7 The War of Salvation Part II

The dryad looked at Arthur's face and stared at his dark eyes. While he was indeed a charming man, the intimidation and fear that the dryad felt overpowered her senses and her baser instincts overcame her rationality.

Arthur calmly stared at the dryad as her thoughts went into overdrive. The dryad's brain was revolving extremely fast and while her comrades were overtaken by panic and the rest were trying to revive the poor dryad who got hit in the neck by Arthur's knife.

Everything was both moving fast and extremely slow all at the same time and it was this calm that accentuated the smell of death in the air.

'I have to do as he says or we will all die' The dryad bit her lower lip and steeled herself for whatever was coming.

She didn't understand that Alagarasi was Arthur's reverse scale. It was the one part of his life that made him lose whatever small measure of reason and restraint and it was the trigger for his darker impulses to come out and overcome him.

Arthur had yet to truly realize that it was Artesia's brightness and light that saved him every time. They have been together for so long that he took for granted whatever measure of peace that her presence brought him and that it was slowly melting his charred and broken heart.

At this moment, however, the person in front of the dryad was not the Arthur who'd smile at the lofty magician's claims. It was the man who had prepared himself to kill the demon queen – or die trying.

The dryad opened her mouth and carefully selected her words. "If I do as you wish, would you let us live?" She looked at her comrades with care and worry. These beautiful dryads were forest nymphs who cared for life regardless of their origin. They were blessed with healing magic powerful enough to give life to a man on the verge of death.

They were a peaceful race but they were dragged into the war because their abilities were needed by their empress and they answered the call to war.

Arthur looked at the dryad and as she studied his face, Arthur in turn studied hers.

"No." Arthur's cold voice pierced the silence that permeated the east entrance to the forest of luminescence. "But I will make it so that your deaths are painless."

The dryad shuddered in fear. She knew that the man was not joking, bargaining or reasoning in any way. He meant every word which meant that she and her allies should have the resolve to die. She wanted to live. Of course, she did, there is no man, woman or child who would choose to die when given the choice between living and dying painfully – but she knew that resisting was useless.

Arthur was a lone man surrounded by a squadron of dryads who were injured or scared out of their wits. But he stood with poise and absolute confidence that he would accomplish whatever he set out to do. That was just his character and it was this belief in himself that's helped him survive countless battlefields in the past.

The dryad swallowed in order to keep her parched throat at bay. She nodded with unease at Arthur's words. "Fine. But…at least let me put them to sleep. The young ones -!"

Arthur covered her lips with his finger. The frightening aura around him dissipated like it wasn't there in the first place.

He smiled at the dryad's flustered expression. "I know." He gently placed his hand on her shoulder and lifted her chin with his fingers. "Do as I say."

He gently handed the map to the dryad and she received it with trembling hands. She stared at the map and furrowed her brows in frustration.

"You humans certainly have a different system of measurement but it's roughly the same. The directions are a bit different but it's roughly the same as ours but different."

The brigand chuckled and replied, "That map utilizes a self-made system of measurement that I developed. I'm mostly self-taught and that works best for me."

The dryad almost choked on her spit. Developing a unit of measurement is something that takes decades of trial and error but this man in front of her shouldn't even be more than 20 years old but he developed his own mapping system? What an absurd thought.

'But maybe if it's him…'

The dryad nodded and started marking various spots on the map. She circled a few areas of interests and crossed areas of danger where scouting parties and the like ventured to. She was betraying her people but she just couldn't stand the thought of her comrades dying in pain.

She imagined what could have happened if Arthur was colluding with the men who tried to force themselves on her earlier. That was surely a fate worse than death. She started breathing fast and her heart rate skyrocketed.

The dryad felt her vision darken and her consciousness fading – at least until a warm feeling immediately calmed her.

"Was that magic?" The dryad asked.

Arthur simply smiled at her and took the map from her hands. He inspected and memorized the spots the dryad marked and once he was satisfied, he nodded and rolled up the map.

"I never asked your name." He gestured to the dryad who was still seated on the floor.

"Lara."

"It's a shame that we had to meet this way."

Arthur drew his blade and Lara closed her eyes. The brigand threw his knife and Lara could feel death approaching. The knife inched closer and closer to her but at this moment, Lara only felt peace.

Her heart quickened and as she heard the knife whirring close to herself, she held her breath. A moment passed. A few seconds passed but the feeling of pain and release did not come.

As Lara opened her eyes to ask Arthur what was happening, she smelled blood coming from within the forest of luminescence.

"Human what are you –" Arthur immediately went over to Lara and carried her on his shoulders. "WHA"

Arthur didn't even pretend to listen to her as he pulled over a few other dryads with him, running as fast as his feet could take him.

"RUN!"

As the dryads warily followed him, a large boom was heard from the entrance of the forest of luminescence. It was a giant footstep.

"ARRRGHHHH!!!!" a gravelly and primal roar that chilled the dryads to their core reverberated through the open field.