Forest of Kings

by Jack Knight

  The problem was, they had no idea if it had worked. Every time they stopped, Sarin would go looking for information on the darkness, or dragons, or anything that would indicate that the darkness was taking action again. And, every time, she would come back saying she could find no news about any of it.

  Xion was sure that Draxis had accomplished his goal, but there was no evidence to support it. He absently scratched at his forearms, thinking about what Draxis and the other dragons could possibly be up to.

  Hours passed, and the sun steadily made its way across the sky. Xion hoped that they would stop to eat at some point, but they kept walking. Sarin told them each to eat from their packs as they walked, pushing on as hard as possible to reach Aromir before dusk.

  They all dug out elf bread from their packs. It was a small roll, about the size of a fist. Dark brown, and hard, like it had been burnt while baking. It was flat on one side, but otherwise perfectly round.

  Xion remembered the first time he had tried it as he bit into the one that he currently had. It had been soft, flaky and surprisingly sweet. He had been surprised by how much he could like a roll of bread. Now, after weeks of eating little else, he could barely stand it. Sarin insisted they eat it as often as possible. It could not mold, and it was baked with magic, so it could, in theory, sustain someone indefinitely. If they could tolerate eating the same thing over and over again.

  Xion braced himself and begrudgingly bit into the bread. It was still soft, flaky, and sweet, just like every other time, but he could not enjoy it. He was tired of it. He wanted meat, or absolutely anything else besides bread.

  “If you hadn’t blown up the chimera, we could’ve eaten it,” Warren joked, throwing a small piece of his own bread at Xion. Xion knew that Warren felt the same way about the bread as he did. It had not occurred to him before, but Xion was desperate enough that he may have actually eaten the chimera.

  “I am not eating meat,” Ava insisted immediately.

  Warren groaned. “I didn’t say you had to eat it.”

  Elves did not eat meat. Xion had never understood that, and he did not care to ask. Xion was half elf, but he had grown up in a village of humans. He had only met an elf for the first time a few months before. He assumed that it was something about how elves were raised that made them not want to eat meat, because he did not have the slightest problem with it.

  “Why don’t you two like the bread?” Sapphire asked, curiously.

  “It’s boring,” Warren complained. “Sarin should have packed a banquet in her super backpack.”

  “It would have gone bad,” Sarin replied. Her tone implied that Warren should have known that already.

  “I just don’t like eating the same thing three times a day,” Xion told Sapphire. “How does it not bother you?”

  Sapphire smiled at Xion. “Sometimes I like the same thing being there all the time. If you like it, why would you want it to go away?”

  Ava sped up, putting distance between herself and the others, until she was several yards ahead of the rest of them.

  Xion watched her stalk away, with a distinct feeling that he had just missed something important.

  Chapter 2: Remembered

  The sun was less than an hour away from dipping below the horizon when they arrived at Aromir’s walls. Every village they had passed by had been open, with roads leading directly into them. The only city Xion had ever seen with walls before had been Aur’in. Xion realized as they approached the ten foot high metals doors that barred the city from the wilderness, that this city was definitely a lot larger than any they had passed through since leaving Aur’in. If they were avoiding cities, this one was definitely a bad idea, it had to have hundred more people than any village they had visited. What about Aromir made Sarin believe it was worth the risk?

  The guards standing outside the doors stood at attention once Xion and the others got close. They both held spears taller than they were, and swords swung at their hips. They wore steel armor, covered from head to toe in polished, shining metal. They wore helmets that revealed their faces, both had black hair hanging down from under the metal, and dark brown eyes, like Warren’s. A red sigil was painted on the chestplate of both men, a lion with a horizontal spear above it.

  Xion could tell they were both human. Xion was taller than most elves, but stood nearly a head shorter than any male human. Both of the guards at the gate were so tall that Xion could not have seen over their shoulders without standing on tiptoe.

  “Halt,” one of the guards said, as Xion as the others reached the giant doors.

