Tawanos: DAMN!! I've been away a long time. Sorry everyone I hope I can
make it up to you with this. I worked extra hard on this chapter and made
it much longer compared to my other works. And there is a surprise ending
to it, something I'm hoping no one guessed.
I am sorry to say that I don't know when the next chapter will be out, I'm working my ass off with 4 AP classes, after school activities, and a few personal projects other than my writing. But don't worry, I always finish my work, and my stories will be finished.
Chapter 13 - Family
Bit was about to call on his armor before he remembered how drained his Blue magic was. He could move quickly but he could not fight with it, so he turned to his other magic. Lightening crackled around him as he charged into the fray. He didn't stop to actually fight anyone but ran through throwing balls of lightning at every one attacking paralyzing them.
One person he didn't see jumped down from an over hanging tree limb at him. With iron claws on his fingers her slashed at Bit's unprotected back. Bit yelled in pain then anger as he turned, his hands full of lighting like a trapped lightning bolt. The man was blasted in the chest by a torrent of electric energy that came from Bits hands.
The other raiders heard the man's last cry and turned to see Bit rip what remained of his shirt off, small electric bolts jumping across his skin. The leader, a large man on the back of the largest sand ray, shouted something and they all charged at Bit.
As Bit watched them approach he spread his arms wide and clapped them together hard in front of him. As soon as the sound exploded from his hands the trees and plants on either side of the road began to shiver. Then sudden growth exploded, from those shivering plants. Branches and vines grew incredibly fast reaching out and grabbing the raiders right off their sand rays. The raiders found themselves suddenly bound to trees by ropes made of vines totally unable to move. That left only Bit and the leader.
The leader looked at Bit for a minute before taking the enormous blade out of the sheath on his back. The sword looked oddly weightless in his hands. He held it up for all to see, the bandits who could see it started to grin like they knew what was going to happen. He brought down the sword as if slashing, something rushed by Bits cheek he reached up and felt something wet, he looked at his fingers and saw blood.
"This is my Wind Scar." Hey yelled for all to hear, some of the bandits cheered. He rased the blade so he was looking over the razor sharp edge right at Bit. "It has taken more lives than you have seen, and is hungry for another one." There were some more laughs from the bandits. Bit ignored them as he knelt down and picked up a small oak twig that was lying on the road. People watched in amazement as the twig started to grow. The twig steadily became a stick from that it turned into a branch then it began to widen until it could be called nothing other than a club, a massive oak club. The club looked as if it weighed a ton, it was not that it just looked heavy anyone who looked at felt how heavy it was, like it had it's own gravity. But that was impossible, wasn't it? But no matter how impossibly heavy the club looked Bit held it easily in his hand.
Bit took the club in both his hands and held it above his head, he made the same slashing movement as the leader but there was no hidden trick, everyone could see what happened. The air exploded away from the club as Bit swung. Dust blew up from the road and trees trembled as the wind blew past. The leader drew his cloak around him to protect himself from the wind that carried dust twigs and some pebbles that would have caused buses or cuts if they hit.
After the wind had passed their was dead silence. The only sound was the leader taking the cloak off himself. He looked at Bit, who now had the club resting casually on his shoulder with what could only be called the smile of a person who knows the no matter what happens next would walk away a winner, probably with his opponent in lots of pain behind him.
The leader shook himself and got off his sand ray. People were looking out of the caravan to see what had happened, what they saw shocked them. Both sides of the road had bandits tied with living plants, the only people standing were Bit and the leader, and the leader was walking towards Bit with his sword drawn. About three feet away from Bit the man stopped.
"What is your name?" He asked. Bit thought he recognized the man but couldn't quite place it.
"Name?" Bit still had that smile on his face. "They call me Bit Cloud." The man nodded and then did something that surprised everyone including Bit. The man got on one knee and presented his sword to Bit, his head bowed.
"I, Saraph Cloud, present my sword to you in surrender, but rightfully it is your sword anyway." He smiled broadly as he looked up again. Bit took the sword in his free hand and laughed as Saraph stood up.
"It is good to see you again cozen." They hugged each other and gave each other hearty thumps on the back, totally ignoring the looks of utter confusion people were giving them.
