What Lurks Behind The Trees

Temporary

"Queen Ivedelia Ophiris of Aigronyth!"

All eight men and guards knelt down to one knee in front of the ice queen.

"You may rise," the queen said, "Why are you here humans?"

"My queen, these are people from Osledel, they say they have escaped the kingdom, and this one says he's looking for his brother," the huge guard said, pointing at Gregor who flinched slightly when all the eyes in the room landed on him. He withered under the queen's gaze, shifting on his feet uncomfortably.

"You boy, what's your name?" Ivedelia asked, lifting her eyebrows.

"G-Gregor Blackwood,"

What came next was unexpected, considering Gregor's first impression of the queen, she smiled at Gregor, her lips curled and her white eyes brightened. "I knew it," she muttered to herself.

Gregor lifted an eyebrow in confusion "Huh?" and his friends copied his expression but while looking at him.

"You are looking for Julian," she smirked

"Yes! Yes, I am!" Gregor yelled in excitement until he realised how everyone was staring at him, whispers started to fill the room and Gregor looked down in embarrassment.

"You want to meet him? The issue is, I trust him, but not you," she pointed a finger at him and Gregor shifted back, "or any of you," motioning to the other men, "but, if you want to prove to me that you are his brother you can do that, and that's not all...you then have to prove that I can trust you and your friends, you have to tell me the reason you're all here,"

"I can prove myself," Gregor said, taking out the dagger his father gave him and passing it to the guard who then passed it to the queen.

She twisted it around and examined the carving that said 'Blackwood' on the silver blade "Good," she smiled and passed the dagger back. "Now, if you'll follow me somewhere else so we could speak,", she stood up, her gown falling around her gracefully.

The guard nodded at the eight men and they followed him through the glass halls and up some stairs, around a yard and through a door into a much smaller room where the queen stood, waiting by the balcony that overlooked the giant lake.

The guard bowed and left the room, closing the door behind him. The seven men, with a seated Finn, stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. Even the queen was taller than them, it was intimindating.

"Tell me who you are first," Ivedelia said.

Alan cleared his throat before speaking "We are Osledelians-"

"I know that, tell me why you ran away from the king? Who are you? Why are you being hunted?"

Alan cleared his throat again "Well, we are different, we are cursed?" he wasn't sure about the last part.

This caught the queens attention, she turned around and faced them "What do you mean by that?"

"As you may know, the Stygian forest is full of monsters and beast, we have all had encounters with these monster specifically the Night Slayers, and so we have been labelled as cursed, taken by the king and locked in the castle dungeons without an explanation. So we decided to run,"

Ivedelia nodded slowly, trying to process everything in her head "So, what is this curse? Seefe, are you writing this down?"

All eight men let out the most unmanly scream when a creature suddenly appeared on the table out of thin air. The creature giggled at their response and waved at them excitedly. The creature was small, reached Gregor's waist, its pale blue skin complemented its long lilac hair that was held up in a silver cuff, its large blue eyes were sparkling playfully and its legs were crossed hanging over the table. She was writing things down on a piece of parchment.

"I-it just appeared!" Vince said.

"Don't mind her, she's just writing everything down," Ivedelia said, she walked over to sit behind the desk that Seefe was sitting on "Carry on,"

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"Dyron?! You're alive?!" Cedric said, standing up quickly, his eyes wide and his mouth open in shock.

"Cedric, keep it down, we don't want people knowing I'm here,"

Cedric walked up to Dyron and hugged him "Oh, my friend I thought you died with everyone else, what happened?"

"It's a long story, I'll explain it later, but for now please don't tell anyone that I'm alive or that I'm here, please my life is in danger."

"Of course, fear nothing, my friend. You look...rough, what happened to you? Oh, you're injured!" Cedric ran frantically around the room, bringing Dyron various things to treat his scruffed hands.

Dyron laughed "It is alright. Cedric, I have a favour to ask of you,"

"Anything! I just still can't believe you're alive, I'm sorry,"

"May I stay here for a while? In Cruin?"

"Of course! I'll tell them to give you a room here in the quarters," Cedric said, "We'll also give Darren a room!"

"Thank you, my friend, I promise I will tell you everything,"

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"So that's how it is," Ivedelia nodded after they told her everything that had happened to them "You men have been through a lot, I'm surprised you even managed to cross the evil forest. I'll give you a room to stay in the castle, but you have to prove yourself worthy of my trust. Go rest for now and I'll tell my guards to take care of the cripple." she smiled at them and left the room.

The guard walked in and escorted them to their room, another guard carried Finn in another direction.

When they reached the room, they all gasped at the same time. The guard nodded at them and left. The room was not like the rest of the castle, it was cosy and warm, painted with different shades of burgundy. The rich maroon curtains hung finely over the windows, the floor was covered in the finest wool rugs, the beds were plush and big and the fireplace warmed up the room nicely.

Aden was the first to dive into the bed and fall asleep in literally a second. The other men followed after, howling in excitement. Gregor didn't move though, his eyes were tearing up, this reminded him of his home, he wondered if his family was doing alright, he wondered if his father was still alive, and all these thoughts were clouding his brain, he felt so happy, yet he knew that he shouldn't feel happy, he knew this happiness was temporary, short-lived, he knew that he still had a mission. He put that all behind, just for today he thought and dived face-down on the comfy bed. 

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If you enjoyed this chapter vote and comment! Also, what do you think of queen Ivedelia? What do you think of Cedric??

Also I know there are soooo many confusing things happening, but I PROMISE everything will clear soon!