Esus' gift

Charyic leaned against the staff and sighed. “We’ve come this far. There has to be something marking the right way.”

She watched as Esus approached one of the entrance mouths, lighting it and looking shaking his head in frustration. “We’ll have to look at every one of them to be sure, but there’s nothing here.”

Charyic joined him and then began to laugh. “There is. You just don’t know what you’re looking for. Thief sign is always small and nearly unnoticeable to the untrained eye.”

Esus looked at her and then began scouring the stone with his eyes as she grinned and contemplated pointing it out to him, ultimately deciding against it. Finally, he shook his head and looked back at her, “I see nothing!”

“If you weren’t a Light Bringer, I’d point it out to you.” She came close still smiling and rose on her toes to kiss his cheek to soften the words. “This isn’t the way. Let’s look at the others.” As they moved from entrance mouth to entrance mouth Charyic wondered aloud, “If Cerik’s thief didn’t know of this place, I wonder if it was Cerik who left these here.”

After they had visited them all Esus looked at her, baffled. “Did none of them say which way was out?”

“Two did. There is a main cavern and a side exit.” She looked back at him cautiously. “There is also a shrine, or at least the marking that indicates one along that path.”

“My beauty, I have no intention of destroying or defiling your god’s shrine.” She rewarded his words with a smile.

“Let’s take the side exit. I have a-a feeling.” She watched as Esus smiled his crooked smile.

“I’ll be glad to get out of here. And I-I have something I need to tell you when we do.”

She nodded her head leading him into a dark tunnel. “That sounds ominous.”

He laughed a short sharp laugh. “No. I was,” Esus paused. “I’m allowed to give you a gift, my beauty. I can change you and let you fly with me but there are-” She stopped short and covered his mouth.

“Light out! Now!” She hissed, barely audible. They stood silently in the dark and then she heard it again, the sound of faint voices.

Esus touched her hand and brought it down from his mouth before squeezing it and taking hold. She began to feel in front of her as she had before, this time each soft sound the staff made sounded unbearably loud to her ears. The sounds of voices remained faint, it seemed they were moving away from them, but there was a sound of running water growing louder and Charyic was worried it would drown out the voices until they were right on top of them.

The tunnel began to narrow, but light shone faintly from ahead. The water had become almost deafening. At the end of the narrow tunnel, the light was shining through what seemed to be little more than a hole in the rock just below hip height, barely big enough for Charyic to squeeze through with her belly. Water crashed down next to it, and occasionally into it leaving a pool on the floor below it. There was no way Esus would be able to get through it in his stocky human form.

Charyic had to laugh, rubbing her face and thinking. So close and so far. The bird would fit through, though. She turned back to Esus who was eyeing the dark passage they had just come from and tugged on his sleeve. With a grin, she mimed bird at him.

She laughed as he leaned close and shouted into her ear, “I can’t fly out of that hole!”

Grinning, Charyic mimed a bird being shoved through the hole. Esus blinked and nodded giving her his crooked smile again, this time almost with chagrin.

As he took off his clothes and changed, she kept a watch as best she could down the tunnel. Glancing back to see him just finishing his transformation she took up his bag and clothes wrapping them around her staff before leaning it against the wall by the hole. She had to remember not to open her mouth to mutter about the heavy damned bird as she tried to lift him like a giant chicken to push through the opening.

Had the hole been just a bit higher on the wall she wouldn’t have been able to do it. After pushing him through and giving him a moment to get himself away from the entrance, Charyic used the strap of Esus’ bag to tie the wrapped staff to her hand and pushed it out before trying to pull herself through. She exhaled all of the air from her lungs and still the edge scraped painfully over her belly. The hole was sheltered by jutting stones that kept it from view but the water still splashed over her and into her face occasionally as she worked herself free of it.

Once she was out she peered carefully around the stone on the side. Esus had moved over by the trees and was changing back. Charyic tried to stand, to cross on the wet stones, and nearly lost her footing. Crawling seemed the better option and she did it carefully. Esus helped her up as she moved off of the stones onto the damp earth.

She sighed and looked at the water longingly. She was so thirsty. She let Esus tug her away from the water and she started to offer him his clothes. She was surprised when he refused them and leaned close to her ear that he could speak quietly still so close to the water.

“My beauty, I can change us both. You can fly with me if...” He paused and pulled back looking nervous.

She leaned close as he had done and asked, “If what?”

“They said, ‘Win a kiss from her. Have her put aside the trappings of his station. Take her hands in yours and change. You will not change back and neither will she, as long as the sun shines.'” Esus leaned back and studied her face with his mirrored eyes.

Charyic laughed and shook her head before nodding. “I need to take the staff to Gaelel. After this, it needs to be given as an offering. And leaving it behind for Malav to use against me is not-not something I can do.”

She looked back at Esus who was suddenly thoughtful. “Wrap it. I think I can carry it. But…”

She cut him off with a kiss. “I put aside the trappings of his station, I am not his queen. As far as I am concerned that staff already belongs to the King of Fools.” Charyic grinned at him as he began to blush and tugged at the shirt she was wearing.

She tucked her knife and tools back into his back with his tunic and stripped out of all of her clothes, deciding to leave them, they were after all given to her because of Malav’s orders. Esus took her to the top of an outcropping and took her hands. The feeling of changing was like being scoured with a brush, and she shuddered after it was finished. Esus nudged her to the edge and looked at him as if he were mad.

She watched him flap his wings encouragingly and then tried her own. Madness. But if birds could do it… Charyic flapped and pushed off, leaping into the air half expecting to come crashing down to the ground below. Instead, she made it to a tree. She gripped the branch for dear life and looked back at Esus, who almost looked as if he were laughing.

He looked much more graceful taking flight, even with the staff in his grip. He flew past her and upwards and she beat her wings again and followed.