Arthur Hood: the Heir of Robin and King

Chapter Nineteen

Pridwen sailed through the night, the ship traversing river after river. And as a cloudy and rainy morning welcomed them the next day, the children found themselves surrounded by a barren yet grassy and boggy expanse.

'It has to be taking us somewhere,' said Arthur as the three of them lay down on the deck, tired. 'Surely. It would have stopped by now if it was just helping us escape.'

'But where?' asked Merlynna as she stroked her flying cat.

Arthur shrugged.

'Hopefully the ship's taking us somewhere where the Shadow will not find us,' said Little Johnny.

Despite Pridwen flying through the water with incredible speed, Arthur craned his neck to make sure they weren't being followed.

They weren't.

Arthur lay his head back down but then suddenly Fury perked up from Merlynna's lap and darted into the air, his eyes trained on something somewhere up ahead.

The children bolted to their feet, stared over the bow but they didn't see anything except for more barren grassland.

'What is it?' Merlynna said as Fury flapped his wings vigorously right beside her.

The flying cat just continued his gawking even when a noise from above garnered the children's attention.

Looking up, Arthur saw the wind had gone from the sails, and Robin's feathers had stopped spinning and were now floating down towards him. And when he grabbed them, it was then that he noticed they were slowing down.

'Are we about to stop?' asked Merlynna.

'It seems so,' said Little Johnny.

'But there's nothing around.'

The children kept their eyes peeled for any sign of something out of the ordinary. And it didn't take long before Arthur saw it.

He was just gazing at a patch of grass when a tree suddenly popped out from the ground.

'Whoa! Did you two see that?' he gasped.

'See what?' Little Johnny and Merlynna said together.

'That over there.' Arthur pointed at the lonely yet majestic tree. 'It just . . . it just . . . it just shot out from nowhere.'

'Are you sure?' asked Merlynna.

'I swear.'

It was then that another tree mushroomed from the grass. This time, all three saw it.

'WHOA!' snapped Little Johnny before more and more appeared. 'What's going on?'

Arthur shrugged. 'I don't know. Could it be magic?'

'Oh, yes,' said Merlynna. 'This is definitely magic.'

'Fairy magic?'

'Possibly. But possibly not.'

The children continued to watch as more and more trees reached for the skies until they found themselves surrounded by a thick deep forest.

With a look of awe plastered on his face, and as birds chirped and critters croaked, Little Johnny said, 'I guess this is our final destination.'

'It appears so,' Merlynna replied as the ship had slowed even more.

'Whatever this place beholds,' said Arthur, 'bad or good, we must stick together.'

Around a bend in the river they drifted before entering a tiny lake. And it was there that Pridwen came to a complete stop.

'I know that look, Fury,' Merlynna burst out as the flying cat flicked his tail back and forth. 'Don't you dare.'