Chapter 6: Short lived

 

 

 

Crickets chirped as Sairek and the girl who had helped him get out of the castle walked through the woods that was near the castle itself. Sairek was glad that he wore so many layers of cloth, even though it was more or less stylish clothing. The night seemed to be unnaturally cooler then it usually was at this time of year.

 

“Stop.” The girl soon told him, as she stopped her movement. Sairek slowed down completely, and took this time to take in his surroundings. It seemed to be kind of spooky, but perhaps this was just how Sairek felt. He had never been in the forest at night before after all. He had been in this particular one before, but never deep, it was during the day, and it was for training the earth element, so he had never been alone. He noticed that they were standing in a small clearing, but other then the fact it was dark, they were in a forest, and in a clearing... There was not much else other then those facts to note out. He looked at the girl for further instructions as she seemed to be looking around.

 

 

“I don’t think they will find us here even if we lit a fire for camp. We should be safe here.” She soon said, before she began to walk off once again.

 

 

“Where are you going?” Sairek inquired curiously.

 

 

“To get wood for the fire. Just wait here. I don’t want you getting lost after the stunt we just pulled.”

 

 

Sairek only stared at her for a moment, but nonetheless, he complied by slowly sitting down on the cold forest ground with his eyes crossed, and his staff lay across his lap. He idly watched her gather sticks and stones which of course would be used to fuel the live fire, and to keep it in one place so it didn’t spread and catch live anywhere else. When she had built it, Sairek lowered his staff next to the pile of sticks, and chanted “Balinzer,” softly. His staff acting like an overgrown match as the head of the staff lit up. Sairek slowly lowered his staff to the pile of sticks until one of them ignited, then he pulled the staff back and relinquished the spell.

 

 

“Now that that is done,” Sairek began, welcoming the heat of the flame and the light it provided, for it was far more comfortable now. “Just who are you? How did you know so much about me --" he blinked for a moment, before lowering his gaze to meet her eyes directly. "...despite how inaccurate it was..." he added, before continuing on. "...And why were you there at the castle walls?”

 

 

“You were a lot slower then I thought you would be, considering you were supposed to be very smart.” She answered back.

 

 

“So it was you who sent those letters, accusing me of peeking through someone’s window?!”

 

 

“Well, I thought accusing you of something you didn’t do would hopefully get you to see the first letter, and from there, that would get your attention. The rest of course is as you know.”

 

 

“When did you write those letters?”

 

 

“Three weeks ago.”

 

 

“The castle only received them last night. So don’t accuse me of being slow. I found all of the letters, and got the secret message all in a span of 8 hours. Besides, you in fact made a spelling error in the secret message. Yggdrasil only has one ‘S’, not two.”

 

 

The girl simply shrugged. “Sorry, I’m not as smart as someone as rich as you are who gets people to teach you. I’m just a little village girl.”

 

 

“I find this very hard to believe…” Sairek muttered to her.

 

 

“But it’s true, Sairek! Something wrong is happening to Yggdrasil! I looked for you and studied you, because I had word that you were very smart for a kid. And it’s true! Yggdrasil has been slowly wilting for at least a month or so now. I’ve been spying on you for the past few weeks to make sure you are as smart as people say. Surely you could find out what is wrong with the world tree, right?”

 

 

“…..” Sairek pondered for a moment, closing his emerald eyes as he did so. He stood the staff up from his lap, and began spinning it within his hands idly as he did so. It was grinding into the dirt making a small hole. “...Why me and not someone else who is more intelligent?" Sairek finally asked, opening his eyes to look at her cautiously. "Why not an adult of some sort who knows more about these things? I am nothing more then a young student in learning. Just because I’m good for my age, does not mean I am the best.”

 

 

“What adult would believe me?” She answered with a question of her own. “Besides, I did try that at first. How would a kid like me know in the first place that Yggdrasil was dying?”

 

 

“Yeah. Good question. Speaking of which; how does a kid like you know that Yggdrasil is dying in the first place?” Sairek asked, countering with her own response to his own question.

 

 

“I just do.”

 

 

Sairek gave her a look. Obviously showing he wasn’t satisfied with the answer she gave him.

 

 

“It’s hard to explain, but I can show you where Yggdrasil is, if you follow me for a long while, that is.”

