She followed the trails in the dirt, climbing up to the edge of the forest, and gazed down at the tracks. There were several lines of them, at least six or seven, which further perplexed her.
“Why are there so many tracks?” she thought aloud. “It was only Richard and the two Arraci with him, but there are at least six tracks leading into the forest.”
“Perhaps someone else was dragged instead,” an Arracian suggested.
Adriana shook her head. “But who else would’ve been dragged?” she thought aloud again.
The forest stared back at them.
Adriana ventured closer to the forest’s edge, trying to peer through the thick outer layer of trees with a couple of Arraci close by, the others continuing to inspect the bodies below. If he’d been dragged into that forest, then that’s exactly where they had to go.
The silence unsettled her. Without a breeze, the leaves fell silent, the only sounds being the shuffling of the Arraci behind them and their horses complaining about standing still. She held her bow with an arrow at the ready aimed towards the trees, as did the two other Arraci with her. Pushing the dense foliage aside to pass, she took the first step inside, her heart beat pulsating in her head and a bead of sweat threatening to trickle down her face.
The smell was almost unbearable, like a physical barrier between them and the interior of the forest. After passing the first layer of trees and the dense brush along their base, the bright outside dampened into a gloom. They quickly saw the rancid smell’s origin: a thick, orange sap that oozed from the sick, old trees further in. The foul odour saturated the air, clouding above the drooling sap bleeding from the tall, withered thick trees. It slowly moved along the rough tree bark, pooling at the base of the massive tree trunks before falling through small cracks in the ground.
The sight frightened them.
She turned to glance at the other two, all of them vigilantly watching their surroundings. “The forest has been dying for years,” she whispered, “but I didn’t know it was this bad.”
“None of us did,” one of the Arraci spoke up.
A pool of the orange sap ran directly by her feet. “Avoid touching it,” Adriana said. “Who knows what it does.”
She stepped over the running pool, the bubbling steam rising in a cloud of noxious gas towards her, as if it possessed a mind of its own. The gas engulfed her; she could feel her lungs burning, her eyes watering, and a sharp pain in her head. After only one step, she quickly jumped back and bent over for a breath. The two Arraci watched in alarm.
As Adriana tried to contain her coughing, her vision morphed into something different, something she couldn’t understand or explain. Hues of blue saturated the world before her vision faded altogether. Before she could truly panic, her vision slowly began to return with blues all around them. After standing upright, readying her bow once more, she stared into the distant forest.
“Are you okay?” one of them asked her.
“Yes…” Her vision continued to fluctuate as blues danced around the forest in front of them in a flurry of activity; even closing her eyes proved ineffective.
“Are you sure?”
“I…” her vision finally returned to normal again. She paused, expecting for the blues to return, but they didn’t. “Yes, I’m fine,” she continued. The three of them stood still, the two other Arraci glancing at her with concern. “This sap extends as far as I can see.”
“What do we do?”
Adriana shook her head, still coughing a bit. “The tracks lead further in,” she pointed. “I can see them there...”
“Do we pursue, then?”
“No, we cannot pass through this noxious orange sap.” Adriana swallowed, trying to fend off her sudden headache. “We must return to Orwell and find Aroden. I fear we must tell him that his son is missing, that Richard is either dead or taken.”
The others didn’t respond.
“We failed. The Arraci have failed to protect one of the heirs,” she said, her voice filled with grief and shame. She motioned for the other two to leave the forest. “We must ride to Orwell quickly. Go and tell the others.”
“I will alert the others,” one of the Arraci said before turning to leave the forest edge.
The other turned to leave, too. “We haven’t failed, Adriana,” he said. “Richard could still be safe.”
Adriana nodded while holding her head, the pain still lingering. “I want one of you to travel to Forelorne and find out if he made it there, just to be sure.”
“I will do it myself.”
“Very well,” she agreed and he started to leave.
A clap of thunder pierced the silence.
It emanated from deep within the forest, and Adriana jumped around, an arrow readied in her bow. They quickly returned to her side, and the three of them searched for a source. The sound had penetrated the air with equal force as the stench, sending a palpable ripple throughout. They felt the sound as much as they’d heard it. It repeated once more, sending chills down their spines. They could hear the horses panicking behind them below. But what followed the sound brought another degree of worry.
Muffled voices in the distance followed each clap of thunder, as if it were a war cry. Her heart raced. With wide eyes she continued to inspect the surroundings with the others but saw nothing. The barely audible mumbles eventually ceased, as did all of the other sounds, and the forest plunged into silence once more. The three of them stood like statues, fearfully anticipating another boom that never came. But another sound emanated from amongst the trees, this one uncomfortably close to them like a whisper in their ears.
A growl made them jump. A large wolf, as massive as a small horse, slowly crept from behind one of the thick tree trunks. It growled again, flaunting its dagger sharp teeth and burning, pale blue eyes of lightening, but didn’t move. A thin layer of black fur covered the emaciated body of the savage animal, the outline of bones visible through stretched skin. Bulging veins streaked along the body of the wolf, all burning the same light orange as the forest’s revolting sap. It stood in a flowing stream of the orange sap, the liquid almost clinging to its paws.
