The Ancient Magus's Bride: Enter the Spell-Breaker

The Forest of Thorns

Chapter 11: The Forest of Thorns

After waking up at the Forest of Thorns, Chise and the rest of the team head into the woods to collect what they came for, however they run into something very unexpected...

Chise woke up feeling pain in her left arm. Chise winced at this and sat up from where she was lying. Chise looked at her arm and then remembered her earlier confrontation with the Spell-Breaker and how he shot her with his tranquillizer. Chise got up and looked to see the unconscious bodies of her friends.

"Oh my god! Guys!" Chise said as she rushed over to them.

Chise tried to shake them awake but it was no good. Chise then realized that Ruth's body was missing.

"Ruth, Ruth! Ruth, where are you!?" Chise called.

"Over here." Ruth said from behind her.

Chise turned around and ran over to Ruth.

"Ruth, are you okay? Where are we?" Chise asked.

"I'm okay, I just got up myself. As far as where we are; my guess, the Forest of Thorns." Ruth said as he pointed to the large forest in front of him.

Chise and Ruth looked at the large forest in front of them. Thorns growing on the trees, thickets everywhere, thorn bushes all over, this place definitely was the Forest of Thorns. It looked to be very dark and scary, even to Ruth, who was normally not one to be scared of the dark. The trees were tall and their bark was very tough. There were quite a few animals impaled on some of the longer thorns. Blood trickled down the thorns as a couple animals had very recently just been impaled on the thorns. There was a very eerie vibe coming from the forest.

"Yeah, that looks accurate." Chise said.

"The question is, how did we get here?" Ruth said.

"My only guess is that the Spell-Breaker brought us here." Chise guessed.

"Why would he bring us here? If he were smart he would have killed us." Ruth said.

"Well, he obviously brought us here for a reason." Chise said.

"It seems very fishy. He's probably set a trap for us in the forest. Wait a minute, why in god's name would he let us keep our weapons!?" Ruth asked as he saw their weapons and stuff nearby.

"Who knows. Wait, how did he know we were going to the forest?" Chise asked.

"Come to think of it, how did he know we were staying at that cabin?" Ruth asked.

"Now that I think about, the Spell-Breaker told me that he knew about my visions and how we had been training earlier." Chise said.

"Okay, THAT is freaky. How would he know about those things?" Ruth asked.

"I have no idea." Chise said.

"It's like he's got eyes and ears on us at all times or something." Ruth said.

Elias: "(Groan)"

"Elias!" Chise called as she and Ruth rushed over to Elias and helped him sit up.

"(Groan) What happened?" Elias asked as he rubbed his head.

"The Spell-Breaker tranquillized us." Ruth said.