 

 

“I don’t think that’s how it works.” Sairek muttered, quickly losing confidence in this girl. You’ve shown no evidence to me that you are being serious and not playing some crude joke.” He explained to her. “I’ve always wanted to leave the castle, yes. But how would I possibly explain to my father when I return that I escaped the castle over some village girl’s prank thinking the entire world was at potential risk? First this state will be searching for me. Eventually sooner or later, this entire country will be looking for me probably within a span of a week. Despite my want to leave the castle and just be free, if only for a while, I am not going to cause the entire country to go in an uproar unless the reason I do so is for a selfless cause. Besides, news somehow often travels much more quickly then that of the continuous flow of clouds, it truly isn’t going to be long before this state is out looking for me, if it isn’t already.”

 

 

“Well, there is a small bit of evidence…” The girl began.

 

 

“And what is it?” Sairek asked, growing impatient.

 

 

“Haven’t you noticed the amount of Ethereal in the air decreasing in some areas?”

 

 

“Not really, to be… wait…”

 

 

Sairek thought back to the fight with Foer. Thinking back to some moments in the fight, specifically at the end before Foer landed on him, he only cast one spell in that area before the Ethereal in that air had been completely exhausted. Some areas he was able to cast up to three spells, and there was still Ethereal in the air. Then he thought back to earlier years of his training, when he was able to cast several of the same spell to try and practice it. He could cast up to maybe 8 times, and sometimes Ethereal was still left over. Of course, this wasn't perfect evidence... but it did strike him as odd. Sairek's spells weren't even powerful; it shouldn't take very much ethereal in one area to cast even five spells. More powerful magicians could draw it from large areas; they didn't need to move around like Sairek needed to.

 

 

Sairek looked at the girl. “Ethereal disappears that quickly, and nobody has noticed it?” Sairek asked.

 

 

“It’s not that simple, yet at the same time it isn’t that odd. While the Ethereal levels are low, it actually isn’t too uncommon for them to get this low, and even lower. While the tree is active and healthy, the Ethereal levels do rise eventually because the tree tries to keep the balance if the scales begin to tip on one side. Not everything dies at a set time after all, but the tree isn’t healthy this time. Something is causing it to wilt. It’s trying to consume more and more Ethereal to recover, but it’s not curing itself at all. The Ethereal levels will gradually drop until there is no more Ethereal level left. And by that time, the world will begin to turn into a wasteland, if it isn’t shifting already.”

 

 

She let out a sigh. “It’s a weakness of the tree; nobody will notice it’s in need of help until it may be perhaps too late.”

 

 

“Even so, what do you expect me to do?” Sairek questioned, trying to hold back any irritation in his voice. He failed to see how he could possibly help.

 

 

“I don’t know. I was hoping you might be able to find out what is going wrong somehow. Perhaps someone is corrupting the tree. Or, it could be something else… I don’t know. Nobody ever visits Yggdrasil often to check on it. It’s really hard to get into the center of the planet, you know. But it isn’t necessarily impossible either. There are a few caves that do lead straight down to the center of the earth, but they could take weeks just to travel down to. I used to live near such caves until I came here to look for someone to help; and the one I think who can help is you.”

 

 

“I still find it hard to believe if it’s such a far way, you came on your own.” Sairek responded.

 

 

The girl smirked. “Why not? It wasn’t much different then what just happened to you. Except I didn’t have a whole castle after me, just my family. In fact, I sent those letters before I even left my home; I didn’t expect myself to arrive quicker then they did, though.”

 

 

Sairek took a few more moments to ponder all of this. He still wasn’t fully convinced but he wasn’t too willing to return to the castle after what he just pulled.

 

 

“You should get to sleep. If you’ve been up all night like you said, you’re going to need the nap. The sun may rise within an hour or two.” The girl told him.

 

 

“Just one more thing,” Sairek let out quietly. “Your name... What is it?”

 

 

She smiled, almost as if she was flattered. “It’s Nayleen.” She simply answered.

 

 

Sairek nodded, before closing his eyes. Within seconds of doing so, he only realized how exhausted he really felt. It didn’t take more then 15 seconds before he slipped out of the senses of reality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sairek was awoken by being shaken by somebody. He was incredibly groggy, and despite his consciousness coming back, it took him about 8 seconds to finally open his eyes just a peek to see it was Nayleen that was shaking him. Sairek blinked with only half opened eyes. He felt his back was up against a tree. Trying to combat the drowsiness, he shook his head rapidly.

