Beyond the capital, the forest extended infinitely and was utterly silent.
Towering, ancient trees reached up high to the midnight sky and cast a dense, dark shadow across them so that hardly any moonlight broke through. The terrain was uneven with roots and fallen leaves littering the ground and the shadows were deep.
Aurelian ran behind Sir Valerian as he made his way through the forest with all the haste that could be mustered.
The chase seemed to go on for hours until finally, Valerian stopped.
'We stop for a bit here'
Aurelian leaned against a massive tree and took huge breaths of air. His legs were burning, but he didn't complain.
Valerian looked about and cautiously placed his staff on the ground.
A faint blue circle appeared on the ground beneath them.
'What is that?' Aurelian asked, panting.
'A detection barrier' the mage said in a calm voice. 'It will tell me when somebody is coming'.
Aurelian nodded quietly and finally allowed himself to sit down for the first time since he had left the palace.
The forest was so different to the palace: there were no warm lights, no guards, and no familiar walls; just dark trees and the sounds of night creatures in the distance.
Aurelian stared at the ground for a long time, and then finally asked;
'Sir Valerian...'
'Yes?'
'Do you believe my father?'
The mage looked at him.
'About the prophecy, he asked. 'Do you really think I'm going to cause destruction throughout the world?'
Valerian looked down at the ground for a moment and then shook his head. 'Prophecies are a dangerous thing.'
'Why?'
'Because people always get them wrong.' He then sat down facing Aurelian. 'I'm old enough to have heard all kinds of prophecies from seers and astrologers.'
'Were they all wrong?' Aurelian asked.
'Sometimes.'
'Sometimes they came true only because people believed in them.'
Aurelian's brow furrowed slightly. 'I don't get it.'
Valerian smiled thinly. 'If a King believes a child is going to destroy the world, he may be tempted to treat the child like a monster.'
'And eventually the child becomes one'.
Aurelian looked at his hands again. 'I'm not a monster'.
'I know.' The mage's voice was firm. 'But right now, your father does'.
Aurelian's hands turned to fists. 'Why can't my father just talk to me?'
Valerian didn't answer the question. He turned his head towards the distant hills and looking over the forest. 'We can't stay here for long.'
'Why not?'
'The King's hunters will start to track us soon.' He pointed to the sky. 'And after sunrise they'll be much better at tracking us'.
Aurelian got to his feet slowly. 'So, we keep running?'
'Yes'.
'But our journey will last for many weeks'.
Valerian turned his head toward the dark path ahead. 'The Holy Kingdom is a long way away, over the mountains and rivers and many monster-ridden lands before we get there.'
Aurelian took a large breath of air. Only yesterday, he had been a prince lounging inside the secure walls of his father's castle. Today he was a fugitive traveling through the wilderness with nothing but the clothes on his back and a staff given to him by a mage. He couldn't go back and, after hesitating for a moment, he turned to the mage and nodded. 'Okay'.
Valerian smiled in approval, and the two of them began walking deeper into the forest again, without noticing the pair of glowing eyes watching them from the shadows of the trees; or the large beast padding through the undergrowth. And far behind them, the King's hunters had already picked up their scent. The chase had already begun.