Chapter 4

These things start small, then they grow, grow. There was a fear. A small fear. The sunlight was still somewhere above. The wind still brought some remnants of summer. Flowers were still smelling good.

And the fear grew. And grew and grew.

Rob was a small figure, in the middle of the night, out in the dark, next to a big tree, holding onto a necklace so strongly his fingers hurt.

This is no different from the Dungeon.

"Except for the guards," Rob said the moment before hearing the wolves.

The howling was so loud, and Rob could only think: They are close they are close they are close. What should he do? Hide? Where? He couldn't climb the tree, he had never done it before. He couldn't run. Running would probably be worse. But standing still, Rob was an easy target. He felt his tears going through his face. It was new for him, this type of tear. Tears of pure despair.

He couldn't make a noise while crying. He couldn't make a noise while breathing. He tried to pray, to whoever wanted to listen.

At Least.

At Least what?

I'm not dead yet, said a small voice in his head.

Because, being dead, there would be no other At Least.

He had to stay alive. He had to live. If not for himself, then just to prove the King he was more than a scared prince, completely under his control.

He listened to the howlings again and started slowly walking in the opposite direction. Very slowly. He prayed all the way. Please, the god of forests, please, the god of wolves, please, the god of Kings. Any god out there.

He felt something getting warm on his hand. Warmer and warmer. He looked at it. The small necklace was warm to the touch.

It began to burn. Rob threw it on the floor with a small gasp. Grass started to burn, and the fire was blue. Rob wanted to run away, but.

But why would the man give him such a thing? Why would he want Rob burned alive?

So he stood.

It was the first time Rob did that. Waiting to see it.

He could listen to that again, that buzz. Magic. It burned a little more, letting the area around Rob with a smoky smell. Soon, there was a circle of fire around him.

"I'm the most stupid King that has ever walked on this earth", he tried to find a way out of the fire. There was none. "I will now proceed to die in a fire"

He sat on the floor, all the despair going away. He was going to die, and death was so close, again, that it was impossible to feel something. He could even get used to this feeling. Almost dying.

He tried giving a step forward, looking for any space to run out of the fire, and the circle moved along with him.

Rob blinked once, then twice.

He gave other two steps. The circle followed him, in a way no matter how we walked, he was always in the center of the fire.

Rob tried something. He tried to run, knowing fully well that if it failed he would burn. The circle followed, obedient. Rob was in the center of the circle. He felt his knees weak. His whole brain turned into water. He fell down on the floor.

It's just a necklace, said the man Rob didn't know. Just a necklace. He closed his eyes and prayed to the god of fires if there was one.

He stood like that for some minutes before realizing the fire should have been causing at least gigantic flames in the woods. There was nothing. Grass burned in the circle of fire, but once he walked ahead, it was green again.

It meant

It meant Rob wouldn't burn anything unless this thing was actively on the circle, which meant the wolves wouldn't get in. He felt his lips curling. Was it a smile? He thought it was. Rob whispered thanks to the unknown man.

The howling echoed once again, this time much closer. Rob did what any person in a sane state of mind and a magic circle of fire would do. He ran.

The faster his legs could take him. Jumping bushes and stepping on flowers, but always forward, always forward. He could hear howlings and animal steps getting far. He stopped for a moment. His breath came out short and heavy. He could feel his heart on his head, all the blood running and asking for air, for a break.

The wolves were far away, they did not follow him.

In the middle of the forest, with the night surrounding him, Rob laughed. It was a good laugh, those ones who came from deep inside the lungs. At what was he laughing? Being alive? Running away from wolves?

Maybe he was laughing at being free