Eternal Forest [Episode 7]
The 5th Compass | Book Two [2,180 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.
“Have you given any more thought to my idea?” Aranaeia asked him as they scurried away from the class.
Stephan had given it some thought, and he found it absolutely insane and felt it would never work.
“I have,” he said, slowing down when he realized they were a safe distance away and could not be seen by anyone. “But I don’t think it will work. What if you get caught?”
“You don’t trust Woodvale, right?” He nodded his head. “Neither do I. What if he asks you to kill someone?”
Stephan thought of that but only in his head. He dared not say it out loud as it would make it more possible that way. “I think he can handle killing someone all on his own. He’s Woodvale.”
“I’ve heard things about him. He’s not as all-powerful as you might think. Also, an enemy would see him coming. But who would suspect a young boy used as an instrument of death and carnage?”
The words hung in the air and both of them had to laugh at the thought of him as an instrument of death and carnage. It just did not make any sense.
“Or worse. What if he plans to kill you?”
Stephan gulped loudly and nearly choked as he replied. “Why would he do that? I serve no threat to him?”
“You do if you turn out to be the chosen one, and he knows it.”
He was not the chosen one, Woodvale told him so, and he did not wish to go over it again.
“Why have you brought me out here anyway? If we get caught, I’ll have to report to Tieg, again. I think my sister might be accompanying my uncle tonight. I hate him, but I would like to see her.”
“Have you forgotten about your little map? Aren’t you curious to know why Woodvale insists the usual areas where infiltration is possible be left unwatched in favor of less accessible locations? I know I am,” she said, walking on, leaving Stephan behind, his mouth agape.
He trotted up beside her as she quickened her pace. “You don’t mean to go there now, do you?”
“I do.”
“But, Woodvale might be there.”
Aranaeia stopped walking and smiled at him. “I hope he is. Then we can catch him in the act of whatever his plan is. I told you, two witnesses are better than one. You worry too much. Come on. The sun will be setting soon.”
Stephan knew she was right. He was curious to see what Woodvale might be hiding at those other locations and having her along made him feel more confident in his pursuit of some answers.
They sprinted swiftly towards the closest area where the map told them usually is watched, but they knew no one would be. Along the way, they only had to avoid detection by Tieg once, who lugged a large wild boar over his shoulder. Already skinned, he was transporting it towards the clearing where the bonfire was scheduled to take place in just a few hours.
They stopped short of where the path was that led straight down towards a village just outside of the Eternal Forest. All any of the villagers ever had to do was walk this path and it would lead them directly to the center of Woodvale Academy. But none of them ever did.
Stephan peeked around the corner to make sure the coast was clear before he waved Aranaeia out from hiding behind a tree. They had already planned for him to take the lead in case Woodvale happened to be there. He would have a better excuse for being there.
“Doesn’t look suspicious,” Aranaeia said, looking around.
“Wait, look,” Stephan said, pointing up along the side of the mountain. Just above their heads were boulders that appeared to be angled rather dangerously near the edge of a cliff. One slight push could send them crashing down, killing whoever was just below them. “Maybe we were wrong to think he was up to no good. Those big rocks prove it.”
“How so?”
“He probably has them set-up to be dropped on anyone who comes this way to attack us. No need to have anyone of us standing down here to get hurt. He’s protecting us as he always does.”
Stephan smiled, pleased with himself for realizing the truth and kicking himself inside for even thinking Woodvale was anything but the great man he had always known him to be.
“I disagree. Aren’t these roads our only way to escape if we see an attack coming?”
Stephan stopped smiling. He knew what she was getting at and he did not like it. Woodvale would never.
“You’re wrong. Don’t even say it.”
“He’s planning on trapping us all up here on this mountain. But why? You have to find out. You need to go to him and tell him you will help him however he wants. I’ll listen in, as we planned, and when I hear enough to prove he’s up to no good—”
“Stop it! Just stop it!”
Stephan grew angrier and angrier as he stood there, looking up at the boulders and then back at Aranaeia. He felt the sting of tears in his eyes and took off running back towards the school. She had seen him cry enough times, but this was different. Yet again, someone else was telling him what he needed to do, and no one bothered asking him what he wanted to do. Not Professor Engle or Aranaeia seemed interested in how he felt about all of this.
He ran so fast he did not have enough time to stop himself when he saw Woodvale, his uncle and his sister a few yards ahead. He tried to put on the breaks, but all he managed to do was skid and tumble to the ground at their feet.
“Ah, Stephan, we were looking for you. I wonder if you wouldn’t mind showing your sister around while I speak with your uncle?”
Stephan got to his feet and dusted himself off, avoiding eye contact with his uncle whose eyes he could feel were on him, judging him. He kept his head low and nodded in Woodvale’s direction.
“Excellent. Come along Kray, we have much to discuss.”
