Conlaren

18. Conlaren.

I feel someone nudging me, I open my eyes to see the blue sky above me and I see two round things in the sky far away. My eyes go from them to Luna that is next to me looking down towards me.

“We are arriving to the Conlaren forest so get up and get ready.”

“Ah, thank you, did I really fall asleep?”

“Yes, but it’s understandable, there journey has been pretty hectic from the beginning. I am a bit jealous that you were able to sleep here.”

“Sorry, next time I can sit next to you and allow you to sleep if you want?”

“I do not think I can sleep peacefully before everything is settled. Thank you for the offer.”

I feel the dragon starting to get lower and soon I there are trees on sight, the trees are surprisingly high up. They are at least two times higher than normal trees and the leaves are fewer and they have grey lines in the middle.

“Those are some weird trees.”

“The grand mage told me that this place had a magic ritual that was done multiple times and the excess magic seeped into the forest around here making the trees change.”

“Are those rituals still being done? What kind of rituals were they?”

“She didn’t know, or she didn’t tell me.”

“You don’t trust her?”

“Absolutely not.”

“She came with us to help other races; how could you not trust her?”

 “Is that not suspicious? The whole thing about you two being some chosen people to fight off some evil entity is so farfetched.”

“Me being able to heal is incredible on its own right, she having the same power makes the story legitimate. It is too much to be a coincidence.”

“Certainly, but she could be leaving out any amount of information. It might only be a part of the story, or the story could be twisted for her gain.”

“But we are doing what we want to do, she didn’t force us to do this or anything.”

“Yes, but we should still be careful.”

“I chose to believe in her and that is what I will keep doing.”

“You can’t trust everyone that you meet.”

“I do not trust everyone, I only trust the people I feel like I can trust.”

Luna turns her head away, I notice that I was getting a bit heated in that conversation.

“Sorry, I know you are just worried about us. I still want to trust the people I trust. Is it too selfish?” I ask Luna in a softer tone.

Luna turns back toward me and shakes her head a little while closing her eyes.

“You are allowed to be a bit selfish. I can do the not trusting thing. We are a group after all.”

I do a small nod and think that its better not to continue this conversation. The dragon shakes a bit and I notice that have landed again.

I get off the dragon and look up and see how much bigger the trees look from down here.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and I look back to see Alice looking around focused. Ah, I really am horrible. I start to look around to see any enemies. 

The forest line is near us and it continues as far as my sight can reach to both sides. Behind us is a plain of grass with a few plants and even fewer trees.

We start to enter the forest when we hear a sound of someone talking.

“What business do you have here? The forest belongs to us so turn away now.”

The grand mage answers “There is a great evil spreading in these lands that is trying to eradicate everyone. We wish to help you fight this evil that has corrupted the different races in this land.”

Another male voice from comes from the left of the other voice.

“We have no need for help from suspicious outsiders, now begone from here.”

The grand mage turns our way.

“I heard that the people here are stubborn and do not communicate with others from outside the forest, but I didn’t think they would turn us away during a time like this.”

“Can’t we help them regardless?”  I ask her.

“Impossible, if we go into the forest they will attack us, and we do not know what kind of enemies they would be. In addition, there are enemies amongst them that are stronger than them, we can’t beat them all without killing them at the same time.”

Martin looks like he wants to say something but then decides not to and looks down with a frustrated look.

“Can’t we persuade them to let us help?” I ask hopingly but I know that it cannot be done.

“They can’t trust us no matter what we say. The best thing we can do is leave them alone and hope they deal with it on their own.”

On their own. If they could do that we wouldn’t be here trying to help them. The grand mage starts walking back to the dragon and we start walking behind her.

We get up on the dragon silently and it starts to rise.

“We will go to the half wolf man mountain next. They aren’t that friendly with other races, but they still interact and even trade at the close town of half canine man people.”

They keep talking but I don’t listen to it, I too shocked that there are people close to us that could be saved and they do not want it.

I don’t want to leave here without helping them. I know that we can’t, but I just can’t leave either.

“Let’s go back.”

Everyone turns towards me.

“I want to help them.”

“You do understand that if we go back we might have to kill them all with our own hands?” The grand mage asks.

“Yes.”

“Some of us might die too, are you all right with that?”

“Yes.”

She looks to the other dwarves, they all look at her and nod. She sighs and the dragon lands on the ground again.

We get off the dragon and walk back to the edge of the forest.

“We decided to help you even if you do not want it.”

There is no response, so I get anxious. I run inside the forest and there is one person on the ground with a puddle of blood under him.

“Be careful, the enemies are strong, you can’t run off on your own like that.”

I could have saved him if I made up my mind earlier. I feel like crying but the situation doesn’t allow me to do that.  I collect myself and focus on finding the person who killed him.

Chapter seventeen. Chapter nineteen.