Thanks for all the awesome reviews, guys! I'm sorry I didn't update yesterday. I was over at my cousin's house more most of the day. So that's why I'm posting this chapter so early. Hope you like it!
They traveled for hours through thick forests with trees so tall they pierced the clouds above them. The roots drawn out from the dirt ground notified Clark that they were in Viren's forest again. It was a little comforting at first since Viren began to brag that he had always taken good care of it's creatures and everything that lived there lived in peace.
During this journey through the forest, Clark noticed a patch of the same fairy flowers he'd seen before on the road and leaned down, plucking one from the ground. He held it out in front of Lana, smiling as a fairy dressed in sunny yellow, sitting one of the petals, took her small golden wand and waved it, letting a spray of glitter fall over Clark and Lana. The fairy giggled gleefully afterwards.
Looking back at Clark's happy, yet shy grin, Lana watched him for a moment. Nervous about her stare, Clark looked away, blushing spontaneously. She laughed and brought a hand to his cheek, brushing off the glitter and then placing a sweet, soft kiss dangerously close to the corner of his lips. She then turned around and fell back into him, a smile hovering on her face.
Overjoyed, Clark leaned his head into hers and took a deep breathe.
For those next few minutes, the dream completely slipped out of his mind.
It was still as light as afternoon hours later when Clark noticed they had left the forest and were now wandering through a large valley, no different then the one he'd seen when he and Lana first arrived. He asked Viren worriedly if he was sure they weren't going the wrong way, but Viren seemed very confident.
"We are headed in the correct direction, Master Clark. No need to worry."
"I know, it's just…I get this feeling like we're going some place we're not suppose to go…" He didn't say aloud, but added in his mind, 'At least some place where I'm not suppose to go.'
"Oh, you will be very welcome here, Master Clark. And you too, Mistress Lana," Viren confirmed with a smile. Emmet and Wenda, who were sitting behind Viren on the horse, nodded in agreement.
"Everyone will be there," Wenda explained.
"Even the other human who unintentionally found his way here years before," Emmet added.
"I've been wanting to ask about that…" Lana spoke up, concern grazing her voice. "What are they like? Are they happy they're here?"
"At first they were a little depressed and lonely…I suppose one would feel down after one learns they can never go back home," Viren said looking down at Anstice's reigns. "But over time, their feelings changed. They began to understand the beauty that aroused here. All the wonderful places and things living and appearing and happening around them. They soon accepted this as a blessing."
After a short pause, Clark spoke up.
"How many are there and how long have they been here?"
"There has only been two other sets of humans to come here. The first came many many years ago and have passed away since. The other two came at separate times. The first, a girl named Natara, was probably the most different of any that came here. She acted much like Master Clark when she first came: upset and having a strong urge to want to return home."
Clark smirked with slight embarrassment and Lana nudged him playfully.
"She, however, had to give up on finding the Mist after her first encounter with Amon," Wenda broke in sadly.
"Why?" Lana asked curiously.
"Amon gave her a Dodtrice. It's certain type of attack he created. He scratches an enemy across the face or chest, producing four distinct cuts in the victim's skin. Poison from his claws seeps into the victim's blood stream, slowly killing them. No one else really knows what other tortures it puts the victims in because…sadly, no one has ever survived from a Dodtrice."
This news came harshly to Clark and Lana who couldn't find anything to say in response to what Viren had just told them.
The elf realized this and took a breath, continuing. "Time passed and a boy came. He was called Jacob. He seemed more optimistic about this place and the adventure of finding the Mist. After a few days, though, he had a dream in which he was told to stop looking for the Mist until others came to aid him. So, he's been living at the castle ever since."
Clark opened his mouth to ask another question, but was thrown out of his thought by Emmet's next statement.
"There it is! Straight ahead! The castle of the Mist!"
Clark turned his head forward so fast it almost gave him whiplash. Gazing at the sight in front of him, he heard Lana gasp softly and he felt like doing the same.