Now that people had time to notice they saw that the mad did have a resemblance to Bit, the big one being the same eyes. Saraphs hair was black and long tied back into a ponytail that hung down hit back. He was slightly shorter than Bit but obviously older by several years. He was not at all like Bit in terms of muscle mass, he had a body like a professional body builder, very strong but the way he talked showed intelligence to use his strength in non-conventional ways.
Leena got out of one of the wagons and walked over to them.
"Where the hell have you been Bit?" She asked, she sounded very mad. She totally ignores Saraph and stalks by him to glare at Bit.
"Well I'm back now and your safe, isn't that what matters?" He sounded like he hoped this was the case very, very much. But by the look on Leena's face she was not going to let it be even if it was true.
"NO!! What matters is that you were NOT here when we needed you." Bit bowed his head, when he looked up again he was startled to see that Leena was on the verge of tears. "I was so frightened, I didn't know what to do." Something started to shine in her eyes, she reached up and put her hand on Bit's cheek, he felt a cool sensation and the sting that had been the cut there lessened and went away. Leena was so startled she jerked her hand away but the magic had been done the cut was healed with not even a scar left.
"It's always nice to have a healer around isn't it cozen?" Saraph said like it was nothing unusual but he didn't know that Leena had shown no signs of magic before.
"A healer? Me?" Leena was looking at her fingers then at Bit and finally to Saraph.
"What you mean her seal just broke?" Both Bit and Leena nodded. "Well she'll need a teacher. Speaking of magics when did you lean that trick?" He pointed at the club that was still resting against Bit's shoulder. Bit smiled.
"It's a long story cozen, and I'll tell you everything as we continue our journey." Bit looked and saw the Cornelius Champ was looking out of the lead carriage.
"Is it safe to start moving again?" He called back to Bit. Bit looked from the tied up bandits to Saraph and then to Leena.
"Perfectly safe." He called back. "You can move out whenever your ready."
"Well I want to go now." He retreated back into the carriage and gives the call for them to move out. Slowly the carriages start to move out again.
"Come on Saraph, we have a lot to talk about." Saraph quickly got his sand ray, named Stinger, and tied it to the back of the Chariot. Then he followed Bit and Leena inside. When Leon saw Saraph get into the Chariot he immediately gets up gathering fire into his hands ready to throw.
Bit sighed and waved the sword in his direction causing a little gust of wind towards him blowing out the flames in his hand. He then placed the sword between them before anything else could happen.
"It's alright he's my cozen." Bit explained. "He'll be coming with us, for a while anyway." He looked at Saraph who nodded. Bit sighed again. "I have a lot to explain." Doc walked in looking a little confused at all of them. "To everyone." The Chariot lurched and they started again. Bit looked around as if searching for something.
"Where is Liger? Isn't he here?" Leena looked at him and shook her head.
"No, he headed out running a little after you left, I thought he was following you." She went and got his bag from the bottom of the stares and brought it to him. Bit took the bag and put the sword and club into it. "But you told him to stay, so I wondered, but I don't know where he is."
"That will have to wait until we have a full explanation of what you have been doing Bit." Leon said tersely.
"Then I should start with this." Bit turned around and showed them all the tatoo of Jager on his back. "This tatoo contains the spirit Jager, the spirit of Wind and Water, the essence of speed, and one third of my legacy." He took a clean shirt out of his pack, put it on, and started to explain. For the next few hours as they traveled Bit continued to explain about who he was, his magic, what he knew of the other spirits, though not much, and why Fury was after him. He left out some details, such as the fact that Leena was with him when he received Jager, and exactly how powerful he was.
When he was finished there was a stunned silence when he finished as everyone put it all together in their minds. Bit wished that Liger was there, if he was then Bit would have something to do while he waited for everyone, Liger would make him sit, put his head in Bit's lap and wait for Bit to scratch him behind the ears. But Liger wasn't there and it was starting to make Bit worry. He looked towards the windows just in time to see a bad haircut duck down out of sight.
"CRAP!" Bit rushes to the door and pulls it open looking around and sees a guy in a very ugly yellow suit riding ahead. "CRAP!" He says again, he looks back at everyone's questioning face. "It was Harry, he heard everything. I've got to go, Harry will tell everyone about me and that will put you all in danger." He starts to get his bag when Doc stops him.
