Free Falling

A little rabbit poked his head out of the little hole at the mouth of
large cave with rocks pointing up and down along the rim like sharp
teeth of a disembodied head. The little creature wiggled his little nose
before sitting on his plump furry rump, grooming the brown floppy ears
and fur on his tiny head. A rustle in the bushes far to the left of the
little rabbit made him stop and stretch his little body straight up,
little paws tucked against its lithe body as he heard for the rustling
once more. This time it sounded closer than before and the little rabbit
took off into the cave in a state of panic instead of running back
inside his little den.

He ran deep within the cave till he stopped in wonder at the crystals
that grew along the rocky walls and floor and ceiling. Forgetting why he
was inside the cavern in the first place, the little rabbit hopped
slowly, sniffing at the floor crystals and poking at it with his little
pink nose before taking a small lick at it. The shiny stones looked like
the creek a few feet from his home where he takes a drink from everyday,
when the air is frosty cold, white snow lightly blankets the ground and
when his fur changes color to match. After a small swipe of the little
pink tongue on the smooth surface of the stone, the little rabbit
recoiled in disgust and wiped his tongue on his paw to get rid of the
taste.

“Heh, I suppose it wouldn’t taste sweet or nice now.” A dark-cloaked
figure of a man stepped behind the little forest creature. Leather
gloves, dyed in the shade of royal purple, cracked as swift hands
captured the poor terrified rabbit. They held it close against the
cloaked cover chest, two fingers gently brushed against the little furry
head to calm him down a little as the man walked in front of the largest
of the crystals.

A man, with long black hair and cinnamon-colored skin was resting inside
the huge block of clear pink crystal. Looking like a fallen knight laid
to rest inside a glass coffin. Dressed not in full armor but still in
his worn, black, steel chest plate with a silver bat etched on the
center and black steel arm guard from the shoulder to the back of the
hand that still gripped around the handle of a scimitar with a black and
red blade. Dark blue markings, shaped like short bat wings were inked
under each closed eye lid. His jacket bellowed in frozen motion at the
ankles of the black breeches and silver steel spurs rest in wait at the
heels of black boots.

The knight was a terror of the lands, back before being frozen inside
the clear pink crystal. The cloacked man smiled as he laid his gloved
hand upon the surface, where the sleeping man’s leg lay under. “Isn’t he
a beauty? Huh, my little friend?” Steel grey eyes glittered with pure
mirth down on the frighten animal. He chuckled as the gloved hand left
the cold stone to lay the pad of his forefinger against the shaking
rabbit’s head. With a muttering of a spell, the creature squealed in
pain as eerie purple and green fire erupted and engulfed around it. The
little body was stretched and little bones popped as the man dropped the
screaming and writhing animal to the rocky ground.

Brown soft fur shed off the writhing body like leaves in the autumn
wind, leaving behind pink flesh. Long floppy pink ears shrank into the
sides of the head under the bushy shoulder length hair, curving into
round human ears. Paw bones popped and reshaped into short and stubby
human fingers and hands, toes and feet. The little tail shrink up into
the tail bone of the little plump rump. Black short claws turn clear and
blunt nails. The long front teeth shorten but still longer then the rest
of the human teeth. The naked newly formed human boy laid curled up on
the rocky ground, panting from the faded pain and the panic of what just
happen. Little line of pale red appeared on the center of the forehead,
the ends curled inwards at one end and at the other curled outwards like
a scripted S. The cloaked figure smirked before pulling out a tunic of a
pale green color with daisy yellow rings around the collar, ends of the
sleeves, and at the waist. He gently placed it over the boy’s head and
pulled the arms in through the sleeves. Frantic honey-brown eyes stared
at the figure, feeling no strength in his new body to try to escape.
Then a pair of light tan breeches were pulled up over his legs and
thighs then laced together before the tunic was smooth over the
waistline. Socks then boots came next.

“You will be my little spy, my Noel.” The still cloaked figure brushed
back soft brown hair from the pale face before lips kissed against the
mark on the forehead. “Stick close to him.” He moved the head to face
the still sleeping knight. “He will keep you from Predators and give you
food and water. Safe place to sleep. Do not leave him for anything, not
even he says too. Got it, my little Noel?” Steel eyes glowed from within
the hood into wide honey-brown.

Noel only understood a little, Human speak still foreign to his
rabbit-like mind. But the cloaked figure said that the crystal man will
protect him from predators and he doubted he could hide from them now in
this giant body. His human legs wouldn’t be fast as his rabbit ones and
these short nails would not hurt anything. He gulped and nodded.

“Good, my little Noel.” The gloved hand brushed against the jaw line
before the man stood up and now approached to the black night in the
crystal prison. He placed both palms against the smooth surface and
spoke words of a spell that caused the crystal to shatter then melt like
ice on a warm summer day.

Noel scampered behind a large row of purple and blue crystals for safety
as the man backed away letting the large crystal melt. With the spell
under way, the cloaked man walked away, his plans coming together
nicely. The newly made human boy looked at the receding back of the
strange human before looking back as the sleeping man fell to the
ground. The scimitar knocked away as hands pushed forward to soften the
landing a bit. Wet, ink, black hair, covered over the newly awaken body
like a dark cape as the body shook and coughs filled the air. The boy
hopped towards to the dark man on hands and feet, not really
understanding that he could walk on two legs or afraid to try it out
just yet. He nudged at the shoulder with his hand then squeaked when a
rough hand reached out and grabbed at the wrist and pulled him under the
much larger and firmer body. Ice-blue eyes stared down hard but
unfocused at wide in fright honey-brown eyes. The eyes of the knight
focused but did not soften as the hand now gripped at the bare pink neck
to keep the face on his own.

