Bart’s eyes opened to see nothing but darkness. Clearly the bag was still over his head. His feet weren’t on the ground but his arms were still tied behind his back. Whoever was carrying him wasn’t being too careful, because with every step Bart felt their shoulder in his gut. They walked for a while, and then finally stopped and Bart was dropped on his butt and then his feet were tied. He heard footsteps walking away and then silence. He sat there quiet for some time wondering what was going on. A couple times he called Charlotte’s name but he received no response. He tried to wield the wind to help cut his binds, but to no avail.
“This sucks,” he said aloud. He had no idea where he was or what was going on, all he knew was that he couldn’t see and he had no idea where Charlotte was. That’s when it hit him. Maybe this is why being connected to your aura is so valuable. He remembered how drastically the quality of all his senses increased when he connected originally. He figured that if he could focus maybe he would be able to hear something. After getting as comfortable as he could, he began to focus entirely on his hearing. It was at this point that the feeling of the vines vanished and his tongue went numb. However, his hearing increased significantly. Bart could hear the owls hooting and people talking. The problem was he didn’t understand the language. From what he could hear they were speaking Spanish. This shocked Bart because he didn’t know that Zathya was so diverse. Then he remembered that Jason told him Camathlion took humans who deserved to come and that could mean humans of any ethnic background. Bart listened for a while without hearing anything he could understand. Eventually he gave up on listening and decided to try a different sense. His other senses didn’t return for a very long time, which worried Bart a little, but they too finally returned. When they did he focused on his sense of smell. Almost immediately sharp scents started flowing into Bart’s nostrils. He was sure he smelled what he thought to be potatoes and some sort of beef. There was a sharp aroma of flowers that was nearly unbearable and he was positive he could smell a mixture of wet grass and pie, a combination that he had never smelled before. The abnormal assortment of odors was to overwhelming for him and he let go of his focus. Eventually he fell asleep with the bag over his head with no better idea of where he might be.
When he awoke this time he heard talking very close to him without even increasing his hearing ability. The voices were both female. Bart sat up and noticed they were still speaking Spanish. Then he heard a voice that gave him hope.
“Bart!” screamed Charlotte. Her tone was more excited than worried which confused him.
“Char?” he yelled looking from left to right but it was pointless since the bag was still on his head. “Where are you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said, her voice closer than it was before. “Let him loose,” she said with an angry tone. Within seconds the hood was lifted and the vines were cut. The sudden entrance of sunlight back into Bart’s life was nearly devastating as he shielded his eyes from the beaming rays of daylight. His shoulders and wrists hurt from the tight vines and the awkward position of his arms for such an extended period of time.
“What’s going on?” he asked as his eyes readjusted to the radiance. He looked at Charlotte, who was wearing a weird outfit that Bart was 100% sure she wasn’t wearing when they arrived here. She had on a green top with a long green dress made of leaves and vines. In her hair was a brown flower. She looked beautiful and clean, which had Bart mystified. She was smiling at him when she knelt down in front of him. He looked around and saw the two girls standing there and behind Charlotte, some guy who couldn’t have been older than eighteen, was looking on.
“You’ve been asleep for about a week,” Charlotte said. “They said you would only be asleep for a couple days, but I think someone gave you too much of the herbs.” Bart was more confused than ever before only because Charlotte was talking like she was a part of them and knew what was going on. He leaned in closer to her so that he could whisper.
“Char, what is happening here?” She smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder.
“These people are the people of the wood,” she said gesturing around her. “Their King, King Claudius has granted us safe passage to the Kingdom but we had to wait for you to wake up again.”
“Why did they even give me the herbs then? And why are you dressed like that?”
“What you don’t like it?” she asked, clearly a little embarrassed.
“I mean, it’s kind of ridiculous don’t you think?” Bart said with a chuckle. The guy behind Charlotte rushed forward and stood beside her.
“My sister made this dress for your friend, and she has never looked more beautiful,” he said triumphantly. Charlotte’s cheeks flooded red. Bart looked back and forth at the two of them. Was this guy putting the moves on Char?
“Anyway,” Charlotte said, standing and nudging the guy, “Now that you are awake we can take you to see the King.”
“How about they just let us go, and we continue on our mission?” Bart said with a hint of annoyance in his voice, still looking at the two of them in a very skeptical way.
“You can leave as soon as you have spoken to my father,” said the guy. Bart glared at him and then slowly stood up.
“Um, I don’t know who you are buddy but I don’t take orders from the likes of you,” Bart said trying to sound tougher than he really needed to be.
