Heart Over Sword

Evanna leapt forwards, and the air left her lungs as fear gripped her like a mighty hand around her neck. For one singular second, it felt as though time stood still as Evanna's leg was mid-stride and her arms out wide. Her eyes looked ahead at the treetops and the dazzling parts of light that speckled through the leaves. Then all at once, gravity slithered around her feet and yanked her down through the mist surrounding the cascading water. A scream left her lips and got caught in her throat as her stomach dropped.

Her body swiftly followed the plummeting funnel of water, her arms came in, and she held her breath when she felt the icy water hit her feet at a force that smashed into her body harshly, surging up her legs and swallowing her whole. Evanna shook her arms and legs before paddling up the long length of the dark depths of the water, such as how far she had fallen in. Her lungs began to constrict and burn, screaming silently for air. The moment her head bobbed up from the water, she gasped for air as water trickled down her face, and she fluttered her long eyelashes.

Evanna felt exhausted; her body felt heavy as it tried and failed to drag her back down to the bottom of the pool. However, she knew it was the cold water and Scarecrow's beating that was making her feel that way; so, she powered on, her arms and legs simultaneously stroked through the water like a frog until she came to the edges of the water pool. Her hands grabbed at the rocky sides and pulled herself up, half-heartedly dragging herself forwards before rolling onto her back so she could catch her breath.

Evanna's eyes rested on the clear blue skies above her; only a few treetops were covering the rest of the sight. After hearing the soothing sound of the waterfall humming and the feeling of being safe after fleeing the faceless, she began to relax. The tranquil surroundings began to make her eyes feel heavy, and although she was drenched from head to toe, she felt her breathing becoming long and her heart pound to a regular beat as she fell into a deep sleep.

Evanna woke to an aggressive shove on her shoulder, making her hands immediately search for her swords blindly. Rolling onto her front, she instantly relaxed after seeing Cilv sitting on a rock nearby, pulling her boot off. Evanna's brows creased after assessing her features; Cilv was also wet and turned her boot upside down, tipping water out of it.

"You shouldn't be sleeping wet. That's how you get ill," Cilv scolded her; Evanna sat up, crossing her legs.

"It's good to see you are okay, Cilv," Evanna spoke genuinely.

"I decided to go for a swim as well, although I wasn't as bold as you, princess. I ran further down the hill and jumped in the river over there," She pointed with her chin, further down the trailing river away from the waterfall. "You look like shit, no offence."

Evanna laughed without amusement, "Scarecrow found me," Her features darkened as she looked across the river, expecting to see his horrifying face.

Cilv whistled, "At least they are stuck there. If that spell ever fails, I hate to think what would happen."

By now, both Cilv and Evanna were wringing their clothes and hair. Evanna even emptied some of her bag, thankful that she doesn't carry bread with her. However, her book was a soggy mess. She began squeezing it carefully and letting it dry on the rocks. 

Cilv rolled her eyes, which the princess didn't miss, but she knew the book would come in handy. When it was dry again, she intended on reading more about the faceless monsters they came across, she hoped to see details about Scarecrow, but something told her there wouldn't be.

**

The moment Ger saw Evanna leap off the waterfall and disappear, he sprinted into the forest, not thinking twice about his comrades. He followed the twists and turns that led downhill until finally the trees cleared onto a rocky terrain next to the pool below the waterfall. His shoulders relaxed the moment he saw Evanna leaning back and trying to soak some of the rays from the sun onto her bruised face.

Bruised!? 

Ger hurried over to her, blocking the sun from her face as he looked at the dark marks on her face, a split lip, with quite the cut on the top of her head.

"Can you stop eclipsing the sun please, I'm trying to dry off," Evanna said with a small smile on her lips.

He knew she was playing with him, but he couldn't help but feel guilty. He was meant to protect her and instead left her to those monsters. He didn't realise she wasn't following until he saw her back on the tree and about to jump. He sunk his head in shame, but before he uttered his apology, Evanna stood up and hugged him.

It took him by surprise, but he instantly wrapped his arms around her, not caring that she was damp. "You know, you gave me quite the fright, Ger. I wasn't sure what to expect when I heard your cries in the forest," She mumbled into his chest.

Ger inhaled deeply, taking in the flowery scent that radiated off her before pulling back and looking down at her, "Thank you for rescuing me. I didn't expect to be the damsel in distress," He joked, causing her to giggle.

"You are welcome, milord," Evanna mocked a curtsy causing a small smile to creep up on Ger's face.

"When you guys are done, should we find the other two?" Cilv interrupted, her arms crossed as she rolled her eyes at the pair.

"No need!"

All three looked over at the voice and saw Ronan walking with Axel slumped back on his side. Although Ronan appeared tired with some dirt and sweat on his face, he lit up with a broad smile, "Ger, decided to be lazy and leave me to carry this one around. Not great if the Flori were back on our trails."

At Ronan's announcement about the woodland elves, Evanna scanned the trees anxiously. Exhaustion really did make her clumsy; they could have killed her in her sleep earlier if they were about. Internally rolling her eyes, she hurried over to Ronan and helped him bring Axel to the ground. His eyes were still drooping and fluttering.

Evanna worried over the condition he was in, and she hoped he would recover soon. She was unsure how to proceed from here, but she denied a single thought that crept into her head about continuing with the quest without him. There was no way she was leaving him.

