What Lurks Behind The Trees

Before the peace

"Gregor! Julian! To the castle, now!" Felton panted after running a long distance to reach them on the training grounds.

"What is it?" Julian asked raising his eyebrows.

"The Queen wants to see you," Felton hid his smile behind a cough.

Gregor lifted his eyebrows in confusion.

They walked to the castle in silence, wondering what the queen might have said to make Felton run.

The guards opened the gates to the throne room. Gregor lifted his head to look at the queen, his eyes slowly widened when he saw who stood before him. His breathing started to quicken and before he could take everything in, Celia ran into his body and squeezed him tightly making him lose his footing and stagger a bit. He was in a daze, he couldn't believe what he was seeing, he looked at Julian who had the same dazed expression on his face, his eyes wide, his mouth open with unspoken words, his eyebrows tilted up. He looked like he was on the verge of breaking down.

"My sons..." Dyron whispered as he walked towards them, every step heavier than the one before it.

Celia cried into Gregor's chest, her arms becoming even tighter around his body, if Gregor was in his right mind, he would be wondering how that was humanly possible. But he just stared at his father, the one he abandoned in the capital, the one the thought was long dead.

Dyron wrapped them both in his arms. Gregor wanted to laugh, it was the most awkwardly positioned hug with their four bodies. But Gregor finally let go, and coincidentally, Julian also released all the trapped tears. They stood there for a couple of minutes, crying and hugging. Queen Ivedellia smiled from her throne.

Gregor finally broke the hug, he frowned when he noticed something was off.

"Where is Laina? Don't tell me she...?"

"No, Gregor, you saved her! She didn't come with us though!" Celia said.

"I saved her." Gregor told himself "Oh, thank god," he breathed a sigh of relief.

"What about mother?" Julian asked.

Dyron and Celia both looked down. Gregor sensed the change in demeanour.

"Where is mother? What happened?" Gregor asked, a little too forcefully.

Celia flinched, her hands tightened into fists.

"Your mother's gone." Dyron said.

Julian's arms dropped by his sides, Gregor ran his hands through his head, he bent down and tried to breathe. His vision became blurry with fresh tears, he didn't want to cry but he wanted to see his mother, he never once thought that his mother would be the one to die, he never once thought that he would never see her again and that is what kept him going. He looked at the floor, he looked at each tear as it met with the floor. He tried to deepen his breath, he tried to steady it and settle it as his father rubbed his back.

"I'm sorry Gregor, it was my fault, I was with her, I didn't protect her," Celia cried, her voice barely above a whisper.

Gregor reached towards her and wrapped her in a hug. "I'm sure whatever happened, it wasn't your fault Celia,"

"We actually came here for something important to discuss," Venkalth spoke for the first time. Julian and Gregor looked at him.

"This is Venkalth, he helped me get here," Dyron said.

"Alright, let's gather the men," Julian said.

They walked in silence, though they had much to talk about, their lips did not move. They figured the time was not right to make up for lost time, they had a battle to plan. Gregor wanted to apologise and thank his father, he wanted to ask his father how he escaped, he wanted to ask Celia why they left Wilagorn, but he couldn't, at least not now. Julian did not know how he felt, he was overwhelmed with emotions that he just stayed quiet the whole way. Celia did not even glance at him and he felt a bad feeling in his gut, maybe his family did forget him.

Celia skipped to hold Gregor's hand, he looked at her only to be blinded by her bright smile.

"I missed you, Gregor, so much happened and all that time I was wondering if you were alive," she smiled.

Gregor smiled back "We'll have time to talk, I also missed you all, not a day passed that I did not think about you," he ruffled her hair. "Why don't you introduce yourself to Julian? He might look intimidating but he's alright,"

"He doesn't look intimidating, I think he looks a lot like mother, except his eyes are grey," she let go of Gregor's hand and walked by Julian. Julian could hear their whole conversation and he smiled to himself.

He looked at her and smiled "Hello Celia, I didn't know I had such a beautiful sister until Gregor told me,"

"They say Laina is more beautiful, but you haven't seen her yet so it doesn't count!" she chuckled. "She said she misses you both so much,"

"How is Osledel no? it's been long since I last walked on its land," Julian asked.

"I can tell you that it's a mess at the moment, the king has gone insane, but Venkalth will probably discuss this later. It's not like it used to be." she looked down sadly.

"Soon we'll bring back the peace," Julian placed a hand on her shoulder.

"But before the peace comes war," Celia muttered.

"Unfortunately." 

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