CHAPTER SIX:

"This is it Teela," murmured Durion. His voice was filled with excitement.

They have finally have found a clue after few hours of search. The sky was dark, the breeze was warm and the trees were silent. They have traveled a long way after killing that Draug.

Bothwere looking down at a bare rock. The rock was dark grey and it lay under a small shrub. It was really old and small.

There was an inscription on the surface of the stone. Teela knelt before the stone and read it.

If you are looking for the "Star Stone" look under the Tree that waters this forest

"Seems straightforward," said Durion staring at it from behind her

"Yes it is. "Gil Gond" is an elvish name for "Star Stone" and that's what we are searching for. However, we need to find that Tree. Tree that waters the forest," replied Teela.

She touched the surface of the stone. It was rough and cool. Durion looked around expecting to see a tree that would fit the description.

"So…we need to find that…" Durion stopped. He looked on the ground and knelt. He tapped Teela's shoulder and pointed the ground.

"We are not the first one to find this clue," he said

Teela looked down and saw two pairs of footsteps under the torch light.

"Goblins?" Teela suggested

"No, these are humans. I think our class mates are well ahead of us. We better be moving too. I don't want to lose," Durion sounded serious. He got to his feet and looked at the stone.

"Do you want to destroy that stone, so that others cannot find it," Durion stopped and checked his words. It sounded wrong, so he just blinked hoping Teela won't get the wrong impression on him.

"No, if the previous team did that, we would have been still searching. I say we just leave it for others," said Teela thoughtfully. Durion nodded in agreement.

Calanon and Alya sat under a shadow and peeked out. Both were students of Master Turwaition. And they are one of the nine teams that entered the forest in search of Gil Gond.

Calanon was nineteen years old. His skin was dark and his eyes matched his hair. He was bit taller and muscular. He was extremely good on Melee attacks. He use his fist as good as his machete.

Alya was seventeen years old and the youngest in the group. She had a very long hair, which touched her hip. She had brown eyes and hair. Her skin was light and she was shorter than her partner.

"I see two," whispered Calanon

"No, there are three. Look under that tree," Alya pointed out and it was true, there was a goblin sitting under a tree with his blades on. Two other goblins were sitting in front of a fire.

"I can take them out," suggested Alya. She took her crossbow out and fitted an arrow in it.

Calanon thought for a second and shook his head.

"I think there are more hidden behind those shadows. I don't want to take a risk by exposing ourselves." He thought for a second and whispered back.

"Let's make a distraction. I will throw a stone into their mist. Let's see how many goblins get distracted by it. However, I can't throw it from here that will give out our position. I am gonna go around this bush and throw the stone. When you see the Goblins move to my hiding place, you take them out by surprise. Now that will give them enough distraction for me to attack them. Is it clear?" he asked

Alya nodded and admired his leadership. Calanon moved out of the shadow and prone to a tree. He picked up a stone and weighed it. It was bit heavy, so he dropped it and picked another one. "This will do it," he whispered to himself and threw the stone right into the fire.

The goblins were startled when the stone hit the fire. The woods splinted away from their original places.

"Intruders!" yelled one of the goblins. Immediately the other two rushed to the stone. One of the goblins, that saw the stone, pointed at Calanon's hiding position and said, "It came from there, me saw it."

The three goblins removed their blades and walked towards Calanon. Alya slowly got up with the crossbow in her hand. She aimed at the lead goblin and pulled the trigger. The arrow splashed through the ugly creature's brain. The body flipped end over end and landed on an awkward position.

The two others jumped and ran towards Alya. Calanon jumped and landed on the second goblin. When the last free goblin turned around to see Calanon and his captured creature, Alya removed her dagger and sliced his head off.

Calanon punched on the creature's head. It growled loudly. He removed his machete and separated the creature's body in two halves.

"Nice shot," praised Calanon

"Thank you," Alya blushed. It was good to hear him praise her.

"Now we need to find the Tree that water," he said as he cleaned his machete.

Alya pulled out her map and studied it under the fire light.

"There is a small river diverges away from the Isen river and enters the forest before it ends up in the ocean. Maybe the tree is at the diverging position. That's why it's called as 'Tree that waters the forest.' Maybe this small river passes through this tree," she said

Calanon whistled slowly and smiled at her, "You are a genius." Alya blushed even more.

Both of them followed the small river to its source, towards the Isen River. Thewater traveled northeast, away from the forest and its bit far from here.

An arrow pierced through the goblin's chest. It howled in pain. His cry alerted his partners, who were lurking in the shadow.

Cofniben Durion jumped into their mist with his sword drawn and split opened every orc's gut. Teela shot down three orcs from a treetop.

