Dark Hearts

Chapter 6 (Part 1)

A/N: How I pictured the city minus the snow and homeless people.

The silence surrounding the trio took over entirely, stealing the words and ideas each wanted to say from their mouths before they even had a chance to speak. From the second they left the camp behind them there had been no conversation to keep away the insanity that came with the quiet. Nothing hiding in the vegetation bothered to interrupt either much like the previous day, which left them fully, submerged in their thoughts. Tension filled itself in the gaps of the relationship between the three until it was the only thing left standing.
It put them into staggered positions as they walked, driving a rift so that they could not bother to be near another. The path that had the capability to fit a dozen people shoulder to shoulder now only allowed the capacity of the group. Each of them found something bland to fascinate them while the time dragged out its minutes with a gleeful smirk on its face. Even the sound of their feet scuffing the ground sounded like glass shattering and they walked with caution. None of them had the guts to speak up about the problem that stood proudly in front.
Cade enjoyed the quiet for a while, he liked being able to think as loud as he pleased without another's voice interrupting the train of thought he rode. But after time slowed and the path stretched further than he anticipated, not speaking to a real person began to drive him to the point of exhaustion and he craved some conversation. He never used to have a problem absorbing himself in his schemes and mind games to pass the night and he would gladly have kept his mouth closed for the rest of his life if he could. Then he experienced what it felt like to speak with a physical person that he enjoyed talking about things with and he found that it itched his mind until he had it.
Out of curiosity, Cade removed his eyes from the path ahead where the dirt disappeared in a bend from the trees to examine the other two who refused to open their mouths. Ivory kept her hood down contrary to the first time travelling down this road but let her eyes wander around the trees as if waiting for the dying plants to jump out. Talso walked with his head tilted towards the ground, watching the rise and fall of his feet against the leaves. Both of them had sullen looks on their faces although they attempted to mask it through slight twitches of their features; Cade knew better. A few feet separated the barkeep and the princess from the sides but she continued forward steps ahead of him while Talso walked slightly behind the two of them.
The town could not be much further; they had been traveling for a few hours at least (Cade tried counting the minutes at one point). He wondered what awaited the group in the town ahead of them, if they would run into any more inconveniences before they arrived. It occurred to him that his ignorance about the woods would not dangle his fate over a pond of carnivorous fish anymore, not with Talso who lived in the land. Ivory may not have realized it then but it was an intelligent decision to bring the volhound into their group.
A mumble distracted Cade from his thoughts, sounding normal to the ears of a person accustomed to silence. The noise came from Ivory who now found interest in her hands clasped together in front of her stomach, although Cade doubted that the sound was intentional by the distant look in her eyes. His eyes moved to Talso who also focused on the girl, only looking away for a moment to make contact with the other male. Unintentionally the other two shifted their course closer to the girl, minimizing the space that uncertainty and unease created. While Talso probably assumed that Ivory finally summed up the courage to mend what had never really been glued together in the first place, Cade feared that the allure of insanity had pulled Ivory under. That was the one warning the crazed man who ventured into the woods had told him; beware of the silence for it has more sanity than those it takes victim.
Ivory muttered something under her breath again before shooting her head up with sad eyes and a regretful face. All three of them stopped at the same time, Talso and Cade halted the second the girl perked up from her previous slump, and Ivory turned to look at the younger boy. "Talso, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to pry or-or be rude or have bias against the people over here or-"
"Ivory," Tears started to brew in her eyes and she hiccupped once to prevent them from spilling down her cheeks. Talso looked at her with a light grin, one that said he pitied her and had long since thought about the issue at hand. "Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal."
"But it is, Talso. I couldn't see past the fact that the people over here didn't grow up the way I did. I'm sorry for how I treated you and for thinking that it was all right for me to do so. Nobody should be treated differently based on how he or she grew up, where he or she lives, or what he or she looks like." Cade wondered for long she had been thinking about this small speech and how deeply she thought about it.
"You think too much about things. It's nothing." The boys caught each other's eyes, speaking their thoughts in the brief connection without the girl speaking. For the first time since Cade met him, he understood Talso and the struggles he had to deal with in his life.
