Forgotten Magic

Chapter 44

Hookfoot and Shorty both jumped onto Lance. And I'm sure I jumped too.

"Few have made it to the other side of the forest alive," the mysterious woman continues. "And I'm one of them. The first time I crossed, I had nothing but a dagger and a handful of nuts. And, I had bronchitis."

Now, you wee, Eugene is slumped way over at this point. And at Adira's story, he rolls his eyes. "So, lookie here, Adira. I appreciate the bridge assist, but I'm petty sure I can lead us through a forest-"

"Forest of No-" she begins in a dramatic voice.

"Yes, I'm familiar with its name, thank you."

However, the eerie howling still echoes across the land.

"Wait," Rapunzel interrupts. "Eugene, listen. I know you grew up in the wilderness and I have complete faith in you, I really do. But can it hurt anything to have another expert along?"

"Oh goodie," Cass sighs. "Another expert."

"'Another'?" Nickolas jokes. "As if we ever had one."

I can't help laughing.

"Fine," Eugene says in a flat tone, turning his back on Adira and walking away.

"Uh-" the guard beside me begins, but no one seems to care. He mutters something and drags me back into the caravan.

"I'd like to say one more thing...before we take off," Adira interrupts.

I can tell she's talking to Nickolas and I, so I stop in my tracks.

"If it isn't too much of a bother," she says, walking over to us. "I'd like for her to be unchained."

"Or..." Now, he has one foot in the caravan and the other on the ground. One of his hands is on the doorway, the other on my shoulder. And the way he was scowling, I would have backed up right away. But not Adira, apparently.

"Or you can forget any guidance I might give you."

He rolls his eyes. "As if I care."

"Oh come on." Rapunzel seemed frustrated. "It's just for a little while. We don't need another fight. Especially over something like this."

Nickolas groans and pulls the key from a pocket. "Whatever." And suddenly the shackles are hanging from his belt instead of my wrists.

I was thankful to Adira, not that I wasn't. I just got this feeling I was going to regret it later.

As we're settling in the caravan, a thump comes from the roof. And we began moving again.

For a while we rode in silence. A sort of haunting silence. Nickolas was probably angry about what had just happened. Eugene and Cassandra were tense. Lance was head over heels for Adira. And Rapunzel was no doubt uncomfortable. And it was strange how the tone of our travels could be changed by something as simple as one more person.

As I thought, I began to fill a bag with some of my most important possessions. Rapunzel had given it to me before we left, but I'd never actually used it. I fit my journal, the scroll pieces, and my mother's letters inside. If we were to get lost here, at least my things would be lost with me.

Suddenly, the caravan stops. Shorty opens a window and comments "That is one scary tree. Reminds me of my Uncle Mert. He too was a scary tree."

I lean my head out another window, and my eyes pop way out. "Hey wait a minute." Before Nickolas or anyone could stop me, I'd exited the caravan and was kneeling in front of a pile of bones and a knife. I reached a hand for the handle.

"Hey. Kid, what are you doing?" Eugene snapped. He approached me, but I'd already pulled out the knife and was examining it with a satisfied smile on my face.

"Looks like he got what was coming for him," I said with a laugh, kicking a toe at the bones. "Rob me and that's what you get, buster!"

A hand reached out and took the knife from my fingers.

"Hey!"

"Sorry." Eugene held the thing between his fingers and examined it. "Not allowed to have weapons, remember?" He handed it to Nickolas and for a moment, I swore they shared the same mind.

But then the latter growls and says "Thanks for doing my job for me. Come on, kid. No more detours, okay?"

"But-"

"No buts. Now come on."

I groan loudly and followed him back inside. I wanted to argue, but I could see there would be no point under the current circumstances.

. . .

"Okay, so I haven't technically gotten us anywhere," Eugene admits as we're standing in front of the bones of one of my enemies. As I avidly put it in my journal, 'It's thirty minutes later and we've found ourselves five inches backwards. At this rate we're set to reach the other side in the next never."

"And I know what you're thinking," he adds. "But it is not my fault?"

"Not your fault?" Cass and Nickolas snap. "You let us in a circle, 'really good navigator'."

"In Eugene's defense..." Rapunzel begins. "It was a really good circle?"

Cassandra groans and facepalms. "Ugh. We're never getting out of here."

"We will if we use the map, Short Hair," Adira informs them.

"What did you just call me?" Now she's raising an eyebrow, ever so slightly ticked off.

"I find referring to people by a defining characteristic is more time efficient than learning their names," she informs us, whittling a piece of wood and perched on top a rock. "Hence, Short Hair, Earrings, Soiled Gnome, Hookfoot, Porcelain, and...Fish Skin." Now, she pointed at each of them as she said it. So Eugene was quick to object to the nickname.

But before he could rattle off about his 16 assorted lotions or whatever, Cassandra interrupts with "What's Caleb's?"

She glances at Nickolas. "Guard Dog."

And now Cassandra's busting up about it. I had to admit, It was pretty funny. The soldier, at the moment, seemed to fed up with the whole thing to care. He just storms back in the direction of the caravan.

I went back to kicking around the bones. Honestly, the whole thing didn't faze me much. Sure, there was the fear of perishing in a place no one would find our bodies, but it all seemed very distant somehow.

I didn't listen to what was going on too much. Instead, I started thinking about Adira. She was strange, in all manner of ways. But she was also the first person to insist on being nice to me in half a year. Sure, there was Rapunzel, but she'd turned a blind eye. And Taylor, but they were busy. And kind of distant. What finally pierced my train of thought was Eugene asking "And where is the caravan?"

"Back up," Adira warns. "That's a land pit. They'd scattered all over all over the forest. The horses, the camper, and Guard Dog are likely in another section of the woods now."

"All right, all right," Eugene says, seemingly taking advantage of the situation. "Listen up everyone. There's no reason to be scared. We're gonna find Max and Fidella and get the heck outta this place in no time. Follow my lead."