Chapter VIII

Enchanted Forest

LORRAINE - GUINEVERE

Lorraine was beyond excited for Guinevere to wake up. She have seen and learned so much through out the night that she stayed up late to party (which she was not used in doing so) and abandoned an unconscious Gwen in a tent, not to mention she got a brand new dress. It was red with sleeves that stopped above her elbows, its clothe was imprinted with floral patterns from the waste part until the sleeves, it wasn't as balloon-y as the gowns she wears, but at least it was more comfortable than the green one.

She was quite pleased with Gwen's dress too. It was not as much, but she was excited to see Gwen wearing it.

A few dwarves have provided them some soothing herbs and self-cleansing materials. She insisted to clean Gwen herself, the albino wouldn't want anyone else to touch her, well, not even Lorraine, but who's to complain about that right now. She replaced the leaves on Gwen's forehead with new fresh ones and had soaked the cloth in the warm water. She had not realized that Gwen had dirt on her face until now, she probably had gotten it from the hole. Before she could clean her, she removed the necklace off and set aside it on the table.

Lorraine wished that Gwen would just sleep forever, in that way she'll look more peaceful, quiet and angelic unlike as she was when awake; sarcastic and rude. Although she did say she liked it more that way, sometimes her sarcasm could get a little out of hand. But other than that, Gwen was warm, and with that, Lorraine felt comfortable with her. Unlike how she used to be with people: she was cautious with her every move. As if there was going to be a judgement of her every action, but it was not like talking with other royalty where she has to pretend to be perfect. With Gwen, she's just her, which she was happy for. And just the thought of meeting Prince Benedict and marrying him would go back to normal again—being all formal and perfect.

The cloth in her hand trailed down to Gwen's neck, until on her chest. The low-necked garment of her exposed her cleavages, expanding up and down as she breathed. Lorraine had no choice, so she still wiped the dirt off with the cloth, very gently not to wake her though. She figured Gwen was just only sleeping, she's been out for nine hours. While doing so, she spotted a mole on the left part of her chest.

Just right after lifting her hand up from Gwen's pale chest, the albino shifted. Her eyes slowly fluttered open. The blonde quickly fixes herself and tried to act as normal as she could. The girl's natural instinct was to look around her and sit up to where she was at ease. She gasped as soon as her grey eyes spotted her blue ones.

"Lorraine! Are you alright, did they hurt you? Where are we?" Gwen grabbed her by her shoulders, shaking her twice. Lorraine smiled, she was happy to see Gwen awake after all. Also, she was fighting the urge to laugh at Gwen's disheveled black hair.

"About time you wake up," she said.

"How—I—I fainted, didn't I? How long was I out?" Gwen asked, letting her feet down on the ground, sitting up.

"Doesn't matter. Now, go get changed, we're having breakfast soon," she pointed at the dark blue dress hanging on the wall.

Gwen looked at it aghast, "I'm not wearing that."

"Why not?"

"I prefer a new pair of pants, thank you very much," Gwen said, pulling up a slightly fallen sleeve to cover her shoulder. "They don't have any of those, stop complaining! That dress is beautiful and it's perfect for you. Go try it on," Lorraine closed the curtain to give her some privacy, "I'll wait for you here."

Through the thin cloth of the curtain, she still could see a silhouette of Gwen, so she turned around, waiting patiently. From the sound of it, it seemed like Gwen was already undressing and was changing into the dress. She heard the boots thump on the wooden floor as it was removed, and the straps of the dress being tied and untied.

"Do you have shoes to go with the dress?" Gwen said.

"Aren't the shoes in there as well?"

"I don't see anything i–oh, here it is," Gwen said.

"Are you done?"

"Can you help me with this?"

Lorraine turned around and opened the curtains to reveal a fully dressed Gwen. The golden ribbons and straps on her waste wasn't fixed yet though. After tying it behind Gwen's back, the girl had given her a, "Thank you."

"Come on, let's go meet Clockwise's friends."

"Clockwise is here? Wait, where are we again?"

"We're in the Enchanted part of the forest, Gwen! It's where all enchanted and mystical creatures are. This is where Clockwise came from."

"Where he came from? What do you mean?" Gwen looked far from confused. She then grabbed the poor girl's hand and pulled her out the tent, "Come with me."

As they got out, the orangey shades of color were now replaced with a more purple-ish one. Everyone was still dancing and celebrating, as though they haven't slept out through the night. Trees surrounded the small sanctuary of creatures, and her eyes drifted to the far end of the area; a bigger archway opposite to the smaller one, which was also covered by a curtain of leaves. Everything from then on got curiouser and curiouser.

Guinevere caught a glimpse of Clockwise, as she recognized it more clearly, he was in a circle among other animals. Weirdly, there was a brown monkey laughing on his neck...the monkey.

Gwen stormed towards the group of animals and quickly grabbed hold on the monkey's neck as she interrupted his story-telling. Lorraine followed and scolded her.

"You! You took our rations and brought us here to this-this place, you filthy little-!"

"Gwen! Let him go!"

Gwen dropped the monkey harshly on the ground. It gasped. "You stay away from my horse!"

"Gwen, what is the matter with you!" Clockwise said disappointed, "That is not how you treat my friend."

"Oh! Friend, wow, you must have known each other for ages!" She said sarcastically.

