Evan POV
Oz seemed shaken. What was on that note? Tiana ran to her father, but he motioned her to go back to her spot beside me. She did as she was told, but seemed reluctant.
I raised my eyebrow as Oz said, "Well, we'll have to hold off on passing judgement. Tiana, you will lead a quest!" Tiana stiffened beside me, I could feel her staring at her father with puzzlement, but he continued, "You will take Evan, Trevor, Julian, and Eva with you. I want you all to go to your rooms and pack, dismissed."
Before anyone could move Tiana turned and walked out of the room. I didn't trust Julian so I went after her, someone had to protect her. She relaxed as we got closer to her chambers.
"Tiana, what does Oz mean by quest?" I asked after a few moments of silence. We went down the hallway that led to the royal family's quarters.
She shrugged, her white hair was bouncing on her shoulders, "Only he knows what he means. I'll talk to him about it later."
We went the rest of the way in silence, when we reached her chambers she pulled out a key and unlocked the doors to her room. She told me she would meet me outside of the castle with the others and I left. As I walked to my room, I felt a longing to talk to her more, but I ignored the feeling and entered my room.
I packed some necessary supplies: a pocket knife, a lighter my father gave me for my last birthday, a compass, some extra clothes, and an empty water bottle. I slung the backpack across my shoulders and walked out to the courtyard of the castle.
Tiana POV
I walked down to the throne room, my father sat on the throne completely alone. I felt rude to intrude on his thoughts, but I needed to know what the quest was for.
"Father, where are we going and what are we after?" I asked leaning against a wall. I'd seen Troy, Evan's father, take this pose many times while I was his guest.
Father looked up to see me in riding clothes and boots, a knapsack on my belt, with my white hair up in a ponytail, "As far as I know, you're to travel to where you grew up and follow a series of notes from there."
I felt goosebumps rise on my arms and the back of my neck, "Back to the Dark Forest." Father nodded and I found it hard to breath. Every fiber in my being didn't want to go back to that sunless place. I looked away as he tried to comfort me with words.
"It doesn't matter, if I need to lead a quest I'll lead it where ever it takes me," I said stiffly. He nodded and rose, he kissed me on the forehead. That was as much of a blessing as I was ever going to get. I gave him a quick hug and left, I had to get the quest on the move.
As I exited the castle, I saw them all there. Eva was still wearing a white dress that didn't really suit her, everyone was still wearing the clothes they wore to the meeting that happened a half hour ago. I nodded to them and lead the way to the stables.
Five horses waited outside, two white, two brown and one black. I guided Julian and Trevor to the browns, Eva to the black and Evan and I got the whites. We started out at a walk, nobody paid attention to us as we rode through the maze of streets in the Emerald City.
When we were outside of the gates, we continued with the walk along the yellow brick road. Evan pulled up next to me, "Where are we going?"
"The place I grew up, the Dark Forest," I replied. Shivers went down my spine and I imagined the dark, joyless place.
Eva laughed, "Of course we would have to go there. The sorceress just wants us to die!"
I halted my horse and the others halted their's. My saddle swayed as I twisted to face Eva, "I don't want to go back there, but that is what the quest calls for, so we will." She scowled at me as I turned around and started the horses in a trot.
The saddle felt so natural to me that I pulled my horse off to the side of the road and leaned forward. I could feel the horse quiver in anticipation, when I gently nudged her, she took off like the wind. The breeze sucked away the laughter as we ran across the grassland to the turn the yellow brick road would take that lead to the dark forest.
It was ridiculous how close I was to my father while growing up and I hadn't realized it. When the mare and I got close to the turn, I slowed her to a gallop, then a trot, and finally to a walk. The brick road was where we stopped and waited for the others.
They came to the three roadways, the signs were so old that it was hard to tell which way was which. I whistled to them and motioned for them over to the left fork. Eva glowered at me and Evan seemed relieved.