 

 

“You’re a heavy sleeper…” Nayleen observed. And Sairek only let out a small grunt.

 

 

“It’s not easy when I’ve been staying up several nights in a row this week…” He croaked out.

 

 

“Who’s fault was that?”

 

 

“Mine. However just because it is my fault does not mean that waking up with a small amount of sleep is an easy task. Especially sleeping outside... It is not a restful sleep as that of a royal bed… I feel sore all over.”

 

 

“It’s mid morning now. We need to go, or else we’re going to be caught sooner or later.”

 

 

“How long was I sleeping for?” Sairek asked, as he grabbed his staff which was laying on the ground at his side. He grabbed it with one hand and used it to push himself up onto his two feet. As he stood, he then used it to support himself. His entire body felt like falling over and succumbing to the effects of sleep again.

 

 

“Maybe only 3 hours. I’ve already covered any signs that we were here the best we could. Now can we get going?”

 

 

“Alright, alright. Fine let’s go.” Sairek muttered. And then a question popped in his head. “…Where are we going, actually?”

 

 

“Ultimately, we are going to the cave where I used to live because I’ve visited the Yggdrasil tree a few times. So I know the way. I think we should try and avoid towns as much as possible. At least you should avoid them to not raise alert.”

 

 

“I never really brought any money with me.” Sairek announced to her. “I never really had a chance to grab any.”

 

 

“That’s okay. I can get food my own way.” She replied with a sly grin.

 

 

“Surely you aren’t planning to steal from the country I'm fated to rule later...?”

 

 

“Well, that, or you could go hungry and try to search for food on your own. I on the other hand am going to be stealing on my own either way.”

 

 

“…Ehh… Oh, fine.” Sairek finally let out with a sigh. “It’s just people will complain to the castle about it. It will surely leave a trail for them to follow.

 

 

“With how slow those letters get to the castle? I would be surprised. If anything, it may help us because they may get excited and go the wrong way, going to a place we left weeks ago. Anyways, we’re leaving now.”

 

 

Before Sairek could even comment on anything, the girl reached out and grabbed his gloved hand and pulled him forwards and began to walk. Sairek nearly fell over due to his drowsiness, but he made no complaints, although he did pull his hand away and began to walk on his own. The staff helped him keep up with Nayleen’s rather hasty pace.

 

 

“So, I will ask again, where are we going?”

 

 

“Didn’t I tell you? We’re going to--“

 

 

“We are not going to be walking in a straight line, I hope.” Sairek responded.

 

 

“Oh.” She let out, getting what he was asking specifically. “We’re going to the Thaoel Forest. Nobody will keep track of us easily in there.”

 

 

“Isn’t that near Lamen?” Sairek asked. Lamen was sort of like a city, except it was quite small despite its rather industrial look. It too was next against the ocean. Traveling there almost was a straight line. This particular forest could exit towards the direction of Lamen. Traveling on the paths towards Lamen would eventually lead to the forest if one passed the town gates. Past the forest was a town called Mairu, it was deep in the mountains. It as where most of the iron of the country came from. The closest mining operation to the castle.

 

 

“Yes, it is. Nobody really goes into the forest anymore though. Apparently trouble started there.”

 

 

“Shouldn’t that mean we should stay away from it?” Sairek questioned.

 

 

“It’s the quickest way. And the longer we take to get to the tree, the less time we have to find out what’s wrong with it.” Nayleen explained to him. "As well, if nobody likes to go in there anymore, it means easier reign for us to run about in it."

 

 

“I see. What kind of trouble is it then?” Sairek inquired.

 

 

“Bandit trouble, mostly. You know, travel on the road, and suddenly you are being mugged. Travel in the woods too now, and you get ambushed. We’re going to be staying off the roads anyways, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem… I think.”

 

 

Sairek couldn’t help but sigh. This girl was deciding on absolutely nothing but assumptions and her own opinion. Sairek had learned quite differently and always tried to make choices based off of facts if possible. He couldn’t criticize her too much, for there was not much info to make these decisions on, except that, assuming this entire situation was true, it was best to take the shortest possible routes, even if they were the most dangerous.

 

 

Then, something surprised Sairek, and due to his drowsiness, he was quite slow to react, when something leaped out of a bush and tackled Nayleen to the ground. Sairek looked and was horrified to see it was a soldier from the castle.

