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Chapter 8: Fear, Dancing With Death |
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From here on out, it's back to the old "once every five days on the calender" trick. ;3
Meh, my brother gave me his gross sickness. :P ~ Forest of Angels Chapter 8: Fear, Dancing With Death Section 2
Tsano, the Elders, Ileno, Tao Chi, Reika, Ryomi, and two strong looking Elves stood at the entrance to the Great Tree in the morning light that somehow filtered through a few of the trees. The Elves had come to escort Reika and Ryomi back to the entrance to the forest. The Forest of Labrynuu didn’t seem as menacing in the minty, morning light. It still was plenty dark inside, but at least they could see their shadows on the ground, stretched long and over proportioned in the morning light. The Elders looked from Tsano, to Reika and Ryomi, to Tao Chi and Ileno, and back again, smiling in their old-person like way. “I bid you all good luck. May the Forest Spirit bless you all.” Said the woman. “Thank you.” They all said, but Reika had only said it half-heartedly. She seemed to be thoroughly depressed at the prospect of not only missing the Witch, but also missing something called the ‘Forest Spirit’. The Elders had gone back inside and left them all to their goodbyes. Reika hugged Tsano, Tao Chi hugged Reika, Ileno gave big kisses to both Reika and Ryomi, and Ryomi shook both Tsano and Tao Chi’s hands. “When will we see you again?” Reika asked. She’d asked the same thing on the night Tsano had escaped. “I mean, now that you’re free of charges, you need to visit us more often.” Tsano merely shrugged. “I don’t know. When my business here is done, I suppose.” Ryomi grinned at Tsano, who grinned back. “Bye.” Said Ryomi. “Bye.” Said Tsano. The Elves impatiently tapped their feet on the ground. “You must hurry up.” They told them. “In a minute!” Ryomi replied loudly. After a moment, Ryomi reached over and pulled on Tsano’s newly pointed ears, laughing, making everyone else do the same. Tsano swatted his hand away. “Just go, Ryomi.” He said, still smirking. Grinning once more and waving back to them, Ryomi and Reika along with the two Elves walked in the direction of the sun, disappearing around the trees instantly, and were out of sight. Tsano stood there for a moment looking at the place where they’d disappeared with Tao Chi and Ileno, a breeze passing him and making the fallen leaves flutter about them. Only when Tao Chi spoke did he come back to reality. “Are you going to miss them?” She asked tentatively, looking in the same direction. Tsano shrugged again, saying nothing. To stay clear of this awkward conversation, Tsano urged them to get going; perhaps they could make it to the Witch’s house before nightfall But, that was not to be the case. As Tsano stared at the map hours later, Tsano saw that the direction they were supposed to go in was filled with treacherous territory and would take many days on foot. He didn’t want to wait that long. So, in the meantime, they began walking as Tsano tried to think of faster ways. “Couldn’t we just fly?” Asked Ileno. “You could take Tao-sister on your back again like we did back at that stinky city.” Tsano again looked up at the sky. “Ileno, you were too scared to fly last night, why would you want to now?” “Oh, yeah.” Ileno muttered and went silent. That night, after walking their feet to exhaustion during the day, they gathered around some Everlasting fire that had been given to them before they left by the Elders as an extra precaution. They still bundled up again in the cold despite the flames crackling merrily in the lantern. They did this for several nights, Ileno sighing in the day, snoring in the night, uncomplaining. Tao Chi stayed by his side. Eight nights passed before Tao Chi sniffed the air on a wintry, yet very dark, morning, pausing in their walk. Tsano looked back, as did Ileno. Tao Chi had stopped moving and was several feet behind them before they noticed. “What’s wrong?” Ileno asked her. Tao Chi paused, still sniffing. “Don’t you smell that?” She asked them, looking all around for the source. They both shook their heads. Tao Chi shrugged, walking forward again, sniffing from time to time as she wandered through the trees in the appointed direction.
[Meko-Meko] · Mon May 21, 2007 @ 01:18am · 2 Comments |
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