Eternal Forest [Episode 3]
The 5th Compass | Book Two [1,689 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.
Hecht snored loudly, but it never bothered Stephan before, till tonight. He had a lot on his mind. He knew Woodvale would not wait forever for his answer. If we wanted to keep him from looking for someone else, he needed to decide tonight what he would do.
Did he truly believe there was a child out there, close to his age, a descendant of Solara? It was difficult to wrap his head around. He had so many more questions in his head and all of them contributed to his getting out of bed and taking a walk.
Outside the cave where all the students slept in hovels large enough for pairs to share, Stephan took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. He could see all the stars clearly and reached his hand out as if he could pluck one from the sky. Past the stars, he could see a hint of purple and orange in the sky. The sun had already begun its ascent into the sky and soon everyone else would be awake. Stephan couldn’t believe his thoughts kept him up all night. He yawned and stretched, exhaustion finally settling into his mind and body. He turned to walk back the way he came and kicked a rock nearby into a section of bushes.
“Ouch!”
Stephan jumped back when he saw not one, not two, but three fellow students stand up from their hiding place. One of them, a short, scrawny boy with dark brown hair and matching freckles on his face, nursed a welt forming on his head.
“How long were you there watching me?” Stephan directed his question to their leader, Aranaeia. She was by far the prettiest girl at Woodvale Academy, and Stephan would wager in all of Ebonthorn and Malithorn combined. But she also was the cruelest person he had ever had the misfortune to know. She wasted no time in making him her prime target and the wounded boy, Rell, along with a mute girl, Hem, were always there to back her up.
“What are you doing out here by yourself? Aren’t you afraid the knonn might come and getcha?” She brandished the nails on both her hands at him and snarled menacingly. Rell snickered while Hem just smiled.
“Everyone knows the knonn don’t like mountains. They would never come here.” Stephan had heard this fact from Professor Engle himself, and he never had cause to distrust his word.
“That’s not what I heard. Isn’t that right, Rell?” Aranaeia turned to her companion, busy staring at a bit of blood on his fingers from his wound.
“He made me bleed. I’m gonna—”
Aranaeia held her hand up to stop Rell from charging towards Stephan who took a step back and raised his fists, prepared to fight even though he knew they outnumbered him.
“Hold on just a minute. I’m telling my story.” Rell lowered his fists as she commanded. She looked over at Stephan, who did the same as Rell. “As I was saying. I heard a woman in Malithorn said a knonn stole her baby in the middle of the night.”
Stephan inhaled loudly. A knonn spotted in Malithorn was impossible. The Eternal Forest was clear on the other side of the Hallow Mountains on the side of Ebonthorn. If any of the knonn were seen in Malithorn, it would mean they scaled the mountain and made it past the Woodvale Academy watchers. But then she grinned, a grin he was all too familiar with, and knew she had to be making it all up.
“I have a meeting with Woodvale who’s expecting me.” Stephan tried to walk past them, but Hem stood in his way. He stepped to her right only to find Rell blocking his way. Aranaeia made her way behind Stephan but at a distance. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. He knew what was coming. It had happened before. Many times.
“Your obsession with Woodvale is bordering on the insane. Perhaps I should tell him so and that might finally get you expelled like you deserve.”
Stephan spun around to face her, turning his back on Rell and Hem. A big mistake. “You are jealous of me. Why? I pose no threat to you. To any of you. Perhaps it is you who has an obsession. With me.”
Aranaeia gave a nod to Rell and Hem who immediately started to pummel Stephan to the ground. He curled into a ball, covering his head to protect it from their kicks. After a few minutes, they stopped and ran off.
Stephan felt a hand on his shoulder and struck out to defend himself.
“Stephan, it’s me. Are you all right?” Professor Engle had knelt down next to him with a look of concern on his face. “I could not see who it was that attacked you. It was that girl and her two friends wasn’t it?” He held out his hand to Stephan, who took used it to get up off the ground.
