Other soldiers approached, as Kyla flew by and threw the sphere on the ground. A glare blinded everyone for a minute; when they could see again, everything looked the same. Kyla took advantage of the distraction and shot an arrow at each soldier. Richard was still dizzy from the light and the pain in his back when he saw the rest of the battalion arrive. He was face-to-face with the soldiers, but they stopped. They tried to move forward, but something prevented them.
“Come on; I don’t know how long it will last,” Kyla said while grabbing Richard's hand and pulling him away.
Chad's hiding place was a small, abandoned castle, covered in plants, branches, and grass. It might have even gone unnoticed if someone had passed by while distracted. There were two towers that were much smaller than the trees around it. It was made of gray stone. Its iron gate was rusted and falling apart.
They lodged at the top of one tower. “Good work!” Azura said to Chad, whose chest filled with pride.
Kyla came in, holding Richard.
“Hurt again?” Azura said in a friendly tone. “Take care of them. I'll conceal the castle.”
The earth and grass moved under Azura's control. She erased the tracks they’d left behind and created two other trails to look like they’d separated and followed two different paths. Leaves and grasses flew over the towers, covering the castle even more, until it looked like a rough mountain. If someone would have looked closely, they would have recognized that there was a castle down there, but she reckoned this would not happen.
It was necessary for Theo and Hubert to hold Steven so that Virginia and Thomas could force his leg back into place. They stuffed a cloth in his mouth to suffocate his scream. Steven sweated; his consciousness was coming and going. His vision was blurred, and the pain in his leg was unbearable. Sometimes, he thought he was at home; the voices were confusing, and he did not know who was whom. With scraps of wood, they immobilized his leg. Azura placed her palm on his head, and he fell asleep, into nightmares.
Lorne was lying in a corner, pale, with deep-set eyes and the feeling that the world was spinning around him.
Virginia and Thomas offered to keep the first watch. The soldiers could still be heard at a distance, so they talked in whispers and tried not to make any noise.
“I should not have come with you,” said Virginia in the middle of the night. “If I had stayed in the lighthouse, none of this would have happened...”
Thomas recalled that cold, desolate lighthouse. “I may be a jerk sometimes, but leaving you in that place would have been cruel, even for me. Now, imagine if the doctor—the advocate of the weak—could turn his back on a helpless woman?”
Virginia could not contain a laugh that was soon muffled by her hand, but then, her face became sad. “I will talk to him... I should have talked already, but I didn’t have the courage. I did not want to upset him, and I thought I would get away from you soon.”
Thomas shook his head, not understanding what she was talking about.
“I am married,” she explained, “and my husband is the main reason I do not want to die.”
Thomas watched her eyes light up through her tears. “Wow! You’d better tell him before he trades places with you.”
“I know. I don’t understand why he cares so much.”
Thomas did not answer.
When it was dawn, they saw trolls passing by behind the trees. They were close. Both held their breath; all the small noises seemed amplified in the dark. The trolls prowled for what seemed to be an infinite time, but they finally left, following one of Azura's fake trails, and Virginia and Thomas could breathe again.
****
Lorne awoke, feeling stronger, when the sun was already in the middle of the sky. “We cannot stay here. They will discover us,” he said.
“Steven cannot walk,” Hubert replied. “We have nothing that will help us move him. The soldiers are still out there. How are we getting out of here?”
“Let's make a gurney and take him. I know who can help us with a means of transport. The problem will be getting to them.”
“We don't have to go into the forest,” Chad suggested. “There is a passage underground.”
They followed him into the dungeons of the castle, and there, they came across a tunnel.
“Do you know where it leads?” Lorne asked.
“To a tavern called ‘The Second Tree’.”
“You rescued us for the second time.” Lorne placed his hands on Chad's shoulders, making the boy grin.
They went back to the tower to gather everything they could. Azura took care of Steven and Richard to speed up their healing. As soon as the gurney was ready, they left.
Chapter XIV - The Second Tree
The tunnel was damp and cold; the torches emitted a heat that soon dissipated into the air.
They walked without rest and lost their notion of time. Steven felt he was a burden to the group, and so he tried walking a few times, but he wasn’t able to and had to surrender himself to his injury.
When their legs trembled from walking, they stopped. At the silence of the tunnel, they heard noises coming from above. The tunnel was getting closer and closer to the surface, so they remained in silence. They did not linger in the same place for a long time, because when they stopped, they felt even colder and could not relax.
The march went on for what felt like an infinite time, when the torches finally illuminated the end of the tunnel.
There was nothing.
They all felt a silent panic—except for Chad. He jumped with his arms outstretched and grabbed onto a rope so covered with dirt, they didn’t realize it was there.
They heard the noise of scraping wood, and then had to close their eyes because a block of earth fell upon them. The dirt got into their noses and mouths; they coughed as they cleansed themselves, but their hands were also dirty. A spurt of cold water fell on them, accompanied by a pleasant laugh.
