Istan’s POV.
No matter how good of a point she had, I still did not like the idea of Forest Mother taking my pack back to Gray and Emily’s house. I did not want to reduce her to carrying my burden. But Leafia did not give me a choice as she forcefully grabbed my arm and started to pull me away.
I did manage to convince her that there were a few things that I needed to take with me back to the village. I grabbed the cloak that Laurel had so graciously given back to me and a few other things to lighten the load that Forest Mother would have to carry. But the cloak was most important since I wanted to make sure it was safe. It had yet to lose the floral scent from Laurel. I was afraid that if it rained the scent might be washed away.
Admittedly, having Forest Mother carry my bag was not that big of an issue in the long run as it helped Laurel reach her goal faster. But that did not stop me from grumbling about it the whole way back to the village. After about ten minutes of walking, Leafia started to put distance between us. What was I going to do about her? She has started to grow so close to Forest Mother that she seems to have forgotten who she really is. I shook my head realizing this.
To try and focus my mind away from my discontent. I focused on how best to accomplish Forest Mother’s command. I wanted to get home to see my family as soon as I could. The first thing that I needed to do was meet with that prince and get the money we needed for our travels. For a second I thought of finding a way to secure the money without giving the prince the medicine. But I quickly shook that thought from my mind. If Laurel was ever to find out what I did she would lose all confidence in me.
Well, since Leafia did not seem to want to walk with me, I veered off her trail to head to where the prince was supposed to be. It was about an hour before I made it to the humans’ campsite. It hurt inside seeing how the humans treated Laurel’s woods. They had cleared out the underbrush and burned all the fallen branches. I was surprised to not see felled trees all over the place.
As I walked up to the camp I was stopped by a guard. “What is your business?”
“I am here to meet with the prince,” I said. Surprisingly the guard did not question me at all but took me to meet with the prince.
Once we made it to one of the bigger tents near the center of the camp my guide called out, “An elven emissary is here to meet with the prince.”
“Just a minute,” I heard a voice call from the tent. After a bit of shuffling two people made their way out of the tent. One was a young man with blonde hair who would barely be considered an adult. The other man appeared to be about my age. If I remembered, that would make him in his forties or fifties. They stopped in front of me a few paces away and seemed to be waiting on me. I did not know proper etiquette for interacting with royalty among humans. Well, let’s just get this over with before I can get myself into too much trouble.
“I have come bearing a message from the Forest Mother,” I said to the prince raising my chest high.
“The Forest Mother…?” He asked curiously but before I could answer he spoke, “You mean Miss Laurel.” His face beamed as he said those words. “What did she say about me?” The man behind the prince gave a forced cough. “I mean what was the forest Mother’s Message.”
The prince was not what I expected. All I could see was a bumbling teenager trying to put on an act. It was not very convincing. I did my best to put these thoughts out of my mind. I just wanted to get this task over with. I wanted to get home and see my wife and daughter again. As much as I have relished spending my time with Forest Mother being so close to home and yet not being able to meet with them hurt. I did my best to pretend I did not notice his foibles and said. “The Forest Mother is going on another trip and has need to secure some traveling expenses. She asked-”
“-I would be happy to give her everything I can.” The prince said, cutting off my words. His eyes were big and full of anticipation. “Let’s have the men pack up right now. I will go with her. I did not think she would answer me so soon. I will go with her anywhere.”
I felt my eyebrow twitch at his words. Was he treating the Forest Mother as a girl to woo? She was a goddess. Not something that could be touched by the hands of flesh. How dare he try and seduce my queen with his princely charms.
“I think you should hear out what the forest mother has requested first,” the older man behind the prince said. I could see the strained muscles of his face quivering just as mine were. For some reason I felt a strong sense of comradery with this man. Before I could dwell on why I felt so connected with him the prince continued.
“But she needs our help Sir Gerald!” the prince said, turning to glare. But the older man did not wither under the gaze of his liege.
“Yes, but we do not know what help she wants,” Sir Gerald responded sternly. “And you will not be taking your father’s men on a quest much less out of the Dukedom chasing after a girl. Do you think she would be impressed when you accidentally started a war?”
The prince opened and closed his mouth a few times like a fish out of the water. “You should always hear what the lady has to say before you rush into action,” Sir Gerald finished.
There was a moment of silence and the prince seemed to process these words before he turned to me and said, “Pardon the interruption. Please continue, how may we be of service to the forest mother?”
It rankled me to have to continue this task with the impudent fool. How dare he think a mortal could capture the heart of a goddess. But the Forest Mother was counting on me to complete this task. She needed these funds so we could help her find Faun and now Mist. “As I was saying. All that the Forest Mother is asking is for the funds we need to continue our trip.”
The prince quickly reached into his vest and pulled out a bag of coins. “Please take this. I do not know if this will be enough but it is all that I have. I am not at liberty to give you any of the party’s money though. That was all left in the care of Sir Gerald.” The prince finished by turning pleading eyes to the man.
I was afraid of them getting the wrong impression of the Forest Mother. She was not one of those stone gods that the humans built churches and paid tribute to. I needed to clear this up so before Sir Gerald could speak I continued. “She is not asking for a gift. I have come to offer you a trade.” I reached into my coat and pulled out the round vial. “This is a medicine made by the Forest Mother. It can cure almost any disease and heal almost any injury. She has said it can bring back someone from the point of death.
“I myself have seen it used twice to bring bedridden girls back to health. One of them is Gram’s, the horse herder in the village, daughter.” I had to stop myself. I was getting so excited extolling all the virtues of this medicine. But I needed to get back to business. “The Forest Mother has asked that I trade this medicine with you for the money that she needs for the trip.”
The prince’s face looked like a child eyeing sweets but I ignored him. It was clear that it was Sir Gerald that I needed to convince. Sir Gerald’s face was much more controlled, but it was clear that he was also looking at the vial with curious anticipation.
