98 Chapter 97
Until almost midnight, Severus asked them questions about the jungle, the little information he had previously received from the writer was a little outdated.
Some types of monsters have changed their habitats and habits in half a year, for example, it was a discovery for him that tree monsters, very reminiscent of treants, whom he was supposed to meet along the way, moved south, directly into the territory of their nemesis, the wolves.
After all, Snape had deliberately paved the way in such a way as to stumble upon them, because, like the dryads, the spirits of the trees, taking the form of incredible beauties, were the favourites of nature, and therefore next to them there was always the purest magic and a huge amount of various rare herbs, but now there was a lair of yellow monkeys, which upset Severus a little.
And one species of turtle, which interested him in its longevity and regeneration, was completely destroyed three months ago by an unknown predator.
At the site of the massacre, the researchers were able to find only one large long trail leading into a river that stretches around the outer part of the jungle.
According to assumptions, it was a huge snake, the thickness of which was almost a meter, and the length - from fifteen. And for this part of the "Magic Jungle" it was a real monster that can destroy all living creatures without any problems.
According to Patricia, there were several attempts to track down the monster, but all to no avail, it seemed to fall through the ground, and after that incident it was no longer announced, so they decided to curtail the search. But with some of the assumptions of Patricia, the Prince did not agree.
For example, about the hole in the barrier, which a priori could not appear in such a stable.
According to his assumption, it was most likely a creature that was just lucky to eat something good, which helped increase its strength and deal with the whole species. But the young man could not say for sure whether it was a snake or not until he personally saw that trail.
But still, Snape was able to learn a lot of fresh information about the "Magic Jungle" from her, and after that she also corrected the map a little and helped with the route, because Severus was not going to pass by the treants.
In addition to exploring the forbidden part, his second goal was to collect ingredients, and thanks to the incredible strength of the wood monsters, people almost never entered their territory, which indicated that the harvest promised to be very rich.
Although the woman tried to dissuade him from the "suicidal decision", because he saved their lives, and she simply could not let their savior die, but she did not succeed, so the very next morning, with the wish that everything worked out for him, they parted.
The group headed towards the exit from the jungle, while Severus headed south towards the tree monsters, and the road promised to be very long, because he had to walk thirty-five kilometres to reach them, and after that, another forty-five kilometres to reach the safe zone.
And, according to his assumptions, the whole journey was just supposed to take a whole day, but still this time he was going to accelerate with the help of wind magic and complete the whole journey in half a day. Of course, in this case, he will have to give up most of the herbs along the way, but, according to Patricia, who once visited the place where the Treants left, not much was left over there.
***
Over the next two and a half hours, they walked around several territories of various monsters, and also passed through the "snake paradise" - a small corner of three kilometres inhabited by these slippery reptiles.
Of course, the place could have been bypassed, but it would have taken at least another half an hour, and Snape did not have this time, so they went straight, and thanks to Nagini, not a single snake dared to crawl and they passed this place without any problems and even collected a couple of poisonous herbs, which were almost impossible to find outside, because they appeared only in places saturated with poisons, where, even after eating a blade of grass, one could easily die.
This place was also a kind of "forbidden territory" of the outer part of the "Magic Jungle", which even notorious snake-lovers are afraid to enter.
And after fifteen minutes, Severus finally dispelled the spell of wind magic, and his feet touched the ground.
After all, at last they had reached the territory of the treants, which was a lush green forest, which especially stood out against the background of the usual jungle with its bright colours, and, in addition to tropical trees, there were other species, such as oak, spruce, elm, elderberry, and in the distance one weeping willow could be seen, and the grass on the ground was so tall that it almost reached the waist.
"It's an interesting place…" looking at the unfolding picture with a smile, the young man could not hold back a surprised sigh.
"The last time I saw something like this was in the fairy forest, and even then I almost lost my life because of those little monsters."
"Stop wandering in your thoughts," Nagini poked him in the side, although she herself looked with sincere amazement at the lush forests, which, compared with ordinary jungles, looked especially majestic and lively.
"Okay, let's go take a closer look." After stroking the top of her head, he finally entered Treant territory.
"Nellie, don't touch anything yet," the young man added, looking to his right at the little house elf, who was almost impossible to see through the tall grass. "Yes, sir."