“Who are you?” His voice was rough from years of non-use.

Noel whimpered and tried to wiggle away, kicking his legs and pushing
his hands up against the steel chest plate. He stilled when a rough hand
slapped him across the cheeks. A long red spot appeared on the pale skin.

“I say it again. Who are you?”

Saying the name that the cloaked human kept calling, a soft cracked
voice answered. “Noel.”

“Good. Now why are you here and why was I awakened?” The same dark hand
that slapped the poor frighten boy now brushed lightly over the red area
on the cheeks.

The poor boy just shook his head, not understanding what the tanned
human was telling him. The knight stared down at the poor child before
sighing and sitting back on his feet. He rubbed at his head then
squeezed the water from his hair. Noel kept his eyes on the man as he
moved to picked up the red and black blade and held his hair in the
other at the base of the neck. With a soft grunt, the scimitar sliced
away the black hair, leaving clumps of long black hair on the cavern floor.

Now with shortened hair, the black knight sheathed his sword and began
to walk out of the craven. Noel scampered to his feet, remembering that
the dark man was to keep him safe till he re-gain his rabbit body. He
spent a while moving on his hands and feet, cutting up his palms on the
rocky floor then on the twigs and pebbles of the forest floor. He
stopped every few minutes to lick and pull out a rock or splinter from
his hands.

“You haven’t been human for long have you? Or are you too simple
minded?” The knight, after turning his head to look over at the boy that
followed him a few times, gave up trying to lose him and decided to find
out more about him.

The brunet boy looked up, teeth still trying to pull out the latest
pebble lodge in his bloody palms. It was snatched away as the sound of
cloth being ripped filled his ears. Not so gently, the knight pulled out
the pebble then threw it over his shoulder before bandaging up the boy’s
hands. Then grabbing him around the shoulders, the black-haired man
pulled him up to stand where the top of his head nearly bumped against
his chin.

“Now, try to walk like I do.” The knight kept one arm under the arm pit
to keep the boy steady as the lesson on walking began.

--------

Sam sighed as he watched his new friend sniff at the roasted meat of
quail. It has been two weeks since he has been awaken from his crystal
prison and since traveling with a strange boy named Noel. It was slow
going but the boy had mastered walking, all though, he kept falling over
the simplest things and his speech was getting a bit better. Noel still
has yet to learn how to wield a blade correctly, or ride a horse but
lucky the pony that was given to him to ride on was patient as his
teacher was. At times of trouble the boy still ran and hid but never too
far from the fallen knight. In fact, he never ventured far from his
side, even when he was gathering vegetables and roots for meals and Sam
out collecting the meat for them.

“Eat it. It will put more meat on your skinny ass.” He stretched his
back before pulling meat from bone with his teeth.

Noel wrinkled his nose and nibbled at it like picky child. At least, he
has no qualms about eating bird. Sam learned his lesson well that day he
brought two plump dead rabbits to their fire. It took a lot of gentle
convincing to get the boy out from behind their horses.

The black-haired man smiled lightly as the boy gave the bird to him and
ate greedily at the berries and roots he had gathered earlier. He needed
to stop spoiling the boy and make him eat the meat. He would need the
strength it gave one of these days.

Voices made both man and boy stop eating and look up to the right of
their little campsite. Placing the tin plate down on the ground, Sam
pointed at the horses, signaling that Noel go to them to keep them from
running. Then he pulled his wicked-colored blade slowly from its sheath,
placing it back on the ground from where the sword was resting as he
stood up and crept silently toward the voices that now stopped. But
sounds of boots walking filled their places.

His scimitar was raised, ready to swing as tanned hands pushed back dark
green leaves of a short tree and brushes. A flash of light came from the
side as he turned on his heels to block the steel blade with his own
blade from slicing down on the dark clothed covered chest. His chest
plate was taken off earlier when Sam went for a bath in the river and
was left off when he re-dressed. At the last minute, a dragger from his
belt was pulled out to block a blade from going into his neck from above.

Ice-blue eyes starred into curious yellow cat eyes as the two fighters
stood frozen, both not sure about letting down their blades but sure
they won’t be the first to do so. Trained in their profession, Sam and
the intruder didn’t let off their eyes from the other as they were
joined by one other man.

“Oh for Gods sakes! Roark!”

The cat-eyed man answered back with a whine in his voice. “What?!”

A golden head jumped into Sam’s view as hands laid on both men’s hands
to put down the blades that were at chest level. “Now you stop trying to
kill people unless there's all ready at a blade coming for ya.” Next
went down the blades that were at Sam’s neck.

Then the golden head turned and a man that still had traces of boyhood
left in his sun-kissed cheeks, a shade lighter then Sam’s own cinnamon
colored skin, faced him with blue eyes.
“I’m sorry for my friend but he lacks common courtesy and swore that the
bandits that we were chasing went through here.”

Sam raised a dark eyebrow in question but he put the dagger back in its
place on his belt as the white-haired male sheathed his twin blades at
his back.

“I know they’re here, Big Boy. I can still smell the stink of them.”
Roark spoke as his hands folded onto the back of his head. “They’re
still here, somewhere.” The cat eyes moved along the forest floor to the
trees around them.

Then a cry from where Sam had left Noel filled the air and the fallen
knight shouted out the name of his ward as he raced back to camp, the
other two men, mostly the one called Roark ran at his side before
jumping into the trees with the grace of a large cat, spikes already
ready to strike in between his fingers.