Fringes

December 3rd, Imperial Year 868
Outskirts of the Thame Estate

She was standing there, like a glass doll, lost in the snow.

The girl stumbled over, a flash of blonde hair scattering as she tripped and fell to the ground. All around, strange noises echoed through the woods, frightening me. The girl wore an elaborate winter dress which, in retrospect, was probably pretty expensive.

I almost thought she was a ghost when I first saw her.

I was seven years old that day, and I had gotten myself separated from the rest of the hunting party. It was my first time away from the town where I had spent much of my childhood, so seeing the woods outside unsettled me. I had trouble getting adjusted to the manor, which is why a young knight had suggested taking me hunting.

I notched an arrow. I didn't want to hurt her. But a part of me was frightened. Then she looked at me, her wide blue eyes pleading for help. Though I couldn't tell too well in the dim light, I swore there were tear marks around her eyes.

She was beautiful.

"Am I...alive?"

I hesitated. 

"I...think so." I carefully walked up to her. "Are you lost too?"

No response.

"My name's Jason. Nice to meet you." I walked up to her, holding out a hand for a handshake.

She accepted it.

"Phoebe," the girl said. "I...I don't know where to go."

"Where are your parents?"

"I...I don't have any." She looked away from me as she said that, fidgeting her hands. "I don't."

"Do you want to come to my place then?" I smiled at her. "Don't worry. I'm a future knight, so I can keep you safe." I knelt down in front of her, holding out my hand in the style I had been taught. A shiver of excitement ran up my spine. 

She took my hand once more, and gave me a ladylike curtsy, perfectly choreographed as I had known it.

"Thank you." 

"Are you a commoner?" I asked. "That's okay. A knight is meant to defend the weak."

"Y-yes..." Phoebe trailed off, looking away from me again. "I...I am." She looked at me, an awkward light in her eyes.

"Don't worry. A gentleman keeps his woman safe." I puffed my chest outwards. "If you have anything you're worried about, I'll always be there to listen to you, okay?"

"Well-"

A lone howl came from the woods, causing us to both jump in fear. Wolves. They came from the sides, trying to box us in. Phoebe screamed in terror.

"It's okay!" I shouted. I took my bow, mustering up as much strength I could into it, and fired the arrow at the wolf that sprung out of the bushes.

The arrow flew over the wolf's head, disappearing into the forest.

I took Phoebe's hand and ran. As fast as I could. The wolves were fast, and rapidly gained ground.

"Jason, I don't think..."

A clearing sat up ahead. I didn't know what that meant, but I ran for it regardless. Just before we reached the clearing, a large wolf popped out of the bushes and blocked off our path.

We were surrounded.

"Jason!" The wolf shouted at me. "Jason, please..."

Wait, that's not what happened...

Father...arrived...and shot the wolf...

"Jason!"

***

February 1st, Imperial Year 880
Ekuna Duchy, Woods

I think I recognize this clearing.

"Jason!" A warm, wet tear landed on my face. A beastkin wolfgirl hovered over me, tears streaming from her eyes as she sobbed.

"Eh...Anya?"

My neck hurt. My entire body felt cold. I tried getting up, but Anya stopped me. Good thing too, I almost strangled myself with the bandage around my neck.

"Stay down Jason, I'll get you to safety."

"T-thanks..."

I think I was dreaming.

Seeing as I hadn't bled out and died, Anya grabbed my legs and continued to drag me towards the clearing.

"It's ok." Anya said, her voice still wavering from the crying. "I know somewhere safe. I'll keep you alive."

"Where are we going?" Just then, I heard the clip-clop of hooves next to me. Goldie stared at me with his big horse eyes. I stared back.

Well nice to know someone managed to find us. I almost laughed looking at Goldie's goofy face, when I was hit by a sharp mental anguish that somehow even overwhelmed the pain in my neck.

"I know a village nearby." Anya said. "If I take you there, everything will be okay." She panted, despite the cold weather. Beastkin or not, it seemed she was still very tired. A giant red splotch stained her coat.

I remember, Anya had taken an arrow herself during the battle.

"I...maybe we should rest, Anya." I said. "Let's not die out here like this."

Is that right? Maybe we should keep pressing. I don't know if stopping is death. Or maybe we're dead either way. 

God I'm tired. I want to sleep. I can't believe that between everything crazy I've done, the closest I've come to actually dying is here.

Or maybe I'm just thinking that because I have time to actually recollect my thoughts. Thinking about it logically, I've had a ton of run-ins with death, but I was far too excited to really feel the implications, even if I understood perfectly at the time.

Anya sat down next to me, exhausted.

"Alright Jason. If you say so." Her tail whipped around me, cradling my body. Goldie, seeing us, also sat down under the tree Anya had dragged me to, where the snow hadn't reached. "Urg..." Anya clutched her shoulder, clearly in pain.

