We The Kings (bxb completed)

Chapter 12

The grass was getting darker, as was the sky. The clouds resembled coal. The forest could be seen in the near distance. It was as if the sky took out all of its anger on the forest with a vengeful storm. My stomach flopped. The trees appeared to be thick and dark.

"Are you sure we should go in there?" I asked.

"Scared, Princey?"

"Honestly, yes." I swallowed.

"We just have to find the heart of the forest and free the soul. Once we do that, we move on."

I got more nervous as the sky and land got darker. The sun was swallowed by the coal clouds.

"I've never heard of the forest being this... Terrifying before."

"I think we'll need to light our lanterns when we go in. We should stop and tie the horses here. They're too skittish to go in there." Said Samuel.

Me too horses, me too.

We tied them securely to trees and lit our lanterns as we hiked down to the forest. We stood at the entrance of the forest. Everything seemed dark. The ground was full of thick brambles and twisted thickets coded with thorns and thistles.

"Let's go." He said, trudging forward.

"Samuel, wait!"

He stopped.

"I know you're going to call me a coward, but I'm really terrified right now."

"It's going to be fine, Princey. I'm right here. Remember how I saved you in the ballroom?"

"Did you have to remind me?" I said.

"I'll do it again, without hesitation. Promise."

His kind words comforted me. I nodded. We stepped into the pitch black forest with no light except the lanterns in our hands.

It was like it was nighttime. We walked close together. Samuel walked with one hand out holding the lantern, the other hovering over his sword. I was shaking, but I felt safe with him. Not that I'd tell him that.

It was quiet. A gush of cold air gave me the chills. I felt something sharply poke my arm. I jumped and in a panic, reached for Samuel's hand.

"What is it?" He shined the light over.

A tree branch poked my arm. A tree branch. My eyes found their way down to my hand grasping Samuel's.

"Aha. A tree branch. My bad." I said sheepishly.

I awkwardly pulled away. I could feel my cheeks getting hot from embarrassment. At least it was too dark for him to see, I thought.

"Do you see that?" Said Samuel.

"See what?"

"The light over there. It's kind of far but I can see it. Let's go. It might be the soul."

He stepped ahead of me and I followed. My eyes didn't adjust to the darkness too well.

Another swift gush of wind pushed against us. The wind knocked out the fire of his lantern.

"You're going to have to lead. You have the only light."

"I can't. You take it." I pushed the lantern to him.

"I'll be with you, Zander. Right by your side. We need to do this for our people."

I nodded and took a deep breath. In the darkness, I felt a hand reach into mine. Samuel was holding my hand. My heart raced. I didn't want to look and make things weird. I kept walking towards the glowing red light, my eyes locked on it.

It was a giant tree. The thick roots were deeply embedded into the ground. The center glowed red. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"We found it, Zander!" Samuel exclaimed.

"You were right. It's here."

"I knew it must be true. We found the dragon soul!"

"What do we do now?" I asked.

Samuel released my hand and reached for his sword.

"We must free it from the tree."

"How?"

Samuel sped towards the tree, his sharp sword raised. He leapt to plunge his sword into the center of the tree, but was taken aback.

"Ah! What the hell?" He shouted.

The roots of the tree slithered from the ground likr serpants. It wrapped its thick roots around his ankles and pulled him back away from the tree. He dropped his sword.

"Samuel!" I rushed to help him. The roots locked him to the ground like sturdy shackles.

"My sword! Zander!" He called out.

I grabbed his sword from the ground and came to saw the roots off his legs.

"Get the soul!" He tried to claw away from the roots and struggled as they begin to wrap around his wrist. He was a prisoner.

"What about you?"

"Just get the soul! NOW!" The roots twisted tighter on him, beginning to pull him deeper in the dirt.

I panicked. My heart felt like it was about to cave in. It was hard to breathe. I held the sword in my hand, incorrectly as Samuel would point out later, and marched towards the giant tree. I didn't know what I was doing. My hands were unsteady.

I dug the sword into the tree. The roots crept up to me. The sword was thrown back by the angry tree, out of mine and Samuel's reach.

"Get the center! Stab the center!"

The roots wrapped around my ankles while I was still standing in front of it.

"HURRY!" Samuel screeched. He was getting pushed deeper into the ground by the black roots.

I felt for the dagger on my side. I quickly pulled it out, and with both hands pushed it deep into the center of the tree. The roots tugged me down, I dragged the dagger down the tree as I was pulled down it. It brought me to the dirt with Samuel. I joined him as the trees dirty prisoner.

There was a high pitched hissing sound coming from the center of the tree. It rang in my ears. I felt the roots secure my wrists.

"What did you do?!" Samuel yelled.

"I don't know! I just did what you said!"

The glow intensified until the forest was illuminated with red. It broke through the tree, like an escaped prisoner. The tree exploded, shattering like glass. Wood pieces flew everywhere, catching me in the eye.

The red beam was free. It was bright and hard to look at. I squinted my eyes as the whole forest went red.

With a blink of an eye, it stopped. The light was gone. The tight roots shriveled and unwrapped itself from us. We were free. The forest was still dark, with a bit of the day light beginning to peak through the top of some of the trees.

"Where did the soul go?"

"It's been freed. When we perform the spell to awake the dragon, we will be able to summon it." Samuel stood up. I laid face down in the dirt for a minute more. I was tired.

"That was nice and easy. Easier than I thought." Said Samuel proudly.

"That.. That was easy for you?" I panted.