1:4
Lotte loved to walk in the woods, and loved to hunt as well. This surprised few people about her. There was something about being in the woods, doing a physical task. It was as if she wasn't Lotte, daughter of two parents, with all sorts of duties, all sorts of fears, all sorts of expectations. She could be anyone, anyone at all, she didn't have to be Lotte, she could just be some hunter out of some story. When she was younger, when she wandered the forest with rather less purpose, she'd always liked to play pretend, thinking she was one of those folk religious heroes her mother told her about with breathless enthusiasm.
She'd pretend to be Maurice of the North, a priest who had warned of a coming invasion and saved thousands centuries ago, or Tancred the Tall, a brave warrior who had been as pious as he was--in her mother's rather gleeful tales--skilled in violence, or--
Lotte blinked, realizing that another hero she'd pretended to be, especially when she was younger, was Aldrich the Ant, noted for being a dwarf and yet stronger than any man. He'd wrestled other men to the ground and gained their submission by his strength, and since she'd been a child, she'd liked to imagine that she had some sort of kinship with him. Which was silly, because he was a warrior, and a man, and she'd been some scrap of a girl.
Still, she wished that this Aldrich was anything as honorable and amusing as that Aldrich.
She wandered a little, noting the sound of birdsong, mapping out where they were if she wanted to hunt them. She didn't think she'd have time, not after last night had gone so well. She'd been able to pray, and she'd carved out a whistle, just in case Lisbeth wanted it. It was a small one, more something you'd blow to alert someone of trouble, but she'd tested it out, gone south of the village instead of north, and given it a blow.
It had sounded...fine. Lotte liked music well enough, but she wasn't going to pretend to know much about it.
She smiled and almost whistled, though she wasn't going to. Not when she was getting so close to Aldrich's camp. She wanted another chance to talk to Lisbeth, and not just because she hoped to convince her to stop Aldrich from hurting anyone if need be. No, she thought that she and Lisbeth could be friends, and she even felt faint stirrings of…
She knew it was attraction. But just because she hunted and knew the birds and beasts didn't mean she had to act like one. She barely knew the other girl, and it was rude besides, as rude as if Lotte had been trying to get Lisbeth to hurt Aldrich. Rude and selfish.
Lotte wasn't rude, or selfish… or at least, she tried not to be! She was supposed to be a good girl, and even if she'd fallen down in so many areas, tripped and stumbled on all the deep-rooted requirements in the human forest…
She could do that much, at least.
As she got closer to the camp, she ground to a stop, wondering if Aldrich would have found a way to guard the camp, now that he knew there were people working against him. So she thought about rats, wandering the area, ready to run and squeak the moment they saw, or even more importantly, smelled, anything.
She frowned and rolled around in the grass and dirt for a moment.
Lotte had stared in naked envy when a merchant had come by with a bottle of scent-blocker, specially enchanted for hunters. But the cost had been egregious, and she'd been far too skilled to need it, at least against the regular animals Lotte had set herself against. It'd been enough to make sure she wasn't blowing her scent on the wind to the deer, and to watch their patterns and learn how they thought and acted.
After a moment, she decided to go from tree to tree, and climbed up one, moving from one middle branch to another, glad that the forest, even this short in, was thick enough for it. She suspected the rats would all be on the ground, after all.
She occasionally had to walk, but for the most part she kept as safe as she could. It wasn't too windy today, so the tree wouldn't sway enough to hurt her accuracy, if it came down to that.
When she reached the camp, she saw that Aldrich was up and about. So was Lisbeth. Both of them were going about their routines, Aldrich yawning and stretching every so often.
Which would make sense, since it was barely half an hour past daybreak.
Aldrich looked a little less impressive in the morning, a bit less like a hero, and Lotte thought she could see the signs of age slowly gathering in his face, like the forest in the late fall, where every day brought a little more of winter's chill.
It happened to everyone, but Lotte had to admit she was not feeling particularly charitable towards Aldrich.
They had a light breakfast, bread and some cheese and little else, and then Aldrich announced, "Lisbeth, make sure there's not an attack. I have a matter to look into, and will be back for dinner at noon."
"Yes, Master," Lisbeth said.