“Bart,” Charlotte started but Bart cut her off.
“Char, what’s the deal here? Why are we trusting these guys?” Before Charlotte could speak, the guy spoke again.
“Because we are trustworthy people,” he said. His slight accent was starting to annoy Bart.
“Again I wasn’t talking to you,” Bart snapped.
“Well I was talking to you,” he said and the two stepped face to face.
“Cut it out,” Charlotte said, but neither one of them listened. The girls behind Charlotte started to giggle and then out of nowhere another voice spoke.
“Enough,” said a woman from behind the two girls and Bart saw a beautiful girl walking towards them with three men behind her. She was wearing a long sleeve, green and brown shirt and long black gloves. She had on tight brown pants and knee high black boots. Her hair was long and black and her skin was white but Bart could tell somehow that she was definitely related to this guy by their facial features. “I see the boy King is awake,” she said as she reached them. “Father wants to speak with you now. Come.” Bart was about to protest when the guy behind him spoke first.
“As you wish sister,” he said and followed her. Bart looked at Charlotte who just followed. She turned to look at Bart and shrugged, as if to say what do you want me to do? Bart sighed and followed still eyeing the brother.
They reached a giant tent in about five minutes, but not before Bart got to see what seemed like an entire village. Everything was made of wood and vines and leaves. There were small houses everywhere and tents as well. Everyone was outside and kids were playing around and wielding things as their parents sat on the porches and watched. Sometimes they would play with them. Many people stopped to stare at Bart as he walked by but none for too long. It was crazy to see how advanced the children were at wielding. Bart could only imagine what a difference it would have made had he been training his whole life. These kids obviously benefitted from it. Yet, his mom never saw fit to have his Uncle Caleb train him. Through all this, he was still a little angry at the both of them, but mostly he was hoping they were okay. It was a long trip for him so far, and he had no idea what had happened to his mom or his uncle. He noticed that he hadn’t had a chance to wish them well before this all happened. They left while he was resting to get over his injured knee. If only things were different he thought to himself.
They entered the tent and the inside was much bigger than the outside. However, there were only a handful of people currently in the tent including a large man sitting on a huge chair completely made of wood. Behind him stood many men all dressed in green cloaks and brown and green clothing. Some had swords on their hips others did not. When they reached the front where the large man was sitting, everyone that Bart was with, including Charlotte, bowed. Bart looked around but decided not to bow.
“You choose not to bow to the King of the wood?” said a man behind the King. He took a step forward but the King raised his hand to stop him.
“If the boy King does not wish to bow, he does not need to bow,” said the King of the wood. “Rise.” Everyone else stood up and Charlotte shot Bart a look. Bart didn’t know why but the way she was acting was annoying him. “So boy King, what is your name?” Bart looked at the King and stared at him. He didn’t know if he could trust him. Yeah, they were nice to Charlotte and all but, they could’ve let Bart be free like her when they first got here. He felt that he was entitled to a little hesitance.
“I’m sure my friend here already told you since you’re calling me the boy King,” Bart said. The King smiled and then he laughed very loud.
“Very smart, this one,” he said as he continued to laugh. He waved his hand and suddenly a cup appeared. Then a pitcher appeared and started floating. Without any assistance the pitcher started pouring a red liquid into his cup. “Yes your friend has given us the basic details of who you are but that matters not. Bartholomew Nelson, son of Alexander Thyasis and rightful heir to the throne of Zathya, it is an honor to meet you. I must say that you look just like your father.” Bart didn’t really care for anything the man had to say, but the fact that he brought up his father intrigued him. He was also amazed at how simple wielding seemed for him. With just a wave of his hand he could have any drink. That was a skill Bart definitely wanted. Bart loved tasty drinks.
“You knew my father?” Bart asked, trying to keep his tone from showing any signs of weakness.
“Of course I did,” he said. “We all did. I used to fight alongside his father. But that was many, many years ago.” Bart had actually never even heard of his grandfather. He didn’t even know who he was or what his name was. “So why are you travelling alone in the woods?”
“Why do I have to answer questions that I know Charlotte has already answered?” Bart asked.
“It’s simple,” the King said with a chuckle. “I merely wish to see if your friend was lying. How are we to know this isn’t some ploy by the prince? No one can truly be trusted these days, am I right?” Bart definitely agreed with him there. “So if your answer is not identical to hers we will put her to death and send you back to the woods to wander around aimlessly until you meet your own demise.” Bart could see that even though the King was smiling he was dead serious. “So let us start again. I am King Claudius of the Wood and you are in my domain. Why were you in the woods all alone?” Bart looked at Charlotte who had a terrified look on her face. He couldn’t think of any reason why their stories would be different.
