Justice

[MidnaPhobia]

Justin couldn’t help the small smile as Maddy came to help him. He appreciated it, because he had been a little scared, secretly, that she had become scared of him. There were a few goblin bodies here and there, maybe half a dozen, but nothing compared to the amount that had been infesting the town. They were all definitely gone now, but he would have liked it if there had been no death. The boy shifted slightly as Maddy turned to run to a woman, the dog following her in excitement for a few metres before she turned and came back ot Justin. He turned to look to Bailey as the villagers slowly began emerging from their homes.

Justin turned to his horse and tugged gently on the reins. “Down.” He bid softly as the horse knelt down before eventually lying on the ground. He then climbed onto his back and the horse carefully climbed to his feet. Bailey was a warhorse after all, they were trained to be able to assist wounded and weak riders onto their back and Justin was eternally grateful for that fact. The boy quickly stole a glance at Maddy, but she still seemed to emerged in her family and friends to notice so he took advantage of the situation and turned Bailey in a seemingly random direction, the dog toddling along behind.

After five minutes or so at a fast walk Justin came across a large hill rising out of the grass. Growing out of the centre of the hill was a large, healthy looking tree and several odd boulders circled the hill. Justin and the horse slowly approached. Once they were at the base of the hill, he slowly slid off and commanded both the horse and the dog to stay as he approached the hill. Peeling his hand away from his shoulder slowly, revealing something glowing beneath his sleeve. The boy reached up and gently touched the trunk of the tree, watching the wood as a mark slowly appeared.

He pulled his hand away slowly and sighed, sitting down on the ground. He really needed to get going. The longer he stayed around here then the more danger he was leaving everyone in. But at the same time it would be suicide for him to travel again in this condition. He wasn't even sure he’d have enough strength left to open the gate. Those goblins had drained him more than he had thought. Groaning he stood again, leaning on the tree as he placed his hand once more on the tree.

There was a small pause, as if the entire earth was taking in a breath before a soft wind began blowing. The glow underneath Justin’s sleeve flared up, a bright, brilliant golden colour, and the mark appeared on the tree once more, blazing with a bright white light. Small slivers of light began travelling through the ground to the rocks, more strange marks appearing on them, one large mark per stone.

[Closetmonster]

Maddy clung to the faces and bodies around her. Her family, whom she'd feared most to find dead, were all well enough. True, they still jumped at a sharp sound, but each one of them had relief thrown about their thin shoulders. It had been too long.

With tears in their eyes, the village took to quietly discussing with her the means by which she'd returned. She could not tell them that she'd brought men with her. Instead, she held her breath and carefully told them of the man who had been given to them. The Captain of the Guard, no doubt given some holy charms, was whispered, to help aid them. Had they gone to the priest before? No? Then perhaps it was that the city of Nymh had known and had begun to prepare for her arrival. Their hope and desire to believe that the aid had been something understandable hurt her head.

Was it so impossible one man could have driven them off? She touched curly heads, kissed cheeks, and promised there would be a feast because the village was free once more. Tinno was taken by the children to their small barn for they still had grain and hay left. The goblins had not been interested in that at all. Still, as Maddy stood with her mother's arms around her waist, she turned to find their rescuer and found him fully disappeared.

"He went that way," the weaver's daughter, newly into her womanly weaves, pointed toward a direction wherein there lay no path, no road. Maddy frowned and then at the girl.

"He was riding his horse," the girl reached for Maddy's hand. "Did he really chase them all away? Did he use magic?"

"Hush! Harriet, for shame!" the weaver, who stood nearby, grabbed for his daughter and drew her closer. Maddy looked at him and then at the others nearby. Not a one of them looked toward where their savior had gone. They feared the Evil Eye's glance and again, her heart beat faster in her chest. Was it magic then? Had it been holy relics? Or had he, as she'd come to suspect, some other powers, something given by the very land on which they lived.

"Make the feast. I'll go fetch him," she murmured. "He was exhausted. He may have gone to go and rest."

Not a one of those around her said a word against her. She bit her lip as she left them, feeling their fear like a heavy smoke in the air. The village folk were very aware of magic and felt freely enough with it, but the only magics were village magics in their oddest children; herself, her brother, the miller's son who had left a few years prior. Each of those were focused by the intent of the village and not a one of them was anything beyond a strange talent. No one in their right mind would have called them magic, true.

But to have defeated so many - what could allow a man to do so? She gathered her riding skirts in hand and quickly followed the direction if not any trail, in hopes of finding him.

[MidnaPhobia]

Justin could feel his powers waning, he was too tired to be attempting this. But the urgency of the situation pushed him on. The glowing beneath his shirt began fading in and out as well as the lights that were on the tree and the rocks. The marks on the ground began branching out, creating vast and intricate symbols all over the ground. A crescent moon as well as something that could be a sun along with several symbols that looked similar in fashion to the ones on the rocks, which had connected themselves with light to form a ring around the area.

