What Lurks Behind The Trees

Goodbye home.

Point, close one eye, aim, shoot. "Yes!" Gregor smiled, he stood up from behind the bush and picked up the limp rabbit from its long ears. "This won't do." He muttered to himself. This was not enough for fifty men, he had to hunt some more. He stuffed the rabbit in the sack and hung it over his shoulder.

This morning was a great contrast to the horror that happened the day before. The sun lit the forest, wrapping it in a gold sheet of warmth. The air was still cold and crisp, the fog had faded, the trees revealed their true colours, painting the forest with different shades of green, yellow and orange. The animals had started to flutter through the trees, the birds would chirp and the boars would grunt, it made the forest feel alive. He breathed in the fresh air, the earthy scent of grass; he closed his eyes and listened. Wings flapping, tree leaves fluttering, but his eyebrows twitched at the sound of footsteps coming from behind. A boar? In a swift movement, he turned around and aimed, snapping his eyes open. He was met with electric blue eyes. "Alan?" Gregors arms fell by his sides "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry kid." Alan smiled, "We killed a boar, come eat."

"I was going to kill one, but you decided to disturb me, and stop calling me kid, I'm not much younger than you." Gregor scoffed.

Alan laughed, but his laugh was soon replaced with a pained expression. His eyes were grief-stricken, glazed with trapped tears. "Greg. We lost many men."

"It's not your fault."

"It could've been avoided."

"No. We were surrounded. Alan, you can't blame yourself every time something happens. We all followed you knowing this might happen, we had a choice." Gregor said placing his hand on Alan's shoulder in comfort.

"You've grown kid. You're nearly my height!" he laughed "Not only that, you've grown as a person, you were a timid, trembling mess when I first met you. Look at you now, a fighter, a protector, a friend."

Gregor nodded and patted him on the shoulder "We'll finish what we started, together."

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Gregor was crying. Crying! This meat was so good! He couldn't remember the last time he ate something descent. He devoured his share, savouring every last bite. His taste buds were overwhelmed; he could almost hear his stomach thanking him. You're welcome. He patted his tummy, satisfied.

"You seem to be enjoying this a lot!" Aden cackled. Gregor smacked him on the head.

"You seem to have not recovered yet!" He replied.

"Now, now, boys." Abe said sounding like a parent.

Alan clapped his hands to get everyone's attention "We need to move before nightfall."

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The absence of fog made it easier to locate where they were headed. They could see in the distance from where they stood, that there was no end to this forest, all they could see was green.

"Look!" A man shouted, pointing in the direction of a large, towering oak tree. They walked to where the man pointed, they slid down a steep slope and jumped down a rocky path until they reached it, their eyes widened in shock. Their faces lit with the blue glow of the water, a turquoise pond. Gregor smiled, it was just as beautiful as the one he and Celia found. The oak tree was surrounded by the Silent Silverglow, decorating it with silver specks. It was a sight to remember. Gregor's eyes scanned the place, searching for the silver fox. It was there sitting by the tree, blue eyes staring directly at him. He walked to the fox and took out a piece of bread, copying what Celia had done before. The fox gave a small nod, took the bread between its teeth and disappeared behind the tree. Gregor raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"We've gathered enough water and flowers, let's go."

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Ada barged into Laina's room, panting and shaking as she grabbed her pouch and started packing her things. "Mother, what's going on?" Laina asked worriedly.

"We need to leave."

"Why?" She got off the bed with difficulty and took the pouch from her mother.

"The king's guards, they're coming to look for us."

"I don't need to take anything, let's go now." Laina said, as her breathing started to quicken in panic.

"I'll get some food, come down quickly." Her mother went out of the room, leaving Laina to process everything.

She looked around the room with sad eyes. She walked to her table where her trinket box sat. She picked it up and traced the porcelain roses with her fingertips. A wet drop fell on the box, she blinked in surprise. When did she start crying? She opened the box, and inside lay her necklace, an opal pendant surrounded by a ring of crystal rhinestones. A gift from her father. She quickly wiped her tears and hung the necklace around her neck, tucking it under her collar.

She ran down to her mother, who was frantically packing food into a sack. "Mother, I'm ready." Her mother nodded. Then her hands stopped moving and she froze. Ada slowly looked up at her daughter.

"Where's Celia?" She said slowly. "I told her to go get her uncle Sam."

Laina shook her head, dropped her pouch to the ground and ran out of the cabin. Ada followed behind. "Where is she?!"

"Mother, please don't worry we'll find her."

A few seconds later the sound of hooves caught their attention, they looked around and saw Sam and Celia riding their horses and dragging two other horses with them. "Celia! What took you so long?" Ada scolded, but sighed in relief.

"Ada, they're here. We need to leave now." Sam said.

They grabbed their things and rode away. Celia looked back at her home; this is where she was born, where she grew up to be her fourteen year old self. Her heart clenched at the memories. She will never come back, not until she found her brother and father. Her right hand rested where her heart was, where her ruby pendant hid, the one her father had given her.  

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Chapter 14 done! I really hope your guys enjoyed this chapter and this story so far. I've got a lot of things in store for this story so stay tuned!

And thank you so much for the comments and votes!