Chapter 14: New Companion

The tall grey trees covered the sight of the sunlight above us, letting the whole woods to emit a cold dark mist in everywhere we go. Their grey dead leaves were still intact in their thin branches, while the rest fell down on the ground, leaving large piles of them everywhere.

It's a miracle that the trees don't have any roots coming out of the ground beneath them, giving us an easy trip to the deep dark forest. Or is it easy?

In every angle, I caught pairs of red eyes staring intensely at our wagon. I may not see their whole body, but I knew that they were what they called the blackdogs, one of the animals lurking in the south of the woods. But Dalary could be able to talk to them, so they keep their distance from us.

It's been four hours since we left the Atonis and still a long way to go to Zentra. We were currently passing through the Undead Woods, a place where trees resisted to die and be cut off by any saws. If someone will, the trees would just bring back to life. According to the books, it was the souls of the lost tendrins that made this forest continue to live long and to protect their existing race from any threat.

"This way," I instructed as I held the map Dalary bought, trying to navigate the way through the woods.

A glowing light can be seen moving on the old map, reaching for the place we were heading. This map can locate where I was standing in the whole of Arcania, which means it has the magic to track whoever was holding it. It was quite expensive, but it's worth sacrificing for this journey.

After a long travel, we finally made it to the center of the place. But that doesn't mean we'll have safe travel. The north is the territory of dangerous monsters that even a normal tendrin like Dalary couldn't be able to talk to.

"Why are they chasing after you?" Cainne suddenly brought up in the middle of the journey, catching me off guard.

I'm not sure if I want to tell him that I have magic since we just met. But come to think of it, he's an encantor. He can use magic, and that means he can help me in using it well. I might don't like having this power, but I don't want it to go to waste.

"Because I–"

"Ah!" As I was about to tell him one of my biggest secrets, Dalary suddenly screamed, barging in our conversation. I turned to look at her. She stood up and pointed at something in a distance. I followed her finger and saw a deer, cold, and lifeless.

"It's a dead deer! I'll be like that in the future! Ha ha ha!" She joked along with her maniacal laughter. I raised my eyebrow at her, as I knew that she shouldn't be laughing over a dead corpse, especially if she's a creature of nature.

I didn't mind her and focused on Cainne.

"Anyway, I have m– "

"Sorry." For the second time, she broke off my sentence and approached us. She looked at the encantor and gave him a smile. It's obviously insincere. "Can I talk to my friend for a minute?"

She pulled me away, keeping him from hearing anything. I lifted my eyebrow.

Then, she turned around to see me, her face filled with the urge to yell at me. Her flushing cheeks were visible. I've always seen that face for a long time, so I'm not surprised or scared.

"What are you doing? Why are you saying it to him?" She said with great rage but kept in a low voice. But what she didn't know is that tendrins' voices are trumpets, and even their lowest whispers can be easily heard.

"Why not?" I asked. I know that I shouldn't just tell everything to someone that I met at Atonis, the most dangerous city in all of Deravon, but I just wanted to know what she was thinking about the matter.

"He couldn't be trusted! You just met him!" She whispered, still keeping her face, irritated at me. I know that she is worried about me during this time since I was referred to be a cursed being, not to mention that my brother was caught by King Gandior and might use him as a hostage against me. But Cainne helping me with my power is the only chance I have right now. No encantor would accept a human like me, except our new friend.

"But he helped me before," I said, trying to win her over my side. "And he's an encantor, so he might help me in controlling my magic."

"He is an encantor, but he never became one!" She fought back. I couldn't help but sigh in my position. "Unlike the others, he's a thief, a rebel! Why would he come here if he al–"

"Do you have a problem with me, sapling?"

We turned around to see Cainne still sitting on the other end of the wagon, with his arms crossed in his chest, looking at Dalary who was now stunned, realizing that he can actually hear our quiet conversation earlier. I let out a sigh, expecting another large argument between the two.

"As a matter of fact, I have." She answered, putting her hands on her waist, trying to show power through her height, but unfortunately, Cainne already learned his lesson and didn't let himself be bothered by it. "I still don't trust you, hanging out with us. So you better not sniff your nose out."

"But you've seen my secret." He said, giving her a wide smirk. Didn't want to deal with their conflict, I continued to watch them in the corner and taking glances over the map to check our destination. "At least say yours to be fair."

"That's your fault for being careless." She answered, giving him a death glare. "Meria's life is in danger right now, so I don't wanna risk it with someone like you."

They continued to stare at each other, each has different aura released. It might be a childish battle occurring in front of me, but to them, it's a war of who's gonna give up staring intensely.

After that half a minute of fighting with their eyes, Cainne closed his eyes, showing a sign of defeat against the tall and intimidating tendrin.

"Fine." He said but released a grin. "But I won't stop."

When I heard what he said, I became curious about him and his objectives. He said that he won't stop until he will find out about my secret, but why would we go that far just to know about me? I don't know but I think he is also hiding something, as big as my secret that is.

"Hah. Try and fail, pigeon." Dalary replied, also showing a devilish smile that you wouldn't expect to a creature like her.

With that short argument finished, we continued to focus on our journey, which the two of them almost forgot. After half an hour of silence and peace, the mist surrounding us started to get thicker, trying to keep us from seeing anything.

The twilight from the west puked purple clouds above us, but the tall trees refused to show us its full beauty. Any hour now, the night will take over the woods, telling the predators and monsters to hunt. Everyone knows it's a suicide to continue walking at the night, especially if there are a lot of territories in this part of the forest.

"We should find a river," I instructed them, but they refused to listen. The argument is still fresh. Didn't even try to seek help from them, I continued to search on the map for a nearby river. Once I finally spotted one, I told Dalary about it, while she informed Dino the direction where we were heading.

As we were about to start our short travel, the ground beneath us started to shake all of a sudden. The rocks, even the giant ones, started to bounce and the lifeless leaves fell from the top. All of us stayed alert.

Then, after turning my head around in every direction, I saw a large figure in a distance. It was getting larger and larger every time, but because of the mist, I couldn't be able to identify what it is.

"What is that?" I asked them as I pointed the figure. They turned to look at it. Dalary stayed on the edge of the wagon as she stretched her neck.

"I don't know." She said as her eyes narrowed. "Seems like a giant boar."

My eyes widened as I heard what she said.

"A giant boar?"

I turned around to see it again for the second time, now the figure is clearer than before. A giant black boar, as big as our house, with trunks that were longer than its snout galloping at a great speed, causing the ground to shake in its every step.

"Yep. And it's coming in our way." She said with arms crossed.

The whole wagon is in silence, as we tried to understand what she meant by those words. Our minds couldn't be able to absorb what she said until the time came that we already knew…

"It's coming in our way! Run!"