“It's been a long time since someone used this passage.”
When they looked up, they saw an old man with a wrinkled face, a white beard, and not much hair. He launched a ladder made of ropes down at them and moved aside.
Chad was already climbing when Azura stopped him.
“Do you know him?” she asked.
“He's the owner of the tavern.” Chad kept climbing, confident in what he was doing, and the others followed him for lack of choice.
They came out in the little kitchen of the tavern. The wood-burning oven left the place at the ideal temperature. There were three cauldrons on the fire, and the old man paced back and forth with a big smile. Chad ran and sat down at a kitchen table.
“I think you have not forgotten my pumpkin soup,” declared the old man, putting the soup in a bowl. “Who are your friends?” He raised his head and squinted. The group did not move. “I had not noticed there were so many of you!”
When the old man turned to get more bowls, Richard saw his ears. Pointed ears, like those of the elves in the Oasis, hidden behind the white hair that was left. Richard took a few steps back, held Habel’s arm, and whispered, “His ears.”
When she saw it, she did not know what to do. The tavern was known by name, but few people had ever been there, since it was challenging to find it, as it changed places constantly.
“Are you just going to stand there?” asked the old man. “Who are your suspicious friends?” he asked Chad again.
The boy spoke the name of each of them without hesitation.
“My kitchen was not made to receive so many people,” said the old man. “So, you can stand there and squeeze together, or we can move into the dining room, where there is more space.”
No sound came from the outside, which meant that there should not have been too many customers. They agreed to go into the salon. Habel and Richard wanted to warn Lorne that the man had elfin ears, but didn’t find the opportunity.
They sat, looking around as though someone may attack them at any time. The walls were made of wood, as were t
he tables and benches. The old man served them and sat down with a self-absorbed air. The only ones who ate greedily were Chad and Hubert, who were so hungry that they could see nothing else.
“Do you think I would let you into my tavern, and then poison you?” asked the old man.
“Sorry, but...” Lorne replied, trying to sort out his thoughts to find the right thing to say.
“No problem; I know times are tough, and it’s better to be on the side of caution.”
“You did not take much precaution when you let us in.”
“I know the little one; that's enough.”
Chad gave him a smile and said as he swallowed, “He helped me when I needed to hide.”
“What is your mission?” asked Thomas, assuming the old man was a human.
The old man grinned. “I know I look like one of you, but I'm not. At least, not entirely.” He flipped his ears, saying, “I am half-human and half-elf.”
“I thought it was forbidden...” Theo replied, looking at Habel out of the corner of his eye.
“And it is! But, you don’t seem like a group that cares about forbidden stuff.”
“Why you say that? What do you know about us?” Steven demanded. As usual, he felt restless. Why did the man laugh so hard and chat about everything as if it were a joke when, in fact, it was all horrible?
“You showed up in here, using a passage that practically no one uses, and which was long forgotten. It looks like you've been in a battle, for you are all injured, and you are evidently fleeing from someone, because you are more suspicious than a feline. It is easy to grasp that you did something you shouldn't have.” He paused to light a pipe and went on, “I saw those who are after you.”
The noise of spoons hitting the bottom of bowls stopped. All eyes locked on the old man's face.
“Are they here?” Virginia mumbled.
“No! They seldom find my tavern. I realized they were coming, and I moved it before they arrived.”
“It's a very difficult spell,” Azura said. “To move an entire tavern. Where did you learn that?”
“My dad taught me. He was like you. I do not practice this art often, but to maintain a selective clientele is useful. My parents made the tavern of oak wood; it’s special.”
“You'd make more money if the tavern were always in the same place,” said Thomas with a smile.
“It's not about the money, my boy. I am an outsider. Half-breeds are not welcome here, and no one wants us around. I like to help people like you. Gives me the impression I'm doing something right, instead of looking at all the injustice and doing nothing. If you do not want to tell me what happened, you do not need to; I will not ask. You can stay as long as you need to. Now, I'm going back to the kitchen because the food doesn't make itself.” He laughed again, let out some smoke from his pipe, and went into the kitchen.
“Chad, why you didn’t tell us?” Azura asked. “It would have spared us the fright.”
“I knew if I told you, you would not want to come.”
“Next time, we'll do whatever you say,” Habel said, mussing the boy's hair.
They spent the night in the tavern. All its customers were exiles or fugitives, walking with their heads down, and no one talked.
****
The next day passed quickly. They recovered and took care of their wounds.
Theo and Hubert shared a room.
“He already wants to leave!” said Theo, discontented. The beds had comfortable feather mattresses, and blankets made of soft cloth. Theo dropped into one of the beds. “Steven can barely walk, Richard still has pain, and Lorne already wants to get us out of the one place we are safe.”
“The longer we remain, the worse it'll get,” Hubert replied, trying to persuade himself with his own words.
“What if we tried to live like the outcasts?”
Hubert stared at him in surprise.
