Witt Will Not Save You (Adventure and Romance)

Part 15

The day had come after another rough night, the day to finally disembark the ship. 'Headings forest' Harlen had said. Maive peered through the small window to see the vast stretch of land they were indeed heading straight for. She could hear the sound of the collectors outside the room, which Harlen had still kept locked from the outside. Bastard. 

The collectors were busy no doubt preparing the ship to reach the shore, all Maive could do was wait and watch as the view transform from a blur in the distance to a now formed landscape of endless dark twisting trees covered in a hollow vail of fog. Soon enough the ship shuddered sending Maive crashing into the wall. At last the room stopped rocking as the large vessel ground against the earth forcing the ship to come to a halt. Maive pushed herself up off the wall, she could now hear the creaking floorboards underneath her feet without the crashing sounds of waves. 

 Harlen would soon be here to lead her off the ship she thought, he was unreadable and that infuriated her. She wanted so much to know what secrets he was hiding behind that cold gaze that was both intriguing and mysterious. Just as she had thought of him the door clicked and swung open. Harlen shifted in the doorway his eyes swiftly scanning her as he entered the room. Nothing, there was nothing she could read behind those orange glinted eyes. 

"Was it really necessary, keeping me locked in here." she said roughly

"Consider that it was for your own safety." he said as he started sifting through the papers on the desk.

"So I am to believe you care if I am safe or not." she snorted.

"Just doing my job."

"Is it in your job description to hold peoples hair back when they are sick." she said slyly. 

He paused for a moment and she knew that she just pushed a button on some surface level emotion that he was trying mightily to not reveal.  

He waited another heartbeat before saying,

"I hope you can walk for as long as you talk." 

She tried not to convey the smile forming on her lips at how he had avoided her question but before she could push him further on it, which was probably a dangerous game to play, he spoke again.

"Get ready to leave, and stick close behind me." he grumbled.

He had now rolled up that large map along with other papers and stuffed them into a satchel draped across his chest. He strapped the sword around his waist a little tighter.

"Do I not get one of those." she half teased.

"I doubt you would know how to use it" he retorted.

"You would be surprised your Highness". She said, again sarcastically. 

Although she had never wielded such a large blade she was handy with smaller weapons. He said nothing though. He gestured for the door, she pulled her jacket over her shoulders and they stepped out on to the deck.

The howling winds once again whistling and whipping through the sails of the ship. The collectors each with a sheathed sword resting at their sides were hauling themselves down onto the shore. Some eyeing Maive and curiously monitoring the distance with which she stood next to their Superior. 

"Keep moving" he bellowed, not to her but to the collectors who were no doubt grumpy and tired like Maive. 

He silently instructed Maive to do the same. Once they were at the edge of the ship Maive hoisted herself down a roped ladder, she dared not to look down at the steep drop but soon enough she was at the base and leaped from the last step to meet the squelching sand and mud beneath her. She at last could survey the dark forest opening, the sharp and jaggered trees seemed to hum and whisper in the wind. Maive could feel the power of the forest already, she could almost sense it, either it was from the magic blood within her or dark forces Harlen had spoken of. Either way it seemed to call for her, daring her to dive deep into the danger that was surely ahead.