Chapter 21: The Map
Once they made it up the stairs, Evanna followed Axel into their room which was the equivalent to her own. There was a double bed, not even three beds for them; she wondered who would sleep on the chair or the floor. They all sat on the sides of the double bed as Axel grabbed the map and slid it open on the top of the sheets. Ger seized one of the lit candles on the side and brought it forwards so that they could look at the map.
Evanna leaned forwards to see how big the forest was; it truly was magnificent, a river seemed to weave itself in and out of different parts of the forest. She wondered if this was the river Stye that flowed passed her palace. The cartographer who produced it put a lot of detail into the drawing, even showing the different colouring and types of trees.
"The road we are taking tomorrow will lead us to here" Axel placed his finger at a spot near the start of the forest, "It will take us about four days to get there. Kuramji is the closest town to Direwood forest. This inn is the last comfort we will have for quite some time. It took us nearly three weeks to get through the forest, and that was on the outskirts. We need to go completely through it, so I am unsure how long it will take to get to the Flori’s location. But I do know from asking around that the Flori live around this area" He moved his finger in a circular motion near the middle of the forest to indicate nowhere too specific. Still, the river passed through there, making it a waypoint to follow.
"The cartographer, do you think they have explored the whole of Direwood?" Evanna asked; she was somewhat dubious that anyone would be able to do that, considering the horror stories she seemed to keep being warned about.
"I believe the cartographer could have been an elf of the Flori. Although the map here is not written in Muranthian, on the right corner here-" Axel pointed again, "there is a tiny little symbol in white/ silver ink. It is the Flori flag. There were quite a few maps of Direwood today. However, I knew that a lot of them could not be trusted. Like you just asked, how could we know for certain that the map was not a counterfeit. That little symbol at the top is the distinction between a fake and the real map."
Evanna leaned back again to look at the barely-there ink that showed the Flori flag. It was quite simple. There was a white tree with twisted roots going up the middle, and a few stars above the tree with a crescent moon. Underneath the tree, there was some tiny writing in Muranthian.
"* Our strength lies within the roots,*" She spoke the words out loud as she traced her finger along with the cursive writing. The guys looked at her expectantly,
"Our strength lies within the roots," She translated it for them.
"I thought it sounded good in Muranthian. But I won’t lie, that is quite a slogan," Ronan said as he looked at Evanna in awe again.
Whenever she spoke in the elven tongue, Ronan could not help it; he got goosebumps. Her voice was so soft and sultry; it made him want her to speak to him in Muranthian all the time, even if he could not understand it. Ger nudged him in the ribs harshly. He did not realise he had been looking at her face, staring most likely; she was a beautiful woman with appealing qualities, he could not help it.
Evanna felt the stares on her face after she had once again revealed how fluent she was in Muranthian. Clearing her throat, she stood up.
"Thank you for showing me. It is getting late. I should get back to my room" Evanna did not register earlier that she had entered a room with three men, easily, without thought. If the nobles saw her now, she could not even think of the dirty lies they would spread about her. Shaking her head, she wished them all a good night and left the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.