The Unicorn's Forest

Ralph wasn't sure he liked the way Beth looked when she returned from her walk. Usually she was either calm, angry, annoyed, or troubled about something. He'd never seen her like this. Scared.

"What happened?" he asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the others who had already fallen asleep.

Beth looked around, almost like she was making sure the others were asleep and not listening in. Though, with the slaves that Beth had rescued, the room definitely felt a little cramped.

Beth then looked at Ralph. Her eyes told him that he probably should quickly tell her that he didn't want to know anymore and she should keep it to herself. That he shouldn't have asked in the first place

Yet, he didn't do that. Any of it. He couldn't bring himself to let Beth remain as troubled about whatever happened while she was on her walk. Which also meant that he needed to be willing to listen, no matter how much he knew he didn't want to know what she was going to say.

Then as Beth opened her mouth, it felt like a floodgate of words flowing out at him. Ralph listened as she explained about the encounter she had by a strange kind of monument. About what was said during that conversation as well as what that person did to Beth and how she had started to feel like she was going to die then.

As Beth finished talking, Ralph knew for a fact that he had been correct. He really hadn't wanted to know any of that. Or at least anything beyond the encounter with a stranger who was asking if they would be willing to help them. Everything else was something Ralph really knew he didn't need to know.

However, he could see the relief in Beth's expression as she told him about it all. He was at least happy that he was able to provide that kind of service for his friend, who clearly needed to tell someone about it.

Ralph just wished that it didn't have to be him.

"So, what now?" he asked, not wanting to let Beth know about his thoughts on the matter. "Are you going to go back tomorrow night?"

Beth nodded. "I can't be sure they won't follow us anyway, so I figure, why not?"

"Maybe because they might try to kill you so you can't say anything to anyone?" Ralph asked, not sure if his argument made any sense or not.

"If that's the case, then I really should go back. If they can kill me there, then they could kill all of us on the road. If that happened, then I'd be dragging all of you into this when you don't have to be."

Ralph sighed. One thing he always found annoying about Beth was how she always seemed to want to play the hero and all that, even when she would acknowledge she shouldn't.

"So, you've already made up your mind?" Ralph asked, wondering why he was even asking that in the first place. Of course she had.

"Yeah, I did," Beth said. "Unless they convince me that what they're doing is something I'd be willing to be a part of, I'd rather limit the person in danger to just me. If it's something I could agree to, I'll see about including you, Wes, Tim, Hannah, and Amelia. If I don't agree, then I'll just let them know. I mean, even if they're trying to destroy this country, it's not something I'd choose to be a part of, but it's also not something that I would try to stop. After all this isn't our world, so why should we try to interfere with whatever is happening in this world?"

"Maybe because you already did something like that with buying these slaves that we can't even be sure they would want to be around us," Ralph remarked, a little surprised at how his annoyance was slipping out, despite his best efforts.

Beth merely shrugged like it didn't matter or was essentially water that just slid off her back without even being noticed. "That's different," Beth answered firmly. "They're not likely to affect this world in a significant way, while if the people that person who I ran into tonight wants to destroy this nation, then that would be something rather significant."

Ralph merely shook his head. "Doesn't matter what's likely. Even the poorest child born in the most remote part of a world has potential to do something that will create significant changes. You know, kinda like the chaos theory. About how a butterfly flapping its wings in China can cause an earthquake in South America."

Beth sighed as she put a hand to her head. "You've been talking to Alex, haven't you?" Beth said more than asked, though her tone indicated a question.

"Not at all," Ralph replied completely innocent. "Before we left, I hadn't spoken to Charlie's girlfriend since the Homecoming dance."

Beth rolled her eyes. "You know that's not the 'Alex' I was referring to."

Ralph shrugged. "Maybe, but that's not what matters in the end."

"Anyway," Beth said, clearly not wanting to deal with what Ralph had brought up. "You know Charlie would have wanted to save these people as well. So, just deal with it already, okay?"

"Alright," Ralph said, recognizing that Beth was rather tired and it probably wouldn't be good for him to push her much more right then. "Just one more question, okay?"

Beth looked at Ralph for a moment before nodding. "Alright. What's the question?"

"The slaves you rescued," Ralph said, mostly expecting that Beth wasn't going to give her an actual answer. "What're their names?"