She sniffed and rubbed underneath her nose quickly, still refusing to let the tears leave the safety of her eyes. "How can you forgive me so easily? I'm hardly forgiving myself for this." There was a tiny crack in her voice and in response she wrapped her arms tightly around the middle of her torso, making her as small as possible.
"Because I'm not like you. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you'll be able to see why the people here feel the way they do." They had much to learn about this part of the world; even though it was a part of a larger whole it could not be more different than its counterpart. Cade believed that was what scared the people living in the main areas.
"Your world seems very confusing and difficult to understand," Ivory muttered with a small chuckle, wiping underneath her eyes and Cade knew the water finally broke the dam.
Talso walked forward a bit settling with a grim smile on his face, maintaining his impulsive side rather well. "If you really want to learn about us then you're going to have to be willing to put in the work that goes with it." Ivory could only stare at him, thinking about what his statement meant and the conditions that came along with it. The boy did not say anything more to the girl, perhaps waiting for her to respond to his previous sentence and not overload her with suggestions.
"If that's what it takes to fix our world then I'm willing to do anything," She sounded completely positive without even a smidge of doubt to hold her back but the flicker in her eyes gave away that anything had its limits.
"You royals are always too eager to jump head first without looking to see how far down the bottom is," The younger boy muttered to himself but loud enough so that the other two could hear. Cade questioned whether he spoke quietly to avoid offending the princess or to maintain the caution that was required while wandering this forest.
"It's a bad habit." Ivory grinned lightly at Talso, attempting to break the awkwardness that remained between the two of them. Whether or not the girl noticed, Cade could see that the other male still held specific opinions regarding the royals and what had occurred. Talso hesitated in his response as if combing through the endless options to reply with and the reactions that would ensure based upon his choice.
"Indeed, one that appears to pass on through every generation without fail." Ivory looked down after Talso spoke and frowned at the ground beneath her so that it would take the brunt of her emotions. Clearly the young boy eliminated the wrong choices.
Cade could not stand to take anymore of the ridiculous argument preventing the three of them from continuing what they originally decided to complete and intervened for the sake of his own sanity. "Can you two quit it? I'm about to go nuts listening to the stupidity of this conversation. You're only making it worse for each other so just get over it and let's go."
They looked at the older boy with mixed reactions: Talso stared at him with furrowed eyebrows and a scrunched nose while Ivory looked shocked that bothered to interrupt. At least they stopped going at each other and now Cade didn't have to feel like his stomach was being squeezed and that he had swallowed his tongue. It made it worse for the young bartender to have to deal with two people who could hardly speak to the other when he had his own issues conversing. As long as the other two could get along then the group could function properly if Cade managed to obliterate the relationship between another one of the three.
"That's a bit odd coming from you, considering you argue with the both of us repeatedly. Why do you care what goes on between the two of us?" Ivory asked, relieving herself of the surprise and replacing it with slightly irritated wondering. Why could she not just accept the fact that Cade was attempting to fix something without questioning him?
"Why does it matter to you why I do what I do? Does it really matter that I'm trying to salvage the only friendship between the three of us? 'Cause I can take it back and make you both start fighting again, it won't bother me in the slightest." He was a much better bluff to other people than he was to himself.
Ivory seemed to crack slightly after hearing that the possibility of someone not enjoying her presence still lingered but Talso did not budge as easily as Cade had thought. The other boy squinted at him suspiciously, holding hands with the paranoia that the bartender did not speak with a truthful tongue. The longer that the two made eye contact waiting for the other to break the more Cade began to feel that the shape-changer saw through his lie and would admit it outloud. But eventually the other male backed down from his offensive stance yet continued to scan up and down the older boy's figure repeatedly as if waiting for him to fall.
"So are you two going to make up so we can move on, because we're losing daylight and I don't want to spend another night in this forest," Cade questioned, pressing the mend between them so that his slip up would be left behind and remain unnoticed. The other two looked at each other at that moment and spoke without words the apologizes necessary.
"We're alright then?" Ivory asked softly, stepping her foot out onto the ice to make sure it wouldn't break when she dared to venture out further. A hopeful look made its way onto her face, one that proved Cade's thought about her fear of people's disapproval of her; to him it wasn't worth the hair-pulling and frantic eyes just to have someone else say they liked him when all he needed was himself.
Talso attempted to grin but it looked like a dog trying to smile with caramel in its mouth. "Yeah, we're all good."
