Secrets

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Forest of Dume hovered in front of them, it's darkness and unknown dangers beckoning to the two Questers. Not.

Jackie shivered. The Forest of Dume was just an pseudonym for Your Death. Not many had survived its treacherous trenches and cold, hostile weather. It stretched for thousands of miles.

It had never been mapped and held several unknown entities. No one knew for how long it stretched, how vast it was, now wide.

And here they were. Willingly entering the Forest of their own death. But Kyle and Jackie had agreed upon one thing - the more dangerous the place, the more likely that the answer to the riddle would be there.

And what place more dangerous than a place which screamed of death and reeked of darkness.

XXXXXXX

Kyle looked around trying to get an idea of where they were. It was an entrance to the Forest no doubt, but where?

There were several entrances - decorated, not decorated; known ones, unknown; dangerous, fairly calm; magical, non magical and so on.

They had eaten lunch at the Merry Weather and had pressed on, passing through Spalkpieg, Dordrecht, Cancretour and Zalkiejh. Nowhere had they been given a warm welcome, just cold shoulders and glares.

Seemed like they were going to be very popular.

...

This entrance was marked by a large arch and weeds. Flowers randomly sprung about - in all colours - and huge weeds wrought the grass. Snails could be seen on the sides of the pillars of the arch, and he could see Jax making an effort to not touch anything.

It was funny actually.

"Should we move forward, or just stand here contemplating?" A sharp voice broke his reverie. Of course it was Jax, with her hands on her hips.

"Move forward, though contemplating seems like the better - and more enticing - option."

They heaved the rucksacks on to their shoulders and stepped through. Ten steps in, it was clear that magic would have to be used to see anything. Unfortunately, neither of them were wizards.

So the next best thing was a torch, which luckily they had. Thank the gods for that. Kyle led the way, being more experienced with a nervous Jax behind him peering around.

.....

Hours passed but they could not make out the time, though the sun had definetely gone down. They were shrouded in complete darkness save for that one beam of light coming from the torch. That cast several long, creepy, eerie shadows around them.

Low hanging branches, footsteps, noises, dry leaves, water bodies, spiders, snails, holes and winged creatures were some of the items they would have to look out for even though the list went on and on.

XXXXXXX

There was a swooping noise somewhere above them, and both Jackie and Kyle twisted their heads to look up.

There was nothing to see.

Suspicions raised, they headed forward.

Nothing else was heard for long time, so they relaxed slightly. The constant strain of being silent had got to them.

Both were searching for a good place to rest for the night (?), but were yet to find one.

.....

They were just wandering now, with no sense of direction. The Forest had muddled their sense of direction and had given them a false sense of safety.