Private Tales Wake up sleepy head

[Baise]

Three ravens flapped loudly and came to perch on the ruins of an old wall. It might have been the demarcation of an ancient settlement or the wall or a single hall. The landscape had reclaimed so much of the land it was hard to tell.

"Caw!"

A small boy emerged from the treeline, skipping a path that avoided the muddiest patches of ground.

"Jude!" Called a soft voice.

Baise emerged from the trees. He was not dressed in the usually drab and heavy clothing of an explorer. He wore colourful, light fabrics that floated around his slender frame.

"Dad?"

"They haven't looked properly yet so wait for me. Tiberius, Vaspien and Fabrice!"

The three ravens looked down at them.

"Go and look around for anything dangerous properly please."

The three often had to be promoted when they needed to do work. Another round of flapping, a few loose black feathers carried on the breeze and the three ravens vanished into the ruins.

"Just because no one in the town had heard of this place does not mean something else hasn't made a home here."

"Like a troll?" Jude seemed more excited than concerned.

"Like a troll, hairy and smelly and looking for a child sized snack. Wait here," Baise laughed. Jude had his ways, but Baise would never put his adopted son in any more dangerous than was necessary.

He avoided trouble whenever he could and not always for their own safety.

"Dad, can I go play over there?"

Baise turned to look the way that Jude was pointing. The ground rose up into a hill, but he couldn't see any dangerous loose rocks.

"Just stay where I can see you."



Jude happily pottered away on his little legs. He was old enough to have a sense of danger, but remained young enough that he typically ignored it.

He found a particularly good stick. It was just the right size that he could hold it one hand and dry enough that he would swish it back and forth. He struck the ferns that clung to the slope.

As he walked around the bank, he realised that the curve of the land hid an entrance. The rock jutted up at an angle to form a cave, but the mouth was hidden from Baise's view.

Jude glanced over his shoulder just once. He checked that Baise wasn't watching and darted into the shadows.

 

[Amaryllis]

Away from the troublesome lands of the fae and their impish habitants, a massive grizzly bear lay curled against the soft earth, hidden inside a cave that was nestled against the foot of a small hill. Her breaths were deep and slow, and her golden brown fur bristled gently with every one of her small movements. In the dim light that shone through the entrance, the bear’s dark claws glinted ominously, but despite her fearsome appearance she looked rather cosy and almost…cuddly.

Inside the cave, the scent of moss and dry soil filled the air, mixing ever so slightly with the smell of the nearby pinewoods. Lost to her slumber, Amaryllis’ dreamt of nonsensical things: forgotten spells, the fluttering of butterfly wings and streams of purple water that ran up into the sky.

The princess of the summer court only attended a few duties, and often preferred (day-)dreaming at the border of the fae realm to the company of her own people. Amaryllis wasn’t dismissive of her kind, she simply had other ways of showing responsibility and they welcomed her regardless.

Her rest was disturbed, however, by the sound of faint footsteps entering her sleeping place. Her ears twitched, and Amaryllis slowly opened her eyes to catch the silhouette of a young child standing at the cave entrance, its small body bathed beautifully in the glow of the afternoon sun.

Amaryllis adored humans, and especially the young ones, so this was a delightful surprise. Giving her heavy body a good stretch, the bear rose from her position and shook off dust and debris before approaching the boy, giving him a gentle nudge with her wet nose.

Hi there. Do you need help?

Since bears couldn’t speak, Amaryllis simply whispered those words into his mind.

Outside the cave lay the scattered ruins of a long forgotten civilisation. This place had been abandoned by humankind for some time now, and Amaryllis hadn’t expected to meet anyone here. In fact, this was one of the reasons why she frequented this particular cave for naps. Perhaps the child had gotten lost?