Seven
But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often through the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, went to Camelot;
Or when the Moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed.
"I'm half sick of shadows," said
The Lady of Shalott.
It was the second day that Annya and Lancelot rode on Theo through the forest. Theo walked because of Lancelot's wound; even at a walk it still hurt him. Annya sat at the front and Lancelot sat behind her. Annya steered Theo and Lancelot told her where to go. They were going to the magic trees to get Excalibur back from them.
"How does your home look like, anyways?" Lancelot asked Annya.
"If I tell you, will you promise to still talk to me afterwards?" Annya smiled.
"You know that I will." Said Lancelot as he squeezed Annya's shoulder.
"I'm just making sure. Last time I thought that, you didn't just not talk to me, but you also feared me. Well anyways – my home. In my world, I'm a princess."
"Really?" Lancelot asked in shock. "I should have known. They way you carry yourself and your manners are clearly the teachings from someone for royalty."
"Yes, well it's really all about the show. That's why we have to hold ourselves like so. My father, Febar, married my mother, Seriffina. They were not forced into their marriage, unlike me."
"You're married?" Lancelot asked, trying to hide his shock.
"No, I'm not. But as my duty as princess, I am to marry this year."
"Oh, ok then." Lancelot said sounding relieved.
"My father is kind of all fairies right now. My mother died when I was little. But my father wants to marry again. Well anyways, I'll describe my home. Our castle is, apparently, is the biggest and grandest of all the fairy kingdoms. We are also the only kingdom that has the only direct connection to the mortal world. It is a river that starts in our world and ends in your. However, no mortal may cross into the fairy world using that river; only fairies can."
"That's just a bit unfair, don't you think so?" Lancelot said.
"I guess so. But that is just how it has been for many, many years."
"Ah, yes. Tradition runs deep in your world."
"Exactly."
"Hold on. Annya, stop here."
Annya reined in Theo and Theo stopped, breathing heavily.
"Why are we stopping here?" Annya asked Lancelot.
"I need to check something."
Lancelot slid off Theo's back and walked towards a tight cluster of trees. He walked around it as if he were searching for something.
"What ever are you looking for, Lancelot?" said Annya.
"Shhh." Was all Lancelot said.
Lancelot crouched down and placed his hand near the roots of the cluster of trees. He started to dig at the dirt at the base of a thin trunk of a tree. All of a sudden, a branch came whizzing towards Lancelot's head. Annya screamed and he ducked just in time. Other branches now started to try to hit Lancelot. He scrambled out, away from the flaying ranches that were trying to attack him. He grabbed Theo's reins and started to run away from the trees. When they ran a few meters where Lancelot was sure that the trees would not reach them, he stopped.
"What … why … what happened?" Annya asked.
"Just checking to see where we are." Lancelot said, sounding amused.
"How do branches trying to hit you tell you where you are?" Annya nearly shouted.
A grin spread over Lancelot's face. He looked back to the trees who were now swinging their branches threateningly towards Lancelot's direction. He turned back to Annya with the same grin on his face.
"Annya, my dear," Lancelot said. "Think. How many trees do you know are able to swing their branches at will?"
Annya's brain clicked in. "Oh!" she said. "So I see. Are we close to the magical trees, then?"
"Yes. In fact, we are just on the boarder of entering their territory."
"Really?" Annya said, sounding fascinated. "How do we enter?"
"Well, I seem to have angered an entrance to their territory." Lancelot said, looking back to the cluster of trees that were still swaying their branches. "But not to worry! We shall find another one. Just look for more clusters like that one."
Lancelot got back on Theo and they rode on. And sure enough, there was another entrance not too far away from the first one.
They both dismounted Theo. Lancelot walked up to the cluster of trees straight away, but Annya hung back.
"What's wrong?" Lancelot asked Annya.
"Nothing." Annya lied.
"Well, come on then."
In truth, Annya was terrified. She saw what had had happened last time Lancelot went too close to the trees.
"You go on. I'll stay here with Theo so that he won't go anywhere." Annya said.
"Don't be silly, Annya. You know that Theo can take care of himself and that he won't go anywhere far from where we leave him. He is my horse after all and therefore has been trained exceptionally well." Annya still didn't move. "Oh, come now, it's not that bad. Are you scared?"
