To Save a Forest

By Eve-Liz Addams

One forest, two tribes. A benevolent Queen, and a tyrannical arsonist. Whose side would you be on?
For Inez the answer is clear. She has trained her whole life in the Queen's army in order to fight Ronan, and now she finally has the chance. Except, there's one problem. Inez is a purifier – one of several born with sacred magic. Because of this, no-one will let her out of their sight, let alone actually take place in the fight.
So what will happen to Inez when the opposing army notices her powers? What poison can you feed a purifier who is immune to them all? As Inez is about to discover, sometimes the truth can be the most toxic of all.
Not everything is as it seems. Who can Inez trust, and what is the real danger to the forest?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eve-Liz Addams
• Release date: Sep 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463224991

Eve-Liz Addams

Hi, my name is Eve-Liz Addams, and I'm an aspiring English author. I live on the South coast of England with my adorable boxer dog, and spend entirely too much time daydreaming. For a long time, I've been more immersed in fiction than reality, so I don't think anyone was surprised when I started writing out the stories that were in my head. It started out just as a fun hobby in 2013, but now I want to share my creations with the world.If you've read any of my stories, please share your comments and opinions in the reviews section. I'd love to know what you all think. :-)

Book preview

To Save a Forest

Eve-Liz Addams

Distributed by Smashwords

Copyright © 2018 Eve-Liz Addams

Cover Design by Ckarts at 99designs

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This ebook remains the copyright property of the author and may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for your support.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Epilogue

***Chapter 1***

‘Prepare for contact.’ Misa's authoritative voice came quietly through the treetops.

Our target was the group of nearly twenty people standing in a clearing just in front of us. There were about the same number of us, but with the advantage of surprise, this should be an easy fight.

I drew my small dagger from its sheath at my hip in preparation for the fight.

‘Inez!’ Natalia hissed next to me. ‘What do you think you're doing?’

‘Fighting.’ I frowned at her.

‘I don't think so.’

She reached over and gently but firmly pushed my dagger arm down.

‘Leave the fighting to us professionals.’ She smiled.

‘Then why did you bring me if I'm not allowed to fight?’ I sulked.

‘You know the answer to that. Now be a good girl and stay here while we clear the path.’

I sheathed my dagger again and pouted at Natalia. We were roughly the same age, but she always treated me like a child.

‘Don't worry about anything.’ Her eyes gleamed as she looked down through the trees at our target. ‘It will be over before you know it.’

I sighed and leaned back into my branch, crossing my arms.

I may be decked out in the same forest armour as them, but it was mainly just for decoration, because they never let me get involved in any of the fighting.

‘On my signal.’ Misa ordered softly.

The treetop warriors moved into place, circling around the unsuspecting group.

For a few seconds everything was silent, as if the very forest knew what was about to happen.

And then, Misa slashed her sword arm straight, indicating the start of the fight.

My comrades jumped from the branches and knocked several of the opposing team to the floor. There was the clash of metal as sword met sword, as the people below me struggled to counter my team.

I tried to follow everything at once, but with so many fights, I couldn't keep up. The one thing I did notice though, was that one of the opposition wasn't fighting.

I thought at first they may be the weak link, but when someone got close enough to take a swing at them, I realised I was terribly wrong.

As he moved to counter, his face turned my way and my blood ran cold as I knew who we had just crossed paths with.

Jagger; second in command to Ronan and his main fire starter.

Maybe this was a good thing. If we could defeat Jagger, then it would set back Ronan's army by a long way.

But all my hope fizzled when Jagger easily defeated the warrior who had attacked him, leaving their body on the floor as he went back to observing the fight.

The only people who would even stand a chance in a fight against him were Misa and Pirez. Misa was busy fighting other members of Jagger's team and Pirez was on the other side of the forest.

I knew they had told me not to fight, but if I did nothing, he was going to kill them all.

Moving away from the safety of my branch, I crept closer to the edge, until I was right next to the clearing.

