Ten years later...
An arrow whooshed in the air into a wooden made target. The wind blew swiftly as the morning sun raced in the sky. The river went smoothly down the stream as the birds flew away in unison, upon the crushing of leaves .
" Impressive!" Josh commented as he approached Silion.
" Pig head, hey!" She said as she opened her arms wide to embrace him.
Josh had gone on an adventure in the lands of Merria a year ago. Just like the others, Silion had grown fond of him over the years. There was something about him that made the ladies like him...cuteness, may be, just may be.
He had grown into a handsome gentleman, with a moustache above his pink lips and some fairly long beards sticking out from his chin. He had long black hair that he had tied into a pony tail. His medium black eyes and constant smile was alone a comfort.
Silion, as usual, had done a number on her face. Her sister Nira, was raising her to be a vigilant warrior. She had dyed her hair blond and had it short to her shoulders. Her green eyes maintained and her lips red from lip paint she made herself. She had silver earrings dangling from her ears and trimmed eye brows. Her innocent face, well it maintained only that she was not the innocent little girl any longer.
Nira was somewhere on a tree watching as the two exchanged emotions and led each other by the eye. It was then that she floated down and ambushed them, holding daggers to their necks.
" Love would have you killed" she said as she restored the daggers in their sheaths. She walked aside towards the arrow Silion had aimed to the target practice board. Retrieving it, she turned to them. They were still rooted to the ground, she could tell they were still catching their breath.
" You love each other, clearly... You both should save each other the hustle!" She said as she walked towards the stream. She had grown into an unseemingly warm woman. She even made jokes time to time. She had shaved her head but not all of the hair. She had it to the size of a small finger. Her face melted with extreme beauty yet cold with mystery . She was that kind of person you would still not want to look at in the face.
She was a torment. With the help of a dying prophetess, she finally got hold of her 'magic'. She was competent enough to utilize it to her own course, an ability that had them survive in the woods for a decade.
Unfortunately for her, Caleb had fallen to the sword during an attack by the wild tribe, Persun, a tribe that had settled in the woods for more than a century.
It is believed they were the first to arrive at the kingdom of Bernbute before they were banished by a leader recalled by history as Kolfa the wild. Reasons for their banishment was not clear, many had their own versions, predicaments to what sealed their fate into the forest.
Some believed that the tribe of Persun had a plan to overthrow the king and were snitched on by the Lady Alberth, the woman who had her body in the eyes of the king. They say that the day she said yes to the king was the very day she turned against her own people to earn the favor of the king. It is believed that she was killed by her guard on the command of the king, weeks after the banishment of her people.
Others spoke of them killing a certain witch who cursed them to the forest.
***
Five years back at the time, Josh and Caleb and Nira and Silion were traveling south of the forest towards the mouth of River Edmond. Nira had known something was wrong at the area they had camped at but the vision wasn't clear, especially since she had caught a disease that had weakened her. As they travelled, they carried her on their backs, everyone having their shift.
They came to a clear opening. The trees there had been cut down and only drying decaying leaves were left of them. At that time, she was on Caleb's back. He had warned them that she believed someone was tailing them. Before they could process her concerns, they got themselves surrounded by fifty men or more.
The men seemed hostile and wild. Their craving for blood and war expressed through their faces as they smiled to each other. It is believed that from time to time they would feast on human flesh and clean their teeth with blood.
The four were much of a huge hunt for them. As they roared with laughter to scare their victims, they marched almost in sync towards them. Silion would then find a distraction for them in order to forge their way to a clean escape. According to her, their father had told them countless stories about the wilds, including their low attention span and lower intelligence.
She shouted "apples, falling from the sky, apples!" She took two from her skin bag and threw them in the sky. The wilds loved apples, at least that part of their stories stood out. The wilds were not comfortable with the language but they knew what apples looked like, seems to me they knew the language but avoided using it.
As they struggled for the apples that had then lay on the ground, the four had disappeared into the trees and were planning to cross the river. The wilds followed them to the river as soon as they noticed they were gone. They started shooting arrows to them. Nira had to get off from Caleb's back in order to lower the burden for him.
Nira was the first to dive into the cold rapid flowing river and struggled with the currents to the other side of the river. As soon as she was clear, she took out a bow from her back and couple of arrows and shot back at the wilds in order to clear out the way for her own people.
They had all crossed except Caleb. He had phobia for rivers and was still trying to get himself together to escape for his life. Before he could jump in, he felt a sharp pain in his spine as an arrow pierced through to his chest. One wild took out a sword as soon as he got hold of him and slit his throat, his friends watching in pain and fear.
They had to desert him even though they knew all the things he would endure, even if he was dead. He would be feasted on like roasted goat meat in a prestigious ceremony. It was the first time Nira shed tears. Before the wild killer could carry the dead body of Caleb, Nira shot an arrow right into his skull then joined the rest into the forest.
***
As they sat around the fire, Nira could still see the death of someone she saw as her only friend in the world. She had her eyes fixed into the fire as woods transitioned into ash. She had isolated herself from Josh and Silion who had started getting touchy as soon as they were done with a warm roasted meat from Nira's hunt. For a moment, she stared at them then back at the fire. Tears had welled once again in her eyes as her vision slightly blurred from them.
"What are you doing, sitting alone?"Silion remarked as she walked towards her.
"Is that a question? I mean you kind of answered your question in your question" she responded calmly.
" She found humor after all!" Josh joked as he walked to join them.
"I miss him, he was my...my friend!" She said as a single tear rolled down her left cheek.
" We all do!" Josh commented as he sat next to Silion. After a certain silence, Nira stood up, " I will sleep now, Josh you take the first watch!"
For a decade they survived in the forest, the same cursed forest everyone was scared of. They had no idea of what was happening in Bernbute nor did Bernbute know of their endeavors anymore. Fate sealed their next action but as of that day it stilled remained a ...