 

 

“What is the meaning of this?” Sairek questioned in a tone of authority as Nayleen and the soldier fumbled a bit, although Nayleen easily lost and was soon held by the soldier, restrained.

 

 

“Sairek, you are to come back to the castle immediately.” The guard said to him in his own tone of authority. Sairek was at least glad the one who found them was not an elite guard. It would have been game over for certain then.

 

 

“I have no intentions in returning to the castle as of this time. Something extremely urgent has come up. Father has to not be concerned of my--”

 

 

“Your opinion doesn’t matter boy. You will come with me to the castle, even if I have to drag you by your cape as you kick and flail.”

 

 

Sairek raised an eyebrow at the rather aggressiveness in the soldiers words. “Are you threatening me?” The child questioned, gripping his staff tighter. The fatigue his body had before was quickly being washed away by adrenaline. He felt like he was going to need it very soon.

 

 

“Threatening you? No. Just giving you a sense of reality since you feel like you can whatever the hell you want.” The soldier said. Nayleen continued to try and get out of the soldiers hold, obviously to no avail. Sairek was just happy he hadn’t harmed her in any real way except perhaps her attitude as she was screaming and yelling to be set free.

 

“This isn’t something I want to do.” Sairek said firmly. “This is something I need to do. There is a difference between the two. I may be spoiled in some ways, but I would never leave the castle like this unless it was for a very good reason, and there is. I didn’t do this out of an act of me being a spoiled brat.”

 

 

“Just be quiet. My orders are absolute. You and this brat will return to the castle with me. Or I will do anything to bring you back to the castle, even if it means using force. I don’t want to do that to a child, but your father’s orders are above all else. And this brat here will be executed for treason.”

 

 

“WHAT?!” Nayleen shrieked out.

 

 

“Are you insane?!” Sairek questioned in disbelief. “How can such trivial thoughts consume you so? She didn’t even commit an act of treason! If anything, she helped prevent me from injuring myself by catching me when I jumped off the cliff to escape the castle!”

 

 

“Aiding your escape is an act of treason. It is as simple as that.” The soldier stated, speaking over Nayleen’s yelling.

 

 

“You will stop and desist this nonsense now!” Sairek ordered in a raised voice of authority.

 

 

“You can’t order me!” The soldier declared. “Know your place boy!”

 

 

“I do know my place!” Sairek declared through clenched teeth. “The king is my father, my the one half of who that create me, and my orders are stalemated with his! He is not above me, as I am not above him! Whenever a soldier gets two opposites of an order, that soldier by law must desist their actions until me and father can come up with a conclusion! This is not a new law, it has existed in many bloodlines before we two have!”

 

 

“Not anymore…”

 

 

“Do not speak such nonsense!” Sairek hissed through gritted teeth. “Father could not have changed that law over the span of a few hours!”

 

 

“You’re not the son of the throne anymore… You’re not above anyone now…”

 

 

Sairek hesitated for a moment. What? That was impossible… How could such a thing could even happen?

 

 

“Do not argue to me with such ostentatious lies.” Sairek simply stated cooly. He couldn't believe it, and refused to.

 

 

“Oh ho. It’s not a lie boy. Your father has been arrested for treason as well. And thus, he has been dethroned.”

 

“Dethroned!?” Sairek spat out angrily. “I refuse to believe such things with a serpentine tongue! I will only order one last time, let the girl go and--“

 

 

“BEHIND YOU, SAIREK!” Nayleen soon shouted out.

 

 

Sairek blinked, spinning around, he only caught a glimpse of someone behind him before…

 

 

*THWACK!!*

 

 

Sairek let out a loud grunt of pain as the force of the hit had been so powerful he was easily sent off of his feet and rolling into the ground. He would have been hit squarely in the back, but because he spun around it had been a powerful hit to the stomach. Needless to say, he struggled to keep a hold on his staff, especially when he hit the ground hard and rolled several feet away. He gasped for air, but temporarily lacked the ability to suck it into his lungs for a few seconds as he landed face down. He soon panted when he found the ability to breathe again. Slowly trying to push himself up. But another weak yet involuntary grunt released from him once more as he was forced into the forest floor. Someone’s foot had slammed on his upper back and pinned him there.

 

 

“Talented, but still a fool when it comes to combat I see…” He heard a voice say above him, obviously the one pinning him onto the floor. It wasn’t a voice he recognized.

