The Hidden Force: Chapter VIII 🌳🌲

The Great Forest

I get down from the tree. No one is nearby. I feel the rough bark of the tree. But I can’t get distracted. 

I continue my hike into the forest. In my supplies there are a few valuables, money, food, clothes, and of course, the mirror of veritas. 

It does not matter how this mirror ‘sees the truth’. It’s going to be dangerous. Only I can see that. And it belongs to the witches. It’s a valuable of theirs like the valuables I took from the king. The king deserved it. He tried to trap me. He’s still looking for me. I try not to wonder what he’d do if he found me again. 

Adan and Itzel were kind to me but they also want to trap me in a different way. I always know how to find them if I change my mind. Itzel must’ve been who Adan was talking to the night I stole the mirror. They know each other. 

It’s a small town, anyone even passing by witch or not will be remembered. The only two witches who have come looking for me clearly would be talking about me. I don’t know what they wanted with the mirror. 

Did Adan know it was going to be stolen? He can see the future and he’s not supposed to look in the mirror. It makes sense!

Why was Itzel there then? To catch me and grab back the mirror? It seemed like that wasn’t a first priority considering how long we talked. She must’ve wanted something other than that.

She could have been trying to get both things from me. It seems everyone is always looking for me. That’s because they are but nevermind that. 

I stop walking. As I look up I see the castle not too far but far enough. I should be walking away from the castle, the town, the witches’ town not towards the castle. I look in the direction of all the landmarks I should avoid. Then I find a safe way to walk away from all of them. Ironically it seems to be where I was just after leaving the library.

When I first got here I thought something good was going to happen in the castle. I thought I was going crazy and that magic wasn’t real. I thought I was an orphan. I thought my family left me. 

It feels so long ago but it’s only been a week. A lot can happen in a week. 

I’m going to find a way back. Back to wherever I was before I came here. There’s nothing here for me. If I go back I might get caught but at least the people looking for me aren’t powerful and surrounding me everywhere. 

What do I do with the mirror? Should I destroy it? Is it even possible to destroy it? Will Adan stop looking for me if I destroy it? Should I use it as a bargaining chip? Maybe I could get information from Adan and Itzel about my family and about the witches. It’s useless if not used for my own gain. If I discard it thoughtlessly the witches will just find it and it will have none of my protection. 

If I go back through the portal I will almost definitely be found and when the guards look through my things they’ll find the mirror. I don’t know how they’ll react to magic like that. I hope that they never have to find out. And that I never have to find out either. 

I can’t just live in the woods without shelter forever. I have to find shelter somewhere but I guess there’s no more villages nearby that I can move to. 

I’ll stay out here for a few days and collect what food I can, then I’ll steal food from the castle and hide in the stables. It won’t take long for them to look there so when they do I’ll camp not too far from the witches’ town. I’ll steal their food this time and watch them collect food to see what berries and fruits are edible. Then I’ll move back to this camp and hide the food and supplies from them both. I’ll have to repeat this often in order to not get caught but I guess it’s better than the alternative of being captured. 

Especially by the king. He won’t stop until he finds a way to ‘fix the witches’. People like me who haven’t done anything wrong. 

Maybe the witches will give up looking for me and I’ll be able to hide back at the inn better than I did when Itzel followed me back. 

Itzel wasn’t behind me I was making sure. She must’ve already known where I was and teleported there somehow. It must not be that hard for a witch.