Chương 483: Unconscious
The professor felt his body swaying rhythmically long before he ever opened his eyes. He allowed his arms and legs to remain limp. It was too much work to control them.
His head pounded louder than a military drummer. Frode tried to form his thoughts around the unwelcome staccato beats, but his mind was muddied.
Around him, voices he did not recognized were speaking.
"Let me do a search, Your Majesty. I want to take down one or two of those infernal critters. Especially the one who said I smelled...hmph, mushrooms indeed!" a voice coming from...overhead?...grumbled.
"Are you still on that? Not everyone can smell sweet like me." A second voice taunted. Both sounded strangely familiar and yet foreign.
A third voice chimed in, this one filled with femininity and power. "I am glad you are feeling better, but do not go chasing after problems, Reyan. However I would like you to double check and make sure that we are not being followed. Just because none of those monsters should cross our path doesn't mean they won't change course."
"Understood." The voice slightly above Frode trailed off, and the professor felt that a presence suddenly disappeared.
"We need to find a place to rest. Night comes much quicker in the forest and I don't want to be caught unprepared." This voice was deep and full of military bearing.
'Night? What time is it?' Frode wondered. That would explain why he was laying on a soft--albeit smelly--blanket. 'I must be in a bed.'
But why was the bed swaying? And if the last man wanted to stop, then that must mean they were moving. Frode tried to move his body to get comfortable, but a small hand pressed down on his back to steady him.
"I see a depression over there in the tree line. It is likely from a wide spot in a river or a pool. It should help hide us from anyone who passes," Jaymes announced right next to the professor.
'Jaymes?! What is Jaymes doing here? Where is here?'
The old man's confusion became even greater as his moving bed rumbled beneath him.
"The boy is right. And if there is a river like he thinks, I can finally wash properly so Brinn will stop complaining."
"I will complain less," came the snarky return. "You are still going to smell."
"I cannot argue," the furry blanket answered with a shudder.
'The lady…is talking to my bed, and it is talking back? I must have been hit harder than I thought.'
Hit…hit? The word brought back a memory of being knocked unconscious for refusing to go with a golden faced woman.
Frode's eyes at last popped open as he lifted his head. The golden skinned woman was before him, though her skin looked more like peaches than sunshine and her ears were less pointy.
"Finally decided to join us, did you? Gela has been carrying your sorry rear for far to long," the lady scolded with an impish grin.
"I don't mind," the moving bed responded.
"I've been abducted!" Frode screamed.
Despite the youthful hand coming against his back, the old man slid off the white fluffy blanket, hit his feet on the ground and began to run.
"Professor! Come back!" Jaymes called.
Frode turned his head to warn the boy about the danger. His head went swimming from the sudden motion, but even when it finally righted, his vision was still very wrong.
For the white colossus on which Jaymes sat had not one, but two heads of different sizes and eight paws with razor sharp claws. It looked at him and bore its teeth, each more ominous and sharp than the last.
"A monster!" Unable to comprehend what he was seeing, Frode opted for the simplicity of unconsciousness once more. Silently he crumpled to the ground, wrapped in a dreamless sleep.
He never heard the words uttered by the exasperated elf as she hoisted him from the ground. "Great work Gela! What did you do to him now."
"Nothing!" The bear-man defended himself with a snort. "All I did was smile..."
The kitsune merely licked her paw. These creatures around her were very strange indeed.
------------------
When Frode reluctantly regained consciousness again, he was wrapped in a warm blanket around a cozy fire of coals. The light was almost nonexistent, but the heat was very real. A story was already in progress.
"When Sir Taran offered to send me to the best school he could find, and wanted to pay for all my expenses, I was more than a bit excited. There is so much of the world we barely understand, and although my sisters taught me many things, I was sure that the school could give me access to even more knowledge."
Jaymes's voice was soothing to the old man, and he listened with his eyes closed as the story unfolded.
"And I learned so much! Things about plants and animals, about the earth and the stars. I was even able to help cross-pollinate ivy with dandyweed to make that plant some of you saw."
"Crosspolli-what?" someone asked. "Now you are just making up words."
"I made a new plant from two others. But now that we chased off the lizards, the deer will come back and eat it all. It is made up of their two favorite foods. I'll have to start over, I'm sure." Jaymes did not sound sad. If the plant had continued to grow without something to eat it, the forest would have soon been overrun.
"But you didn't stay at school?" A deep, mysterious voice asked.
"Taran came to get me claiming there was a threat on my sisters' and my lives. He was vague on the details but said I needed to come with him right away. When Professor Frode was unwilling to let my studies lag, Taran offered to pay him to come with me both to protect and teach me. You can see how that ended."
A voice filled with feminine compassion broke the silence. "So he had you stowed away in a little cabin. Did you ever get to see your sisters?"
"I did not. I got one letter, but that was just to assure me that they were alright. I don't think I believe it though." The boy's voice trailed off.
"When did you get suspicious that it was all a lie?" Someone with a military background inquired.
"I grew concerned as soon as my sisters were not at the cabin. But when my human guards slowly turned into those lizards after the others arrived, I was sure. I've been plotting my escape for a long time. Thank you for freeing us." Jaymes seemed genuinely grateful.
"Thank Gela. He told us you were there." This was the first time Frode had heard this voice. But he sounded level-headed and caring.
"I was happy to help after hurting so many. And it is the least I could do for Dania after she saved me." A deep voice like the roar of the sea answered.
'Dania?'
Jaymes chuckled. "I know my sister will thank you personally when she can. I am impressed you saw the resemblance, Gela. No one ever does."
Gela rumbled with laughter. "Those eyes of your are hard to miss. I am guessing only the Fates' would be more eye-catching. No offense, Your Majesty!"
"None taken. They are a wonder in their own right."
'Your Majesty?!'
"What must you think overhearing all this, professor?" Jamyes asked. "You must be quite confused."
Frode froze. His pupil had blown his cover.
"You mean he's finally awake?" The gentlewoman wondered.
"Has been for a while. He flinched both at the mention of my sister Dania and you, Your Majesty." Jaymes confirmed.
Giving up his ploy, Frode opened his eyes and was met with the benevolent stare of the most remarkable woman he had ever seen. Even in the low light, he could see the fiery hair peeking out below the woman's hood. The blue flecks in her irises sparkled against the darker hues like stars in the night sky.
Although he had never met her, the old professor would know that face anywhere.
"Empress Aurora!"
"In the flesh."
Frode got up to bow but Aurora raised her hand to stop him.
"What are you doing out here?" The old man was beginning to doubt his sanity. He had been living with lizard-humans and now had found the ruler of the world in the middle of nowhere. 'This is crazy!'
Clenching her fists with conviction, the Empress furrowed her brow. "We are here to stop Taran from his evil scheme."
"All of you?" Frode looked at the faces of the band of heroes. His eyes lingered on the white monstrosity as he shivered unconsciously.
"All of us." Aurora drew back his attention.
Frode's head was beginning to hurt again. He pulled the blanket around his shoulders. "Forgive me, but how did you—all of you— even find us at all?"
"That is a long story…" The lovely woman gave him a tolerant smile.
A man floated down next to him and placed a hand on Frode's shoulder. "Since you had a nice nap, you and I shall have the first watch this evening. I can tell you the whole story from the beginning."
Before Frode knew what was happening, he was joining the floating man at the corner of camp to keep an eye out for danger.
"You see, it all started when I was minding my own business at my house when a human minx and her two lackeys kept trying to walk right into my front door…."
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