The Witcher: Lord of the Empire

They crossed a meadow dotted with scattered trees, crossed several winding valleys shrouded in mist, and crossed wide meadows among decayed and withered forests.

 

Dunkar continued to use her familiarity with the forest to find traces of Ciri and point out the direction for Lann.

 

The little dryad snuggled into Lann's arms as they rode Black Wind, her upper body almost naked. Fortunately, Lann was wearing full plate armor, so he couldn't feel anything. Otherwise, it would have been more difficult for him to control himself.

 

Suddenly, a skylark flew towards them.

 

"Stop!" Dunkar said to Lann immediately after seeing the skylark.

 

The skylark stopped on Dunkar's wrist and chirped for a while. Dunkar kept nodding, as if communicating with the other party.

 

After a while, Dunkar turned to Lann and said: "I found your princess."

 

...

 

The cunning Ciri realized that she was not as cunning as she thought. In the end, she did not manage to escape.

 

The dryad's control over the forest is really extraordinary. When Braenn woke up the next morning and found that Ciri was missing, he immediately started chasing her. Her tracking method was something Ciri had never heard of.

 

The whole forest is helping her! God knows creatures like dryads can communicate with animals, but the book doesn’t mention this!

 

After all, human beings’ understanding of nymphs of the woods is still extremely limited.

 

Braenn was not only pursuing her herself, but also summoned her fellow dryads, cornering Ciri from all directions.

 

The dryads continued chasing her and Ciri continued running. As a result, Ciri chose the wrong path, approaching what was the center of Brokilon.

 

This is also the reason why more and more dryads are surrounding her.

 

Ciri kept running, and the dryads blocked her all the way.

 

What Ciri did not know was that she was very close to the capital of the dryads called Duén Canell. She had made an almost complete circle around Brokilon, wasting a lot of time, and in the end, she failed to escape.

 

Dryad Dunkar obtained this information from skylark and relayed to Lann what happened to Ciri during this period.

 

Lann was perplexed but also amused. He seemed to realize what the problem was. Unexpectedly, what caused the setbacks was the self-help knowledge he taught Ciri.

 

Fortunately, after going round and round, everything is back on track.

 

"In other words, we can just go directly to your capital now, right?"

 

Thus, Lann and Dunkar's objective was directed towards Duén Canell.

 

It was at sunset when, following Dunkar's instructions, Lann finally reached the heart of the forest.

 

Dunkar knelt at the entrance after dismounting from the horse, bowing his head in prayer.

 

Lann looked at the sight before him and felt deep awe. Despite having seen many modern structures and artistic settings in the world of his previous life, this was completely new to him.

 

Those trees, mostly oak, cypresses and white walnuts, were more than a dozen yards thick, and their height was even more difficult to judge. The position where their sinuous and powerful roots turned into tree trunks was well above their heads.

 

It was a forest that seemed to come out of a fantasy world, very 'natural' and even 'magical'.

 

Now they can move forward at a faster speed. There are open spaces between the huge trees, other vegetation cannot survive in their shadow, and there is only a thick layer of rotten leaves on the ground.

 

Black Wind ran even more joyfully. It seemed to feel something and knew that it was very close to its goal.

 

They left the boundary of the forest of giant trees, and Black Wind, who was extremely energetic, ran wildly.

 

Dunkar suddenly asked to stop. She took off her flower crown and turned to Lann and said: "Human, I will blindfold you for the rest of the way. I must do this."

 

Lann took off his helmet: "I understand, then I'll ask you to control the Black Wind."

 

The two continued to move forward, and Lann could only feel the outside world through his ears. He heard the songs of various birds with different tones and the squeals of squirrels; then he heard the sound of horse hooves treading the water, followed by the sound of fish splashing in the water.

 

Lann knew he had arrived at the real Brokilon. The end of the journey.

 

"Take off the blindfold, human. We are here." The dense fog covered Black Wind's knees, Lann finally heard Dunkar's voice.

 

"This is Duén Canell, the Place of the Oak, the Heart of Brokilon."

 

Lann looked ahead and saw a deep valley, completely covered by a huge green canopy. Mist and steam rise from the earth, rocks and hot springs.

 

At first, the deep valley was completely silent, without a shadow in sight. But not long after, they heard a loud and sweet whistle. There was a slender black-haired dryad, walking gracefully on the porous mushrooms arranged in a spiral on the tree trunk. Like other dryads, his outfit had a camouflage effect. Of course, this camouflage effect may also come from their skin.

 

Dunkar and the black-haired dryad began to communicate in a low-pitched tone. This is the dialect of the dryads. Not many of the dryads as a whole can communicate normally with humans. Only guerrillas like Dunkar and the others can learn the common language.

 

Lann observed Duén Canell, the capital of the dryads is hidden in a deep valley and surrounded by dense and ancient trees.

 

On these ancient trees, there were the houses of the dryads, living constructions, directly emerging from the ancient trees.

 

Lann saw several larger buildings on the ground. Cabins made of intertwined branches, with roofs covered with leaves. He could feel the existence of life in those buildings, but there was no shadow of the dryads.

 

Dunkar said: "Go in, human. Your princess is inside, and you and she will meet Queen Eithne later."

 

Lann took a deep breath. "Goodbye, Miss Dunkar."

 

Following the direction Danka was pointing, Lann entered one of the cabins. The walls and ceiling of the cabins filter sunlight, causing the interior to shimmer with a kaleidoscope of light.

 

He opened the door and seemed to hear a quarrel inside.

 

"Little rascal! I almost died because of you! Ha! You are so lucky, I can't get up now, otherwise I will definitely beat your ass! Because of you, my barony is over. Even if I make it out of the forest alive, my only destiny is the gallows."

 

"Little Villainess! King Ervyll is going crazy... Every message is more terrifying than the last one. He said that your grandmother sent an army to attack him. But who believes that you ran away on your own? Everyone knows what Ervyll is like, everyone thinks he... did something stupid while drunk, and ordered you to be drowned in the pond!"

 

"We are on the brink of war with Nilfgaard, and now the marriage contract and alliance with your grandmother is ruined! Do you have any idea what a mess you have caused?"

 

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