His horse trotted up to mine and he asked, "What was that about?"
"I've never ridden a horse and I felt so natural in the saddle that it was impossible to resist a run," I laughed. Evan shook his head as the others joined us.
"This isn't the way to the Dark Forest," Eva said with a sneer. I looked along the path and saw the road pale ahead. I sighed and ignored her, my horse seemed irritated that we could be walking again and weren't. A chuckle escaped and I nudged her along the paling yellow road.
Julian POV
I hadn't felt to worried when Tiana had run off, but when Eva'd said that this wasn't the way, I was nervous. I fidgeted in the saddle as we continued. It had been after noon when we left and night was falling quickly.
Tiana pulled us off to the side of the road, "We'll camp here." At first I was confused about where we were going to sleep when she dismounted and pulled off a roll of fabric from her saddle. She led her horse over to a tree and tied the reins around a thick branch.
We followed her example and started to pitch a couple of tents. I looked at Trevor, "Go find some firewood."
"NO!" Tiana almost screamed the word. We looked at her as she said, "We're too close the Dark Forest. Something or someone will spot the fire and will come. I'd rather like to avoid that." She rolled out a bedroll into her tent, but didn't enter it.
"Get some sleep, I'll take first watch," she said leaning against a tree.
I was startled, "What about dinner?" She looked at me with a glare that said that was out of the question. I crawled into my tent and curled up on the bedroll. Sleep came quickly.
Tiana POV
There wasn't a single noise as I took my watch. Around midnight I went to wake up Evan when I heard the snap of a branch. I turned quietly and peered into the darkness. A figure loomed near the horses.
Without thinking I sent a large chunk of rock at it and heard a satisfying grunt. I ran to the form and found the rock on a man's chest. A dagger was in my hand and up to the man's throat. His hands were raised in a gesture of peace.
I pushed the rock off and replaced it with my knee, "Who are you? And don't lie otherwise I'll kill you."
"The name's Sam, now if you'll get off me I'll tell you more," the man said.
I raised an eyebrow, "If you haven't noticed, I have the upper hand. Now tell me what you're doing here."
He sighed, "I received a note that told me to find a group led by a sorceress that was following the yellow brick road." I held back a gasp by biting my lip, I couldn't tell if he was lying or not, but I don't think he'd lie at knife point. And how could he know about my group.
"I'll let you get up, but don't make me regret my decision," I said in a low voice as I pulled the knife from his throat and stood. The knife was put back in its sheath as I walked back to the tents. Sam followed.
"You must be the sorceress," Sam inquired.
I looked at him startled, "How would you know that?" Then I silently cursed myself for giving my group away.
He didn't seem fazed, "Only a sorceress would've been able to see me in the darkness while I was using a spell." I straightened and stared at him, but he was silent and breathing softly. Was he sleeping? I fell into a light sleep that would have me awake at the slightest of sounds.
Luckily that never happened. When I woke at the break of day, Sam was by a tent nearby, sound asleep. I shook my head as I got a good look at him. He had black hair and was dressed in white robes of a spellcaster or healer.
I started a small fire in the middle of the circle of tents and started to fry some dried meat that had been packed for us. Evan poked his head out of his tent at the same moment Sam woke. I silently cast a spell on him so he couldn't say anything above a whisper.
He didn't notice Sam and instead whispered to me, "Why didn't you wake me?" I shrugged and motioned for him to keep silent. "Did anyone find us?"
I nodded and pointed at last night's intruder, "That's Sam. He was apparently told to find us."
Evan raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask. He instead got out and went about waking everyone up, I cut off the spell as he began. They came out of their tents looking hungry. Sam raised an eyebrow as I passed out pieces of meat to everyone.
No one seemed to notice him until I introduced them, I saw a look in Eva's eyes and I glared at her. She ignored me and flirted with Sam. He seemed flustered, but grateful when I told everyone to break camp. We pitched the tents, rolled the bedrolls, and put them on the rested horses.