"A little." Annya said in a quivering voice.
"Oh. Oh! I see why you're scared. No, no, no my dear Annya. See, they only tried to hit me because I started to dig up their roots and they thought that I was going to pull them up. But that is really the only reason why they tried to hurt me."
Annya still stayed where she was, unconvinced. Lancelot sighed and walked back to Annya. He embraced her in his arms and started to rock her back and forth. Annya immediately felt calmed down and wrapped her arms around Lancelot.
"Annya, it may not seem that I know what I'm doing, but I do know what I'm doing. I would not want to put you in danger, and I feel that leaving you out here alone with Murtag and his men out there following us is much more dangerous than you coming with me. So please, please just trust me and come with me. I need you more than you know I do."
He looked into Annya's eyes and Annya felt herself nod. Lancelot smiled at her and gave her a kiss on her cheek. He took her hand and they walked back towards the clump of trees.
"So, how exactly do we enter into the tree's territory?"
"You walk between these trees."
The two of them looked at the trees and did not move. The trees all of a sudden looked forbidding. Their spiny branches looked like long, evil arms waiting to snatch up its next innocent, wandering prey. The trees looked thicker, taller and more threatening.
Lancelot squeezed Annya's hand and said, "Are you ready?"
"I suppose so." Annya said without looking at Lancelot.
Lancelot took a step forward and Annya followed his lead. They pushed the branches out of their path, being careful not to break them. Their feet felt the soft, moist soil beneath them – feeling their way forward. They stepped into the centre of the trees where there was a large circular space. This clearing was not like the outside of the trees – it was completely different. It was covered in moss and was dimly lit from an eerie, soft, electric blue, tiny speaks of light. The light moved very slowly around the clearing, as if it were in a trance.
"Fairy dust," Annya breathed out, looking at a small speak of light floating right in front of her face.
"What's that?" Lancelot whispered, still looking around him.
"Fairy dust; it's not really dust, though. It's actually left over magic. But the only magic it can do is glow blue and float." Annya whispered back.
Annya didn't really know why they were whispering. It seemed if they spoke too loud, then everything would go away and they would be left alone in the dark.
"But why –." Lancelot stopped talking as the ground below them started to shake.
They took a step backwards, but when their foot touched the ground, it crumbled away and the fell over. As soon as the rest of their body hit the ground, the rest of the dirt fell away and they fell through.
Annya screamed and Lancelot swore. Annya stomach flew to her mouth as they fell through total blackness. Annya hit something soft and from the other thud she heard, Lancelot hit the ground too. Annya looked up and could not see the hole they had fallen through.
Impossible. Annya thought. How could it have covered itself up again? We can't be too far down for the fall was not that long.
She scanned the top again for any hint of the fairy dust – there was none.
"Annya?" Lancelot whispered somewhere behind her.
"Shush." Annya replied sharply.
Annya had heard something else whisper. It was more like a deep, soft grumble. The whisper sounded like it belonged to something big and very old.
Annya scanned her surroundings, but couldn't see anything in the blackness that surrounded them. There was not a single outline of anything.
"What is it?" Lancelot said in a barely audible whisper. He sounded closer.
"I'm not sure." Annya whispered back.
Annya ran a hand over her ankle because it was starting to itch. But instead of feeling her soft skin, she felt something shaped like a thick rope and felt very rough.
Annya tried to rip it off, but it only became tighter. Annya let out a gasp of surprise as she was suddenly hoisted into the air and was dangling upside-down by her ankle. She did a sit-up in mid-air and grabbed onto the rope above her ankle. She tried to pull her foot out from the grip, but it only became tighter until Annya felt it cut into her flesh. She stopped, let go of the rope, and let herself dangle upside-down again.
As if on cue from Annya stopping to try to free herself, the same lightning blue light illuminated the area to brightly that Annya had to shield her eyes.
"Who dares come and disturb the ancient?" boomed a very low and crackly voice.
Annya lowered her hand from her eyes and had to squint in the dazzling blue light. She tried to look at there surroundings, but couldn't see because of the light. It was like someone was shining a bright light right into her eyes.
