A Desperate Man (Fantasy!AU)
AN EXTREMELY LATE CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR THE ONE AND ONLY Rhoux_ CAUSE YEAH I LOVE THEM A LOT AND THIS IS A SCENE FROM OUR FANTASY!AU THANKS BYE
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Thomas was tempted to whistle, fill the silence some, but that didn't feel right. The night was dark, and the only light was from a waning crescent moon, which could barely soft through the foliage of the first anyway.
You see, the problem that got Thomas wandering around the woods was his wife, Martha. No, she wasn't mean, she hadn't driven him away or anything of the sort. The issue was that she had fallen ill, and it didn't look good...
They were a wealthier family, not anything spectacular- not royalty, but they had enough money to get medical help. And the help still didn't make her any better... It was inevitable for her to- to die at this point, and Thomas couldn't accept that.
Now, you may be thinking, why doesn't he get the help of any healers? Healers could help, Thomas! Go find a healer! Well, healers were his next thought after any medical help, but Martha refused. It wasn't because healers were more costly, it was because there was a temporary negative toll on the healer when helping someone, and Martha couldn't have that. No matter how much he begged Martha to reconsider, she always refused. She was too kind of a soul to let someone else be hurt to try and help herself.
This may have been the end of the story for normal families, woman dies, family has no choice but to move on...
But Thomas wasn't ready to let go. Not yet.
Their village was on one of the many routes to the Palace, a larger city there where all the official things and festivities happened... But on their path, among many actually, was a giant forest that sprawled on forever. They hated feeling cut off from everything in that direction, but no one was too keen to go and find the other side of it.
Why is that? Along with all the creatures of the woods that no-one would like to interfere with, there was said to be a witch that lived there. Many people thought that was ridiculous, but all who walked in never came back.
This came with an exception, as most stories do. There was a Giant Warrior who came back and went there repeatedly, yet also refused to speak of anything during her time there. Odd...
But here Thomas was, another fool to walk into the woods in exchange for something.
It was said that the witch could grant any request, given you've brought enough money with you. There were many stories, many variations, but Thomas would try anything if it meant his wife would be healthy and happy again.
There was no path, not where Thomas was. He'd have to venture for what he wanted. Would fight until he couldn't and then some more, but maybe it was just the adrenaline talking... The adrenaline was better than the fear, anyways.
The cold breeze sweeping by every now and then to remind him not to get too comfy, the rustling of plant life from what he could only assume to be smaller critters running around, the noises that he couldn't quite place to anything around, and the sight- it wasn't that it was bad, it was that he could see too far. If he saw anything glaring after him, he knew he wouldn't be able to run off quick enough before it could catch him. The fear of being so helpless, so vulnerable even though he was trying so hard, would get to him before anything else could.
And god, he has been stumbling for what felt like hours, and there was always a certain spot that he'd walk through, only not to recognize where he was at all! It certainly wasn't where he just took a step... Was he stuck? Did he lose all his bravery now? Left as nothing but lost hope and sorrow in the woods, a beacon for all around to experience? Was there anyone around to experience...?
An owl hooted, unseen to Thomas that made him whip his head around trying to search for it- but there was nothing there. Even the jangle of coins he had was scaring him, the setting making everything more terrifying than it should've been.
Everything was fine, everything was fine...
After a cricket had made a loud random chirp, he came to a stop. A break wouldn't hurt, right? Right? He could regain his composure and go on in a couple minutes!
Leaning against a nearby tree he took a deep breath, slowly moving down till he was sitting on the ground. Was he really this idiotic to go running into the woods? To go find a witch and ask for something? Nobody ever came back after entering... So why should he? He basically abandoned his wife, and if she died, he orphaned two poor little girls too... God, what was he thinking? How could he do this?
Could he truly say he was blinded by love? If he had went against his wife's wishes when nothing else could be done? Could he really say he was blinded by love, if he abandoned his family on a local folktale?
And no one ever came back from the woods. Once you were past a certain point in the treeline? You were just... You were gone.
Thomas couldn't help but feel a certain loneliness now, and an even deeper set scared one filled his chest too. He was never going to make it home, was he? Was doomed to wander both day and night till he died, looking for a way to see his family... It was poetic in some way, something you'd hear in a fairytale or legend- but nobody knew of his being there. And Thomas was very, very mortal. Just a man, absent to the world now, and after making only one bad decision. One bad decision that would decide his fate.
He had drawn his knees up to his chest by now, peering around occasionally through tearful eyes to make sure nothing was close by. He couldn't cry, he wouldn't, but they were there, threatening to spill...
A low hum seemed to echo around the trees, its unnatural qualities being it almost felt like music. It was slow, haunting in some form. It was the same feeling and sound of music where instead of playing it normally, you played it in a minor key. So even though it seemed like the tune would be relatively the same, it gave off an uneasy and creepy feeling.
"Why-" A voice suddenly spoke, causing Thomas to look around in fear for where it may have come from. "Are you out so late?"
Thomas didn't know what to say, he couldn't even see the person speaking! Was this person talking to him, or someone else? Was it a person at all...? There were so many questions- and Thomas couldn't even form one, let alone answer the one given.
"You've already woken me up, there's no point in staying quiet now." The voice continued, sounding mildly angry, but also, as implied, tired.
There was still a pause, Thomas figuring out how to word his explanation. Should he lie? Would that benefit him at all? Or worsen his predicament? "I'm... I was- well, I'm looking for... someone, my wife is sick and I heard that- that they could help. If you don't mind me asking, where are you?"
