The endless Sea of trees and forest filled my vision, hiding us from the warm embrace of the sun, it was suffocating
The search party had departed from the village. We've been searching for Brannellas father and brothers for seven days now and haven't found a trace of them.
The men who volunteered to accompany the Magnar have all but given up hope to find them, yet Brannella insists they're still out there waiting for us to come and find them.
We've set up camp for the night and this day was just as unsuccessful as the last.
Wandering the camp I can see it on the men's faces, they're tired and ready to turn back, yet every time someone speaks to the Magnar hoping he will give the order for everyone to turn back, he silences them before they can speak any more. I've begun to notice he's speaking to Branella more and more, it unnerves me seeing the woman I... I'm getting too lost in thought, I should get some rest before the day comes.
Walking back to my tent I come across Branella sitting on a log outside my tent
"Ella, you should be getting some rest, is something wrong."
Branella stayed sitting, looking down at the ground
"Carth, do you think my fathers and brothers are alive?"
"Of course I do, If I didn't, I wouldn't be here Ella helping you look for him, Why would you say something like that?"
Looking up from the ground I could see tears forming in her eyes
"Everyone in camp is saying its a lost cause, that they lost to the children of the forest, and I can't accept that, what am I supposed to do, they're all I have left, and if they're gone, I'm all alone in this cruel world of ours."
Listening to Ella broke my heart, I wanted to reach out and wrap my arm around her and comfort her, to let her know she's not alone.
"Ella, I..."
I couldn't get the words out of my mouth, how could someone like me a son of a old hunter who's never seen battle be with the daughter of the hero of the wailing trees, a man who Faught alongside the son of the first king, someone who was offered a seat alongside garth the gardener
Branella got up and started walking away trying to wipe away the tears in her eyes
"I'm sorry, this was a mistake."
"No wait!"
I grabbed her wrist stopping her, quickly pulling her into my chest hugging her
"You're not alone Ella, you have me, I swear no matter what we find out here I'll protect you."
Realizing what I just said I let go of Branella, what is she gonna think of me, I said that in the spur of the moment
Looking at Ella I see tears but a big smile on her face as well, the next thing I know I'm being pulled into a hug.
"Thank you, Carth."
Surprised by what's happening I can only do one thing and hug her back
We stayed like this for what felt like an eternity until she let go
"Thank you Carth, I needed to hear that, can we talk more tomorrow."
"Of course."
"Good night Carth"
I watch Branella walk away, her glistening brown hair swaying in the cold air of the night
"Good night, Ella."
I then turn to my tent and slip between the flaps hiding away from the cold of the night.
.....
The next morning was slow for everyone in the camp, we had a long next few days ahead of us, the Magnar on that morning announced to the camp we won't be making camp for at least 5 days, 5 straight days and nights of searching and resting little in between.
I couldn't understand why he was searching so hard for Branella's father, her father was an important man and renowned for all his deeds and accomplishments that he even out showed Magnar, It was well known they butted heads and clashed over decisions of the village constantly. By no means were they friends. So why was he looking so hard?
"Carth, good your awake, come on we need to get going, were about to start the search again"
"Hey, Ella, yesterday you said you wanted to talk some more?"
"Oh, don't worry about it, we need to hurry and find my family, come on"
Branella began to pull my arm towards the end of the camp, passing by the hunters gathering their gear preparing for the upcoming long and hard next few days well have ahead of us. eventually we reached a large group of men gathered around the Magnar, they were his household guard, our villages best warriors and are regularly fighting the children of the forest
"Ah, Branella, you're awake, I hope you don't mind but I was hoping you could give us any more insight on your fathers hunting pattern. I've devised a plan for these coming few days and if you have any suggestions that would help us all greatly."
"Sure, what's the plan Magnar?"
"I believe we could cover more ground if we start spreading out and splitting up into smaller groups, of course we wouldn't travel too far apart, but just enough we can search the most ground we possibly can.
"What if we find something, how would we communicate?"
"Oh that's no problem at all, should anyone find something they would start hitting their shield as hard as they could and start yelling, then everyone should be able to find them."
"Sounds simple enough I guess."
"So any suggestions, I brought you along for a reason, you know your fathers hunting patterns more than any person in our village."
"Look through the bushes more, father always stayed close to them and never liked to stay on a trail, better to hide from what you're hunting."
"Ill keep that in mind. YOU HEARD THAT MEN, START LOOKING THROUGH THE BUSHES AND FOLIAGE, NOW PAIR UP AND START SEARCHING!"
The men around us all started nodding at what the Magnar yelled
"ALRIGHT MEN, LET'S GET MOVING!"
Brannella then grasped my hand and started pulling me along with her.
"Come on Carth, we need to find them before the men start giving up."
Looking around I could see other groups forming smaller search parties, but I could see it in their faces, their wanting to return home to their families. I couldn't deny them that I didn't miss my family as well, my father was forced to stay home because of his bad leg after a hunting accident, my mother is taking care of him so its up to me to do most of the chores, I just hope they aren't struggling too much.
.....
The next three days were hard, little sleep was probably making it harder for us to find Brannellas' family.