Both have reached the Tree. It was huge. Its root entered the land like veins. Its main branch arched down from one end of the river to the other. Which looked liked a natural bridge. The river itself was small, only few feet wide and flowed under the arch shaped branch. The shore was shallow. The water was black due to the darkness. The Isen River ran north to their position. The huge river was unnaturally silent, which unnerved Durion a bit. The darkness above them filled the forest like a dark blanket.

Durion and Teela were standing on thewrong side of the river. Because the tree itself was on the other side. However, its branch was rooted on this side.

"We need to climb and pass through that branch," shouted Durion as he slit couple of orcs's throat.

"This area is full of orcs, same goes to the other side. We need to clean up, so that none will be sticking to our tail," shouted back Teela from the treetop. She was shooting the creatures with a precise accuracy even on the semi darkness.

Each shore had fifteen foot towers, filled with orcs and goblins. There were some tents around the trees, with a fire burning on the torches. The whole place was barely lit, but good enough for Durion to see the moving object. Creatures poured out of the tents and the towers. Some crossed the river through tree branch and joined the attack.

"Are they stationed here to protect the stone? Do they work for Turwaition?" Durionwondered tohimself.

The fight was hard and inevitable. Teela was running out of arrows. She used her remaining arrows wisely. She took down multiple targets with a single arrow.

Teela saw seven goblins cross the branch in order to attack Durion. She took out her three remaining arrows and fitted them on her bow. She pulled it with all her might and released it. The three arrows flew out of her bow like a shooting star. It hit the bottom of a tower that stood near the branch's root. Just like intended, the tower's leg collapsed as the arrows bombarded it.

It fell on top of the seven orcs, with a crashing noise. Two orcs jumped into the river in order to escape, when the others died under the weight of the collapsing woods.

Durion looked around and saw the hand work of Teela. He smiled at her and went back to his business, killing.

Teela jumped down from the tree and entered the battle with her blade drawn, since she had no use with her bow.

After few minutes of struggles, both of them neutralized the targets. They looked around to check for more enemies. This end and the other end of the river looked clean.

"That's the last of them I believe," said Durion, who was satisfied by his work. Both were tired from this long fight. Durion was the one who suffered a lot. He had two cuts on his left arm and took a blow on his belly.

"You are hurt, let me fix it," said Teela eyeing on his arm

"No, it has to wait. Let's find that stone first," replied Durion. Teela agreed even though she was not convinced.

Both of them cleared the remaining woods that fell on the branch and threw the bodies into the river. They crossed it and stood in front of the huge Tree that was looking down upon them evilly.

THUMP

A sound vibrated below the couple's feet. Both looked behind. The trees were silent as the breeze flew through them. The darkness was undisturbed. There was no sign ofmovement.

"Its nothing," said Durion turning around

THUMP

"Maybe not," he said, once again turning towards the dark forest, showing his back to the Tree.

The sound was light and distant. Teela eyed the shadows carefully. A fear rose within her for an unknown reason. She grabbed her dagger tightly around her fist.

"Its nothing to worry about Teela, maybe a branch broke and fell down," said Durion as if he read her mind. Once again everything went silent. Teela nodded and turned towards the tree.

Both examined it carefully. Durion walked around it in order to find an opening. However, there was nothing unusual about this tree's trunk.

"Maybe it's on the tree top," suggested Durion, looking up

"The inscription read, look under it," reminded Teela, who was watching the roots closely.

THUMP THUMP

"Ok, that was loud," Durion turned around and removed his sword out. Teela brought the dagger up to her chest and stood near Durion. Teela seemed little scared, which was unusual, thought Durion. He watched her eye; it was darting from one shadow to another.

"Something wrong Teela?" he asked worried. Her unsteadiness made him scared.

"Nothing is wrong…" before she could finish the sentence, a huge Trollbroke through the trees and came towards them. It was twenty feet tall, and five feet broad. It had an ugly face with a stinky breath. It wore a huge trouser and its torso was naked. He carried a heavy club in shape of a cone.

It stood before them and watched. Durion and Teela backed themselves to the tree. Durion's back was pinned to the tree's trunk and Teela's back was pinned to him. He couldn't help it, but smile a little before he panicked.

The troll howled with its face up to the sky. The cry tore through the darkness. It raised its club high above and swung a heavy blow towards the Couple.

"Listen to that!" warned Calanon, raising his hand. Both heard a distant cry. It was rough and menacing.

"Its coming from that direction," pointed Alya. They both hurried towards it. They have been following the river upstream an hour. The trees started to thin and the ground started to get soften.

"I see a light in front of us," Calanon said and both ran towards it, with their weapons at ready. When they entered the clearing, they saw tall towers on either side of the river and large amount of dead bodies on the ground.

Alya tapped Calanon's shoulder and pointed the other end of the river. When he looked up, he saw a huge troll smashing a tree's trunk.