The Escape

The old man, with the twins in his arms, dashed out, and disappeared.

He continued dashing, away from his pursuers. He continued forward, to the endless horizon of towering trees.

Running away from his pursuers was not a problem for the old man, but the large roots of the trees.

The trees roots were like large waves, endlessly flowing outwards. He had trouble dashing around, or jumping up a root.

They were taller than the height of an average person and their bark was rough, full of splinters, making climbing hard. Plus, he was carrying twins in his arms, so he couldn't make proper use of his arms.

A while later, he heard a whsitling. And with quick reactions, he dodged to the right, and an arrow shot past him.

With his sudden movements, the twins were startled and started cryin, screaming. It echoed throughout the forest, alerting his pursuers.

"Damn it!"

He cursed, and ran faster.

As the old man ran further from his pursuers, and into the towering and harrowing trees, volleys of flaming arrow was shot at his direction, missing him by only a hairs breathed.

The old man grimaced as the fires scorched him with their passing. Because the arrows was only missing him by a small distance, the flames was burning him.

In his arms, the twins bawled and screamed. They were not spared from the heat of the arrows, but the old man did his best to make sure they are away from the path of the arrows.

Hearing a whistling sound approaching him, he dashed to the side, hid behind a tree, and took a moment to rest.

A second after, he dashed forward once more, with all his might, using the trees as cover.

*

Far into the distance, behind the old man, a wave of soldiers chased after him, with a few shooting arrows from a vantage point.

Truthfully, the archers and swordsman had no way of seeing where he was, or what he even was.

At first, when their lord told them to light their arrow, aim their bow forward and shoot at the empty expanse, they were befuddled. Still, they faithfully followed his order.

Once they drew their bow taut, they let go and aimed nowhere. After that, he told them to continue firing. And after a few more shots, they heard a sound rang in the distance.

The scream of an infant resounded loudly through the forest.

The leader, their lord was a middle-aged man. He stood motionless, with both hands clasp behind his back. He wore an intricate coat, buttoned from top to bottom, trimmed and tailored to fit him. On the front of his coat, a golden insignia was pinned, shaped into a 2 swords crossing a shield, with chains flowing down his right chest down to his core.

He looked majestic and regal, exuding the aura of tyrany. His gaze and mannerism seemed as though he was disinterested with the whole shenanigan.

A while of standing and gazing into the endless expanse of trees, as if waiting for something.

All the archers beside him were unnerved by their lord, but still, they continued firing volleys after volleys, exhausting their strenght and arrows.

After what seemed like an eternity of gazing at nothing, he spoke, with solemnity,

"To the one who is capable of apprehending that wretched bastard, the honor of knighthood shall be bestowed."

He spoke quietly, a hush, like a whisper, but all of the soldiers and men under his command, including the old man was able to clearly hear his voice, as though he was right beside them.

Hearing the voice, they shivered, however, they took note of what he said.

Although they didn't understand what he mostly said, they do understand "Apprehend, Bastard, Knighthood."

And with renewed vigor, they all, chased after what they couldn't see, even the archers who've run out of arrows, jumped, and dashed, chasing after their target.

*

The old man ran endlessly for hours. Even though he was old, he was still powerful, full of vigor. And his ability made it so that it was hard to track or even chase him.

"Curses!"

Bellowed the old man. As he was tiring, and it was getting harder and harder to move past trees roots.

His only saving grace was that the arrows have stopped for a while already, and the twins have stopped crying giving him enough breathing room.

As he thought that this might be the end of the ordeal, as his pursuers don't have a way to catch him, rain started pouring. At first, it was just a drizzle, but quickly it started pouring heavily.

The old man's face turned bleak, and then brightened a little after.

Although, he would still be able to run further ahead of his pursuers as they won't be able to find tracks of him, only when the ground gets muddy, would his tracks be found.

But finding his tracks would also take them a while, searching back to the places they've passed, and his tracks getting erased by the rain, so he will be able to escape, hopefully.

As he ran, he suddenly had the idea of using his cloak to cover and carry the twins.

And so, with swift motions, he put the other twin in his other arm, carefully making sure they don't both fall down, and pulled up his free arm up the sleeve of his cloak, taking it off on one side, and quickly wrapped the twins.

It was hard a hard maneuver for him, but he still made it possible.

With the twins in one arm, he can now make use of his other arm.

The old man glance at them both, and swiftly pulled a dagger hidden in his belt.

He ran forward, nonstop. A while later, a tree root was in his way.

Seeing the root, he sped up, dashed, and jumped. Not reaching the top, he braced for the impact. And when he slammed into the root, he stabbed his dagger deep into the root, and with all his strength, pulled up.

Since the old man didn't have to take a long detour around the root anymore, after an hour of running, with only a few minutes of rest, the old man's running finally bore fruit.

They were finally out of the forest.