Page 17

seventeen

Morai

M orai stared at another dark hole, the size large enough for a human to pass through, without crawling.

“This is the way to the Dark flower forest?” Morai asked, looking skeptically at the black hole. Chenip nodded. Queen Cherup had apparently retired to her palace, trusting Chenip to see to her guests.

“Yes, this should drop you off inside the forest where our family lives.” Morai blinked.

“Inside?” she repeated. How come no one had heard of this before? Then again, the Chepi usually attacked anyone who’d tried to come in here.

“Yes, we’re only giving this to you because you helped us. Do not let anyone know of this.” Morai nodded, feeling torn as she remembered Inan who’d lost her husband. How many lives could be saved if everyone knew there was an entrance here? But she knew not everyone could be trusted, besides one could still die once in the forest, so it didn’t really change anything, just shortened the time it took to get there. Morai shuddered, turning to her friends, she purposely avoided looking at Luka; if he avoided her then so would she.

“Are we ready?” she asked. Neoni nodded.

“Ready,” Fida said with an eager smile on her face. With a decisive nod, Morai lifted her chin and walked into the darkness before it got the better of her.

***

The feeling of walking through the darkness was different from when they’d crawled through it. Morai felt lightheaded and sluggish, almost similar to when they’d teleported. She soon noticed a light up ahead, that expanded until she was standing in a clearing. It looked similar to the Chepi village, except that it was a bit brighter, and had a lot more trees in the area, also a lot more Chepi. Chepi who stopped everything when they spotted Morai. Belatedly, she realized she should have asked Chenip for something that would show she came in peace, but it was too late now. She tensed as the rest of her friends arrived, bracing for the Chepi to attack. Then, an elderly one with a walking stick and blades tinged with silver stepped forward.

“You must be Morai,” it said.

“Yes, I am.”

“Chenip said to be expecting you. My name is Cheiv, welcome to the dark flower forest.” As though that was all that was needed, the other Chepi continued with whatever they were doing, the chattering resumed, and some it seemed were playing some kind of ball game with a rolled up…was that dung. Morai tried not to wrinkle her nose.

“Thank you, these are my friends, Neoni, Fida, Tanen, Luka, and Noa.” Cheiv nodded at each of them before pointing her wooden stick away, towards a path on her left.

“Walk that way until you see a cluster of grass, in a semicircle, that should lead you out of our territory.” Cheiv put her stick down on the ground with a thud.

“Once you do, you will no longer be protected by the power of Queen Cherup. Come back here when you’re done with your quest.”

“Thank you,” Morai said. Cheiv only nodded and slowly walked away.

“Well, that was a bit anticlimactic,” Tanen said.

“Were you expecting an escort?” Luka spoke for the first time. Noa yawned in his arms, then wiggled until Luka put him on the floor. Tanen grinned at him.

“That wouldn’t be bad,” he said.

“Come on, let’s finish this before it gets dark,” Morai said, leading the way. She knew she had high expectations, but still she hoped they would come out of this unscathed. They made their way through Chepi territory in silence. Morai hadn’t realized just how quiet everyone else was when she and Luka weren’t bickering. She bit her lip. She actually missed it. Was she being stubborn by not telling Luka the actual reason she wanted to leave? But it’s not like telling him would change anything. That and the fact that she was afraid, what if he didn’t feel the same way she did?! Then what? It’s not like she’d confirmed how he felt about her, but…well she’d seen some signs. At least she hoped they were signs, like that one time he sent her a note when she hurt herself, and the times he got close to her on purpose. Like last night for example, but Morai suspected he did that for another reason. She just needed to figure out how to ask him without risking him shutting down.

Morai glanced at Luka and this time he met her gaze, smirking in response, which made her heart beat faster as she quickly looked away. Looks like he’s in a good mood, that or he was just as excited as she was about finally getting this peacock feather. She just hoped they all made it back in one piece. There was something slightly disturbing about the forest, not in a foreboding way more like something was nagging at her about the forest but she couldn’t put her finger on it. They came across the grass in a semi-circle just like Cheiv had said. It was a semi-circle because the grass surrounded the Chepi territory, and the rest of the circle couldn’t be seen since it was surrounding other parts of the forest.

“Okay,” Morai said, turning around to face her friends.

“Are we ready?” she asked.

“Whenever you are,” Fida said, and she’d unsheathed her sword, though Morai doubted they would encounter anything as soon as they got out. With a nod, Morai turned and made her way out of the Chepi territory.