Runaway Rogues

Chapter Nine: Deepest, Darkest, Coldest.

     They climbed up the ladder slowly and this time they made sure Tyler WASN'T on top. The five of them finally reached land where they saw they were in the dark forest. This forest was Dark, Misty, Cold, and Terrifying; Hence the name "Dark Forest".

        "Okay so....YAY WE ARE OUT OF THAT FILTHY SLIME MACHINE! BUT NO WE ARE IN A FOREST OF NIGHTMARES AND DEATH!" Riley chuckled and moaned as she got out. "Oh by the way Francesco, thanks for the help its feeling better now." Riley said as she helped Francesco up.

"So...Brendan, how did you get us out? That ladder didn't lead to land." Tyler said curiously.

"Elitnyy Sheyper." Brendan and Aedan said simultaneously. "Looks like someone did their homework. Haha!" Brendan jokes. "Whatever...anyways, I didn't realize until now but Elitnyy Sheyper is a type of shapeshifter that has more abilities than your average monster. These conclude of shifting into a non living organism and giving its victims hallucinations. It might have made it look like there was no exit so it could feast on us." Aedan explains. Brendan smiled at Aedan but he seemed to ignore it.

Riley noticed this and said "Hey let's get out of here...we're in the Dark Forest. Not exactly a place of dreams.".

"Right I'll take you back to Walta!" Brendan says as he points deeper in the forest "We have to cross the forest to get there.".

"Will we be safe?" Franchesco askes backing up.

        "Yes...the Walta kingdom is very peaceful and they won't attack anyone. Well, as long as no one betrays each other. So no stealing or doing any crimes!" Brendan immediately replied shaking his head.

   "They just made up that rule recently, because there had been a group of four,  who kept escaping jails, and outsmart guards even of the highest rank. It started in Shingtall. Then it just became a rule in Walta. I guess." Brendan announced, as he shrugs his shoulders.

   The group gave each other stares. They thought it was them, who Brendan was talking about. It probably was.

   "Oh wow. That must be... Devastating.. Thinking that it was near your kingdom.." Tyler stutters. Brendan nods.

   "Yeah. It was. It was told that one of them was a Tarlur. Just like us, Aedan." Brendan replies. Aedan nods.

   "And I don't recall that there are anymore Tarlurs on the planet except ours from our family." Brendan said.

   "Well. That's weird." Aedan lies, shrugging. "Maybe it was Aunt Sarah's kid, Taylor. She is a crazy woman." Aedan continues.

   "Yeah....she was." Bendan chuckled "Hey, lets go now.".

   "What's a Tarlur?" Riley curiously askes.

   "Aedan that's a question for you! I want to see if you really did, do research." Brendan immediately replied.

   "Yeah, Yeah, Whatever...a Tarlur is just a general used term for Elitnyy mayster. Elitnyy mayster means Elite Wizard. My family were some of the most powerful Wizards so the Kingdom made them the Elite Wizards. There, you got your history lesson." Aedan explained as he looked around the forest.

   "You did do research!" Brendan happily exclaimed.

   "Oh...cool..." Riley mumbled.

        They all started walking deeper into the forest. It was insanely dark and they were making a lot of noise so they walked slowly. After they got about two more feet into the forest it started snowing. Tyler and Franchesco ran up to Brendan and started asking him questions. Riley was about to do the same but saw Aedan who was walking slowly behind all of them.

"I hope Aedan is okay...Now that I think about it, I wonder if Brendan really is who he says he is." Riley whispered to herself. Riley stayed behind to ask Aedan if he was ok. "Hey, Aedan...are you ok?" Riley asked Aedan while holding his shoulder.

        "I don't know! My so called uncle showed up out of nowhere and saved us. I'm really happy about that but....I'm not sure if he really is related to me. I mean there's no way that he survived the-...well...you know the story." Aedan said grimly. Riley could see fear and sadness in his eyes. She was about to say something but before she could they all heard a voice.

        "Oi whos there?!" A strange voice shouted out from a few feet away. They all heard crunching footsteps in front of them from the snow.

"Why are there guards this far out? That's Strange..." Brendan questioned to himself looking into the distance.

"GUARDS?!" They all screamed at the same time.

"Well...yeah, I mean Walta has to have protection so..." Brendan logicly replied.

"OI I HEARD THAT! WHOS THERE!" The guard demanded.

"Oh James! Dont worry its me! Brendan!" Brendan yelled into the dark distance.

"Oh! Ok! Are you alright? The Dark forest is dangerous at night!" James yelled out. They all heard the footsteps get closer.

        Francesco and Riley stayed alert holding their fists up. Aedan and Tyler just stayed quiet and held their breath that they weren't going to get caught again.

"Yeah i'm fine! I brought the four of them!" Brendan yelled as they all saw a figure in the mist.

"Good, Good. We should bring them back now." James said as the four saw him completely. They widened their eyes.

   That bastard tricked us. Franchesco thought as he signaled Aedan to help them out.

Aedan nods and put his hand out. "Sifihle" Aedan whispers. They group of four put their hand in the middle with Aedan's, as they were camouflaged into translucent beings.

"Come on lets go!" Francesco whispered to the group.

"Wait! Maybe we're just jumping to conclusions." Tyler said, stopping them all. Tyler turned his head back to Bredan and crouched down.

"Ugh, fine." Aedan complains crouching down.

"One chance Tyler." Francesco warns.

"Don't get us killed." Riley demands.

They all crouch down onto the snowy terrain. They all eavesdrop on the mysterious conversation.

"Ok, we'll take them back to Walta. Pretend like we are giving them a hideout and then REALLY tell them whats going on." Brendan said.

"Olright, where they at?" James replied as he looks over Brendans shoulder.

"Oh well they should be right there..." Brendan said as he looked behind him. "Hmmm..." He wondered as he say nothing.

The group tensed up as it appeared that Brendan was looking right at us. "Got you! Ukuveza ukukhanya!" Brendan yelled as he summoned a bright light and shot it at them all.

"Udonga oluqinile!" James yelled as he uppercutted the air.

Suddenly they all saw a ginormous wall in front of them.

"Ice wall and Revealing light..." Brendan explained "We can see you, so there's nowhere to run.".