  “Wow, they actually say ‘halt’, I thought that only happened in stories,” Warren laughed, not bothering to keep his voice down. Ava elbowed him in the stomach to make him stop talking.

  The guard that had spoken glared at Warren for a few seconds before his eyes traveled to Sarin, who was closest to him, and he asked, “What is your purpose in Aromir?”

  “Travelers looking for a place to rest,” Sarin answered simply. Her gaze met the guard’s like a challenge. Xion had grown so used to being around Sarin he had completely forgotten how intimidating she could be.

  “Why would travelers be approaching Aromir from the south?” the other guard asked. His voice was deeper than the first, and rattled like breathing was difficult for him.

  Xion knew the kingdoms were at war. No fighting had broken out yet, as far as he was aware. Still, he should have expected difficulty entering a city so close to the border of two other kingdoms.

  “Travelers can, by their very nature, approach any city from any direction,” Sarin answered.

  Xion felt Sapphire grip his arm. It took a tremendous amount of effort to keep a smile off of his face. He had never heard Sarin be so condescending before, and he was sure that they were going to be barred from the city because of it.

  “Listen here, elf…” the first guard scowled.

  Before he could get any more out, Warren stepped forward. “Guys, guys,” he said airily, “no need to make this a big deal. Listen, this elf has only let me eat bread for like a month.”

  Warren flung an arm around one of the guard’s shoulders. The guard glared at him as if he was deciding if it was worth the trouble of killing him on the spot, but Warren kept talking.

  “Do you know what it’s like to go so long without eating meat? I’m wasting away here.” Warren patted the guard’s stomach, the hollow sound of the knocking on metal armor rang out. “Surely, you men wouldn’t leave a poor kid to waste away on nothing but bread, right? We can’t let the elves win!”

  “Get your arm off of me, or I’ll be sending you away without it,” the guard growled.

  Warren took a few steps back, and Warren held up his hands. “Hey, that’s cool. But, how about this.” Warren reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin purse that Xion was certain he had never seen before. He dug into the coin purse and pulled out several small gold coins, as big around as walnuts. “I give you this entire bag, and you guys let us in.”

  “Where did he get that?” Sapphire whispered in Xion’s ear. Xion could only shrug, not wanting to draw any attention to himself.

  The guards looked at each other. “Do you care?” the second one asked.

  The first guard grunted and held out his hand. “Fine.”

  Warren tossed the bag at the guard and saluted. “Pleasure doing business with you.” Without waiting for a response, Warren walked forward and pushed on one of the doors to the city. It slowly groaned open enough for Warren to slip inside.

  Xion could not believe how lucky they were. He followed behind Warren, with Sapphire still clutching his arm, and Ava and Sarin walked in just behind them. Seconds after they were inside, the door groaned again. One of the guards must have pulled it shut from the other side.

  Xion quickly took in the city that they had just entered. After weeks in the plains, and the occasional village, Aromir seemed too amazing to be believed.

  Most of the buildings were made of wood. Low hut
s and small shops all crowded together, taller buildings farther inside the city, all made from the same dark brown wood. The smell of dirt, and sweat was powerful, but it was mixed with the mouthwatering scent of fresh baked bread being sold nearby. The sound of people walking around, calling out to each other, carts rolling down the road, and the braying of the odd donkey was a beautiful cacophony after the silence outside. It reminded Xion of Fairen, except for the number of people.

  Fairen was home to maybe two hundred people. Aromir held that many people just around the front gate. There were people milling about the stone streets, children playing on the porches of their wooden huts, travelers covered in dirt and sweat walking through the city with tired gaits. Xion noted immediately that every single one of them was a human. All tall, with black hair, brown eyes, and dark skin that made Xion and his friends, except for Warren, look as though they had never seen sunlight in their lives.

  “Where did you get that gold?” Sarin demanded of Warren, as they started down the road.

  Warren gave a mischievous grin. “Minor illusion spell, I took the gold from the guard and then gave it right back to him.”