“I am afraid I could not see who they were, professor. They attacked me from behind.”
Professor Engle furrowed his brow in disbelief. This was not the first time he had appeared shortly after an attack and in all those times before, Stephan has refused to identify his assailants.
“Let’s get you cleaned up. Today is when the parents arrive. We can’t have you looking like this for your uncle and sister.”
Stephan stopped dusting himself off. “My uncle and sister? Are they coming here today?”
Professor Engle nodded. “Did Woodvale not tell you? He called on your uncle to pay a visit today. I don’t think your uncle is the type of man to leave his niece behind.” Stephan hoped he was right. He had not seen his sister in over a year as his uncle chose not to send for him when the school year ended last year. Instead, he left Stephan behind at Woodvale Academy to help in the reconstruction of many of the caves within the mountain.
Stephan followed the professor to their infirmary, which was just a curtain sectioning off one corner of the grand hall where Woodvale had delivered his big announcement the night before. On the other side of the curtain was Madam Zee. She is a healer and potions expert. There is no injury or sickness she cannot cure either by the touch of her hand or a mixture of some herbs she throws together.
When Professor Engle pulled back the curtain, there was no one there. As it was just after sunrise, Madam Zee was not yet here. Instead, the professor got to work tending to Stephan’s wounds the old-fashioned way. He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and removed his robe. This was the first time Stephan had seen him without it on and it shocked him to see just how short he actually was.
“You must be excited to see your sister? I heard you were a part of the reconstruction and the addition of the tunnels last summer. Shame you could not go home then.”
Stephan tried to smile through the sharp pain of having ointment placed on his face and hands.
“Watching Madam Zee do this to me all those times has made you an expert.”
“Not exactly. Way back in my youth I was in the royal army,” Professor Engle started.
Stephan pushed his hand away from his cheek for a moment. “You mean the royal army, royal army? But…” He trailed off, embarrassed to finish his thought.
“I know, I don’t look like I belong in an army or like one would have me. Truth be told, I was following in my father’s footsteps. And his father before him. There was no path for me but to go to war. And I did. But I was lucky enough to have a general who saw I was much better suited to tending the sick, wounded and dying, rather than carry a sword into battle. That, my boy, is how I learned that a little pain now will lead to a lifetime of healing later.”
Professor Engle applied a final ointment to Stephan’s face and stepped back to look at his masterpiece.
“I’m afraid I may have put too much.” He held up a mirror for Stephan to look in and both of them broke out in laughter.
Once they both calmed down, Stephan asked, “Why did you tell Woodvale you thought I was clever?”
“Did I say that? I thought I told him you were competent. I would hardly say you are clever. A clever boy would know how to avoid a beating,” he said with a wink.
Stephan shrugged his shoulders. “I suppose. Then again, perhaps I am biding my time waiting for the right moment to enact my own form of revenge.”
“That is a sure sign of a coward. Are you a coward, Stephan?”
He pondered the question for a long while. They often spoke in riddles this way and he rather enjoyed it. “Woodvale would not ask a coward for his help.”
Professor Engle raised his eyebrows in surprise that not even Stephan was expecting as he assumed he knew. “Your help? What kind of help?” Stephan did not respond right away, causing the professor to grab his wrist tightly. “This is not a game of riddles, Stephan. What exactly has he asked you to do?”
“Ow, you’re hurting me, professor,” he said, twisting his wrist free from his grasp. “He asked me to find the child he spoke about the night before.”
“I see.” Suddenly, the professor’s entire demeanor changed. He seemed calmer than the person who had just grabbed Stephan’s wrist tightly, which was a side he had never seen before. “Did you accept?”
“Why do you ask? He told me you suggested I would be the perfect one for the mission. Did you not tell him that?” Stephan watched his expression closely, and the professor knew he was. He searched his mind for the appropriate answer.
“You must do as Woodvale asked. You may just be our only hope.”