Please note. I own none of this work and am just writing for fun. The characters belong to some lady that lives in another country. I am uncharacteristically publishing this as I go, rather than what I've done in my other stories - write a bunch and then publish it. I have a little bit of a plan but not much.
Get out of the forest.
They walked for what seemed like hours. Jack's digital watch must have broken during the crash and their mobile phones did nothing, just dark screens.
"What do you think that is?" Sam asked as they heard the footsteps stop in the darkness behind them again. She swung the torch, and other than seeing eyes of squirrels or bats reflecting the light at the edge of the beam, they saw no sign of life. The sound was like a rider on horseback, but Sam heard no bridles or horse sounds, just the clop, clop, clop of the hooves that stopped exactly when they did.
"I don't know," Jack said. "Someone if following us and I get the sense that they don't want us in their forest."
"Correct" came a booming voice in the darkness. "You are not welcome here."
"Dad?" Sam said. She didn't like this forest, but she was a pragmatist. She knew that there was nothing here that could really hurt her, but a person? That could be trouble. She tried not to think about some scary farmer that thought they were trespassing.
"We don't mean you any trouble," Jack said. "Our plane crashed and we are just trying to find help."
"The stars foretold your arrival, Muggle," the voice said. "I am here to provide safe passage as you leave. It is not much further."
"Further to what?" Sam asked into the darkness.
"To your kind," the voice said as he stepped closer.
Sam swung the light in the direction of the movement and before it went dark she was sure she saw a shirtless man on horseback making a strange motion with his hand. Maybe.
"Continue on," the voice said.
"But my light's out," Sam said. "It's too dark."
"Look again," the voice said and if by magic a small flickering light appeared ahead.
Like a Will o' the Wisp Sam thought. It was floating above the ground a few meters in front of them, providing just enough light to see by. Not enough to see the man walking with them, but enough to know he was still there.
When they reached the edge of the forest, Sam couldn't believe her eyes. In front of them was a giant castle. Giant. The architecture was nothing like she had ever seen before. Most castles in Scotland were small, or ruins, and even the ones back in London were dwarfed by this monstrosity. The towers were oddly placed and there was a lack of symmetry that she would have expected by an architect making a castle or church in the 1500s. It looked really unstable but also like it had stood the test of time, and the craziest thing of all was that she heard music.