"What?", I whined. "You said this was the safest area!"
"It is. But these are Bracken trolls. Trust me, they are so annoying! Ouch!" Joon rubbed the back of his head, as a small rock hit him.
"They hunt insects but using slingshots. So they must be close. Come on"
He galopped forward and I struggled to keep up. My Chamil horse didn't really feel like running. But after a while, the rocks stopped flying through the air.
"Trolls?", I asked Joon dryly, when we passed a small river using a wooden bridge.
"Feisty little creatures", Joon giggled. "They live in hollow trees a little down this creek."
"Why were we running from them?"
"Oh you no. The usual. They keep bugging me about owing them..."
"Do you owe them?"
"I repaid them a hundred times already" Joon sighed. They just keep pretending they never received any payment."
"So you're getting bullied by a bunch of trolls?" I couldn't hold back a laugh.
He was still rubbing his head. "Yeah it's not that funny."
"Actually, it is" I smirked. Just then, I saw something like a small, yellowish-broem potato face behind a tree. This one wasn't bigger than a pillow and had long green hair with grass in it. The hands were plump and had very short fingers, grasping the tree it was hiding behind. It quickly hid out if sight and I shook my head in awe. We passed yet another river and our surroundings slchanged.
Furrowed, yellow and white tree stumps rose out of the dirt around us. The fog got denser. They reminded me of raw ginger.
Hours passed and this ginger forest stretched and stretched. The further down the path we came, the longer the stems got, until they looked like weird, twisted columns with branches. .
A bird with sharply cut purple wings screeched above us and flew a huge arch around the area. It had a long spike on the back of its head.
"Dangerous one?", I called out to Joon.
He was already looking up. "No", he said. "Only when they are hungry. But this time of the year, they it these tree roots."
"What's the spike for?"
"If you try to hunt them they will rise up into the sky, turn back around and shoot down spike first to slice you open. They are flying artists. Can do some crazy stunts."
"I don't think I'm that interested in a demonstration."
He chuckled. "We are reaching the Jithe sands, by the way. Stay on the main path or you will sink into the sand.
Just as he said it, the scenery around is turned into dry and hot desert. The sky was actually blue here, not unlike on earth and it was bright and searing. Actual steam rose up from the sand. A gentle wind blew.
Slowly, tye first faded behind us in the background and after another hour, my head was swimming, and I had completely batyed in my own sweat.
"It's hot!", I spoke the obvious.
"It will get colder the closer we get to the boarder. The heat is to prevent the trolls from hopping around here. They can't stand it. The Syren put a shield over this land."
"I thought we were still on Black Knives ground", I mumbled, growingly nervous.
"No", said Joon. "The second we reached the desert, we reached neutral lands." He giggled. "Nobody would want to claim a huge stretch of sand where nothing of value can be built. It would all sink."
YOU ARE READING
BLUE VENOM
Paranormal"Holy crap", I said, staring at the huge green forest opening we were standing on. Only it wasn't a forest. Thick, lush jungle surrounded us. We were standing in a field of Heath. The smell of herbs and sweet woods and honey and something bitter was...
