The Elven Curse

Chapter 15

Even though he'd thought he'd struggle to sleep in an unfamiliar place.

But he quickly proved himself wrong as he slept almost immediately in Rowan's improvised bed.

Rowan's "bed" consisted of a large number of layers of animal fur, stacked up in a messy pile and with soft quilts and squishy feather pillows.

Rowan had insisted for him to sleep there while he slept beside him over a thin blanket, Aerin had been determined to convince him that both of them fitted in the bed but Rowan just ignored him and told him he was capable of sleeping anywhere.

Aerin went to sleep while complaining to himself and insulting Rowan, saying that he didn't deserve a bed anyway.

They left the camp the next morning and were on their way to the castle Aerin feared to reach.

The sound of leaves being crushed by feet filled the silence.

Everyone was walking while following Aerin, or so they thought. He'd never gone outside, so it was only fair that he didn't have a good sense of orientation.

He'd left the castle while being completely blinded by darkness, his senses hadn't experienced the surroundings as they really were. He wouldn't be able to differentiate one tree from another.

Instead, he walked beside Rowan who was the one who was actually leading everyone. Aerin noticed he was chewing on something, he must've noticed Aerin's stare because he turned his head to look at him and offered him a small box that was made with carefully folded leaves.

Aerin took the offered box and pulled at the thin strings, the folded leaves opened to reveal two small yellow gelatinous beads.

He looked up at Rowan curiously.

"Chew them, they're very sweet. Kids love them", Rowan said.

Aerin looked back at the small pearls while scrunching his eyebrows and sighed dramatically while stuffing the two of them inside his mouth.

He chewed slowly and was surprised by the liquid that escaped from them, a sweet flavor invaded his tongue and he moaned, pleased by the sweetness.

"This is amazing! Do you have more?", Aerin asked, disappointed that the sweet flavor had disappeared just as fast as it had come.

"No, but when we go to Evior I can buy as many as you want".

Aerin's shoulder slumped. If I'll even be allowed to go outside again.

He got lost in his own thoughts, thinking the many ways he'd be punished for disappearing for a whole day. Then he was suddenly awakened by Rowan's voice.

"We're here!".

Aerin looked up and saw the tall door of the main entrance, the one he'd avoided while escaping. There weren't any locks on it as expected, nobody feared any attack as they were completely isolated from other kingdoms.

A whole group of guards was probably inside drinking or sleeping, he could just slip through the door and go to his room, but that wasn't an option. He was with a group behind him that was ignorant of the reason behind his presence outside the castle.

Elves were also probably aware of his disappearance by now but were too afraid to go outside, only specially trained ones were able to leave the castle, and even sometimes they came back absolutely mortified for unknown reasons.

He'd been outside for a whole day now, even if it felt as if it had been weeks since he escaped, nothing had happened to him, he even found a way to leave the cursed place behind.