Eternal Forest [Episode 10]
The 5th Compass | Book Two [1,194 words]
The Eternal Forest is the second book in The 5th Compass series. Daxton and his best friend, Barton, are looking for the other compasses while fending off an immortal foe. Nelle takes Adelaide under her wing, to help her develop her untapped power. Meanwhile, the most hated pirate in all of Stonehaven must decide whether to stand and fight or flee from the Paragon. This book delves into the life of the Paragon and the many lives it touches and destroys.
The flames spread quickly, and the black smoke stretched to the darkening sky above. A tear rolled down Aranaeia’s cheek as she watched. Stephan thought of his sister and hoped, for his sake, that she managed to escape.
“I’m sure it looks far worse than it actually is. They escaped,” he managed to say.
“I do not believe you. They are all dead. My family, my friends. I followed you here and left them all behind to die. Why did I listen to you? I might have saved them all.”
“Quiet. Look,” Stephan said, pointing to a small flame bouncing and running towards the Wretched Boar at top speed.
“We should flee before they discover who we are and kill us as well.”
“No. Wait.” Stephan did not take his eyes from the flame as it drew near. It stopped just underneath a tall tree several feet from the tavern. The person who held the torch wore a dark blue robe, the same as those of Woodvale Academy, the hood over their head, concealing their face. He could see the hooded figure was looking around to make sure they were not followed. He took a step closer to the window to get a better look and heard the floorboard beneath his foot creak. If the tavern below had been filled with people as it had been earlier the sound would have been masked, but now, with no one downstairs and a stranger down below, the sound echoed.
The hooded person below looked up quickly, Woodvale stared back at Stephan. There was a darkness in his eyes when he saw the boy standing in the window. Woodvale threw down the torch he carried and stormed into the tavern.
Aranaeia had not been seen from the window. When she saw the hooded figure, she knew better than to stand in plain sight. Instead, she hid in the furthest corner of the room.
“Who was it?” she asked, stepping from the darkness of the corner.
“Stay here and keep quiet. I don’t think he saw you or knows you’re here. I will return.”
Thinking quickly, Stephan crossed the room and walked out the door, retracing his steps back down the stairs to the tavern below. At the bottom of the steps he stopped when he saw Woodvale embracing someone.
When Woodvale realized he was being watched, he pushed the woman off of him. She turned coyly, her full red hair masked her face slightly, but Stephan recognized her right away. It was the woman who had run into the Wretched Boar earlier claiming her child had been taken. She blamed the theft on those who live in the Hallow Mountain. Those who attend Woodvale Academy. She brushed her hair from her face and smiled, her bright green eyes dancing in the light cast from lanterns hanging all around them.
“I hoped you would have stayed upstairs and waited for me there. You are lucky to have escaped with your life,” Woodvale said, but Stephan ignored him and watched the woman very closely. She walked behind the bar and poured two mugs full of ale, taking one for herself and placing one on the bar, presumably for Woodvale.
“Who is she?”
“She is no concern of yours. We must leave this place quickly, before they return.”
Stephan had many questions swimming in his head he hardly knew where to begin. “But you escaped, didn’t you? You received warning that the villagers were approaching, and you took the others and ran.”
“Stephan,” Woodvale said, placing his hand heavily on the boy’s shoulder, “if that were true we would still be running. I am sorry to have to tell you this.” There were words to accompany his actions, but Stephan did not hear them. All he could see was the blood-soaked clothing Woodvale showed him when he opened his robe. There was so much blood.
“No.”
“He knew they were going after you, Vale.” The woman’s voice came unexpectedly. A voice Stephan knew he had heard before. The woman Woodvale spoke to in his office when he was hiding there the other day.
“Why did you not warn us? Perhaps if you had…” Woodvale let his words linger in the air until a tear fell from Stephan’s eyes. He shook his head and backed away in disbelief.
“My sister. What of my sister? Tell me she survived? Tell me the others survived—” His words caught in his throat and he felt as if the wind were knocked out of him as he collapsed into a chair nearby. He panted and felt his eyes burn with the tears that streaked down his face.
“You and I are the only ones left. But now you must listen to me. I have work that must be done. Friends I must call upon to avenge what has happened here tonight. For your sake as well as my own. I do not blame you alone, Stephan. I could have done more. And I will. We both will. Won’t we?”
Woodvale knelt down in front of Stephan. He closed his robes back to conceal the blood, but the stench of it was still there.
“Poor boy. Perhaps he’d like a drink?”
The woman came up beside Woodvale holding out the mug she had poured for him.
“Leave. I will not be held responsible for what I might do to you if you remain in my sight. Your work is done.”
The woman snorted in disgust at the way she had just been spoken to. She slammed the mug down on the table, causing half of its contents to spill before storming out the front door of the tavern.
“Now I truly have no family,” Stephan said, looking down at his hands which began to shake.
“You have me.”
Just outside the tavern was the sound of glass breaking and voices shouting in unison. The villagers were returning from the mountain. Stephan’s eyes opened wide with fear and he felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach. If they saw him with Woodvale wearing those robes and knew they were together, they would surely kill them both like they did everyone else.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Woodvale stood up and held his hand out for Stephan to take it. Just then he saw a spider crawl across the table from the corner of his eye and remembered he left Aranaeia upstairs. He promised her he would return. But his fear mounted the clearer the voices outside became. He took Woodvale’s hand and allowed himself to be led out the back of the Wretched Boar.
Outside, the air was thick with the smoke that still hung in the air from the mountain. Stephan dared to look up at the sight in the distance. Flames were still whipping about, spreading.
“I hope it reaches down here and consumes them all,” Stephan said, the fire bouncing about his eyes.
“I wish the same, but it is not likely. Those clouds show signs of rain coming. Almost makes you hate the rain, does it not?”
Stephan glowered at the gray clouds in the sky and silently agreed.