43. Excursion
S leep felt like a distant thought when Aeden, Harrison, Vivienne, and Serene had settled down.
As per the plan, Aeden was back in his original bed, having borrowed some sheets from Harrison.
As he lay on his back, getting lost in all of his wandering thoughts, he felt it was going to be nearly impossible to sleep.
How could he with everything that was going on, with danger so close to them? And what could they do about Lucien?
He was therefore surprised when he opened his eyes to see Harrison standing over him as well as Serene, eyes blinking as they watched him while he slept.
“What are you doing?” Aeden asked.
“You were out cold last night,” Serene said. “We’ve been trying to wake you up for so long, I would have questioned if you were dead if it wasn’t for your heavy breathing!”
Aeden squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light of dawn. It was still dark enough in the bunkhouse to not disturb everyone else, but it made it even harder for Aeden not to drift back off to sleep.
“Wake up,” Serene hissed, shoving Aeden in the chest with a burst of frustration. “How can you be so sleepy with everything that’s happening right now?”
“I can’t help it, I feel so exhausted.” He hadn’t slept since spending so much of his energy on healing Nyra’s wound, and then with the adrenaline that had coursed through his body in the fight with the other students and hearing the Sable twins’ conversation, was it any wonder that he felt this way?
“Get up.” Serene pushed him again in the centre of his chest, forcing a gust of air out of him that made a gargling sound.
“Okay, I’m awake,” he said, “stop pushing me.” When he sat up, he realised that Serene and Harrison were already dressed. Vivienne was too, and she was busy packing supplies into a satchel, which she tossed over her shoulder once she had finished checking it over.
Aeden jumped out of bed and quickly dressed.
They had agreed to wear their training clothes rather than their uniforms given they were going to be heading deep into the forest. The morning’s schedule was free.
They were meant to be preparing for the bonding ceremony with their spare time but had collectively agreed that this was more important.
When he was dressed, he gave the others a nod before the four of them exited the bunkhouse and made their way towards the forest. They kept quiet as they hugged the edge of the boundary walls so as not to draw too much attention to themselves.
Their plan was to get to the training fields, and if anyone asked what they were doing being up and about so early, they would lie and say they were out for an early morning run.
“This is so exciting, our first excursion together!” Harrison said. Aeden hadn’t noticed at first, but he had black paint on his cheeks, like he was going deep into an enemy camp. Serene punched him in the arm and pulled a look of dissatisfaction.
“Ow.”
“Will you keep quiet?”
“I will be if you stop – ow!” he said again as Serene punched him in the arm once more. “Fine,” he whispered, “I’ll keep quiet.”
“You can talk all you want once we’re out of the academy grounds and in the forest,” Aeden said, his focus on the training fields as they approached them.
Being out in the open like this felt ten times worse than it usually did given that last time he and Nyra were here, they had been attacked by two students and their much bigger Aer-Kin.
It made Aeden that little bit more apprehensive that something was going to drop from the sky on them at any moment.
“Do you think you can remember where you found Nyra?” Vivienne asked as they continued their walk across the training field. She was speaking in a whisper. Although they were well outside of the academy grounds now, it made sense to remain as quiet as possible.
A heavy mist-like dew sat across the field, giving it an eerie look.
Water had pooled below the mist, making their boots and lower legs sodden as they continued moving forwards.
It was deathly quiet too, with not even the sound of any wildlife, making Aeden feel even more tense, which hadn’t seemed possible .
“I think so,” Aeden said, though he couldn’t offer much more assurances than that.
“Well, the sooner we get to it, the sooner we can get back,” Serene said. “Hopefully Lyric will be able to identify her once we have it.”
“I mean, is it a good thing to rush back?” Harrison said. “I thought the whole point of us coming out here was to keep Aeden and Nyra out of the line of sight of the Sable twins?”
“Sable twins or dark and spooky forest . . .” Serene stopped, looking in the air and raising a hand to her chin. “Well, what a choice we have.”
“The forest wins for me.” Harrison marched forward at pace, reaching a clearing on the outer edge of the forest. It was overgrown, a thick layer of brambles and vines gripping the ground like desperate hands as if it was grasping the forest boundaries itself and holding it from expanding further into the training field.