“We were trying to follow a map to the Kingdom. The map was given to us by Jarick Phinnly and we are being pursued by Mafortian and his men.” The King stroked his massive beard and then stood abruptly. Bart looked at Charlotte who didn’t look terrified anymore, but she wasn’t looking at Bart. Then Claudius let out a huge laugh and patted his stomach.
“Almost word for word!” he bellowed as he clapped and people started laughing. “Good then,” he said with a smile. “You are a welcome guest, boy King.” Bart looked around as everyone stared at him waiting to see his reaction.
“Thank you sir, but I think Charlotte and I should actually get going,” he said looking at Charlotte for support.
“Nonsense,” Claudius said. “The festival is in three days. You will stay until then and then we will let you be on your way!” Before Bart could protest, the King and all his men headed out the back of the tent while his daughter was ushering Bart out the opposite way. When they had walked a significant distance away they stopped at a small tent.
“This is your tent, Bartholomew,” said the daughter. “We will see you for lunch later.” With that she walked away leaving Bart alone with Charlotte. They went inside and Charlotte started tidying up while Bart glared at her. She hardly even noticed him as he stood there just watching her.
“So you’re just going to act like nothing has happened?” he finally said.
“Nothing has happened except that we’re safe now,” she responded without missing a beat. Bart continued to stare at her while she did anything and everything to avoid eye contact.
“Char,” Bart started but Charlotte just raised her hand to stop him.
“Look, we have been through a lot in the past month and a half, and I don’t know about you but I’m sick of running and worrying and nearly being killed all the time.” She turned to face him finally. “These people have offered us a time to rest and gather our thoughts before we plunge back out into the forest where I’m sure Mafortian and his men are looking for us. Why can’t we just relax for a little bit Bart?” Bart wanted to agree with her but the way that everything had played out made Bart feel as if everyone was against him, including Charlotte. He felt like he was put on the defensive.
“Victoria wouldn’t want us to just relax in a time like this,” he said. “We have to make it to the castle. It’s the safest place for us. What about your dad? What about my mom? We can’t be that far-”
“You don’t know that,” Charlotte interrupted. “You don’t know anything about this place so don’t pretend you do. And don’t bring my dad into this. I want to find him just as bad as you want to get to your mom so don’t start.” Bart felt the tension rising and he couldn’t understand why. Why was Charlotte acting this way? Had something happened when he was knocked out?
“Char we’re in this together,” he started to say.
“Yeah well then act like it, Bart,” she snapped. “We’re safe for once. Don’t you think it’s best to just take advantage?” Bart looked at her closely. Her eyes didn’t seem to have the look of anger in them. They looked to be filled with fear. Bart knew how she felt. It wasn’t easy being on the run, but Bart didn’t want to stay here when he knew it was only a matter of time before Mafortian and his men caught up to them.
“Char, I know everything is rough right now, but we have to think about this logically,” he said. “We’re still in the woods. Mafortian can easily find us here, and what’s to stop him from slaughtering all these people? If you care about them so much then why put them in danger?” Charlotte looked as if she might be agreeing when the tent opened up and in walked the guy from earlier.
“Charlotte did you still want to practice your shooting,” he said softly, looking cautiously back and forth between Charlotte and Bart. Bart didn’t like this guy that much and intruding when Bart was trying to have a serious conversation with Charlotte wasn’t helping his case. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Yes,” Bart said quickly.
“No.” Charlotte said before he could turn and leave. “This conversation just ended.” She glared at Bart as she walked towards the exit.
“Char,” Bart said trying to figure out the words to say.
“I’m going with Leo,” she said. “I’ll see you later for lunch.” With that she marched out of the tent and left Bart alone. Bart felt a slight pain in his stomach. It wasn’t like before when he sensed danger. This pain came from the unyielding feeling of loneliness. It was the first time Bart had felt it in a long time. The last time he could even remember feeling like this was three years ago when his mom was out of town going to one of her cousins funerals. Charlotte had left to go on a road trip a week before so he was left with his uncle Caleb for the week. He didn’t have any fun that week and all he did was sit around the house and help his uncle with chores. Every night he felt lonely. This time felt worse. Not only was he in a place where he didn’t know anybody and his life could potentially be in danger at any given moment but the one person he had always counted on to be there with him was now seemingly against him. The thing is he had no idea why. It was a pain that he hated but he had no idea how to make it go away.
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