The Last Tree

Chapter nine

It has been two months since brother squid left the forest to bring Adam and the stones back. He has seen so much hardship that the humans have gone through. Emily, the horse and brother squid were almost there. But it has worn them down. They rest in towns while they can, but it doesn’t change that they are in the hot desert. And they don’t get to rest in a town very much at all. They are few and far from each other because the tree had long reaches, and now with them gone, the three of them has experienced the damage that the emperor has truly done. To say that they were depressed was an understatement. Emily had seen all this before but never truly experienced it as she has now. A car ride is much shorter, you didn’t have to stop as much. Didn’t have to really see the damage everywhere you look. Talk to the people who have to go through it. Barely surviving, the only people who looked like they ate regularly was the guards of each town or city. They always got the most food and had barley any hardships. They also were the ones in charge of the cities or towns. They were all loyal to the emperor, and not the people. It was obvious in everything you see. And everything is always worse off than tree haven city ever was. It still had a little of the last tree’s blessing plus the last sacred tree reached the edges of the city.

“It’s a good thing that you can just fly us when the horse gets tired. But, why don’t we just fly there?” Emily has been doing cartwheels in the air.

“Because it would look suspicious if we fly into a town. I don’t want the emperor to know we’re coming.” Brother squid sighed as she does another.

“Oh! So we’re going incognito?” Her eyes sparkled.

“Incognito?”

“Yeah like an assassin or spy. We should probably get you a cape with a hood then. You know cover your face in shadow.”

“Why does my fave need shadowed?”

“You know to make sure no one sees you when you,” she went across her neck with her hand, “the emperor.”

“But I’m a squid who can change his shape.”

“Oh! That’s true!” She nodded, “guess you don’t need to hide then. I’ll take the covered in shadows though because I can’t change my shape.” Brother squid nodded in agreement, sighing when he noticed it getting darker.

“We’ll have to camp here for the night.” He sets Emily and the horse down. The horse snorts as it wakes up and looks around. Slightly daze from a good sleep.

“Will you be alright not soaking in you water for another night? It’s been two days since we been in a town.”

“It’s highly uncomfortable but by tomorrow we should react another one. I’ll just have to deal with it.” Brother squid’s skin itches and his throat is dry. It hurts to swallow, but by sipping on his water he’s lasted this long. His water is getting dangerously low and murky. He has one bag left untouched but he wants to leave it for on the way back. They are almost there. He can already feel the dark magic that that man is giving off and the sick magic from the stones. There is plant life here, very sparsely though. The horse loves it, gives him something to chew on. Brother squid boosts it with his magic to make it healthier for the horse. Emily set out some grain they bought from the last town we were in.

“How much longer do think it will take?” Emily flopped down in her bedding. “I mean we have to through the mountains and then we should be there?”

“Yeah the mountains are closing in. I could get us there by tomorrow night if I flew but all of our hard work on being “incognito” would be out the door. And you both might pass out from the speeds.”

“What!?!” Emily sits up straight looking at brother squid with wide eyes. “I haven’t passed out when you flew us before!?!”

“Well I’ve been floating along the same speed as the horse, of course you haven’t.”

“So you can go faster?”

“Yes.”

“Why haven’t you?”

“Because you can’t take my fastest.”

“No I mean, we could have already gotten to the next town instead of staying the night out here. We could have stayed the night at an inn every night. Not at you fastest but at a pace that we can all handle.”

“Hmm, I didn’t think about that.”

“No you went straight to the extreme. Tomorrow we’ll fly until about a mile or two from the town and then we’ll go by horse.” She flopped back down and that was the end of the conversation.