  “Warren!” Sapphire whispered, appalled. “You can’t steal from people!”

  Again, Warren put no effort into lowering his voice. “It’s not stealing if you give it back,” he argued.

  Xion found the trick amusing, but he dared not say so with Sarin and Sapphire within earshot. He would have to remember to tell Warren when they were alone.

  “I approve,” Ava said, her tone hinted that even she was surprised at what she was saying. “That’s pretty quick thinking, for you.”

  Warren raised his arms and put his hands behind his head as he walked. “Yeah, I am great, aren’t I?”

  “As long as they don’t figure out what you did and come looking for you,” Ava added coldly.

  Warren dropped his arms and looked at Ava with wide eyes. “You don’t think they’ll be able to find me, do you?”

  “Warren, you’re with the only elves in this entire city. If they want to find you, they will.”

  “How about we leave as soon as possible,” Warren suggested, his voice laden with fear. This time, Xion could not help himself, he laughed out loud.

  “Don’t worry,” Xion chuckled, “we’ve never stayed anywhere for more than a few hours. We’ll be gone before they notice.”

  “We will not,” Sarin interjected.

  Xion looked at her in surprise. “Really? Why not?”

  “We stay here for the night. It will give me more time to ask around,” Sarin answered.

  “Yeah, I vote no,” Warren said. He sounded uncertain, Xion knew it was probably because none of them wanted to argue with Sarin.

  “‘Vote’?” Sarin asked. She turned to look at Warren with her arms crossed over her chest.

  Warren sounded even more unsure, like he really did not want to continue speaking, when he answered, “Yeah? Ya know, vote.”

  Sarin turned her head to look at Xion. “What do you decide?” she asked.

  Xion did not understand what she meant. “Um, you mean my vote?” he asked.

  “No, this is your quest. What is your decision?”

  “Yeah, Xion, you don’t want me to get beaten up again, right?” Warren pleaded.

  Xion looked around at all of them. “We’re all here, why is it my decision?” he asked, not liking the responsibility.

  “You’re the chosen one,” Sapphire answered in a whisper.

  Xion had to fight the urge to groan. There it was again, “the chosen one.” A prophecy was made thousands of years ago, and because it possibly fit him, everyone called him the chosen one. Xion had never heard the prophecy, just several allusions to it. The only part that seemed to directly apply to him was that the chosen one would be “halfborn three times.” Some weird way of saying that he would have the blood of three races at once.

  While he understood that mixing races did not happen very often—he was one of the two or three half elves in existence, as far as anyone knew—it didn't necessarily mean that he was the one in the prophecy. For all anyone knew, the chosen one would not be born for another thousand years. All they had to go on was that his blood had some amount of something besides fey magic in it, as he had found out when they were testing him to see if he was a sorcerer. Xion did not think that was very definitive.

  “First,” Xion argued, “we don’t even know if that’s true. Second, that doesn’t put me in charge.”

  “Does Draxis believe it to be true?” Sarin asked.

  Xion shrugged miserably. When he had confronted Draxis, it had seemed that the dragon agreed that Xion was in fact the one the prophecy spoke of. Nobody considered that Draxis could be wrong.

  “And, are you going to try to defeat the darkness no matter what?” Sapphire pushed.

  Xion sighed. “Yes, but…”

  “Then, it doesn’t matter if you are or not, the point is, you are the one that stands the best chance of killing that jerk. You’re in charge,” Ava said with finality.

  Xion did not like that they were ganging up on him. Especially since he knew they were right. Xion could not stop fighting Draxis. He was the reason everyone from every kingdom lived in fear, of an ever present darkness that threatened all the goodness in the world. The Darkness was the name that had been given to Draxis and his influence. Xion had last seen him when he and several others had fought to keep him from getting to a powerful magical item. They had failed, and he had resurrected all the dragons that had been wiped out thousands of years before. Many people had died in the fight. Worst of all, Draxis had admitted to killing Xion’s mother. He could not let the dragon continue to terrorize Ustama, he had to be stopped once and for all.

