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.
It didn’t take long for Wendynn to attack Spire once the hold Adelaide had on him was released. His hands were around Spire’s throat, squeezing as tightly as he could. Several pirates who chose not to interfere looked on in shock. One man was their captain, and the other was a man they respected. They were unsure of what to do.
A pirate standing near the only window in the entire establishment shouted. “Smoke!” No one heard him or paid him much attention as everyone continued to look on at the fight.
Spire managed to break free from Wendynn. Both men were circling each other throwing punches that just barely missed. They swung at each other a few more times before another pirate smelled something strange. Then he shouted, “Fire!” This got everyone’s attention.
Spire lowered his hands giving Wendynn just what he was waiting for, an opportunity to strike and strike hard. He gave one good swing and caught Spire in the chin with a right hook, sending him sailing backwards and he fell on his back.
He propped himself up onto his elbows and touched fingertips to his lip, pulling away he saw blood. He wanted to stand and continue their fight but as more and more of his men were showing alarm at what they were seeing he decided their issues would have to wait.
Both he and Wendynn pushed the men aside, shoving each other as well, to get to the window. They looked through it to see black smoke rising into the afternoon sky.
“Oh no,” Spire muttered under his breath. He quickly turned and started running from the Boiling Pig. All of his men followed after him. Wendynn made to follow as well but was stopped by Nelle who stepped in front of him.
“Move out of my way, woman.”
“This is not the time for fighting. Temper yourself,” she said before turning towards Kenric. “We’ve done what you asked. They have left. Now give us what you promised so we may do the same.”
“How do I know they won’t be back? No, I need to see them aboard their ship and sailing away before I’ll tell you what you need to know. And you’ll want to be quick about it. Night is coming. You don’t want to be around when the sun sets. Trust me.”
Nelle gave him a look of anger but knew it wouldn’t change matters any. She stepped out of Wendynn’s way. “As you were.”
Wendynn looked perplexed. Was she playing a trick on him and going to have Adelaide stop him as she did earlier? He walked past her towards the door and found his stride wasn’t impeded.
“Don’t just stand there, girl. I’ll need you to make sure I don’t kill him. Something tells me we might need him alive.” Adelaide knew what he meant and followed behind Wendynn as he pushed through the door and started sprinting towards the sounds of shouting and swords clanging.
Nelle took Daxton by the hand and led him outside. Once there, he began to act more like himself and took deep breaths. “That was hard. I don’t know what happened. I was fine until I was in there.” He bent over and put his hands on his knees, afraid he might throw up, but Nelle knew he was fine.
“I think it was just overwhelming. That smell could affect anyone if they aren’t expecting it.” She looked over at Kenric for corroboration but he shook his head. He wasn’t going to say what she needed him to.
“Let’s go see what’s going on. It doesn’t sound good.”
Nelle started walking down the same path Wendynn and Adelaide just took. “Wait, where’s Barton?”
“I’m here,” he said, walking out from behind a tree next to where Nelle stood. “I was just creating a diversion.”
“A diversion?” Nelle raised her eyebrows at him. “The smoke, was you?”
Barton nodded his head and smiled, his arms folded, waiting for one of them to thank and praise him, but none came.
“What exactly did you do?”
Before Barton could answer there was a loud explosion. They all looked up to the sky and covered their heads as ashes rained down around them and at Barton’s feet fell the wheel from a ship, answering Nelle’s question.
“I didn’t do it. I only set a few fallen leaves on fire, I swear it.”
Shaking her head, Nelle ran towards the explosion with Kenric, Daxton and Barton following close behind. They knew they were closer to the site of the explosion from the smell and the amount of debris on the ground. Pieces of a pirate ship were everywhere. Then the sounds of shouting and swords clanging became more pronounced.
Near the shoreline was another ship that none of them recognized. But it was located near the location of the now destroyed pirate ship. On shore, pirates were in close combat with men who must’ve come from the unknown ship.
Among those fighting Daxton recognized the Paragon and Barton saw his father, General Corwinn. They were not yet seen and not wanting to be they ducked behind some trees.
“How did they find us so quickly?”
Adelaide came up behind them with Wendynn. “I know. Look.” She pointed back towards the fighting to show among them was the captain of the ship she destroyed the night before.
“It doesn’t matter how they found us, what matters is that they’re here and we need to leave. Now.” Wendynn was right. And there wouldn’t be a better time than while everyone was distracted fighting each other.
“Which way is the Eternal Forest?” Daxton asked, looking at Kenric who was trying to sneak away. “Where do you think you’re going? We solved your pirate problem, now you’re going to help us. Or else.” With a smirk Daxton look at Adelaide who understood what he was trying to do.
She raised both her hands towards Kenric like she was about to do something to him. “Alright. Alright, I’ll help you.” Adelaide winked at Daxton and lowered her hands. “Follow me. I know where we can find horses. It’ll get us to the Eternal Forest faster. Trust me, we don’t want to be stuck out here when the sun sets.”