Another warrior slashed through his enemy and attacked Jagger from behind. But just like the last one, Jagger barely flicked his wrist and sliced deeply into the warrior's chest, easily killing him.

I gripped the branch harder in anger and then prepared to jump. I had to do something.

From among the clamour of swords striking swords, I heard a sharp hiss and it didn't take long to work out what was happening.

Jagger had lit a torch and was now patiently waiting for the flame to grow big enough for him to start work. Apparently he wasn't fazed in the slightest by the fight around him.

Another warrior broke through the ranks to face him, but Jagger was ready. Dodging the warrior's attack, he knocked the warrior off his feet and slammed the butt of his torch into the warrior's windpipe.

I winced and looked away, but when my eyes returned to the fight, Jagger's flame was ready.

At some signal I missed, his men disengaged from the fights and surrounded him, forming a protective shield to let him get to the trees.

This couldn't happen. Someone had to stop him.

The warriors charged at Jagger's protective circle, but couldn't get close enough to him. And Jagger was getting ever closer to the trees.

A split formed at the back of the circle of men around Jagger, as they were drawn away in their own fights. Seeing this as a sign, I jumped from my branch.

Landing hard on the ground, I rolled quickly onto my feet and dashed after Jagger. Several of the fighters saw me, but being engaged in battle, they couldn't stop me.

Jagger by now had reached the tree line and was lowering his torch to the ground. With my speed, I jumped at him, aiming for his left side, my only thought was to put the flames out.

I hit Jagger with my weight, and he staggered, but didn't fall. Using my legs to hold myself to his back, I yanked at his right arm, trying to pull the torch away from the trees.

He did turn, his arm braced for a strike, but because I was attached to his back, I moved with him.

Now between him and the trees, I let go and jumped back, landing on my feet.

Jagger spun to face me and I aimed a kick at his right arm. He dodged with ease and swung the torch towards me. I ducked and then jumped after his arm, grabbing it in both of mine.

Using his other arm, Jagger grabbed my chest armour and prized me off his arm. I tried to hold on, but he was really strong.

Now that I was hanging from his grip, our eyes were at the same level, allowing me to see his cold blue eyes clearly. Slight irritation stirred within them, but it was heavily subdued by the apathy he seemed to view the world with. Like a soldier blindly following orders.

I glared at him, but before I could attack any further, he threw me to one side and I crashed into a pair of his fighters.

‘Hold her.’ He ordered, facing the trees again.

The two men secured me in their grip and, although I struggled, they would not let go.

The other warriors from our team were mainly defeated by now, but there were still a couple of clashes in the distance.

With nothing left to stop Jagger, he touched the torch to the forest floor, and the flames leapt greedily into the defenceless trees.

Within seconds, the roar of the fire drowned out the sound from any remaining fights, and the heat made me stop struggling. There really wasn't anything else I could do now.

The fire had started.

I watched from my captive position as the flames grew higher to devour the trees and undergrowth. The flames were fast spreading around the clearing, but the men here didn't seem too bothered about being stuck here.

While I had been watching the flames, Jagger's men had disengaged and regrouped in the clearing. There were significantly less now than there had been, but even that failed to appease me as one single thought kept going through my mind. We had failed.

Jagger turned from the devastation he had caused in the forest, and led his men through the trees at the back of the clearing that weren't yet burning.

I was dragged out behind him, and in the excessive heat, I couldn't put up much of a fight. But even if it hadn't been hot, I didn't have any fight left in me. All my friends had been either killed or left for the flames. And on top of that, we had failed to prevent this fire.

Ronan's men had been starting fires for as long as I could remember. That's why I had joined the military in the first place – to stop this very thing from happening.

Queen Annisa ruled the forest with kindness and mercy, protecting as much of it as she could with her magic. But Ronan was a constant problem, using his army as a harbinger of fire to destroy as much of the forest as he could.

Now I was caught by Ronan's main striker and was no closer to stopping the fires from spreading.