"In the meantime, practice your scales, I suppose," Aldrich said, already distracted by whatever he had planned. There was an odd sort of look on his face, closed up and yet triumphant.
He left in quite a hurry, and Lotte almost went after him. But what if he had better defenses than expected, or some way of telling where Lotte was. Certainly, whatever he was doing would have to be as secretive as possible.
As soon as she was sure he was gone, she dropped down. Lisbeth's head snapped over, and with wide eyes she backed up a few steps, glancing over at the tree Lotte had jumped from as if it had betrayed her. Lotte resolved not to hide in that same tree again, in case Lisbeth was on guard for that.
For the moment, it was enough to hold up her hands as she walked forward. "Lisbeth, I wanted to talk to you."
-She was stiff, and that was reflected in her ears and tail, both of which seemed far too still for their own good. Lisbeth finally nodded, "What is it?"
"I just wanted to… talk. And give you this." She pulled out the tiny little whistle and handed it over. It was rough, she knew, but it worked, for all that.
Lisbeth looked down at it, tail starting to move again. "Thank you. So, what do you want to talk about?"
Lotte's mind was startlingly blank as she tried to figure out what. "Oh, well. Did you have any questions for me?"
"I suppose I want to know if you were behind the headman's declaration… but of course you were," Lisbeth said. "Aldrich was hopping mad."
"He… hops?" Lotte asked.
"No, he doesn't," Lisbeth said. Her face was blank, but her ears were oddly pink, like a blush, and her whiskers were twitching.
"Oh. It's a figure of speech," Lotte realized, feeling silly. But then, she wasn't sure how she was talking, because her brain wasn't quite engaging right at all. Instead, she wanted to… impress Lisbeth somehow. "Well, so, your Master…"
"I hope nobody gets hurt," Lisbeth admitted. "But I don't know anymore. I haven't seen him this angry in a long time. He wasn't that angry even when I stole his pipe to try to practice."
"You stole his pipe?" Lotte asked.
"Just to practice. He had it made just for him," Lisbeth said. "It can play notes that humans can't hear."
Lotte's eyes widened, well aware of just how valuable that would be. It'd make it possible to stealthily control rats, as long as nobody could see you. "And…"
"I dropped it. It was fine, but he was so angry he whupped me so hard I couldn't sit for a week," Lisbeth said. Her whiskers flared up, like hackles. "But it taught me a lesson."
"It still seems cruel. I'm sorry I made him angry, and I hope it doesn't… doesn't hurt you as well."
"Do you? Why?" Lisbeth asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Because I think you're a good person," Lotte insisted. "I don't want you hurt. But… even bad people, it's hard to imagine wanting to hurt them."
"You're something," Lisbeth said, thoughtfully. "How did you get to be such a good shot, and so sneaky?"
"I spent much of my childhood and teenage years in the forest," Lotte said. "It's familiar to me. Comfortable." Lotte bit her lip, deciding against talking about how it was the only place she felt entirely comfortable, as if people weren't expecting too much from her. She didn't know whether it'd make her sound odd.
She adjusted her hat, not sure what to do about the instinct that told her that it wasn't something she should talk about. It wasn't unusual, but that's just… how she felt.
"I suppose I get that," Lisbeth said, with the barest hint of a smile. "There's not a place like that for me. There are moments I feel comfortable, but I travel around a lot."
"Then you carry your heart with you," Lotte said, repeating what her mother had said. "There is nothing wrong with that, either."
"Maybe. Aldrich says Rat Pipers are outcasts, but they can make good coin."
"Do you want to be a Rat Piper?" Lotte asked.
"What do you mean, do I want to be a Rat Piper?" Lisbeth asked. Her tail was swishing back and forth, and her ears curling back against her hair dangerously.
"You said that Aldrich hurts the rats he controls, sometimes? If his Master did that, what if that's just what… Rat Pipers do."
"Then I'll be a Rat Piper who doesn't," Lisbeth said, cooly, looking at Lotte with suspicion. "I can do that, you know?"
Lotte nodded. "I'm… I'm glad. And I'm sorry that you're caught in the middle of all of this. Aldrich, and the farmer…"
"Both so stubborn," Lisbeth groused, face scrunching up.