Beth blinked, looking as stunned as Ralph had expected. While Beth could very well have asked them earlier after he'd asked her about that very same subject, he had a feeling that she'd been preoccupied with other things. Just now, her reaction to his question was confirmation about his suspicions. Not that he was really that surprised.

After a minute, Ralph shrugged not wanting to have this drag out longer than necessary. "If you don't know we can always ask them in the morning. After all, it's not like they'll be able to really go anywhere, right?"

Beth nodded, "Though if they do want to go anywhere, I'm not going to stop them. After all, I bought them so they could be safe. If they try to leave on their own, I have a feeling that they'll probably end up as slaves again, but it's still their choice. I'm certainly not going to go look for them if they decide to leave us."

Ralph nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me. It doesn't matter if we know their names if they leave by their own choice."

_

In the morning, Beth didn't expect to get woken up as the sun was still coming up. She heard a pounding on their door. She was pretty sure that the innkeeper wouldn't be bothering them like that, but that didn't stop whoever was pounding on the door.

As she looked around, she felt even more annoyed to see that Ralph and Wes were still sleeping. Like they couldn't hear the pounding or something. Yet at the same time, she knew that she'd already been woken up, so if she didn't head over to see who it was and what it was about, it wasn't likely to stop. Which also meant that she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep before that happened.

The only positive Beth could think of with the current situation was the fact that since they were all sharing a room, she didn't need to change out of her pajamas. She was pretty sure that would create questions she'd rather not have going around if word got out about those. At least right now.

Yawning, Beth got up and opened the door. On the other side of the door was one of the young men that she'd saved from the slave auction the night before. She hadn't thought to take a count of how many were in the room, but it wasn't like she was all that concerned about them at the moment. What did catch her interest was the look of complete panic on his face. She didn't know the circumstances, but she was pretty sure that her altruism the day before was coming back to haunt her.

Not that she completely minded. She just wished it would have come back at a more reasonable hour of the day.

"You have to come quickly!" the young man said frantically before Beth even had the door completely open. "She's in trouble! They're going to take her away!"

Beth suddenly felt a headache coming on. She wished she had more information than the little that she'd been given in that statement. She had an urge to just close the door, but not only did she know she'd feel guilty for not doing anything, but she was confident the young man would just start knocking on the door frantically again.

"Who's in trouble?" Beth asked as another yawn hit her. "And who's going to take her away?"

"She's the one you saved last night!" he replied, making Beth's headache grow even worse. "She took your purse and a bag of the food you'd gotten and was heading out the gate of the city when it first opened when someone said that she's a slave that's running away."

Beth sighed. "Take me to her," she said, feeling like this should be someone else's problem, but wondering if she should have seen something like this coming regardless. Briefly she wished she had Flare with her.

The young man's expression shifted to one of relief, though Beth thought that might be a little premature. She wasn't sure what to expect with these things, but she didn't expect it was going to be quite that simple.

"Why did she take my purse?" Beth asked when they were leaving the inn. She wondered if she should have realized that one of them might try to take it. Though, it wasn't like they couldn't have gotten more anyway.

"Because we knew we'd need money if we were to try to get back to our homes," came the answer.

Beth nodded, not really surprised at the response. Main reason she had wondered why she hadn't thought her money might have been in danger.

Though, as they continued on to whichever gate the problem was at, she couldn't think of anything else to say. She wasn't sure if there would be anything she could do. She wasn't sure about the laws in this country, but she did have an idea that might work. After all, she did 'buy' the person who was in trouble. She doubted that people in this country would try to renege on things like that. Because if they tried, eventually word would get around and then they'd really start to lose business.

As she reached the gate, she saw a crowd had started to form, even at this early hour. Although, as Beth looked around, she could see that there was already a people already starting to move about than she would have expected at this time. Beth was at least glad that it wasn't a large enough crowd to make it difficult for her to reach the center of the dispute. Which seemed to mostly be resolved with the young woman having been chained up to the side of the guard house, other than the looky loos hanging around.

In total there seemed to be seven guards at the gate, most of which were doing what Beth had come to think of as their job, with checking people who were trying to enter or leave the city. Most of which were still allowed to pass through the gate without problem. Though, occasionally there would be someone who would be refused entry based on some reason or another that Beth wasn't aware of.

"Do we get to brand her or does it have to be the auction people?" one of the young guards asked, her expression looking much more eager than Beth liked. This guard didn't seem to be at the usual place for the guards, but rather seemed to be set to watch the young woman.