"Everywhere, really..." And for a moment, Tom was certain he saw someone sitting in a tree branch far above the ground, swinging their legs just a tiny bit before they were gone. It confused him, but he looked around some more, about to ask his question again until he blinked, where a man suddenly stood nearly in front of him, arms crossed.
Silence, unsurprisingly, followed between the two. While the stranger may have given Thomas a scare, he didn't actually appear 'scary'. He was a smaller man with a dark complexion, bundled up in coats and other materials to defend from the cold. A part of Thomas made him wonder if this was just some other person, stuck and lost, but from the look he was getting, he guessed not.
Perhaps the thing that scared him the most wasn't the silence, wasn't the glare, wasn't even the stranger himself, but when a snake emerged from the coat he was wearing to curl around his wrist. How was a snake even in there? And why? What purpose did it serve? Who just carried around a snake like it was normal? And what was even worse was when the man noticed the thing...
"Oh look, you've woken Felix up now too. How rude of you! He didn't do anything, was sleeping just as much as myself." He shot at Thomas, now carefully helping and maneuvering the snake out of his coat to coil around his arm. He cooed over it gently, as if the snake were any other pet you might see. Cats and dogs, even birds, but this was a *snake,* certainly not anything you would coo at. Not Thomas anyway, he hated smaller creatures. Rodents, dogs, and reptiles certainly were not things Thomas enjoyed. "Poor thing, we'll go home soon... mhm..."
Thomas had barely even registered the change of the man talking to his snake- Felix- to talking to *him.* He was so stunned from everything happening he wasn't prepared to talk more, but he did eventually find the words to ask: "What's your name?"
"You can't ask a question without even answering my own, but it's apparent by the amount of money you have that you were looking for me anyway so it doesn't matter. You can call me Montague, it'll have to do. And I don't have time, so you better tell me what you need now. You said your wife was sick? You want me to fix her? I'm not a healer, Thomas."
Had he even told Montague his name? He didn't recall... Perhaps the woods itself had lured his name out of him, shared it for all to know. Without his knowing. A creepy, creepy place he was in...
"You're the witch?"
"Do people still call me that?"
"Is there something you'd prefer to be called?"
He paused for a second, satisfied with the consideration in the question, but didn't have an actual answer for it. "I suppose not, no."
"So can you heal my wife?"
"I said once I'm not a healer, don't make me say it again."
"There's not a better word to use right now, and you said that you're the witch. Doesn't a bit of everything fall under things you're able to do?"
Montague couldn't tell if he was pleased by the man's persistence, or angered by his assumptions. Overall, though...? He supposed Thomas was smart by trying to stay right on point.
"I can heal her," He said, leaning down to swipe up a bag of coins Thomas had subconsciously brought between them. "But this won't be enough."
"You didn't even-"
"I know."
Thomas fumbled over his words. Suppose Montague did know how much was in there, fine. But he didn't bring anything else. That was what he had. That was the money he had brought to pay, he wasn't going to come back without his wife being healthy again.
"You said you knew I was looking for you by the amount I brought,"
"Yes."
"You didn't even look inside though,"
"I know."
"...There's nothing else I can give you."
With a slight smile, Montague replied, "That's where you're wrong."
If Thomas was supposed to have any clue what that meant- what that implied, he didn't catch the hint. He didn't understand the witch's words. How did he have anything else to pay with? He didn't even have a spare coin, if he were to check.
"But-"
"I'll take care of your wife, but you won't get to return home to be with her. I can do it right when I get back home, but you will not return there."
Is this why people never returned? They weren't permitted to? That's why people would disappear, yet harvest season would be excellent for their families in that time of year, wasn't it? That's why it would all die if an "old family member" came back to town. But the people to ever return and bring bad news with them were so few... were they all lost here? Left to roam?
"How will I know you're telling the truth? That she will be back to health?"
"You won't." He paused, taking a moment to lightly pet Felix while he thought. "But the most desperate people would rather protect the chance of a miracle than leave with no hope. It's a lost cause Thomas, you have no choice but to agree with me. If you don't, you'd have to try and make your way back home, and I don't think I need to remind you that no one goes back home."
It was as if the woods had heard Montague's words and began to block out as much light as they could, leaving it even darker than before. There really was no chance for Thomas to get back home now. And he was a desperate man...
"Fine. What do I have to do? To make a deal?"
"A handshake will suffice, but you're aware that not being able to return home will have its own conditions, correct?"
"Sure."
"Your wife won't remember you."
"She-" He shook his head, took a deep breath. "That's- that's fine, anything to have her healthy, please."
Looking satisfied, Montague nodded. He ignored Thomas' outstretched hand in favor of helping Felix back into a pocket inside his jacket. It took a while, but once the snake was tucked away again, they took each other's hands and shook on it.
Thomas was worried. He had no clue how he was going to survive in the forest like this, didn't know how he was going to cope with everything going on... but the good news was that he didn't have to.
The witch had barely taken a second to tap his nose, saying something that he was too confused to process, and he was gone.
In truth, he wasn't gone. Just small, and had a very new perspective. A new memory, for the most part. Thomas wasn't Thomas anymore, in fact, he had been changed into a kitten. If he had any mind left to realize this, he would have objected, done somehing to try and stop this patronizing act, but he didn't. Just looked around in confusion, as if he didn't recall where he was.
And though Montague did take a moment to laugh at the man's expense, he was quick to pick up the poor thing and hold it close. Turning around to head home, it was as if he had barely needed to walk anywhere, it showed up for him as easily as a boomerang might return to its thrower.
"Felix needs a new friend anyway..." Would be the last words he spoke that night, shutting the door behind him as soon as he got in.
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