"Yes. But one of them… one of them's doing more," Lotte said. "Aldrich's gotten his coin, anyways. He could just take it as a little annoyance in life, like being shorted a little on occasion by a traveling merchant."
"Did you get many, if you're around here?" Lisbeth asked, relaxing. "This place is in the middle of nowhere."
"No, not many. And some had the oddest things. Witch offerings. Potions. My father bought one that was supposed to help thicken his hair, and it didn't work. He didn't lose anything he wasn't willing to throw away on a guess, but--"
Lisbeth giggled. "Are you sure it just didn't work on guys?"
"Mom tried it in her hair, and I dabbed some on my face," Lotte said, feeling the grin steal across her, though also an uncertainty. "Just to see what it did. I don't even know if Witches can do something like that--"
"I think they can? Aldrich had some for a while. Has some, actually," Lisbeth said. "If it's the sort of tonic you're talking about. But then, he lives well."
Lotte looked around the rather normal looking campsite skeptically.
"He just ties it up in small things, and favors," Lisbeth explained. "He's known for that. He always keeps his word. He knows what he's owed."
Lotte tried not to say anything, or let it show on her face, but Lisbeth looked at her skeptically. "That's a good thing, in a mixed-up world. So many are cruel. They'd have hurt me if it wasn't for Aldrich. I'm a rat-girl, after all."
Lotte nodded, though she wasn't sure. She knew there was cruelty, but surely nobody could want to hurt someone like Lisbeth, who hadn't been doing them any harm at all? "I'm sorry."
"You haven't done anything to hurt me. Not yet," Lisbeth added, as if that were important to say.
"I hope I don't," Lotte admitted. "And... "
"What?" Lisbeth tilted her head, just slightly, her ears twitching forward a little as if straining to hear.
"Is there anything else I can do?" Lotte asked. "While I'm here."
"Well, I have to practice music," Lisbeth said. "Or I should, at least. You could listen, I suppose. But you have to leave here before he gets back."
Lotte nodded, eager to hear her voice. She had little doubt it was beautiful. It was hard to imagine it being otherwise. So she found somewhere to sit down on the grass, somewhere already pushed down by footsteps, so that there wouldn't be any sign of her presence.
She had to look up at Lisbeth, which was a different perspective, to say the least. Her nose looked different, at once more prominent and… cuter. Especially with the whiskers surrounding it, like the delicate movements of the priests' quill, writing things she could barely understand. They were like call...i… grafy. Or whatever it was. Lotte was well aware that her thoughts weren't entirely coherent, but she'd managed to string words together so far.
So that'd have to be enough.
Lisbeth sung at first, and then played the whistle, as inadequate as it was. In neither case were there words, just humming and noises, some higher and some lower. Lisbeth's voice was clear and rather pretty. It wasn't as beautiful as some of the best birdsong Lotte had ever heard, but then again, what singing could be? It was enjoyable, and Lotte allowed herself to relax through a half-dozen songs, before just as suddenly Lisbeth stopped.
"It… doesn't always help me, but the more complex the song, the more complex the magic you can do with it. I want to learn to do magic that lets me be a Rat Piper without… hurting them."
Lotte nodded, pulling herself up. She realized that she had to leave soon, even though she didn't want to at all. She was just sorry that she had far less to show off than Lisbeth. She worked with her hands, she hunted, she didn't exactly… even the whittling wasn't nearly as impressive as singing. But Lotte didn't say that. That'd be rude, it'd be whining of the exact sort her parents would have been ashamed to hear from her. So instead she stretched for a moment. "I should be going. But your voice was nice."
"Nice?" Lisbeth asked, her face a little flushed.
"Very good," Lotte corrected, embarrassed.
"I… I'll try to trust that you mean it. Do you want to… meet again?"
Lisbeth hesitated with each word, but Lotte didn't at all. "How about tonight, after he's asleep?"
Lisbeth thought about it for almost a full minute, her tail and ears twitching every so often. She reached up to scratch one of them for a moment, and then nodded. "Yes. I don't think he's going to be doing much tonight."
"Should I come four hours after nightfall?"
"Three," Lisbeth said. "If that is okay with you?"
"I should be able to do that," Lotte said, stepping carefully so as to leave as few signs as possible of her arrival.
