The Woods

Part 18

They traveled along the road for a lengthy number of days, resting in ditches until they finally reached the woods that bordered Marahue. By then, each person was exhausted, but Beeron used the last of his energy to resist going into the woods. They were hungry and tired, but their newest companion would have nothing to do with the 'mysterious', 'dangerous', 'dark' woods. Astraea ended up having to put him to sleep with a simple spell in order for them to continue on. Quintin was more unnerved by her magic than before the day in the castle, when she used her magic in order to save him from his execution. He found himself distrusting her and that tingly feeling he had begun to feel in his stomach whenever he saw her had vanished. Now he saw her as she really was. A monster that never should have lived.

He kept his speculations to himself, not wanting to make Bri unhappy, and not wanting to scare Beeron away.

Astraea carried Beeron over her shoulder until they reached the point where they couldn't walk any more. She leaned him against a tree, and set off to find food, leaving the siblings alone with the sleeping boy. With nothing else to do, and sleep not coming to him, he ended up trying to rouse Beeron for company. After many, many shakes, the boy moaned and his teal eyes fluttered open. He asked for water, and Quinn handed him the flask they had come across in a hospitable town that knew nothing of who or where they came from.

Quintin had suspected that all of the court's royal people would have died in the powerful blast, for the bit of pain he felt had been enough to almost knock him out, and he knew that the bright light had remained bright as they fled the city. However, the queen had managed to stay alive, along with a handful of court advisors that were out for their blood. They came across so many signs on the road with drawing of them under a bold 'Wanted' lettering, that they were forced to walk on the back roads, making their journey to the woods even longer. Quintin had never realized how out in the middle of nowhere Stoneridge was before then. He must have been drugged for a long time as he was brought there.

Anger and betrayal boiled in his chest. Not only had the other villagers teamed up against him, Lucia Vermont--the very girl he had feelings for--had joined their ranks. Now, not even a little bit of his previous feelings lingered in his heart.

"Why?" Beeron's unique voice with the accented h's that only Stoneridge residents had pulled him out of his daze.

"Why what?"

"Why did you save me from that... feeling?" Quinn sighed, wishing his new friend would warm up to Astraea a bit. He was surprised that the question had only come up after about a week of travel and not before.

"I don't really know." He had been wondering the same thing himself. "Everything was going by so fast, and I just thought that I should. I knew that was never meant for you." Astraea and Quinn had decided not to tell him of her magic, and had done their best to shield his eyes from the wanted posters.

Beeron looked as if he wanted more of an explanation, but when Quinn didn't provide him with one, he didn't press him. Instead, he asked if he wanted to play something called LiftWorrow.

"What?" He was thoroughly confused. In Lighthill, the only game anyone played was tag. They played tag on the farm, sometimes including some of the animals, Bri said they played it in Education, and Quintin remembered his younger years in the lake playing it.

"You don't know how to play?" He shook his head. Beeron's eyes bulged in disbelief. "You don't know how to play LiftWorrow?" He asked the question a second time as if he didn't believe Quinn. He shook his head again.

"What is it?"

"Only the most popular game in all of Marahue!" Beeron went on the explain the game, pulling out two weathered cubes that he called dice, and a deck of cards that were decorated with a map of Marahue.

"I always keep a set on me," he said, blushing as he pulled them out of his pocket. "Never leave my house without them."

After the main rules were understood, they began to play, taking turns to roll the dice and flipping the cards over. Beeron won the first round, but Quinn had a strong belief that he had done that on purpose, giving Quinn the half of his deck with all the jokers and aces. The second time they played, Quinn split the decks as Beeron explained how the game worked in Stoneridge compared to other cities in the country.

"The Card Makers create only one hundred decks each year, so a lot of the decks that are used are combinations of other decks, too. My mom only let me start playing this year, so I only have these cards, and it took all of my money to get it. I mean, the Card Makers do their best to make their original decks fair against a mixed deck, but original decks tend to not win in the tournaments, so I've been trying to get to the market in time for the Trade, which is this huge event in Stoneridge where every player trades cards. But I guess now that's pretty much impossible, if I'm going to be staying with you folks... Anyway," he continued to ramble on and on about the game as they played, and Quinn won the next two rounds that they played.

Because he had won best out of three, Beeron gave him a strange coin that was shaped like a dragon egg, splotched with green dots.

"That was the first one I won, too. I thought it would be best to give it to you." Quinn thought the coin was curious, and when he asked Beeron what it was for, he just said, "It's a tradition. The loser gives the winner a coin." He leaned in closer. "There's been rumors that the eggs are supposed to, like, hatch or something." He threw his hands up. "Never happened for me, though, and I've had this one for a while. I don't even know what would happen, I mean, it sounds like magic, but sorcery is banned. And, before that strange blast in the courtroom, I never actually believed in it. Besides, it's pretty much impossible to make it hatch, and believe me, I've tried everything." Quinn nodded, very well knowing that magic was real and could definitely make an egg coin hatch with a simple word or flick of the wrist. Not a lot was impossible when there was magic.