"Now Bit, you protected us so we'll protect you, but first things first." He turns to Leon. "Detach the tether spell, we've outstayed our welcome in the Champ Caravan I think." Leon immediately goes to a panel on the wall and chanting something hits it with his fist. They all feel it disengage and the Chariot slows to a stop. "For now we should just get the Chariot off the road and cover our trail." Leon nodded and got out of the Chariot, he attached the tether spell to himself and walks a little way into the woods so it won't be easily visible from the road. He came back in, closing the door firmly behind him.
"It's done father. We should be safe for the night." There was a knock on the door. They all looked around, everyone who was supposed to be there was there in the room, there should have been no one outside. The knock came again. Slowly Leon went to the door and slowly opened it.
There was a woman on the other side, but on closer examination one could see that it was not a human but one of the fey, or elves, by the way her ears pointed and her face with its high angular cheek bones. She had long straight black hair with a green tint to it, it hung all the way down her back with two curls of it on either side of her face. She was wearing black with that same green tint to it. She had one of the fey long bows strung over her shoulder with a quiver full of arrows.
"Pierce?" Bit asked. "Is that you?" Everyone turned to look at Bit and then back at the woman.
"Yes, hello Bit." He did not exactly sound very happy for seeing him. "I'm sorry for this." As she spoke a dozen other archers appeared out of the woods, their bows were not over their shoulders but rather in their arms with one deadly arrow drawn and pulled back, each of them was aiming through the door and at the people inside. "Welcome to Panzer Forest. The elders are waiting for you." Bit closed his eyes and tilted his head slightly as if trying to hear something, when he opened his eyes again his eyes had a greenish shine to them.
"Yes, I understand, and I must speak with them as well." Bit looked at the rest of those in the caravan. He turned and headed towards the door but Leena stopped him.
"What is going on Bit?" She sounded worried. "Where are you going?" Bit looked at her, the green in his eyes had grown more prominent.
"It's the armor, I can feel it calling me." And suddenly Leena remembered how Bit's eyes had grown blue as she approached Jager Lake and the Jager Armor, and now they were in the Panzer forest and it was happening again.
Pierce moved out of the way for Bit to walk past her. All the fey archers had lowered their bows but rased them again when Doc stepped to the door.
"Put down your bows," Pierce instructed, but they did not lower them.
"Our instructions were that only the one The Armor calls is allowed to come." By the tone of his voice, the instructions that had been given him might as well have been set in stone.
"Too bad, they can come if I say they can come, and I say they can." Bit's voice was cool and calm like a grove of trees, but held a force behind it like a falling redwood. The archer who had spoken turned pale, or rather, more pale, and lowered his bow. The rest of the archers lowered their bows and looked unsteadily at Bit. Their instructions may have been set in stone, but when Bit said something it became a universal law. "They will be under my protection, wether they stay or come."
Doc seemed not to notice the reaction of the elves as he stepped out of the Chariot onto the forest floor. The others followed him out. Without looking at them the elves faded back into the woods, disappearing from view. Pierce started walking into the forest and Bit followed her, the rest hesitated for a moment before following them. Saraph, without saying a word, pointed at Bit's feet as they walked deeper into the woods. The others did not need for him to explain what he was pointing at.
While Bit walked steadily onward next to Pierce, talking with her quietly, his feet left deep footprints in the ground. The watched for a moment and saw that each time Bit stepped down the ground, covered in moss, would sag under him as if holding far more weight than should have been there, and then when he stepped off the moss did not so much rise again, as grow back up, filling each one of Bit's steps with new moss.
Only Leena was not watching Bit's feet, she was looking for his shadow. But shadows were few and far between in the dense forest. But at one point the forest opened, for a moment, into a small clearing, and Pierce, never changing the direction she walked, walked right though it, and Bit walked with her. Leena, and the others who were still watching Bit, gasped at his shadow.
Bit, hearing them gasp, stopped and turned around, so did Pierce. Bit saw where they were looking and looked at his shadow. It was enormous, far larger than Bit, larger than any man they had ever seen, it was also covered in what looked like spikes. Bit looked at the shadow and nodded, the shadow nodding with him.
