Chapter 5

In the morning they wake with the sunrise. Princess Avril is surprised she slept through the night, considering the feelings of urgency that have been haunting her since this nightmare began.

They stretch themselves awake and Mary starts making breakfast for her princess and their escort knight.

"Mary, please, let me make breakfast. I have spent many nights in the field and have become quite the cook."

"Okay, sir knight. I agree just to see what you come up with, but if I die of food poisoning I will come back and haunt you."

"I can think of no other ghost I would rather have haunting me, and it is Roy, remember?"

Mary giggles, but before either of them can go on the princess speaks up, "We do not have the time for breakfast. We must get back on the trail now!"

"Please, Princess, I promise you an hour will make no difference one way or the other."

Both Mary and Roy can see in the princess's eyes that she is about to start arguing, but much to their amazement she lets it go and sits back down. Mary and Roy raise their eyebrows to each other and smile.

After a quick breakfast of venison and eggs, which they found nearby, they quickly clean and pack their supplies and head back out onto the trail.

Because the forest pushes pretty far into the mountains in the Northeast Sanctuary of Nature's Glory Territory, the trio are forced to ride deeper into the forest so they can continue to make forward progress and save the world. At times the forest canopy gets so thick that Briar, the golden dragon, loses sight of them from time to time.

Because this is the most direct route from the kingdom of Azure to the kingdom of Montgomery, it is well traveled and the trail makes an easy go of it. It is true that since the Northeast Sanctuary is left to its own natural development, the undergrowth can at times become very dense and the wildlife very savage, but it is nature at its most glorious.

On the continent of Perennial the term forest is used mostly for pine tree dominated woods, and the woodlands, though technically at times can become so dense that they too are considered a forest, are made up of oak, elm, walnut and many other similar type trees.

As they are riding along, with the master knight Roy Bane leading the way, Princess Avril, Protector of the Scepter of Power, Sorceress of Light, Wielder of the Sword of Fire and Singer of the Tales of her tribe the Ophelia's comes next, with the sweet-hearted, smart, funny and pretty Maiden Mary bringing up the rear with the supply horse in tow, the forest starts to open up for a goodly distance in front of them, with the mountains rising huge to their left and the forest beautiful and thick to their right. Here there are also rocks jutting out of the ground at sporadic intervals.

They haven't even been out in the open for a few moments when a breeze starts blowing out of the forest, and instead of smelling the sweet smell of pine they smell a pungent decaying odor.

"Ugh, what is that god awful smell?" it is Maiden Mary asking the question.

Roy thinks about it for a second before saying, "I don't know, but it's kind of familiar. It reminds me of ... Oh shit, we have to get out of here!"

The Princess asks concerned, "What is it?" Just then a flock of birds scatter out of the forest and they can here a stampede coming their way.

Roy pulls his sword free. When Roy pulls the Sword of Enlightenment and Power free, it makes a ringing sound. "Get away from the tree line and run."

But Mary is frozen more in fascination than fear. "Damn it, sir knight, tell me what is happening!"

But master knight Roy Bane doesn't have to say what it is, because just then the Gargon Centipede breaks from the tree line and attacks Mary. The Gargon Centipede is thicker than a horse, and this one is about fifteen feet long, though they get even bigger. What they thought was a stampeding heard of animals was actually just all the feet of the centipede.

The Gargon Centipede grabs Mary's horse by the neck and shakes it violently. Mary goes flying off her horse and hits the back of her head hard on a boulder and cries out in pain and fear.

After the Gargon Centipede is sure the horse cannot escape, it turns its attention to Mary. It goes up on many of its hind legs with about a quarter of its body in the air, and is getting ready to strike Maiden Mary when Roy plows his horse full into the Gargon Centipede, taking a swipe at it with his long broad sword. Green goo splatters all over Roy as he positions himself between the centipede and Mary.

The Gargon Centipede roars with rage and is ready to strike at Roy, until finally Princess Avril gets over her initial shock and yells out at the centipede as she prepares to cast a spell upon it. The centipede momentarily hesitates before striking Roy, and that is all that is needed, because with a roar of ultimate power and rage Briar, the golden dragon, swoops down out of the sky and lands on the giant centipede, and they go rolling off as they fight as two ultimate super powers will do, to the death.

Princess Avril, seeing that the centipede is no longer a threat, dismounts and runs over to Mary, who is seriously injured on the ground.

Once Roy has made sure Briar defeats the Gargon Centipede, he walks up to Avril and Mary as Mary is saying, "It's okay, Mistress. I'll be okay, Mistress."

Princess Avril puts her hand behind Mary's head and brings it out covered in blood. She looks up at Roy and pleads, "Please, help her."

Roy smiles sadly, for Mary has become very pale and is now beginning to shake violently. "I will do what I can, Princess."

Mary then says, "I'm cold." Without saying a word Avril runs towards the supply horse and starts pulling out a blanket for Mary.

Roy looks over his shoulder at Avril to make sure she is not looking, and then he bends down and places his hand behind Mary's head and says, "Heal." A warming white glow comes from Roy's hand and the bleeding stops immediately.

Mary looks at him in surprise and starts to say, "You are a..."

But as Princess Avril is coming back over with the blanket, Roy says, "Shh." and then he smiles.

Mary has wide eyes when Avril throws the blanket over her, so Avril gets scared by the look and responds, "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, milady. I have stopped the bleeding, but she probably has a serious concussion. We should get her to a Healer Witch as soon as possible."

"There is a Healer Witch stationed in my castle in Peachtree."

Roy turns around to Briar, "How are you, brother?"

"I'm fine. How is sweet Maiden Mary?"

"She has a bad head wound. We have stopped the bleeding, but she needs to get to a Healer Witch. Do you think you can transport her back to Peachtree gently enough?"

"Yes! I will wrap her in a cocoon of my power, and that will sustain her until we get to Peachtree."

"Excellent!"

As Briar and Roy are talking, Mary says to Avril, "I'm sorry, Mistress, that I will not be able to accompany you on your journey. Trust in the knight, Mistress, there is something about him."

"Okay, ladies, time to go. Stand back, Princess." Avril kisses Mary on the forehead and steps back.