SWNOVELS Chapter 46- Inside The Depth of Ancient Forest
When he was finally pushed into Elizabeth's room, he reacted, very upset:
“I say let’s follow Alexander to see what he intends!”
"That's what we do," Elizabeth told him, leaving the door open and looking at that curtain.
Johnny also got nearer the door and looked in the direction where the boy hid.
The other students began to part, most to their rooms, sad, grumpy, and not cheerful at all.
“Do you know what an ogre is?”
“Of course I do,” the boy burst intrigued by the fact that the girl questioned his knowledge. “He is one of the most horrible creatures. It’s said it’s the creation of a group of strong witches who once lived in the mountains of Transylvania, the Carpathians. Those witches joined their evil forces and created monsters, slaughtering dozens of animals and giving the monsters the power of all those animals. Bears, deer, wolves, foxes, ravens and many other animals. And the ogres have unbelievable power, the power picked from all forest beasts and they can turn into any of them ...”
Johnny stopped talking. When nothing could be heard in the corridors, as if it were a cemetery at midnight, the two heard how someone pulled the curtain slightly aside and began to hear footsteps.
Alexander checked to see if there was anyone else in the area, and then continued to walk somewhere. He didn't suspect he was being watched.
The two children followed him, whispering and hiding.
"I told you," Johnny smiled when he saw Alexander heading for the mystical and non-mystical creatures Sanctuary. He made it up.”
The girl didn't say anything. She saw there was no one to guard the gate of that Sanctuary of Creatures. Certainly all the professors, including Silarg and other stone elves, were in Knudlac's office, making plans on how to solve the ogre problem.
“Did you see? He planned absolutely everything. He knows nobody is out now and he can go unnoticed.”
"Calm down," the girl said whispering, while they were hiding, looking at Alexander. “When Abigail went to the Sanctuary of mystical and non-mystical creatures Silarg was definitely at the entrance. It was impossible not to see him. Anyway, Alexander can't enter the centre because he doesn't have the key. He’s not a member of the Council to be able to do it. He’s a child ...”
Elizabeth stopped whispering. Alexander took something out of his pocket, and opened a sort of portal out of nothing ... out of that nothing he kept in his pocket.
The boy disappeared into the portal.
“What did you say?” Johnny asked horrified, but also disappointed with what he saw.
It took many years of experience in the field of magic to open a portal, even if you had everything you needed.
Johnny was scared for a moment when he saw that portal, but after recovering, he said to the girl:
“Come on quickly. Surely this portal takes us to the area where this snake is going. Let's see what he's up to ...”
And taking her by the hand, he quickly ran to the portal, just as it closed and disappeared like smoke in the strong wind.
The two arrived somewhere in a huge, forested area, at the foot of a mountain whose peaks couldn’t be seen. They could see however how huge the mountain was, because somewhere in the middle of it, there was snow everywhere. That snow continued to its peaks, lost in the sky.
Johnny suddenly got scared. He started shivering.
“What’s up, Johnny?”
The boy kept shivering as if he had fallen into a frozen lake, taken out and left in terrible frost.
"We shouldn’t have entered the portal ..." he said trembling. He took his wand out of his coat, looking like a lunatic to the left and to the right.
"Johnny, you're scaring me," the girl said. “What happened?”
“Speak in a lower voice…”
The girl started to be scared too.
“Johnny?”
The boy took the girl’s hand and pulled her after him into a large bush. Then he sighed loudly and said to the girl:
“The painting in the living room ... the deep Ancient Forest...”
Hearing the words, Elizabeth also remembered the room where a huge mountain appeared ... She saw many pictures, but she never saw this image so close to the mountain.
“But I don't remember this image ...”
“Have you ever been to the deep Ancient Forest?”
“No,” the girl replied. “Not even close ... then ...”
“Neither was I ... nor Miss Harmony. I don't think Professor Knudlac was there either. But now, here we are ... far from Elmbridge School.”
“And what are we doing now?”
The frightened boy still managed to shrug. He didn't know what else he could do except sit and wait hidden in that bush, like a scared mouse hidden beneath the ground.
“We look forward to seeing Mr. Knudlac with the professors,” he whispered. “They will surely come after Abigail ... and after us. Until then, we are hiding.”
The two understood they could only stay hidden and wait to hear familiar voices.
Elizabeth took Johnny's hand. She was scared. She remembered Mr. Knudlac said the ogre was very dangerous. And Silarg said it might be too late for Abigail. She didn't want to think about it. There were many other dangers in this area, so she felt helpless and almost panicked.
The thought that neither older students nor the professors went to these places, some of the most dangerous in the world, was even more terrifying.
A scream that could freeze water in the deadly heat of the desert, echoed in the air. It could only be…
“Abigail ...?” Elizabeth could barely pronounce her name.
“Yes. I think it was her...”
Again the same scream. But Elizabeth stood up this time.
“We need to help her.”
Without saying anything, she came out from under the bush that hid them.
The boy gone crazy came out and started running after her.
“Elizabeth, stop.”
He didn't have the courage to call her, to go and face the ogre with her, but he still followed the girl.
Eventually they managed to get to a small meadow. As soon as they got there they could smell a lovely but pungent scent. There were graceful flowers of all colours, all sizes, spreading in the air perfume of apple, lavender, even grapes, mixed with chrysanthemum, lilac, lily-of-the valley and rose.
A fairy-tale place where you didn't expect to meet a hateful creature the two kids saw at that time ... a monster that, judging by appearance, couldn’t live in that piece of heaven.
“The ogre?”
“Yes.”