"Speak!" shouted the thunderous voice. "Speak or we shall kill you! What is you business here? What is of such grave importance that you dare disturb the ancient? Speak!"
Annya started to feel dizzy from all the blood rushing to her head.
"Please," she gasped. "Please let me down or I fear that I shall faint."
Annya heard low rumbling whispers as if they had been insulted.
"We do not take orders from mere mortals!" roared the voice. Annya felt her body vibrate from the sound.
Annya sat up in mid-air. "Mere mortal?" she said in a hot voice. "I am no mortal! Without the help of my people, your place would not exist!" Annya said, remembering the fairy dust.
There was a pause, and then the same low voice came, except it was more curious. "What are you then?"
"A fairy." Annya replied. Her stomach started to burn and she let herself hang upside-down again.
A ripple of gasps and murmurs surrounded Annya.
The same voice came, except it was talking in the ancient fairy language. "We have not seen one of your kind for centuries! What brings your presence here?"
"Excalibur, and if you don't mind, please let me down." Annya replied in the ancient tongue.
Annya felt herself being lowered to the ground and the blinding blue light started to dim around her. She was able to take in her surroundings as last, and what she saw astonished her. She was crouching in a pile of moss where she saw the outline of the place she had fell. As she looked around her, there were dozens and dozens of trees all crowded around her. As she examined the trees more closely, she saw that they had faces. Their faces, however, were made of moss, leaves, or other natural things found on trees. For their mouth, they had either a hole or a slit. The only thing that was not natural about them was their eyes.
They were not oval, but more like a circle giving an owl-like appearance about them. They had only one colour to their eyes with no pupils. Some of the eyes were hard to see because they were hidden by the large amount of moss or leaves around them.
The trees were huge. The smallest tree was standing about sixty feet and the tallest about ninety feet tall. Their trunks were abnormally thick that if three people were to join hands around the trunk, they would not be able to go completely around the massive base of the tree. Their roots did not go into the ground, but acted, rather, as long tentacles to push them forward in a way an octopus would move on the ocean floor.
Annya looked directly above her and saw Lancelot dangling in the air with the lightning blue light all around him. He did not seem to be moving.
"Let him down!" Annya screamed in the old language. "He's with me! Let him down gently!"
The trees obeyed her, and set Lancelot down beside her. Annya looked at Lancelot. His eyes were closed and his face seemed to be concentrated in pain. Sweat beaded his face and he would twitch every so often.
"What did you do to him?" Annya asked the trees harshly.
"Mind torture." Replied the eldest tree. "We tried to grasp your mind, but since you are a fairy, we could not."
"Stop it! Stop! Let him be. He means you no harm! He is with me!"
"We have obeyed you thus far, but this is where we draw the line. It is an ancient custom of ours to do this to whoever intrudes. By doing this mind torture, we are able to find out who he is, what his intensions are with us, and more important things."
"But this is an invasion of his privacy! You are hurting him!"
"Listen!" the tree shouted angrily. "You are lucky that we have treated you kindly thus far. Do not underestimate what we can do to you! You will be given a place to stay with this pathetic mortal until we elders have discussed your reasons to come here. But mark my words, if you dare ever upset us again, you will wish that you never came here!" With that said, the tree turned his back on then, and said something to a smaller tree behind him. "Follow him. He will show you to your sleeping quarters." And he left.
"Come with me," grumbled the other tree. He grabbed Lancelot with a flexible branch and started to move his way expertly across the forest. Annya had to jog to keep up with him.
As they moved through the forest, Annya saw mortals among the gigantic trees. She saw some taking care of the younger trees or the very old trees. Others were going in and out of stone huts. The mortals wore very little clothing, only covering necessary areas. Their clothes were completely natural. Most of the clothes were made out of grass, but there were some that were made of feathers o, dead leaves, or other things like that.
"Um, excuse me," Annya said tentatively. "I was wondering what those mortals are doing down here."
The tree just grunted in reply and slithered across the forest floor even faster.
They later arrived at the place where they were to stay and the tree told Annya not to move from that spot until further instructions from the elders, and then he left them.
The tree left them in an isolated spot in the massive forest. There weren't even other trees around to provide company; there was just a small bush beside the hut. The hut was something else. It looked older that the ancient trees and seemed to be held up by some magical force. It was made of old and cracked mud with a tattered cloth for the front door. It was a small place that seemed to be able to hold one person with less than the minimum space needed for living.
