Darkness swarmed around us as we travelled through the forest like a beast stalking its prey. Shadows rippled in the distance, taunting us with the knowledge of what was kept within the confines of the thick, ivory trees. We had to be near the centre now. Only a rare drop of sunlight managed to pierce through the leaves, victorious in its battle against the foliage.

While we walked, I inched closer and closer to Oryal's side, so close that I accidentally bumped into him every now and again. I was a little frightened of what could have been watching us, of the permanent night that had swallowed us whole.

If the bounty hunter was bothered by it, he showed no signs of it doing so.

Being so near to Oryal also meant I could keep an eye on his arms and hands, to make sure no rashes were spreading or emerging. From what I could see, the ones that I had treated with the antidote earlier were already beginning to fade and remained at bay. Thankfully, it was doing its job.

There were a few parts of the Ivory Forest that glowed, offering a small reprieve from the terror that kept me on edge. A selection of golden insects that found their homes on the trunks of trees greeted us as we ventured deeper, their bodies illuminating the area as if they were fireflies. Several flowers had faint light radiating from their centre, the cerulean beauties scattered few and far between. Of course, there were also the shimmering butterflies that joined us on our journey. They remained a constant comfort, reminding me that I wasn't alone.

Even with the small reliefs in our path, they didn't do much to quell the worries forging a storm in my mind. I needed something else to distract me.

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with B." I nudged Oryal to steal his attention. The game was the first thing that I could think of.

"Isn't this for children?" He questioned. Instead of his axe being strapped to his back, it was gripped tightly in his hand to prepare him for anything we might have encountered.

"Only if you deem it to be. You can be any age to play a simple guessing game." When I received no response, I sighed. "How about a different game, then? I'll give you three statements about myself and you need to figure out which one is the lie."

"Is playing a game even the best thing to be doing right now?" The bounty hunter hacked away at some thorns that were blocking our path, clearing them away with a few clean swings.

"I've given you two options of how to pass the time before we reach the middle of the forest." I crossed my arms. "Pick one."

With a roll of his eyes, he met my gaze. "I'll go with the second game."

I beamed at his reply. "Alright. Now, I've actually got to think of something."

As I began digging through my memories and experiences to form three statements, a pink butterfly flew towards me and crashed into my crimson hair. Its wings and legs became tangled in the strands, panicked flutters only causing it to become more encased. I offered it a platform to rest on while I worked my hair away from it to see it free.

From what I had seen, pink had to represent some kind of good emotion, but I still wasn't sure what. Was it just merely happiness? No matter how much I tried to fit the piece into the puzzle, it didn't quite seem to fall into place.

Once the butterfly was free, it soared far away from us.

"Are you ready? You better be listening because I won't repeat them." I poked Oryal's shoulder and he swatted me away, letting me know he was paying attention. "First, when I was younger I was bitten by a poisonous bat. Instead of panicking, I decided to grab it and bring it home for my parents to use the venom."

The bounty hunter snorted, covering up the sound with a cough and silently praying I hadn't noticed. "That seems like something you would do."

"Shh, don't interrupt! Next, I have a childhood teddy bear named Ms Pudgy. Then, finally, I have baked at least three hundred cakes and pastries since my parents left to travel. Both poisonous and safe confectionery count." I eagerly watched Oryal think as he ran through the statements in his mind, assessing each one to determine which one was the lie.

"I'll go with the third one," he confirmed. "I know you've been constantly busy from what I've seen, but three hundred seems like too large of a number."

I winced, hints of a smile peeking through. "I hate to break it to you, but you're wrong. I've counted how many requests I've completed since the day my parents left and it came to a grand total of three hundred and two."

Oryal's brows furrowed. "They really placed a lot of work and pressure on your shoulders."

"I've been managing the best I can," I answered with a shrug. "The real wrong answer was the second statement. My childhood bear's name is actually Ms Grizzly."

"You tricked me?" The bounty hunter shook his head in dismay. "I should have seen this coming."