It was huge. Bigger than three of Smallville High's football fields including the bleachers around them. The walls, which the castle was protected by, were approximately twenty feet tall and were covered in green designs made by the vines of ivy that bound them. The walls were made of a white brick, which had dulled over the years to an off-white cloudy color.
Inside the walls, Clark could see many fat square-shaped buildings of the same type of brick. Long cylinder-like chambers protruded out from the bigger buildings and were topped with cone-shaped roofs made of whitish shingles, curled up slightly at the end like a Chinese pagoda. The tops of each one came to a stiff, sharp point and tiny rectangular slits made in the walls of the chambers served as windows.
The entrance to the castle was also quite large and made of white wood. Standing above it in a small rectangular-shaped hut attached to the castle wall were two soldiers, who watched the new travelers closely.
"It's beautiful," Lana exclaimed with astonishment.
"Looks like an enlarged version of the toy castle set I have at home," Clark informed, also amazed.
"It does look very much like a castle one would find in a human fairy tale story, does it not?" Viren stated with a smile.
Clark and Lana nodded, but didn't take their eyes off the building.
"And that's why it's here. Long ago, this massive castle was just a figment of some one's dream…and now it's here to feel and to touch."
They began to advance closer to the castle, getting more nervous and excited with each step.
The castle didn't have a moat or bridge to cross over, so the travelers moved up close enough to where the two soldiers could see and hear them.
"Good day, up there!" Viren shouted kindly.
"What you do want?" the solider on the left asked in a heavy Irish accent.
The other furrowed his brows into a frown.
"We'd like to enter into the castle."
"Yeah? And who's 'we'?" the soldier snapped crudely.
Viren tried his best to remain polite. "My parents, Emmet and Wenda, myself, Viren, and the two humans who just arrived here not but a few days ago – Master Clark and Mistress Lana."
"Mmm…Mistress, eh?" The soldier poked the other in the ribs and they both chuckled.
"Can you just let us in?" Clark asked, wanting to see the inside of the great castle (not to mention get away from these pigs) as soon as he could.
"'Fraid not, Master Clark. We need the password from ya."
"What password?" Emmet shouted angrily. "There's never been a password!"
"It's just been invented. The people inside believe Amon, Haras, and Diaba are gathering up some slaves of some sort and sneakin' em into this here castle."
"What a load of - "
"Emmet! Watch your language!" Wenda scolded, smacking her husband. He squeaked and then became silent.
"He's right, though. They're just making that up so we can't get in," Clark stated with a sigh. He was beginning to get tired of all these obstacles in his way.
"Hey, Tristan. Maybe we can make 'em a deal," one solider said the other.
"What's that?" Tristan asked, a little uncertain of his friend's proposal.
"Yeah…" The solider turned toward Viren and the others. "We'll let you in, if we can see the Mistress!"
Tristan giggled happily. "Yeah! Yeah! Bring her up here!"
"You're disgusting!" Lana shrieked with more anger then Clark had ever heard from her before. "Whoever dreamed you into this place was obviously on something at the time."
The two soldiers stopped their laughing and turned to Lana glaringly. "Fine! Then you're NOT getting into the castle."
"Excuse me, I think you forgot one tiny detail," Emmet spoke up calmly. "We're elves."
Just then, Emmet stuck out the palm of his right hand and shouted, "Vicistern!"
Two thin beams of a bluish light flailed out of his hand and smacked both soldiers square in the mouth. They fell backwards into the hut and out of view.
"Nice shot, father," Viren stated with a smile.
Emmet grinned. "It's a silence charm. They won't be able to say a single thing until next July."
"And judging by the way they fell backwards, they won't be walking around much either," Wenda added, staring at her husband sternly. But she couldn't hold it and her mouth curled into a natural smile.
All were perfectly content as Viren leaped off Anstice and rushed to the entrance to open the doors of the Mist's brilliant home within.