Trust in Me

"Someone has found us?!"

"Be on the lookout. It can come out from anywhere."

A thread of dozens of faithful mining bees were wiped off in an instance.

The way of the assassination was unknown, just as well as the murderer. All that Eivör felt was the sudden disappearance of her deceased bees. Whoever killed them was swift to the punch — imagine a formally large number of agile, miniature and dodgy flying insects wiped off in the noun of a deciding second.

Eivör's tragedy seemed to be on its full rise that day and to her unfortunate luck, it was only growing. The boy looked at Eivör with eyes of empathy. As unusual as it was, he looked like he was more concerned for the goodwill of Eivör than for his own self. Needless to say, they were both now trembling in futility and potential ambush.

Ryohu, on the other hand, had gone crazy by the definition of the very word.

He started circling Eivör, then passing the boy, going under his legs, appearing in front of him in a sudden and unexpected fashion, then behind the both of them and so on — he making a questionable circus show to the both.

Eivör was mildly confused by Ryohu's doings, and while at risk and on the lookout, she didn't hesitate to ask the boy what the cat was up to. In fact, a simple question was too mild of a reaction for this kind of situation.

"That doesn't seem normal to me!"

"He's disturbed."

"Hence the reason he's circling us like he's a maniac?"

"He does this quite often. He's trying to sense the enemy and I don't think the wind is helping him in any way."

[Quite often… So I can only assume they have been in combat situations before. They don't seem like they're able to handle it, though…]

Eivör began thoroughly analyzing their unfortunate circumstance.

Her doubts went for a gamble — all in one for the fragility and the question of decent combat of the below average height boy and his dark shade of a cat. Her eyes were playing a fast paced song, running from one corner of the whiteness to the other.

As one of the seven, expecting the unexpected was a common title she was served with. Extreme caution while using all of her senses was the key, however her concentration was fairly low this time. She repeatedly kept pondering inside her sensible head, throwing thoughts so roughly to the extent that you would think they would fly out and surf with the cold wind of the forest.

Keeping up with everything was difficult.

Wasn't it always like that?

[Whoever the culprit is, their intention is obviously no good. Wiping out such an enormous number of my bees, then proceeding to trail us… Even if I tried disconnecting all of the survived bees right now, there still won't be time as it's approaching us really fast. I can only result in using him as a decoy… I still don't think that's going to be enough. If it's a Witch, we're definitely done for…]

"Well? He better be fast with the sensing, the number of erased bees keeps rising every mere second!"

And just in that shaky moment, Ryohu let out an instinctual sound that sounded much like a scream. A trigger of a newly discovered information. A sense of warning. A slight drizzle of fear.

"Meow!"

"Nine."

[Nine…?]

"Nine?!"

"I'm just as worried as you! Possibly even more!"

The boy let out his concern towards this mysterious number. On the other side, it looked like Eivör knew exactly what it meant. Her frustration grew by the moment, thoughts rumbled.

"If he's associating at the number of enemies…"

[It can't be.]

Take a blink with your focused eyes. They did the same.

The only difference was when they did the said action, Ryohu, Eivör and the boy found themselves surrounded by nine wooden dolls. Not any kind of dolls though — these had an uncommon feature added unto them.

The dolls appeared in an uncanny circle, making it impossible for the three to escape. The three were located right in the center — Ryohu stood close to the boy's shaking legs, the other two were staring roughly with eyeballs bigger than the sun.

You see, this was quite the absurd imagery to portray. Here's the thing. Nine wooden dolls, being a light source, gifted with motor skill. Moving wooden dolls with glowing bodies were surely proof of absurdity and to an extent, morbidity.

They were also proof of another kind of magic, the only one next to the seven's — the magic Witches wielded, and it went far beyond any physical and rational response. It even went beyond Mother Nature.

With a reasonable amount of fear and concern alongside a trembling voice, the boy decided to call Eivör's name in hopes for a solution.

"Eivör…"

"—"

"Eivör! What is this?!"

"C-Can't you see…?"

"Yes, I can see the same thing as you, Eivör! Nine walking humanoid dolls! But I'm asking you, how?!"

"T-This… This is magic in its purest form, accumulating straight from the cult of Witches."

"So it is magic. Heh."

"Did you just… W-What's so funny?"

"If you're going to lift me up and use me as a decoy, do it now."

Eivör appeared completely shook, driven to the edge of her nerves and irony of any kind of accountability she could have possibly, quite accidentally held for the pilgrim.

Was he a fool? Or was he merely an insolent personality that had no idea what he was up against? For all she knew, it could of have been both. Gambling began to seem interesting as new paths constantly kept opening up.