It stared at them.
They backed away slowly towards the edge of the forest, but at the initiation of movement the wolf pounced towards them, a loud growl and angry eyes the only thing Adriana focused on. It snarled as it soared through the air, its paws the size of a human hand and with teeth that could pierce through thick ice.
The instant its paws left the ground, all three of the Arraci released their arrows with impeccable aim. Their arrows sung through the air and struck the animal directly in the head, each eye pierced and Adriana’s directly in the centre of the wolf’s forehead. Each of them readied another arrow before the previous ones struck, but the creature shrieked a chilling yelp from the barrage of missiles. It collapsed to the ground in front of them with a thud before falling silent and still.
The other Arraci appeared from the edge of the forest, rushing to their aide in alarm. “Are you alright?” one of them whispered.
“Yes,” Adriana assured.
She approached the wolf, an arrow still drawn and pointing, and knelt beside the large beast. “I have never seen anything like this before. Have any of you?”
They shook their heads.
“How can…” her voice trailed off as all of them watched the creature in awe. The orange faded from the creature’s veins, dissipating until it entirely vanished from detection. The pool of orange sap still connected to the beast’s paws flashed a brilliant lightening blue before dulling again as it retracted from the dead beast. They watched in wonder. “We must go,” Adriana said as she stood, snapping the others into focus. “We can’t stay here any longer. Wolves travel in packs.”
“What was…”
“I don’t know,” Adriana interrupted as they dispersed from around the wolf’s body, “I truly don’t.”
They rushed out of the forest and down the incline towards the road, where
their distressed horses stood with the one Arracian left behind, who struggled to hold their reins. They could hear more howls in the distance, more enraged wolves responding to their distressed fallen comrade. It wouldn’t be long until they arrived; Adriana hoped they could make it to the horses before that happened, but the howls grew louder and closer. Before they could reach the road, the Arracian holding the horses pointed towards the trees in alarm as he readied an arrow.
With one swift motion, all of them turned to face the forest, where another huge wolf charged towards them. Their arrows whistled through the air and thudded into the wolf’s head and torso, sending it tumbling down the incline towards the road. They barely managed to escape being mauled and continued to rush to the roadside, finally reaching their terrified horses. Before they could leap on top of them, another two or three beasts emerged from the forest, followed by another three or four running behind from the forest, all with savage death in their lightening blue eyes.
“They keep coming!” Adriana exclaimed as they released arrows. “We must hasten to Orwell!”
They fired in quick succession, the limp creatures flailing down the incline in front of the forest. There must’ve been at least ten that charged, perhaps even more, but Adriana couldn’t keep count. They were no match against arrows, especially with the Arraci wielding the bows. As the last wolf struck the ground in front of them, they quickly jumped atop their horses and galloped towards Orwell, the howls loudening behind them. No doubt more would come any moment now.
As they rode, she could feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins like an elixir of energy and focus. She noticed herself grasping the reins tighter than usual and tried to loosen them as they galloped down the road. The horses didn’t need to be told to run quickly, their hooves furiously pounding the road. She tried to calm down a bit, tried to lower her heart rate and wipe the sweat from her brow, but then she saw something in the forest to their right.
A pair of red eyes.
They stared at her, the only beacon of light from within the dark tree tops, burning a fierce red and fixated on them as they rode. They never blinked, never moved. They were menacing, full of hatred and anger, staring, unremitting, and piercing, as if delivering a loud warning.
As Adriana stared back, the world slowed and her vision fluctuated again. A mass of blue light interfered in every direction, blinding her momentarily until she looked back to the forest. She saw other movement behind the wall of trees, a combination of blue-outlined figures and wolves fighting, and felt an unbearably sharp pain in her head. She let out a quiet moan but managed to contain her agony.
She could feel it, feel something different inside. She gazed into those red eyes again, but they disappeared with the rustling of tree tops, returning back to the vile Artelian Forest. The image remained in her head, as did the blue scatter of movement behind the wall of trees; her vision returned to normal, and they rode as quickly as they could to Orwell.
A new enemy festered within the bowels of the Artelian Forest.
Chapter VII
Brian studied the silver ring.
His finger grazed across the raised symbols inscribed along the surface until he’d memorised the pattern. “It’s so heavy for such a small ring,” he commented to Max, who walked beside him through the markets behind Aroden. “It’s definitely not like any material I’ve ever seen.”
“Perhaps this traveller will tell us more about it.”
“Hopefully he can answer a lot of questions,” Brian said before slipping the ring on his index finger, his ring finger already occupied by the golden Arracian one.
Max caught up to Aroden, who walked in front of them. “You’re sure that you don’t want to go back to the house first? Perhaps it would be better if we brought Adriana with us, too,” he tried again.
“I think we should,” Brian added.
“No, that would waste time,” Aroden brushed off. It had already taken some time for Brian to inform the other Arraci of the plan, and Aroden was quickly losing patience. “I’m anxious to meet this person, and I don’t want any more delays.”
