Trek For Survival

Gia glanced over at Luan, to see her grinning as well, and the apprehension that had coiled tightly in her chest began to unwind.

"Gia!" whispered her mom, "You"re bleeding!"

Gia lifted her foot and saw that blood was indeed dripping down her boot, where the pig had grabbed her ankle. Lifting her pant leg, she saw a gash just above the edge of her boot. It wasn"t anything more than a scratch, but it had been sufficient to trickle blood down the side of her boot.

"It"s nothing, mom. I"ll be fine."

However, the boars below them didn"t think so, because the moment they smelled blood, they started going crazy, tearing at the tree and pawing the ground.

"Ah, but Elisen, these aren"t normal pigs. They have been blessed by the Mystics!"

Everyone watched as the enraged pigs began to grow spines and longer tusks. Growing larger and larger, Carla clung to Gia in terror.

"Go higher!" called Vonn, pushing Tom to a higher branch himself.

Carla nodded as Gia turned to her, and they climbed higher in their tree as well.

Malthren laughed as he watched them scramble higher in the trees.

Luan frowned as the boars below her began going through the same transformation.

"This isn"t natural! You have corrupted them! That is against the law!" cried Luan.

"I have not corrupted them; they have been blessed by the Mystics!" screamed Malthren.

Luan"s eyes began to glow, and the tattoos on her cheeks lit up as she pointed at the pigs below her. Their eyes began to glow as well, but the boars shook their heads with a squeal and started attacking her tree, froth spewing from their mouths.

Malthren laughed, obviously unhinged. Elisen watched as he too seemed to be losing his mind.

"Luan, you don"t have enough control over your magic to affect the animals just yet. But you have worked with the trees, plenty of times. In fact, your entire life you have been an influencer of the trees," called Elisen.

Luan nodded and turned her attentions to the trees around her. Elisen pulled out her bow and knocked an arrow. Mumbling something under her breath, the arrow tip began to glow, and then she quickly fired it at the nearest boar. The arrow sunk into its skin effortlessly, and the boar hit the ground.

"Forgive me, great forest, for the acts I commit," cried Elisen as she quickly shot the other pigs that were there as well.

Malthren screamed in rage. "For killing creatures that were blessed by the Mystics, you are sentenced-"
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An arrow pierced one of his eyes, cutting his sentence off in the middle. He stood there for a minute, as his mouth turned into a little O of surprise, then he fell to his knees and then to the ground.

Stillness rang out throughout the forest, before the trees they were sitting in began to sway and quake.

Tom gave a shout of surprise, as Carla screamed a little, both clinging to the trunks of their trees. Mikey laughed as the tree he was in gave a little shake, pulling its roots out of the ground with a pop.

"Luan, we need to get out of here before the other Mystics find out Malthren is dead," said Elisen, looking around.

"Take us south, to the edge of the forest!" said Luan in a loud commanding voice.

All of the trees, that were in that area seemed to give a shake and rise up to join the already freed trees, forming a moving wall around them.

"This is fantastic! Just like before!" laughed Mikey, swinging his legs back and forth.

"You"ve ridden in a moving tree before?" asked Luan in surprise.

"Yes, we got a ride from one on the other side of the elven forest, to get through the area where the walking trees were," said Tom.

"That"s amazing!" laughed Elisen, settling into a crook of her tree and pulling out her baby to feed him.

"How long will it take to get to the border?" asked Carla unhappily.

"Several days by tree speed," said Luan with a grin. "It would have taken over a week, almost two, just by walking. Plus, this keeps us safe from any creatures that the Mystics may have sent after us."

"I don"t mind taking you to the border, but can I go back to sleep once we get there?" asked one of the trees. "I don"t really like the weight on my roots, or the feel of air around them."

"Of course!" agreed Luan with a nod.

"That"s a relief," said another tree, ducking to go past a group of other trees.

"I bet we could get there faster, if we danced," said a smaller tree that was following along.

"Junior, you don"t have creatures in your branches," grumbled the tree holding Tom and Vonn.

"Please don"t dance," cried Carla in a high-pitched voice.

