The Meeting

"Don't die on us, Dylan!"

"That brat. I'm not dying with something like this", he told to himself.

Dylan was from a distance when the hedges moved back to its former positions before he could gather with Etana and Zico separating them.

Their horses were near him so he might as well took the horses with him out of the labyrinth. As he was finding the ropes, vines began sprouting from the ground. The place could have been very old. He was little as he could remember the very last time his father brought him in the labyrinth. He cut the vines to get through.

Suddenly, he heard a hissing sound from anywhere and stopped for a moment to locate where it could be. Closing his eyes, he slowly grabs a dagger out of his pocket. He was silently feeling the movement of the wind waiting for an attack. All he could rely is his instincts to respond until he heard a movement of the grass behind him.

Without hesitation, he swung his dagger in a flash before it could bite him cutting its neck successfully. In a snap, the head fell apart from its body leaving an unpleasant smell different from the beast they had killed. He assumed it was not a beast but just a typical snake.

He looked at their horses that was eating grasses undisturbed. He gets back to what he was doing and continued clearing his road from vines. In every direction he went was a path that seems expanding.

He tried changing directions but he was still passing through the same hedge and thought of leaving a mark but he still came back to the same path until he remembered what his father had told him.

'Always keep right, Dylan. Hurry, the king is waiting on the edge with your favorite sweets.'

Parts of his past flashed back to him. In every direction he took, he stayed right until he successfully made it out the labyrinth.

It took longer before Etana and Zico could pass through the hedge and made it out of the labyrinth. Dylan stood at the edge patiently waiting. He was facing the forest.

"Is this the deadly forest they were talking about?" As he crossed his arms.

"Hey! How did you get here before us?"

"Instincts."

"What do we do now, princess?", Dylan calmly asked.

"Etana. Just call me Etana."

Etana stood away from them to shake off the leaves from her suit. Dylan and Zico that was already looking at her were still in wonder who is the woman in front of them. A princess who knows how to fight.

After she had removed the leaves, she looked at the two. Their eyes were locked to her. Her eyebrow twitched.

"Princess! I can't believe it!"

"Save your praises for later. We still have a long way to go."

She then wore her cloak back covering her body.

"Dylan, have you been here before as well?" Etana asked as she was putting her daggers back to its place.

"No."

"Okay. We must go now. We still have to look for a place to stay for the night."

"Eh? Aren't you tired?"

"We rode a horse, Zico. And how can we be tired from fighting a beast that only took us seconds to kill?"

"Perhaps, it is the horses that needed a break."

"Huh? I'm hungry!"

"Here. Good thing the farmer packed me a cheese for a snack. You took my horse as well so he lent me one of his horses. Now, you owe me more."

"Wah! Thank you! I'm really hungry!"

"C'mon, we must continue our walk. We could just walk in the forest with our horses ."

The three entered the forest. The woods seems deadly releasing sounds unfamiliar to them. The sunlight find it hard to pass through the more they get deeper. The fog is getting thicker inside.

"Do you smell that?"

Etana turned her head to Zico that was already looking at her. She took little sniffs in the air to check until they heard a sudden fall. Dylan that was following behind them was on the ground asleep. Zico went for his rescue but it was too late before the poison in the air could inhibit his lungs until Zico felt his body weakening as well. Their bodies have become numb unenabling them to move. Etana that was left standing, sensed that there was something in the air. She immediately stopped her breathing that may prevent the poison to enter her lungs. There is still a possibility of the poison to enter within her but she took the little chances that might save her.

The fogs were getting thicker, barely move each step. Etana looked at Zico that is getting weaker until his eyes closed falling to a deep sleep. The two were snorking comfortably on the ground.

Unable to overlook her surroundings, she were in doubt whether to call for help or just let themselves to die where no one knows of their disapperances. She could have just given up until she remembered her promise to the woman. She cannot just let herself to die like that. She had almost lost the power to live yet her mind says she has to survive. She has to.

The forest seemed to create otherworld images drowning her into deep hallucination. She was numb and frozen on her feet.

Etana that still has some of her sanity, tried reaching for her daggers that was inserted in her tight's belt as she reached for Dylan and Zico that was already on their bodies lying on the ground unguarded. Her hands has gotten weak so she pushed herself harder. As soon as she had the chance to grab the slightest part of the dagger, she pulled it out using all the energy she had left and lascerated her palms to once again regain her sensation.

Little by little, she had felt the numbness decreasing. She grabbed the other two's hands and opened their palms creating an open space for her dagger to slit through. The two opened their eyes in a pulse quite unable to absorb what happened.

"Come on! Just wake up!"

Dylan who stood up first carried Zico that was still unable to recover on his back and tried to move to what he can only manage for the meantime. They ran at a possible speed they can reach just to get far from the fog. They were running endlessly, the forest must have took them forever to pass through.

Drained from the long run, their bodies had gave up meeting their last step. Their bodies banged on the ground left no man standing this time.

------------

"Hey, wake up."

Etana woke up with the dark skies greeting her eyes. There was a vague image of a guy which she cannot tell if it is a dream. Her eyes were quite hard to fully open still left from a long sleep.

