Forest of Kings

by Jack Knight

  “Warren, you up for a fight?” Ava called.

  “I would really rather not,” Warren said, pleading. He never wanted to fight, Ava should have known she would not get an enthusiastic response.

  “Nobody cares what you want,” Ava replied quickly.

  “That’s not friendship,” Warren said, sounding offended.

  “Sapphire?” Ava asked.

  “Ready,” Sapphire nodded.

  Everyone stopped walking. Xion and his friends turned so that they were facing the six people in armor. Their captors all stopped and drew their weapons, each one of them held a one handed sword in one hand, and a dagger identical to Ava’s in the other.

  “Avalon,” the woman guard spoke, “you know there is no point in fighting us.”

  “Warren, what’s the most useful spell to know in a fight?” Ava asked cryptically.

  “Thank the gods,” Warren sighed back.

  “Xion, remember you have armor,” Ava told him.

  Xion understood immediately. Ava was giving them instructions. If the scales under his skin really did act like armor, he might be able to block a sword, at least a little bit. He only had it on his hands and arms, but if he could get the guards to attack him, that would be enough to remove the bonds on his wrists. He had no idea what Warren thought the best spell to use in a fight was, but he had to assume the command was just as useful as the one he received.

  “Sapphire, Sarin’s favorite spell,” Ava commanded.

  Sapphire hesitated. “I can’t do…”

  “Not that exact one, but you know what to do?” Ava interrupted.

  “Y-yes,” Sapphire stuttered. Sarin’s favorite spell was to summon a celestial lion, a giant, glowing lion from another dimension that was almost as dangerous as a dragon. Xion knew Sapphire could not summon anything that powerful, but to summon anything at all would be a tremendous benefit.

  “What about me?” Laira squeaked out, her voice high and filled with terror.

  “Don’t die. Go!”

  At Ava’s shout, all the guards ran forward to attack. Xion waited until the woman that ran at him swiped her sword downward and spun on the spot. He gasped as the blade hit his wrist. He had hoped he could aim his hands so the blade would pass between them, but it was difficult to aim for something that you deliberately placed behind yourself.

  Luckily, as the pain erupted in his hand, he felt the bonds break. He spun again and saw the woman stab at him with her dagger. The fire inside Xion burst to life, and he thrust his hand out toward the woman. She was lifted off her feet and flew backwards into a tree. The magic was not strong, but Xion could feel the energy drain from him. He would have to pace himself if he wanted to make it passed all the guards without passing out.

  Xion turned to see the fight behind him had erupted quickly. Ava had already gotten out of her bonds, disarmed two of the guards, and stabbed another in the side. She was fighting the two unarmed figures hand to hand, keeping them both busy at the same time. A wolf that had not been there moments before had knocked another guard to the ground, and was on top of it, snapping viciously at the person’s face. The guard had a hand out, keep the wolf just far enough away that its teeth just barely missed the piece of cloth across the person’s helmet. The last guard lay unconscious on the ground, Xion did not know what had happened, but Laira had sat down next to the figure’s limp body and was sawing at the binds on her wrists with the guard’s dagger.

  Before Xion could do anything else, something passed over him, like a wave of energy. Instantly, all the guards started moving in slow motion, like they were fighting through a pool of syrup. The wolf, too, snapped its jaws closed like it was fighting some kind of resistance.

  Ava quickly punched each of her combatants in the face, grabbed both their heads, and slammed them together. She dove to the ground and grabbed a dagger, Xion could not tell if it was her own, or one dropped by their captors, and hacked the ropes off of Warren’s wrists, and then Sapphire’s.

  Laira finished cutting her own bonds and stood up, looking around in confusion. “What’s going on?”

  The words reached Xion like he was hearing them underwater, distorted and lower than he expected them.

  “Kordonian’s Haste,” Warren said, his voice was distorted in the same way as Laira’s.

  Xion remembered that spell. He had complained about having to learn it when they were preparing to break into the council building in Aur’in. He had never actually used it, because he thought it would be pointless to run faster. He obviously had no idea it could be so useful.