On the way back, her mood was good, and she whistled and left a small stick offering to the local Waldherz.
********
"Thank you for helping out," Hilda said.
Lotte looked at the stream, the same stream that kept on going all the way to her village. That itself was frustrating in a way, that she was still doing some of the same chores she'd done before. It hadn't changed yet, and these weren't the kinds of adventures that people liked telling stories about.
But Hilda had laundry to do, and she was afraid of being attacked. So Lotte had come, in full gear… but then decided that the real odds of attack were pretty low. So instead she was helping to hold the wooden board flat, or doing the work of washing and scrubbing it with the flat, stick-like washing bat. It was all hard work, but she'd done it plenty of times before. Life was hard work, and she didn't shy away from it. There was less than there might have been with a larger family, and once she got into it, she looked over at Hilda, who was half-distracted glancing at her.
"You're not like most young girls I see," Hilda added, biting her lip. She didn't have soap, not even the rough kind that Lotte was used to, and so they were just hoping that the cool water would do enough. "You're rougher. But nicer."
"Nicer?" Lotte asked.
"I… I was a young girl, not that long ago." Hilda looked older than ever, hunched over her work, though she was clearly in better health than her husband. "My father was… can you promise not to judge me?"
"I promise," Lotte said. "We're in this together, a Wilfhuld's pack trying to keep this from falling to pieces."
She believed it. She wanted Aldrich to leave, without hurting anyone, including Lisbeth. Even if it meant never seeing Lisbeth again, it was better than imagining Aldrich killing someone, and then the village trying to hunt him down. He could do it. You had to have keen eyes, when you hunted. Lotte was sure she could see the signs that he'd kill if he thought he had the right reasons, all over him. The dismissive way he acted, the violence he'd already inflicted. Maybe he wasn't all bad. Surely he wasn't some monster who hurt others because he liked causing misery. But his pride was going to get someone killed, and it probably wasn't going to be him.
Or not him first.
"Well, my father was the village drunk. He wasn't anyone worth knowing, and I had nothing worth having. But Freidrich married me. He didn't have much, but he had more than I did. And he's hard sometimes, but he's more the man to sulk or yell than to beat his wife bloody," Hilda said, in a quiet voice. "It's more than I have any right to ask."
Lotte wondered at it.
Lisbeth felt about the same.
Lotte… never had, not quite? But then maybe if her parents were crueler she'd have to make excuses for them. "Oh," Lotte said.
"Those eyes, though. They're familiar." Hilda kept on working, and it was almost a minute before she said. "But everything you're doing, I'm thankful for it."
"You're welcome," Lotte said. "I've been trying to… figure out what to do. I'll protect the house, but Aldrich has only two more days after this before he's expected to be gone. He's going to do something soon, and when he does I don't know how I'll keep everyone safe."
"Oh, dear. You see, it's, you know… nobody's ever safe." It was as if Hilda had been trying to chew and swallow the words, but like a bad piece of meat, finally had to spit it out.
Lotte nodded. "I know."
Life wasn't safe. People died every year, and it was remarkable how an oxen could step on a foot, or a person could stumble drunk into a ditch one winter night…
And she hadn't seen the worst of it in her eighteen summers.
"You're good, though. Or at least, polite, to listen to an old woman blather."
Lotte smiled. "Not that old."
"Maybe." Hilda sighed, and got back to work.
There was always plenty to do.
*******
You had to go slow through the woods at night. There was no way to rush it, and rushing would just get you killed. So instead, you walked, and enjoyed the night.
Lotte certainly did. Sometimes she'd wonder at where the line was, between boldness and stupidity. The forest at night was no place to go, as deep as she'd gone before.
Now, though?
It wasn't much. She crept up and around, careful to make sure not to be easy to find, and eventually came upon the camp. Aldrich was nowhere to be seen, but his tent was pinned up, so no doubt he was inside.
Lisbeth, on the other hand, was waiting where the fire had been, her foot poking at the ashes from the fire.
There was a break in the tree cover, and the half-full moon spread down its silvery rays on her, highlighting her tense ears, her stiff body, but also her dark, powerful looking eyes and the control she held herself with.
