"... I hope that one day, they can be as good of friends as youāve been..."
Sir Ollieās words fell on Sir Gavinās ears like a bucket of cold water on a cold winterās day, and his face burned with shame as he realized that heād been clutching the hilt of his sword since the two de-, since Ollieās two friends had emerged from the wilderness.
"Well met, gentlemen," Gavin said, forcing himself to relax despite every instinct heād trained for years screaming in the back of his mind that he should draw his sword and fight to protect Isolde, or to scoop her up in his arms and carry her away from here as fast as his legs would take him.
Of course, running would be useless. At this range, even if he didnāt have Isolde with him, it would be impossible to escape a sure-footed soldier like Harrod. And even if the horned demon, or whatever the proper term for them was, couldnāt have caught him running, there would be no escaping Miloās powerful bow. Still, the instinct to fight or flee was strong, and it took everything Gavin had just to straighten up, abandoning his fighting posture and removing his hand from his sword.
His wife, however, faced no such paralysis. Sheād never fought against the Eldritch and had never seen them up close. Sheād heard Gavinās stories, but this was the first time seeing those stories coming to life before her eyes.
"Hello, Mister Harrod, Mister Milo," Isolde said politely as she made a small curtsy toward them. "Sir Ollie has been very generous with us, and we owe him a great debt for healing my husband. I, I hope we can all be friends one day as well," she said, stumbling only slightly over the statement.
"Sir Ollie is very good at making friends," Milo said as a small smile formed on his lips while his whiskers twitched and his tail lightly thumped the ground. "He helped my mother heal, and my whole village, too. Iām glad he could help your husband."
"Are you well, Sir Ollie?" Harrod asked, ignoring the two humans to approach the young witch and looking at him with worried eyes. "When you lit up the trees, we were worried that something must have happened to you. It wasnāt one of the signals we agreed to, so we came as fast as we could..."
Sir Ollie had changed since he became a witch, though it was likely only the people closest to him who really noticed it. He had always been generous, happiest when he helped others, and willing to work himself to the bone when people were relying on him. That part hadnāt changed at all.
What had changed, however, was the intensity with which Ollie dedicated himself to helping others, and the burdens he was willing to take on himself in order to do so. He had only recently become the Cypress Witch, but Harrod and Milo had found him on more than one occasion, slumped in a chair next to his hearth, surrounded by wood shavings on the floor with a half-finished talisman in his hand.
In the days after he completed his vigil, heād seemed almost possessed by a need to finish his first pieces of witchcraft, and he hadnāt seemed to relax until heād presented protective amulets to Old Nan, Harrod, and Milo. And even then, as he presented a priceless gift, heād been deeply apologetic that the talismans were crude and simple, and he promised to make them greater ones when he was able to.
Ollie hadnāt shared what heād seen in the visions he experienced during his vision, but Old Nan had been the first to notice that Ollie seemed far more worried about protecting their village than he had been before, and that he seemed to be driving himself even harder now that he had the powers of a witch to help them with.
Sheād asked both Milo and Harrod to keep an eye on him because she was afraid that the young man would burn himself out, taking on too much with his new powers before he was ready, because Ollie didnāt seem to know how to say ānoā to helping a person in need. They all loved him for his constant desire to help, but they also worried that he hadnāt yet learned how to live for himself when he focused so much on helping others.
"Iām fine," Ollie insisted. "If weād been closer to the trees, I could have drawn on their strength to heal Sir Gavinās wound. Itās just that we were too far away, so I had to do it mostly by myself. Iām fine now, really," he told the worried-looking soldier.
"If you say so, then I believe you," Harrod said, though his tone was distinctly at odds with his words. "But please remember what Lady Heila said. As long as things are going well, this is Lord Liamās burden to bear. You shouldnāt have to push yourself so hard if things are going well enough that youāre making new friends."
"And you two," Harrod said, turning away from Ollie to face the two humans. "If you want to be Sir Ollieās friend, you have to watch out for him doing too much. Heās very generous. Too generous, and heāll let himself be taken advantage of without friends to protect him from himself."
"Iām starting to see that," Lady Isolde said as she approached Sir Ollie and the horned soldier. "He already informed Lady Esme that she can visit his village when sheās ready to have her first child, just in case she needs the help of a healer, even though it clearly costs him dearly to help someone in need."
"So, how about this, Mister Harrod," she said as she came to stand in front of Harrod and Ollie. "I, I do not know how long it will be before you can walk among humans freely. Sir Ollie wants us to be allies and friends, but itās still very early days. He used his witchcraft to make sure no one heard our discussion tonight, and the common folk in camp arenāt ready yet to see the Eldritch walking among them," she said.
"So, as a gesture of our desire to be good friends," Lady Isolde said, extending a hand toward Harrod. "Weāll watch over him when heās among humans, and you canāt be with him. That way, you and Mister Milo donāt have to worry so much when heās out of your sight."
"Hey now..." Ollie started, only to be interrupted by Harrodās hearty chuckle.
"Lady, you have a deal," Harrod said, clasping her hand firmly. "Sir Ollie is a great man, and heās going to be an even greater witch one day, but he still needs help from his friends to finish growing. If you can help him when we canāt... then I think we can become good friends."
"Just accept it, lad," Sir Gavin said quietly as he came to join Isolde. "She sounds like that when she talks about our little ones too, and Iāve never seen her retreat from anything she does to help them. Best to accept it graciously before you have to see her stubborn side," he said with a wide grin and an affectionate look at Isolde.
"I, but, really, Iām fine..." Ollie insisted. "You donāt need to worry so much over me."
"Of course we do," Milo said, moving quietly over the fallen leaves to reach Ollieās side. "Just like you worry over all of us. How do you think we feel when we see you working so hard? So let us do the same, and if theyāre your new friends, then let them do the same too," he said.
"We canāt do what you can do, Ollie," Milo added as his whiskers and tails drooped. "We canāt bear all of the burdens a witch bears. So, let us at least take on a few for you, that way you donāt have to do it all alone."
"Iām not alone," Ollie said, reaching out to put a hand affectionately on Miloās shoulder and another hand on Harrodās. "But, since you all want to āwatch over me,ā" he added, sweeping his gaze over Sir Gavin and Lady Isolde as well as Milo and Harrod. "Then watch over me one more time," he said, taking a few steps toward the towering oak tree and placing his hand on its rough bark. "Because I need to send Lady Ashlynn a message..."