"Dear, don"t you worry. I have no intentions of wasting my energy," said the tree holding Carla and Gia.

"I don"t mind using energy!" laughed the little tree, giving a bounce and a wiggle. Soon everyone was laughing at its antics as it danced around them.

"Elisen, will the elves come after you and Luan for killing Malthren?" asked Tom, thoughtfully.

"We will only be in danger while we travel with all of you, because they know where we are heading. Once you are out of the forest, we will disappear, traveling randomly while Luan learns more about her inherent powers and grows stronger. Don"t you worry about things. We shall be alright," said Elisen.

"Luan, you won"t forget us, will you?" asked Gia as the day wore on."

"How could I forget my adoptive parents?!" laughed Luan. "I could never do that!"

"Wait, what?!" cried Carla, getting distracted from the rocky ride. "I think now is a good time to start explaining things!"

"They claimed me as their child, so the Mystics wouldn"t sacrifice me to the forest," said Luan before either Vonn or Gia could speak up. "Our laws state that if a child is handed over to the Mystics because of differences in the child, that separates it from other children based on magic, then the Mystics may choose to raise the child to become a new Mystic, or the child may be sacrificed in order to return the magic the child contains back to the forest."

"That"s horrible!" exclaimed Tom.

"It has helped keep wild children from becoming horrible abominations as adults. Time is given to any child who is born with excessive magic, to ensure the right choice is made, as many can grow into their magic and become exceptional members of the community, but occasionally there is a child that is born with too much magic that must be killed. The magic seems to take control of the child and causes more chaos in the forest than any good. I believe Luan was chosen to be sacrificed because those in power wished to control her, so they would have control over her magic, but their methods weren"t working as well as they would have liked. With the appearance of you humans, I believe they decided to just sacrifice her, before she escaped. Refusing to take the potions they kept giving her, was too much for them to ignore," explained Elisen.

"But I thought Sylven wanted to marry her?" asked Gia.

"Sylven is the nephew of Malthren. He was only attempting to have children with her, to see if the children could be controlled easier than she was," said Elisen with a shake to her head.

"Why do you care so much about Luan?" asked Vonn.

"She is my niece. I am her mother"s sister. I should have been a n.o.ble, like her parents, but my calling was to the forest. I know quite a bit more than most of those in power like, but because of my own powers, and the blessings the forest has placed upon me, no one has been able to do anything about me. Though, after today, I believe there will be a huge shake up. Malthren controlled quite a bit of the politics of the Mystics. With his death, there will be a power grab within their ranks, to see who will become the new Grand Mystic."

"What of my child?" asked Carla, grabbing Gia"s hand worriedly.

"The laws in our forest claim that as long as Gia and Vonn have no children of their own, Luan is their child, regardless of the age difference and the fact that Luan is elven. They have claimed her as their own, and that protects her from being sacrificed by the Mystics," explained Elisen, burping her baby and turning to change his diaper.

"No children!" exclaimed Carla. "But I was looking forward to grandbabies!"

"Once you leave the forest, no one is going to know if they have children later," said Luan. "Because humans only live so long, no elf is going to go searching for you, to watch and make sure they have no children. It isn"t worth the time. It is just a formality in this case, to keep my safe. I will have reached the age of adult, long before their life spans are over. Only a child can be sacrificed to release magic into the forest. Once adulthood is reached, sacrificing the person only means the magic is lost."

"Alright, I suppose," said Carla, glancing back down to Gia who gave her a weak smile. "If that"s the case, then why did it look like you were crying when you first arrived to get us?"

Gia grimaced, glancing over at Vonn, then back to her. "Vonn was hurt when the Mystics grabbed Luan and I was afraid of losing him. Elisen healed him and then we went to rescue Luan."

"Alright then. I guess that makes sense. Thank you very much, Elisen," said Carla.

Gia sagged against the trunk of her tree and smiled over at Vonn. If her mother had found out everything that had happened, there would have been a much bigger conversation, but it seemed she was willing to accept the short version, and Gia was glad. It had been an exhausting day!