What Lurks Behind The Trees

Beautiful doves

Dyron tapped his foot on the floor impatiently. Inside the solid walls of the mountains he felt trapped, he felt like he was completely separated from the rest of the world. He had been waiting for days for his family to arrive, and just when he was about to give up, one of the magician soldiers walked into the room.

Dyron stood up quickly, swallowing in anticipation, but also dreading what was about to leave the soldiers lips.

"Sir Dyron, your children have arrived,"

Dyron's knees almost gave out at the relief that flooded his body. He hadn't seen them in months, he felt so overwhelmingly happy. Dyron's happiness froze, his eyebrows knitted together in a doubtful frown. He slowly looked up at the soldier.

"My children?" he asked in a slow manner.

"Yes, Sir,"

"W-what about my wife?" his voice broke slightly.

"Sir, it's better if you come," the soldier looked at the floor.

"Why? W-why?" he stood up and walked out. His hands trembled by his sides, he felt a rush of blood reach his head, what did he mean? He was scared, he was scared of facing whatever was behind those large doors, whatever news awaited him, whatever pain his children had been through.

The soldiers opened the doors and Dyron lifted his head slowly. His lips trembled when he saw his two beautiful doves, their clothes stained and their eyes pained. His eyes watered as he looked from one pair of grey eyes to another, no sign of brown warm eyes, no sign of his wife. Before he could think any further, his two girls ran to him, tears running freely down their faces as the three of them embraced. He hugged them back and sobbed loudly, feeling embarrassed for breaking down.

Venkalth watched in the corner, he looked down in shame. Evindal and Eroan told him that their mother had died, he felt ashamed for giving Dyron high hopes and putting all his trust in two of his men. He felt ashamed for being too confident, he never learned from his mistakes.

Dyron held his daughter's faces in his hands, he looked at them without saying anything, he just wanted to enjoy the feeling of having them there. They were no longer ghosts of his imagination, they were no longer dreams within a nightmare, they were really there.

Celia's lips were pressed together as she cried, "Father, I'm sorry, we couldn't protect our mother,"

"No- no Celia, look it's not your fault," Dyron choked out.

"Father, we missed you so much," Laina hugged her father again.

Dyron stroked her hair "Laina, you don't know how glad I am to see you again, alive and well,"

Celia and Laina broke the embrace. Dyron looked at Sam who stood behind them, he walked to him and hugged him "Thank you, thank you for taking care of them,".

Sam patted him on the back "Good to see you, Dyron,".

The two magicians stood in front of Dyron with their heads bowed slightly in shame.

"Sir Dyron, we apologise for being careless and causing such a tragedy," Evindal said.

"We're sorry for your loss sir, truly sorry," Eroan muttered.

"No, father don't listen to them, they did their best, it was something that couldn't be avoided," Laina said.

"Yes, now mother is resting in a bed of flowers," Celia smiled bitterly.

Dyron felt one last tear slip down his face, "I couldn't be more grateful to you two," he said to the two magicians who looked up in surprise.

Evindal suddenly got on one knee, even Eroan was confused.

"Sir Dyron, this guilt will only leave me if you let me serve you," Evindal said.

Eroan's eyes widened at the realisation so he got down on one knee "Sir, will you let us accompany you and your family,"

"Don't you need Venkalth's permission?" Dyron asked.

"No need, I will assign them as your personal guards," Venkalth sauntered to the centre of the room.

"A-are you sure?" Laina asked, blushing as she glanced at Evindal.

"Yes, now Dyron, you spend some time with them while I figure out what happened with Cedric," Venkalth said.

"Let me know what happened," Dyron said and Venkalth nodded in return.

---------------------------------

"This is Navari?" Alan questioned.

"Yes, people here all look like Seefe, don't be surprised," Julian said.

They walked into the City by the sea, Gregor was still tied to his horse, growling as people passed him and the murmurs of the locals filled the streets.

Navari was mostly located on the water, with stone bridges and walkways connecting the dwellings, it reached far to the sky and stretched farther over the coast. There were channels of water that ran through the city over the sea. The city was alive with Malifs, their pale blue skin and lilac hair was their common trait, yet each had their own features.

Julian looked at the names on the letter that Seefe had given him, he started to ask the people around if they knew who they were. He received head shakes and shrugs in return. No one knew who they were.

"I think I'll head to their leader and ask, we can't take Gregor on a horse through a city like this so someone must stay with him."

Aden lifted a hand up and took hold of the reins, "I'll wait here then,".

When everyone left, a woman approached Aden, she tapped him on the shoulder "What is wrong with this boy?"

"Oh nothing ma'am, he's just had a rough day," He grinned.

"It reminds me of something my husband went through. He was bitten by a night slayer," she whispered the last part.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that,"

"Oh no dear, it was terrible, we went to the forest because we were looking for a plant that would cure our sickly baby, at least that's what we heard. We took her with us because she would have died by the time we came back. It was deep in the forest, my husband was bitten, he was gone. But we had found the flower so I travelled back by the river. I stopped on the way to feed it to her, after that I rest for a while with her in my arms, next thing I know, she's gone," the woman sighed "I spent days searching for her, but she disappeared."

Aden looked at her in confusion, why was she telling him all this? But the realisation hit him slowly, he gasped and grabbed her shoulders. "Ma'am, I think I know where she is!" 

---------------------------------------------------

:O   

If you enjoyed this, vote and leave me some comments, I love reading them!