“I'm not a normal human anymore,” Theo explained. “I don’t know if I can go back. At least, that's what Habel said.”
“Of course you can! What are you talking about? No one will ever know. If Lorne thinks Habel and Kyla can come with us, and they have something much bigger to hide, why would you worry about this?”
Theo let out a sigh. “Do you think she would come?”
Hubert sat down beside him. “Maybe, if she had a good reason.”
“I don’t have a good feeling. Getting into Sermeria is insane. On the ship, we had no alternatives, but now...”
“I don’t want to discourage you, but we still have no choice.”
****
In Kyla's room, she was showing Lorne everything they had managed to salvage during their escape from the ship. It was just a sack with some bottles of potions in it.
“Azura has more potions with her. It will have to be enough,” said Lorne.
“We could make more here.”
“We don’t have time; they will not give up.”
Chad entered the room at that moment.
Since Lorne had known him, he had never seen the boy so chatty. “You like it here, don’t you?”
Chad nodded and sat down on the bed.
Lorne hunkered down in front of him. “From now on everything will only get worse. It will become riskier, and I can guarantee no one's life. If you prefer to stay here, no one will think you're scared. We’ll understand. But, know this: I cannot come back to get you. So, think about it.”
****
Steven and Virginia were alone at a table downstairs. The others were dispersed throughout the place, talking and drinking hot wine. Steven told her funny stories that occurred on the ship he was on before he’d arrived there. Half-laughing, Steven came closer, dragging his chair along with him. He took her hand, and Virginia realized he was about to kiss her.
She jerked away. “I'm married!”
Steven was astonished.
“I wish I had told you before,” she continued, “but I didn’t know how. I was waiting for the appropriate time. I... I did not want...”
He got up, saying nothing, and tried to hurry upstairs, but his leg betrayed him, and he almost fell.
Virginia moved to help him.
“I do not need your help, or your sympathy.” His voice was graver and harsher than she’d ever heard before. He kept climbing, leaning on the railing.
She sat on the steps with her face between the knees.
Azura, who had been on the counter, teaching Thomas how to make a coin disappear, saw the whole incident and went to her. “It will pass. Come on; this is your last chance to get drunk.”
Chapter XV - Minotaurs
The next day, they ate everything the old man offered, and they accepted with pleasure what he gave them for the trip. They packed the few things they had with them and left.
Chad continued with them. He hugged his old friend. It was a long and sad hug, as he knew whatever happened, he wasn’t going to see him again.
“Take care of yourself, child,” said the old man, his eyes watering.
The others thanked him; they would never know how to repay him for his help.
“I’m here to help,” said the old man. “May the Gods watch over you, for you will need it.”
The forest seemed uninhabited; the wind was the only sound that occupied the place. It was cold, and the sky was gray. There did not seem to be a single being living in that forest. That was why it was called, “Silent Forest”.
They walked, saying nothing as they went. The landscape changed. The trees became scarce, and those that remained were so high, they touched the clouds. Among them were all sizes of rocks; some were so big, they looked huge, sleeping turtles.
They advanced for two days without complications. Steven refused help and walked with a cane but always remained behind, feeling his leg burn with pain. However, he never complained.
On the third night, they found a place in the middle of some stones and set up camp there. From the moment they entered the forest, Azura advised them not to make no
ises that could attract animals. Although it was hard to believe there were animals there, they did what she suggested.
That night, they ate fruit and bread and fell asleep. Thomas and Habel remained on guard. She flew to the top of a nearby tree and set up a lookout.
Thomas, who was a little away from the group, heard footsteps approaching. “How’s your leg?” he asked. The pirate knew it was Steven by the sound of his walk.
“It hurts. I cannot sleep.”
“Because of the leg, or other reasons?”
“You saw that?” Steven replied, embarrassed.
“Do not worry; even if you still remember her when we wake up in our world, she’ll awaken far away from you.”
“I never thought about that... so, you assume we’ll get out of here alive?”
“What I know is that I do not plan to die here.”
A terrified cry cut off their conversation. Thomas hurried off. Steven tried to get up but fell.
When Thomas approached the group, Habel was there, frozen. She stretched her arm out in front of Thomas, so he would not continue forward.
A colony of bats was between them and their companions.
They were not ordinary bats; they were larger than cats. Everyone had woken up and stood, except for Chad.
Some bats faced the group; others confronted Thomas and Habel. Steven was watching the scene from behind a big stone. He recognized he was useless with his leg in this state; if he tried to help, it would only disrupt things.
Lorne whispered to his companions, almost without moving the lips, “Disperse.”
Hubert stared at Habel, expecting her to face him, and she did. He moved his lips slowly, saying, “Run.”
In an outburst, they all scattered, and a large group of bats followed each one.
Azura and Thomas ran in the same direction. While the pirate could hurt those who were approaching, Azura was searching for something inside her bag, which caused her to acquire many scratches and bites.
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