The platform slipped away from their feet. The huge trunks of trees rushed past them. Lucious opened his eyes.
"Oh My God!" He screamed. Grabbing at her and pulling on her arm.
Yael glared at him and quickly started to mutter a spell. She didn't notice the quickly approaching ground.
"We're gonna die!" He yelled as they came closer. He had to be the worst choice in companion.
"Nam'as Teh" Yael said finishing the spell and held her breath.
The world disappeared for a moment and then suddenly came into focus. Yael landed gracefully on her feet and Lucious, not so much. She let her breathe out and looked around.
"Woah." She said as the world spun. Lucious pulled himself up from the dirt and coughed.
"Ow." He said his face was caked in mud. At least he'd landed in mud.
"Did I not ell you to hold your breath?" Yael asked. He glanced up and shook his head. She shrugged.
"Come on." Yael said walking father into the forest. There was a light glow behind them of the burning city.
"Where are we?" Lucious asked catching up. He was looking around curiously.
"In the Hak'u forest."
The trees were dark and there were the sounds of little animals and bugs rustling in the bushes. There was no path.
"Why didn't you take us out?" He demanded sounding like he was saying 'you idiot' instead.
Yael turned and glared. "You know, I don't know." She said sarcastically. "If I could I would of. Atanasio put a spell on the forest by the feel of it. He stopped me from teleporting out."
"Oh."
"Yeah oh. I tried to get us out."
The two continued along. There was nothing to tell where they were going but Yael seemed to know it well. There was no path, at least for a human to see. But a dryad could see the like marks to say that animals and maybe people, had indeed walked along here.
"Let me lead." Lucious said no seeing the path that Yael could.
"No. Not with your sense of direction."
"What?"
"You lost the town yesterday."
"Oh, yeah…"
They walked in silence. Yael still leading and somewhat wary of the forest. Atanasio was around, which meant he may know where she was.
"Do you know where you're going?" Lucious asked.
"Yeah. I've lived in this area for a long time." She muttered ignoring the impolite question.
"Ahh. So why'd you,"
"Stop." Yael said suddenly. She could eel the power. Oh god she could feel it in a wave.
"What?"
"Come here, don't speak. Just listen." Yael said quickly keeping her voice low.
Lucious came over to her and she grabbed him. She pulled him against her and leaned into a tree.
"I'll tell you after." She said then quickly muttered a spell.
"Don't move."
Lucious froze with Yael's arms wrapped around him. A wave of purplish magic flowed across the whole area in a wave. Yael closed her eyes and held her breathe. Lucious did the same. The wave felt cold and it tingled on their flesh.
It was sparkly. It was calming. Yael focused harder on her spell. This kind of magic was made to get you to but down your barriers, to let it in. The magic passed by and Yael glanced up. Lucious was watching her. She quickly looked down and released her grip on Lucious.
"What was that?" Lucious asked taking a gulp of air. He smirked somewhat. She ignored that.
Yael started to walk. "A…tracking spell. It can sense people. I cast that spell as a counter spell so he wouldn't detect us. It's a very hard spell to master. That's why you had to be still."
"That's not what I meant but alright." He said walking past her.
Yael blinked twice then quickly followed. She walked beside him in silence.
"What do you think is gonna happen to Eirulan?" Lucious asked.
Yael paused. "I don't know." She said looking up at him. Humans. Why'd they have to be so tall?
"Keep walking?" he asked.
"Yea."
The walked in silence through the woods. Lucious had one hand on his sword hilt. After the fear from the Hak'u like beasts, and the fear from dying from falling he seemed to be alight he seemed more like a solider. And definitely more attuned to the world.
"After this is over…Where are you going?" Lucious asked. He was on edge. Yael could simply feel that.
Yael didn't respond at first. She just chewed her bottom lip.
"Do you mean after we get out of the forest?" She asked.
"Yea, where are we going?"
"We?"
"Well you want to avenge Darren's murder and so do I. It makes us perfect for each other as partners!" he said with a bit of a smile.
"Yea, that could work…" She muttered not believing it. The only human she'd met that was any kind of smart was Darren, and now he was dead.
"So…" Lucious said.
She ignored him looking back into the forest.
As they had continued deeper into the edges of the forest the trees got shorter. Well, at least they weren't 100 feet anymore. The foliage became thinner too.
As they neared the edge of the forest they began to hear a noise, almost like somebody speaking.
"Who?" Lucious asked looking at Yael. He knew enough now to shut up.
She closed her eyes and reached out with her mind. There were 4 or was it 5, people in this upcoming clearing.
"Lets suppose their friendly?" Lucious asked.
"Yea 'cus that always works." She muttered walking slowly, almost stalking toward the clearing.
She saw 2 dryads and one elf. There was another person in the tent. Injured maybe?
"Stay here" she whispered. She got a 'yup' from behind.
Yael slowly stepped out into the clearing. At first no one noticed her, but then one head came up from looking at the fire and the others followed his gaze. The group froze then the man who had seen her first relaxed while the others still stayed tense.
"Hey Yael." He said.
"Hey Ash, what are you doing out here? I thought you were ordered to take the civilians out of the forest and to one of the outlaying towns." She asked approaching the group.
"They got lost and of course, I was sent out to find them." He sighed.
"Who's in the tent?" She asked while turning around to wave for Lucious to come out.
"What? Oh... Right you're a mage…" he said pointing to her and nodding. "That's Anna. She's only nine."
"Nine years old?" Lucious asked stepping out from between the bushes and almost immediately tripping. Ash raised an eyebrow at luscious and then looked to Yael. She shrugged and he chuckled.
"Yes, I believe she is asleep right now." The woman from beside Ash said glancing back.
"You guys need to get out of here. Don't ask just get out, your right near the edge of the forest."
"Um… Can you help us out?" Ash asked.
"Sure, Just follow it's actually only a five minute walk." Yael explained pointing to the north.
"Ok I'll go wake up Anna." One of the woman said turning and moving into the makeshift tent.
The woman came out with the little girl clutching her sleeve. Anna's long blonde hair shielded her eyes that seemed to be viewing Yael and Lucious warily.
"Come on Anna, Its ok their friends." The woman who had never spoke said in a very interesting accent, almost like the Humans French accent. She was trying to get he girl to let go of her sleeve.
The little girl nodded and looked up very shyly. She was small pale but she has and odd shape about her face, almost Elvin, but this girl was human.
The woman beside her spoke up after seeing Yael study the girls features. "She's half human half elf," she said in her French accent. "I am her mother, Bella, and her father is human. I myself was raised in a human community; they tried to convince me I was human." She said almost happily. Bella glanced behind Yael and smiled. "Humans are great as companions, as I'm guessing you've already found out."
Yael stared dumbfounded. This woman liked humans? They forced her to believe she was a human. She should hate them. Humans cause almost all the problems in Arianna. Yael shook her head and put herself back into combat mode.
"Come on, let's go, you need to get to the settlement." Yael said leading the group away from the no longer burning fire.