Max didn’t respond and Brian remained quiet.
As the sun had begun its decent to the south, a few merchants were emerging and setting up their shops in the markets; even a few of the doors to the flanking stone shops had swung open. Many of the food merchants would be collecting their produce from the caverns by now, ready to start turning a profit when the sun dipped a bit further to the southern sky. Even Zed had already started to collect some of his meats from the caverns by the time they’d left his house. His door would likely be swinging open very soon.
Aroden turned to Brian. “You have the ring on?”
“Yes.” They walked up the staircase and into the courtyard with the tiered marble fountain at the centre. “We will have at least ten Arraci in the inn with us,” he added as they passed the fountain and approached the staircase leading to the Laurdor District, “with several more outside amongst the crowds.”
“Good,” Aroden muttered.
They climbed another grand staircase into the Laurdor District, where Orwell’s massive inns and pubs stood in front of them. Given the prestige that Orwell carried, it was no surprise how lively and large the social area of the city was. People from all parts of the realm walked around the huge courtyard, passing in and out of the countless places of business lining the perimeter.
The crowds poured into this district in the evenings with the first courtyard always seeing the most activity, the older inns and pubs higher up in the district being more expensive and, arguably, less tolerant of visitors to the city. The three of them tried to keep a low profile, staying towards the edge of the courtyard and keeping their heads down.
Their steps clicked on the smooth, stone-slab ground. This district appeared better well-maintained than the Caisen one, perhaps because visitors often came to this one during the nights to spend their money. With no cracks and a clean finish, it looked like brand new. The buildings lining the sides extended high up, towered only by the massive stone walls that surrounded the whole district. At the centre of the courtyard was another fountain, this one at least five times larger than the first they’d passed. A stream of water spouted from the top before crashing into the base of the fountain. It would be more than enough to quench any thirst the night goers could possibly have, though the water probably wasn’t as clean with the constant use.
Brian surveyed their surroundings carefully. “These crowds will help the Arraci blend in.”
“And us,” Aroden added. “The last thing we need is to be recognised by anyone here.”
Max read several of the signs in front of each building they passed. “What’s the name of the inn again?”
“The Black Beetle,” Brian answered. “It should be the next building ahead.”
The smell of meat and mead almost knocked them back as they advanced further into the courtyard. Those two commodities, two of the most popular and available items in Orwell by far, could be found in all of the inns and pubs. Both places operated at the same hours and accommodated the same visitors. In fact, both of them essentially served the same purpose entirely; people slept in the pubs all the time and the pubs even charged per night. The only difference between the two separate establishments was that one provided a bed while the other offered a chair or the hard stone floor to sleep on.
The next large building displayed a dark blue sign hanging to the side of the door with silver markings, the name The Black Beetle displayed below the black etching of, unsurprisingly, a glistening black arthropod. Each glass window provided a glimpse into the place with small wooden shutters on either side. The walls of the building extended quite high with few cracks or signs of age. This establishment appeared newer than many others, likely being built long after the city itself.
They quickly ascended the few stone steps leading to the inn and passed through the large, open doorway into the chaotic interior, vigilantly eyeing down eve
ryone that passed by them. This seemed to be one of the livelier inns in the district, more like a pub. People spoke to each other, only to be outspoken by a party at the next table, forcing them to end up shouting at each other to hear. It amounted to a group of people, all with cups of mead and plates of meat, their eyes slightly bloodshot, shouting to a person standing no more than a couple of feet away. The interior of the inn bore an old-fashion, rugged front with an accompanying damp odour. Everything was made of wooden planks except the stone periphery of the room and the floor. The tables looked old, the chairs appeared worn, and the counters at the front of the inn needed to either be replaced or heavily restored.
Along the walls hung a few small lanterns, some of them lit, while more lanterns stood on each table. Because only a few windows in the front allowed the sun in, the back of the place was quite dark, making Max and Brian uncomfortable as they couldn’t detect some of the faces in the back of the inn. As they passed through the door, a few people looked up, but the conversations continued uninterrupted.
Brian spotted a vacant, small round table towards the front, the perfect place to sit, and quickly sat down. Max and Aroden continued to the back of the inn, where they spotted several familiar faces, the other Arraci watching over them all; they took a seat at a table with two other Arraci so that they could still view Brian. If anything happened, they wanted to see it immediately.
After a few minutes, a server came up to Brian’s table, noticing he didn’t have a drink. She looked angry and pointed to the door. “If you’re not going to buy anything, then there’s the door,” she instructed with a sour tone.
“I’m waiting for someone…”
“Then wait outside.”
Brian lightened his tone, seeing the anger in her eyes. “I’ll take a pint of mead, then,” he said.
“Fine.”
The woman went behind the counter and returned with a frothy, warm pint of mead – exactly what Brian hated to drink. “Thank you,” he muttered before pretending to take a sip, the warm misery barely touching his lips. He dropped a couple of coins from beneath his robes on the table and tried to maintain a straight face. “Does this cover it?”
The Secrets of Brymar (The Elitherian Fragments Book 1) Page 8
