Draiks and Angels: Rescued

24 - Taken

At eight-thirty the next night, Cona gathered her guests into the library.

"We have just enough time to figure out where we are actually going to go," she started. "The instructions Daniel gave me say: 'Last is embraced in the arms of Nature, far to the South, in the center.'"

"Obviously, south," Michael said. "South of the city is..."

"The Virens Forest... then the Ventosus Plain," Cona finished.

"When I think 'arms of nature,' I don't really think of a plain," Khloe noted.

"I agree," Mara nodded.

"That's what I'd say, too, but it says 'far' to the south, and the forest is right next to the city. It might not be far enough," Cona explained.

"We can always start at the forest and work our way to the plain if we don't find it," Michael reasoned.

Cona had found some fancy daggers in one of the cupboards over the bar in the den, and she passed them to Mara and Khloe, leaving one for herself. Michael insisted on healing Cona's neck before it was time to leave. They both insisted out of embarrassment that Khloe and Mara leave the room. At nine on the nose, they carefully left through the back door, watching for ambushes as Cona locked the door. They jumped into the air and headed south.

They crossed the border of the forest and the air felt cooler coming from the trees below. The trees were dark even in the light from the moon, and Cona shivered. They could see a light smudge in the distance where the forest gave way to the plain. Around where Cona figured the halfway point should have been, she slowed and looked more seriously at the trees below. A little ways to her right, there was a tree that was a fair bit taller than all the others around it.

Cona stopped and pointed at it, "I think that might be the center of the forest."

"The trees are too thick to land," Mara noted.

Khloe called over, "There's a clearing we could land in and walk the rest of the way."

"Being on the ground makes us vulnerable to the Leader's scans," Michael contemplated, "but I think we have to risk it."

They landed in a defensive circle in the clearing. After a moment of nothing happening, they started walking through the underbrush toward the large tree. It was a deciduous forest, mostly consisting of mature oak trees. Thick bushes grew all around, making a wall of green around the clearing. They pushed ahead, finally making it to the large oak after nearly ten minutes. The area around the tree was relatively free of underbrush.

"What now?" Khloe asked.

"Mm, look for anything suspicious? Maybe a square, the shape of one of the pieces, a mysterious 'x'?" Cona suggested.

They all started looking around, especially at the trunk of the tree.

"I think this qualifies as suspicious," Mara said a minute later.

They all rushed over to where she was pointing at the tree trunk. There was a stone box embedded in the tree, looking like it was being engulfed by the bark. Mara stepped aside and Cona came forward with her dagger. She scraped along a barely visible seam, cutting away a little bit of the bark in the process. She slowly cleared the seam of dirt until she could fit the blade underneath and pry it away. There was the last piece, just like the others, shiny as if they hadn't been waiting for who-knows-how-many-years. Cona popped out the piece, showed it to the others, smiling, and put it in her bag.

"That's it! That's all of them!" Cona laughed.

"Hey, laugh when we are in the air," Michael said, but he was smiling.