Gentleman Soldier Chapter 1
#4 of Fighting for Strangers
Johnny's sister, Polly, is distraught at her brother's disappearance and tries to find comfort in the arms of a soldier. His false nature, though, sends her into the woods further in despair. But there is hope to be found in an unexpected meeting within the woods.
Gentleman Soldier - Steeleye Span
It was of the gentleman soldier as a sentry he did stand. In his time, there had been more than a few fair maids that he'd saluted with a waving of his hand... and more than a few that he'd boldly kissed. What's more, there'd been a delightful number that he'd managed to coax into his sentry box, wrapped up in his soldier's cloak, and dismissed with his favorite little lie that he was already married and had children. But there was one that wound up being a grave mistake for him.
Polly had been quite heartbroken at her brother Johnny's disappearance. She hadn't wanted him to go off to war in the first place, and she had felt like she'd never really gotten him back when he came home from the war. When, after a time of being physically back at home, he'd vanished completely, she'd been inconsolable.
Well, that gentleman soldier had done his level best to console her, even if it had been (ultimately) for his own purposes and pleasure. She'd quite enjoyed it, and had halfway fallen in love with the bastard, only to have all of that come crashing down when he'd told her that he was already married and had children. She went into a bit of a spiral, even taking to wandering through the woods as her brother had done before he vanished.
One day, she'd found a nice little grove and slumped down against a tree in it, half curled up and crying into her hands at the damned injustice of it all. She felt as though her world was completely falling apart. First the loss of her brother, the loss of innocence, and she was genuinely worried that she might be with child.
While she was processing all of that, there was a rustling which sounded like a passing deer, but before she could really process that, there was someone sitting next to her. She looked up from her hands and nearly fainted at the spot. She didn't faint, thankfully, but instead lunged at the new arrival - not in an attack, but to embrace her brother with all of her strength as though he might simply slip away from her and disappear again, sobbing into his chest for long minutes while he just held her with a calm strength. He didn't try to jolly her out of the moment, instead just letting her cry her eyes out for as long as she needed to.
She wasn't really sure how long she was crying for. Heck, she didn't even really know that she'd passed out more than a few times. She finally calmed enough to look up into his emerald eyes with a few little hiccups. He pulled out a waterskin and uncorked it, offering it to her. She drank eagerly, the fey nectar contained within coursing down her throat and filling her belly so delightfully. She drained nearly half of the skin before she pulled it from her lips and wiped her mouth, handing it back to her brother.
"You... you're alive... this is all too real to just be a dream..." she said, looking up at him in wonder, reaching out to touch him to reassure herself that he really was there as she'd largely convinced herself that he was.
"Yes, Polly... it is really me... and I really am alive," he said, smiling and bringing his hand up to wipe the tears from her eyes.
"You... you can come home then... right?" She asked, her voice hopeful. "There's... something I need you to take care of... please..."
He sighed and shook his head, giving her an apologetic smile. "No, Polly, I can't go back. I'm not part of that world anymore," he said, just a little bit of sadness in his eyes.
"What... what do you mean?" Her voice was a whimper as she looked up at him in pain.
He smiled and shook his head as he allowed his new form - his true form to come forward once more, becoming the stag that he now was as they sat there together in the grove.
She gasped, her eyes widening as she stared up at him in fear.
"Now you see why I can't go back, Polly. I'm not a human anymore. I'm fey," he said as she sat there awestruck, trying to process his new appearance and his words.
Her mouth worked as she tried to find her own words while a storm of emotions crossed her face. Fear, anger, sadness, amazement, confusion... all seemed to be fighting for dominance. "But... you were human.. How are you fey now?"
He laughed softly, taking a deep breath and letting it out as a sigh. "In my first real battle... I as good as died. I would have died, except for a fairy Lady that saved my life. If I seemed lost when I came home, it was that experience more than anything that caused it. Wandering in the woods... I'm not sure I knew it at the time, but I was looking for Faerie. One day, I found it, and my Lady made me her Lord."
She stared at him in amazement for a long moment after he finished talking, her mind racing. He could see her brain running through calculations as she sat there with him before her eyes grew hard and a grin spread across her face. "Could she... make me a fairy?" There was a glint in her eyes which brought a broad smile to her brother's Cervine face.
"She could, yes. But she won't need to. I will," he said, reaching his hand up to brush his fingers through her hair. She beamed up at him, and would have embraced him, but instead she cried out in surprise, arching her back and clutching at him as he continued to brush his fingers through her black hair. Her hair grew thicker and fuller, though at least not coarser. What's more is that fur began to spread across her body, black like her hair. She clung to his clothes, and on a level he was glad that she wasn't clinging to him more directly as her fingers twisted and changed, taking on finger pads and most importantly claws.
Her head slowly moved back from him, though not because she was drawing herself back, but because her face was pressing forward into a long muzzle, filled with sharp, powerful teeth. A growl came from her throat as she clenched her jaws while her ears moved to the top of her head, becoming long and triangular. A black, bushy tail grew at her back, causing the back of her dress to tent out a bit as it did.
Soon enough, she did draw her head away from his chest and threw it back to the sky in a long, resonant howl, her transformation complete before she slumped against her brother again, panting and whimpering... not in pain, but in trying to process the rush of emotions and sensations that she was experiencing. In time, she opened her eyes, looking up at her brother with a sharp, piercing golden gaze.
She took a moment to look down at herself, examining her new form before she lunged at him and hugged him tightly once more. "Thank you, brother... thank you so very much..." she whimpered out, her tail just wagging away under her skirt there, a sensation that made her giggle and reach one hand back to paw at it to try and get it to stop.
"You're welcome, Polly. Now go... take care of the business that needs dealing with," he said with an almost wolfish grin of his own.
She returned the grin, showing her new, sharp teeth to her brother as she laughed darkly to him.
It was of the gentleman soldier, as a sentry he had stood... and would stand again when he reached his new posting. For right now, he was traveling through the woods on his way to the next post and all of the fair young maids that were waiting for him there. As he walked, though, he was being stalked.
He came around a bend and was stopped in his tracks by one of the young women that he'd bedded in the town he'd just left. He furrowed his brow as he looked at her, concern on his face as his eyes darted to the surrounding woods to see if she had family waiting in ambush. He didn't see any, but he didn't relax as a result of that.
"Hello there, fine young soldier," she said, an almost seductive tone in her voice, "I couldn't let you leave without saying goodbye properly, could I?"
He relaxed then, a great big grin spreading across his face. "Well, then... did you have a spot in mind? Wouldn't want anyone to interrupt us," he said coyly. He wouldn't mind a bit of a goodbye from this village.
"Mmm, come with me, I know just the spot," she said, leading him a little ways into the woods, where there was a clearing in the trees. He followed without protest, and set his kit down at the side of the grove, removing his outerwear before he turned back to grin at her.
Only, she wasn't there. Not as she had been. There wasn't a pretty young maid there so much as a ferocious wolf growling away at him. It took him a moment to process the sight that greeted him as he cursed and stumbled back and fell against one of the trees. He cried out as she pounced on him, pinning him in place while she grinned toothily down at him.
"You tried to fill my belly the last time that we were alone together... you failed... but now... you won't."