Witt Will Not Save You (Adventure and Romance)

Part 16

Maive dragged her weary feet laced into thick heavy boots through the mud and sand, her legs were wobbling terribly. She was determined not to let anyone, especially Harlen, to see how much she was struggling. From the ill feeling on the ship to the hunger that made her stomach groan she thought for a moment that perhaps if she drank from her own veins maybe she would feel better, maybe the hunger and the pit in her stomach would vanish. Maive quickly banished the thought and forced herself a new one. I am strong, I have over come many things, don't let them see your weakness. Maive repeated the words in her head as she trudged on up the shore line. The collectors one by one were marching towards the forest. As Maive walked closer towards the spindly trees she could see how they were almost drained of life completely, the trunks thin and stripped of color and the decaying leaves sprouting out. Although the forest itself seemed dead something within seemed to loom over it. Covering it with layers of dark, wild, pulsating magic. 

As they reached the opening Maive could now see deep into the thick layers of trees and shrubbery, before she could take a further step into the luring darkness she noticed everyone had stopped. Harlen was close at her side, everything was quiet and still except for the forest hum. The collectors started to unpack little shiny bits of metal hung together. The sound of the metal clinking and clanging together started to fill the air around them, though the sound was actually quite beautiful. A collector handed Harlen one, Maive could now see it more clearly. It was a string a metal cylinders varying in size with a handle that remined her of a lantern. Once the majority of the collectors were holding one of their own they started proceeding deeper into the forest and the whimsical chimes of the metal amplified with every step.

"They are meant to keep the voices and at bay, the sound drowns it out." Harlen said to Maive as he fell into step beside her. He could see the curiosity on her face.

So they were indeed lanterns of sort, lanterns of sound. To protect them and lead their way.

"Voices?" Maive questioned.

"Whispers of the forest, meant to tempt you and lure you in so far you get swallowed up entirely. Many have been lost to this forest, even driven to insanity." He goes on.

"Sounds fun." Maive said sarcastically.

"Other things will try to kill you just as easily if you wander far enough on your own." He sneers.   

Maive could tell it was yet another not so subtle warning as to not try and escape. But she wasn't so stupid as to do any such thing. 

"Why don't we just sail around it." she asked.

"It would add months to an already harrowing trip, although it is not the safest way it is the quickest." He retorts. 

"Just because its the quickest way doesn't make it the best way." Maive said wickedly. 

"Trust me, I know when to take my time on things, Wild one." Harlen said with a smirk just as wicked.  

Maive felt a rush of heat flow to her cheeks, but she wasn't sure if it was anger or something else. 

"I have a name, you know." Maive blurted out as if to change the course of the conversation. 

"Huh." Harlen paused his speech for a moment as realization washed over his face.

"Your name. I never did quiet catch it." He said.

"You never asked." She sneered.

"Well. . ." He said, waiting for her to reply.

"Maive." She spat out.

"Maive." Harlen repeated it in that low intense voice.

The sound of it on his tongue made her skin crawl in a way that was most unsettling.

"I prefer Wild One." He said flaring those sharp glowing eyes at her. Damn this man.