Kingdom of Lies (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 4 [part 1]

'Thank you for trusting me. Now, get ready. I'll wait outside.'

When he saw my uncomfortable face, he hurried off. But there was one thing that still troubled me, how could I keep my promise to help him hunt if I had never done so in my life? I did not understand how I could be trusted to do so. Perhaps he was so desperate to hunt that I was his last hope. Either way I kept quiet, perhaps he would eventually forget what the condition for helping me had been and just take pity on me.

I took the clothes, which were a jacket, some pants and a pair of boots. Perfect.

They didn't fit me, but I used some pieces of the dress my sister had made me to secure them. When I was ready, I walked slowly outside.

"Look at you, you are a proper hunter now.'

Unfortunately for me, the condition was not forgotten, I was going hunting.

As I watched Russell prepare the knives and spears for our hunt, I tried to calm my nerves.

I would have to go back out into those woods where, less than a day before, I had almost ceased to exist. Not even for a moment did I feel the nerves of my visit to the enemy's kingdom. My heart spoke louder and louder, giving me strength and telling me that it was the best decision in the face of the bad choices I was being offered.

We left the cabin behind, which would be from that moment on forever, the remembered starting point to the life that awaited me.

We walked and again, I felt that air of peace that I had the pleasure of feeling day by day. My ankle still hurt, but I could bear it.

'Let's do this.' Russell encouraged me.

I listened carefully as the creatures moved around me. I need to find something. There was no other way. I felt something inside me, the possibility creating itself in my reality.

'Over there,' I said, pointing to some bushes. Russell took his bow and a knife. He offered me the knife but I didn't take it. He approached the place I had indicated. Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing.

But, for some reason, I felt it was near.

I closed my eyes again and blocked myself completely. I need an animal. I concentrated on finding an animal, walking slowly in the direction I had pointed out.

I heard a breath and I followed it.

From one moment to the next I stopped, the breath faded away, that's when I opened my eyes.

Below me, lay a deer. Neither my savior nor myself could believe what we were seeing.

His amazed face was trying to beat the look of hungry joy.

The idea that a deer was lying there dead to be found was a very difficult story to believe, but that was what had happened.

Neither of us questioned it, Russell wanted to hunt more than anything else and I wanted him to keep his promise, more than anything else, too.

'The deer... where did it come from? Is already dead.'

His voice was shaky. Very cautiously he prepared his knife and walked towards me.

'How?' He asked again.

'I have no idea, it was just there, I didn't mean it, I swear I didn't do it.'

'Hey, it's okay. I knew you would help me,' he whispered.

Without being able to look at him or the deer, I turned around.

I felt tired and sick, my knees were shaking. I leaned on the ground and threw up. Russell asked me if I was okay and I nodded back. My head was spinning and I heard a high-pitched sound in my ears.

I sat on the ground and took a deep breath, waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing. I didn't look at him at all, he didn't ask me to help him either, thank the Gods.

When he was over, we set off again. He was ahead of me, carrying a rope to the lifeless animal. He had covered it with a cloth so that I would not see it. He was guiding me to Crescendo, which filled me with both fear and intrigue.

The night was so dark that I could not see anything, Russell, on the other hand, was more than used to the darkness. At some point, he took my hand to make sure I didn't get lost.

Although it cost me a few scratches on my legs, by the speed of his walk, I thanked his help.

My body was exhausted, I could hardly move.

I was fervently considering stopping and lying down on the grass, when suddenly we stopped. 

'We have arrived,' he said, almost laughing.

There it was, before my eyes, the so mysterious and feared kingdom of Crescendo. Of course, it didn't turn out to be what I expected.

All I could see was a big tree. Its branches covered us and its roots were visible. It looked imposing, ancient, majestic. But it was only a tree.

As I watched Russell smile, I understood there was something else.

'This is your kingdom?' 

'Not everything is what it seems,' he answered, approaching the tree. He put his hand on it and said: 'I, Russell Laoch, swear on my life that my intentions are pure and honest, and that under no circumstances am I a danger to the good people of Crescendo.'

The wood creaked instantly. The tree began to twist.

'Your turn.'

'How is that happening? I can't do that.'

'If your intentions are pure, you have nothing to fear Milaia.'

'You are seriously saying that the tree hears you? Even if I believe that, what if it knows I'm from Bieno? Would it, would it kill me?'

'There's only one way to find out.'

I sighed at his indifference, I was really scared and skeptical, but despite that, I put my hand on the tree and, praying to the Gods, I said:

'I, Milaia Pleiton, swear on my life that my intentions are pure and honest, and that under no circumstances am I a danger to the good people of Crescendo.'

The tree twisted even more until it left an opening in the middle. All I could see was the other side of the woods.

'Shall we?' He said, inviting me to join him.

'Where?'

Russell smiled and stepped into the middle of the tree. Half of his body disappeared.

I was speechless, breathless. How could the tree make him disappear? What kind of trick was that?

Russell reached out his hand and offered it to me. I looked into his gray eyes for a few seconds.

Without any valid reason that could explain how what was happening was happening, I took his hand and simply followed him into the unknown.