Woodvale waited for his uncle to start walking before patting him on the back as the two of them walked towards his office, leaving Stephan behind with his sister.
She giggled at him. “Why were you running so quickly?”
His relationship with his sister was an untenable one. He respected her and all she had sacrificed to raise him while their father was off fighting an endless war, but he never felt like a man around her. She always treated him like a boy and he hated it. His father was gone, and he was the only male in the house, he always resented her for taking charge and never giving him the opportunity to show he could have done it himself, even if he was only nine years old at the time.
“I knew you and uncle would be arriving soon. I was running to meet you. I see I was late.” He shuffled his feet in the dirt.
“You lie, but I will accept it. Now, take my arm and show me around as Woodvale ordered. I have many questions about what you are learning here. I understand uncle might be speaking with Woodvale to procure a place for me here as well. We shall be inseparable again.”
The way his sister knew when he lied, he knew when she did so, as well. Their uncle did not come here to get Woodvale to let her in. He would never do that. The moment their uncle received them from his now departed brother, he looked upon her as the housewife he never had. He immediately put her to work, cooking and cleaning for him. She did so without question as she was forever indebted to him for taking them in and then allowing them to stay with him even after their father died and left them penniless.
Stephan always suspected his uncle, who enjoyed drinking often, of putting his hands on his sister, but she always denied it and he never saw it firsthand. But whenever he had these inklings, it was always when she would behave as she was just now; like a well-kept lady.
She always managed to avoid Stephan’s accusations and squash them before, when he was younger and would never talk back to his sister. But after spending the better part of a year at Woodvale Academy, having to fend for himself, he has since grown a backbone.
“What is wrong with you? You only ever speak that way when…” He did not wait for her to react to his words by pulling away. He grabbed the arm she held away from him. He had not noticed how awkwardly she had been standing or the way she carried herself, but when he lifted her shirt sleeve and saw the winced look on her face, he knew why.
On her upper arm were black and blue bruises shaped like fingers and he knew who they belonged to. He released her arm and looked at her in disgust.
“Why do you look at me like that?” she asked, lowering her sleeve to cover the bruises. “He did not mean to do it. He apologized.”
“How long?” His chest was heaving as he breathed deeply, the anger mounting with every exhale. He clenched his fists, ready to strike out at anyone. “Are you deaf? I asked you how long?”
Stephan grabbed her arm where their uncle had done the same and she winced, pulling her arm out of his grasp, fear showing in her eyes.
He stepped towards her. “I am sorry. I did not mean to.”
She moved back from him, holding her arms up for him not to approach her. “That is what he always says.”
Stephan could not believe what he had just done. He looked down at the hand that grabbed his sister so forcefully, and all he could think of to do was run away. He knew an apology would not fix what he had done.
Before he knew it, he had run all the way to Woodvale’s office. There would be no forgiveness for him from his sister, but he would have words with his uncle. Maybe in his defense of her could Stephan make amends for his actions.
He stopped just a few yards from Woodvale’s hidden office to calm his breathing and come up with a plan before just barging in. After taking several deep breaths he approached the door and reached out his hand to open it. A hand fell on his chest from his left side and pushed him away from the door. Aranaeia held her pointer finger up to her lips to signal for him to remain quiet.
Stephan did not question her as she pushed him back several feet from Woodvale’s office.
“You don’t want to go in there just yet,” she said.
“Why not? Why are you here?” His frustration mounted, and he could feel his cheeks burning as tears formed in his eyes. He blinked quickly to stop them from falling and hoped she didn’t notice.
“Your uncle and Woodvale have come to…an understanding.” Aranaeia spoke carefully as if reciting words she had heard before. “And if you storm in there as angry as you are, it might not make things any better.”
“What things? What are you talking about, Aranaeia?” He stepped back to give himself some air. “Listen, I appreciate how much you’ve helped me and the fact that you haven’t had your friends beat me in several days, but I think you’ve done enough.”
“Shh!” she said, her head cocked to one side, listening. Stephan wanted to finish his thought, but she silenced him again, holding a finger up for him to wait. Her eyes grew wide. “We have to move. Now.”
She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards some bushes where they ducked and hid as both Stephan’s uncle and Woodvale emerged. They both smiled. His uncle patted a bulge to one side of his hip and shook Woodvale’s hand with the other before walking off in the direction of the evening’s festivities.
Woodvale cleaned the hand that shook Kray’s on his shirt front and gave a look of disgust to his back before reentering his office.
“That was close,” Aranaeia said, breaking the silence.
Stephan turned towards her slowly. “You were in there weren’t you? Or, at least, your spider friends were in there. What did you hear? You must tell me?”
A gong sounded loudly in the distance. The bonfire was set to begin and students, as if from nowhere in particular, from all directions appeared, walking towards it. Aranaeia stood and separated herself from Stephan when she saw her henchmen approach. She knew if they saw her with him they would suspect something.