Hetalia – Of Magic and Might
Chapter Eight! Ooh nearly done with Arthur's back story, i will say no more ;)
Enjoy!
The he floating island known as 'The Elder Grove', The centre of The Elder Grove.
"Allistor, admit it. We're lost" Dylan yelled up to Allistor who was perched in the taller branches of an aged fur tree. Allistor looked down from scanning his surroundings down to Dylan and Seamus beneath him, only to notice Arthur was not below with them.
"Oi where be Arthur? He hasn't tottered off has he?" Allistor called down as he climb down to the ground, landing with a soft thud in front his brothers.
"Don't ignore me!" Dylan yelled comically only for Allistor to ignore him once again.
Looking around Allistor spied a globe of blonde hair a little way away from him. Arthur appeared to be engaged in conversation with something though Allistor could not see what. Arthur seemed to end his conversation and sprinted back to his brothers who looked at him in curiosity.
"Allistor, I was just speaking to the Grove's faes. They were asking if you would remove your iron earring, they said they would help guide us out of the Grove is you do" Arthur panted earnestly resulting in Allistor rolling his eyes that his brother's desperate tone.
"Listen Arthur, this is my Forrest and I know it like the back of my hand. I'll be able to led us out by nightfall" Allistor insisted to his younger brother, though behind him he heard Seamus and Dylan snicker.
"Just take the earring out Allistor, are you really going to refuse help with Empire on our tails?" Seamus argued while Dylan nodded in agreement. Allistor saw he was outnumbered and reluctantly removed the earring before throwing it a distance away. Arthur let out a sigh of relief and grinned despite their grim situation. In the corner of his eye he saw the woodland faes and pixies fly towards him and his brothers.
The fairies circled Arthur chattering to him in their musical voices that sounded similar to tiny bells. Arthur laughed as they nuzzled his cheek, his brothers seeing none of this looked in bewilderment. Seamus cleared his throat loudly drawing Arthur's attention to their situation, causing Arthur to re-focus on his task.
Dylan turned away from Arthur and began summoning a ball of light in his palm. He focused his magic to pool in the centre of his palm, imagining it materialising as firefly like particles gathering together. When Seamus was happy with the strength and size he released the ball of light magic and it floated amply above his head.
"The fairies say that the Empire isn't far behind us. They say that they'll lead us, you just need to follow me" Arthur called out to the now illuminated section of Forrest, Allistor, Seamus and Dylan all nodded once now eager to begin moving again.
Leading the charge Arthur followed the faes as they led him through the darkening grove, Dylan's light being the only thing that prevented them from falling on their faces. The Grove was beginning to grow colder as the night due on. The brothers' breaths were starting to become visible in short puffs.
"Did your fae friends tell you how far behind the Empire was to us?" Seamus questioned picking up his pace to match Arthur's, who's eyes were anchored on the faes ahead.
"Nothing specific, they think their weapons contained traces of iron so they couldn't get close" Arthur huffed not taking his eyes off his guides fearing he'll lose sight of them.
"Perfect, just great. Exactly what you'd expect from a much bunch of fickle air headed fairies" Allistor exclaimed sarcastically from the rear.
"Oh I'm sorry Nessie, do you want to lead?," Arthur replied curtly. "Because I'm sure that you can lead us, you've been doing such a great job so far!"
"Who you callin' Nessie ye whiney imp! Always feeling so important because ye inherited 'The Sight'" Allistor shouted outraged, Arthur stopped abruptly and spun around to confront Allistor.
"You think I asked for it?! All my 'gift' has ever brought me is loneliness!" Arthur cried causing Allistor to take a step backwards. Seamus and Dylan paused and looked between Arthur and Allistor in surprise.
"But it didn't stop you from loving all the attention you got, 'prodigy'" Allistor hissed, Arthur looked like he'd been slapped.
"Enough Allistor, we need to stay focused and keep moving. Now" Seamus stepped in putting his hand on Arthur's trembling shoulder who gave a glare at Allistor before turning to look for the woodland faes. To Arthur's dismay they were nowhere in sight, the brothers were lost once again.
"Uh everyone, the faes are gone. I can't see them." Arthur stuttered now looking through the trees panicked.
"What?" Dylan paled, Seamus groaned and face palmed while Allistor alertly looked behind them.