"If we've encountered a Witch, I'm going to try and beat her down. Maybe then she will want to cooperate, right?"

"You're a fool, a terribly uninformed one. These aren't regular wooden dolls."

"I can see that, Eivör! They're literally moving and making gestures!"

"I'm not talking about that. They're special wooden dolls possessed by a specific Witch that serves the Lord. She" —

"They're charging!"

All nine of them suddenly started sprinting towards the center, with sharp wooden blades steadily sculpted on the fading ends of their wooden wrists.

Eivör seemed like she was prepared for this, however the boy and Ryohu were completely surprised, thus they shamelessly started panicking. Eivör started moving her hands as quickly as possible, using the two to three seconds they had before wooden blades interrupted their beating hearts.

Everything was so fast. The blurriness of their rushed movement added to the fatal atmosphere, where all of it appeared almost unnoticeable. A split second in all of this disaster was taken captive by Eivör's thoughts that went all in for a vigorous gamble.

[Will it work… Only if I'm guessing right… Please…]

"Up!"

"H-Hey!!"

The boy soared towards the sky like a previously caged bird, now set free to explore the tranquility of life. This was the Andrenidae decoy at his biggest and brightest shine.

The dolls were marching furiously, now fatally close to the three.

The boy was high up the blurry sky, acting like a petal to the bees that were connected to him. They had thrown him high above and their next step was setting him down. The boy had no idea what to expect as adrenaline had taken over his mind and body. Suddenly, the bees let go by launching him off in a direction he would least expect. Then, Eivör spoke up loudly.

"Scatter!"

After her definite demand, the bees disconnected and started scattering in a three-sixty movement at unbelievable speed. A sight like this was beyond comprehension.

The main aim were the running wooden dolls. It was sure to say that the bees were ten times faster than them. Hundreds of them falling like bullets from the sky, about thirty impacting each doll, making them fall to the black, ashy ground.

It ended as a tough fight, but resistance was clearly futile. The bullet-like nature blessed upon the bees by the wonders of magic particles that Eivör possessed within her made the strength of the wooden dolls decrease and eventually shut down.

Black dust was all up in the air, thus Eivör quickly grabbed Ryohu and rolled on to her right, escaping in between the now fallen wooden dolls. The boy that was dragged in the heights before was thrown in the exact same direction Eivör was heading towards. He landed in a dark green bush full of ashes, luckily unharmed.

The black dust in the air started clearing out, revealing every single doll, all nine of them, lifeless on the ground as they should be.

Not one was moving.

Unfortunately, none of the dozens of bees were moving either.

The impact that they have received upon hitting the wooden dolls was too big for them to survive. It was definite to say that Eivör ran out of bees to operate with, which was a terribly bad sign. Not to mention, her energy was almost equal to zero.

As the black dust in the air cleared out completely, a figure was seen standing among the defeated wooden dolls. The boy, covered in bush branches and ash, started speaking up while inhaling and exhaling like an untamed beast.

"What… Was that?!"

"It… Ghh… Worked… Quit complaining."

"Ryohu… Is he alright?!"

"He's here… I managed to pick him up, he's fine…"

"Meow…"

"Thank you… So much…"

"Save it for later, if we survive… I only killed off her dolls. But we're absolutely no match for her…"

"Her? The lady in the robe over there? Who is she…?"

"That's the damned wood Witch, Ásdís Promealís."

The three were completely out of it and there was no question to it.

The boy was boldly standing on his feet covered in bush essentials. Eivör was a couple of meters next to him, kneeling on the ground and catching air. She was completely out of energy and her body weakened ever quicker because of the lack of food — she hadn't eaten in almost two days now.

Even if she wanted to rise up again and engage combat, there were no living bees nearby that could help her out. Therefore, their situation was critical.

"So that's the Witch… And those were her dolls?"

"Yes… She's known for her nine wooden dolls. That's how she attacks before she truly reveals herself."

The Witch stopped looking at her defeated wooden dolls, glanced up and directed her sight at the trio. She stared grimly. She was soon to crack a gentle smile. This was unusually rare for a Witch — they almost never smiled.

After this eerie experience, the Witch finally spoke up.

"The second out of the seven human magic wielders, the Bee. What is your business here?"

"I had none of it, but I was interrupted on the way here, and I'm kindly guessing it was by your very self or another one of you sluts."

"Sluts? Define "slut"."

"That means you have low standards for sexual cleanliness!"

The boy recklessly marched into the conversation with an accurate definition.