"The armor knows that I'm coming." He looked at the shadow. "Shades of the past fighting for the future." He whispered to himself but everyone heard. It was then that they realized how quiet the forest had become, no birds singing, no animals, hardly even a breeze. Pierce was suddenly looking around cautiously into the forest around them.
"There is no time to waste, we must go to the elders now." Bit nodded and started to walk with her again into the forest. The others followed, quite aware that Pierce thought something was following them, looking around.
Though nothing happened during the rest of their walk, their tension grew. The prickling on the back of their necks making them look over their shoulders often. Only Bit seemed unconcerned by the rest of them, he walked on steadily.
Suddenly there were two massive trees ahead of them, a mighty wooden gateway blocking the entrance to the elven city. And there sitting right in front of the middle of the gate was Liger, his eyes followed them as they approached his tail the only indication of his impatience as it moved around as if it was unable to find a good place to stop. As they approached the gates they saw that they were made of living wood as were the walls that grew out of the sides of the massive trees gently curving around the city. Guards stationed at the top of the wall watched them with guarded eyes, their longbows ready to draw and fire at a moment's notice.
Liger came to them and walked next to Bit, no one questioned him or Bit to ask where he had been.
"We will have to wait for out green magi to open the gate, as it is the only way to enter the city." Pierce turned to them, looking each of them in the eye. She looked and saw Bit walking towards the gate. "Bit? What are you doing?"
"I will not wait." Bit said looking at her, his emerald eyes shining with inner light before he turned to the gate and put his hands on the wood.
"Bit you can not, the magi......" She stopped and stared as the wood parted before Bit's hand opening and getting larger until an archway replaced the wooden barrier.
Magi on the other side of the arch looked at him in wonder. They wore green robes and had circlets of living ivy growing around their heads. Suddenly a little girl, her golden curls bouncing around her head rushed between two of the magi running straight to Bit who stood there speechless.
"Big Brother! Big Brother! I knew you would come!" As she bounded towards them, Bit knelt down and held out his arms to her, she rushed into his arms and hugged him tightly around the neck, Bit hugged her back tears in his eyes. As they hugged another figure walked towards them.
The woman was tall, with long brown hair falling down her back. She was dressed in a simple brown dress with patterns of ivy and leaves, and yet she had an air of beauty around her simple features. Tears were also in her eyes as she smiled down at her son as he continued to hug his little sister.
I am sorry to say that I don't know when the next chapter will be out, I'm working my ass off with 4 AP classes, after school activities, and a few personal projects other than my writing. But don't worry, I always finish my work, and my stories will be finished.
Chapter 13 - Family
Bit was about to call on his armor before he remembered how drained his Blue magic was. He could move quickly but he could not fight with it, so he turned to his other magic. Lightening crackled around him as he charged into the fray. He didn't stop to actually fight anyone but ran through throwing balls of lightning at every one attacking paralyzing them.
One person he didn't see jumped down from an over hanging tree limb at him. With iron claws on his fingers her slashed at Bit's unprotected back. Bit yelled in pain then anger as he turned, his hands full of lighting like a trapped lightning bolt. The man was blasted in the chest by a torrent of electric energy that came from Bits hands.
The other raiders heard the man's last cry and turned to see Bit rip what remained of his shirt off, small electric bolts jumping across his skin. The leader, a large man on the back of the largest sand ray, shouted something and they all charged at Bit.
As Bit watched them approach he spread his arms wide and clapped them together hard in front of him. As soon as the sound exploded from his hands the trees and plants on either side of the road began to shiver. Then sudden growth exploded, from those shivering plants. Branches and vines grew incredibly fast reaching out and grabbing the raiders right off their sand rays. The raiders found themselves suddenly bound to trees by ropes made of vines totally unable to move. That left only Bit and the leader.
The leader looked at Bit for a minute before taking the enormous blade out of the sheath on his back. The sword looked oddly weightless in his hands. He held it up for all to see, the bandits who could see it started to grin like they knew what was going to happen. He brought down the sword as if slashing, something rushed by Bits cheek he reached up and felt something wet, he looked at his fingers and saw blood.
