The ocean of trees covered the land, they went out for miles in each direction. The soil was extremely rich in nutrients and there was no lack of water, so the trees all grew tall and strong with branches reaching far and wide. Due to the dampness of the forest, nearly every rock and tree was covered in a thick, dark moss. There was a silence that seemed to creep over the entire forest, not even the birds were chirping there merry little songs while building nests. This land was void of all sound, and the trees were unnaturally still. Kaliel began to think time had frozen around him, and though he could not see the sky through the canopy of branches above him he could tell that the day was fading. What little light that was peeking through the leaves was begining to dull and fade away, eventually the forests darkness began closing in around him, suffocating him and filling his heavy heart with doubt. As he made his way down the dingy little dirt path that weaved through the trees, he would glance to either side and try to see through the darkness. he was being hunted, and not by the wicked creatures of the ancient forest, no it was something much worse.
Kaliel was young, scrawny and not particularly tall boy, about age fourteen. His skin was pale as snow, and his hair was as black as the night around him and very long, it usually covered his eyes. Which, were a strange violette color, it frightened alot of people which is why his mother made him keep his hair long to cover them.
He hurried down the trail, constantly looking over his shoulder to see if he was being pursued by what he had just escaped, he did not want to be caught by man or beast, but right now he would have preferred the beast. His feet were soaked from the puddles that formed here and there on the path and the mud that was the rest of the trail. A loud boom of thunder filled the air and shook the ground, seconds later a heavy rain crashed through the tree-tops. Kaliel let out a heavy sigh, he'd had enough of the wetness. He moved off the trail and found a nice dry spot he could sit and rest. he sat there for a many hours in constant alert, until the rain let up, nervously he began down the trail again. he realized that no one had come up the trail looking for him, had they given up the chase so easily after all they did to capture him in the first place? A knot formed in his stomach, he decided to just keep pushing on. He was soaked from head to toe by this time and as he walked he shook and quivered, he had to clench his teeth tightly to keep them from chattering. he began to loose all feeling in his fingers and toes, every rain drop that hit him might as well have been ice. he continued to trudge through the now almost swamp like forest, freezing and miserable, his steps were weakening and he could barely lift his feet, finally he collapsed face first into a puddle.
The soldiers marched in rows of two, ten men all sent to find one small boy that had escaped the detainment camps. "the warden must be losing his damn mind." Said one of the men. "You going against orders, soldier?" the captain called in response. he just grumbled and continued his march, he knew just like the rest of them what happened to people who went against orders. "Hey cap'n, wev'e been march'n fer Hours now 'ows bout a break, eh?" one of the soldiers in the back called out. The captain glanced around through the tree's and fidgeted, he could feel they were being watched. "Not till the suns up..." the captain spoke sternly "...these woods are elf territory." All the soldiers began to look back and forth from tree to tree, some even began glancing over there shoulders regularly.
Humans and elves had been in a constant war for almost six years. the humans thought them all savage, and for the most part they were right, but they were amazing hunters. During the long time of waring many towns had been ruthlessly slaughtered by the elves, so in retaliation the humans burned much of there forests. Violence begets violence, however, so this did not stop the killing, but instead lead to full on fighting. there has been a recent lull in the war, the head on skirmishes have stopped but the hatred of the two races has not.
The rain continued to pour down relentlessly, their armor made an almost melodic chime. there heavy boots sank into the muddy ground, and more mud caked on with each step making them heavier with every few feet. Still they marched on silent and miserable, chasing after some worthless slave boy. "Whats the queen want with this runt anyway?" a soldier blurted shattering the awkward silence. None of the soldiers answered, they just continued on. Not far down the small dingy path they came upon a tree fallen over in the road, it was covered in a strange writing that was carved into it. "Its the elves! they're tryin ta warn us off cap'n." yelled a soldier. "shut the hell up!" yelled the captain, as he stormed over to the log to investigate. "you're all a bunch of superstitious idiots."
In the distance they all heard the sound of water flowing and birds chirping, this was odd because till now the forest had been silent. All of them started bickering weather to turn back, hurry along, or who too pick to check it out. They argued so long that the sun began to peak through the leaves again."we're camping out here for a while, then we'll decide what to do." the captain grumbled.
The soldiers began wearily setting up there camp, none of them actually daring to go to sleep. They laid awake staring up at the leaves, summer was beginning to fade into autumn and the colors of the leaves were changing, the sunshine that broke through the wall of branches shone in there eyes, the ground was rocky and wet.
No comments:
Post a Comment