Folke ♥︎|| Folkelore

♥︎ 11 ♥︎

A grunt escapes me as Apollo and I twist the anchor down. Apollo chuckles, and I glare at him. With a few more grunts and groans from the both of us, the anchor finally releases and the boat stops.

We walk together, side by side to the row of smaller boats.

"I'll lower you down and then I'll fly down to the boat," I say, grabbing the rope to lower the boat.

Expecting a fight from Apollo, my mind races for comebacks and arguments on why I should be the one to lower the boat, but he just climbs in the boat and looks up at me expectantly. My mouth drops open, but I quickly shut it, grabbing the rope to lower the boat.

It goes by quicker than I thought it would, and soon I'm sitting in the boat across from Apollo, rowing towards shore.

My arms are aching by the time the bottom of the boat brushes the sand. We hop out, each grabbing a side in unison and dragging it up onto the beach. Apollo tucks it into a small ice cave, and I enchant it to make it invisible. We step out of the cave and I take a moment to look around.

Everything is covered in a small layer of ice and snow, yet the air isn't the slightest bit cold. The sky, though early afternoon, is filled with stars and the color is that of a day old bruise. I glance around in awe of the beauty of this court many have never stepped foot in. The cold beauty is unnerving.

"This is incredible," I breathe. "What adventures are waiting in that forest?" I stare ahead at the glittering forest.

"I guess we'll find out." Apollo grins and takes my hand, guiding me to a tiny overgrown trail running through the frostbitten trees. As we walk, I anxiously wait for trolls and other beasts to jump out and attack us. When we've traveled quite some distance, and nothing happens, I leap into the air to take a look around from the sky.

Most of the landscape looks the same, trees covered in frost and snow and small trails weaving together. The silence catches up to me, and I realize there's no birds chattering or insects chirping. The lack of noise is almost deafening.

My wings flap a few times, twitching out of the way when spears and arrows and nets fly out of the air towards me.

"Apollo!" I shout, spinning out of the way.

When there's no snarky reply, I fear the worst. I dive for the ground, a net using my distracted state to take me down the rest of the way. With no way to flap my wings, I tuck them in and hope the fall isn't fatal.

As I hit the ground I hear Apollo call out my name. I tuck and roll, absorbing the impact. Groaning, I push to a sitting position, glancing around to make sure I'm alone.

"Need some saving, Princess?" Apollo asks from behind me.

"No," I growl, slipping my knife from my ankle sheath. I slice through the net and stand, shaking off the net. "Where did they come from?"

"I don't know, but we should continue on before they-"

"Halt!" A disembodied voice demands.

I spin around, my back brushing against Apollo's as we glance around at the seven masked people stepping out of the shadows. Their knives glint in the sunlight, and I swallow hard. In one quick movement, I draw out a small throwing knife and throw at the person closest to me. It lands in a tree with a nice thud.

The people stop circling us, and in unison step in closer.

"I'd love to do this all day, but I'm afraid we must be going," I drawl, my hands moving into a defensive position.

One man laughs, his head shaking. "You're not going anywhere."

I smirk at him, eyes glinting. "Oh really? Who's gonna stop me?"