Flight (new version)

Chapter 33: The Elder Haven

They buried Burn and Hedgehog, cleaned and bandaged their wounds, then headed deeper into the forest. Wolf kept up a fast pace, but no one complained.

Eventually they came upon a thick curtain of vines and lichen hanging from every tree, rock, and cliff. Wolf raised a hand wind blew a path between two trees. Night Shade led the group through. Wolf followed wordlessly behind.

On the other side was a town. It began at ground level and rose in sporadic clumps of houses up a grassy incline. The trees here were still just as dense as the rest of the forest, parting the houses from each other in thick walls of twisting, gnarled trunks. Griffin followed the hill up to its peak where a stream cut beneath an arching stone bridge and tumbled down to the base of the forest floor where it then serpentine out of sight.

As they drew closer, Griffin could make out mossy green cobblestone paths and ivy-wrapped houses, some of which also sported tiny sprinklings of velvety purple flowers.

"It's really pretty," Fern murmured as she walked alongside him.

He nodded.

"Keep close," Wolf spoke suddenly after he'd made his way back to the front. It was the first time Griffin had heard him speak since they'd begun journeying again, and the sylph's voice sounded quiet and hoarse.

Night Shade and Jequirity moved in closer behind Wolf and Griffin and Fern closed up the back. The first house loomed up on their left. Wolf quickly walked past, head bowed and wings pulled in. Griffin's chest tightened as he watched the human villagers stop whatever late afternoon chores they'd been doing to watch the Elder hike up the cobblestone street. No one tried to attack them and there didn't seem to be any armored men or city guards, but Griffin kept a wary eye out just in case.

They brushed past a house that had been built nearly on top of the road in order to avoid the ancient oak on its other side. Fern lifted her fingers to gently brush the glossy ivy that clung to the stone.

"They have magic in them," she murmured, looking back at the leaves as they left the house behind.

"Wolf did say there's magic in all the Elder land plants," Griffin pointed out.

Fern shook her head. "There's more than normal. It reminds me of the trees in Tepora Forest."

"Do you think dryads made this?"

In front of them Night Shade said without turning around, "Morvale used to be a dryad city."

"A city?" Griffin echoed.

Night Shade turned her head just enough so he could see her raising an eyebrow. "What—did you think this was just a town?"

Shortly after she said that, they crested the top of the hill and Griffin's eyes widened. A huge expanse of houses nestled against, beneath, and even inside the trees, spreading out in every direction. The cobblestone path they'd been following split into three different roads to weave and loop around the city in a purposeful swirling design. One of these paths returned to the center of the city and straightened. A stretch of redwoods lined either side of this broader path and their branches arched toward each other, creating a covered walkway.

A glint of blue light suddenly caught Griffin's attention and he turned around. A few humans glared back at him, none of which held any source of light. He spotted a lantern sitting just outside someone's door, but it wasn't lit.

I must be seeing things.

Griffin shrugged and ran to catch up with the others. Wolf had veered off of the road and began walking between the buildings, heading into one of the larger clusters.