Chapter 65 - from out of the mist: part 2

146.
"That's strange," said Niall as he glanced out the window beside his girlfriend's bed.

"What?" asked the fiery-haired girl, a hint of trepidation in her voice.

"I can hardly see anything; the whole town is covered in mist. A proper pea-soup too."

Faye drew a deep breath, for a moment she just sat there on her bed, a mass of naked flesh wrapped up in a warm blanket.

"Sweetie..." she said at last.

"Yes?" Niall turned to look at her.

"I just want to say, thank you for today, for all this. It was all I could've ever wanted. I wish we could stay this way forever, you and I."

Niall stopped a moment to appreciate his girlfriend's beauty. With her wide butt and flabby thighs spreading like cushions over her bed, she looked like a soft beanbag chair of a woman. Surrounded as she was by empty plates and wrappers, with her chin and chest still smeared with a few sticky crumbs of food, she was the most perfect pig he'd ever seen.

"Well," he grinned, "in that case, why don't we?"

Faye didn't answer him; she just smiled and sadly shook her head.

"I've been so selfish," she said. "I should've told you everything as soon as my memory returned. You deserve to understand what's going to happen tonight, but now there's no time. I'm so sorry."

Niall furrowed his brow. Faye's seemed as serious as he'd ever seen her.

"Sweetie, what are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry," Faye shook her head, "there's no time to explain. Right now, I need you to listen to me and do exactly what I say. Can you do that?"

Niall was quiet a moment. Faye was looking expectantly at him, her gaze so steady and clear.

"Of course," he nodded.

"Good." Faye reached over to her nightstand and grabbed her ring. "First, put this on. It should've grown enough to fit you while I still had the power to make it keep up with me. So long as you're wearing it, they won't sense you. It might even give you some protection from the mist, if you're careful."

Niall took the ring and, though he didn't understand a word his girlfriend was saying, put it on without a thought. The little trinket wasn't big enough for his ring-finger, but it seemed to fit his pinkie pretty well.

"Now," Faye continued, "when they come you'll need to hide. Whatever you do, you mustn't let them see you. No matter what happens, you must stay where you are, and, most importantly, you mustn't, under any circumstances, leave this room or this house. Do you understand?"

Niall furrowed his brow. "I'm sorry, but who are 'they', exactly?"

"Sweetie," Faye repeated, "do you understand?"

Niall paused, and then nodded. "Yes, I understand."

"Good," Faye smiled at him - a nervous, frightened smile.

"Could you look out the window for me?" she asked. "They'll be here any minute now."

"Alright," said Niall, turning to the window. "What am I supposed to be..."

Gliding soundlessly down the street outside, Niall saw a carriage unlike any he'd ever seen - an elegant wagon pulled by a train of massive deer with great big antlers. It looked almost to be made of living wood, as though several thin trees had been grown to intertwine into the shape of a carriage-body and placed on wheels. Beside this wagon, on the backs of more great deer, rode four warriors in light armour made of the same metal as the ring on his finger.

The carriage drew to a halt outside the bakery. The warriors dismounted, one headed over to open the carriage door, from which stepped a most extraordinary woman. Niall couldn't make her out entirely through the mist, but she was tall, that much was sure, with long fiery hair that reached all the way to her bare feet and followed like the trail of a bridal gown behind her.

"So, they've come," said Faye, seeing the look on Niall's face. "Now, quickly, hide!"

"Where?" asked Niall, confusedly.

Faye's eyes darted around the room. "Under the bed! Hurry!"

Niall crawled under Faye's bed. Downstairs, the bell above the bakery's door tinkled to announce the arrival of a set of unusual visitors. Though most of them were clad in armour, the old stairs didn't creak under their feet. There wasn't a single sound from outside until the door on the other end of the room suddenly slid open and six pairs of feet came heading straight towards Faye's bed, thin wisps of sparkling mist following in their wake.

The first four of these were hidden under plates of pale metal, while the fifth were bare and slight, unblemished by age or dirt. The sixth, and last, pair, however, were by far the strangest. For, though they were the size of human feet, if not slightly larger, they were shaped like those of a bird. At the sight of them, Niall let out an involuntary gasp. Fortunately, the visitors didn't seem to hear him. For a moment, he thought he was safe, but then the bird-being stopped and bent down to look under the bed. Though his feet were bird-like, his face - surrounded by a silky mane of black hair - was human. His features were fine enough that they could have passed for effeminate if his chin and cheekbones hadn't been so sharp. For a moment, the birdman looked straight at Niall, his lips forming a slight smile.