Lotte's heart raced to look at her, even though they'd known each other for… no time at all. Perhaps Lotte fell too easily, as the moon falls upon all who are within its gaze, no matter who they were.
The tail was at once strange and yet… something. Lotte blinked, shook her head, tried not to wax too poetic, considering there was nothing of poetry in her soul any more than she could stand to read for more than a few minutes at a time.
Lotte slipped down, hands out again, repeating the same actions she'd done before, but from another direction. That was to say: hands up, out of the way, waiting.
Lisbeth nodded, the gesture stiff, and moved. This time they were going to go off a little.
Lotte should have noticed that something was wrong. It was all about instincts: sometimes she just knew when a hunt was going to go badly. There was that same feeling about Lisbeth, but Lotte didn't even really notice it, not until after the fact.
Once they were far enough away, Lisbeth asked, "What do you want?"
"What? You said to meet," Lotte said, tilting her head.
"I mean, what's all this for, pretending to be nice to me. You want something. I already know some of it, warning of my Master's plans. My Master, who has raised me for eight years, but what else?"
Her voice was calm, but her ears were flat, her tail flicking like a whip, threateningly.
Lotte bit her lip, "I… I don't know. I didn't really have anything much planned, just trying to get your help to stop this from falling apart."
"You were hired by that farmer who hates me," Lisbeth said. "That's surely not all he wants. How can I trust anything you've been saying?"
"I haven't…" Lotte began, though she understood where this was coming from, almost. "Were you… how…"
"I thought about it. Then thought about it some more." Lisbeth had this tendency to spread out her emotions, to show them in ears and tail and whiskers as much as in face, and never in voice.But in that moment her voice grew cold and raised, an angry, killing wind. It was enough to let Lotte know that somehow she'd really messed up. "He plays for me sometimes, you know. I can hear the pitches only rats can hear. I helped him practice, but then sometimes he'd just play for me and I'd almost fall asleep, the music was so nice. He's not… what do you think about Aldrich. Tell me?"
She wasn't yelling. Not quite. But her voice had raised up a bit, and Lotte took a breath. "I think he's proud, and his pride lets him be cruel and justify it. Cruel, if not to you, than to Freidrich and Hilda." Lotte gulped, aware that this wasn't going to be a popular answer. "He's not necessarily a bad person, but if he lets his anger and hurt drive him like that… someone's going to suffer, and it might be you. Or the family, or myself. And it probably will be him as well. If he just left, with you, moved onto the next place, none of this would be necessary. I don't want it to come down to violence, or heartache."
"You… you're lying," Lisbeth said. "Or… you're aiming for something else. I'll keep on trusting you and you'll tell me to steal his Pipe." She wasn't listening, didn't seem ready to, and Lotte didn't know what to do about it.
It hurt her, that Lisbeth didn't trust her, but why should she?
Lotte had been kind so far, but…
"Lisbeth, I know it doesn't mean anything right now, but I don't want to hurt you, and I don't want to turn you against Aldrich."
"Don't you?" Lisbeth asked, pointedly.
The truth was, she had a point, Lotte thought, leaning against the tree. She hadn't intended for Lisbeth to betray Aldrich, but she had wanted Lisbeth to realize that Aldrich's goals were going to hurt everyone and that he needed to back off. But she'd seemed to agree before, and Lotte wondered at the 'thinking' she'd done.
It reminded her of Arndt, the way he'd sometimes seem to build up a head of steam in his own head, until at last it exploded outwards in drunken rants. It hadn't been his fault, she had… she hadn't gone with him, and if she had maybe he'd be uninjured. There was truth to his anger, just like there was to Lisbeth's. But there was that same isolation, that same lack of feedback that allowed the hurt to build and build and build--
It was like a sprain, some debilitating pain, to realize that there was nothing she could do. She had no idea how to help Arndt, and she couldn't help Lisbeth with this. They shouldn't feel the same, after all she'd known Arndt for years, not days. But there was that same inability to…
And of course, Lisbeth couldn't read her mind, saw the pain and assumed that it must be guilt. "That's what I thought."
"No," Lotte said. "That's not why I--"
"You should leave," Lisbeth said, quietly, making up her mind.
