escondida

Chapter 4

The air around me is cold and the fog is so thick that I can barely see three feet in front of me. I summon my bow and quiver and immediately feel some of my discomfort disappear.

I've always hated the Dark Forest.

It's a strange place. I swear it has a different layout every time I enter. But lucky for me, lemon grass has a distinct yellow glow that makes it stand out and easier to find.

I carefully start to walk through the forest, cautious of where I place my feet because apparently everything in this forest is alive.

And not everything is friendly.

The wind starts to pick up the further North I walk - well I think it's North anyways - causing the branches to smash together, making the forest louder. Making the hair on my neck stand tall and a shiver run down my neck. Whether that was from the cold temperature or the forest, I don't know 

After around five minutes of walking, I finally make out the glow of the lemon grass in the distance.

I move quicker. I want to get out of this creepy forest as soon as possible. I want to get back to Nic as soon as possible.

Hopefully he's not dead yet.

I walk up to the large patch of lemon grass under the base of a tall tree and just as I'm deciding whether I should grab just enough to heal Nic, or whether I should grab extra for next time, when the atmosphere of the forest around me starts to feel different.

I freeze and try to make my breathing as quiet as possible so as to not alert any enemy that I'm here.

I stay quiet for a few minutes, but nothing moves or makes a sound. I must have been imagining things.

I let out a breath and continue pulling out the lemon grass and shoving it into my bag, deciding that I may as well take extra whilst I'm here just in case. Because I certainly don't want to be coming back here again any time soon.

Suddenly I feel a presence right behind me, but I sensed it too late. Before I can act, they pull me against their front, sending shivers through me. Though that must have been from the temperature of the forest, not fear. Never fear. It could have been from the dagger they have forced against my throat as well. It's pretty cold.

But fuck. How did I not notice this sooner?

The person spins me around and I see three other people standing in front of me. There are two men - three if I'm right about the one holding a dagger to my throat being male - and one female. The three people standing in front of me have formed a sort of semicircle around me.

"What did you do to him?" I hear the girl in the middle shout at me angrily as they all start to walk closer to me and into the light of the lemon grass.

In the light I can see their faces, all their expressions are neutral, though their eyes give away more than enough. They're full of disgust and anger.

Damn, I didn't think humans were that disgusting. I mean sure a lot are but still, not me.

They're all quite beautiful though. Well except for the man on the far left, he definitely got unlucky in the looks department.

A quick glance over the three of them tells me he is the smallest of them all, and now that they've all stepped into the light, I can make his features out.

He is quite an ugly one to be honest, especially when you compare him to the other two beside him. He stood there with a frown on his face, making him look much older than I'm sure he was. He had very short, dark brown hair and eyes that were nearly black. His body was quite muscly, though it was pale, a lot paler than his companions. And he was fairly wider than his companions too.