Converging Destinies: Part 1

Chapter 155

       Within the half hour, Cedric had put up a spell that made it easier for the group to muffle their footsteps and make it more difficult for them to be seen.

       As the group progressed further and further, the walls of thickets became more and more prevalent. With the combination of the mist, it was difficult to find a way through.

       Cedric found it difficult to trailblaze and remain hidden at the same time. While his spell helped, the occasional snapping of a twig still made it through.

       None of them could risk forcing their way through the thickets, as they were coated with thorns, some of which were the size of nails.

       Additionally, the smell in the air became less and less like that of a forest. Soon, the air smelled faintly acrid and foul.

       Under the conditions that the grove had surrounded them with, the group couldn't move at even half the speed that they could normally. It was as if the forest had been built to make it difficult, and it likely had been.

       By the halfway point of the day, Cedric had expended some of his magic, and they hadn't made it far in.

       "Do we know which direction the lair of the dragon is in?" Ella asked in a whisper. Cedric shook his head.

       "No, but I assume it's beyond these bushes. They're built like walls to keep something out." Cedric responded in a whisper.

       "Do you think you and I could fly above and try to spot the lair?" Eris asked, directing their attention at Cedric.

       "Maybe, it might work, everyone else, stay here, and stay hidden." Cedric said. With an emerald flash, he transformed into an eagle, let Eris leap onto his back, and took to the sky. The rest of the group remained hidden as well as they possibly could.

       Unfortunately, the canopy within the grove was too thick to see anything through it. It cast a green blanket of leaves over the entire, massive grove. To his horror, Cedric realized that the group was barely over half a mile into the massive grove.

       After taking a few minutes to circle around the grove, Cedric flew back down to where the group was gathered, his keen eagle eyes just barely able to pick them up.

       As he landed, he transformed back, and Eris leapt to the ground.

       "Did you find anything?" Zerai asked. Cedric shook his head.

       "No, it's impossible to see into it. And what's worse, we're barely over half a mile in, and this grove is a couple miles across." Cedric explained.

       Then, he sensed it, a faint spike in the acrid smell of the air.

       "Hey, do any of you smell tha-"

       Out of nowhere a massive, green, reptilian head poked out from above one of the nearby thickets. Its mouth was already open. Then, from its mouth, a jet of poisonous green gas fired, and the whole party was shrouded in the toxic gas. They had found the dragon.