 

 

Sairek felt the foot lift off of his back, and shift underneath his stomach. Almost like a pancake, the foot lifted him up and flipped him in the air, Sairek only peered his eyes open for a second before they slammed shut in pain once again. A strong kick being sent to his stomach once again as he was in the air sent him flying until his back smashed into a large tree. Once again, he faced the problem of suffocating from lack of air from being winded. That, and his body ached all over. His body fell limp as he clung to consciousness. He slowly lifted his head up, even though it felt like it weighed tons, and slowly opened his eyes, only to see the legs of the figure that had just brutally kicked him.

 

 

“STOP IT!!” He heard Nayleen yelled out, almost sobbing. “He’s already down! Why are you hurting him more?!”

 

 

“Why?” He heard the unknown voice ask, before he felt the back of his cape being lifted up, and he dangled helplessly.

 

 

“Hold on… to the staff… Hold on… to the staff…!” Sairek repeated in his mind.

 

 

“Because,” The voice continued “This spoiled brat needs to be taught real punishment!”

 

 

Sairek soon felt himself being released, though not even a second later, he felt himself being kicked in the side, sent flying once again until he smashed into the ground on his side and was sent sprawling on the ground. With every ounce of remaining strength, he kept the grip on his staff. And he continued to grip it as he fought for consciousness, even when he felt himself being slowly dragged back towards the castle by the end of his cape…

Author's Note

Spell checked this chapter. Honestly very little has changed, other then the correcting of some sentences to make them easier to understand, and made it a bit more descriptive.

Reviews

[Sairek Ceareste]

@Chris

I kept making the "Foer" mistake many times. I should have just changed the name to be honest since I keep making that mistake; I don't know why. D:


Second could shouldn't be there; might have accidentally missed it when I edited the sentence; but looking at how the sentence sounds, I think I must have been drinking some gasoline or something strange; I don't like how the entire sentence looks as a whole.

[Chris]

Once again, no complaints about this chapter. Just a couple of quick things. First, you changed the spelling of Foar/Foer's name in this chapter.

Sairek hesitated for a moment. What? That was impossible… How could such a thing could even happen?

Maybe you could turn this into something Sairek thinks? It would make it more personal for him, and we'll be able to get a better sense of his confusion that way. Also, if you do keep this the same, omit the second "could."

And I know I commended the use of *Thwack*, but now I'm taking it back. Instead of repeating myself I'll refer to what I said in my review for chapter 1.

[Chris]

Good chapter. I thought the part around where you had the sound effect was done pretty well. I got a sense of suspense from it when Sairek was hit because I wanted to know who do it. The twist was a great idea, and I can't wait to see where you take that, especially with his whole mystery guy who attacked Sairek and everything. Everything else I mentioned in previous chapters still hold true with this one.

Now some technical stuff:

...but other then the fact it was dark, they were in a forest, and in a clearing, there was not much else to note out.
"Then" should be "than." Also, omit "out." The sentence will sound a lot better without that preposition.

His staff acting like an overgrown match as the head of the staff lit up.
"Acting" should be "acted" to make this a sentence, because right now it's a fragment. Also, I don't like the repetition of the word "staff" here. It sticks out too much, and I think the sentence would sound better without it. The simplest way to fix it would be to change "the staff" to "it," but you could probably rewrite the sentence differently if you didn't want to use the word "it."

It too was next against the ocean.
"Next against" sounds awkward. Either say "next to" or omit "next." Personally, I think the latter would be better because "against" sounds stronger, but I guess it depends on how you want the sentence to sound.

Just giving you a sense of reality since you feel like you can whatever the hell you want."
I think you forgot "do" after "can," or some kind of word, anyway.

Sairek hesitated for a moment. What? That was impossible… How could such a thing could even happen?
I think questions like this in narration look kind of lame. I mean, I kind of like this because it milks a little more suspense for the twist, but at the same time, the questions being a part of the narration kind of kills that for me. It might look better if the questions were actual thoughts. It might help make it a little more personal for Sairek if you do it that way, too, and maybe give us a better sense of what he's feeling.

“STOP IT!!” He heard Nayleen yelled out, almost sobbing.
Just one explanation point will suffice here. I know you're trying to use a second one as an attempt to put more emotion into it, but more than one explanation point looks cruddy, and it's considered amateurish to do so.

...Sairek only peered his eyes open for a second before they slammed shut in pain once again.
Did you forget to put "with" after "peered"? Because otherwise this sentence reads really weird.