"Hey."

It took her longer to realize that she was still alive until the happenings from the forest flashed back to her. She woke up from her sleep and looked to her surroundings. At first, she tried to find Dylan and Zico that was still lying on the ground. She made a deep breath to see them with her then turned her eyes to a different direction. She thought she was seeing something again so she grabbed whatever blades she could get in her pocket then acted her hand to take another slit on her palm.

"Wait!"

She suddenly heard a voice that stopped her from swinging her dagger realizing that it was a voice she cannot recognize. She rubbed her eyes to see a clearer image. It was a man in a ragged cloth.

"You are fine. I found you three in the forest so I brought you here, in a safer place in the forest."

The young man explained as he flips the fish he was grilling and continued to what he was saying.

"It has been a long while since I have seen people in the forest. What could be your purpose?"

Etana was on her seat trying to sink in the happenings from the forest and asked, "Who could you be?".

"I live here in the forest but I came from a faraway land", as he set aside the already cooked fish on a stone. He was saving it for later when the other two men wake up.

"How did you-"

Before she could finish her sentence, her stomach suddenly growl that made the young man then laugh.

"How cute."

Etana turned silent embarrassed to what did just happen. The young man then took a fish that was still skewered in a stick then offered it to her to fill her empty stomach.

Without hesitation, she quickly grabbed the stick and ate continuously. She had been hungered for hours.

It was not long enough until the other two had smelled the cooked fish that made them woke up on their sleep. In a pulse of hunger, their hands just reached for the food and ate it together.

"Just slow it down, here you can have it."

The young man gave them a cup of water to give a push to their throat. He was smiling the whole time surrounded with a bunch of weirdos.

At last they had filled their stomachs, the other two began to regain their consciousness looking around their surroundings. They had finally noticed that they are with another man they do not know.

"Who are you?", Zico asked.

"Well, I'm Alexander of Rondoeuvres."

"Alexander of Rondoweyvus?" Zico asked unsure of what to pronounce.

"Rondoeuvres", the young man repeated.

"Yah, right. Rondoweyvus", Dylan spoke proudly.

Zico was still on his tongue trying to pronounce the word correctly but eventually gave up, "The name's too long. Can we just call you Alex?", as he suggested.

"It's Rondoeuvres, he said." Etana corrected it professionally.

"Going back to you, why where you in the forest?" The young man asked.

"We have been-"

Etana looked at Zico sharply telling him not to sprout any details they were up to. He was already looking at Etana and made a subtle nod.

"What were you saying?"

"We are here for... Adventure! Right!" The only words that came out of Zico's tongue.

Etana shook her head dismayed to how she was ended with a bunch of weirdos with her. He seemed too obvious.

"He loves adventure", Dylan added.

"You were saying you were from Rondoeuvres, is that a land?"

"Yes, I grew up there since I was a child. I can take you there if you might want", as he was finishing his fish.

"Do you know any other lands?"

"Yes."

"So you mean there are other lands?"

"Yes", as he was taking a sip from his cup.

"I might take you there with me since I'm on an adventure."

"Yes, please if it is fine for you."

"Okay, first thing in the morning, we'll take the shortest route going to the nearest kingdom from here. Just make sure you have your weapons with you."

"Don't worry. We can help you fight the monsters."

"Oh please, I saw you almost on your grave state in the forest. You could have mistaken the beast I'm talking to. Anyways, you have to sleep for tonight. Let us shift the guarding."

"This man is a weirdo too", Etana whispered that only she could hear.

"Whay did you say?"

"Nothing. Go to sleep now, I'll take the shift from here on."

Meanwhile the other two were still on their own world arguing.

"Ronduuuurve! That's silent 's'."

"No. It's Rondoweyvus. I heard him hissing at the the end. So that's with 's'!"

"No, you heard it wrong."

"You two, go back to sleep already. It will be a long night to pass."

"Psh. We'll ask Alex again tomorrow to see who's right."

"Yes, we can do that."

"Get back to sleep! We'll take shifts later on. Sleep to your heart's content whenever you have the chance to. Dylan, you're in charge after my shift."

"Yes, princess."

The early night is starting to get dark as the bonfire is getting weaker. The woods has gotten smaller slowly turning into ashes, small winds cause for the fire to die in a short time. She thought everything will be dark yet it appeared pitch-black. For the first time, she had seen the beauty in the darkness. She had been alone in the forest for a long time training herself but she never knew it was there all along. Maybe she was blinded by the feeling of vengeance unable to notice what the night could give her.

The happenings in the forest again flashed back to her. That's when she remembered their horses that were left in the forest that could be possibly be dead until she heard an unknown sound from nowhere but eventually ignores it. Maybe she was hearing things.

Even so, she has nothing to go back. She looked at her pouch that still clings to her the whole time. She rummaged her hands inside to check if the box given to her by the woman is still inside. Her hands happen to touch a slight part of it and breathe in succession.

The night passed until midnight then she woke up Dylan to transfer the shift. Morning came smoothly with anyone unharmed.

They woke up before the strike of dawn only to see the young man from last night is already nowhere together with their supplies.