"It's up to them," an older woman replied, who was leaning against the wall to the door of the guardhouse, stroking her well kept beard. "Though, you can ask if they'll let you when they get here."

"I want to brand her right here," the eager guard said, pointing to the back of the young woman's neck. "That way she won't be able to cover it with the clothing she somehow got."

"She got it because I gave it to her," Beth said loud enough to be heard by everyone as she got close to the guards. She figured since this had already become a spectacle, she might make it clear that this wasn't over yet.

"And who would you be?" the older woman asked looking at Beth.

"I would be the person who bought her," Beth announced, not bothering to hide her irritation and annoyance. She looked at the older guard and gauged by an insignia on her tunic over her left breast that she was the person in charge of these guards.

"No you didn't," the younger guard accused. "I saw her at the auction. No one bought her."

Beth turned her attention to the younger guard. "And whatever side deals are made after that in regards to the slaves are none of your concern," Beth snapped, doing her best to sound as arrogant as she could. She wanted to make it clear that she didn't appreciate having to show up personally here right then.

"You're saying that you bought her after the auction was over?" the older guard asked suspiciously.

Beth nodded, yawning. "You can ask them when they get here," Beth said. "I purchased her with a few others as well as the clothing that she's wearing now."

Beth looked at the young woman who was chained for a moment, as if she was looking at livestock. Though, she couldn't help but feel bad as they young woman looked at Beth with a mixture of despair and hope. Beth wished she could reassure her that things would be alright, but she didn't think that it would look good for her to do so right then.

Looking back at the eager guard, Beth kept her gaze neutral, despite how she'd like to just use her magic to let this guard know what it was like to be helpless. Something she was pretty sure this guard took pleasure in making others feel.

"She did say that she was on some business or other of her owner's," the younger guard commented. "But she wouldn't say what it was."

Beth nodded, wondering how long it'd be before the people from the auction would arrive. She wanted to have this done and over with as soon as possible. "So what?" Beth asked. "As far as I can tell, she followed my instructions to the letter. Including not telling anyone what the business was." Beth then smiled, chuckling a little, despite not finding anything funny. "Besides, why else would I give her so much money for this business if it wasn't important to me?"

The older guard nodded, as if she understood what Beth was getting at. "We did find her with a purse full of coins. Are you saying those were yours?"

Beth nodded without missing a beat. "Since my property clearly wasn't able to accomplish what I sent her out to do, I'll want that back when this is all resolved," Beth said, starting to feel rather impatient.

Even though she didn't care that the young woman essentially tried to rob her, she was more upset that she ha been woken up this early because of this mess. A mess that she felt shouldn't have happened in the first place. Although, given what little she could tell about the slave auction, she could see the logic behind all of this, as she accepted that those who were involved in the slave trade here wouldn't just want their slaves deciding to leave if they felt like it.

"Or maybe you were the one who helped her escape," the eager guard said, her gaze turning hungry as she looked at Beth. "I wouldn't be surprised if you helped her escape. It wouldn't be the first time someone did that."

Beth looked at her, doing what she could to communicate how she didn't find that accusation amusing in the slightest. "And what'll you do if they acknowledge that I bought her? Will you apologize or can I brand you for shooting your mouth off when you should have kept quiet?"

The guard's eyes widened in outrage. Which was exactly what Beth was going for. She'd love an excuse to throw down with the guard. One that would at least reduce, if not eliminate altogether, any consequences of doing just that.

"Enough!" the older guard snapped, her eyes flashing a warning to both Beth and the eager guard. "Rookie, if you keep up going like that, you know that doesn't reflect well on the rest of us. I don't care if you just started. If you don't stop I'll let the others do what they want to you at lunch if you don't shut it. You know they've been itching to get you back for yesterday." The guard then turned to face Beth. "I acknowledge what you've said. Wait here quietly until this is sorted out and I won't do anything to you when this is over. However, if you don't stop provoking my guards, then I'll have to take you into custody. You can at least spend a night thinking over how to keep your temper under control."

Beth nodded. She couldn't say that she was surprised at this. It made sense for the guards to have ways to keep others under control. Besides, the look on the eager guard's face at the threat from the one in charge was more than worth it. Beth was fine with waiting and staying quiet. She still wanted to reassure the young woman, but she suspected that if she approached her, she'd probably make things worse.