They had been riding for little over an hour the morning of their fourth day, when Hëna caught up to him, appearing troubled. The wind that had now grown stronger and chillier, played with her loose hair, partially covering her face, but Daniel’s heart still skipped a beat at the sight of her.
‘There’s something coming our way; they are many and they’re flying fast from the east. A wingman is leading them towards us.’
Daniel looked to the eastern sky on his right, but could see nothing.
‘Heli?’ he asked her. Hëna nodded. Daniel turned his gaze towards Séraphin, who was flying ahead of them, seemingly unaware of anything or anyone approaching.
‘I don’t think he’s seen anything. How can we warn him?’
‘I don’t know,’ Hëna replied. ‘Maybe it’s nothing; Heli says they’re just a flock of mountain ravens, but they look much bigger in size and they never come this far down.’
‘I don’t like this. If we have to protect ourselves again, I don’t know how Nemo will manage. He’s still weak.’
‘I guess it’s a shame he’s human,’ Hëna said. ‘They wouldn’t be able to get to him under water.’
Daniel silently agreed with her and looked to the east again. He thought he could now see a small black cloud appearing far in the horizon. Then, Hëna’s words played back in his head, and it hit him.
‘That’s it,’ he said, and without elaborating, started going through his bag of belongings. He found the shoulder bag he had brought with him from home and reached inside it to find the small air-tank that his father gave him for his birthday. ‘This should keep him out of danger, at least for a while.’
He rode towards Nemo, bag in hand, and without saying anything, threw the bag over Nemo’s head and shoulder.
‘What’s going on?’ Nemo asked.
‘More visitors, Nemo,’ Hëna replied, instead of Daniel. ‘We need to be prepared for anything.’
‘A flock of mountain ravens led by a wingman is flying fast towards us,’ Daniel explained. ‘In case they attack, I want you to swim away from the shore, and if you need to go under, use my air-tank. Only please use it wisely; I don’t know how much air is left in it.’
Dread materialized on Nemo's face, as the prospect of another bloody battle brought back more than just unpleasant memories. Yet, despite the fear of what might happen, he felt too embarrassed to run and hide like a coward.
‘I can help, Dan; I can stay and fight with you.’
Daniel understood. He knew his friend wanted to prove to himself and others that he was not a coward, but the truth was that he was the one who was afraid for Nemo. It occurred to him that perhaps he wasn’t supposed to play big brother, trying to protect and save Nemo all the time, but instead give him the chance to grow up and become his own man. And that maybe his faith in his friend was not what it should be. Today, however, was not the time to put that theory to the test.
‘You are still weak, Nemo; your leg has not fully healed and it may fail you. Won’t you please do this just for me? I would feel much better if I know that you’re safe.’
Nemo didn’t seem to like this very much, but he agreed to do as Daniel asked.
They kept on riding ahead, all the time looking towards the eastern sky, where they could see the small black cloud growing bigger and closer. Above them, Séraphin flew unaware of the approaching threat, still heading north. Daniel wondered why the wingman had not yet seen the birds, and wished there was a way he could alert him. He would most likely be the first one to be attacked by the flock, if they indeed were hostile.
As the distance between them and the birds grew smaller, Daniel could now make out the wingman who was flying separately ahead, and the following flock, which he guessed comprised of about thirty or so ravens. They seemed to be flying hurriedly after the wingman in a disorganized group, their large black wings frantically beating the air beneath them. It would take them only minutes to reach them, and Daniel instinctively grabbed an arrow and loaded it unto the bow, ready to fire at the first sign of hostility.
They all stopped riding and got off their horses, Daniel holding his bow ready and Hëna her sword. Nemo clutched Daniel's shoulder bag and looked up with apprehension. When the approaching wingman came within hearing distance, they noticed Séraphin turning towards him and stopping in mid-air. The two exchanged a few quick words and then both turned to face the flock of ravens that were now almost on them.
‘Nemo, into the water; now,’ Daniel shouted. Nemo obeyed without hesitation, while Daniel aimed his bow towards the ravens, which decided to split into two groups. The first group attacked the two wingmen above them, who had already drawn their daggers. The second group dropped down towards Daniel and Hëna, their beaks aiming like steel darts.
