Say it, I can hear his voice through his gaze,say what you know to be true.
I sigh in small surrender and smile back at Lord Daniel, shaking my head softly.
“They are too content to care, Lord Daniel.”
“Warrior,” the Prince speaks the word directly at me. For once I don’t answer a denial.
“The Kingdom of Disce hasn’t been breached by anyone unwanted for almost three hundred years,” Desmond watches me with hard features, “why would you have any fear of that now?”
“I truly have no answer for that, Prince Desmond, nor any impending fear. All I know is that if, for some reason, something foreign did pass through the Black Forest along the Great Road, I would not feel safe or comfortable living here, especially when sleep comes so deeply.”
And that’s the damn Ancients truth.
The three men stare at me silently again, all in contemplation. Keane is the first to break the silence, his words slow and deliberate.
“We’ve certainly learned a lot. Let’s take it to a vote.”
A vote?
“Lord Daniel?” he asks, turning to the side.
“Yes,” Lord Daniel nods and gives me a beaming smile, “as I believe we can learn much more from Lady Alexis than we already have.”
“Brother?” the Prince asks.
“No,” Desmond responds simply, his features remaining stoic.
Keane nods at his answer and returns his gaze to mine.
“You’re in luck tonight, Lady Alexis, as I share Lord Daniel’s sentiment on this one.”
I look back at him in obvious confusion and watch as that sparkle of pride shines through his whole being. The Prince lifts his arms from his chest and angles his hands to the trees above us, his eyes never leaving mine as he sends me a grin.
“Tell me, Lady, do you feel safe and comfortable in these woods now?”
He flicks his fingers to the pines, and in that instant the full of the forest illuminates with moonslight. I look up in awe to the hundreds,no, thousands of bows pointed directly down at Golem and I from the tips of the trees, the weapons angled at our heads and tightly drawn.
“Welcome to Fumagalli,” Keane states proudly.
CHAPTER VIII
THE HIDDEN CITY
Fumagalli, therealFumagalli, is a grand city amongst the trees. The full of the city is sky-high, with thousands of people walking through the woods above us, their bows now lowered and moving about with their night. Homes of pine and redwood and evergreen are built into the trunks high above the woods, all of them carved to look as one with the forest. Bridges of wooden planks connect those homes and carve paths through the dense trees that lead in hundreds of different directions. There’s even wooden staircases that circle some of the trunks near the ground, their steps jutting up farther and farther and leading to outposts that rest at the highest tips of the forest.
Dim moonslight has been summoned into lanterns across all of the branches, the light twinkling back at the forest floor as if they are the stars in the sky. The lanterns are then paired with thick candles that lick against the stairs and bridges, the flames dancing against the woods and creating a beautiful ambiance I can’t take my eyes off of. Black banners with the warrior emblem can be seen everywhere, the fabrics swaying from the bridges and tacked to the trees in proud declaration. To say the city is astounding would not give it justice. It’s absolutely breathtaking.
I stare above at the most unique use of forest that I have ever seen. All of it blends into the canopies around us, a perfect meld of deep greens and browns and sparkling candlelight and moonslight that mixes well with the woods. Golem and I must’ve been walking under the city from the moment we stepped foot on the small path and didn’t even think to look above. I laugh in genuine awe and place my hand on my companion’s shoulder.
“We were walking under their noses the whole time, my friend.”
Golem’s lips curve up into a solid grin, the magical creature just as transfixed as I am.
“You were,” Keane replies, moving to our fronts with Lord Daniel at his side.
“Take a walk with us, you two.”
Golem and I follow behind the Prince as his hand reaches out and touches the side of a thick oak in front of him. A set of stairs emerges out of the trunk, the wood spiraling towards the forest above in welcome.