"This is my Wind Scar." Hey yelled for all to hear, some of the bandits cheered. He rased the blade so he was looking over the razor sharp edge right at Bit. "It has taken more lives than you have seen, and is hungry for another one." There were some more laughs from the bandits. Bit ignored them as he knelt down and picked up a small oak twig that was lying on the road. People watched in amazement as the twig started to grow. The twig steadily became a stick from that it turned into a branch then it began to widen until it could be called nothing other than a club, a massive oak club. The club looked as if it weighed a ton, it was not that it just looked heavy anyone who looked at felt how heavy it was, like it had it's own gravity. But that was impossible, wasn't it? But no matter how impossibly heavy the club looked Bit held it easily in his hand.
Bit took the club in both his hands and held it above his head, he made the same slashing movement as the leader but there was no hidden trick, everyone could see what happened. The air exploded away from the club as Bit swung. Dust blew up from the road and trees trembled as the wind blew past. The leader drew his cloak around him to protect himself from the wind that carried dust twigs and some pebbles that would have caused buses or cuts if they hit.
After the wind had passed their was dead silence. The only sound was the leader taking the cloak off himself. He looked at Bit, who now had the club resting casually on his shoulder with what could only be called the smile of a person who knows the no matter what happens next would walk away a winner, probably with his opponent in lots of pain behind him.
The leader shook himself and got off his sand ray. People were looking out of the caravan to see what had happened, what they saw shocked them. Both sides of the road had bandits tied with living plants, the only people standing were Bit and the leader, and the leader was walking towards Bit with his sword drawn. About three feet away from Bit the man stopped.
"What is your name?" He asked. Bit thought he recognized the man but couldn't quite place it.
"Name?" Bit still had that smile on his face. "They call me Bit Cloud." The man nodded and then did something that surprised everyone including Bit. The man got on one knee and presented his sword to Bit, his head bowed.
"I, Saraph Cloud, present my sword to you in surrender, but rightfully it is your sword anyway." He smiled broadly as he looked up again. Bit took the sword in his free hand and laughed as Saraph stood up.
"It is good to see you again cozen." They hugged each other and gave each other hearty thumps on the back, totally ignoring the looks of utter confusion people were giving them.
Now that people had time to notice they saw that the mad did have a resemblance to Bit, the big one being the same eyes. Saraphs hair was black and long tied back into a ponytail that hung down hit back. He was slightly shorter than Bit but obviously older by several years. He was not at all like Bit in terms of muscle mass, he had a body like a professional body builder, very strong but the way he talked showed intelligence to use his strength in non-conventional ways.
Leena got out of one of the wagons and walked over to them.
"Where the hell have you been Bit?" She asked, she sounded very mad. She totally ignores Saraph and stalks by him to glare at Bit.
"Well I'm back now and your safe, isn't that what matters?" He sounded like he hoped this was the case very, very much. But by the look on Leena's face she was not going to let it be even if it was true.
"NO!! What matters is that you were NOT here when we needed you." Bit bowed his head, when he looked up again he was startled to see that Leena was on the verge of tears. "I was so frightened, I didn't know what to do." Something started to shine in her eyes, she reached up and put her hand on Bit's cheek, he felt a cool sensation and the sting that had been the cut there lessened and went away. Leena was so startled she jerked her hand away but the magic had been done the cut was healed with not even a scar left.
"It's always nice to have a healer around isn't it cozen?" Saraph said like it was nothing unusual but he didn't know that Leena had shown no signs of magic before.
"A healer? Me?" Leena was looking at her fingers then at Bit and finally to Saraph.
"What you mean her seal just broke?" Both Bit and Leena nodded. "Well she'll need a teacher. Speaking of magics when did you lean that trick?" He pointed at the club that was still resting against Bit's shoulder. Bit smiled.
"It's a long story cozen, and I'll tell you everything as we continue our journey." Bit looked and saw the Cornelius Champ was looking out of the lead carriage.
"Is it safe to start moving again?" He called back to Bit. Bit looked from the tied up bandits to Saraph and then to Leena.
"Perfectly safe." He called back. "You can move out whenever your ready."
"Well I want to go now." He retreated back into the carriage and gives the call for them to move out. Slowly the carriages start to move out again.
"Come on Saraph, we have a lot to talk about." Saraph quickly got his sand ray, named Stinger, and tied it to the back of the Chariot. Then he followed Bit and Leena inside. When Leon saw Saraph get into the Chariot he immediately gets up gathering fire into his hands ready to throw.
