What Lurks Behind The Trees

Chaos

Oh no. I'm surrounded.

On one side, Venkalth was surrounded by Night Slayers and on the other side, he was surrounded by thousands of bowmen, all with their arrows pointing at him. He only had one chance to escape, he had to fly up towards the clouds where they would not be able to see him, but in order to move, he and his dragon would have to take a few hits.

Of course, he was sharing his thought process with his dragon, he didn't have to worry about actually saying anything out loud. Venkalth looked at the men, they weren't scared, they didn't even flinch when Zaveo grunted.

It didn't look like they were going to wait any longer so Venkalth told Zaveo to fly up as fast as he could. As soon as Zaveo pointed his snout to the sky, the soldiers shot their arrows.

"Zaveo quick!"

Two arrows managed to reach Zaveo and pierce the vulnerable skin of his stomach before he soared to the sky, above the clouds. Zaveo screeched in pain and Venkalth winced as he stroked his wounded dragons scales.

"It's alright... let's go somewhere safe," Venkalth said.

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

Gregor's eyes softened when he saw the kingdom of Osledel behind the fog. He was home, finally. Just seeing its fields made him feel at ease, but he knew that something dreadful was awaiting them. He flew his bird down to the end of the forest where the surviving army waited.

"Over two hundred men lost in the forest." Alan muttered, kicking the grass.

"Could've been worse," Felton said.

"I agree, considering how large in number they are," Julian said.

"None of the Malifs were lost, since they travelled by the river," Raymond said.

Gregor noticed a Grolgot rushing towards them, it was Nefarious, the soldier that the Queen had ordered to escort them to his brother.

"King Raymond! They're following us- the creatures, they're coming for us!" Nefarious said, resting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. More Grolgots followed after.

"RUN! THEY'RE COMING!"

Soon everyone was running, the horses were neighing as they galloped passed them.

"What's going on?!" Gregor asked.

They looked back at the forest and truly, behind all the darkness, hundreds of red eyes were moving closer and closer.

"This must be Edmund, he must be summoning them to the battlefield, we need to go!" Raymond said.

They climbed back on their birds and followed the men who were either running by foot, on horses or on polar bears. It was chaos.

"I'm going ahead, to call for some help!" Julian said and rushed with his bird towards the city of Cruin.

Gregor looked back at the forest. His eyes widened. It wasn't only Night Slayers, it was all the creatures of the forest, the beasts, the Vonks, the Dethiens, the imps. There were thousands of them.

"This couldn't have gotten worse!" Aden yelled in anger.

"If we can't fight them how are we going to get rid of them?" Rowan asked.

"We can't fight these things! Just look at them!" Finn said.

"He's right, we can't fight them unless we want to be wiped out in seconds," Raymond said.

Gregor bit his lip in distress. Why did the worst things always happen to them? The kingdom was truly facing a calamity, could they ever recover from all this? Gregor's eyes widened in realisation, he whipped his head to look at the others.

"We need to warn any close villages and towns!" he said, gaining the attention of the others.

"I'll go!" Aden and Alan said in unison.

"Let's go!" Gregor said and the three of them flew higher to check for any nearby people.

They flew in silence, embracing the quiet before the storm. Just a few miles from the chaos behind them, everything was still, everything was calm. Even the angry wind became soft and gentle, even the thick for dispersed into nothing. Gregor missed his home, he remembered every step he took to reach the forest after escaping the castle, he remembered every spot they stopped to rest. One mistake lead to all this, one mistake lead to a secret being revealed and a war being declared. Gregor scoffed bitterly at the memory of that day when his life turned upside down.

"You know, when we left this kingdom, I thought we would never return," Alan broke the silence.

"Now we're back, but we're not welcomed back," Aden frowned.

"They welcome us back with the clanging of swords and the growls of beasts," Alan said and Gregor grunted in agreement.

"I wanted something more like a hot bath and some warm bread," Aden said dreamily.

Alan laughed slightly "You have anyone who would do that for you?"

"As a matter of fact, I do, my grandmother," Aden smiled in her memory.

Gregor's eyes caught sight of a man herding his sheep.

"Down there!" Gregor pointed at him "I'll warn him, you go ahead,"

"You sure you'll be alright on your own?" Alan asked.

"Yes,"

"No, I'm not leaving you after what happened in Aigronyth," Aden said.

"Aden, I'll be fine, besides, we're not actually fighting, we're just warning people,"

"Yeah, for now," Aden said, "Stay alert!" Aden saluted and left with Alan who smiled at Gregor with a nod.

"See you at the battlefield! I'm making an entrance, don't miss it!" Aden yelled behind his back.

Gregor smiled.

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

Btw Grolgots are the Queen of Aigronyth's people, the dark-skinned people with ice-like armour :) and the Malifs are Seefe's people. Serlon's men are the ones who ride polar bears

Vote, comment and share!