Annya timidly approached the hut, afraid that any little noise would make it collapse. She carefully drew back the rotten rag and gasped. She shut her eyes, not believing in what she saw. When she opened then, she saw exactly the same thing as before. The inside of the hut was as beautiful as the outside was ugly. Everything was made from natural things and the inside was bigger than what it looked like from the outside. For a carpet, a thick and lustrous grass covered the floor, decorated with flowers. There were two beds that were on a mound of dirt, covered in dry spongy moss. There were stones carved to the shape of chairs. In the middle of the room was a fire, except it was not burning wood. In fact, it was burning nothing. It was floating above the ground, not burning anything. There were small open windows on the sides of the hut, but the wind did not disturb the fire.
Annya went out of the hut to fetch Lancelot from the ground to bring him into the hut. Lancelot was still not awake, but his face did not seem to be in pain anymore. She hooked her arm under his and started to drag him into the hut. She placed him on one of the beds and brought a stone chair over to his bedside. She held his hand and realized that it was cold. She looked at the fire dancing in the middle of the floor and wished that it was by Lancelot's bed side to keep him warm.
To Annya's alarm and great surprise, the fire started to move towards her. She jumped up from her chair, knocking it down, and leapt away from the fire that was moving in her direction.
The fire stopped near the middle of Lancelot's bed and all of a sudden burst with life and became bigger and glowed brighter. The fire seemed to be content where it was and simmered down a bit.
Annya cautiously picked up her chair and placed it by Lancelot. The fire didn't move. She sat down and placed her head on the side of Lancelot's bed. She was so tired! She hadn't slept properly for a few days, having about three hours of sleep each night.
Annya's eyes were stinging and she closed them. The heat of the fire and Lancelot's slow breathing made her relax and she soon fell into a dreamless sleep.
Someone was shaking her and was softly calling her name. She rolled over and grunted and mumbled something that sounded like 'Let me sleep.' But the voice kept on insisting and the shaking became rougher, but she ignored them. She felt fingers going to her sides and then they started to tickle her. She rolled over again, trying to rid herself on the tickling fingers; but they kept tickling her and became even harder.
Annya tried to take the fingers off of her side, but they were stronger than her and very insistent. Finally, Annya started to laugh and she opened her eyes. Lancelot was standing over her and was grinning.
"Get off me." Annya laughed at Lancelot.
"Not until you get out of your bed." Lancelot said, tickling Annya even more.
Annya started to laugh ever harder and rolled around in her bed trying to rid herself of Lancelot. Only when Annya fell off her bed did Lancelot stop tickling her.
"Are you ok?" Lancelot asked, helping Annya up.
"I'm alright." Annya said, catching her breath. "Anyways, why did you wake me up and how did I get to my bed?" Annya asked looking at the bed she just fell off.
"Well, I woke up and saw you sleeping on that chair and you looked very uncomfortable, so I brought you to your bed. As for waking you up, the trees want to talk to you, I think. They wouldn't talk to me, but just pointed to where you were sleeping. I don't think they like me very much."
"Hmm, I wonder why." Annya said without much conviction.
Lancelot looked at her with narrowed eyes.
"Yes you do know why," he said. "I know you do. Why do they not like me?"
"I better go meet with them; they don't like to be kept waiting." Annya said while rushing towards the exit.
"Wait," Lancelot said while quickly grabbing one of Annya's arms. "I'm going to come with you. They cannot be trusted at the moment."
"You cannot just invite yourself. They would be greatly insulted."
"Annya, I am going to come with you." Lancelot said with force.
Annya looked at him and pondered whether to risk angering the trees who were already irritated from Annya yelling at them before or to risk making Lancelot angry.
"I'll see what I can do." Annya said while taking her arm out of Lancelot's grasp and walked out the door.
Outside, the trees were patiently waiting in a huddle for Annya.
"Dear ancient ones," Annya said in the old language. "What brings your presence here?"
"We have come to discuss your doings here and to escort you to our meeting place."
"I will come, of course, but I have a humble request."
"Name it."
