Chapter Twenty One

"Elrod?"

Rwen watched as the queer creature stared up at the patches of stary sky peeking through the overhanging foliage. Something was amidst and she could see it in his eyes.

"Listen, there is a quiet!" He whispered. He tried to urge the horse forward but the beast knew better. Its ears and nostrils flared and its eyes, wide with fear. It reared and shuffled in resistance and dared not move a hoof ahead. Elrod observed this all with a firm grip on the reigns, then thinking better, he let go.

The horse immediately turn tail putting distance between himself and them.

"Down!" He commanded stooping behind a leafy brush. Rwen followed suit. The sound of hooves faded in the distance followed by a horse's scream. Then silence.

"What was that?" Rwen demanded, fear keeping her voice barely above a whisper.

"Gauberii".

It should have answered her question but Elrod was learning Rwen's head was rather thick when in a panic.

"What is that?!"

"Quiet and come quick!"

He was already moving, weaving through the wild vegetation with expert ease. He was no soldier though and about half a mile later, he was panting just as raggedly as Rwen.

"What should we do? What should we do!" Rwen was clumsy in her trudging, peeling her eyes to see beyond the darkness that had descended upon the forest.

Presently, they stumbled upon a small wooden structure, a house of some sorts and after a closer inspection, took refuge in its walls. Here Rwen thought it appropriate to ask the question again.

"What was that?"

"Gauberii". He simply replied.

"What, is it a type of monster?"

"A set one," He rose to rearrange the belt from which his sword swung. "It can only be awoken by the prince of Delorel. Carmon, and not without the Queen's permission. Gauberii can not easily be made to do a bidding."

Rwen was listening, thinking how she had ever feared this brave humanoid, Elrod, who had done nothing but protect her since her hasty departure from Alia's side.

"Elrod," her voice was soft and had some amount of guilt. Seated on the floor, she was fussing with a loose thread, contemplating the words she wanted to say. "I am sorry, I really am!"

He turned to stare, the shock evident in his eye.

"I've been really awful to you, these past days and I hope you can forgive me!".

"Your highness...". His sentence was cut short as the northern wall came splintering in and a tentacle emerged heading straight for Princess Dira. Elrod was thrown off balance by the shaking of the building but he quickly regained it and charged, sword at the ready.

Whoosh! The blade went down cutting clean through the creature's appendage.

"Run!" He commanded over the roar of the beast. The lighting was bad and Rwen had only caught the deathly pale of the tentacle and the eye staring from the severed end, that was all she needed.

She felt Elrod grab her wrist and she raced away like the true athletes she had descended from.

It was a hopeless run still, and Elrod knew. He dipped a hand into his pocket, bringing forth a transparent cube.

"Change pace!" Casting the object before him a bright light in the shape of a rectangle, projected from it. Engulfing the couple.

"Did we just teleport?" Rwen breathed, their surrounding had suddenly shifted and she was standing in a lilac garden, a bit overgrown. Ahead, there were stalls and tents, signs of civilization!

"He won't be too far behind. Come we must send word to her majesty, the queen".