Colin couldn’t bring himself to feel bad about this turn of events. “We’ll have to go back until I can arrange for safe passage.”
Leena grew restless at this idea. “Wait… There’s one place on Rogos’s shores that I know will be safe for us to enter, a place used exclusively by scribes on the edge of the Mystic Wood. It’s not easily accessible except by elves, but if Indigo can get us near, I can guide us in.”
“Guide us in? That sounds ominous.”
“In all the time you spent in Rogos, did you never learn about the Mystic Wood?” She raised a teasing eyebrow. At least she was looking at him again.
“I was there to earn the trust of the people. Aside from crossing through the wood on the main road to Asfolk, I didn’t see the need for an in-depth study. I have heard that it’s uninhabitable.”
“That’s an exaggeration. Not many elves live there, but it’s not impossible. The wood is enchanted and fraught with peril. It’s served a military purpose for Rogos for centuries. For example, had you tried to navigate off the main road on your journey, you might have found yourself stuck in one of the tar pools or attacked by one of the many venomous animals. Even the trees can be lethal if you eat the wrong berry or touch the wrong bark. It’s designed to stop anyone who doesn’t belong in Rogos from reaching its people undetected. Only an elf has any hope of navigating it, and even then, it is filled with deadly obstacles one must actively defend against.”
He snorted. “It’s a means of defense, then, similar to the winters in Darnuith. I never realized.”
“We don’t advertise it, and those that go in never come out to tell the tale. There is a reason we’ve been able to maintain neutrality all these centuries, Colin. Rogos’s defenses are quiet but deadly.”
“Hmm.”Like your beauty, he thought, still feeling the sting from the night before.
“The scribe’s pass is a small inlet on the southern shore. If Indigo can get us close, you can fly us to the dock.”
“Why not keep going? I probably can’t make it all the way to the temple, but I can fly us to the main road.”
“I don’t recommend it. You’re a dragon, Colin. For the first time in centuries, Rogos has ended diplomatic relations with the dragon kingdom. It will be safer if we walk and you keep your wings tucked away until we reach the temple.”
“Great. So now we’re taking a stroll through the enchanted wood. This is a bad idea, Leena.”
“Don’t be concerned. I know a safe path… at least, in theory.”
“In theory?” He raised an eyebrow.
“All scribes learn of the path, to use in case of trouble, but it isn’t as though I’ve ever actually used it. What opportunity would I have had?” She gave a laugh that turned into a snort. “We left Rogos when we could take the main road through Everfield. I never thought we’d have to come back this way.”
“Fantastic,” he mumbled. “I’m all aglow with faith in this plan.”
She shrugged. “Do you have a better idea?”
He faced her and circled one finger in the air. “Yes. We turn this ship around and return to Aeaea where we wait for the three sisters and then safely transport you home using magic, or else get special permission from High Lord Niall to drop you off somewhere.”
Her eyes darted from his to the water rippling off the side of the boat. She seemed to consider it for a moment, then shook her head. “I know it’s the safer thing to do, but I can’t. I need to get back to the temple, Colin. I’m sorry.”
“Why?” It was a fair question even though he suspected he knew the answer. They’d been over this. But he wanted her to admit it once again. He wanted to hear her say it.
“I don’t trust myself around you,” she blurted. She gripped the side of the boat but didn’t turn her head to look at him.
“Then you admit you have feelings for me.”
“If I didn’t, we wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t have had to leave Aeaea.”
“Wedidn’thave to.”
This time, she did turn, and her expression held something close to torment. “We did. We do. We must.”
It took the better part of the day to reach their destination. The Mystic Wood appeared on the leeward side of the boat in an explosion of deep green foliage and intensely colored blooms. Nothing in their world rivaled the beauty of this place. Roots tangled into the water off the bank, surrounded by an inviting silver mist. Teal vines coiled around the knotty tree trunks and grew in swags between the gnarled branches. A scent like pepper and tea blossom met his nose.
“There.” Leena pointed to an inlet that was impossible to see if you weren’t looking for it. “Beware of the vines. They’re poisonous and plentiful here, where they survive on the salt of the sea.”
Moments later, he heeded the warning as they neared the coast and he had to duck beneath vines that stretched from one bank to another. The boat slipped closer to shore, Indigo steering around a point of land that reached across the narrow way.
“Almost there,” Leena said. “There’s a safe place to disembark just down here.”
