Eternal Forest [Episode 15]
The 5th Compass | Book Two [1,291 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 rain continued to pour over the heads of Daxton, Barton, Adelaide, and Wendynn as they ran from General Corwinn and the Paragon. They knew it would be awhile before anyone would be in pursuit of them, but they felt the need to run and find a means of escape.
Wendynn stared at Adelaide as they came to a thicker part of the forest, forcing them to slow their forward progress till they were just walking. She noticed his eyes digging into her deeply and it gave her a chill down her back.
“Why do you stare at me so intently? Do I look such an awful mess?”
“No, but…what happened back there…has that ever happened to you before?” Wendynn asked, studying her movements and reaction evermore closely.
Adelaide gave him a downcast look as she stopped walking altogether. She fiddled with her fingers and shifted her gait, trying to find the right words as tears filled up her eyes. “Yes, it has. I’m afraid I’m cursed.” She burst into tears again, which caused Barton, who was already several paces ahead to double back, rolling his eyes.
“Why does she cry this time?”
“She has just lost her father. Let her cry if she must,” Daxton said, keeping a safe distance from Adelaide as he feared she may decide to weep on his shoulder. She swayed slightly on her feet and his instinct kicked in, quickly seizing her elbow to steady her.
She pulled her arm away from him in anger. “Don’t comfort me. I do not deserve your sympathy. Did you not hear me say I am cursed? The man who died back there, the one you assumed was my father, he was not. Traix was his name, and he took me from Gaspar long ago.” The look on their faces as she told her story was of complete shock and she tried to correct their misconception. “He was not my captor. He was like a father to me. His guilt was great when he realized he was the only survivor on a ship my father was also aboard. For you see, these eighteen years ago, I lost my real father. I suppose he died in much the same way; in battle.”
Telling the story caused her sobs to subside, and she sniffled, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her sopping wet tunic.
“I do not understand why you believe yourself to be cursed?” Barton questioned, taking a step back when she looked at him with a cold, dark, stare.
“Is it not obvious. It was because they cared for me once that they died. I am what links them both. I killed them.”
Her words hung in the air for what seemed like ages as the three men stood there, neither knowing how exactly to respond. In the distance, they heard a branch snap and not wishing to wait and see the source of the sound, resumed their escape.
“Do either of you know where we’re going?” Daxton, Barton, and Wendynn, all walked on ahead of Adelaide, giving her some distance behind them in case she should start crying again. When she asked, it made them all stop and look to each other, waiting for one of them to answer.
“I am unfamiliar with this area. Nelle... uhm, I mean, Wendynn, you should know this area well, having lived here for so long. What’s the quickest way out?”
“There are many ways to leave Malithorn. Just depends on where you want to go?” Wendynn replied, posing an even more important question directly to Daxton. He pondered for a while until he felt the compass he placed in his pocket earlier grow hot. It became so hot he was forced to pull it out and toss it to the ground in between them all.
Smoke wafted up from the ground around it as they all leaned in to get a closer look as the compass.
“Is it damaged?” Barton asked, reaching his hand out to touch the compass, but Adelaide swatted him away.
“I don’t think so,” she said, waving away the remaining smoke, to reveal the compass had no discernible marks on it. “Well, you wanted it so badly, pick it up.” She looked at Daxton, as did everyone else, waiting for him to be brave.
He swallowed hard and closing his eyes, plunged his arm forwards, grabbing the compass firmly. It was no longer hot, but growing cool to the touch this time.
“Speak up, is it hot still? Open it, perhaps something is happening inside of it.” Daxton hadn’t truly looked at this compass yet the way he did the one that was left with him on the doorstep. With that compass, he could draw it from memory he’d looked at it so many times since it was given to him by his parents not too long ago. He wanted to inspect it now, but with so many pairs of eyes on him he felt it would be best to wait and clicked small circular button that released the latch and the lid sprang open.
The face of the compass was not as extraordinary as they would’ve expected and they all showed a sign of disappointment. Then suddenly, a stone in it center, holding the arms in place began to glow a deep green.
“Look!” Adelaide whispered loudly, even though they were all seeing the same thing she was. “What kind of compass is this?”
The arm that was once resting peacefully in the Northern position began to spin uncontrollably. They spun so wildly it was becoming difficult to see them any longer.
“I didn’t do anything. You told me to open it. Maybe it’s broken?” Daxton started to shake it in his hands but the arm just kept on spinning and the green stone in its center glowing. “Let’s just keep going, I’m sure we’ll find the way out soon.”
The green glow stopped, and the arms ceased spinning as well. Only this time they were not resting in the position pointing North. This time it was pointing in a direction slightly to the left of North.
“I think it’s answering your question.” They all looked at Barton who shrugged his shoulders at them. “What, we were all thinking it.”
“Do you suppose it heard me?” Daxton asked, bringing the arrow closer to his face as if to whisper directly into it.
“I doubt it. But just in case, let’s see if your theory is correct, Barton.” Moving quick as lightning, Adelaide grabbed the compass out of Daxton’s hand and slowly began to turn her direction away from where it was clearly pointing towards. No matter which direction she spun in, the compass’s needle never moved. “Well, what do you know, he was right.”
She closed the lid back and tossed it to Daxton who barely caught it. He opened it back to get a better heading as to where it was pointing and started to walk in that direction. As he came close to Wendynn who had been standing off to the side the entire time, just listening, he put his arm out to stop Daxton in his tracks.
“You don’t intend to blindly follow that thing, do you?”
“I do, actually. Unless you have a better idea?” Daxton folded his arms across his chest, waiting for Wendynn to speak, but no words came, he just hung his head. “That’s what I thought. You are welcome to join us, of course, but know that if you do, we will be going where this compass leads us. I have a feeling the other lays in wait for our arrival.”
Barton chuckled to himself. “Listen to him, the noble warrior is ready for his great adventure?”