“Raxx?” Faye called again. Her voice cracked, rough from sleep and she coughed.
A faint nicker came from Gaia in response and Faye smiled at the mare. The horse had finished her hay and, despite the snow, looked settled and relaxed. Faye clambered out of the tent, groaning as she stretched her stiff, cold muscles. She trudged across to Gaia’s side, smoothing the horse’s cheek.
“Morning girl. Did you sleep well?” she cooed. Gaia nudged her nose into Faye’s palm in response and the faerie giggled softly. She patted the mare one last time before glancing out into the forest.
Wherever the demon had gone, he wasn’t nearby and that rankled her. Faye had specifically asked him to remain close, to keep her safe. She scowled. She wasn’t used to having her requests disobeyed.
“Raxx?”
A bird chirped, its song echoing in the serene and silent woodland. Faye sighed and shrugged off her annoyance, her thoughts turning instead to preparing for another hard day. First things first, she would answer the call of nature. Faye marched off through the snow, hunting for a suitable spot to relieve herself. She wouldn’t go too far, but just far enough that should the mysterious demon reappear, he wouldn’t catch her with her pants down – literally.
The princess chuckled to herself, thinking about Lori and how she must be faring out in the wilds. Whilst Faye was no stranger to getting cold, wet and dirty, the same could not be said for her sister. She felt sorry for the poor demon who was accompanying her.
Pushing through a shrub, Faye glanced around to ensure she was alone before tugging her breeches down and carefully squatting in the snow. When she was finished, she tucked her clothing in and stood to walk back towards the camp. A dark figure appeared next to her and Faye jolted.
“Raxx!” she screeched. “Have you been standing there this whole time? What is wrong with you?” Faye threw a punch at Raxx’s arm. She missed, her hand sailing through his ghostly visage.
“You’re the one who was calling me. How was I supposed to know?” the demon argued.
The princess felt her face growing hot as she stormed away, turning her back on him. Raxx followed behind. Snatching her satchel, she dug around inside for something to eat, closing her hand around one of the apples.
“How quickly can you be ready to leave?” he asked.
Faye rolled her eyes. That was just like the demon – skirting around important issues and changing the subject. Though the princess gritted her teeth with irritation, on this occasion she was thankful that Raxx had decided to gloss over her embarrassment.
“Not long,” she replied tersely.
“Good. We need to get moving. Lephas and Lori are a few days ahead of us and we’ve got some serious ground to cover if we want to catch up with them.”
Faye didn’t respond, just took a large, vicious bite out of her apple. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was different. Faye had already deduced that Raxx was a difficult character to read, but he seemed almost angry with her this morning. Whilst she ate, she watched Raxx expertly dismantle their campsite. Though the tent did not belong to him, the demon made quick work of taking it apart. Faye leant against a nearby tree and inspected the apple in her hand nonchalantly before taking another bite. Raxx glanced up at her as he knelt to roll her tent sheet up.
“Don’t worry yourself about helping, princess,” he grumbled. “I’ll pack your equipment away for you.”
“How kind of you to offer, that would be splendid,” Faye replied sarcastically.
Raxx turned his attention back to the tent beneath his knees. Faye swallowed her mouthful of apple with a scowl. Eventually she finished the fruit and trudged through the snow to pass the apple core to Gaia. The horse eagerly gobbled the offering up from her outstretched palm, crunching it loudly.
Left with no option other than to lend the demon a hand, Faye dropped to her knees beside him. They worked quickly and silently. Faye held the satchel as Raxx wrestled to squeeze her belongings inside. When they were done, Faye stood and heaved the bag up onto her shoulder. She buckled everything to Gaia’s saddle bags and untethered the mare from the tree she had secured her to through the night.
“So, where are we going?” Faye asked, sliding her foot into one of the stirrups and lifting herself up into her saddle. She wriggled to get herself comfortable before pulling her scarf tighter around her neck and flicking her hood up.
“A few miles south of here is a path that will lead us to the bottom of the cliff. It should only be an hour or so on horseback.” Raxx raised his arms above his head, stretching and limbering his muscles.
Gaia startled and shied away as the demon’s large black wings unfolded, spreading to their full diameter either side of him. As he lowered his arms, they folded back in on themselves, tucking away neatly at his back. Faye had never seen a being with wings quite like Raxx’s. Whilst her own were thin and almost translucent, his were black as night. No daylight permeated through the leathery membrane that stretched between each gnarled spindle. They almost reminded her of dragon’s wings – not that she had ever seen a dragon in real life, but she had spent plenty of time reading about them in the library with her sisters. Lori had never cared for such things, but she and Sivelle had been captivated by tales of their ferociousness.
“Princess?”
Faye snapped back to reality and shook her head, blinking at the demon standing before her. “Sorry, I was miles away.”
“I asked how quickly your horse would be able to travel in the deep snow. I am keen to make up any time where we can.” Raxx evaded her eye contact, his dark brows were drawn into a permanent scowl.
Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the tent this morning.
“I wouldn’t worry about us being too slow,” Faye scoffed and nudged Gaia on with her heels. “You’re the one on foot.” The mare strode forward, leaving behind deep furrows in the snow.
“Trust me,Iwon’t be responsible for slowing us down.”
“What’s that’s supposed to mean?” Faye asked, uncaring when a hard edge developed in her tone. The demon failed to answer her and when Faye turned in her saddle to glance behind, Raxx was gone. She exhaled a deep sigh of frustration.