Had they been a flock of normal crows, Daniel would have been slightly less worried, but seeing the monstrous size of these things, he felt his courage waver and for a moment wished he could go and hide with Nemo under water. The birds flying towards them were ten times the normal size. Their black wings completely blocked the sun from view, like an unannounced eclipse. They were coming down real fast, dropping like rockets from the sky, all heading towards the same target.
When they got close enough, Daniel began firing a series of arrows towards them, loading the bow as fast as he could. He hoped that despite his little-trained skills with the weapon, the arrows would find somewhere to latch themselves into the large group. He was lucky, for few of them missed; the rest caused about six or seven ravens to drop on the ground, unable to get back up. Soon though, the remaining ravens got too close for him to use the bow, so he threw it away and raised his sword, standing side by side with Hëna.
The remaining birds, still about a dozen or more, launched into an attack, viciously trying to hook their talons on them, or hit them with their strong beaks. Daniel and Hëna began fighting them off with their swords, swinging and slashing anything that came close enough. The birds were many and they came at them from all sides, and very soon they found themselves standing back to back, so as not to let anything get to them from behind.
The ravens were huge and ferocious, and their beaks and talons hard as metal. It was difficult to get past them, but Daniel and Hëna kept on trying, bringing the oversized birds down one at a time. And still the ravens kept on coming, managing to deliver numerous cuts and scratches to both of them. One of them gave Daniel a very nasty cut on his left arm, causing it to bleed badly and soak all his clothes in red blood. His arm soon began to lose its strength and Daniel felt he could no longer lift it. He was now forced to swing his sword only with his right, which proved more difficult as the sword grew heavier by the second.
Not far from them, while the other two horses had moved away from the commotion, Lightning had joined in the battle, rising up on his two hind legs and aiming at the birds that were attacking his rider. Whenever they ended up underneath his hooves, he kept on stumping on them until they were dead and stopped moving.
High above them, the battle continued just as bloody, with the two wingmen greatly outmatched. Séraphin and his new friend were quick and agile in their movements, managing to deliver deadly blows to many of their attackers. Their large wings, however, were a weakness, and eventually proved to be their undoing. The birds were too many for them, and unlike Daniel and Hëna; the two of them could not protect their backs.
As the fight progressed, the two wingmen got separated, each having to fend off four or five ravens at once. Having flown for many days with little rest, Nathaniel soon felt drained of whatever energy he had left, and eventually gave up, dropping his knives and letting the ravens overtake him. The black birds violently tore at his wings, while he desperately tried to use them to cover his face, allowing himself to free-fall down. Yet, even as he fell, the ravens continued to attack him brutally, causing whatever damage they could. Resigned to the fact that he could no longer fight them, and rapidly losing consciousness, Nathaniel tried to protect his more vital parts. He wra
pped himself inside his own wings like in a cocoon, and dropped towards the ground like a bullet.
It seemed he had not entirely run out of luck, however, since during the course of the fight, they had moved away from land and were now above the sea. Thus it was that when he finally reached the end of his free-fall, Nathaniel dived feet first into the cold water, not far from where Nemo was floating, observing everything.
Not thinking twice about it, the ex-merman dived in after him, swimming as fast as he could. When Nemo reached him, Nathaniel had already touched bottom. Lucky for them, the water there was no more than nine or ten feet deep. Nemo grabbed the wingman with his left arm around his waist, just like Daniel had done with him before, and kicked towards the surface, using his legs and right arm to swim. This turned out to be more difficult than he had thought it would be, but he did not give up and managed to break the surface before they both ran out of breath.
Right then, however, he wished they hadn’t. As soon as they resurfaced, the ravens that were circling above, launched themselves towards them in great fury. Taking one deep breath, Nemo dived back in, dragging Nathaniel with him and going just deep enough to stay out of the ravens’ reach.
Nemo knew that the birds could not get to them and they would be safe as long as there was air in the tank. But how long was that going to last, especially now that there were two of them having to share it?
