Chapter 81: Chapter 81

81 Chapter 81 : The wandering woods

The morning was cold and Ella’s hands were freezing cold as the icy breeze stung them continuously. As their horse slowly galloped down the narrow woodsy path, the cold air hit her face making her even more disoriented than she already was. Adam looked down at the woman who was leaning against his chest in an attempt to keep herself warm and squeezed his arms and legs tightly around her.

“It will get warmer in a few hours,” he informed her, “in the meantime you’ll have to settle for my body heat.”

The slight mischief in the man’s voice made Ella want to roll her eyes but she was feeling too tired to react. This particular morning was so strange for her, she had woken up in Adam’s arms feeling tired and confused. She had the strangest dream where she could hear a voice calling out to her into the deep darkness of the cave, there was a warmth to it that made her want to know who it was, kind of like an enchanting song of a siren. When the dream had fazed away, she found herself laying her head on Adam’s lap, he had a worried look on his face. She didn’t get the chance to ask him the details because when she came to, the group was already mounting their horses ready to leave.

“We will be reaching the wandering woods hopefully by sunset!” Zander said to the group.

“Why is it called the ‘wandering woods’?!” Ella questioned the blond elf. She thought it was a strange name for a forest.

Zander was quiet for a bit until Roland answered on his behalf, “the wandering woods are the first line of defense of the enchanted forest princess. They are enchanted with elven magic to filter out travellers who are not welcome into the dwarve and elven territory.”

Ella creased her brows in thought, she wondered what kind of travellers they didn’t want in their territory. Maybe it was strange creatures like those goblins that they had encountered earlier. “What kind of travellers are not allowed in?” Ella asked the beautiful man, “like goblins?”

“Goblins, trolls, lycans....” Zander turned his head slightly to look at Ella, “even nosferatu.”

Ella’s breath hitched and her throat went dry. So she wouldn’t be allowed through the wondering woods? Then why was she still riding towards it with them? “What happens to the ones not allowed through?” She questioned Zander with a slightly panicked tone in her voice.

.....

“As is the name, princess of the nosferatu,” Zander began to explain with a tone that Ella didn’t appreciate at all, “those not allowed through the wandering woods, those dangerous creatures and unwanted guests, are doomed to wander the forest aimlessly for all eternity. Well, until they die of hunger, thirst or are attacked and killed by other wanderers.”

Ella swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and looked down. Suddenly Adam who had been carefully listening to everything that was being said pulled the reins of his horse and stopped it. The others also halted and turned to the elven prince who had deep creases on his forehead.

“Your grace is anything the-”

“Our journey together ends here,” Adam interrupted Roland. There was a firmness in his voice that sent a chill down Roland’s spine.

Zander moved his horse in a slow trot near Ella and the prince, “my prince, what is going on?”

“You said it yourself Zander didn’t you?” Adam responded to the blond elf, he did not even bother to hide the fact that Zander’s comments to Ella had offended him. “Ella isn’t allowed through the wandering woods, so what’s the point on going forward with you? Her and I will find our way, you six can go on ahead, it’s clear you’ve been against me bringing Ella with me from the start.”

As the prince was about to turn his horse, Roland galloped beside the prince to stop him from turning, “your grace please wait-”

“Out of my way Roland!”

“Zander here may have been a bit too brutal with the explanation about the wandering forest,” he added on, “yes, it’s true that it filters out nosferatu, but not all of them.”

Adam arched his brows at him.

“There are nosferatu who harbor ill intent towards the elves, those are the ones who should be wary of the woods not Ella.” Roland explained.

“Why would any nosferatu have any ill intentions towards the elves?” Ella blurted out, it was a question whose answer Adam too wanted to know. “I thought the four races were working together to fight the humans.”

“A lot has happened over a hundred years,” Roland responded, “it’s a long story that I cannot tell in the middle of the road.”

“You’ve said enough Roland,” Zander spoke, “you now know that there’s a chance you may pass through the wandering woods princess, provided you have no ill intent towards the elves. No thoughts of bringing any of them any harm.” Zander’s eyes landed on Adam’s neck that was lightly marked with Ella’s bite marks, making the prince pull up the hood of his cloak.

“We should keep moving,” Zander added on, “we are still in goblin territory.” He whipped the reins of his horses and galloped away, the rest of the men following him. Adam on the other hand stood there, feeling a bit conflicted.

“Let’s go on ahead,” Ella spoke to him.

The prince looked down at her in shock, “but Ella, going through the wandering woods is a gamble.”

“I know,” she responded, “but you need to get to your people. A lot of dangers lie ahead and I can’t let you face them alone.” Ella’s thoughts wandered to the goblin attack and her body flinched.

“Wait, you’re coming along because YOU want to protect ME?” Adam asked the woman in shock. This entire time he thought he was dragging Ella with him to protect her.

“But of course,” Ella responded smugly, a smile painted her beautiful petit face, “if you weren’t such a mushy bag of flesh, I’d be on my way to the snowlands right now. But I have to keep you safe from all the creatures trying to eat you till you reach Ervelon.”

Adam burst into laughter, his deep voice echoed throughout the forest and into Ella’s ears. Hearing him laugh made her heart flutter, it had been a long time since she’d heard his laughter and she loved it. He then wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head before nudging the horse to move forward to catch up with the rest of the group. “I’m honored to have such a powerful and reliable escort,” Adam spoke sheepishly.

“You should be.” Ella responded with her nose proudly up in the air. Adam smiled and kissed the top of her head once more, wether protector or not, Adam was glad Ella was with him throughout this journey.

*

Just like Zander had predicted, the group reached the foot of the wandering woods at dusk. The demarcation between the grassy plains and the tall trees of the woods was very evident. There was a thick layer of tall fir and cypress trees stretching across as far as the eye could see, with only a single narrow horse trail in front of them cutting into the thick woods.

“There should be a small clearing a thirty minutes ride from here,” Zander told the group, “we will rest there for the night, come on.”

Zander led the group down the narrow path into the woods. Adam looked down at Ella with a worried look on his face.

“Let’s go, don’t worry about me,” Ella responded as if reading his mind. She gently placed her hand over his and squeezed it reassuringly. “We’ll be fine.”

The elven prince took a deep breath and nudged their horse to go forward. Ella could feel the loud thudding of his heart against his chest so she gently rubbed his hand to calm him down as they disappeared into the dense thicket of trees.

Not long after they disappeared into the woods, a powerful flapping of wings could be heard from above. Maria and Vivian landed at the entrance of the wandering woods, retracted their wings and took a few steps forward before halting and giving each other concerned stares.

“This is a bad idea, you’ve heard tales of the wandering woods haven’t you?” Vivian cautioned Maria. “We could end up spending the rest of our lives lost in there.”

“Calm yourself,” Maria urged the woman, “we bare no ill intentions towards any elf. We simply wish to retrieve our princess and return her home.”

Vivian looked at the narrow path and gulped. Maria was right, but still Vivian was wary of this place. It was said that the nosferatu who had been sent to Ervelon to search and retrieve Aiden were still wondering these woods. They must have gone completely insane at this point. And without any blood or ichor, they must have been starving, waiting for some unsuspecting travelers to show up so they could sink their teeth into them.

“let’s go, we must not lose sight of her.”