The Forest We Share

Vine King

It didn’t take us long to get to the other side of the caves. Maybe another half an hour or so of twisting and turning, bending through caves before we launched into the air and landed in a forest that looked almost exactly like the one we left.

We landed in a formation with me in the middle, Cam to my left and Eli on the right of me. We found Hannah immediately, she didn’t seem hurt, scared or worried. She seemed happy and was smiling. She was talking to someone who I’ve never even seen before, although he did seem familiar.

Hannah turned her head and looked at us. “Hey guys, you’re finished here. I want you all to meet someone.” The two of them walked over towards us. “This is the Vine King.”

“Why is he called the Vine King?” Cam called out from a distance.

“Sorry, that’s Cam. The brute force of the group. I’m Eli, pleased to meet you.”

“And I’m Marshal. It’s a pleasure to meet you but I must ask, if I may?”

“But of course young Marshal.”

“Why did you bring us here?” I asked him very seriously but he smiled. Eli and Cam exchanged awkward glances with each other.

“I need. No that’s incorrect. We all need help, and the help we need is from all of you. The King turned into his swampy, vine self and continued explaining. Our world is in the path head towards peril and we think you all can help us.”

“How did you know about us?” Eli asked as politely as he possibly could.

“Your parents.” The king sighed heavily. “Your parent still keep in contact you know. When they were your age, Eli, they also came here. Along with 3 of their friends. They all were great warriors but the other 3, unfortunately had gotten caught in the crossfire of a crossbow. During an ambush of a group of notorious bandits. Before that they all were happy here, now they don’t come but they write.”

“They wrote about us?” Cam asked with a concerned look on their face.

“Oh yes! They know everything about your weapons and poisons and firearms. They know about the bunkers and the Cëpoigon. Which I think is a great name by the way. They even send us the comic books you all write.” We all smiled now we don’t have to stress over them finding out.

“So during the ambush out of the 7 who came here, 3 dies, 4 lived to return home. But if it was an ambush, that mush mean they have a target. You know what it was don’t you?” Hannah and I asked, in sync as though it were planned.

“I do, though I often wish I didn’t. The target was not gold or anything like that. There were 2 main objectives to the ambush.

1. Killing Me

2. Taking my crown and use it to take over my throne.

Whoever leads the Pyrosnakes really wants the throne.” He turns back into a human. “That’s why we need to go.”

“Where are we going exactly?”

“To a place you’ll be safe. To the palace of the young prince. A prince by the name of Rain Coultin. The prince will turn king on the day he turns 16. Unfortunately, is the same age as you Mars. Only 13.”