This was not the first time Kenric mentioned, in passing, not being caught outside was the best idea. Daxton had wanted to ask him why he said this and what he meant by it but every time he was interrupted.
Kenric started working his way through the trees remaining in a crouched position as the others followed close behind.
“Wait, we’re forgetting someone,” Wendynn whispered to the group. They all stopped and looked around each other. No one was missing from the group. Without waiting for them to question who he felt was missing he sprinted away from them, back towards the fighting.
“Is he crazy? He’s going to get us caught. Listen, either you follow me now or you can forget our deal.” Kenric pressed onwards. Daxton, Barton, Adelaide and Nelle looked at each other, silently asking the same question: Should they wait for Wendynn?
Silently they all followed behind Kenric. They remained crouched as they crept through the brush and dead trees for a long time before the sound of the fighting had almost vanished into the distance.
Exhausted from walking so low to the ground for so long they were all thrilled when Kenric finally stopped near a small farm. They all leaned against a fence that surrounded the property to calm their heavy breathing.
“What is this place?” Barton asked, sweat dripping down his face. He used his shirt to wipe it away, leaving a streak of dirt along his forehead. It was all Adelaide could do to keep from laughing.
“This is my farm. Well, it used to be my farm before Emile took it from me,” Kenric answered. “But this farm is mine,” he continued, this time shouting over the fence towards a house that stood in the center, seemingly empty. The sound of a horse nearby made Kenric leap to his feet.
“Wait, what are you about to do?” Barton asked, following behind him.
“What does it look like?” Kenric stepped on the lowest rung of the fence and threw one leg over, followed by the other. “Are you coming or not?” he asked, looking past Barton to the others.
“You’re going to steal that horse?”
“How can I steal what already belongs to me? And it’s not just one horse. I own four horses.”
Daxton followed suit and leapt over the fence same as Kenric did and shrugged his shoulders at Barton. “I don’t know how far away this Eternal Forest is. Wouldn’t it be nice for a change to be riding a horse instead of on foot?”
Barton was about to argue with his best friend but a shove to his shoulder stopped him. Adelaide pushed him aside as she crossed through the fence by stepping through the two pieces of plywood holding it up.
“Wait here if you want, in case Emile shows up,” Kenric said to Barton. They left him behind and ran towards the house. The land was all green with no trees anywhere they could use to hide themselves. If someone was in the house, they could easily be seen.
They rounded the corner of the house where there was a long log held up by pieces of plywood crossed on either end. Tied to the log were four reigns holding four horses at bay.
Kenric worked quickly untying the first one. The rest saw what he was doing and copied him with the others until they had all four horses released. Suddenly, they heard a cracking sound in the air, like a tree splitting, but there was no tree close enough.
All four of them turned around slowly to find standing before them a woman holding a whip in her hand. She wore a hat with a wide brim that was black but covered in dust and sweat from working all day. Under her hat was long curly auburn hair that fell past her shoulders. Her bust was prominent, held up by a corset that was once a shimmering sea blue, now covered in mud and dirt. She wore men’s pants that fit rather tight as she had large, muscular thighs and black boots that came up to her knees.
She raised the brim of her hat to get a good look at them, stealing her horses. Her face was nearly cherry red, which made the brown freckles she had on her cheeks and nose more pronounced. She dug her foot into grass, gripped her whip tighter, and spit just a few feet from where they all stood motionless. “I told you never to come back here, Toby. This farm is mine now.”
“Get on the horses,” Kenric whispered to Daxton, Adelaide and Nelle as he released the reign and put both his hands up in surrender. “Emile, you know what you did wasn’t right. These are my horses, this is my house, you’re on my land. I’m just going to help these people and then we can talk about this when I come back.”
“Come back? Where do you think you’re going?” Emile raised her whip in the air and cracked it towards Kenric, the tip of it wrapping around his wrist. He screamed out in pain.
The others mounted their horse as Nelle took the reins of the fourth and maneuvering the horses towards him. She revealed a dagger hidden in her boot and quickly cut the whip, releasing him. She threw the reigns at him, which he caught and used to mount the horse.
“Follow me!” Ignoring Emile who shouted obscenities at them, he led them back the way they came. All four leapt over the fence, coming to a stop on the other side. Kenric turned his horse around and saw Barton crouched low trying not to be hit by the unexpected horses. “Come on.” He leaned down and offered his arm for Barton to take. He hesitated until he heard the sound of the whip cracking against the fence. Emile was closing in fast on them. Barton gave his arm to Kenric who lifted him up onto his horse and started galloping as fast he could away from his farm.
In the distance, he heard Emile shout, “you’ll be back. The sun is setting.” Her cackling laugh made a sound just as sinister as her whip.
He finally let up when he noticed Emile was right, the sun was beginning to set.
“Why have we stopped?” Daxton asked, the first of all of them to catch up to Kenric and Barton.
“It’s too late,” Kenric answered. “We’ll all be dead soon.”