"Would you would most graciously allow the mortal, Lancelot, to attend our meeting along side of me?"
The trees paused and looked at Annya for so long that she felt herself start to blush.
"What are his reasons?" the eldest tree finally asked.
"He would feel better if he were with me."
"We do not want him to know what our meeting is about." The tree said hotly.
"If it would be alright, we could speak in this language. HE does not know that it even exists."
"Yes, we know. We have found out many things from him."
All the trees glared at her and Annya felt herself get even hotter.
"He shall come," the tree said. "But know this; it is not often we do favors like this and our patience is running low. Now go and get this mortal."
"Many thanks." Annya said and ran back inside to get Lancelot.
"Well?" Lancelot asked urgently when Annya came back inside.
"Oh, just hurry up and get outside. They are not happy that you're going to come with me. You must show them much respect; otherwise, you really cause many more problems for us. Now come outside and speak only when spoken to."
Annya walked outside and Lancelot followed her. The trees barley looked at them and started to slither across the forest floor and Annya and Lancelot followed.
"What exactly do they want with us?" Lancelot whispered to Annya.
"They want to ask me about our business here, but they don't want anything to do with you."
"What? Why?"
"It's because you're a mortal. They feel that they should have nothing to do with you. Because your kind cut down trees and burn them, make them into furniture or whatever else you do."
"But that's outrageous! How do they expect us to live if we do not use trees?"
"I'm not disagreeing with you, but I can also see where they are coming from."
"What about you? Why do they associate with you? Don't your people also use wood?"
"Yes, we do. But we are closer to nature than mortals are. We take the wood only if there is not other substitute for it and they don't seem to mind because we take only what we need. Also, my people helped them build this world that is underneath yours."
"Still, I don't think that they should treat me like dirt."
Annya said nothing because she knew that it was pointless to argue with Lancelot.
They walked silently with the trees and only when they arrived at their destiny did the trees speak to them.
"You" –they indicated to Annya- "sit over there and tell the mortal to stand behind you."
The chair was in the middle of a semi-circle with the back of the chair facing the empty space behind the chair. There were deep holes in the ground where the trees settled themselves comfortably in.
Annya walked up to the chair and stood in front of it. She told Lancelot to stand behind the chair and only when the elders were in their holes did she sit down.
"Do you know why you are here?" grumbled the eldest tree in the old language.
"I have reason to believe I am here because Excalibur lies here and we need it back."
"Excalibur? Why do you think that we have it?"
"I have overheard that your kind has taken it from some mortals."
"Mortals? Which mortals?"
"They belong to a gang. Not a good gang, mind you, and they have many evil intensions."
"What are their intensions?"
"I am not sure of all of them, but I know that their main intension is to take over Camelot."
"How did you come to know of this?"
"They kid-napped me and I over heard of their plan."
The tree closed his eyes and when he opened them, they had turned red. Annya felt her own eyes turn black to help mask her emotions.
"What is the name of their leader?" the tree asked in an angry voice.
"Murtag. I know now of his last name."
There was a murmur of urgent whispers from the elders and only died down when the eldest one said something to them in their own language.
"You are sure of this?" the tree asked, his voice rising.
"Yes, I am."
Silence. It was so quiet that you could almost hear it.
Finally, the eldest tree spoke, "We know of this man and his group of whom you speak of. This man has done terrible things to our kind; we do not want anything to do with him. We have learned much from that mortal standing behind you," –Annya looked at Lancelot and he looked at her with worried eyes- "We know that your intensions are good and that you both have nothing to do with Murtag and his men. So hear this. We will give you Excalibur, but on one condition and only if you be willing to accept it."
Annya grabbed Lancelot's hand and he put his other on her shoulder protectively.
"What is it you ask of me?" Annya asked.
"We ask that we have a direct connection to the fairy world."
Annya started to squeeze Lancelot's hand so hard that he whispered to her that she was hurting him. She lessened the pressure on his hand.
What the trees were asking of Annya was astonishing! First off, making a direct connection from the fairy world to the tree's world would take years of hard work; not just physical work, but also magical work and they would also have to take a scientific approach to this too. Dealing with atoms and particles were not one of Annya's favorite subjects. Not only that, she would have to convince the whole fairy world to agree to build a connection with the tree's world. Was Excalibur really worth all of this?