  “Talk later, run now,” Ava commanded, and she took off at full speed, running perpendicular to the way their captors had been leading them.

  Everyone followed after her as quickly as they could. Without anyone else around them, Xion could not tell if the spell was still in effect. They all looked like they were moving at normal speed to him, but if they were all under the spell’s influence at the same time, Xion assumed that meant that there could be no difference in speed.

  “Why didn’t you do this in the first place?” Laira asked, after they had been running for a few minutes. Her voice started out distorted like it had been before they started running, but by the time she finished, it had returned to its normal sound.

  As if in answer to her question, Warren stopped running and leaned against a tree. He was covered in sweat and panting like he had been running for miles. Xion raced over to him, threw Warren’s arm over his shoulders, and continued on as quickly as he could. The strain of casting a spell like that on so many people at once could not have been easy, Xion was surprised he had kept it up as long as he had.

  “What’s our plan?” Sapphire asked. She had slowed down to keep pace with Warren and Xion.

  “Ugh,” Ava groaned. She stopped running and waited for the others to catch up, Laira stopped beside her as she shouted, “you couldn’t even do this one thing!”

  “That’s not friendship,” Warren gasped. “You try it, it’s pretty hard.”

  “No time for fighting,” Xion insisted. “Where are we headed?”

  “Evergreen, obviously,” Ava growled as she tapped her foot, waiting for them to catch up.

  “Oh, right,” Warren said between breaths. “Wow, this has been a long day.”

  Sapphire looked to the sky. Xion knew she was trying to tell what time it was. Sunlight still made its way down from the tops of the trees, but the ceiling of leaves above them was so thick there was no way to tell which direction the sun was in. It could have been minutes since they walked into the forest, or nearly sundown.

  “Yeah, well, just wait until we get there,” Ava scowled.

  “We need to hope they don’t catch us again, or we’ll never get there,” Xion pointed out. They were not moving as quickly as Xion would have liked, having to carry Warren was slowing him down, and everyone else was keeping pace with the two of them.

  “They won’t find us,” Sapphire insisted. “I cast an illusion spell. Anyone who sees us will think that we’re trees.”

  Warren laughed weakly. “We’re the fastest trees in the forest. Someone might notice.”

  Sapphire shook her head. “The illusion will hide movement.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Xion smiled.

  “You guys need to be prepared,” Ava insisted. “Evergreen doesn’t let people just walk in.”

  “Did we just run from one group of people trying to kill us toward another group of people trying to kill us?” Laira asked. “This does not sound like a good idea. Maybe we should turn around.”

  “You’re an idiot,” Ava said simply.

  “Hey!” Laira shouted. “You don’t have to be mean,” she insisted.

  Ava shook her head, but said nothing else.

  “What’re we walking into, then?” Sapphire asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

  “Last time I was here,” Ava answered, “the king had just been assassinated.”

  “By Draxis,” Xion remem
bered. When they had met the dragon, she had accused him of having the king of the northern forest murdered. Draxis had defended it, saying the king had the intention of declaring war on the northern kingdom. Xion did not know if there was any truth to it, but he admitted he had had the king murdered.

  “Exactly,” Ava agreed. “The city was in the middle of a power struggle, The Hand insisted that they should control the city, and they actually had the strongest claim.”

  “What?” Warren demanded. “How?”

  “Vairiel,” Ava answered. “He is the son of the former king. Qua’ke is his by birthright, but the Four Lords insisted that he could not rule until he was married.”

  “You have to be married to be a king?” Sapphire asked.

  Ava nodded. “Humans like to have one person rule their kingdoms, and it never goes well. The elves of Qua’ke insist that it must be an equal pair. Vairiel was betrothed to a nymph, but his father died before the marriage, and the fey said that without a father to marry the pair, it could not happen.”

  “So, who is in charge?” Xion asked.

  “Last I heard, it was the princes of two lords. They married immediately and were put in place before Vairiel had a chance to arrange anything with the fey.