Looking up from the hundredth bush I look up, my eyes lock onto Brannella in a tree trying to find anything sticking out that might help us find her family.
"ANYTHING."
Looking down she looks at me and can only shake her head with a look of sadness and disappointment, she then begins descending, finally jumping down when she gets close enough to the ground.
"Come on, let's keep looking."
"Then what, we're not gonna find anything, we've been looking for 3 straight days and nights with barely any sleep Carth."
"Hey, don't say that, I'm sure we'll find something eventually."
Brannella just stood there looking down ready to cry
"Hey, don't start crying on me, we have plenty of sun before night."
"Alright let's keep going."
We then begin to start moving through the forest trying to find anything
"Say Ella, I've been meaning to ask but why is it we haven't even found a single footprint or any evidence of your father being here, I mean you say this is the forest he brought your brothers right."
Brannella stops suddenly unmoving
"Wait, don't tell me were in the wrong forest"
"No, I remember what my father told me, he said he was heading to the wolfs woods with the boys and would be back in three days. He's just overly paranoid and is such a master hunter he knows how to leave nothing behind of his existence being there."
"Right, you scared me for a second there Ella."
Me and Brannella began to chuckle at the idea we could of been in the wrong forest, but all of a sudden we heard it
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
bang bang bang bang
The signal, it was the signal if anyone found something
Both me and Brannella both began to run as fast as we could towards the yelling we could hear men around us running towards the yelling as well
Then we came upon it, Men circled around it, whatever it was caused everyone to be quiet, a little to quiet, but we couldn't see through the crowd but a had an idea and I prayed I was wrong
Brannella then began to try and get through the crowd to see what they had found with me trailing behind her then she started yelling
"Move, let me through!"
The men began moving out of the way until we came upon the sight that I prayed wasn't true
"No, no no no no no, NOOOOOOOOO!!!"
Branella fell to her knees sobbing at the sight before her, all I could do was hug and comfort her. Rustling was heard from the bushes, the men around us drawing their blades and bows.
Out of the bushes came the Magnar and his house guards
"Did you find them, What did you... By the gods, you can barely recognize them."
Before us lay the shredded bodies of Brannellas father and brother.
"I'm so sorry Ella."
She could only wail in sorrow at the sight In Front of her.
One of the hunters then speaks up after Ella starts to somewhat calm down and star to sob silently.
"There's only two bodies, I thought we were looking for three"
Me and Brannella both looked up and realized he was right
the Magnar then spoke up
"Quick Everyone spread out and started looking around, he may still be alive."
The Magnar slowly approached the bodies and knelt down
"Brannella, could you identify the bodies, so we could know which of your brothers we are looking for"
Brannella could only squeak out a quick answer through her crying and pained heart
"Yes, It is my father, and elder brother. It's my younger brother Yorn we need to look for."
The Magnar Noded but for some reason seemed to be searching for something.
"Is something the matter Magnar"
The Magnar then smiled after finding what he was looking for before reaching out and grabbing Brannellas fathers sword
"No Carth nothings wrong, In truth, everything is going perfectly."
Slowly the Magnar rose from the ground, sword in hand with an enormous grin on his face.
"That's Greens bane, Brannellas father legendary sword"
"That it is Carth, a blade of bone stronger than bronze and stone, the blade that has been blooded on a hundred of the children of the forest and brought down even giants, a blade truly worthy for a leader."
Me and Brannella could only watch in shock and anger as we finally understood why a man who all but hated Branellas father wanted to find him so badly.
"You bastard, that belongs to my father"
"Your fathers dead you whore, honestly bringing you along was the worst decision I made. You were useless and it was a random hunter who found the. So much for being the best hunter.
The Magnar smiled at brannella while he mocked her
All of a sudden we started to hear cries of pain to erupt around us
"What's happening? is this your doing"
The Magnar could only grin and laugh while he watched me grow more and more angry
"Its his guards, their killing the hunters, quick Carth, we need to run"
Branella grabbed my hand and we started running as fast as we could
As we ran we watched as the hunters around us were being cut down but the Magnars house guards, we could do nothing but watch as the men who wished to see their families again were cut down, arrows passing by our head
We ran and we ran for what felt like forever until we couldn't breath anymore
We stopped by a large tree to catch our breath
"Are you ok Ella, did you get hit anywhere?"
"I'm fine Carth, ugh THAT BASTARD!!! I SWEAR I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!"
"We can figure that out later Ella, first we need to figure out where to go now."
Brannella stood for a moment thinking about what to do
"My fathers friend, the son of Brandon the bloody blade, Lord Edric, We need to find him, once he finds out what Magnar Balrik did here he'll surely bring Hell upon him."
"Alright, What direction do we need to start heading then"
"Northeast, away from the Magnar and towards Edrics keep."
"Alright, lets not wait around before Magnar Balrik and his guards find us.
I had spoken too soon, an arrow had passed right In Front of us, we turned and there they were seven of Magnars guards.
"RUNNNN!!"
But before we could start running again, One of the guards fell with an arrow sticking out the back of his head. And we followed the arrow to the source, and there they were, the culprit, a person clad in a cloak black as night with a bow in his hand.