The Castle of Resurrection: Part Two

by phifi

Into the Woods

The next weekend arrived and the weather had improved a lot. Though it was quite cold, it was not too windy anymore and it had stopped raining. Only a few clouds were drifting on the clear blue Neopian sky.

Antanie was already expecting Shamathia at the riverside when she arrived. Ati seemed pretty excited while Sammy was worrying if they had taken everything with them what they needed. Both of them were wearing large hiking rucksacks; they had considered that they would stay in the evergreen forest for about three or four days and so they had also taken quite a bit of food with them. It was a really nice autumn morning, cold but very fresh and incredibly clear. They entered the forest on one of the main paths as planned. The forest soon became very thick and deep, the trees and bushes were standing close to each other and though it was autumn and many leaves had already fallen down, not much light reach the ground. Partly it was like walking in a great hall with a green attic, and partly it was like walking through a green tunnel. For they were wearing good hiking-boots they came forward quite fast, even though they had to stop now and than when Sammy had found some interesting herbs.

And so they came deeper and deeper into the forest. Though there were plenty of various sounds around them, they saw only few creatures. Some Lennys flying in the crowns of the trees, something which hide behind some bushes so quickly it could not be identified... all in all it did not happen too much. When it was around lunch time they made a break and sat down under a ancient, majestic oak-tree. After they had finished and wanted to leave, they suddenly heard a deep voice behind them, which sounded just like the forest itself.

"What a sort of behaviour is this ?!? Why are you ignoring me? Before you go, you have to at least tell me where you are going to!"

Sammy and Ati turned around scared, where had the voice come from?

"Yes, I am talking with you, Shamathia and Antanie from Faerieland!"

Now they saw the wrinkled, old face on the trunk of the oak-tree, which was in fact a magical tree. Those magical trees, the most famous one is of course the brain tree in the spooky woods, are very wise and know about everything. Stories say that they were created by the Uber-Earth Faerie to guard the forests of Neopia and also to keep her up to date with the events in the forests Sometimes, one could not recognise such a tree at once for they slept most of the time, even though they noticed everything which was going on around them. Obviously, Ati and Sammy had been lucky enough to find one in a mood, in which they could talk to him.

"We are sorry," Ati said, "For our misbehaviour. In no way did we want to insult you, but sometimes you trees of knowledge are difficult to reveal."

"A sweet tongue you have, Antanie," the tree replied, "But what are you doing here in my forest?"

Ati looked at Sammy. It was senseless to try to tell a magical tree not the whole truth or even a lie, they noticed it immediately.

"Well, we are seeking a secret castle, which is hidden somewhere is this forest," told Ati to the tree.

"Wa-hahaha !!!" the tree boomed, so loudly that some birds, which had sat on his branches, flew away scared. "A castle you are seeking?" the tree seemed to be in a humourous mood, which was a really rare event.

"Could you be so good as to describe this in a more detailed way? There are tons of castles hidden in this forest Some of them visited frequently by brave knights or by thieves and other ones are deserted."

Sammy took out the map and hold it up so that the tree could read it.

"What ???" the tree boomed even more loudly, but this time in an angry way. "You want to visit that place? You must be totally mad, don't you know what that is, what happened there and is still going on... oh, so surprised? You have not heard about the Castle of Resurrection and the nameless evil that happened there?"

Ati and Sammy shook their heads no.

"Than I am sorry but I mustn't tell you more. It seems to be your fate and I am not supposed to interrupt the plans of destiny. Leave me alone now!"

They left the magical tree; though the tree had made them quite afraid, they still wanted to find the castle, or at least go rafting on the grey river.

The rest of the day was very usually. Nothing else special happened, except that Shamathia found just the herb she had always been looking for, a so called 'Schmalzkraut'.

Late in the afternoon, when the daylight was already fading and it become very dark and gloomy in the forest, they come to the grey river. It was completely black now and looked like a stream of liquid tear flowing through the forest. They built up Ati's tent near a gigantic rock and after a little dinner they fell asleep at once; the long walk had exhausted them more than they had expected. Now and than, a pair of yellow or green, pale-shinning eyes watched the tent interested from the bushed or the trees.

To be continued...