"What can I say? I'm somewhat of a master of this game. It's your turn now. Think of three statements about yourself and let one of them be a lie." I was excited to find out more about Oryal. The little snippet I received about his family life had me reeling for more.

"There's nothing interesting about me for you to know." He shook his head, clearing away some overgrown branches.

"Oh, come on! There has to be something. Are there no interesting stories from your childhood that could be summarised? Or you could even resort to some of the bounties you've hunted if you're really desperate."

Oryal frowned. "I'll try." He paused for a long moment, using the time to think. After a while, he spoke again. "I drink alcohol daily as it stops the butterflies from pestering me so much. I've always wanted to try your pastries as staring at them through the window of your bakery makes me hungry. And-" His head snapped up, as if he heard something moving around us, something that might pose a threat.

I couldn't see or hear anything myself and I wasn't sure if I wanted to know.

"What's wrong?" Oryal asked me, confusion etched into his features.

I matched his puzzled expression. "Nothing? Didn't you hear something just now?" Straining my ears, they couldn't pick up anything except the bounty hunter's ragged breathing and the increasing beat of my own heart.

"What are you looking at?" He questioned, ignoring me. A thin, white sheen of magic glazed over his eyes, sealing their beautiful dark brown away.

"I'm... looking at you. Are you feeling okay? Did the Noxol get deeper into your skin than I thought?" This was bad. We were further into the forest now with no antidote spare. Unless the plant that it came from suddenly decided to grow in the Ivory Forest, we had no hope.

I reached up to touch Oryal's forehead, checking to see if he had a fever and perhaps the confusion was caused by that, but he ducked under my arm.

"It's not safe to wander off alone!" He called, chasing after something — an invisible entity that hadn't graced me with its presence. "I'll go back to playing your game if you stay by my side." He broke into a sprint, running to catch up to the mystery ghost he spoke to. "Taerane!"

"Oryal!" I yelled back, cursing under my breath and running in an attempt to catch up to him. What was going on? Was he chasing after me? But I hadn't moved an inch, nor did I want to if he wasn't by my side.

I could barely make out the bounty hunter's figure as he dashed through the trees, the shine of his axe swinging back and forth in his grip as he moved my only guide. He was incredibly fast, more than I thought could be physically possible.

"Oryal! Stop!" I called again with the hope of him stopping or at least slowing down, but there was no sign of him doing so.

Within a single blink, his weapon disappeared as well as the sound of his footsteps ahead. I ran to where I thought I had last seen Oryal, thinking he had fallen unconscious or tripped over — worrying that he might have been injured, trapped or worse — but nothing was there. It was as if he had completely vanished.

"Oryal?" This time my voice was a mere whisper. Everything was much quieter now that he was gone. I felt like an intruder, one that had ignored all of the warning signs and now she was about to pay the price for trespassing.

Oryal couldn't have gone too far. Maybe he has stopped and he was looking for me too. Though, he had been chasing a version of me that I hadn't been able to see, so what were the chances of that?

I hugged myself as a shiver tore through my spine, holding onto the straps of my bag as my eyes danced around the darkness that clung to every surface. This had to be another one of the Ivory Forest's tricks. That's what the white magic in his eyes had to mean. The last time I had seen it was when he unwillingly touched the Noxol.

The forest had taken away my one blanket of safety and now I had no clue what to do. While looking for a sign that the bounty hunter was close by, I had spun around in circles and now I didn't know which way I had come from.

More footsteps sounded to my left, making hope flare in my chest. "Oryal?" I called out, pushing through an overgrown bush to find out what the source of the sound was. As I emerged at the other side of the foliage, what I found wasn't close to the horned man I searched for.

Two men stood with malevolent grins carved into their mouths. One unsheathed a blade, the sharp metal scraping against its holster, and the other opened his palm for a flame to burst to life. Embers crackled around him, spitting at the trees and lighting leaves ablaze. Fire licked at his skin, hungry for more things to burn. They both wore a uniform and, even though it was torn and covered in leaves, it was clear who they were.

These men were the Vahan soldiers we had encountered earlier and now they were back for blood.

Chapter Word Count: 1,789
Total Word Count: 16, 472