Hidden Kingdom

Chapter 0.2

So, it turns out that puny, untrained Cedar is actually an almost perfectly trained giant. He was almost better than I, but with his size, certain things were a little harder for him. The forest got darker the deeper we went. I had agreed to help Cedar as long as it didn't interfere with my current assignment. The only light we could see by was the dull purple glow of my blade, that is unil we stumbled nto a clearing. The shrubbery around the clearing meant the glow could not be seen, even from a metre away.

The canopy still covered the clearing but it wasn't quite as thick as before, allowing small slivers of silver moonlight to peek through. The moonlight seemed to reflect off the vines but the moon was no longer a main source of light. The whole clearing was now illuminated in a bluegreen glow. I turned to face the tree right behind me. Reaching out my hand, I touched the soft substance. Moss. The glowing substance was moss. The whole clearning was lined with trees covered in the glowing moss. Little pebbles along the ground were also covered in the moss, creating little glowing pathways, I looked on in wonder at the circular clearing in front of me.

Something clicked in my brain. I grabbed my bow, drawing my arm back with an arrow in place, scanning the clearing. No visible traps. I closed my eyes and focused on my ears.  I heard the wind blowing and a few night birds singing, but nothing sounded threatening and I couldn't hear any breathing that shouldn't be there. I opened my eyes adn slowly began to let the bow string loosen. I warily put the arrow away and slung the bow over my chest. Cedar began to walk out into the clearing, almost in a trance. I grabbed at his wrist. The action itself had no effect on the giant, but the intention was obvious and he stopped in his tracks, turning back in my direction, a questioning look on his face. 

"This is not safe," I whispered, checking my surroundings as I spoke. "It has to be a trap. Look at it. This clearing is a perfect circle adn it's too well hidden. This isn't a naturally made clearing," I expplained, pulling on Cedar's wrist, but all he did was throw his head back in laughter. 

"Of course it isn't naturally made. It was made by the Animorphials centuries ago. I played here as a child. I would hike for two days just to get here. Look, there's the trail we used to use," Cedar chuckled, pointing to a small gap in the shrubbery about a hundred metres away. 

"It's in the middle of the rainforest?" I questioned. 

"Most of us Animorphials still live out here, contrary to pupular belief. The cover of the forest is great. It works perfectly for the hidden kingdoms. As I said, the closest Kingdom is a three day hike from the village you came from. Most elves don't realise how many of us there actually are. You are the minority," Cedar explained, now walking freely out into the middle of the clearing. 

I walked out into the clearing warily to join Cedar. He had a smile on his face, obviously reminiscing about playing here as a child. I looked around me, the whole place seeming like magic. I watched Cedar closely as he took a few big paces and was on the other side of the clearing. He knealt down and began digging under a tree. A few moments later he returned with a backpack. 

"What is that?" I asked curiously, taking a step back just in case, afterall, I didn't know a lot about him. 

"The earth will always provide, the Animorphials learn this centuries ago, the elves are yet to catch on," Cedar said in a wise voice. Then he burst out laughing again. "It's an emergency pack I buried out here many years ago," he explained. "We really should make camp here. The forest can be very dangerous at night," He said, following it up with some 'ghost' noises. 

I playfully hit his arm as he knelt down and began to unpack the backpack. It was rather large and held quite a lot. Half of the space was taken up by what I assume is a tent and then there were two blankets and some jerky and canned food. It was, to be honest, a pretty good idea and burying it under a tree so no one would take it, also a good idea.

I sat down and finally took in the appearance of my companion, feeling as though it was the first time I had actually seen him. He knelt on one knee over the smaller bag containing the tent, trying to understand how everything went together. He had a focused look on his face, his brows furrowed just a little. His beard was shaped but it looked like it hadn't been shaved in a couple of days. That might also be the same reason as to why he seems to have some bags under his eyes. His hair, a little longer than shoulder length, would fall in front of his eyes as he leant over further to inspect the tent and when he tucked it back behind his ears you could see the point the tips had. The ears were one of the most obvious giveaways that the Animorphials were still part elf. 

As he stood up, I saw the movement of his leg muscles, testing the limits of the pants that were baggy on him when I first met him, a mere six hours before. He set about setting up the tent while I sat, staring at him, finally feeling secure enough to let my guard down. I still had my weapons if necessary, but I felt safe. As Cedar was struggling slightly with the tent, I felt a little bad about not offering my help, but there wasn't a lot I could do. Cedar had at least a good two or three feet on me, maybe more. When Cedar began struggling with the small things, like getting the poles to attach to the little clips at the bottom, I stepped in.

"Let me," I offered, taking the two pieces from his hand and noticing the difference in size.

"Thank you, little one," Cedar replied, obviously having just noticed the size difference too. He stuck his tongue out at me, an action that did not suit his body type, causing giggles to erupt from my mouth.

"I mean, I am a little on the short side but... I'm not that small. You're just unusually large," I retorted, feeling happy like a child again.

It didn't take long for the tent to be set up and we both crawled inside. I was happy to, it had taken me a while but once I let my guard down, it was pretty hard not to notice the chill in the air. I curled up inside a blanket, wrapping myself up with my knees to my chest, the best way to sleep if you need to protect yourself. Cedar came in behind me and in the enclosed space I suddenly felt very unsure.

"You don't mind, do you?" Cedar asked as he pulled his shirt over his head, sending his musky scent throughout the whole tent.

I froze. Barely able to nod my head just a little bit. A chuckle escaped his lips as he shook his head, his hair shaking a little as well.

"Well. Good night then," he said and I just nodded as he rolled over and pulled a small blanket over himself.

~~~~~~~~~

A/N

So I decided that a good person to play Cedar would be Jason Momoa, so that is who was pictured at the start, he is a really big guy so I thought it was fitting. Also, I'm thinking of having Leda Muir playing Gaelira... Look up 'Leda Muir elf' and you'll see what I mean. Also... One of the pictures may play a part a little later in the story.

Also, as promised, have uploaded on Friday and hopefully the next update will be up Monday, depending whether I get a little writers block like I did today. Oh well, I hope you enjoyed, please remember to vote if you like it :p

P.S. For future reference, pretty much every chapter should be about this long. I aim for around 1000 words per chapter as a minimum as a lot of people read on their phones and it is a little more convenient for the chapters to be a little shorter... Hope you enjoyed.