Isolde

Chapter 5 - Reunited

By the time they reached the edge of the woods, Isolde had regained most of her strength. Her rosy cheeks were returning and her breathing was more steady. She turned to Alouette "Now I have enough breath to speak, I want to thank you for saving me." she beamed.

"You're welcome, you saved me in my chambers. Now we're even.".

Isolde smiled at the astute response.

It was now almost completely dark and they were alone in the woods. The poker had been lost in the river, they were dripping wet and none of them knew where they were.

"What do we do?" Alouette pondered as they trudged.

"I don't know, it doesn't seem sensible to just wander into the woods."

"But Frelian is meeting us in the woods."

It was true, their mysterious ally had promised to meet them in the woods and help them to the ship, but only now did they realise how vast the area was. The forest stretched on for miles, covering most of the coastline. It was perfect for remaining unseen but that came with the issue of hiding Prince Alvaro from them.

"Lets keep going, but stick to the edges." Alouette decided

"That will make us more exposed though."

Alouette smiled, since saving Isolde she'd become more confident in her abilities "Hopefully so exposed that Frelian will see us."

The risk of trudging around the edges was great, they might stumble and fall back into the river or might be spotted by Turige scouts, but the risk posed by the forest was greater. Isolde had tried to downplay the rumours of the monsters in the forest to keep Alouette calm, but she too had heard the stories. The tales of knights being killed by dragons or wolves tearing maidens apart, bears attacking travellers and some creatures so foul that it left their victims so scared, they couldn't even speak to describe their terrors. Even taking the path was dangerous.

Shortly after they put their plan into action, Alouette leading, they heard the familiar shouting and footsteps of soldiers.

"What do we do?" Alouette hissed to her friend behind

"There's only one thing we can do. Hide!" Isolde whispered back

"Where?"

"The forest." Isolde darted from behind Alouette behind a tree with thick low branches, it shielded her completely. Alouette, hearing the footsteps quicken, followed her friend.

"Is this far enough in?" Alouette asked timidly, the footsteps and prospect of hiding in a forest at night had returned her to her fearful ways almost immediately.

Isolde shook her head, she didn't want to risk being found so would rather venture deeper to be safe. They wouldn't have to go too far into the woods, they could still stay on the outskirts, but they needed to go further than just the initial line of trees.

The area they were in was full of dense greenery. Tall trees of different breeds spiralled up into the sky, their leaves blocking the moon. Branches shot out from all angles, some so close together it wasn't obvious where one tree stopped and another began, all were covered in thick moss, leaves, pines or fruits. Some trees' branches came so far to the ground they formed a tent like that of a circus around their trunk.

"Alouette, hide there." Isolde suggested, pointing to a particularly dense tree, Alouette stumbled through the leaves on the ground and took her place amongst its branches, it rustled as she entered it's cave of green but silenced once she was engulfed. Isolde herself took refuge in the large bush that sat in front of it, it wasn't hollowed out like the tree but the branches bent in such a way that she could comfortably kneel if she kept her head down. She couldn't see a second tree that would offer ample hiding capabilities to Alouette's without her having to climb so she resigned to crawling under the bush. She shuffled until she was completely into its frame then turned her head to check Alouette was concealed.