  “That meant,” Ava explained, “that the people in power are only supported by the Four Lords. The people of the forest are split between wanting Vairiel, because most of them don’t know he is a general of The Hand, and the Myst.”

  “What’s the Myst?” Laira asked.

  Ava and Sapphire looked at Laira in shock. Xion was glad to see that Warren was just as confused as he was.

  “How could you not know what the Myst is?” Sapphire asked, appalled.

  “Yeah,” Warren did not sound very convincing, like he was actively trying to sound like he was faking his surprise, “how could you not know? It’s super obvious.” Xion could not help but laugh at Warren’s fake surprise.

  “You’re an idiot, too,” Ava said flippantly.

  “That’s not friendship,” Warren said immediately.

  “The Myst,” Sapphire said, to stop the two from fighting, “is someone with very strong fey blood born to the elves. Exactly one is born every thousand years, they symbolize our races connection to nature and the fey.”

  “Okay?” Laira was clearly hoping for more of an explanation.

  “They’re like royalty among the elves and the fey,” Ava added. “The point is, everyone is waiting for some way to take down the current kings and put someone else up in their place. Vairiel can’t take his place until he’s married, and the fey insisted he must have a father to be married. The Myst refused to be married to anyone she wasn’t in love with. So, everyone is just waiting.”

  “Sounds great,” Xion said sarcastically. He was not thrilled about heading into a city where half the citizens wanted the group of people that had just captured them to be in power, but it did not seem like they had much of a choice.

  Before they could say any more, and arrow embedded itself into the ground, directly in the center of all of them. They stopped walking immediately.

  In a bored voice, Ava said, “Welcome to Evergreen.”

  Chapter 8: Evergreen

  Suddenly, archers were in the trees all around them. They were high up, standing on branches, peering out of the leaves in the tops of the trees, and they were down below, appearing from behind every tree trunk. All of them were wearing green clothes, and carrying large, thin bows.

  Xion briefly considered reaching over his shoulder and grabbing his own bow, but he knew he could only get off one shot before he was turned into a pincushion.

  One of the archers on the ground walked right up to the group, stopping only six feet away. Xion and the others all stood at the defensive, ready to fight if they needed to, except for Laira who stepped behind Ava.

  “Hey there,” the man greeted them. “I’m Larzan.”

  Xion looked to Ava to see how he should react. Ava nodded almost imperceptibly.

  “I’m Xion.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Lazan said brightly. “What brings you to Evergreen?”

  “We’re looking for a man named Kronos,” Xion answered cautiously, not sure how the information would go over.

  “Really? What for?” Larzan asked. He was acting like they were having a pleasant conversation, but Xion had not forgotten the arrow that was only a foot away from where he stood.

  Xion looked to Ava, again. He was getting uncomfortable, not liking how one sided the conversation had become.

  “Xion is the chosen one. We were sent here to ask Kronos to tutor him in nature magic,” Ava said confidently.

  Immediately, every archer swarmed them. They slid down trees, leapt from the branches above them, and raced forward all at once. Xion started to summon his magic, until he realized they were not attacking.

  The archers all ignored his friends and came right up to him. They insisted on shaking his hand, clapping him on the back, asking him a string of questions that he had no chance to answer before he was asked another. Xion noticed that, while they were all elves, they were as tall as he was, or slightly taller, all with grey skin. Xion was used to elves having white or blonde hair, but all of these elves had grey or black. He expected eyes of purple or green, but every person around him had grey or light brown eyes. The women and the men barely had any difference between them. Xion realized that only their chests and their voices told them apart, and he had to continuously remind himself not to look at their chests, or he would give off the wrong impression.

  Larzan stood back. He had braced his bow against the ground and was casually leaning on it as he laughed at the mob around Xion. After a few minutes, he called out to them.

  “Alright, alright, leave the boy alone,” Larzan chuckled.

  The crowd backed away only enough for Xion to breathe, but they were all happy and laughing. Something about Xion’s arrival had made them very excited.