We travelled through the forest, away from the fires, that for some reason weren't coming this way, until we reached a large lake.

My captors had released their hold of me slightly, so we could all walk easier, but I was used to travelling the treetops and still occasionally stumbled on the uneven surface.

Trees circled the stretch of water ahead of us, but broke away just before the bank where we were, so that I got an unimpeded view across the water. What I had at first thought to be the other side of the lake, was actually an island rising up in the middle of the water.

Jagger greeted some men near the edge of the water, who pulled out a wooden raft from a hidden cove. Jumping on board, he motioned to the men holding me, who quickly dragged me onto it as well, before the men on the shore pushed us further into the lake.

Jagger stood with confidence, using a long wooden oar to push us through the water. Thankfully the water was almost completely still, so there was no chance of falling in, but still, Jagger's men stayed close to me.

With Jagger's swift movements, it didn't take long to reach the island in the middle of the lake. There were several knolls bounding the centre and more men stationed here, watching us approach. After our boat was secured, Jagger led the four of us back onto dry land.

Climbing to the top of the closest hilly mound allowed me to see the rest of the island and the strange shapes lying on top of it.

More people here were scurrying around, moving different coloured leaves into patterns on the grass. As we watched, a large section of deep green leaves was taken away and replaced with ashen coloured leaves.

If they were trying to make a shape out of this, they weren't very good at it. But they were very serious about whatever they were doing.

In the middle of all these people running around, was a single man with a long, sharp spear. Ronan.

Keeping a watchful eye on all that surrounded him, it didn't take long for him to notice Jagger and his entourage. Moving over to us, he never hesitated or faltered. He just expected his minions to move out of his way. I hated to think what he'd do to them if they didn't.

‘Jagger.’ Ronan greeted his fighter. ‘I didn't know you were in the business of keeping prisoners.’

‘Are the lakes still the same?’ Jagger asked, ignoring the jibe.

‘Yes. And it's spreading. My scouts just returned from up North, and it's just as bad up there.’ Ronan turned to face me. ‘And who's this?’

‘One of Annisa's warriors.’ Jagger replied blandly.

Ronan glanced at Jagger and then nodded.

‘Bring her to the cave.’ He ordered, walking away again.

Jagger followed his boss, and my two captors pulled me along behind them.

From my view point on top of the hill, I had seen the majority of the island, but what I couldn't see, was a small opening in the side of one of the knolls that led down below.

Two men were standing idly by the entrance, but kept sharp eyes on me as I was dragged inside. It was a lot darker out of direct sunlight, but the men never faltered and strode confidently to where I could hear water flowing.

Slowly my eyes made out a large puddle of water, gently splashing against the rocky bottom of the cave as if moved by its own current. No sooner than I could see it, was I thrown into it.

It was a lot deeper than a puddle. My head submerged briefly as I flew face first into the water, and I recoiled in shock as several scaly bodies swam past me.

Quickly rising to the surface, I took a large breath of air and tried to minimise my movements, so that I didn't touch whatever else was in here with me.

My feet didn't touch the bottom, but just in front of me was a rock wall that rose almost to the top of the water before becoming the bottom of the cave. It was this level that gave the impression of the water being a lot shallower than it actually was.

Putting my hands on the rocks, I went to pull myself out. But Jagger was there and put his heel just past my fingers.

Quickly pulling my hands back, I narrowly missed getting trod on.

‘What's your name?’ He asked, not moving back.

I glared at him and moved away until my back touched the back of the cave.

‘We don't have time for games.’ Ronan mentioned from slightly behind Jagger. ‘If you want to die a hero, then we can help with that.’

Something brushed my side under the water and I recoiled sharply, suppressing a scream.

‘You're a purifier, aren't you?’ Jagger questioned.

I was too concerned about what was in the water with me to gasp, but I was worried about how he knew what I was.