That was when he saw it. A small figure coming up towards the hill. “Maddy no!” Justin’s eyes widened slightly but it was too late; the girl had seen him. There was sudden surge as the circle broke, tendrils of magical light burst through the circle, reaching out and wrapping themselves eagerly around the girl. There was an amazing shine of bright light before everything went pitch black. It was the kind of darkness where you couldn’t see your own hand if you held it right in front of your face. It also smelt incredibly of dirt and old air, like the place hadn’t had a fresh breeze blow through for many years.

At least it was dark for a few seconds before the soft golden glow coming from beneath Justin’s shirt lit up small area around him. The boy then held up his hand and a small ball of yellow light began hovering just above his upturned palm. “Maddy?” He asked uncertainly, looking at the girl in concern. The light revealed that they were in some kind of underground tunnel, with no obvious entry or exit and no apparent end in either direction. The boy bit his lip nervously. How was he going to explain this?

The light in his palm suddenly faded before going out completely and Justin groaned again, sitting back. He couldn’t sustain the light, his glam was completely spent. He really should have waited for a day or two to get back to full strength. If nothing else, so he hadn’t lost control earlier and dragged Maddy down here with him. He expected he was going to have to do a lot of talking very soon. Although he was supposed to explain all of this he had no clue.

[Closetmonster]

Okay, I have to admit to clapping my hands in delight. Heh - very nice story shift!

Maddy stumbled in the sudden darkness. She'd not made a sound for her throat was closed up. When the light returned in the complete darkness, her eyes were wide and she stared at him, mouth moving. Then he said her name and she took a step backwards. Instead of moving into a field of grass, she hit a wall. Dirt crumbled behind her as she turned to put her hand on it. She make a soft whining sound in the back of her throat, then moved away from the wall as if it were made of fire. She spun as the light danced, then faded.

"Justin!?" she whispered, her voice slipping into a higher register of panic. She wanted to ask him what it was, what had happened, but he was gone, as was all of herself. She'd never been in darkness so complete and she knew only that there was earth under her feet and, more terrifyingly, earth over her head. She would have wept, but it would have done her no good. No doubt, she was either mad, or...

Or.

She took a shaky breath and clutched her arms around herself. "Justin..." she whispered again. He was no doubt responsible for where they were, but he was also her only way out. If he was gone, then she was truly alone and the fear of being alone in a place to dark, so wrong was far greater than a few glowing fire balls or trees.

Knowing where he'd been prior, she slowly got to her hands and knees and began to crawl toward where she recalled him being, calling out his name once more.

[MidnaPhobia]

Justin slipped to the ground and reached out, gently placing his hand on Maddy’s outstretched one, as if he’d known where she was. “It’s alright, I’m here.” He promised, the exhaustion even clearer in his voice than before. “Don’t worry; we’re in no danger down here.” He also added, though he doubted it would bring her much solace. The boy took a long breath and sat back on the ground, taking the moment to recover. How had this happened? What was Maddy going to think of him now? There had been a definite fear in her eyes, but whether that was fear of him or something else he wasn’t so sure.

She would also, without a doubt, realise that he had been lying to her mostly with all his denial of being connected to the realm of magic. “Here,” he said softly, taking her hand and gently manipulating it until she was making a circle with her index finger and her thumb and slowly let go. “Hold that up to your eye, it should help you see a little better.” He wasn’t lying either. It was a simple trick, one that didn't require much glam at all, so it wouldn’t exhaust her as Sól had he.

With the Bjarkán cast she would be able to see him slightly, as if it were merely night time on the surface, rather than this perpetual black of the underground.

Don’t worry, a lot of the funny words I’m using will be explained in detail as well. I’m not gonna leave you in the dark (lame pun alert).

[Closetmonster]

"Wha-?" she felt the small window made of her finger and with a tremble, she lifted it to her eye. Did she want to know if it would work or not? As her eye came to the circle, she jerked back and closed her eyes. All around, the walls of the tunnel had been visible, his own face. She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Okay," she said in a voice which was overly calm. As if he had given her a basket of eggs. She hadn't time nor energy to panic, or perhaps she was fully panicked and could not do anything but.

"Okay," she repeated herself, but did not open her eyes, nor make the "window" to see through again. His voice was kind enough and at least he remained almost real in the situation she was in. After all, they had begun to almost be friends of a sort, she'd felt and she'd known deep inside, that they were on their way, untouched and warmed by something outside of the norm. He'd been tied to magics all the while and she'd known it, worried about what her village would think of it. It wasn't as if she could have said it though. He'd bee so adamant that magic was a topic to be left alone.