"I will," Lotte said. "But it's not because you're right about this. It's because your fears aren't anything I can... "
She trailed off, and Lisbeth opened her mouth to speak, but Lotte, her heart torn in two, spoke first. "I can't make you not afraid, I can't stop you from distrusting my intentions, even when I know they're not what you think they are. That's why I… flinched."
Lisbeth nodded, though as if she'd merely written down her words somewhere, as if she were some scribe in court, ready to read them back to prove Lotte's guilt.
Lotte should have gone back.
It'd be the right thing to do.
But Lotte… was an Adventurer, and had a mission. So instead she looped around and snuck into somewhere at least a little close to the camp.
Lisbeth was there, pacing, her tail swishing as she did. She glanced over at the tree Lisbeth had been at before, and then in the direction she'd come from, and then she knocked on the tent.
Aldrich came out groaning. "What is it, 'beth?" he asked, blinking. Then he seemed to see her guilt, or something, because his eyes narrowed. "What. Is. It?"
"The adventurer came to talk to me."
"She… came to," Aldrich said, but then saw something on her face. "Not for the first time. And you talked back?!"
"I… a little," Lisbeth said.
In a sudden fury, Aldrich wrapped a hand tight around Lisbeth's throat. Lotte moved to grab an arrow and… and do something, but Aldrich stopped himself, and let her go.
She was breathing heavily, though a second of constriction couldn't have left her breathless. But she had to be shocked.
"I'm sorry, 'Beth. You just made me so angry. I thought you'd betrayed me, but you could never do that, right?" He asked it in a voice as sweet as sap, stroking her hair as he did.
"No, Master," Lisbeth said, her voice trembling.
"So what did she talk about, this adventurer? What lies did she tell you?"
"That… she said that your pride would get someone hurt, that there had to be some way to stop anything from dying, or… she was worried, but she was also lying," Lisbeth said. "I know she was lying. You'd never hurt them for something like that!"
"Of course I wouldn't," Aldrich said, though his face was a mask, and his voice so sweet that Lotte thought it sounded fake.
Yet Lisbeth relaxed, seemed to take some comfort from the words, from proof in her mind that she was right to distrust Lotte, to trust Aldrich.
"I thought so, Master," Lisbeth said.
"Yet you doubted me."
"I'm sorry Master."
"There will be a punishment waiting for you, later," Aldrich growled. "But I'm just glad I didn't lose you."
This time his voice didn't sound as fake to Lotte's ears. She even heard some of the same tone she heard in her father's voice, there. Was she imagining that?
"You couldn't," Lisbeth said.
"You should go talk to this girl again, tomorrow morning," Aldrich said.
"What?"
"Lie to her. Tell her about an attack that's not going to happen, find a way to distract her. Perhaps set her up for some sort of ambush, so I can get her out of the way." Aldrich said it with glee, but Lisbeth was clearly nervous and clearly failing to hide it. "I think you can do that. I won't kill her. I just need to not have to deal with some crazed hunter for a while. She threatened me, you saw it. So, just go to her tomorrow morning. I'll have lies for you to tell, and we can… deal with her. Together. Master and Apprentice."
Lisbeth nodded, clearly trying to push through her doubts.
"Now," Aldrich finished. "You should probably get to sleep. I've got to set up better guards if she's found out where we are."
As soon as her back was turned, Aldrich's face slipped into something darker and more frustrated as he looked at Lisbeth. Then he sighed, shook his head, and went back to his business.
Lotte…
Lotte didn't know what to do.
What does she do about Lisbeth?
[] At the meeting tomorrow morning, confront her about having overheard it. Perhaps it won't make her like Lotte. After all, Lotte would have to admit she spied on Lisbeth. But, she had to do something, couldn't let Lisbeth do this to her. And herself.
[] Don't confront Lisbeth. Instead, pretend to be fooled, try to get information out of her, knowing all of it was going to be false. Perhaps it could make Aldrich think that she was fooled, that she wouldn't be a threat.
[] Tell someone about Lisbeth's plans. It'd be… betraying her, in a way, but perhaps backup could help Lotte captured her, or… something. Find a way to get people involved, and aware of the attack that would no doubt come soon.
*******
A/N: Well, this was pretty long by the standards of this Quest. Hopefully not too long.
