IV

THE FOREST OF OUTCASTS

Ana followed Miko into the forest, she looked around but it was just trees. Did they live in the trees? She wondered.

Miko noticed her confusion and chuckled to himself.

"Come here" He said as he held her elbow and moved her to the front of a huge tree.

He placed his palm under the tree, there was a pale light emanating from the tree, Aria gasped, Magic! Magic had been banned in Eldorada.

There was a shimmer of light and a passageway appeared in the middle of the tree. He held her hand and stepped into the passageway pulling her along with him.

They stepped into what seemed to be a busy town, There were tents and wooden houses everywhere, people moved around talking, laughing and conducting business. Whatever she had thought about the forest was a far cry from what she was seeing now.

"Are you done with being shocked?" Miko asked her.

She looked at him, Suprise written all over her face, "We just used magic right? we used magic to enter here" she asked him.

"yes we did" Miko answered patiently.

"But Magic has been banned in Eldorada!" She exclaimed.

"But this isn't Eldorada, this is the forest of outcasts and those rules don't apply here" He told her.

"Wow! I used to imagine the forest was like a cold formidable fortress, I never imagined it would be so lively and Colorful" Aria said as she looked around.

She gasped in delight when she saw a young boy with wings flying around.

"That is cher, his father is an angel who seduced a human, Cher was born with wings. Eldorada was going to kill him His Mother managed to escape and she brought him here, they have lived here ever since" Miko disclosed to her.

"It's good they found solace here" Aria said thoughtfully.

"And you can find solace here too Ana, I don't know what made you leave home but you can have a new home here." Miko told her.

"Thanks, that was really reassuring to hear" Aria replied with a smile.

"Come, I will take you to my place so you can freshen up." He told her and then he led her to his house.

Aria followed him to his house, she kept looking everywhere as she followed him. he stopped in front of a wooden house and told her to follow him inside.

There was a beautiful woman inside the house, she was seated reading a book. She looked up when she saw them.

"aria this is my wife. Riya, Riya, this is Aria"

Riya stood up and faced them with a smile, "pleased to meet you" she told aria,

"pleased to meet you too"

"i found her being assaulted by a thief when i went outside, he made away with all her stuff, she doesn't have anywhere to go so i brought her here" he told Riya.

"welcome to the forest of outcasts" Riya said with a smile.

"thank you" Aria said.

"come on, i will show you to where you can take your bath and change your clothes" Riya said as she led her to the inner room.

then she came back to meet miko, "Is she okay?" Miko asked worriedly.

"yes, she is" Riya replied.

"It's good I found her on time, if i had been a second late, it would have been disastrous"

"Really?"

"Yes, he was going to rape her in addition to robbing her" Miko revealed.

"What a scumbag" Riya said in disgust.

"She was fleeing from Eldorada, I don't think she has any family anymore"

"Do you thinko kael will let her stay?" Riya asked worriedly.

"I don't know but I am going to plead with him, the poor girl has no where else to go" Miko replied.

"Kael hates people from Eldorada and he has been saying it that he doesn't want to accept new people into the forest anymore" Riga said.

"Well let's just hope for Aria's sake he accepts her"

Aria came out freshly showered and dressed in a new set of clothes.

"Thanks, I feel refreshed already"

"Uhm Aria, I need to discuss something with you"

"Okay, what is it?" Aria asked.

"We need to introduce you to our defacto head, his name is Kael and its only by his approval that you will be allowed to stay in the forest"

"Will he allow me to stay?" Aria asked worriedly.

"Well, he doesn't really like people from Eldorada that much, but you have nothing to be afraid of, I and Riya will be solidly beside you"

"Okay" Aria replied nervously.

"He will ask you questions about the reason you are here, just be truthful"

"Okay"

"But just to be on the safe side, did you do something illegal?" Riya asked.

"No, I was framed, my best friend, I guess I should call her former best friend now, we got into a heated argument and she claimed that I attacked her, her parents are rich and I was arrested, but I was bailed out and I decided to leave" Aria disclosed to them.

"So you didn't attack her?" Miko asked.

"No, I didn't"

"Okay, that's just a minor matter"

"Let's go and meet Kael" Riya said with a kind smile.

They made their way to meet Kael. It was a big house, it was very beautiful. Aria looked at it in wonder.

"Its pretty, right?" Riya asked.

"yes"

"The entire forest gathered to build it" Miko told her.

"It looks wonderful" Aria replied.

"Who is this?" A young man asked as he came out of the house.

"That is Kael" Riya whispered to her.

"I thought he would be older, you said he was the leader"

"Well his father used to be the leader before his death until he died recently and then Kael toor over" Riya whispered.

The young man, Kael cleared his throat the two ladies stopped their whispering and looked at him.

"Who are you?" he asked her.

"I am Aria" She replied.