"Is … is there anything else that you would rather ask of us instead of this huge task?" Annya asked softly.
"No." The tree's reply came.
Annya paused, and then said, "Will your kind help us in building the connection?"
"Yes, but only the physical part."
"What kind of connection were you thinking of?"
"Doors."
"Doors?" Annya asked loudly in shock.
Doors were the best way to get to another place. It was the fastest and the least dangerous. They were also the hardest and most difficult to build. There were Doors in the fairy kingdoms where it allowed fairies to travel to another kingdom faster, but never has it been heard of, or even thought of to build Doors connecting two worlds!
"Elders," Annya said. "As you probably know, this has never been thought of and would be extremely hard, even close to impossible to build Doors between two worlds. Is it not possible of building a different way?"
"We want Doors and we will not change our decision."
"And if I cannot agree to this?"
"Then Excalibur, you, and the mortal remain here forever."
Annya's eyes turned yellow and red. She was furious!
"I cannot promise you that this will happen," Annya said, trying to control her rage in her voice. "But I can promise that I will do my best to convince others to build the connection. I am well known in our world and I have lots of power, so I am sure that other will listen to me. This I promise you."
The trees nodded in agreement and the eldest said, "You may go back to where you are staying. We will bring you Excalibur and safely lead you out of our world. This I promise you." The trees stood up and Annya did so too out of respect.
When all the trees left, Annya stormed away to their sleeping place while Lancelot ran to catch up with her. Annya was outraged! If only she could have lied! The trees themselves said that they could not read her mind because she was a fairy, but only if they did not speak the ancient tongue! Then Annya could have lied.
Lancelot caught up with Annya and asked her, "What's wrong?"
"I wish I could have lied!" Annya nearly screamed in frustration.
"Well, why didn't you?" Lancelot asked without even questioning her about what had just happened in the meeting.
"I couldn't! You can't lie in the ancient language; if you do something nearby dies. This language is sometimes known as 'The Language of Trust' because you can't lie while you speak it. Oh, I wish it had taken place in English, but they didn't want you to hear incase they said something that you were not to know." Annya was not speed walking and her breathing became shorter.
"Tell me what happened." Lancelot said softly.
Annya told him everything.
"So there is no other way except to build this door thing." Lancelot said.
"Well, only if we want to stay here forever, then yes, that is the only way."
"I see," said Lancelot in thought.
They had arrived at their place and Lancelot walked through the door way with Annya following him. They sat down near the fire and Annya was still fuming with rage. She just sat and stared at the fire. Lancelot sat down beside her.
"Look," Lancelot said. "What is done is done. You can't go back and change what took place back there. Look on the brighter side, maybe the fairies will not listen to you and you won't have to build the connection between your world and this world."
"I guess so." Annya sighed.
Lancelot moved behind Annya and put his legs next to Annya's sides. He put his arms around her and brought her back so that she was leaning on him. She felt the anger leaver her and she became calm. She made herself comfortable and put her head between Lancelot's neck and his shoulder. Lancelot started to rock her back and forth.
"You just relax." Lancelot said,
"Mmm. I am already." Annya replied dreamily.
"Good, then go to sleep."
Annya closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep and dreamed of being back home with Lancelot with her,
Something was wrong. The ground was shaking and Annya smelled something burning and she heard screams. She opened her eyelids, which we weighed down with sleep, with an effort. She pressed her palms to her eyes and rubbed the sleep away. She sat up and saw Lancelot sleeping in the other bed. Annya got up to wake him.
"Lancelot," Annya said while shaking him. "Lancelot, wake up. Something is not right."
Lancelot sat up immediately and put a hand out to steady himself.
"What's wrong?" he asked; his voice heavy with sleep.
"I'm not sure, bit I can smell smoke and there are some people screaming."
All of a sudden, a man rushed into their hut and Lancelot jumped out of his bed, ready to fight.
"Please," the man gasped. "I am under orders from the elder trees to take you away safely."
The man was breathing hard and sweat trickled down his face. He was shirtless and was wearing only trousers with something slung across his back. His arms and body were covered in soot he had some burns on him. His black hair was untidy and his brown eyes were full of fear.