"Do you have a horse, Sam?" I asked remembering a spell in case he didn't. He nodded and ran into a bush to the left, he returned leading a gray stallion he called Shadow.
We mounted and continued on the road, Sam pulled up next to me, "Where are we going?"
"That's none of your business," Evan snapped.
I looked at him in shock, "Evan, Sam was told to look for us by the same person who sent us on this quest, it's only polite to tell him." I turned to Sam, "We're going to a place I grew up in." Evan seemed satisfied by my vague answer as we continued.
Everything was silent, even as we entered the Dark Forest. My horse began to become nervous along with the others. I could feel everyone becoming fearful as we journeyed.
Evan POV
I couldn't believe Tiana trusted Sam, but she took the lead as our group of five became six. The yellow brick road became paler and plants grew across it. Everything seemed dead like a swamp, but with the stangant, foul-smelling air I figured it was.
Tiana stopped and we all followed her example. She looked around, "Something's not right." A branch snapped nearby and fell, a black feather was attached to it. "Run!" Tiana shouted to us. Her horse began to speed in fear and ours fell into step.
I looked back as a wierd sound came drifting to us, a bunch of flying monkies were hot on our trail. They didn't seem to be as nice as Finley so I didn't bother to try to talk to them.
Our horses sped across the pale yellow brick road and followed every twist and turn. They jumped over plants and other vegetation while we tried to duck the branches. My heart pounded in my chest as I heard the monkies get closer.
"Follow me," Tiana yelled back to us. She pulled her horse to the right and we dutifully followed. In the distance a crumbling stronghold appeared. Our horses sped as they sensed a place of sanctuary approaching. I leaned into my horse and felt the exhilaration that Tiana had felt yesterday.
Nothing mattered to me anymore except my horse. I could feel its mane tickling my ear as we ran through the stronghold's gates. Tiana wheeled her horse around and pulled on the reins. I stopped my horse and looked back, the monkies wouldn't follow us to the stronghold and instead flew away in fear.
Laughter escaped my lips as I felt safe for the first time since we entered the Dark Forest. Tiana clapped a hand over my mouth and I stared at her.
"We don't know if this place is inhabited or not. I'd rather not find out the hard way," Tiana said loud enough for the others but quiet enough that my laughters were the only things that echoed. She uncovered my mouth and stared at the ruins.
"Where are we?" Sam asked.
Tiana dismounted and began walking toward a pair of wooden doors that hung open, "My old home." Her voice came out in a barely audible whisper. We dismounted and followed her. The place was huge, but strangely quiet.
"Where is everyone?" Julian voiced my thoughts. Tiana shrugged and followed a set of stairs. They went around like a clock and we followed them for what seemed like hours. Sam followed closely behind Tiana, catching her everytime a step crumbled beneath her feet.
I didn't trust him and my blood boiled everytime Tiana whispered a thank you. My mind seemed fogged and I couldn't understand why. I tried to ignore the two, but everytime I did everything seemed dull in comparison.
Tiana noticed that I'd shook my head to clear it of hitting Sam in the face, "You okay, Evan?" I nodded and we continued up the stairs. Tiana seemed troubled by the state of the stairs, but she didn't voice anything.
Eventually, we came into a circular room that had a bed and a dresser. A note sat on the bed that Tiana went to immediatly. She read it quickly and tucked it into a pocket in her riding pants and pulled a box out from under the bed.
The first book she grabbed from the box was a black leather bound book, there was golden writing on it that I didn't get to read as she grabbed a couple more. Tiana then held onto a red book, she seemed puzzled by it, but stood up with her stack.
"Let's go, we got what we came for," she whispered. Then a roar came from somewhere in the stronghold. I heard Tiana curse silently before putting the stack into her bag.
"What was that?" I didn't care if I'd whispered or not, my voice came out too small to be of much notice.
"Hevelm," Sam said quietly.