Chapter 139: Follow The Bodies
In another part of Direwood forest, a band of elves followed behind prince Arawn among the significant heights of the trees. They moved swiftly, sliding down the branches, jumping and flipping acrobatically. They had been searching for Evanna for two days now, following Arawn’s lead, who was becoming more and more frustrated.
Arawn dropped to a branch below the others, crouched down, tilting his head to the side as a small smile played on his lips. Garrett landed heavily next to him but was still silent; he looked on at what the prince was humoured by and furrowed his brows. Before them was a dead faceless creature on the ground; their gazes followed the tree’s broken branches above it and the black pool of blood surrounding it.
Arawn knew Evanna passed through there. The men he left with the Demon prince had yet to contact him about any issues with the faceless creatures. So it was not them, and he knew how Evanna escaped the forbidden side of the forest where the faceless had been sealed away from the rest of the world. She was a remarkable woman, but there was nowhere to hide now when she escaped the faceless before she had somewhere where they could not enter. The seal was now broken, and anyone roaming the woods was in the most danger.
In the days following up to Evanna’s escape, the prince provided extra protection for the surrounding villages and set out more patrols to deal with the monsters. His father was aware of the situation with the faceless running loose; he was adamant they could solve the crisis before alerting the other kingdoms. Reports had been filed about the number of the creatures being killed daily.
The prince hopped down and swung from a branch before front flipping and landing gracefully on the forest floor. His hair was still in place as though he had never moved, his attire mud-free even though they had been sleeping in the trees for two days. Arawn strolled forwards, his hands behind his back while his men surrounded the area above him, their bows readied as they kept a keen eye on their surroundings. Garrett and Cedric soon followed behind the prince, their eyes wary as they too searched the area. Arawn stepped up to the faceless beast, avoiding the bloodied ground, its long neck twisted to the side, its pincer sprawled behind it, half its long legs broken or curled together.
He dropped down into a low squat and smirked at the white-masked face of the creature. It had been stabbed in the face. Nodding his head, he stood back up and looked in the direction of the trees again. There were no footprints on the earth, and so, he knew without a doubt that his girl stuck to travelling across the trees. It was the quickest and safest place to be. He didn’t expect any less.
Arawn heaved a long sigh before setting off in the direction he believed the princess to go in. He quickly joined his men again, only giving them a nod as a signal to move out. It wasn’t long after they came across three other dead faceless creatures; Arawn’s mood was beginning to pick up, they were heading in the correct direction, but he was still worried. He hoped the only bodies he was going to see were the monster’s Evanna slain.
The group kept pushing forwards until it was past midday, and the prince could see his men growing tired. They needed to eat and rest; Arawn knew the river was close by and would use that as their resting point if there were no monsters there. They slowly approached their intended location, but Arawn held his hand up to stop them from jumping down from the trees.
By one of the trees, there was a small pile of twigs and ash where a fire had been lit. Arawn raced across the trees and halted, leaning down and observing the area more. It was not newly created, but he could see footprints and track marks from multiple creatures when he looked behind him. If this was Evanna, she fled the area instead of staying to fight.