At the moment, Severus was heading to the very centre of the forest, because, like other creatures, the tree monsters also had a leader, although they were only magic trees that received intelligence thanks to magic, but they were very smart creatures, understood human speech, and even possessed empathy, which is why they were called the pets of magic.
After all, even if you burn the whole forest, but a small root remains, the treant will be able to revive, although he/she will lose all his/her memories.
Finding the leader among them was a very easy task, because only the largest tree, in which there was the most magic, could become the leader, and almost always it was in the very centre of the forest.
Having overcome a couple of three kilometres, the Prince came to a small clearing, in the centre of which there was a massive tree, the size of which was a little more than thirty metres in height, and its huge branches almost completely hid the sky above the open area.
"Greetings to the leader of the Treants, I came to you with a request: let me collect herbs, and in return ..." he waved his hand, in the next moment, seedlings of various trees began to appear around him, which Severus had managed to buy from more than three hundred from the shops on the "Dark Lane", when he learned about the existence of these creatures from Fred(writer), "…I will give all these saplings."
For the first few seconds, there was deathly silence in the clearing, until finally the tree stirred and two shining green dots appeared on the top of the trunk.
"Three hours… " a loud elderly voice rang out, making Nagini and the house elf shudder, while Severus still calmly looked at the tree, without changing his face.
"Thank you, then I won't bother you anymore," bowing his head slightly, the young man turned around and left the clearing unhindered. And after he left, roots rushed to the seedlings from everywhere, which slowly twisted around the pots and carefully lifted them up, and then carried them away in different directions ...
Having patted the house-elf on the head and sent her to collect the ingredients, the young man calmly began to walk through the forest.
"I thought you were going to try to take all the herbs by force." Nagini asked from the side.
"Since when did I become so bloodthirsty in your eyes? And such actions, except as wastefulness, cannot be called anything. " poking the slightly embarrassed snake in the muzzle, he jumped onto a tree and began to watch Nellie working. "And if I did that, then most of the herbs would be hidden from our eyes, because the Treants do not like to be threatened, so it's easier to negotiate with them with the help of seedlings, and apparently I'm not the only one who thought of this. Think of those trees from the Muggle world at the edge of Treant territory, and the weeping willow that can't spawn in a place like this."
"Understood, but how do you know that?"
"Yeah, I heard it out of the corner of my ear when I was passing by one dark alley," Snape lied, without batting an eyelid.
"Just say that you don't want to answer, well, or come up with something more believable ," the snake snorted in response, resting its head on his shoulder.
"Someday I'll tell you everything, but not now." Stroking her head, the Severus closed his eyes, leaning against the tree trunk. He had not felt such clean air and magic for a long time, so he decided to have a good rest in such a calm atmosphere.
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And the next three hours flew by completely unnoticed. Severus hadn't slept so well in a very long time while absorbing magic, it was like a breath of fresh air compared to the one outside…
"Severus! Wake up!" Hearing the excited voice of Nagini, the young man sharply opened his eyes and stared with mild surprise at the creatures surrounding them. They were large humanoid trees of various sizes and shapes, with human features, and their eyes glowed with orange light.
"Has time passed already?" Severus looked at them with embarrassment, because for him it was a surprise that he would fall asleep so soundly and that he would not even feel how he was surrounded.
"That's the downside of places like this, it's too good here ..."
"Yes, man," came the hoarse voice of Treants in front.
"I'm sorry, we'll leave the forest right now," stretching, Severus got to his feet, and then turned his gaze to the little house elf who appeared next to him, handing him a box.
"Well done," stroking her with a smile, he took the artefact with the spell of invisible expansion and threw it into his wallet.
"Then we will be leaving your territory." And as he was about to jump off the branch, a woody hand appeared in front of him, causing a slight surprise on his face, and then he frowned. "What would you like?"
"The king ordered us to bring you to him," at that moment the tree on which he was standing stirred and stood up. "We will carry you ourselves."
"For what?"
"We do not know."
'It's still useless to have a dialogue with them…' Severus thought in his mind.
"All right, carry on. " he said looking at them.
The creatures silently nodded, and the tree Severus was standing on headed towards the centre of the Treant territory.
"Is this a trap?" Hearing the worried voice of Nagini, the young man smiled affectionately at her. "Do you know the main weakness of these creatures?"
"…?" Nagini looked up at him.
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