With his free hand he searched inside Daniel's bag and found the air-tank. He could not tell its weight under water to get an idea of how much air was inside, so he put it first in his mouth and drew one short breath to test it. To his relief, air flew inside his lungs, extending his life by another minute or two. He then put the air-tank into Nathaniel’s mouth, and not a second too soon. The wounded wingman had just opened his eyes, gasping for air, and as he breathed through the nozzle, his terrified expression changed into a slightly frightened and confused one.
Nemo motioned to him to hold the air tank, while trying to come up with a plan on how to get out of this situation alive. Looking up at the relentless birds, he wished he had a crossbow with him. He had never used one, and chances were he wouldn’t be able to hit anything with it either, but he could at least try. As it were, he had no weapon to fight with or protect himself. He looked around hoping to find something that could be of use, and that’s when he saw below him one of the daggers that Nathaniel had dropped. A small blade was better than nothing at all, so he swam back down towards the bottom of the sea and retrieved the weapon.
Making sure that Nathaniel was still conscious and breathing from the air-tank, Nemo motioned for him to stay where he was and kicked again towards the surface, knife in hand. He didn’t know what he would be able to accomplish with it; he just hoped that at least he’d get a chance to see how the others were doing. Swimming in the direction of the shore, he tried to resurface at some distance from where the ravens were. But the birds spotted his red hair easily, and rushed towards him, reaching for his flesh with their claws. Nemo only had a chance to fill his lungs hastily with some much-needed air, before he turned to see them approaching and diving back down. His heart was pounding like crazy.
Panic began taking over as he realized that the ravens weren’t going anywhere. Turning back down to Nathaniel made no sense, as the air-tank would empty a lot quicker if they both used it. He had no choice, he would have to fight the birds off, at least that way the wingman would have a better chance at surviving. Determined, he charged towards the surface one last time, holding the knife in front of him.
As he swam up, concentrated on the four large ravens that were waiting for him, he suddenly saw all around him a multitude of familiar cross bolts, rising from below and heading up towards the surface. Upon leaving the water, they continued their flight until they met their target, two or three for each raven. And just like that, the huge black birds fell down one after the other, floating lifeless on the surface of the water above him. Nemo looked down to see where the cross bolts came from, and to his delight, he saw a group of mermaids swimming in his direction, crossbows in hand.
Two of them grabbed Nathaniel, who appeared to have lost conscience again. Nemo had never been happier to see any of his sisters. He made as if to shout from joy, but remembered that he was under water. Along with the mermaids and Nathaniel, he emerged out of the water and filled his lungs with air, enjoying it just as much as that small victory.
The mermaids swam with Nathaniel to the shore, where Daniel and Hëna were fighting with the last remaining raven. Another dead one falling from the sky caused Nemo to look up and see Séraphin fighting against two more. Two of his sisters targeted them from below and shot them down, leaving Séraphin hovering in the air all alone for a moment. When he saw that the birds were all gone, the Sky-Prince flew down hurriedly, just as Daniel and Hëna pulled Nathaniel out of the water.
A mixture of feelings came over Daniel as he recognized the face of the wounded wingman. For a long time, he had felt resentment and anger towards this person. He, along with his friend, was responsible not only for everything they were going through, but for sending Endërland one step closer towards war and destruction. And now, here he was, unconscious and needing their help. He didn’t know how he should feel about this. This person did not deserve his help, he deserved to die. Or, did he? Daniel realized that he didn’t really know the wingman, nor why he did what he did. Yet, he was judging and condemning him in the same way Séraphin had judged and condemned him and Nemo. And he knew he shouldn’t do that.
He knelt over Nathaniel and checked his pulse. It was weak, but the wingman’s heart was still beating. Then Daniel noticed the air-tank that Nathaniel was still clutching in his hands. He looked at Nemo, who was still in the water and could not help but feel humbled and proud at the same time. His friend had apparently already forgiven the wingman, forgetting whatever had happened and risking his own life to save him. He knew now that he would never doubt his friend’s bravery and big heart again.