Purifiers were born with a small amount of magic, like the forest queen, but rather than using it for protection, we used it for healing. That was the main reason why I wasn't allowed to fight – because purifiers were supposed to be kept safe at all costs. The only reason I was allowed out, was because lately a lot of purifiers had been born. They were becoming less and less rare.

‘Jagger, she's not going to help you.’ Ronan sighed. ‘If you're going to kidnap one, at least get one young enough who won't fight you.’

Something touched my ankle, and when I didn't react, it started coiling up my leg.

I grimaced and gripped the wall at my back, but tried to stay afloat kicking only one leg.

‘There's only one thing in that water that will attack you.’ Jagger told me conversationally. ‘A small sea snake that's incredibly venomous. Everything else will wait until you stop fighting before eating you.’

I wondered how small his small was, because the snake around my leg was not under my classification of small.

‘If you are a purifier, the snake should pose no problem for you.’ He continued calmly. ‘If not, then we don't need you anyway.’

It was true, snake venom would have no effect on me, nor would any other venom for that matter. But it did take energy. The more venomous, the more energy it would consume. If the other things in here attacked something that was weak, it wouldn't matter if I was dying or not, the snake would have done enough damage.

‘I won't help you.’ I snarled at Jagger, proud my voice didn't sound scared at all.

‘That's a shame.’ He replied blandly.

‘This was a fool's game to start with.’ Ronan muttered. ‘Focus on burning the trees down, forget about the lakes.’

Jagger glanced at me and then nodded at Ronan. Striding away from me, he headed for the exit, so I moved towards the rock wall again.

‘It was an oversight of Jagger's to bring you here.’ Ronan told me, coming closer. ‘But you'll serve a useful purpose feeding the fish.’

He turned slightly to face something to my right. ‘Ah, look. Ray's arrived. Purifier or not, this is goodbye.’ He planted his spear in front of me.

I turned to see an object slithering through the water towards me. Barely the length of my forearm, I could make out the black and white stripes shining in the faint light.

I moved away from it, the sudden movement causing the other snake wrapped around my leg to loosen and swim away.

Placing my hands on the rocky floor of the cave, I attempted to pull myself up, but came face-to-point with Ronan's spear.

‘Your choice.’ Ronan stated simply.

I glanced at the snake to see it brush around my back. As I turned my head to follow it, Ronan reversed his spear and slammed it into the side of my head.

Thrown back into the water, I hit the back of the cave and slumped face forward into the water.

Struggling to get my head working again from the blackness encroaching on my vision, I forced my head up so that I could breathe again.

The sudden movement of my left arm brushed the small snake, and it wasn't happy. In a single, quick strike, it coiled and bit down hard on the outside of my hand.

I cried out more in shock than pain, and raised it out of the water.

Ronan made a small noise of approval and turned his back to me, heading out of the cave.

Using my other hand, I pulled the snake off my hand and threw it back into the water.

Knowing I didn't have long, I hauled myself out of the water and just lay on the bank.

My hand and arm were already numb as the purity in my blood knocked out my nerves as well as the venom. As I lay there, the numbness spread to encompass all of my body, until I could only hear the beating of my heart and my breathing.

I lay in that state of purification for several minutes while my body slowly purged the venom, and I was just grateful that I'd made it out of the water. Forget about whatever lived in there, I'd die from drowning in this state.

Slowly, as feeling started returning to my body, I heard footsteps re-enter the cave.

Jagger, or Ronan, it didn't matter. I still had my knife at my side – I was taking one of them out right now.

The footsteps came slowly closer as feeling returned stronger and stronger to my body. The noise of the footsteps grew as they approached and then stopped.

That was my signal.

Jumping up, with one hand drawing out my blade, I aimed a cut at the inner thigh, hoping to cut the femoral artery.

I was too slow though, as the man caught my wrist and stepped back away from my strike. Using my wrist, he pulled me up, so that I landed on my feet face-to-face with Jagger.

‘I was right.’ He smiled. ‘You will help me.’