"Great! Now that that's settled, can we get a move on? I'm tired of standing like a helpless duck." The way the silence crept around the shadows, always watching but never making a move, had Cade on an edge where neither running back nor jumping sounded like appealing options. Once or twice he could have sworn on his life that he saw a pair of sickly yellow eyes watching him through the bushes.
"Well you kind of are a helpless duck. I doubt you could stand for longer than a minute if even a pack of munchkies ran up to you." Talso smirked at his remark, not wasting any time in badgering Cade after the thick block of silence had been removed. For whatever reason, the other boy humor only in pestering the elder no matter the circumstance.
"Nice insult, Talso. Got anything better though cause munchkie wouldn't even scare a little child let alone me," Cade responded dryly, squinting at the other boy with a tight smile that gave off everything but joy or humor. He decided that if he were to start their trek again eventually the other two would have to follow or they would be subjected to the forest by themselves with no map, and although Talso came to them from these woods the way he glanced around when he thought no one saw suggested that his smarts did not extend this far. It made Cade feel exceptionally well that he knew slightly more than the other arrogant boy.
"Then I guess what I said goes." Talso smirked happily, glad to prove that he successfully made fun of the other boy. Cade merely rolled his eyes to the back of his head, not amused with the fact that Talso could not find humor in anything other than annoying the older boy. He stalked ahead of the other two with his hands stuffed in the extremely lengthy pockets of his pants, trying not to erupt in anger at how infuriating being with people could be.
"Well hold on a second: what's a munchkie? I've never heard of those," Ivory commented from behind him, most likely speaking to Talso about her wonderings. The other two weren't too far behind Cade and he could distinctly hear the shuffling of leaves as their feet scuffed the ground.
Not allowing the other boy to respond purely out of spite and because he wanted to establish himself as the most well-rounded, Cade answered the girl's question. "They're these little creatures that look like those things called chipmunks but instead of having small teeth they have long fangs that stick out over their lips and large black eyes. Most people avoid them because of the sharp nails on their paws but also because they're said to be carnivorous, especially since they stay in large groups. They also become easily enraged so if you ever see one, do not engage it." He did not bother to turn around so that she could hear the words he spoke clearly and remained walking ahead of the two.
A short pause took place and Cade grinned to himself. "They sound... lovely. Have you ever encountered one or are you going off of what people have told you?" Ivory continued to wonder, distancing herself from the awkwardness of before and electing to move forward. Whether she chose to forget about the recent incident or push it away for the time being was Cade's question.
"I've come face to face with some of them a while ago when I first came into the forest but most of the information came from the book. They tried to bite my toes off and ruined my first pair of boots." The memory caused a slight stinging to ensue in the largest phalange of his foot. It was his first mistake after entering the forest unbeknownst to the dangers that lay within, no matter how small the creature.
"Those poor boots," Talso muttered under his breath, but made sure to speak loud enough that he knew the older boy would hear.
"Talso," Ivory scolded in a hushed voice, acting as if Cade did not hear what was said and that the bartender would mind what had been spoken. "How did you get away from them? Aren't they hard to escape from without major injuries?"
If only she could see the reactions from her questions- it would make their conversation much shorter but far less amusing for Cade. "If you know what to do it's rather simple. All you have to do make yourself seem more threatening; they smell fear. Be the more terrifying opponent and they'll leave you alone." He recalled having pull out the sharp dagger from its sheath and baring his teeth in a snarl so that the tiny beasts scampered off without a look back.
"How did you manage that? You're about as scary as a puppy." Cade wanted to snap back about how Talso wouldn't have moved bark from a tree if he didn't transform into a ferocious monster will an endless appetite anytime someone pushed him past his limits but decided against it.
"Shut up, Talso." The other two spoke in unison, silencing the boy and their conversation to let the quiet rein.
The three continued onward without speaking to each other, settling for consoling themselves and their thoughts for the time being as if preparing for the reality that awaited them in Tremaine. Cade led the others and kept at least the length of a body between them in case of any unexpected danger or betrayal, but let his senses go slack with them. With every step closer to the exit of the forest more noise began to commence; in normal woods the sounds would have gone unnoticed but the absence of such made them more definitive. It was as if the creatures knew that their habits would not put their lives at risk closer to civilization. The forest seemed to soak up the fear of the travelers it trapped within its borders and emitted it in the form of unfulfilled threats that left people teetering on an edge.
