Chapter 7: The art of Saving Princesses

"Za forest iz still unmoving." Nickel tucked a spyglass in a back pocket as he turned around. A staff just barely passing above his head. A shy voice spoke as a boy ran by him. "Sorry, Nickel, just practicing, but isn't this so cool though?" Mikey said as he bent over to pick up the fallen staff. "Anyway, what did you say?" Another sound of wood against dirt rang in Nickel's ear. Nickel's nose flared with a breath before speaking. "The forest is still unmoving." At Nickel's words, Mikey stopped mid-pickup, the rustling of leaves suddenly seeming much louder.

Placing the staff on his back, Mikey gained a more serious tone. 

"Nothing?" 

"Zilch."

The sun beamed down on the two technical adventurers. Just as it had the past 2 days. Had someone been watching the pair, they would've seen after getting their new gear and heading towards the forest, they always stopped right before. The goblin taking out a spyglass and the boy failing at spinning a staff for hours. 

The wind blew against Mikey's hair, his clothes ruffling against the rough wind. The breeze pushing softly against the map in the goblin's hand. Nickel tucked the map in his back satchel as Mikey spoke. "Should we just go in?" After hearing the tailor tell them to give up and only helping them as if they were true adventurers, their ideas changed. Deciding to try to follow the steps a true hero would take, and definitely not from a book they bought from a random store. 

Mikey reached for a book from his back pocket. The cover having "The Art of Saving Princesses" in bold letters. Mikey flipped to a page, as if he'd studied every page and knew the book inside and out. Mikey cleared his throat as he began reading. "Know thy enemy and know thyself; in a hundred battles you will never be defeated." A singular hand shut the book as Mikey tucked it into his pocket. "That's what the first princess saver, Fendrel Dobbins, said." Nickel's eyebrow twitched in annoyance at his words. "Zats a children's book." Seeing Nickel's frustration, Mikey's shoulder rose and fell in acceptance, a breath of air escaping his nose.

A defeated tone came from Mikey as he spoke, "Alright, I guess we have to go in eventually." The boy balled his fist as he stared at the dense foliage, briefly making out a green light deep inside before it faded. The clanking of bronze against iron rang from behind him, Nickel fastening a compass onto the back of his hand. Leather fingerless gloves holding a bowl of iron on the back made the compass sit snugly on his dorsal. 

"Has anything happened?" A headshake confirmed Mikey's suspicions. "Well, that must mean it's safe, right?" Mikey's voice pitched higher at the end of his sentence. Trying to convince himself that he'd be and the forest was harmless, "It'z not." The boy's head slowly turned around towards Nickel, a confused expression on his face. Nickel, in response, stared back up with a blank face. 

"Nickel being negative isn't helping."

"You'z delusional, no good."

A facepalm ended that conversation. Mikey turned back towards the forest, steeling his nerves after Nickel so rudely shot down his confidence. The forest seemed like a colossal titan as they approached, the trees towering over them. The rustling of leaves sounded like the dinner bells for their doom. As they got closer, Mikey took out his staff, holding it in front of him. 

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"What are zou doing?" Nickel stood behind Mikey, the boy in question standing in front of a tree poking it with a staff. "Checking if it's safe to go forward." "I'tz been zifty pokes; it'z zafe." At Nickel's words, Mikey side-eyed him before finally withdrawing the glorified stick. "Alright, we can go in." Mikey turned, expecting to see the goblin behind him. "Wait, Nickel!" The only response he got was the crunching of leaves far in front of him.

Mikey quickly stuck the staff to his back as he ran after the goblin. "NICKEL, WAIT FOR ME!"

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As Mikey finally caught his breath, he watched as Nickel took out a pocketknife and crouched, leaving a line in the dirt. "What's that for?" Nickel stood up and kept walking as he spoke, "Ze forest iz a maze? Mark dirt, dirt don't move." Gears turned in Mikey's head as what Nickel said clicked. "Ooohh, Nickel, that might've been the smartest thing you've ever said."

As mikey went to grab his own staff, he paused, 'Do I want to drag my beautifully balanced battle staff through dirt like some kind of commoner?' Mikey's stick… Staff hovered over the ground before he tucked it back onto his straps. '...Absolutely not.'

Nickel's ears flickered in annoyance as they walked, noticing Mikey's hesitation to mark the ground with the stick he hadn't even found.

The crunching of leaves and stomps of boots accompanied the two as they walked through the forest. The thick canopy above somehow made the beaming sun a mere suggestion, as the interior of the forest stood shaded. While walking, Mikey took much more precaution than Nickel. While his smaller friend only had to avoid tripping over coiling roots, Mikey had to deal with low-hanging branches, the occasional web, and his staff sometimes getting caught on a vine. In front of him, Nickel stopped every so often to leave a mark in the dirt.

"Oh, Nickel, look." Mikey pointed as Nickel turned, the recognizable opening in the trees there once again. Avoiding the local fauna, the pair moved towards the clearing. Mikey pausing and turning towards Nickel, the goblin adjusting his ears towards the clearing, checking for any sound. "Nothing." Mikey let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Once they arrived, they looked around, shocked. Had they not been there when it happened, they wouldn't assume the trees came alive and started eating beasts.

The clearing was, nearly spotless to say the least. The grass swayed peacefully with the breeze, the sun beaming on Mikey like a yellow god. Had he not been on a mission to save a princess, he'd go here for a picnic. Maybe even take the princess here for a picnic after he saved her, if she wasn't as boring as the king made her out to be.

"It's like nothing even happened?" Mikey spoke, wandering around the clearing. Nickel crouched down and looked at the grass. "Is this the same place?" Mikey looked around, not even seeing a drop of blood. "Zes," Nickel stood up while holding a white tusk and green glowing fur, though it was losing its hue. "What's that?" Nickel tossed the tusk over towards Mikey, the boy catching it before taking a closer look. 

'It's chipped?' Mikey knew that as a wild animal, its teeth wouldn't be the cleanest. But the trees from that night would've done much more than just leave it chipped; it's more like it was ripped out and chipped when it fell. From across the clearing, Mikey yelled, "Nickel, you think the trees did this?" Empty forest ambience accompanied Mikey's words. "Nickel?" Mikey turned around, the goblin standing in front of a tree, a tree Mikey recognized.

"Nickel, what are you doing?" Nickel didn't respond, merely drawing his pocketknife before slashing at the tree. "WAIT!" Mikey yelled as he ran towards the tree, expecting the worst. Nickel simply stood still, his slash merely leaving an indent, showing the brownish wood beneath. When Mikey finally reached Nickel, he stopped, confused. "Why would you do that? That's the tree that ate the venchalk, or whatever the name was."

Nickel tucked his pocket knife away before he spoke. "Ze tree zhould be hollow." 

"So? We saw it grow a mouth that night. They probably only come alive at night or near night." At Mikey's words they both looked up. The sun slightly past its peak. "We should hurry this up," Mikey spoke, tucking the tusk into his back pocket, Nickel giving one last look at the tree before turning away. Removing the map, Nickel turned around, "Ze center iz zis way."

… and somewhere, just beyond the trees, something blinked.

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Yeah, I bet you thought I'd say the creepy eye would be watching them, huh? Well, it is, just not now.

I aim to upload every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday—chapters usually around 1.5–2k words.If I ever miss a day, it's probably because I'm writing a long chapter (3-4k words).Sometimes, if I'm feeling it, I might drop multiple chapters in a single day.Depends on how proud of the writing I am and bored of waiting for the schedule.Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the definitely not a story I started writing because I had a dream possibly about Bling Bling Boy.