‘Never.’ I seethed.

Grabbing his arm in my free hand, I let him hold my weight as I jumped and aimed a kick at him. He dodged and shook me off, letting go, so that I fell to the floor. Not wasting a moment, I rolled and jumped up again, facing him with my dagger.

My head whirled as pain spiked through it where Ronan had hit me. Venom I could cure, but physical abuse was a different story.

Jagger used my disorientation to come closer and grab my wrist, turning the dagger downwards away from him. But he kept the pressure on my wrist until it was too painful for me to keep holding my weapon. The dagger fell to the stone floor of the cave and landed with a clatter.

I glared at him again, but my energy was really fading now and I could barely keep my eyes open. He grabbed my left shoulder and I didn't know what he was planning to do, but right then it ceased to matter as I lost consciousness.

I awoke as the day turned to night and the temperature dropped.

Opening my eyes, I was startled to find I didn't know where I was. It wasn't unusual to sleep out in the open, but usually I knew how to get back to the safety of Queen Annisa's shelter.

With a start, I sat up and looked around. Then held my head as it pulsed in pain, making me feel dizzy.

‘I was wondering when you'd wake up.’ A familiar voice greeted me. ‘You've been asleep for a long time.’

I turned to glare once again at Jagger, who was standing not too far away.

‘Don't you have any other expressions?’ He asked drily. ‘That one's getting old.’

‘Where are we?’ I demanded.

He turned to point somewhere through the trees.

Getting up, I cautiously walked closer to Jagger, to see what he was pointing to. It was the lake surrounding the island where Ronan resided. Apparently all Jagger had done was take me out of Ronan's land.

That made it easier for me to escape.

Suddenly, Jagger grabbed my wrist and turned it to face him. While I had been occupied with where I was, I hadn't noticed Jagger getting closer to me.

‘Let go!’ I struggled against him, but he held firm.

‘Look.’

He tapped my smallest knuckle and tilted my hand so that I could see the two bite marks the snake had left me. With my fast healing, they were almost scars by now, but still visible.

‘So what?’ I snapped.

‘The forest gives you that magic, doesn't it?’ Jagger insisted. ‘Isn't it selfish to keep it to yourself?’

‘I don't keep it to myself.’ I argued, finally pulling my hand from his grip. ‘But I'm not going to help someone destroy the forest.’

‘How ironic.’ He smiled grimly, but it didn't reach his eyes.

‘And I'm not helping you.’ I spat, turning away.

Jagger caught my shoulder and spun me back to face him. I glared again, but he tilted my chin, making me look off to the right.

‘Does your head hurt?’ He asked.

‘What's that got to do with anything?’ I jerked backwards out of his grip.

‘You have a bump on your head.’ He told me.

‘I'm not surprised.’

People generally get bruised when someone hits them. Purifiers are no exception.

‘You're not the only purifier in the forest.’ Jagger reminded me. ‘But you're the only one stupid enough to cross me in battle. So until I find another one to replace you, you're working with me.’

‘I don't think so.’

‘That's unfortunate.’ My attitude didn't faze him. ‘But you'll see the truth soon enough.’

I strode away from him, into the forest, my head still pounding.

‘Do you want to start tonight?’ Jagger asked jovially, coming up beside me. ‘It would be better to wait until morning.’

‘I'm not doing anything with you.’ I seethed. ‘Tonight, tomorrow, or ever.’

‘Do you even know where you are?’

I gritted my teeth together. In truth, I didn't have a clue where I was, or how to get back home. But Jagger didn't have to know that.

Although he would if I kept walking around in circles here.

I stopped.

‘You're right.’ I conceded. ‘Let's do this tomorrow.’

Without waiting for a response, I sat down where I was.

‘Good choice.’

Jagger wandered a little way away from me and also sat down. I lay down where I was and shut my eyes. Too easy.

