Cloak as Red as Blood

Chapter 16: The Stag

As we walked toward the palace, through the city in the trees, my mind was in awe of everything 

I saw. I had never in my life, seen a place like this before. Strange looking children ran laughing 

and playing in the street while their equally strange looking families bartered, traded, and 

conversed with one another happily. The thing I noticed the most were the platforms like the 

one that pulled us up here . They were much smaller than ours of course, but everywhere I 

looked I saw people going up and down on them. There were even people swinging from 

branch to branch on makeshift vines and rope. Their method of transporting themselves 

through this massive network of vine and branch was truly incredible. As we passed people 

along the way, we earned looks of curiosity and mistrust. Being tied up didn't exactly help 

matters. Pulling on my binds was futile, the vines they were made of seemed to tighten the 

more I struggled. I looked over at Hunter being carried on his stretcher and felt a tad envious. I 

looked down at Puss who was irritated by the makeshift collar around his throat. Whatever 

magic was in these vines seemed to be canceling out ours, otherwise we could have escaped by 

now. 

When we finally reached the palace we were taken immediately into what I assumed was the 

throne room. Our captors roughly threw us down at the feet of the King who was seated there. I 

looked up and saw the one of the most beautiful men I had ever laid my eyes on. Even more 

beautiful than Lukas had been. Except his beauty was more natural and less supernatural so I 

didn't feel the allure I had with Lukas. He appeared to be around my age, maybe a tad older. His 

skin was a smooth gorgeous brown tan, and like almost everyone else here, it had black branch 

like patterns extending along it. Except for his bare legs which were covered in spotted yellow 

fur and ended in paws  instead of feet. His hair which came slightly past his shoulders was dark 

like a raven's feather. His fingernails were as sharp and pointed as his white teeth. His eyes were 

green and slit like a cat's, and rested above his high cheek bones. His ears were pointy and it 

seemed he had a long bushy raccoon's tail, which he rested on his lap. These animal like 

qualities only served to make his beauty more unique. As a sign of his rank as King he wore a 

large multi-color feathered headdress, and a furry bison robe, decorated with beads,  over his 

shoulders. He wore a breech-cloth made of fox fur around his waist.

"I am King Soren!," he began in a voice that made him sound slightly younger than he looked. 

"Chief of the Alfverans, Guardian of the Forests, and Defender of Primavera's Garden!" I politely 

bowed my head in respect and and urged the others to do the same. "Rise travelers and explain