"What's going on?" Lancelot asked him.
The man shook his shaggy head, "No time to explain, sir," he said. "We must go; now! I have Excalibur with me," and he turned around to show that his burden on his back was Excalibur. "Please hurry. I will explain on the way."
The man sounded so distressed that he could not have possibly been lying.
"Ok, we'll come." Annya said.
The man hurried out of the hut with Lancelot and Annya following him. As soon as they stepped out of the hut, what they saw horrified them. The air was filled with smoke and they saw that most of the buildings and even some of the trees were on fire. There were humans trying to put out the flames and there were others, who dressed differently than the ones who lived with the trees, were lighting things on fire. Annya wanted to stop and help put out the fires and to help the screaming trees; but Lancelot held tight to Annya's hand and pulled her a long.
The man leading them hurried through the forest and took great care to not be seen. Every time they tried to talk to him, he put a finger to his lips and shook his head and continued to go through the dark forest. At first, Lancelot and Annya had no idea where they were going, but later they could see that he started to move in a direction with more purpose. They saw that he was leading them into the heart of the forest. Only when they came to a clearing in the middle of the forest did he talk to them.
"There is not much time to explain and I must hurry back so I can help fight." Their guide took a deep breath in and then said, "A man name who goes by the name 'Murtag' has invaded out world. He has many followers and I fear that we might not be able to hold them off."
"How did they get here?" Annya asked.
"Unfortunately, miss, they followed you here."
"Oh, I am so dreadfully sorry."
"No, no, miss; it's not your fault. But miss and sir, I must be heading back so I will tell you how to exit out of this world. Follow this pat," he said as he indicated to a narrow and word down path. "And when you see a single tree surrounded in blue light, speak the ancient tongue and say my name and the place you wish to go. My name is Brom. I wish you both well and here is Excalibur." He took off his burden and delicately handed it over to Lancelot. "Make sure that Excalibur is never held in the hands of Murtag. Go now! Hurry!"
"I will defend it with my life." Lancelot said and turned to go down the path.
"Thank you so very much, Brom!" Annya said and hurried after Lancelot. She waved and Brom waved back and then ran back to help the trees.
Annya and Lancelot ran down the narrow path. It was very dark and made it very hard to see and more than once they had wandered off the path, but they were always able to find it again and continue.
They arrived at the tree. The tree looked as if it were on fire with the blue light surrounding it. It was a small tree, however, not even taller than Annya. The tree stood by itself, nothing was closer than a meter of the tree; it was as if they respected it.
Annya was curious and put a hand out to touch the tree when a voice ran in her head and made her cry out in alarm.
"What do you want?" boomed the voice in her head. The voice was speaking no language. It was as if Annya was thinking it. But it was so loud!
Annya looked at Lancelot and saw that he could hear the voice too.
Speak the ancient tongue.
"We were told to come here by a man named Brom. He said that this was the way we were to exit." Annya said in the old language to the tree.
"And where is the place you wish to go?" the voice in her head said.
Annya looked at Lancelot and he said, "The Forbidden Forest."
"The Forbidden Forest," Annya repeated Annya in the old tongue.
There was an ear-splitting crack and Annya felt her body leave the earth as it was hurtled through the air. Just as quickly as it came, she was back on the earth and she looked up to see Lancelot beside her. She looked up and saw the panicked face of Theo, Lancelot's horse.
"Theo!" Annya cried and wrapped her arms around the horse' neck. The horse nuzzled her in return.
Annya felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Lancelot.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"I'm fine. Are you hurt?"
Lancelot replied by giving her a hug. Annya wrapped her arms around Lancelot and they stood there, embracing each other. Annya buried her face in Lancelot's chest and Lancelot put his face in her soft hair. Only when Theo started to nudge them did they let go of each other.
"Well," Lancelot said while holding Excalibur in its sheath in his hands. "To Camelot?"
"To Camelot," Annya said and they mounted Theo and started their journey back to Camelot.
AN: So sorry that you all had to wait for this chapter! It took me a really, really long time to write this as you can see! Plus I've been SUPER busy … I could write a whole book on how busy I was! Anyways, this is my longest chapter so far and hope that you enjoy it! R&R please!