What Lurks Behind The Trees

An heir is born

          

"You may come in now my king," the healer said.

Edmund smiled as he entered the room, his wife Della lay on her bed holding a bundle of blankets in her arms. She looked at Edmund, eyes filled with happiness "It's a boy,"

The king carried his son carefully cushioning his head in his arms "A boy, an heir to the throne," the baby's eyes were barely open, "I shall name him Arlie, Arlie Shield," He stroked the boy's cheeks softly, with the same hands that killed and tortured countless people, but in the midst of his happiness, the kingdom faces a new foe.

"Grow, my son, grow and become a king that rules like none," Edmund whispered.

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"This is where the forest of illusion ends," Illyria said "This is where I say my farewell,"

"Why? You won't join us?"

"I have never been past the third fraction, I hope you understand I cannot risk ending my race by joining you, there are only a few of us left and we must protect ourselves."

"Thank you Illyria, we will never forget your kindness," Alan said

She smiled and nodded, her blue eyes shining with happiness. She looked at Gregor "I hope you find your brother, and if you do come back I will meet you once again." And with that, she turned back to her Sisin form and disappeared behind a tree.

Gregor looked behind the tree, but she was gone. He sighed, feeling bad for not thanking her before she disappeared.

"Let's go," Aden said putting his arm around his shoulder.

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The fourth fraction of the forest looked ordinary, if not a bit greener than the rest of the forest. Green trees, green grass, everything was green.

"Illyria said this part of the forest was normal," Rowan said.

"Yeah, I guess this will be easy," Aden said

"Don't let your guard down, she said she heard a few stories, we can never be sure," Barton said

"We need to rest, let's sit by that lake," Alan said, pointing at a large lake. Ducks were scattered around the lake, lilies were floating on the water, decorating the lake with their beauty.

Gregor sat down; he took off his boot and lifted his breeches, unveiling the cut on his leg that Alan had slit when he was hallucinating. He lifted a handful of water and eased it onto the wound.

"Just stick your whole leg in the water," Rowan said, coming to sit next to him. Rowan was a young man, short brown hair, fierce brown eyes and a build similar to Gregor's. "I'm Rowan, I don't think we've ever spoken before,"

"Gregor Blackwood" Gregor replied bringing his hand up to shake Rowan's.

"I know who you are," Rowan smiled "Everyone does, you're the boy with the slayer's arm."

"And I know you, you're the skilled archer," Gregor smiled back "You always seem to be in the back, that's probably why we've never spoken, but I have seen you fight, you're remarkable."

"You are too. We're down to about less than thirty men, pity really; I was hoping everyone would make it. But with this number of men, I think our bond will be stronger,"

"You're right," Gregor said, throwing a stone in the lake, "My friend was one of the men we lost,"

"Abe? He was a great man."

"Yes,"

"Tell me your story, what happened to you?" Rowan said, looking curiously at his eye "If you don't mind that is,"

"I was bitten by a Night Slayer, but I didn't become one because I drank from the turquoise water and that stopped the black liquid from spreading to the rest of my body."

"That really is fascinating, that is why your eye is red."

"Yes, tell me what happened to you?" Gregor said.

"Well, I lived on the coast in a village near Cruin," he looked down, "One day, the king's guards raided our village, they took our homes and our crops. They barged into my home like twenty of them, tied us up and put bags over our heads and carried us to the cliff. When they took the bag off my head, I could see them grabbing my mother, pulling her to the edge as she thrashed around, I felt hopeless." A tear fell down his face "They threw her off the cliff and into the colossal sea, my sister came next, she didn't even try to fight back, too traumatised to move," His fists clenched tightly "the kicked my father off the edge and then it was my turn, they made me stand up by pulling my hair, I remember the water staring at me, waiting for me to fall and drown in it. They kicked me off, and once I fell in my body was limp from the impact of the fall, I couldn't swim, I couldn't even see. When my senses finally went back to normal, all I could see were red eyes, staring at me. That's when it dawned on me that the colossal sea was full of Night Slayers, that my family have probably already become these deadly creatures, that I had to find any way to escape, to live. The Slayer was faster than me; it clawed at my leg savagely. But I swam and swam all the way the Night Slayer was trailing behind me, its red eyes promising doom. I reached the land miraculously, a small sandy piece of land under the cliff. I couldn't believe it, to this day I can't believe I survived and to this day I wonder if my family were on the verge of surviving." He sobbed, back hunching down in sorrow.

Gregor's eyes were wide; he couldn't believe what he had just heard. He placed a hand on Rowan's back in comfort not knowing what to say. "We'll find a way to avenge your family"

"I don't even know why the king's guards attacked us like that; we did nothing to anger the king."

"The king doesn't need a reason to be evil," Gregor said.

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"Hey, don't you think this place is too good to be true," Aden said

"Yes, nothing unusual so far,"

Night had come faster than they anticipated, and before anything unusual could happen, they lay down and drifted to sleep, convinced that nothing will disturb them.

That's when a rustle was heard behind one of the bushes. A figure stepped out from behind it, a short, small figure. It walked to where the men were sleeping and waved a hand in front of one of the men's noses, a sparkling dust flew out and the man inhaled it in. The figure giggled and lifted its hand up in a sort of signal. A few seconds later, about ten of these short creatures came out of the bush and rushed towards the man, they stood around him and lifted him, using their tiny legs to carry him away into the darkness, giggling as they disappeared.

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A new chapter for my dear reader, I don't think I'll be setting a specific date for uploading for now. Tell me what you think! I need to know if you're enjoying this or not, I need to know if my story is missing something. If you don't like commenting you can just pm me, otherwise please leave as many comments as you like, I need the feedback!

Thank you all for helping this story reach over 1,000 reads, I still can't believe it!