"S-sorry." I muttered.

"Ngh, it's okay." Anya leaned onto me from one side, as Goldie, for whatever reason, decided to nuzzle in from the other. "At least we're still alive."

"For how long, I wonder."

"Haha, yeah."

I lowered my eyes to look at Anya's face. She seemed dejected.

"Hey, Anya?"

"Hmm?"

"When you were little..." I trailed off. "Ah, nevermind."

"You want to ask about me as a child?" Anya asked, her ears slightly perking up. She lay down next to me, gazing up into the evening sky.

"I...yeah."

"We Animalfolk are semi-nomadic. I'm sure you know that."

"No, not really."

I've learned plenty about the habits of human peasant farmers, and even the nomadic tribes of Galeria that exist on the borders, but I've never learned how beastkin live.

"Well, we move around a bit. Sort of. Well, we're wolves, so we move around a lot. Other animalfolk...not really. But my family did. I never knew who my father was, because we're quite poor even by animalfolk standards, but we were a happy family with my mom and my sister. Until mom died, but you know, that's life."

"I'm...sorry about that."

"As I said, it's just life. I don't really worry about it. Besides, I don't think mom would want me to be sad."

"What's up with the term 'animalfolk' anyways?"

"We don't like being called beastkin. That's all." Anya quickly looked over at me. "It's fine though, I don't get mad at regular humans calling us that. Just how it is."

"I...suppose so." We continued looking up into the sky. "So where's your sister?"

"Probably at one of the villages. There was a movement amongst the nomadic animalfolk to settle down, and my sister joined them. Human peasants don't like it when we move through their territory. Human tribes..."

"I get the idea."

"I kinda had a fight with her, because I like moving around, so...yeah." Anya looked up at the stars that were appearing as the sun set. A dangerous chill ran down my spine. "It's not that interesting of a story, really. What about you, Jason?

"Well..."

I looked up at the sky once more. The dark blue sky grew blacker and blacker. Anya coughed and shivered, looking utterly spent.

"If you don't want, we can just-"

"No, I have to tell you." I took a deep breath. Where do I start? "Baseli. You know the Baseli name, right?"

"The previous dynasty."

"Well, even you should know that I'm from the Baseli Dynasty. We became the Thames after the Thame Barony, the only piece of land we were allowed to keep after our downfall."

"But what about you?"

"It's really boring, are you sure?"

And I'm not sure if I want to talk about the not-boring stuff.

"I..." Anya looked at my eyes, before averting them. "Who's...Phoebe?"

Oh boy.

I closed my eyes and shivered from the cold. As I did, Goldie stood up, as if he had seen something, and began to race away.

What a loyal horse. Are we about to become wolf meat? And not the bea- uh, animalfolk wolves like Anya.

Eh, maybe I'll stick to beastkin, that sounds weird with me saying it.

Do wolves eat wolves? Can a beastkin wolf get eaten by a wolf? Or maybe it's a bear. Or a giant spider. God, I hope it isn't a giant spider. Perhaps a saber toothed tiger. Or maybe goblins.

Nevermind, that last one's the worst way to go.

"Phoebe is...the daughter of the man who started this war. Aeneas Cordelia. He kidnapped his own daughter and now she's...gone." Mustering up as much strength as I could, I raised my arm up, silhouetting my hand against the now starry sky. "I first met Phoebe when I was seven, and she was six. It was a clearing just like this one, and I saved her from a bunch of wolves." 

I chuckled.

"That's impressive."

"Well...actually, dad saved the both of us. But I was good friends with her until we had to split up due to her father not wanting her to be around anyone else. It wasn't until I was 15 that I managed to see her again at Cartethene Academy. And then, well..."

"Do you...like her?"

"I..." My voice caught in my throat. "Before I answer that Anya, you think we're going to die here?"

Anya was silent.

"Well..."

"I...I still like Phoebe. Fuck that shit, I love her." Now it was my turn to cry. "I...I'm sorry, Anya. I'm sorry." I covered my eyes, trying not to let anything show.

Anya leaned in closer to me, holding my hand.

"Is Phoebe..."

I closed my eyes.

"Probably getting into an arranged marriage to some bigshot. Maybe even one of my friends." I pounded the ground. "Maybe...maybe she'll be happier that way, you know?"

Anya leaned into me, wrapping her arms around me.

"Looks like we're not making it out of here..." Anya croaked, her mouth dry. "I just wanted to say, at least just for now, I...I can be-"

And then, a strange light appeared from within the woods, accompanied by a clip-clop of hooves.

"Goldie?" I murmured, as Anya staggered up, using the last of her strength.

"Here!" She shouted. "Over here!"

"Ay, looks like we got a few soldiers over here!" An unfamiliar voice said, from up ahead. "Look here, we got a few wounded soldiers!"