AN UNWANTED WAR. the journey home

chapter 3

Chapter 3

Obduran woke next morning with a sharp pain is his neck, he rolled on to his back, opened his eyes just in time to stop a sylvans foot connecting with his face. "what the hell are you doing?" said Obduran pushing the sylvan away. "bracken sent me. To accompany you." It replied picking himself off the ground. "why?" said Obduran sitting up. "protection. I am great warrior. We must go now." It said proudly. "thanks but I..." but it cut Obduran off. "we go now. Horned lions in forest. Many of them." "ok ok, can you keep up?" Obduran said standing up and looking down on the tiny sylvan. "you will carry." It said and ran up Obdurans leg with lightning speed and sat on his shoulder. Obduran could barely feel it there. 'bit of company might be nice for a change' he thought to himself. They headed out of the copse and away from the forest and the lions. The sun was barely up, Obduran would be home by the time the sun was at its highest.

Obduran had to admit, it was quite handy having the little sylvan with him. It was quite adept at catching and eating the little biting flies that Obduran had accepted as an annoying part of life. After miles of silence the little sylvan spoke. "what are you called giant?" Obduran was a little taken aback. "Obduran, and you?" "in forest. Only the lord has name. I am not lord. I have no name." said the sylvan picking a butterfly out of the air and eating it. "well, you're not in the forest now. What should I call you?" the sylvan looked thoughtful. "all sylvan dream of being lord. Some of us. Would talk for hours. About being lord. The name I would choose. Would be." It paused almost as if for dramatic effect. "Fernglo." It finished. "a good name, Fernglo it is. So Fernglo, why were you picked to accompany me?" asked Obduran. "I wasn't. I chose. Forest has nothing for me. When man came. My betrothed. My many younglings. All taken from me. When I heard. You was taking. The kings heart. I wanted to help." Obduran didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry Fernglo." "now I leave forest. Painful memories." They continued their journey in silence.

"what happened when bracken touched me?" asked Obduran. It had been playing on his mind for a while now. "the sylvan. Can see inside you. Can see if. Coward or strong. You are strong of heart. Not coward." Replied Fernglo. "can you do other magic?" "not magic. Insight. Man call it psychic. You can never lie. To a sylvan. We always know." Said Fernglo with a slight air of superiority. "good to know." Said Obduran with a hint of sarcasm. "you. Do not believe. You will see." Said Fernglo. Almost menacingly.

Obduran was taking the most direct route home, there were no paths, just open plains with a trees spread sporadically. Whenever they did pass a tree, Fernglo would leap off his shoulder, always leaving little scratches behind, and with amazing speed would scale the tree to see what lay ahead. "LION!" screamed Fernglo. Obduran drew his sword and turned slowly on the spot, although horned lions can grow to a monstrous size the were difficult to spot in the long grass of the scrubland. "THERE, THERE." Fernglo kept shouting but he was too small and too high up for Obduran to see where he was pointing. "how many?" Obduran shouted, eyes still scanning around. "ONE" Fernglo shouted back. 'just one little sign' Obduran thought to himself. Just one sign to give away its position.

Fernglo was up in the tree screaming incoherently. Obduran was trying to concentrate on spotting the lion. Suddenly it lunged, Obduran swung his sword but the lion was quicker, flicking into the air with it's horns as if he were nothing, he landed painfully, sword ten feet away and the lion bearing down on him. Obduran scrabbled to his feet and drew his dagger, the lion was stalking him, drooling with hunger. The lion reared up, Obduran thought it was about to lunge but a howl of pain came from it. It fell forward onto its paws, Obduran saw Fernglo on its back, clinging to a spear he had plunged into the nape of its neck. Obduran sprinted forward and drove his dagger into the throat of the lion again and again. Blood was spurting everywhere, completely covering him whilst Fernglo was still on its back, stabbing away with his spear screaming as though he was possessed. Finally the slumped to the ground, defeated.