Sons of Hellfire: Book 1 [Wattys 2016]

Lucien - 4

Aeric and Vajeel's home was so well blended with the forest that as they approached a massive tree trunk, Aeric scared Lucien thoroughly by vanishing into a doorway that apparently had been carved into the side.

Utterly baffled, the Prince had stood outside, staring at the trunk. Gradually, it began to make sense in his vision. The house was the tree. Its trunk was different from normal trunks, instead being layer after layer of thick strips of wood that wound up the entire tree giving it a spiral-like appearance. There were holes between some of them, large enough for Lucien to realize that they doubled as windows. The tree was so massive it looked as if there was even a second floor above. What constituted as their land was also wide and spacious for being in the forest. It was a wide circular range of grass, and the trees surrounding were all uniformly spaced, as if there was an invisible shield put up to keep them back. When they entered the clearing, he found small little mushrooms growing right next to each other that went all around the perimeter of the area.

But what truly mesmerized the prince was the leaves on the tree. They weren't like the typical ferns and oaks that were found in the forest. Instead, this tree had long slender branches at the very top that drooped down to almost ground level. They tapered off and swayed like weeds in the breeze. Leaves coloured such a light green that they almost looked silver hung off of the branches, giving the house behind its curtains a sort of shimmery aura. From Lucien's distance, it looked as if the tree was an ever-flowing waterfall that cascaded around its naturally grown house in its middle.

"Oi," came Aeric's voice, and Lucien jerked his gaze back to see that his guide had poked his head out from the door again, wearing an impatient expression. "Are you coming in or not? I feel light headed from all that walking."

He had reason to be as well. Their trek from Lucien's part of the forest to what he now dubbed as Aeric's was long and arduous. It had taken an hour at least, all the while Aeric was still bleeding with only his hand to stop the flow. Lucien was never one to complain but mentally, he was cursing himself for even attempting to go on this little journey to what seemed to be the total opposite side of town. He had quickly figured out what Aeric was going to show him - Vajeel's tincture that guaranteed his healing - but at the thought of meeting another person as well as going to a place he wasn't familiar with, panic pulsed through his body.

Unable to voice his concern in an attempt to uphold his pride, however, Lucien simply closed his mouth and followed in pursuit of the other boy.

"I'm coming," He said, walking forward and gently pushing aside some of the tree's branches. Aeric held open the door for him with his hip and Lucien saw that he had replaced his hand over the wound with a cloth. There was still a streak of brilliant red that stained in.

As he passed, Aeric's injured arm shot out and stopped him just before he passed over the threshold. Lucien jerked to a stop and he turned his head to see Aeric staring at him with an intense look in his eye. "Don't stare, it's rude," was his only warning before he pulled his arm back and gestured for him to walk in.

Lucien would have dwelled on Aeric's words but he was taken back by the small world he stepped into. Much like the outside, the inside of the tree house was just as nature-filled. The winding ropes of trunk seemed much more tightly knit in here, allowing Lucien to see more of the house-like shape. The windows were wider than he thought, allowing plenty of natural light to filter in. They landed on chairs and tables made from wood as well as plenty other house necessities that one would find in any other settlement in Artus. The floor was flat, surprising Lucien for inside of a tree, but when he looked down he saw that it was roots upon roots, flattened on top of each other to provide a flat surface. They didn't look butchered but they still didn't look as if they'd naturally grow in that formation.