It was perhaps best it had been, she mused. She wouldn't have known what to say to him had she known the extent he could have gone. "Th-the goblins," she muttered in the darkness behind her lids.

I can suspend disbelief. If you feel Maddy will know, you can explain, or Justin can explain as we go. *s*

[MidnaPhobia]

Justin nodded, but at a glance at the girl he noticed that she had her eyes closed. “I said I got rid of them.” He confirmed in a grave voice, because she probably guessed what came next. “I didn’t say I killed them. There were a few casualties because they had attacked me before I had been able to explain the situation. They’re down here, sealed away back where they belonged all along.” He sighed, knowing he’d have to explain everything now, maybe even her own secrets that she, herself, didn't realise she had.

“But they know their place. They won’t give us any trouble.” Standing with a groan the boy held out his hand and gently encouraged Maddy to her feet. “Come on, we should get moving. There’s little point sitting around in the dark. I don’t have enough strength to take you back home yet, but I promise once I do it’ll be at the top of my list.” Placing a hand gently behind Maddy’s back he began guiding her gently, but remained mostly silent during the walk. Partially due to the fact that he was still very tired, mostly because he knew this would be a shock to her system and he didn’t want to overload her with information.

If she wanted to know something then she’d ask. Maddy had proved that she wasn't afraid to ask him what was on her mind... at least that had been the case until now. Now he was unsure where he stood with the girl, what she thought about him. The not knowing was maddening yet he dare not ask for he feared the answer. Maybe that was how she felt now.

[Closetmonster]

She clung to his hand, as if she were ten years her own junior, and while she wanted to do otherwise, she couldn't seem to. He was a known and she did not understand the rest.

The Goblins.. explained to them? He hadn't fought them, hadn't killed them? Only perhaps he had, for some of that time. He'd said he had to explain, that they'd known their place.

"I don't understand," she finally managed as they walked and she didn't stumble nor did he shake her off. "I don't understand," she said again with more force. "You were gone so long. I heard horrible things! And... and... "

She hadn't any idea where to begin and to even think of it all made her head hurt. She lapsed into silence and kept close, her hand in his and her other wrapped tightly around his arm as she pressed herself to his side.

[MidnaPhobia]

Justin nodded and sighed softly, his hand trailing along the wall as they walked together in the darkness, every now and then checking something by placing his fingers over his eyes. “There were a lot of goblins in your village.” He said eventually. “It took a lot out of me to hold them in place in order to send every single one of them down here individually. Basically, after I left you I encountered a small mod of them that rushed me on sight, I didn't have time to do anything other than defend myself. Those were the bodies you saw.”

“After that I um... cast a spell, I suppose you could call it, which basically stuck every single goblin to where they had been standing, sitting, lying, whatever at the time. I then asked the closest one what they were all doing up here. He didn't really want to cooperate at first, but I managed to threaten his name out of him and command him to tell me what’s going on. But I have to admit, his words were puzzling. ‘Captain’s orders’ he’d said. ‘Grab what we could an take it below. Didn't say why’.” He frowned at the very memory of it.

“The howls and screams you heard were goblin curses and the likes. Rather unpleasant, especially to untrained ears. So I came here in an attempt to find this Captain of the Goblins and find out what he knows that I don’t. I told you goblins aren’t organised. I knew they had someone pulling their strings. Though how he is doing it I’m not so sure. Cantrip? Some kind of bonding Rune? Surely he hasn’t named all the goblins down here? Maybe they just... want him as their leader. Goblins have always been an odd thing to me.”

[Closetmonster]

The quiet calm of his voice almost made what he said that much more alien and strange. She breathed slowly as they walked and while she had been told how to see, it wasn't until he reminded her with his rambling of magics, that the goblins were where they were, that she chose to try it again. Of course, to try and see once more she had to let go with one hand and she had braced herself fairly strongly at his side.

Then again, she was not a mewling child and the reality of the situation was such that it would have done little good to begin warding against Evil Eyes and witches breath when she was in a goblin world with a man who had cast a spell to stick the entire army of goblins to the earth.

"I will remember to want the answer before I ask again," she joked wryly as she gripped his hand tighter and made a small circle with her finger and thumb, setting it to her eye. Her adventurous spirit quailed a moment when the infinite dark took on the muted hues of a deepened night, for she still could see little, but see she could. They remained in a tunnel, so far as she could tell and she turned her head to look at him, then dropped her hand and closed her eyes once more, though it was little difference either way.

"You should have told me," she finally decided. "It's too late now, but you should have told me. I didn't know how to explain you to my family, to my people, and now I have followed you, they will wonder that you aren't some dark magician taking me for payment or a fairy doctor with a debt of blood to the goblins. Their imaginations will run wild and.." she stopped and groaned softly, "Mother will be so worried," she said merely then lapsed into silence and took his arm again.