"I see. Your mortal slurs fascinate me. Is that supposed to make me feel wounded?"

"She's about to be wounded…"

"Quit being an idiot. She'll kill you in an instant.

…It's no use."

Eivör was hopeless. To her despair, the boy wouldn't agree.

"You're suggesting that we run away? Do you think we would make it? I don't think we would be able to outrun her even if we tried… It's a dead end for us, if you ask me.

Ryohu, escort Eivör to safety! I'll try and take care of this on my own. You think you can complete your mission?"

"Meow!"

"Good! Good boy."

"You're being fools. You'll never" —

[Okay, I have to at least try.]

"Almighty Witch! Where is it?!"

The boy idiotically started shouting towards the Witch that somewhat represented a deadly reaper. Her grim appearance would make any mortal shake of terror and would cause shivers up their spines. Looks like the boy had an antidote against this.

Either that or he was faking it.

"—"

Ásdís didn't offer any reaction. The boy continued anyway while gulping in fear.

"I've heard rumors that the Lord's main Witch servant has a grail of some sort."

"You won't get anywhere…"

"Are you the main servant of the Lord?!"

"The almighty one has no main servant. We are all of equal value to him."

In a triangle of unexpected encounters, surprisingly, the Witch replied.

"Do you… Do you really believe in that?"

"Stop it, you fool. You'll only make her angry…"

"Elaborate, human."

"All I'm saying is that he must have a favorite one that is always by his side, but only makes it seem like all of you are equal. People are like that, after all, no matter the position they hold."

"My affection towards the almighty one is undying. All of us feel likewise, therefore no reason for him is created to separate one."

"Your dedication towards him is impressive and I acknowledge that. So let's skip all of this. You can redirect me to the grail and we can leave."

"The grail?"

"I have someone that I dedicated two years of my life for, just like you dedicate all of it for your Lord. That person needs a certain grail. Do you, by any chance, know where it is?"

"There is no such grail. You are talking nonsense, human. Thus, it is time to kill you."

An orphan, a cat, a girl with inhuman abilities and a Witch.

The appearance was more than interesting. But to them, unpleasantly frightening.

Ásdís reached out her right hand. As she did so, some of the wooden roots engraved in the ground started emitting light. A couple of meters next to her was a tree and its roots started breaking and making cracking noises. The roots rose up from the black ground and were in Ásdís' complete control.

[Unfortunately, I thought so. Damn it…]

"Eivör, run. Ryohu will follow you."

"Are you out of your mind" —

"You're hurt and worn off. Go find the others."

"Oh, what a hero. Grow up."

"Eh?"—

"You're stupidly stereotypical. I'm not going to trust you with something like this. As long — Cough."

"You're coughing up blood! I told you, you're done for. She's not listening, Ryohu, try pushing her away."

Ásdís was out of patience and clearly ticked off.

She directed the tree roots towards the boy. They tangled and opposite in mid-air. The boy recklessly started marching towards the roots and just about as they were to hit him, he ducked and started sliding on the ashy grass, completely avoiding the controlled roots.

He stood up and looked towards Ásdís.

"Trust me.

Run Eivör, run!"

She stared at him with mouth wide open. Ryohu was desperately pushing her in the opposite direction.

Many thoughts crossed her mind.

So what if she does run? It will only be moments before the Witch kills off the boy and catches up to her. It was clearly hopeless.

Then, besides all of this chaos, Eivör caught a glimpse of a well known daydream. It was no question that she was surprised. Looking down on the small black cat desperately pushing her where safety was at — the unknown pilgrim boy, acting a hero just for her safety and trying to get her away from trouble, even while obviously shaking in fear himself.

Souls like those were never to be seen in an age like that.

This might have been all she was ever hoping for.

Someone with compassion and kindness. Someone who thought about other people too, even among the pitiful gluttony, desperation and anger they were surrounded in. Those two were surely a pleasuring mystery — it was almost like they jumped straight out of Eivör's daydreams.

She stood up slowly and made her decision. Ryohu was looking at her with eyes incredibly wide open. Those cat eyes were really something, you know?

The only way out was for the other seven to find them, therefore she was in charge for seeking after them. And after all, maybe fairy tales and miracles can make a onetime appearance in life?

If the boy truly came from her daydreams, maybe he could handle the Witch somehow until she came back with the others?

It all made sense then. It had to be done. She turned to the other direction and started running.

Her thoughts sung "I'll find the others in no time, just wait for me".

As she was running, however, she heard something that resembled a stabbing noise. She then turned around, only to find the boy stabbed by the cold, wooden roots.

Oh, this was no fairy tale.