Free Web NovelChapter 16: 16: Forest Road
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They left the camp site just before the fire was fully burnout.
The forest was still dark but the dark sky had started to become a little lighter in the east side. The night beasts had been making noises for hours were slowly becoming quiet.
The cold wind moved between the trees like it was trying to push them back toward the ruined Vardros mansion. Where nobody wanted to return.
Behind them was smoke, death, betrayal, and the broken bones of their family. Ahead of them was House Ravencroft. They were a strange ally with old tombs, death magic, and an engagement that might save Jenny and Jake.
Lucard walked in front like before. Jenny and Jake walked in the middle.
Peter walked behind them. His face looked pale from the pain but he forced himself to move forward. free𝑤ebnovel.com
His wounds had stopped bleeding because of Lucard’s blood control. But stopping the blood was not the same as healing the flesh inside his body. Every few steps, his breathing became heavier. Still, he did not complain. He was a knight captain of House Vardros, and after failing to save the lord and lady, protecting the remaining children was the only thing holding him together.
Jake was tired too. He tried to walk without slowing down the group. But he was only ten years old. His legs were short and after everything that happened, his body was close to giving up. Jenny noticed it first. She took his hand and pulled him gently whenever he slowed down. She did not tell him to be brave. She knew he was already trying. Sometimes children were braver than adults. It was mostly because they did not understand how impossible things were supposed to be.
Lucard heard all of them.
He heard Peter’s painful breathing. He heard Jenny’s tired steps. He heard Jake’s stomach making small hungry sounds. He also heard birds making noises in the distance and insects moving under the leaves. He also heard something small running through the bushes far away from them. His senses were still sharper than normal humans. He had not reached the First Blood Circle yet, but his repaired body and Blood Absorption path had already changed him.
Still, he was annoyed.
The group was slow.
If he traveled alone, he could move faster through the trees and cover much more distance. He could hunt beasts, find more blood to absorb to reach Level Ten, and leave this useless mortal problem behind. Instead he was walking on a forest road with an injured knight, a tired noble girl, and a small boy who looked like he might collapse if the wind pushed him too hard. The heart curse inside his chest remained quiet for now. But Lucard knew it was waiting. The moment he thought too seriously about abandoning them, it would squeeze his heart again like an angry old woman punishing a thief in the marketplace.
Lucard looked forward with cold eyes.
He did not like being controlled by anything.
After walking for almost two hours, Jake stumbled on a root and nearly fell. Jenny caught him quickly, but Lucard stopped before she could say anything.
"We will rest for a short time," Lucard said.
Jenny looked surprised because she had thought Lucard would force them to keep moving. Peter also looked at him with a strange expression, as if he was trying to understand whether Lucard had become kinder or simply more difficult to predict.
Lucard noticed their looks and said, "Do not misunderstand. If he collapses then one of us has to carry him. That will slow us more."
Jake lowered his head with embarrassment. "I can still walk."
"You can walk badly," Lucard said. "There is a difference."
Jenny frowned at him. "He is doing his best."
"His best is still short."
Jake blinked, then looked at his own legs as if they had betrayed him by being small.
Peter almost smiled, but the pain in his side stopped him.
They rested under a large tree. Jenny gave Jake a little water from a leather flask Peter had taken from the dead enemies. There was not much food, only a small piece of dry bread and some hard meat that Peter had found in one of the enemy bags. Jenny split it between Jake and Peter first. Peter tried to refuse, but Jenny gave him a look that made him accept. Lucard did not take any food.
Jenny noticed.
"You should eat too."
Lucard looked at the dry bread in her hand as if she had offered him tree bark with confidence.
"I do not need it."
"You have been fighting since last night."
"I said I do not need it."
Jake held half of his bread and looked at Lucard. "Brother, are you not hungry?"
Lucard looked at him. "Not for that."
Jake did not understand what he meant, but Jenny’s face became slightly tense. She remembered the dried corpses. She remembered Jeff’s body hanging from the tree like old leather. She looked away and said nothing more.
They continued after the short rest.
The first day was mostly silent. The forest road twisted between hills, old stones, and patches of thick bushes. Sometimes they saw broken carriage tracks. Sometimes they found old bones near the road. Peter said this path was once used by merchants traveling between Vardros land and Ravencroft land, but after House Vardros declined fewer merchants used it. Bandits, beasts, and tax collectors made people choose longer but safer roads. Lucard found that funny. Mortals were strange. They feared bandits and beasts, but still paid tax collectors politely, even though all three wanted to take something from them.
By midday, they found the first sign that enemies had passed through before them.
There were hoof marks on the muddy ground.
Peter crouched with difficulty and touched the tracks. "At least six horses. Maybe more. They went east."
Jenny’s expression became serious. "Toward House Ravencroft?"
Peter nodded. "Maybe. Or toward the river road. I cannot be sure."