Within seconds, Séraphin landed among them and walked straight to Nathaniel without saying a word. As he bent over to check on his friend, they noticed that his whole body was covered in cuts and bruises, scratches and blood, from the top of his head, down to his feet. His gorgeous black hair was all messy and bloodied, and his wings all torn and badly damaged. It was amazing the young prince could still stand tall and walk.
‘He’s unconscious, but alive,’ Daniel said to him. ‘He’s hurt badly though, he needs help.’
For the first time ever, Séraphin’s face showed no anger or hate. There was concern there for Nathaniel, yes, but that was not all. He looked tired and almost like he was defeated. He examined Nathaniel's wounds one by one and then covered his body with his one good wing. The other one seemed to have been broken and he dared not move it yet.
Standing up, he then turned around and walked towards Nemo and the mermaids who were standing in the water, observing. Feeling too embarrassed to look at him in the eyes, with a soft and humble voice, he said to the Sea-Prince.
‘Thank you for saving him, Nemo. I have been wrong about you; please forgive me, for everything.
‘And thank you,’ he now addressed the mermaids. ‘Your help came at a time most needed. I will always be grateful for this.’
Nemo said nothing, but simply bowed his head slightly, a feeling of accomplishment and peace washing over him.
One of the mermaids in the group, who looked like she was the oldest among them, glided forward and spoke for the rest of her sisters.
‘We’re happy we could be of assistance, Sky-Prince; we just wish we could have come earlier. It was only by chance that we happened to be in the area, when we noticed all the commotion. Do you know what those things were?’ she asked, motioning with her head towards the dead ravens all around them.
‘They look like mountain ravens,’ Séraphin answered, ‘but I have never seen any so large and unfriendly.’
‘Unfriendly,’ Hëna snorted. ‘The
re’s an understatement. We almost got chopped into pieces; and that’s only the second time in so many days. I wonder what’s next.’
‘Strange things are happening indeed,’ the mermaid agreed. ‘Creatures never before seen, appear out of the blue, while some people disappear and others get killed. There’s talk of war in the kingdom and that has never happened before. You should be very careful, especially in these parts of Endërland; evil seems to have come this way first, for whatever reason. Which way are you headed, if I may ask?’
Séraphin turned to look at Daniel, as if to ask for his approval, and answered.
‘My friend is wounded badly and needs help. We are far from any village or city that I know, and the closest place I can think of, where he might get the best help possible, is Dard'h.’
‘The clan of your cousins?’ Hëna asked. ‘But that’s at least six days from here.’
‘Not if we go through the Shadow Forest,’ Séraphin explained, knowing fully well how they would react to that suggestion.
‘That is not a good idea, Sky-Prince. That is where the Great Lord banished all evil when he first came here; to this day that evil is still there and no one who’s ever gone in, has come back out. You’re better off going to New Sotira.’
‘That would mean turning back and losing even more precious time, and I don’t think we can afford to do that,’ Séraphin said, looking at Daniel again. ‘We need to reach the Northern Mountains as soon as we can, and Dard'h is on our way. We just need to get there a bit sooner, that’s all. There’s five of us, if we count Lightning; I think we’ll be alright.’
‘I still think you should avoid going into the Shadow Forest; you have no idea what you may encounter there and you will be cut off from the rest of the kingdom, with no hope of assistance from anyone, should you need it.’
‘Heli agrees,’ Hëna voiced her brother’s opinion, ‘he thinks it’s a bad idea. We’ve never been able to see inside that forest; the trees are so high and so dense, that no light from outside can penetrate its borders. They don’t call it the Shadow Forest for nothing.’
‘What’s the alternative?’ Séraphin asked, sounding desperate. ‘Going around it for another six or seven days? Nathaniel might not last a day the way he is. We have to try.’
‘You’re forgetting one thing, Sky-Prince, we do not choose which way we go; we follow Lightning and Daniel.’
They both turned now to look at Daniel; Séraphin with a pleading look on his face.
