Tainted by Blood

Chapter Six

Chapter 6

Once Terulen had finally caught up to Draken and Annadora, the rain had died down to a drizzle. Both Drake and Anna were exhausted and Terulen didn’t have the energy to confront him today. He would do it first thing in the morning, he vowed to himself. It had been a long and hard day. It was only still early in the afternoon, but they needed some rest and a warm cooked meal. Out of the two of those things, Terulen knew they’d only be lucky enough to get one of them.

A few trees were huddled together; they had more of those black, crumbling leaves than most of the other scraggly trees. Terulen, Anna and Draken took shelter from the diminishing storm under them. It wasn’t a very good shelter, drops of rain dripped through the canopy and onto them, but it was the best they were going to find. It didn’t take too long for the three of them to fall to sleep. Terulen had already filled them in on what happened with the troll. He left out the part where he gave up. He wanted them to see him as someone that would keep fighting to the end, not someone who surrendered.  

At about midnight, Annadora and Terulen were awakened by scuffing noises. Terulen snapped to his feet, shaking off the remaining traces of sleep. It was very dark and Terulen couldn’t see what creature had made the noise. There was no horrid smell, so at least it wasn’t another forest troll.

“Calm down, Teru.” Draken laughed at him. “It’s only me.” Terulen sagged in relief. He still saw Draken as a threat, but he wasn’t an immediate danger. Just as he was about to demand some answers from Draken, he continued. “If we start travelling now, we should get there before first light.” Terulen sighed. They had already travelled this far. They may as well keep going to the end. Let’s just hope that I don’t come to regret this.

“Then we should get going.” Terulen nodded at him. After all, Draken had saved Anna’s life when he had run from the troll and he had even done his best to keep Terulen alive. He owed him to see this through. “Anna, is your mother going to find us?” Terulen asked her suddenly, as he recalled the queen threatening him to leave the forest.

“Oh, of course not.” Anna chirped happily, giggling at Terulen’s questioning expression. “I casted a concealing spell around us. None of the pixies will be able to sense our presence. It will be as if we just simply disappeared.”

“So there is magic surrounding us?” Terulen glanced uneasily around him, as if he would see a magical orb.

“Yes. You can’t see it or touch it though. Only I can.” Anna explained as she watched him glancing around and feeling the air for magic.

“Oh, okay.” Terulen answered, feeling like a fool and only a tad bit disappointed. Draken just seemed amused by the whole exchange.

They set out into the dark night. Only Draken could see, but Anna emitted enough light for them to see a few paces ahead of them. That stopped the two of them from colliding with any trees, but a few branched still stabbed at them. Terulen could feel a bruise forming on his side from where the branch had hit him earlier. His body was also riddled with other aches and pains. His stained clothes were in tatters. He knew he had to find some new ones, but he didn’t know where to start looking. They were far from any form of civilisation. New clothes were the least of his concerns anyway.  

The night only seemed to get darker, although Terulen knew they must be in the early hours of the morning. It could only get lighter from here. His body was already worn out from the small amount of time they had already travelled for. His stomach growled more angrily then Drake when he was in a bad mood. He also really needed some food. First chance he got, he was going hunting. Hopefully I won’t turn into the hunted again, Terulen thought bitterly.