Cade could feel his lungs begin to fill with more air each time he took a step forward and felt his shoulders rise without excess weight. Ahead of them, the capacity of trees began to diminish and the pathway did not hide beneath a cloak of darkness. The absence of light that overtook the woods faded slightly so that Cade could see the details on the tree bark and the pathway laden with leaves and dry dirt. He wondered how long it took for the few creatures that dared live beneath those trees to adapt to life without a source of light, and great of an advantage it proved to be in this land. It seemed as though the sun never truly shone, only glared menacingly through the thick clouds trying desperately to cast a glow on the dark grounds.
Finally, after what felt like another lifetime, the trio emerged from the dense forest with slightly heaving chests and unfulfilled promises of what would behold them in the town awaiting them. Still trees littered the area on both sides of the path but did not swamp them nor conceal anything wanting to use them as an upcoming meal. Everything seemed more proportional with the added light; instead of the tree trunks starting at three times the size of a human they were thinner and did not aim to touch the sky, and the distance between the three and the rather large town did not appear more than an hour away rather than how it felt in the forest. No matter how many times Cade told himself to expect the unexpected he could never prepare himself for enforcing it into reality.
Between the bushes and multiple trees, Cade could see a bit of the town off in the distance, parts hidden behind the other side of the hill before it. The houses were sturdier than the ones Cade had seen in the lastest years of his life and built with cleaner materials. Rows of brown slates covered the roofs of the homes and cobblestone formed the basic structure. A few had long stacks of stone sticking out of the roof and trails of dark smoke flowing out of the top in twisting tendrils. After all the rubble and damaged houses from his past, Cade could not wait to stand in the middle of a village where the buildings did not want to collapse at the shutting of a door.
"There it is," Ivory commented, pointing through the gaps of trees at the collections of roofs visible in the horizon. She seemed stunned at the prospect of a village in such good conditions and Cade caught her gazing curiously off in the distance. He knew how she felt.
"Well that took shorter than expected," Talso added from behind the other boy and he released a quiet sound of surprise.
"Thought we'd have to deal with another one of your outbursts? Or were you expecting some other kind of trouble to come into our paths?" Cade offered back, wondering what would have prevented their arrival any longer, besides himself. To his shock, the wound covering his shoulder had not caused him any pain or even a jolt to remind him that the gashes still remained engraved in the muscle.
"I'm just saying with you leading I thought it would have taken us more time. The forest also adds a couple of tricks so getting out of there as easily as we did is shocking," He replied, but the vague tone did not tell Cade whether he answered with rude jabs at him or actual concern for the injury he inflicted. For the sake of continuing with peace, Cade chose to assume it was a mixture of both.
"Well speaking of you, how did you manage to return to human form in the forest. I thought volhounds could only turn back during the day or after their bloodlust was satisfied. I don't think either of those happened that night," Cade wondered, finally recognizing that something about that event did not add up straight. He had a suspicion but there was a shred of doubt that he wanted confirmed or denied. The other boy went tense when the attack was brought back to attention.
Ivory glanced at the two of them strangely; Cade couldn't tell whether it was because she knew or that she too had waited to ask the question. "I-I'm not really sure myself to be honest. What I remember is feeling so... angry that night and when I attacked it only calmed me a little. After I knocked you out I went to go after Ivory but I got distracted by something. I don't remember what it was but next thing I know I'm shifting and the anger was gone. Nothing's ever done that before." Talso frowned to himself, trying to recall each detail from that night for an answer.
"I don't know what happened either. I saw you go down and you looked dead, Cade, I thought I was gonna be next. Talso was so close to killing me but then he just stopped and fell to the ground in a heap. I have no clue what I did." So Cade's thought was correct, but he couldn't figure out why. He knew the others wouldn't have a better explanation so he kept his mouth shut and decided to find answers from someone who might know more.
"You didn't do anything, Ivory. I think we just got lucky that night and there's nothing else to it. Let's just not let it happen again," Cade added, trying to diverge them away from the conversation he started. It would have been better to confront Talso alone in private. Ivory may not know much about this new world but she was exceptional at figuring things out and if Cade was not careful he'd give her a soft spot to pierce.
