Chapter 48 - The Forest (2)

"Hello?! Sauron?" asked Arya's inner voice as he attempted to call on the voices he would usually hear, but no one answered. At first Arya thought they were giving him the silent treatment for what he had done but he soon realized that although the voices were annoying they had never that childish.

Arya noticed that his mind felt lighter than usual, almost like a massive weight had been lifted. Usually this would be a good thing, however this made him feel uneasy.

He had grown so accustomed to the voices in his head to the point that where ever he went, whether alone or not he still felt like he had company. They had become a part of his life, although annoying he had accepted them as a norm but now he felt like that part of him had been ripped away, stolen.

Arya already had a theory, he couldn't explain it but it felt as if something in his mind had been severed. Deep down he knew that they were gone but his mind just couldn't register it.

"It's a good thing anyways. At least I won't have to continue living life like a madman. Though it would've been nice if I got more information out of them. Maybe they would've known more about this book." thought Arya as he pulled the book out of his pants to examine it.

He had been hoping that by talking to the voices in his head he would somehow be able to understand what was written in the book, however it was all for naught. Arya still felt like he was reading Greek.

He quickly closed the book and tucked it back into his pants and began looking around. The trees somehow seemed taller than they looked from the other side of the river but Arya disregarded that thought as he was exhausted back then.

"Where could Teressa be?" thought Arya to himself trying not to panic at the sudden loss of the voices. "Maybe she's pulling a prank on me. She seems like the type. This time I'll teach her a lesson, I'll turn this whole thing around on her."

Although it was early morning the light around Arya began to dim, almost like sunset was approaching. Arya was so engrossed in thought that he only noticed when it had already gone completely dark. "What th-" Arya tried saying as something sharp dug into the back of his skin, the suddenness of the attack made it all the worse causing Arya to fold over in pain.

"Child of water heed my call, bring about a chill to freeze my foes." chanted Arya once he had regained enough focus to cast a spell. The tier 1 ice spell winter's gasp covered everything around Arya in a 3m radius with a thin layer of ice, strong enough to hold the enemy for but a brief instant.

But an instant was all Arya needed, Arya quickly stood up wincing in pain as he reach for whatever was logged in his back while running in the opposite direction from where the attack came. The blood that coated the object made it hard for Arya to grab onto it, but once he got a good grip of it he pulled it out and used his shirt to wipe off the blood.

There was hardly any light to see what the object was and the light coming from the sun was now comparable to that given off by the moon. Arya looked up to see what was blocking the light's path and to his surprise the trees that had been standing straight up until mere minutes ago were now several meters taller and bended in such a way that a temporary night fall was simulated.

"What's going on here?" thought Arya as he chanted an ice spell to freeze the spot where his wound was in order to stop the bleeding, never stopping to rest the whole time. Arya then studied the object he held in his hand using his sense of touch to examine it hoping that it would at least give him a clue as to what he might be up against.

It's texture felt rough, almost like a dry tree bark and it's sharpened tip was coated in a slimy substance. Suddenly Arya's legs felt rubbery and although he could not see properly he realized that it was partially due to the fact that his vision was blurry to begin with.

"I've been poiso-" Arya was about to say before another voice completed the sentence for him. "Poisoned." said the voice.

Arya awoke to the chill of water being splashed on his face. "He's awake." said a young looking boy as he stepped back and turned to an older gentleman. Arya tried moving but he quickly realized that both his hands and feet were bound by ropes.

"Don't worry child, we don't mean to hurt you. Those ropes are more for our protection than it is for your harm." said the aged gentleman in a calm toneless voice. Arya looked around and realized that they were not alone. Behind the gentleman were women and children, who hid behind the men seemingly afraid of Arya.

Most of them were poorly dressed, with the exception of the aged gentleman, the boy and a few of the men who were dressed in green tunics that looked to be made of cotton. Arya moved his torso to feel if the book was still there and found that they had not taken it off him.

"What do you mean you don't mean to hurt me? You've already shot me with poisoned tipped arrows!?"snarled Arya as he looked at the old gentleman with fury in his eyes.

"You have to understand that we only did that for our own protection. We saw you using magic to kill birds from across the river. We couldn't hope to face a mage in a fair battle." replied the old gentleman in the same toneless manner.

"Why would you have to face against me? What do you want? What do you hope to accomplish by tying up an innocent kid?" asked Arya trying to play the card of the bewildered kid, but none of those present seemed to be buying it.

"Don't take us for fools. Who ever heard of kid's using magic? You must be a under cover midget mage sent by the city lord to take us!" shouted the boy as the old man gestured for him to stop talking.

"Gren, midget is an offensive term. And we can't jump to conclusions, let us hear his side of the story first." said the old man as he looked at Arya waiting for an explanation. Arya was perplexed, he didn't have a clue as to what these people were talking about.. "What have I gotten myself into this time? Why can't anything just go right for me?" thought Arya to himself in self pity.