Bit sighed and waved the sword in his direction causing a little gust of wind towards him blowing out the flames in his hand. He then placed the sword between them before anything else could happen.
"It's alright he's my cozen." Bit explained. "He'll be coming with us, for a while anyway." He looked at Saraph who nodded. Bit sighed again. "I have a lot to explain." Doc walked in looking a little confused at all of them. "To everyone." The Chariot lurched and they started again. Bit looked around as if searching for something.
"Where is Liger? Isn't he here?" Leena looked at him and shook her head.
"No, he headed out running a little after you left, I thought he was following you." She went and got his bag from the bottom of the stares and brought it to him. Bit took the bag and put the sword and club into it. "But you told him to stay, so I wondered, but I don't know where he is."
"That will have to wait until we have a full explanation of what you have been doing Bit." Leon said tersely.
"Then I should start with this." Bit turned around and showed them all the tatoo of Jager on his back. "This tatoo contains the spirit Jager, the spirit of Wind and Water, the essence of speed, and one third of my legacy." He took a clean shirt out of his pack, put it on, and started to explain. For the next few hours as they traveled Bit continued to explain about who he was, his magic, what he knew of the other spirits, though not much, and why Fury was after him. He left out some details, such as the fact that Leena was with him when he received Jager, and exactly how powerful he was.
When he was finished there was a stunned silence when he finished as everyone put it all together in their minds. Bit wished that Liger was there, if he was then Bit would have something to do while he waited for everyone, Liger would make him sit, put his head in Bit's lap and wait for Bit to scratch him behind the ears. But Liger wasn't there and it was starting to make Bit worry. He looked towards the windows just in time to see a bad haircut duck down out of sight.
"CRAP!" Bit rushes to the door and pulls it open looking around and sees a guy in a very ugly yellow suit riding ahead. "CRAP!" He says again, he looks back at everyone's questioning face. "It was Harry, he heard everything. I've got to go, Harry will tell everyone about me and that will put you all in danger." He starts to get his bag when Doc stops him.
"Now Bit, you protected us so we'll protect you, but first things first." He turns to Leon. "Detach the tether spell, we've outstayed our welcome in the Champ Caravan I think." Leon immediately goes to a panel on the wall and chanting something hits it with his fist. They all feel it disengage and the Chariot slows to a stop. "For now we should just get the Chariot off the road and cover our trail." Leon nodded and got out of the Chariot, he attached the tether spell to himself and walks a little way into the woods so it won't be easily visible from the road. He came back in, closing the door firmly behind him.
"It's done father. We should be safe for the night." There was a knock on the door. They all looked around, everyone who was supposed to be there was there in the room, there should have been no one outside. The knock came again. Slowly Leon went to the door and slowly opened it.
There was a woman on the other side, but on closer examination one could see that it was not a human but one of the fey, or elves, by the way her ears pointed and her face with its high angular cheek bones. She had long straight black hair with a green tint to it, it hung all the way down her back with two curls of it on either side of her face. She was wearing black with that same green tint to it. She had one of the fey long bows strung over her shoulder with a quiver full of arrows.
"Pierce?" Bit asked. "Is that you?" Everyone turned to look at Bit and then back at the woman.
"Yes, hello Bit." He did not exactly sound very happy for seeing him. "I'm sorry for this." As she spoke a dozen other archers appeared out of the woods, their bows were not over their shoulders but rather in their arms with one deadly arrow drawn and pulled back, each of them was aiming through the door and at the people inside. "Welcome to Panzer Forest. The elders are waiting for you." Bit closed his eyes and tilted his head slightly as if trying to hear something, when he opened his eyes again his eyes had a greenish shine to them.
"Yes, I understand, and I must speak with them as well." Bit looked at the rest of those in the caravan. He turned and headed towards the door but Leena stopped him.
"What is going on Bit?" She sounded worried. "Where are you going?" Bit looked at her, the green in his eyes had grown more prominent.
"It's the armor, I can feel it calling me." And suddenly Leena remembered how Bit's eyes had grown blue as she approached Jager Lake and the Jager Armor, and now they were in the Panzer forest and it was happening again.
Pierce moved out of the way for Bit to walk past her. All the fey archers had lowered their bows but rased them again when Doc stepped to the door.
