Griffin Erazmus Llane is living in the small house located between the Enchanted Forest and the village, Griffin and his family do not own the best reputation.
For as long as he can remember his dear mother has been the one taking care of the sick...
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Griff inhaled the cool morning air, his ears listened to every little sound. He could hear the singing of swallows in the forest, even the small scurrying forest mice as they searched for berries or bugs to eat. His eyes flickered to the dying yellow fields, stomped by the soldiers. The thick fog was caressing the broken plants, hiding the damage from human eyes.
The peace was ruined by silent footsteps coming from the house. The enchanted scoffed, wrinkling his nose in disgust towards Taron, a human. He will only have to ride to the next town, that's it. Until he gets the right way, no more, no less. That thought silenced his disgust a little. A saddle bag made of sheep skins was thrown at his feet, it smelled of dust and sheep obviously.
“Saddle your horse. We'll be leaving shortly.” Taron said groggily, still half asleep. Griff said nothing as he took the tack and marched to the barn, he stopped on his tracks as something yellow caught his eye. It was the yellow sunflowers that had been dead the other day, the mad Jamie had watered them. And now, they looked quite alive and very yellow. He frowned, slightly sniffing the air. There was no smell of honey and vanilla, no smell of magic. He didn't give it anymore though as he went to tack his skeleton of a horse.
The dull coloured horse looked at him, his large eyes flickering at the tack for a second. “stop staring, beast.” Griff hissed, treading the thought of sitting on top of a horse for a long period of time. The horse just looked at him as he tacked it up, a wonder in its large yes, as if he was excited to get away. Of course, Griff didn't believe the ugly beast to to have any mind or feelings whatsoever.
Another bag was thrown at his feet. “Uncle packed us both some food for the journey, be generous for once and thank him when we go.” Taron said, throwing his own saddle bags over the horses withers.
The smell of horses was also suffocating other smells, he could only hope that it was the barn. He relied a lot on his senses. Putting his left foot in a stirrup, he pulled himself up swiftly. “I can almost feel it wobbling, it's not going to make even a mile before it collapses.” Griff whined, clutching the reins. Taron snorted as he walked out of the barn, his horse having no bit of matted fur. “don't beat it, he'll do just fine.” the older of the two said over his shoulder as he went to say good bye to his uncle. Griff gently urged the horse on, to his surprise it even moved and didn't collapse on first step.
After the good byes were shared, mostly from Tarons part, the pickering duo were on their merry way. From time to time Griff couldn't help himself but smell the air, hoping to catch even a small scent of his sister, but as time carried on, the realization how far the soldiers had gotten drawned in. Humans, those creedy bastards.
They were riding on a small road, on the left of the road was a forest, but on the right, was a small part of Enchanted forest, it didn't go unnoticed how Taron kept peeking at the magical woods, but still trying to ride on the further side of the road.
“are you afraid of the Enchanted forest?” Taron jumped slightly, having not expected the other to speak. “of course I am, who in their right mind wouldn't?” well, he wasn't thats for sure. Griff shrugged. “are you for real? Didn't your mother ever tell you about the horrors of it?” Taron asked, his eyes trying to see through the thick trees.
No, Griff wanted to say, his mother never told him much, all he knew was what he had discovered himself. He was part of the forest.
“Sure, but what do you know of it?” Tarons eyes flickered to right, if he thought he was going to see any magical creatures he was retarded, Griff thought. The creatures of magic never came out in daylight, and if they did it must've been a good reason.
“My uncle told me that they're vicious towards human, that centuries ago they ruled the whole land, but then humans came from the east and chased them away, killing off their forest of magic. Whoever enters, would never see the broad daylight ever again. Supposedly there are creatures who look like wolves, except they have feathers. And in the lakes of Enchanted Forest there are beautiful girls who have the tail of a fish, they draw human in like honey calls bees. And then, they drown them and eat them for dinner. Oh and then my uncle told me that-”
Griff didn't care to listen any more. He rolled his eyes, it went unnoticed by the other traveler as he was too deep in the story. “but if what you say, that no human has ever seen any daylight after entering the forest, then how do people know what kind of creatures are there?” Griff cut in, looking at Taron from the corner of his sea blue eyes. For a second, the other boy seemed to be annoyed by being cut off through half of the story, but the question did get him thinking.
“My uncle, he probably met someone who lived.” Taron defended Jamie, gripping the reins harder. He felt uneasy, all through his childhood he had been told the horrors of the forest, just like every other child on the land. Griff didn't know weither to laugh or be angry. It was so like human to judge what they haven't seen, to always assume the worst. “But if you claim that the creatures are so dangerous, then how come they haven't came out of the forest and taken back the land that supposedly belonged to them as you said?”
Griff turned to Taron, this time he wasn't angry or annoyed, he was actually curious. He had pondered about it before, but never seemed to get the answer. “Because they can't live without the forest nearby. There's something that keeps them alive. Without it they'd just die.”
Taron urged his steed on a light trot, leaving Griffin behind a little. The boy turned towards the sweet smelling forest, it called to him. He pulled the dark horse to a stop, looking longingly at it. He growled under his breath, feeling the horse under him jump slightly. He turned his back at his home and urged the horse on a gallop, hoping it wouldn't collapse on the journey. As he catched up with his fellow traveler, he couldn't help but feel a piece of tread as the only thing that resembled home to him was left behind.