In his mind Daniel was already considering all the options. He knew that he was running out of time, but that was nothing new. And then, there was Dard’h; he wasn’t particularly excited by the idea of visiting the village of Ghordi. He did not imagine the mountain wingmen being any friendlier than Séraphin and his kin. Still, should he choose to risk Nathaniel dying, for fear of what might happen? He didn’t know why Nathaniel had come to meet them, for all he knew, it was to make sure that they failed; yet, he could not let him die. If there was a chance that they could save his life, he’d take it.
‘It seems to me that if we get to save a few days, we might have a better chance of saving Nathaniel, not to mention buying some more precious time for ourselves. I do not know what’s beyond the borders of this Shadow Forest, but I’m willing to take the chance.’ Séraphin sighed with a sign of relief, while Daniel continued. ‘Only, this all depends on Lightning, obviously; he’s the one leading the way.’
He turned around and walked to the great black stallion, who was standing not far behind them, paying close attention to the conversation. With one hand he stroked his long muscular neck, and spoke to him as he had done before.
‘We need your help yet again my friend. We need to know if you can lead us through the Shadow Forest, all the way to Dard'h. More than one life could be saved if we do this.’
Lightning looked at him through his big eyes for a moment, as if thinking about it, and then shook his head upside down just once, in a reply that Daniel took as a ‘yes’. He turned back to face the others and said.
‘Well, I guess that’s settled then; we’re going through the Shadow Forest.’
‘Thank you!’ Séraphin said, bowing his head slightly in gratitude.
Hëna and Nemo did not speak.
‘Very well, then,’ the mermaid spoke one last time, ‘I guess there is no more to be said. We shall wish you a safe journey and may the Great Lord light your way in that dark place. As for you, Sky-Prince, I hope you will remember your promise of gratitude in the days to come. You may hear a lot being said very soon, but you will have to be the judge as to whether or not the truth has been spoken. We take our leave now; our queen will want to hear about all of this. Good luck to you all!’
They all bowed their heads towards the company and made for the open sea, when Nemo called after them.
‘Wait, I didn’t even ask you for your name. I would like to thank you properly someday for saving me.’
‘Our queen’s joy at your well-being is all the reward that we care about, young prince. However, I am known as Agnes, the Loud One.’
‘Why do they call you that?’
‘Perhaps one day you may find out, Nemo, the Brave One.’
Nemo blushed at the compliment, and Daniel smiled. Agnes noticed and continued.
‘Yes, I know how all the mermaids speak of you; but it will be my great pleasure to tell the story of your great bravery and sacrifice here today. Everyone in our kingdom will hear about it, and our queen will be most proud to have given birth to you, as I am just to have met you. Take care of yourself, young prince, and return safely.’
Not being able to think of anything else to say, Nemo simply waved and watched the mermaids disappear into the blue. He then walked out of the water, not without a sense of contentment, and joined his friends gathered around Nathaniel. The wounded wingman was still unconscious on the ground.
‘I wish we had some Summer water with us,’ Séraphin said as he was cleaning some of the wounds with a wet cloth. ‘I don’t know how else to help him.’
‘The villagers in New Sotira used most of it on Nemo and the werewolves; they kept little for themselves,’ Hëna reminded him, then as if speaking for both Daniel and Nemo, she asked. ‘What is he doing here anyway? Why were those things after him?’
Séraphin kept quiet for a moment, replaying the whole thing in his head.
‘I do not know. The only thing he managed to tell me was that he needed to speak to me urgently and that it was very important. But there was no time; the birds were right behind him.’
‘Whatever it was,’ Daniel intervened, ‘we’ll never find out if we don’t move fast. We should load him unto one of the horses and be on our way. The sooner we get to Dard'h, the greater the chances are he will survive.’
They agreed to tie Nathaniel up on Nemo's horse, with Hëna holding the reins, while Nemo would ride with Daniel. Once again, they resumed their journey towards the secret castle, this time heading towards the nearest point of entry into the Shadow Forest. No one spoke of it, but the same question was in everyone’s mind: What would they encounter in the dark territories of this accursed place?
On the Run