Chapter 34: Senses: Part One
After two days of traipsing through the forest and the group’s spirits were low. Evanna seemed to struggle more than the others with the new environment. When night would fall, she could not sleep, and if sleep did come, she would have nightmares. Even Nesrin could not help her with sleep. Her shoulders felt heavy with an unknown weight as they stayed drooped down. The horses, however, seemed the same; they were still agitated but showed no other signs of distress.
Nobody really spoke for those first few days; their faces looked worn with their eyes bloodshot. Cilv seemed more animal than human, but she did not go hunting, and if she acted too rashly, she would leave the group and curl up in her blanket in the tent instead of staying by the campfire. The men seemed to do better, they knew it would not last long, and on the third day, they were right. However, the feeling of dread did not completely go. They still felt tired, their eyes were still slightly bloodshot, but they had a little more energy than the previous days.
On the morning of the third day, everyone, except Evanna, was already out of their tents and eating breakfast. Nesrin stayed by her side, worry forming on her little face.
~ Evanna ~ She gently spoke through her mind link.
Evanna turned around in her blanket to face the little fairy. Nesrin noted how she looked a lot better, her bloodshot eyes gone, in fact, she seemed to have slept well, but she did not move from her position.
~ Are you okay? ~
She nodded her head back in response to the fairy. She did not know how to form the words that were on her mind, out of anyone, Nesrin may understand more. Nesrin gently smiled at her, showing that she understood what was on her mind; she flew closer to her face and gave her a little peck on her cheek, causing the princess to look at her in surprise.
"What was that for?" She queried.
"It will get easier, I promise" Nesrin replied; Evanna nodded her head at this before sitting up.
She quietly had breakfast with the others, forcing herself to eat the food that tasted like ash in her mouth. She glanced around the forest, feeling as though they were being watched. Her senses were on high alert, her ears picked up on the smallest of sounds from any nearby animals, and she swore the ground would rumble every now and then, but as she looked at the other’s faces, she could see that it was just her. Maybe, it was just in her head; the forest was probably playing mind games with her like Ger said.
Although it was morning, sunlight could hardly be seen and to make matters worse, coils of fog began to enwrap the trees, alerting the group to the atmosphere forming into one of horrific night. Although they were not fearful, it was not unseemly for fog to engulf a forest. It made them all warier about their surroundings and the potential threats that made them easy prey.