"Raven," a commanding, feminine voice rang through the room, "what are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing," said the birdman in a sing-song voice, heavily laced with irony. "I thought I heard something, but it turns out I was wrong."

"For once, can you keep your foolery to yourself?" said the bare-footed woman. "This is neither the time nor the place for your games."

"As you wish, dear lady," said the birdman and Niall could hear the smirk on his face.

"Now, as for you," the bare-footed woman shifted her feet in Faye's direction, "you will come with us this instant, and we'll see if we can't find a way to deal with this whole... situation."

"But mom..." protested Faye, her voice suddenly petulant and childish.

"I'll have none of that," said the bare-footed woman, who was apparently Faye's mother. "Just look at you, my poor girl. I tried to warn you, I told you what the human world would do to you, but did you listen to me? No, and look at you now. Get on your feet, we're leaving right this moment. I'll make sure you never set foot here again."

"But..."

&quo t;My dear," the bare-footed woman cut Faye off, "you know I can make you do as I tell you, but I think we'd both prefer it didn't come to that. So, just get that fleshy meat-body on its feet already!"

For one long, excruciating moment Faye's room was quiet. Then, the bed above Niall groaned as the hefty girl did as her mother had told her. Without so much as a word, he watched Faye's cellulite riddled thighs waddle out the door, following in her mother's light and elegant footsteps. For the next couple of seconds, his mind raced trying to process all he'd just heard. He supposed, deep down, he'd always known Faye was no ordinary girl. But right now, that didn't matter. What mattered was that they were going to take her away, from this place and from him. They, whoever 'they' were, were taking her off to wherever it was she was from, and he was never going to see her again.

At that moment, Niall forgot all that Faye had told him. He couldn't let her go; he couldn't let them take her. Without stopping to think he rushed out from under the bed and flew down the creaking stairs and out into the street.

He was too late. The wooden carriage had already set off, but he couldn't give up now. Though he knew it was futile, he shouted for it to stop. He ran after it, bellowing Faye's name, but it just sped on. The warriors riding on their deer beside it didn't even so much as turn their heads to look at him.

Niall kept running, breathing in great lungfuls of glittering mist. His head started to feel so very heavy, his limbs seemed to lose all their strength. His mind yearned for the sweet release of sleep. Even so, he ran on as his powerless legs begged him to stop. Far away, the carriage that'd taken Faye raced up to the stone circle atop Auberlynne Hill and vanished, without a trace, into a bright beam of solid moonlight.

By the time Niall reached the foot of the hill, the beam had faded, and his strength was gone. He couldn't stay on his feet a second longer. The moment his head hit the grass; he had already drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

147.
Niall's eyes blinked sluggishly open as the warm rays of the morning sun warmed the stiff muscles of his frozen body. He felt sore. Had he been sleeping on the ground for some reason? Though it took him a moment, he soon caught his bearings. He was on Auberlynne Hill. Perhaps he'd been out stargazing and fallen asleep by mistake? He'd used to do that a lot, he remembered. Yes, that was probably it.

He raised his hands to wipe the sleep from his eyes but stopped himself. On his pinkie sat a strange ring, a shiny piece of jewellery made from a pale white metal unlike any he'd ever seen. The peculiar trinket seemed oddly familiar, but he couldn't remember why. Where had he gotten the thing? The more he thought about it, the more the ring slipped from his mind, as though it didn't want to be seen. Ah well, it probably wasn't important anyway.

Half an hour later, the tall man, his hair messier than usual after a night of rough sleeping, walked into the bakery where he lived and worked. There, he found Annie on the kitchen floor, her face buried in a slice of cake, as though she'd fallen asleep mid-binge.

Niall smiled and shook his head. Annie had gotten so fat lately, to the point where she was easily the biggest girl in town. He considered waking her up but decided against it. Instead, he headed up to his room. The morning was still early, he was still tired. He'd probably have a lot of work later, so he might as well catch up on some sleep.