Chapter 3

...But it seems you are not going to die today. You slowly regain your senses, annoying little taps on your cheek bringing you back from your slumber. The gorgeous, soothing sounds of nature sadly mesh with an irritant, high-pitched feminine voice...

"Yo. Are you still alive, human? You look like crap!"

You open your eyes with a grunt. Over your chest, with her hands resting over her hips and one of her bare tiny feet softly kicking the side of your face, stands a forest fairy. A very pesky one, it seems.

She can't be taller than seven inches. Her diminute, slim minibody is shaped into one with wide hips, a pair of toned legs, and a flat chest with only the slightest bit of protuberance on it. She is fair-skinned, with glowing hazel eyes, messily cut, short light-green hair, and pointy elf-like ears. The fairy simply wears a leaf-made strapless leotard. Two big, semi-transparent wings stick out of her back, similar in shape to the ones of a butterfly.

You can notice the sun still proudly showing itself in the sky, you suppose your 'nap' must have lasted just one or two hours. You slowly start rising from the ground, gritting your teeth and holding the side of your bruised body as you do. The fairy flies off your chest, keeping herself up in the air as she looks at you with attention.

The knife wound is, unsurprisingly, still there. The fact that you aren't dead must mean that it wasn't able to hit anything important. Lucille... did she...? No, probably not. You were just lucky. There is also that bolt on your shoulder. Compared to the stab, it's just a minor annoyance... still hurts like hell, though.

After a couple of minutes that feel like hours, you manage to stand over your two feet once again. Puffing for air, tired expression on your face, leather armor soaked with dirt and dried blood. "A wagon passed through here. Did you see it? Did you see the routes it took?" You weakly ask, gazing towards the forest fairy.

"A what...?" She confusedly tilts her head to the side. You sigh. "Oh! Are you talking about those wooden boxes with horses attached to them? Nah, haven't seen any today. They are really cool, aren't they?"

You sigh again, silently looking towards the empty road in the middle of the forest. There are different trails of wheels on it, but you aren't a good enough tracker to know which ones are fresh from the specific caravan you are looking for, and which ones are old from the many that must have passed through here. But it's still the only clue you have. You need a map, a horse, maybe gather some good soldiers... Fuck, you also need to report to the King first.

"...Aren't you going to introduce yourself, human? Rude!" The fairy pouts, flying in front of your face and interrupting your line of thought. "I'm Rama." She stretches her little hand for you to shake.

You look at the fairy in silence for a pair of seconds before simply deciding to ignore her. You turn around, clenching the gaping wound on your torso and sluggishly starting to walk the lengthy road back to the Capital city. Your whole body aches, you are pushing yourself too much for a man of your age, but you don't have time to lose. Charlotte needs you.

"H-hey, where are you going? Are you crazy?" Rama flies in front of your face yet again, making you stop advancing. "That wound is going to get really bad if you don't take care of it. There are some red flowers around here that you can smear on it to prevent an infection... Or were they blue flowers? I can't quite remember..."

"Out of my way, please." You annoyedly sigh.

"Jeez, I'm trying to help you, asshole!" A cute frown forms on her face. Thin brows furrowed. "And it is going to rain soon. Do you want to walk under the rain like a doofus? I don't think so."

You gaze up at the sky. It's absolutely clear and sunny. You quizzically raise an eyebrow.

"Who is the forest fairy here, you or me? It's going to rain. I know it."

You look at the road, the Capital city is nowhere to be seen from this spot, that wagon surely traveled a good distance before you fell from it... And this stab spent unattended way too long, you remember seeing infected wounds on the army, they weren't pretty... And... you definitely need to sit down and breathe, think carefully about what you are going to do. Maybe the fairy is right, maybe-

A drop of water falls on top of your head. The sky is now completely filled with greyish clouds as you look up at it again. It started drizzling. Rama gives you a smug grin, resting her hands behind her head and doing a gesture of leaning back into an invisible chair on the air. Butterfly wings flapping harder as water falls over them.

"...Red or blue flowers?" You softly ask. The expression on your face still cold and strict.

"Blue flowers! Let's gather them before the weather gets worse."