  Xion knew that there was no point in arguing. He gave a frustrated sigh and then said, “Well, we’re here. I want to eat something besides bread, and Sarin wouldn’t have brought us into a city if it wasn’t important, so I guess we should stay the night and leave first thing in the morning.”

  Sarin nodded her approval and then held out her hand to Sapphire. Sapphire reached out, confused, and Sarin dropped a small coin purse into her hand.

  “Wow!” Sapphire gasped in surprise. “Why are you giving this to me?”

  “I trust you not to be irresponsible,” Sarin glanced at Warren and Ava. “There is enough there for food, and two rooms at an inn. I expect change when I return.”

  “Wait, you’re just leaving us?” Xion asked. They were in a city that none of them had ever been to before, in a kingdom Xion did not know. It felt a lot safer being around Sarin.

  “Most of you are adults. Keep Warren out of trouble,” Sarin answered before turning away from them, and quickly disappearing into a sea of people.

  Xion’s shoulders slumped. He had grown up thinking that he would become a man at sixteen, like everyone else had. When he had met Sarin and the others, they had told him that half elves came of age at twenty years old. He had been seventeen for over four months, which meant that after a year of thinking that he was an adult, he was informed that he was still technically a child.

  Agitated, his forearms started to itch. They had been doing that for weeks, no matter how much he scratched them, the incessant itching continued. He tried to ignore the sensation as best he could, as he suggested, “Well, let’s go find an inn.”

  “You mean a tavern,” Warren nudged Xion’s shoulder with his elbow. “Come on, let’s go have fun.”

  “Warren,” Sapphire whined, “Sarin just said to use it for food and rooms.”

  “Taverns have food,” Warren pointed out. Ava promptly slapped him in the back of the head.

  “You’re an idiot. We’re getting rooms, so that I don’t have to deal with you, for a while.”

  “Ya know, you could be nicer,” Warren told her, rubbing the back of his head.

  “We haven’t eaten in a while,” Xion pointed out. “Why don’t we find a tavern and get some food, and we can sit down for a w
hile. Then, go to an inn right after,” he suggested.

  “That sounds like a good plan,” Sapphire smiled at Xion.

  Ava looked away, but did not argue.

  Xion had noticed that Ava did not like it when Sapphire agreed with him about anything. He could not figure out why, but he did not like Ava being upset. At least, not any more than she usually was.

  They made their way, carefully pushing through the crowd, down the street. Bakeries, smithies, general stores, fabric shops, stables, and dozens of other businesses lined the streets. Each one of the wooden buildings had a sign attached to the roof that jutted out over the street. The signs had pictures showing what the shop was, once again reminding him of Fairen.

  Xion could not help but feel nostalgia for the village where he had grown up. When he had left, he did his best not to think about it. Everyone there had treated him like an outcast, because they had thought that he was an elf. The fact that they were half right did not make it any more understandable.

  Xion had grown used to the mistreatment, and had not let it bother him for a long time. The worst part was his friend, Jorham. Jorham had been killed in a bandit raid the night before Sarin and a few others from Aur’in had recruited him to join them. When Xion saw the sign for the butcher’s shop hanging above the street, looking identical to the one that had hung above Jorham’s, he felt his eyes begin to sting, and his heart clenched, like it was stuck in a vice.

  He blinked rapidly, and kept his eyes straight ahead until he had regained control of himself. He got the feeling that Sapphire had noticed something, because of the way that she was looking at him. He pretended not to notice. He had never told Sapphire or Warren about Jorham, he did not think that he had the strength to say anything out loud. Ava and Sarin already knew, of course, because they had been right next to him when Jorham died. Though, Xion doubted that either one of them would remember him.

  It took them almost half an hour to reach the tavern, despite its relatively close proximity to the city entrance. Pushing through the crowd and staying together was much more difficult than Xion would have imagined. Luckily, Ava seemed to be particularly comfortable in crowds, moving through them without even touching anyone. The other three followed her lead.