Evanna looked up at Ger as she sat on the ground next to Axel; she could see the troubled look on his face as the same thoughts looked to be crossing his mind.

"We should set up camp away from the water. In normal circumstances, we would continue with our journey to put some more distance between us and the Flori. But we don't know where they are, and quite frankly, we can't keep carrying Axel around. We're exhausted, and that can make us easy prey for the elves and anything else around," Ger announced to the group; he kept his eyes trained on each person as he spoke. Everyone nodded their head in agreement.

"It's settled then. Roach and I will carry Axel for a bit, and then we'll settle for the night," He glanced up at the darkening sky as he spoke.

Relief flushed through him that he could look up again and see something other than the dying woods on the other side of the river. Ger glanced at Evanna again and tried not to stare at her bruised face. As soon as she looked at him, he moved his eyes away and down at Axel before lowering himself down to grab one of Axel's arms while Ronan held the other, and they lifted the heavy man.

Evanna collected her belongings, carefully placing her damp book back in her bag before following the three men. Cilv, for once, took the lead and walked in front of the men. It was safer for them to stay in the middle. 

Evanna stayed vigilant, keeping one of her swords out, but because her senses weren't alerting her to anything, she stayed pretty calm. The group only ventured for another thirty minutes before placing Axel gently down on the dirt. The area they chose had more coverage, with some bushes hiding their view from the rest of the forest.

They once again sat around their campfire, though Evanna felt unsettled about the flames. The further they ventured into the forest, the more she felt as though the fire shouldn't be alight. But after glancing at Axel's face, she settled her anxious thoughts but not before raising her concerns to the group, "When Axel has recovered. I think it's best if we stop lighting fires," She spoke quietly. 

Ronan frowned and replied, "But it's too cold in this place."

"No, she's right," Ger added, making Evanna look at him in surprise.

"I only say it because the closer we make it to the Flori's palace, the more of them there will be. They probably think we are dead after going to that dreaded place. It needs to stay that way," Evanna continued before pulling her book out of her bag. She didn't pay heed to the stares she felt on her face while she carefully flicked through her book. 

"As much as I hate to agree with Raven, she's right. We'll have to deal with the cold," Cilv admitted. She then placed a smirk on her face as she looked at Ronan, "We can always snuggle together, Ro Ro," Her fingers crept up his chest as she flirted with him.

Ronan cleared his throat and snatched her hand away, "We'll see." He said, not completely dismissing the idea. Ger's eyebrows raised at the little interaction between the pair and shuffled closer to Evanna, avoiding the flirtatious looks they gave one another.

Ronan looked away from the devilish beauty that was Cilv. Although he was beginning to like the princess quite a lot, he couldn't help but feel frustrated, especially after the hallucination he had about Evanna. He glanced at her, subconsciously, only to see her looking down at a book. When he looked back at Cilv, he saw her roll her eyes before the side of her lips went up slightly. He knew Cilv wasn't a girl serious about a relationship, so he had no qualms about taking her up on that offer if she, of course, meant it.

While Ger began setting his pipe up to smoke, Cilv and Ronan spoke in hushed tones as Axel snored on the ground. Evanna continued scanning the pages patiently until finally, her eyes rested on a few pages that provided information on the Faceless. Unfortunately, her heart became heavy with disappointment when she couldn't find anything about surviving an attack by one of those monsters. She only hoped that Axel would be okay; she glanced down at his peaceful face, with worry written over her own.

"Anything helpful in there?" Ger asked quietly before inhaling from his pipe.

"Not for any survivors of the faceless," Evanna replied as she continued to skim read the pages.

"The faceless?" Ger asked with intrigue. He had not heard of such creatures before, but he hoped that was the last time they came across them.

"They were the creatures that attacked us in the woods. I am looking to see if it mentions anything about Scarecrow as well," Evanna replied. She glanced to the side after hearing no response, only to see him looking at her even more confused and for her to continue with her explanation, "Scarecrow seemed to be the one in charge of them. He's the one that got a jump on me twice."

Ger coughed on his pipe after inhaling too quickly and feeling a scratch at the back of his throat. After taking a swig of his water, he queried, "These creatures. Did they not just want to eat us?"

Evanna looked back at him and brought the book closer to him so that he could see the images of the monsters, "They seem to have three stages to their forms. Either way, they feast off humans and take their forms. The more human-like the creature appears, the more powerful it is. The third and final form is-"

"Being a human?" Ger interrupted in astonishment. He was looking at the drawing of a human and the description underneath.

"It will look like a human. But it's not. From what I have read, it seems that the most important thing to them is to become human AND to be the most beautiful of humans. It also has a high lust for blood." Evanna explained the information in the pages. Though Ger could read, he was happy for the summary about the creatures.

"So, we were dealing with some vain creatures that suck on the blood of humans? Like vampires?" He asked.

Evanna laughed and rolled her eyes, "They consume humans. Not drink their blood."

Ger nodded his head, but Evanna could tell that he didn't see much of a difference.

"It's strange, though. Scarecrow doesn't fit into any of these images," Evanna spoke thoughtfully, as she tilted her head to one side and bit the inside of her cheek. 

"Maybe it hasn't got all the information on them. You just said it didn't mention the after-effects for survivors," He replied, untroubled by her comment.

Evanna's brows creased at his response, "I put it down to there not being any survivors before."

With her last comment, silence ascended the group, leaving them in a sombre atmosphere. It seemed, simultaneously, each person looked down at Axel sleeping peacefully.