"And what are you to him? You called him a horse! He has a name, for your information, it's Clockwise!" The monkey said who was now back on Clockwise's neck.

"I-it talks!" Gwen exclaimed, "I knew I heard you laugh last night!"

"Of course we talk, you think only humans do, don't you?" A pig then spoke back. The rest of the animals agreed.

"They talk—Lorraine, they talk," she said. "Please don't faint!" Lorraine said.

"I-I know Clockwise talk, I thought he was the only horse I ever know that knew how to talk-"

"Gwen! I have a mommy and a daddy!" Clockwise exclaimed, his eyes were even bigger.

The black-haired gasped softly, partly happy about the new information but also doubtful. Lorraine was smiling brightly at her and nodded.

The other horses were inside a stable. Ranging from Stallions to Dapple Grey Mares, they were all bright in color. By the far end a group of horses were huddled up together, at the middle were two identical ones; one girl and one boy. The horses glanced at them as they came heather.

     "Gwen, meet my parents; Naomi and Karl. Mom, dad, this is Guinevere, my valiant rider and best friend," Clockwise said enthusiastically, smiling very widely at the his parents and Gwen.

     His horse parents looked exactly the same as him, both of black fur and black mane, and both have the same accent as the horse next door.

     "Oh my dear, Guinevere! It's a pleasure to meet you!" His dad said, both him and Naomi bowing down to her. She leaned in towards her and whispered excitedly, "I've heard so much about you!"

     "It's a pleasure to meet you too," Gwen laughed nervously.

     "We are deeply grateful for rescuing princess Lorraine, she's the whole Enchanted Forest's salvation—" Karl started, but Lorraine had cut him off.

     "Gwen, here comes Mama!" Lorraine said, who was already on her way out the stable.

     Gwen looked back at the quarterbacks, Karl and Naomi only smiled at her, "Come, we'll be having our breakfast."

     She stepped out of the stable along with the horses and Clockwise beside her. 'Mama' who seemed to be the one leading the Forest, approached Lorraine along with her ogre bodyguards. They bowed to her, which Lorraine responded by saying, "No, there's no need with that, Mama."

     "How is your sleep, princess? Has dear Guinevere woken up?" Mama said, holding Lorraine's hand.

     "Oh hey, do you know each other?" Gwen said sarcastically, mostly to Lorraine.

     "Gwen, meet Mama, she leads all the Enchanted creatures in the Forest." Lorraine said. Mama bowed to her, but not the same as she had given the princess, still, she had shown her respect and politeness.

     "Oh dear Guinevere, sit with me shall you?" Mama smiled.

     Lorraine and Gwen sat astride Mama at the long table, wherein the food lot were sitting on the surface. A few ogres were sitting beside them as well. The Enchanted Creatures as called by Mama, were lined up on the buffet below, across to where their platform is. It was the same table as to where she sneaked upon on. Through the platform, she have observed all the Enchanted Creatures better. They ranged from fairies (both male and female), dwarves, elves, more ogres, green-skinned people (mostly women–which Gwen assumed to be witches), then the talking animals; the animals have their own circle and own pile of food, which they all shared delightfully with each other. That was rather unusual from what truly happens among animals that do not talk. Gwen thought it looked cute, although it was still odd.

     "Are you feeling much better now?" the old lady abruptly asked.

     "Not really...but I'm okay than...last night, I guess," she said, unsure of what she said, really.

     "Well I hope you do get well soon. For now, I think all you need is a pair of hotdog and a sunny side up!"

     "Where did you get this food any...way..." Gwen trailed off as Mama had magically levitated the said items and moved them on Gwen's plate.

     "The ogres are great hunters...they hunt for animals..." Mama leaned in and winked, "The ones that are not enchanted, of course."

     Her mouth was in a perfect "O", "You're a witch too...okay."

     "Oh, I'm no witch. Witches and my kind are almost alike, however we don't carry symptoms such as theirs like...our skin–our skin is not green," she said, showing off her perfectly tanned skin.

     "Then what are you?" Gwen said politely.

     "We are seers. We see the future–we practice magic and witchcraft, but we're not witches, per say. We still are seers." Mama said, stuffing a 3 peas on her fingers.

     "So you look just like...humans. I don't see others like you," Gwen said, referring to the queue of Enchanted Creatures.

     "We've come a long way," Mama said, glancing at her while nodding her head, she then fixed her eyes on the Enchanted Creatures, "But time had passed, and fate has given me a new family. I have chosen them, and they have chosen me."

     Gwen looked down, what happened to them must've been...really bad. For all she knows that these Enchanted Creatures she sees right before her were long extinct since ages ago when humans started to hunt them and try to execute them...creature by creature. Yet here they were, alive, happy, partying; they have already started a new life...together. No one has ever harmed them for years.

     "The wisps...lead us here," Gwen said. Mama looked at her, the wrinkles on her forhead showing, "Oh yes they did. If they hadn't you wouldn't have ever found us. Fortunately, you did. What was your question?"

     "Well my question is why?"

"The Will O' the Wisps show themselves to people with strong ambitions. Whatever you're looking for, my dear, is right here. But, you must be brave enough to see it," Mama said with a smile, the wrinkled on her eyes became more visible.

Gwen sighed, "So, this is all the Enchanted creatures, huh?" She expected more creatures than what she sees.

"Not quite, more lie beyond the vines," Mama said, pointing at the huge archway she saw before; mysterious and curios.