"Put down your bows," Pierce instructed, but they did not lower them.
"Our instructions were that only the one The Armor calls is allowed to come." By the tone of his voice, the instructions that had been given him might as well have been set in stone.
"Too bad, they can come if I say they can come, and I say they can." Bit's voice was cool and calm like a grove of trees, but held a force behind it like a falling redwood. The archer who had spoken turned pale, or rather, more pale, and lowered his bow. The rest of the archers lowered their bows and looked unsteadily at Bit. Their instructions may have been set in stone, but when Bit said something it became a universal law. "They will be under my protection, wether they stay or come."
Doc seemed not to notice the reaction of the elves as he stepped out of the Chariot onto the forest floor. The others followed him out. Without looking at them the elves faded back into the woods, disappearing from view. Pierce started walking into the forest and Bit followed her, the rest hesitated for a moment before following them. Saraph, without saying a word, pointed at Bit's feet as they walked deeper into the woods. The others did not need for him to explain what he was pointing at.
While Bit walked steadily onward next to Pierce, talking with her quietly, his feet left deep footprints in the ground. The watched for a moment and saw that each time Bit stepped down the ground, covered in moss, would sag under him as if holding far more weight than should have been there, and then when he stepped off the moss did not so much rise again, as grow back up, filling each one of Bit's steps with new moss.
Only Leena was not watching Bit's feet, she was looking for his shadow. But shadows were few and far between in the dense forest. But at one point the forest opened, for a moment, into a small clearing, and Pierce, never changing the direction she walked, walked right though it, and Bit walked with her. Leena, and the others who were still watching Bit, gasped at his shadow.
Bit, hearing them gasp, stopped and turned around, so did Pierce. Bit saw where they were looking and looked at his shadow. It was enormous, far larger than Bit, larger than any man they had ever seen, it was also covered in what looked like spikes. Bit looked at the shadow and nodded, the shadow nodding with him.
"The armor knows that I'm coming." He looked at the shadow. "Shades of the past fighting for the future." He whispered to himself but everyone heard. It was then that they realized how quiet the forest had become, no birds singing, no animals, hardly even a breeze. Pierce was suddenly looking around cautiously into the forest around them.
"There is no time to waste, we must go to the elders now." Bit nodded and started to walk with her again into the forest. The others followed, quite aware that Pierce thought something was following them, looking around.
Though nothing happened during the rest of their walk, their tension grew. The prickling on the back of their necks making them look over their shoulders often. Only Bit seemed unconcerned by the rest of them, he walked on steadily.
Suddenly there were two massive trees ahead of them, a mighty wooden gateway blocking the entrance to the elven city. And there sitting right in front of the middle of the gate was Liger, his eyes followed them as they approached his tail the only indication of his impatience as it moved around as if it was unable to find a good place to stop. As they approached the gates they saw that they were made of living wood as were the walls that grew out of the sides of the massive trees gently curving around the city. Guards stationed at the top of the wall watched them with guarded eyes, their longbows ready to draw and fire at a moment's notice.
Liger came to them and walked next to Bit, no one questioned him or Bit to ask where he had been.
"We will have to wait for out green magi to open the gate, as it is the only way to enter the city." Pierce turned to them, looking each of them in the eye. She looked and saw Bit walking towards the gate. "Bit? What are you doing?"
"I will not wait." Bit said looking at her, his emerald eyes shining with inner light before he turned to the gate and put his hands on the wood.
"Bit you can not, the magi......" She stopped and stared as the wood parted before Bit's hand opening and getting larger until an archway replaced the wooden barrier.
Magi on the other side of the arch looked at him in wonder. They wore green robes and had circlets of living ivy growing around their heads. Suddenly a little girl, her golden curls bouncing around her head rushed between two of the magi running straight to Bit who stood there speechless.
"Big Brother! Big Brother! I knew you would come!" As she bounded towards them, Bit knelt down and held out his arms to her, she rushed into his arms and hugged him tightly around the neck, Bit hugged her back tears in his eyes. As they hugged another figure walked towards them.
The woman was tall, with long brown hair falling down her back. She was dressed in a simple brown dress with patterns of ivy and leaves, and yet she had an air of beauty around her simple features. Tears were also in her eyes as she smiled down at her son as he continued to hug his little sister.