He noticed the girl stare at him for a moment with cautious eyes, scanning him up and down, before she moved away from the idea. "Agreed. And I'd like to add staying away from that forest to the list of things we aren't doing."
"Why, are you scared?" Talso taunted, grinning at her evilly.
She chuckled lightly but they could both see through the thin veil of falsities. "No, there's just something off about that place. It was strange walking out of the forest. Something was different. It felt like..." Ivory paused as if waiting for the right words to find their way onto her tongue so that she could explain. She didn't need to- Cade understood immediately.
"Like you could breathe again, like there wasn't something constantly holding you back." Cade responded for her. The distance between the three of them made conversation difficult and the idea that he could not see what occured behind him bothered Cade; he slowed the pace of his feet until they all walked in a mostly even line.
"Yes, that's it! It was like this weight got lifted from my chest and I didn't have to worry about it crushing me anymore. There's something dangerous about that place." She crossed her arms underneath the cloak, still wearing the hood to cover her eyes like someone would recognize her. Maybe he should buy Talso a cape while in town.
"This whole place is dangerous, I'm surprised you have yet to figure that out," Talso remarked, leaning across the front of Cade to raise an eyebrow at the girl on his left. Cade should have gone to the far side instead of the middle. "But what you're both feeling is common for the Dark Forest. The travelers used to say that the trees make you feel afraid so that you'll never leave and they can claim you. The locals never agree but they also don't agree."
"I read about that. Some call them Fear Smugglers. The trees will give off a toxin that makes people believe they're in danger and then feeds on the fear. That's how they get so tall, they grow from fear." One of the books that the loony traveler left in his single-stay room detailed everything one would need to know about the danger awaiting in the forest alone. Cade meant to return in before the man left but by the time he snuck back into the room the traveler was gone.
"That's actually correct." Talso looked shocked. He needed to start believing that the older boy knew what he spoke about. "Nobody really calls them that outloud anymore because nobody really goes in that forest. They're too prideful to say it but they're afraid of what lurks in the corners."
Cade found that peculiar. The most vicious, cruel, and wicked people resided in these parts and yet they rarely traveled in the woods that protected their world. "You're saying that people hardly ever go into that forest, not even to get away from this land?" At least Ivory had to uncontrollable impulse to question everything.
"Yep. Most people don't like the idea that there's something that could kill them that they don't know about so they chose to stay away from it completely. It's not like they really have anywhere to go though. Everyone's frowned upon by all the towns except for the ones on the border." If there was one thing that Talso was good for it was informing them of how different this world was than they imagined.
"I never would have guessed that the people are afraid of their own land. That's... horrific," Ivory muttered lightly under her breath, hugging herself tighter. There was a pinch between her eyes and Cade guessed that she imagined what it must have been like to be scared of the place called home.
"The only difference between them and the people in the other-side is that they're better at hiding. Everyone is afraid of something. It's the ones that can hide it that are the most dangerous," Cade commented, staring ahead distantly and thinking of how many times people confused fear with danger. If the other had any instinct to heed a warning they would take what he said heavily and bear it as a suit of armor.
"What are you trying to say?" How hard was it for Talso to understand the warning screaming at him.
"I'm not trying to say anything. You live here you should understand what I'm saying. I may not have the credibility that you do but I do know how people function, how they think. People like to hide things, the sooner you learn the better." He felt like some village elder that young children would visit to listen to the strung out stories of his travels with wide eyes and racing minds. At times he wished to be as ignorant of the ways of man but then he thought of how foolish he would feel running into a fire and expecting not to get burned.
"People like you?" It shocked him to hear the light, slightly airy voice of the girl on his left but he remained facing forward with an expression carved from stone. His surprise should not have come as easily as it did for he knew that there still remained a storm of doubt in the princess' mind about him. For a slight moment he wished that she would have trusted him more than she did, that she would willing put her life in his hands, but he could not have hypocrite as a second name.

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A/N: Sorry that this is so late for the people that're actually still reading this, props to you guys. This is the first part to Chapter 6, obviously as the title says. Hope it's decent enough. I would appreciate it a lot if you guys, if there's anyone out there actually reading, would comment on how you like the story. Anyways I'll try my best to update as soon as possible, it's just hard to write with school but I'm working on it. Until next time, much love.