He sneers at me and I poke my tongue out at him. His other hand messes up my hair and I gasp. It's on. I lunge for his arm intending to bite him. Kissae interrupts our fight."There's more." I pause in a mid-flying squirrel attack. She takes out a jar of jam from her bag and slides it across the table to me. I rub my hands together.

"Ooh. Tea jam!" She raises her hands in mock surrender.

"Kelly made it. Mei Xue made the tea bags. I'm just the messenger." I smile gratefully at her and pocket everything.

"Nonsense. You're my guardian. You have the most important job of all. My life is in your hands." My bag is thoroughly filled and can take no more additions to its contents. That's it.

"What is tea jam?" Lowell's angelic and hypnotic cadence temporarily had me feeling serener. He does that to people sometimes. Just a word and a dive into his reddish-brown pools made you feel like you were about to fall headlong into a sweet dream. Snap out of it. Kissea woke up from its effect sooner than I did and explained.

"It's like regular jam but you mix it with tea to drink together like so…" She demonstrated by pouring tea into all of our cups and then plopping a spoonful from her jar into the cups. She swirls it around with a spoon and rings it out on a napkin. She then picks up her cup and sips at it.

"Its origins began in the Kelpie Nation but the tradition has spread southwards to Eammon. Try it." No! You don't understand! They're both wolves!