"So now what do we do?" Seamus said throwing his arms in the air only to be hushed by Allistor who had cocked his head listening intently. All brothers dropped into a low crouch and listened silently. Dylan extinguished his light and held his breath as he listened. Arthur strained his ears seeking any mysterious noise while an un-comforting thought occurred to him. Why didn't the faes return to him, he knew that normally they wouldn't leave him alone. The times they ever truly left him was when he wished to be left alone and when there was iron…
Oh god.
"Run!" Arthur cried pulling on his brothers' cloak when an arrow flew skimming the side of his face. The boys leapt to their feet and sprinted away from the flurry of arrows. As Allistor ran he began preparing a fire ball in his hand, he had been an idiot!. Why had he not sensed them sooner? Was it the sorcerers fault?
Ahead of him Seamus pulled several smoke pallets from his pack and looked back to Allistor, who now held a condensed Bonfire in his palm. Mouthing a countdown to back to him, on three Seamus dropped the pallets and grabbed Arthur. Simultaneously Allistor threw his fire ball behind him and grabbed onto Dylan's cloak as they ran through the exploding smoke pallets. Together the boys sprinted away from the confusion that had brought them a little time, further into the Forrest.
The brothers' ran and ran before Arthur stopped and keeled over breathing heavily. Seamus and Dylan to sat down as while to recover their breath. Allistor remained standing to act as look out.
"How much farther?" Arthur said breathlessly resting his head against the bottom of a tree trunk, his eyes were starting to feel dangerously heavy. Seamus reached into his pack and pulled out his water skin before taking a large swig at it. He then tossed it to Dylan who caught it and also took a long drink. Allistor returned to his brothers after scouting around the area and examined his brother' conditions.
They didn't seem to be bad health, they were sweaty and dirty but alive. That much Allistor could be grateful for.
"Right lads, let's get moving" Allistor said half heartedly causing his brothers to groan in exhaustion.
"We have barely sat down Allistor! Look Arthur is nearly asleep" Seamus protested motioning to Arthur who's head was beginning to drop to one side. Dylan reached for a small stone next to him and threw it at Arthur, hitting him on the head.
"Bloody hell! What? what?" Arthur snapped rubbing his head where the stone had hit him.
"Good morning sleeping beauty" Dylan replied grinning a goofy smile. Arthur pretended to be a perfect gentleman but deep down, he had quite the mouth on him.
"I think we're near the edge of the Forrest lads. The air seems less humid in this direction" Allistor remarked holding out his hand to help Arthur up. Arthur grasped Allistor's extended hand and used it to haul himself up. When all the boys stood again they began to slowly jog in the direction Allistor had indicated. The sun was beginning to rise and its first rays reached through to the brothers as the Grove's trees began to thin. Arthur with renewed energy ran to the edge of the Forrest, and gave a cry of victory.
The sight that greeted the rest of the brothers was beautiful, at least it was compared to seeing rows of endless trees. The Grove's edge ran a gentle upwards slope which at the top rested a transportation gate. The gate was formed by two standing stones side by side and another resting on top. Ancient runes were craved all over its surfaces by the First Sorcerers. Unfortunately the secret of teleportation had not been passed by through the generations. The transportation gates was now the only evidence the magic ever existed.
Arthur ran over to the transportation gate and rested his palm against its rough stone surface, causing the gate to hum as its magic was activated. Dylan chuckling grabbed both Seamus' and Allistor's packs off their backs as he jogged over to Arthur. Dumping the packs by the base of the gate he gripped the unsuspecting Arthur beneath his arm and throughly tousled Arthur's already messy hair. Arthur squealing attempted to escape his brother's arm lock to no avail, much to the amusement of Seamus and Allistor watching.
"Quite the trip," Seamus smiled grazing upon the waking transportation gate "This will take us to the Capital aye?"
"That's the plan laddie" Allistor replied walking a small distance away from Seamus and the Elder Grove so to feel the pleasant breeze on his face. They had made it, once in the Capital they could employ someone help to smuggle them out. They'd have to lay low for awhile and hide. Allistor looked to Arthur, he hadn't forgotten their argument in the Grove. He'd would apologise when they were off the island.
"Ready to go Seamus?" Allistor said aloud to Seamus who opened his mouth to answer
Thud.
"Seamus?" Allistor slowly turned around to see Seamus perfectly still, with an arrow sprouting out of his dripping red throat.
First. Ever. Cliff hanger! I'm so sorry :') thank you for the continued reviews, they are really helpful. If you are enjoying this story please spare a moment to leave a review and follow this story :) Next time we'll be finishing Arthur's backstory (mwhahaha! :))
Until then!