The Teesh Saga : Curse Of The Demolished Kingdom

CHAPTER 9. Mystery of the Woods

Jack stood solemnly looking down at the city from window of the Palace, his chamber dimly lit with the morning light. He clutched a glass filled with wine in his three fingers while the rest two held a cigarette. He barely changed in these seventeen years, he was still sleek and tall with his trimmed beard just growing grey in the corner.

He got up earlier than usual, Trevor and Rachel were his closest friends once and Oliver was their child, Jack wanted to know how the boy looked after seventeen years, was he honourable like his mother or wild as a wolf like his father. Questions were twirling in his head making him more impatient.

A quick knock on the door is heard, "is he here yet?" Anna asked yanking her head inside through the half opened door.
"No" Jack puffed his cigarette, "Perry must be showing him the city, I told him to buy books for the boy's college" he says in his husky voice.
"It's already too late" she says after letting herself inside. "You appear to be very eager to meet the boy" he says, "oh yes, a bit" Anna chuckles a little, "it's Trevor and Rachel's son after all" she says. She glances outside the window for a moment, trying to meet the scenery Jack's eyes were gazing.

"I asked this a hundred times and I will still ask it" she paused for a moment before rolling the question out, "where is Rachel?" She asks, "I answered this a hundred times" he slowly turns his head, his eyes looking deeply in her's, "I cannot tell, to you or anyone" he says, moving his eyes back towards the window. She lets a quick air pass out of her nose, a way of giggling lightly.  "Does she know about her son?" Anna's voice travels in his ears, "yes" he whispered to himself.

"Oh, I completely forgot" she says while moving towards jack's table, where he mostly does his work. "What is it?" He walks towards the table and pulls a chair to sit. "Again, the trucks" she says, tapping a bundle of papers on the table, to arrange them, "stolen truck again?" He asks, "yes" she sighs.  "It's the thirteenth truck stolen this month and twenty sixth this year" she says laying out papers on the varnished wooden table.
"I don't know what is left, we've tried everything, searched every corner, just don't know where these trucks go" he holds a few papers in his hand, "sometimes I think they just vanish" he says brushing his upper lip with his index finger.

"Well, there is a person who has seen where these trucks go" Anna says, "what?, Who is he?" He asks, "his name is Pete, he works at tourism department which organizes Adventure trips and camps" Anna replies, "call him now!" Jack thuds his palms on the table, leaving the papers to fly across. "Send him in" she gives a clipped bawl.

The door squeaks open and a dumpy bald head peeps inside, with his jet black eyes glaring at them, "come in" Jack says, "my gods, it is President Jack, I am so honored to meet you sir" the chubby man wavers towards the table. "Have a seat" Anna says, he slowly pulls the chair with a nervous smile plastered on his face. "So pete, what do you do?" Jack asks with fingers of his both palms slightly touching each other, "I work in department which organizes Adventure tours Mr President" he gulps down the nervousness in him, "it is called Cober's Adventures" he adds.

"So, what information do you have about the trucks?" Jack asks, "oh, yeah, yeah the trucks right" Pete drags his chair closer to the table. "Last night I saw the trucks going inside *gulp* ahh" Pete took in a long breath, "going inside where?" Jack asks, Pete lets himself bend ahead, leaning on the table to get closer to Jack, "the Malicious woods" he whispers with his lips dried and face pale. Jack's face was sheathed in horror after the words reached his ears, agony filled his eyes, "impossible" he says in a low voice before looking at Anna. Anna didn't had any look on her face, her baffled eyes were just staring at him.
"Why would any one go into the Malicious woods?" he jolts his head towards Pete, "going in there is a suicide" he says. "I know Mr President, even I didn't believe at the first time, but that is true" Pete says.

Jack covers his face with his palms and takes in a deep breath.
"It is impossible, I can't believe it" he kept on saying under his breath. "Okay" he sighs, "tell me everything in detail" he says. "I was packing the tents..", "packing the tents?" Jack interrupts him by slamming his fist on the table, "you people camp near the Malicious woods?, You know it is forbidden to go near those woods don't you?" He scowls at Pete. "Oh yes,yes w.. we do know" he stammers, "we camp three miles away which my boss thinks is okay" he tells, "I would like to meet your boss" Jack grunts, "but leave it, tell me what happened next".  Pete then continues, "I saw three trucks approaching me, I thought they were workers from my department, then their wheels rolled ahead, towards the woods, I tried to stop them but all the three trucks went straight towards those scary woods" he says, "the ...voices I heard there still echoes in my ears, those horrid noises sounded like they were coming straight from hell" Pete says, his voice fluttering like a window striked by a strong gust . "Are you telling the truth?" Jack asks, "I swear it on all the six islands Mr President, I am not lying" he responds. Jack scuffs his head with his fingers before before gulping a glass of water. "Thank you Mr Pete, you can go" he says, "it was a pleasure Mr President" Pete slowly moves out.

Thudding of the door left the room with a cold quietness, both Jack and Anna gave each other a frightened glare. "So?, What is to be done now?" Anna asks, "I don't think anything can be done now" says Jack. "What do you mean by that?" Anna asks as he walked back towards the window, "I mean that trucks are not coming back" Jack says, "but we just can't stop trying" Anna furiously gets up from the chair.

"Those trucks cost a lot, many of them were poor who lost it" she says, "what do you want me to do then?" Jack asks, "send the Knights of Jovian in the woods" she replies, "do you even know what are you saying?, The trucks went inside the Malicious woods, it is the most dangerous place in Merry Island" Jack lours at her, "I cannot risk their lives" he adds. "Okay" she moves ahead and stands in front of Jack, "what is in those woods anyway?" She asks, "some questions should be left unanswered" he replies, "if you won't tell me I won't leave" her brown eyes were craving for answers, "sometimes I wonder why are you so curious" he says, "can't help, been like that from childhood" she shrugs her shoulders. "Nobody knows what is inside it" he says, "if you don't know then how can you say it is dangerous" she lifted her brows while shaking her head, "I can say that because whoever went inside those woods never returned" his voice raised a bit, "what?" She whispers with a perplexed look, "thousands of people dared to step inside the Malicious woods, and they were never seen again" he says, "so nobody knows what is inside?" She asks, Jack nods slowly, "many sorcerers and angels claim that those woods are cursed by a certain magic" he shifts his sight towards her, "Ms Henley, the Malicious woods is believed the most haunted place on this island, no one even dares to wander near them" he says.

"Then why are those people taking the trucks into the woods?" She asks, "that was exactly what I was thinking" a low voice comes from Jack, "why would anyone go inside, knowing that it is nothing but a suicide?" He questions himself. "Ms Henley, there is a meeting of all the leaders of five islands next month, I will discuss about this over there" he tells.

"So what do we do now?" She asks, "I will pay to the owners who have lost their trucks" he says, "and prevent other trucks to be stolen" he adds. "Okay" she gingerly nods, "let's hope it gets solved" he slid his hands inside his velvet pockets.