Chapter 2

The winged female struggled against the net, bucking her body. But she was hopelessly entangled and couldn't free herself. She was crying and seemed to slump after her fight. Quite suddenly her eyes, which were the color of purple orchids, went wide when she looked down and saw Helia dismount her horse.

"No...NO!" she cried out with terror, struggling even more to no avail. "KENDRICK!"

Helia looked up at her, "Are you ok?"

The winged creature didn't seem to hear her as it fought desperately above.

"Hey! Hey!" Helia said loudly and firmly, "Take it easy. You're going to hurt yourself if you struggle like that."

"NO! Let me go you poacher!" she suddenly screamed with panic, though her voice sounded weak from shouting so much, "KENDRICK!"

Helia shook her red locks, "Calm down! I'm not a poacher."

The beautiful eyes directed at her, "This-This isn't your trap?"

"No. But I can free you if you just calm down. Ok?"

The winged girl seemed doubtful but eventually winced and nodded. Helia's eyes scanned the device; a simple but effective snare net set high in the trees. It was meant to catch birds but it seemed adept at catching flying humanoids as well. Helia could see the spots where it was tied down and went to her horse for her crossbow. She selected a special arrow with a wide, sideways blade for a head. It was something of her own design meant to be fired and cut the descending webs of giant spiders. Rather effective in getting them on the ground to be hacked to pieces since they clearly held the advantage in their webs. She nocked an arrow and sighted the rope just above the winged girl.

"What are you doing?" she asked fearfully.

"It's ok. I'm going to shoot the rope and catch you." She assured, "I've done this before."

"You-you have?"

Suddenly, the arrow loosed and severed the rope. The winged girl screamed as she fell but Helia tossed aside her crossbow and caught her in a cradle position. The slayer was surprised and relieved to find the girl weighed very little. A gasp of surprise escaped the winged female.

Helia carefully lowered her to the ground. The net was fine and tightly bound up the wings jutting from her back.+

"Are you ok?" Helia asked.

She nodded but then seemed to wince with pain, "S-something's burning me...on my wings."

Helia gave a puzzled look and peeked around the girl's wings. There were darker marks near the base of her wings as if something was indeed burning her. Experimentally, Helia touched the net but nothing felt hot. The only thing she noticed were some iron weights wrapped around some of the net strings. Surprisingly, the burns seemed to match the shape of the weights.

Strange…

"All right. Let's get you out of this." Helia concluded, drawing her dagger.

The girl flinched notably seeing the blade.

"Easy. Just gonna cut these nets...not you. But let me know if I'm hurting you ok?" Helia reassured. "And...don't do anything to me once I let you out."

"Do anything?" the female inquired.

Helia had a serious look on her face, "I don't know what you are. You could be something dangerous."

"I-I'm not dangerous."

Helia flipped her blade warningly, "I'm just letting you know if you plan on doing something evil to me I'll dispatch you quicker than a thought. I don't hurt you; you don't hurt me. Fair?"

Again, she nodded.

The redhead set to work cutting each strand. It took a bit of time, especially around the wings but Helia managed to free the winged being without incident. There was some darkening around the places where the net was tightest, which Helia could only assume was bruising but nothing seemed cut or broken.

"There we go. How does that feel?" Helia asked as she peeled the last bit of net off.

The winged girl sat up cautiously. She was so petite, like a human bird. Her face was delicate and angelically beautiful, almost too beautiful to be real. The hair on her head was short but swept elegantly across her head in a fitting pixie style and was a transparent blue color as if it too were made from the wings of dragonflies. Both of her ears were long thin and pointed. She wore a short, fitted dress that looked like it was made with yellow flowers sewn into a fine material. There were no shoes on her little feet.

Quite abruptly she flickered her wings with a loud buzzing thrum which made Helia flinch a bit. The winged girl winced slightly.

"My wings are sore."

"Well you might not want to fly then...you can fly right?"

She nodded.

Helia turned her head, "Are you a fairy?"

"No. I'm...a fae."

Only in story books had Helia even heard of the fae folk; magical, immortal beings with wings. Even with all the fantastical monsters she'd slain the idea of such beings was still far- fetched. Yet...here was one in a net. And now the burns made sense. Fae were supposed to be susceptible to iron. It hurt them, it weakened them. At least that's what the stories told.

"A fae? Truly?"

The fae nodded.

"Well...you sure do look like one now that you mention it." She looked at her crystal-like wings unabashedly, "I never in my life thought I'd see a fae. I just thought they were stories."

"You're not the only one. Um...th-thank you for saving me."

Helia shrugged tucking her dagger away, "It wasn't a big deal."

The fae's eyes became serious, "It was to me. I might've been found by whoever set this net and they would've chopped me up and sold me for potions and charms. You saved my life...what's your name?"

"Helia. You?"

"Twillow."

The fae slowly stood up and Helia did the same. Standing she was the size of a young teen and much shorter than Helia's Amazonian-type stature.

"Helia, I must repay you."

The woman shook her head, "No need."

"Yes. There is a need. As a fae I must owe you my life. Please, hold out your hand."

Helia's blue eyes narrowed with suspicion as she fingered her dagger hilt.

Twillow explained, "I owe you a life debt. I must draw the symbol of it on your hand so it's official."

Still paranoid, Helia offered her left hand, not taking her other off her dagger hilt. She always expected something bad just so she wouldn't be shocked when it happened. Undeterred and with delicate fingers, Twillow gently took the woman's hand and began drawing something invisible on her palm. The fae's green skin seemed to glow brighter for a brief moment but then it faded. Once complete, she closed the woman's fingers over her palm and pushed it to her chest.

"There."

Nothing strange happened afterward so Helia merely nodded, guessing it was a symbolic ritual of some kind.

"That's it?"

Twillow nodded.

"Ok... You're going to be all right? You were calling someone before I freed you...Kendrick? Is that your mate?" Helia asked, glancing around.

A blush seemed to come over the fae as she shook her head, "No. He's...my friend. I guess he's too far away to hear me. But I'll be fine." A concerned look seemed to invade the pretty face of the fae, "Why are you out here anyway? You...you must know it's not safe for you to be in this forest?"

"Yes I do. Goodbye, Twillow. Take care of yourself." she said curtly but with politeness.

Helia turned back toward her horse, knowing she was about to hear the 'abandon hope all ye who enter here' speech. She didn't have the time nor patience to hear such things again.

Twillow grabbed her hand, her violet eyes still pouring concern, "You should leave this forest, Helia! I'm serious!

The slayer pulled her hand away, "Thank you for your concern, Twillow, but I've got to get going."

Twillow followed her to her horse as she mounted it in a jump, "I-I should go with you! At least until you're out of this forest."

"Not going to happen, Twillow. Take care. Ya!" she urged her horse and it ran ahead, leaving the fae behind.

Behind her Twillow tried to flap her wings and take flight to follow her, but they sputtered painfully and she dropped to the ground.

Helia only heard her last desperate shout before she was out of earshot, "If he finds you he'll KILL YOU!"