Chapter Seventy-eight: Travels

I look to Elijah. “Have you left a note or something?” I ask, not wanting him to regret not leaving anything for Loretta.

He responds with a sad smile. “Yes, I left a note on our bed as soon as she left with her Mum and Dad. I came straight down here after.

I nod at his response, and I feel the sadness pour off of him, but I say no more and instead stand up with a new determination.

I go to pick up my bag, and see Nuria do the same. I turn and see Elijah put his bag on, and I smile as I see the bow he once gifted me go over his head. He notices me staring and looks slightly awkward.

“I found it back at the river, before I found you here...I had lost it or dropped it again before I passed out, I don’t quite remember.” He says, but then smiles fondly. “Lukas gave it to me not too long before he….before he went missing. He said our scouts found it and saw the elven writing on it, or at least he noticed it was close to the writing in the books and he handed it to me. I hope you don’t mind I take it?” He asks sheepishly, as if I’d be offended.

“Of course not Elijah. Nuria has her own skills, as I have mine. As long as we’re near any water source I’ll be fine. You need something to defend yourself with, and I have no doubt as one of the best elven rangers, you’d do a much better job with that then I would myself.”

He smiles at me and gives his thanks. We head outside the building towards the back door, hoping this was the best route to leave with the highest chance of no one seeing us, and more importantly, stopping us.

We exit the building and head into the back gardens, where we wade through the florets of flowers. I admire the gardens, as I always have done. I stare at the rows of rainbows and perfectly aligned colours of flowers in awe. I miss walking through here spontaneously with Lukas. I look up ahead and see the Oak tree, bringing back a memory of picnics with Mandy. I smile at the thought, knowing I’ll cherish these memories forever.

I look over my shoulder and see Elijah, who’s admiring the tree. I say nothing, but I assume Loretta maybe didn’t bring him back here yet. I know Elijah, being the true elf he is, loves trees, especially older ones. I remember him saying the older the tree, the more history it holds. I look back at the tree and know it’s very special, and is probably hundreds of years old.

We walk past the tree, and head towards the tree line at the bottom of the garden. I continue to gaze curiously at the flowers around us, seeing many different variations, more than I thought was possible.

As I’m viewing all the flowers, I abruptly walk into the back of Nuria, who has stopped for some reason. I look at her, then over her shoulder and I immediately see why.

I frown, finding Jorge at the bottom of the garden with a smile on his face.

“Hello Luna.”

I look to Nuria and Elijah, saying nothing. I walk up to Jorge to greet him.

“Hi Jorge, are you ok?” I ask innocently.

He smiles. “Of course Luna.” He looks at the bags on our backs. “Oh come on Luna, I know you’re sneaking out. I’ve known since you asked for three baskets to be made. You know, I think you’re our best hope to finding our dear Alpha Lukas. He’s your mate after all. I just want to give you this.”

He hands me a small, delicate looking white flower. “This is called the Lantana flower. It is said it brings luck to those who carry it. I started growing these when the Alpha went missing, because I had no doubt you’d try and find him.”

I look back at the garden. “You tend to this beautiful garden Jorge?”

He smiles gracefully at me. “I do. My mate and I started this garden for the previous Luna and Alpha. Before it was a bit of a mess. My Florence unfortunately passed away years ago. This garden keeps her memory alive, and in turn it I am very happy to maintain it for her memory.”

I sense both happiness and sadness wash out from him, and I give him a sincere smile. I look down at the precious flower and understand all it signifies. “Thank you Jorge. We’ll try our best.”

He nods his head. “You’re welcome Luna. Good luck to you three. Who knows what it’s like out there right now.”

We thank him and head out towards the treeline. I place the little flower in my front left pocket, over my heart. I hope this little thing brings us luck, we’ll no doubt need it.

It doesn’t take us long to get to the Southern border. I mind-link Blaine, who would have assigned the patrols.

“Hey Blaine, we’re in place. How much time do we have before a patrol crosses our path?”

“You’ve got about five minutes, Luna. If you run now, your scent wouldn’t bring up suspicion.”

“Thank you Blaine. I’ll try and reach out, but as the others who have left the lands aren’t able to link from a far distance, I’m unsure I’ll be able to.”

“It’s ok Luna. You three stay safe, we’ll do our best to keep things sane here. Good luck.”

I smile and close the connection, knowing him and the other ranked members will look after the pack.

I use my senses to check if I can smell anything other than ourselves. I don’t smell anything or see anything in-between the trees.

I motion for Nuria and Elijah to move forward and we race through the trees, trying to keep the Sun on our East side, knowing it’s not midday yet. We eventually find the river and we move upstream a fair bit, heading to the West slightly, and manage to find a shallower place to ford the river.

It only takes us a few hours to see the trees thinning out in the distance. I smile, thinking the last time I came through here, I had a nightmare in the storm and the beast I once had to fight. It’s strange to think that that thing was part of Fedoris’ army. I suppose he didn’t know who or where I was at the time, maybe it was just pot luck, or well bad luck, that I came across that things territory.

We get to the tree line and in front of us spans what seems to be miles of burnt grass. I see in the distance to my left the cliff edge. Not wanting to go that way again I explore the area and turn my eyes to my right, seeing the valleys I had once walked down, Athena and I learning about each other. I turn to Elijah and Nuria and relay my memories of this place, it being basically the exact same, except the fact that it’s burned.

Elijah nods his head. “Yeah, I sort of remember this place. It was before I wandered in there.” He says, moving his head in the direction we just came. “Except for the fact that this was all luscious grass and now it’s as if it’s been burned clean.”

I frown. Was this the work of Fedori? “Do you reckon Fedori burned it? Why would he only do it up to here, and not in the Forest?” I question out loud.

Nuria shrugs. “That place has dark magic.” She says, regarding the forest.

I look at her unknowingly but I now understand why it’s called what it’s called. “Ah, that’ll be why the Druida community called it the Dark forest.” I say, forgetting that I also once called it that before I made the so called kingdom on the inside of it my home.

“I reckon he can pull power from it, which is why he was able to assemble an army so large, without being in close proximity himself, in a short amount of time.” Nuria says, following up my silent question.

I nod, feeling sad that he found where I was and all the wolves that died because of it. I shake my head, releasing the thoughts going through my mind. I grab each side of the bags straps and adjust it slightly.

“Let’s keep going South a bit longer. We’ve got a while till we get to where the Druida community was. Then we continue South, finding the shoreline. Then I want to head East from there.”

Elijah gives me a confused look, whereas Nuria gives a smirk. I look at Elijah. “When we discussed our plans, I didn’t mention this in case anyone was listening, plus the wolves would never be ok with this. We need allies. I want to reach every species I came across before reaching this place. Anything and everyone. We need them, and they’ll need us to defeat this darkness.”

Elijah rubs his face with his hand but nods in agreement. Nuria’s smirk stays on her face and I smile at her. She already guessed my plan no doubt. Why else would I scour the Earth?

We continue South, which takes us about two weeks, similar to what it took for me to get to the start of the Dark forest. Eventually the burnt grass turns to green grass and the landscape flourishes. Eventually, I see a black spot in the distance. As we near it, I hear Elijah choke back a sob.

I can already tell it’s the ruins of his home, the Druida community.