I listened to Jagger's breathing and when I deemed him to be asleep, I quietly got up again. Taking to the treetops, I glanced down once more at Jagger's sleeping form and touched a hand to my dagger. Or rather, my dagger sheath. Apparently he hadn't seen any reason to return my dagger to me.

I would dearly love to kill him and take my dagger back, but I knew my abilities well enough to know I'd wake him up if I tried. And although he may be amicable now, I doubt he'd appreciate me trying to kill him as he slept.

Not to worry. As soon as I got back, I could tell Queen Annisa where Ronan kept his army and get rid of them all. A lost dagger was a small price to pay.

Turning away from Jagger, I jumped from branch to branch, quickly making my way through the trees in as straight a line as I could, hoping to find something familiar.

Jagger had started a fire yesterday and we hadn't walked that far from it, so I should be able to see the effects of it nearby. At least then I'd know where I was.

But as far as I travelled, I could see no signs of the devastation Jagger and his men had caused. It was like it never happened. Or maybe Queen Annisa had already regrown the forest with her magic.

In the dark, I couldn't see that far ahead of me to know where I was going, so it came as some surprise when the trees opened up into a small glade. There was a gentle stream running through it and several deer resting by it.

Not wanting to disturb the deer, or touch the ground, I started making my way around the clearing to the other side. I was almost there when a crashing noise came from upstream. I paused to listen, but then moved when the deer started waking.

Getting to the other side, I turned back as the deer started to cause a ruckus, and ran into the trees. They may be flighty, but that seemed a little severe from just a little noise.

Knowing I needed to keep moving, but curious about what had scared them, I was torn. When the noise grew louder, and sounded like it was coming this way, I decided to stay where I was.

I clung to my branch as the crashing noise indicated whatever it was, was close by. And then the tree leaves split apart to reveal a stampeding stag racing through the trees.

As the trees spat it out into the clearing, it slowed down, looking around. It was then I noticed the pure whites of its eyes, seeming to almost glow in the dark.

That wasn't natural.

I watched as the stag pawed at the ground and looked around, seemingly lost and angry. There was definitely something wrong with this stag, and as a purifier, it was my job to try and save it.

I peered back into the distance where I had come from, in case Jagger had somehow managed to chase me. When I couldn't see any signs of him, I slowly climbed down from the tree.

The stag moved over to the water to drink, so I slowly approached from directly in front of it. The stag raised its head as I approached, so I kept my movements slow and as quiet as I could.

From this distance, I could make out a small line of black in the stag's eyes, but they still had a strange glow to them.

The stag made a strange noise, somewhere between a growl and a whine, then pawed at the ground again.

‘Shh, it's okay.’ I murmured gently, coming closer. ‘I won't hurt you.’

The stag made the same sound again and bowed his head. Then it charged.

I took a step backward in reflex, but then froze. I couldn't let it just run away. Movement flickered in the corner of my vision, but I couldn't take my eyes off the approaching stag. Maybe if I timed it right, I could heal it without getting trampled on.

As it got closer, it started picking up speed. This wasn't good. Maybe I should just dive out of the way.

When it was just a couple of paces away, something hit me hard in the side and I squeezed my eyes shut, confused and thinking it had hit me before I realised it.

The momentum forced me out of the way of the stag and threw me to the ground, trapping me under a heavy weight.

When my body realised it wasn't in the process of getting trampled, I opened one eye warily.

Jagger pushed himself off me and stood up, watching the stag rush into the forest.

‘What are you doing?’ I yelled, indignant.

‘I was going to ask you the same thing.’ Jagger replied coldly. ‘Standing in front of a charging stag isn't the best idea.’

‘I had things under control.’ I huffed, getting up again.

‘Really?’ He raised an eyebrow at me.

‘Yes, really.’

I frowned in the direction the stag had run. There was no way I could catch up with it at that speed. And even if I did, it would likely just attack again. How was I going to heal it?

‘You're not thinking about chasing it, are you?’

I turned to glare at Jagger. ‘Why are you even here? How did you find me?’