“Are you okay?” Harrison asked, giving Aeden a playful nudge in the arm. “You’re quieter than normal. Don’t get me wrong, brooding Aeden is often quiet, but you seem more quiet than usual.”
“I’m just worried about Nyra. What if the Sable twins find her while we’re away?
I mean, I’d be able to hear her through the Weave, but how would I be able to get back in time if I’m deep in the forest?
” Panic was already starting to set in, that swell of fear slushing around in his stomach.
Had he made the right decision? Should he have stayed behind so at least Nyra wasn’t alone?
Even Nyra had told him she wouldn’t be alone though, and that after Aeden, she trusted Lyric entirely. Aeden could feel through the Weave that she felt safe around him .
“We all are,” Vivienne said. “Now, let’s head into this forest before someone spots us loitering.”
This was the opening where they had entered the forest when they were out on exercise, the day that he found Nyra’s egg. They followed the makeshift path, formed through the cleared branches by footsteps of the students.
They took their time, tracing Aeden’s steps as best he could.
Some of the ribbon markers were still wrapped around branches and trees, which helped keep them on track, but the more they walked, the more Aeden doubted himself.
The trees all merged into one, shades of browns and greens, overgrown plant life and just like before, barely a noise.
It made the forest feel even more ominous, Aeden himself feeling a cold shiver down his spine on more than one occasion.
The last time he had been here, that strange spectral creature had attacked him and Nyra.
What if it was following them now? He had been so worried about the Sable twins and Nyra that he hadn’t spared a thought about what they would do if they crossed paths with the creature again.
Suddenly Aeden felt incredibly vulnerable, especially without Nyra. Was he becoming too reliant on her? She was still only a young Aer-Kin, yet she had saved Aeden on more than one occasion.
“You okay?” Harrison asked. “You look like you have been visited by the ancestors.”
“Something like that,” Aeden said, pushing his anxiety to the back of his mind.
He had to be strong, he had to find the cave, for Nyra.
He just hoped that this would help Lyric, that something beneficial would come from the excursion.
If they could find her eggshell, perhaps they would stand a better chance of identifying her breed and bloodline.
At least then they would have evidence to show to the Conclave should they need it.
The group rounded a corner, and Aeden stopped. He looked back on their path, then ahead. A worn red ribbon was wrapped around a thin tree.
“I think this is the spot,” he said enthusiastically.
“You sure?” Serene asked.
“This is where I took the corner too fast and fell down the slope.” Aeden stepped off the path and towards the almost sheer drop, his stomach lurching again from the height.
Seeing it from this point, seeing how far he had fallen, he realised it was a miracle that the worst that had happened to him was an injured ankle.
The bottom, however, wasn’t visible, hidden by a shroud of mist that hung heavy over the ground.
“Of course there is a bloody weird mist,” Harrison said. He let out a huff and slapped his hands against his legs.
Mismatched trees stuck out of the ground sporadically all the way down.
These ones were thinner and taller pine trees.
Some were snapped and broken, leaving sharpened edges like they were a natural trap.
There were large gaps between some of them, but again, Aeden counted his blessings that he hadn’t wrapped himself around a tree when he had fallen down.
“This is definitely it.” Aeden pointed to a large chunk of earth that had been torn from the embankment. “I think that’s where I left a mark.”
“Couldn’t that have been an animal or something?” Serene asked.
“Maybe so, but I’m pretty certain this is where I fell down.
We’ll know when we reach the bottom.” He reached into a satchel he had fetched with him and pulled out a large coil of rope, then set about tying it around a thick tree with hardened bark.
Ater, he pulled it tight to make sure it was secure.
“There’s only one way for us to find out, and the sooner we get to the bottom of the embankment, the sooner we can find Nyra’s cave.
” He manoeuvred himself until his heels ran flush with the edge of the embankment, leaves crunching under his feet.
“I’ll go first. When I reach the bottom, I’ll call up. ”
“Wait,” Harrison said, reaching into his own satchel. “You aren’t the only one that fetched a rope.” He pulled out his rope and wrapped it around the same anchor point as Aeden.