  “Chosen one and a dragon slayer, huh?” Larzan asked him.

  “What?” Xion asked. He had not killed any dragons.

  As if he had called it, an eagle flew down from the treetops, and landed on his shoulder. The bird was different from what Xion thought eagles should be, though he had never actually seen one in person before. He was pretty sure that they should not be two feet tall, and completely white.

  “Fury here saw the fight,” Larzan told him.

  “You can talk to your bird?” Laira asked in surprise.

  Xion looked to Warren, Sapphire, and Ava, thinking this was some form of magic that he had not heard of, but all three of them looked just as confused as he was.

  “Don’t the Aur’in mages have familiars?” Larzan asked, seeming genuinely curious.

  “People still use familiars?” Warren asked.

  “Ava?” Xion asked. If she had been in Evergreen before, she should have at least heard about this. He had no idea what a familiar was.

  “I didn’t know I was a sorcerer until right before I left,” Ava said defensively.

  Larzan laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m sure Kronos can explain it better than I can.”

  “But, wait,” Sapphire interjected, “Ava killed the dragon.”

  “Right, yeah,” Xion agreed. He had been so distracted by the new information he had forgotten that he was being given credit for something he had not done.

  “The way I saw it,” Larzan argued, “chosen one, here, almost killed it with one hit. The finishing blow or not.”

  “Ava killed it, not me, she saved Laira’s life,” Xion insisted.

  He looked at Ava who just rolled her eyes. “Whatever, can we go into the city, or not?”

  Larzan laughed. “Oh, sure. We don’t kick people out. Just needed to make sure you weren’t invading humans.”

  “Why would humans invade Evergreen?” Warren asked.

  “You know the war is going on in the human kingdoms, don’t you?” Larzan asked. They all nodded that they did. “And, you know
that the riverlands and southern kingdoms just fought a battle, each trying to absorb the other?”

  “What?” Xion shouted. They knew about the brewing war, but he had not known that it had actually come to anything. As far as Xion knew, the kingdoms were just bolstering their armies, he hoped that it would not lead to any actual battles.

  Larzan nodded, a smile still on his face. “Yup, I expect the other kingdoms are waiting it out, so those two are weak and vulnerable.”

  “Well, that sucks,” Warren commented.

  Larzan chuckled. “It does indeed. The kings are worried that the northern kingdom might try to take the forest, so they have access to the eastern kingdom from the north.”

  “Oh gods,” Sapphire lamented.

  Larzan nodded. “So, can’t be too careful. But, the chosen one probably isn’t trying to overthrow Qua’ke with only a few others, so pass on through.”

  Xion hesitated, and looked to the others, unsure if he actually believed that the archers would let them pass through so easily. Warren and Sapphire were looking at him, waiting for direction. Ava was already walking toward Larzan, Laira following only steps behind her. Xion shrugged and started after Ava, trying to appear more confident than he felt.

  The archers all gathered around Xion as he walked, thanking him for coming, and saying how pleased they were to meet him. Xion was very uncomfortable with the attention, he had much preferred Aur’in, where everyone stared at him as he passed by. In fact, he greatly preferred Fairen, before he was “the chosen one”, where everyone pretended he did not exist at all.

  They did not have to walk far, until they entered into a clearing in the forest. The trees stood in an almost perfect ring around a section of exposed earth. The trees above were so large that even though the clearing was at least a hundred feet across at every point, the leaves blocked the sky from view completely.

  Xion did not understand where the city was supposed to be, until he looked up and gasped.

  Sapphire had a similar reaction of, “Oooh! It’s so pretty!”

  The city of Evergreen was built into the trees of the forest. Tree trunks were so large, that the windows and doors that ringed the trunks must have led into rooms, made inside the tree. There were a few structures attached to the outside of the trunks, but they were small, and seemed to be built out of woven together leaves, instead of wood. High above, where all the windows and doors appeared, there were rope walkways connecting the trees, so many they looked like an intricate spider web hanging in the forest.