‘I followed you. You may be fast, but you're not particularly quiet.’

I huffed out my breath and turned once again to where the stag had run.

‘Deer don't usually move around that much at night.’ Jagger mused. ‘So he probably hasn't gone that far. If you follow the water, you can probably catch up to him.’

I glanced in surprise at Jagger. ‘You'd help me?’

‘It's a lot easier to keep up with you if I know where you're going.’

‘This doesn't mean I'll help you.’ I warned.

‘We'll see.’

I climbed one of the nearby trees and headed downstream after the stag, aware that Jagger was right behind me. But when I couldn't find any traces of him, and had no idea where he had gone, I had to stop.

‘Giving up?’ Jagger asked, dropping next to me.

‘We don't even know he came this way.’ I sighed. ‘It's useless.’

‘Don't you have forest magic? Can't you ask the forest to help?’

‘Of course not.’ I scoffed. ‘Only the Queen has the ability to do that.’

‘Of course. Annisa.’ Jagger spoke her name like it left a foul taste in his mouth.

‘Not something you'd understand, going around destroying the forest.’ I huffed. ‘I'm surprised this hasn't all been burnt to ashes.’

‘Give it time.’ Jagger grinned evilly.

‘Not if I can help it.’ I ground out.

‘You going to fight me?’ Jagger seemed amused. ‘It didn't go so well for you before, did it?’

‘I won't let you keep destroying the forest.’

‘The forest?’ Jagger jumped into the next branches and turned to beckon to me. ‘Or the trees?’

‘What?’

He pointed below us. ‘Obviously you're not a hunter, otherwise you would've noticed the path your stag has left for us. If we keep going this way, we will meet up with him at some point.’

I frowned at him and the path below us. It was true I wasn't a hunter, but I still had training in following larger wildlife through the trees. Although, it was hard to make out much of anything in this darkness, so I was more surprised Jagger could see.

It went against my nature to trust Jagger, but then I didn't see any harm in following him this time. For starters, I didn't know where I was. And secondly, even if we did catch the stag, it wasn't like I could help it by myself.

I jumped up into the branches next to Jagger and he nodded before moving further into the trees. We travelled through the night, mainly staying with the stream, until we reached a wide, open expanse not really wide enough to be called a lake.

There were several more deer sleeping here, but no irate stag.

‘He's not here.’ I noted, as if Jagger couldn't see that for himself.

‘Is that what you're focused on?’ He turned to stare disapprovingly at me.

‘What?’ I recoiled at his gaze, but didn't care if he didn't like me.

‘Look at the water.’

I did and was surprised to see a faint glow coming off the small lake, that was more a pond.

‘Fireflies?’

‘No.’ Jagger's face was grim as he started descending through the trees.

I frowned and made my way over to the pond, not coming out of the trees.

Using a low hanging branch, I crawled over the pond and peered into the dark water. The water itself wasn't glowing, but several things inside it were. That's why I had guessed fireflies, although they'd be above the surface not under it.

A sudden crashing made me pull back into the safety of the tree and turn to face the noise. The deer were also startled and, just like before, once they'd woken up, they quickly vacated the area.

Jagger didn't look happy at the interruption and I got the feeling he hadn't planned for this.

‘You said you were leading me to the stag.’ I accused him. ‘So how come we got here before him?’

Jagger looked up at me and then swiftly climbed into the safety of the branches as well.

‘I said if you follow the water you'd find him, not that I'd lead you to him.’

‘You lied.’ I exclaimed.

‘I thought I just explained that I didn't.’ Jagger faced me with a flat stare. ‘Either way, you got your wish. What are you planning to do now?’

‘Why did you bring me here?’ I pressed.

‘For the pond. You're a purifier, aren't you? So you can purify it.’

‘Why would you care if you're just going to burn the forest down?’ I scoffed.

‘I didn't bring you out here to have a debate with you.’ He retorted coldly. ‘Now heal the stag, or the