Where the Woods Grow Wild

by Nate Philbrick

  Elodie collapsed, unable to move, much less stand, until the thought of Martin lent her the strength to rise. She quickly checked herself. Her lip was cut and stones had torn through the fabric on both her knees, but she found no serious injuries. She crawled over to Martin.

  A small wail escaped her lips when she saw the damage done to him by the black trunder. His chest was a mesh of deep scratches and his breaths came out short and ragged. Elodie took his head in her hands.

  “Look at me, Martin. I’m here now, and the trunder’s gone. We’re safe.”

  Martin barely acknowledged her. He stared into nothingness, his eyes half shut. He whimpered once, then fell silent. Elodie cradled his head. Martin was dying, and there was nothing she could do about it.

  * * *

  For a long time, Elodie sat in a heap beside Martin. She felt each of his labored breaths as if they were her own. If she couldn’t heal him, she wanted to take the pain from him even if it meant feeling every wound on her own self. But this, too, was beyond her. She was useless. Her despair turned to frustration, and her frustration soon grew into anger, and she stood.

  “No,” she said. “I won’t sit here and watch you go. Get up, Martin. Try to move. No one will ever find us if we stay here. We have to get you to Illo, or Fella, or anybody!”

  Martin barely raised his head at her outburst. She recognized the resignation in his dimming eyes.

  “Stop it,” she said. “Don’t you dare make that face. I don’t even care if you’re winged and smelly forever. It’s better than losing you.” Silent tears leaked down her face.

  Elodie turned away. Now was not the time for crying. She had to pull herself together. Martin whimpered softly behind her. He pushed himself up, staggered, and fell again. Elodie put her arm around his neck and pulled with him, and thus he found his feet. Martin needed all his strength just to keep his balance at first. Then he took a feeble step.

  “That’s it,” said Elodie. “This way. I’ll help you.”

  Supporting as much of his weight as she could, Elodie led Martin along the foot of the hill. Their progress was slow and hard-fought. Each step drained more of Martin’s strength, but he bared his teeth and pressed on. Elodie spoke words of encouragement to him, injecting more belief into her voice than she herself felt.

  They didn’t make it far. Martin took three more shuffling steps before collapsing. Elodie dropped to her knees at his side. He looked at her, utterly spent, and no amount of pleading coaxed him up again. She stayed with him, running her fingers through the matted fur of his neck, whispering softly to hold off the silence a little longer.

  The light in Martin’s eyes faded like a flame without fuel. With each passing minute his head sank lower to the ground. Elodie knew her time with him was drawing short. She laid his head on her lap and crooned a few lines of a wordless tune. Elodie improvised the melody with her breaking voice, but Martin’s face calmed, so she carried on.

  Martin’s eyes closed, and his head fell back. Elodie heaved out a quiet sob, her charade broken.

  Then, from the darkening woods around them, little paws pattered her way. A fox ran through the trees, its sleek fur gleaming like moonlight. It trotted to Elodie’s side and licked her hand. The fox spun away and wrapped itself in white light before her eyes. Elodie raised her hand to shield her face, and when the light faded, Nayadu stood before her.

  “You came,” said Elodie, rising in a hurry. “This isn’t a real trunder. It’s Martin.”

  Nayadu silenced her with a raised hand. “You don’t have to explain what happened,” she said. “But you didn’t come alone. Where’s Illo?”

  “She’s waiting for me somewhere over the hill. She couldn’t climb with her leg.”

  Nayadu closed her eyes and let out a small breath. “How I wish...” She bowed her head. “But there’s no time for that. Give Martin to me.”

  Elodie hesitated, but Nayadu gently pulled her away. She scooped up Martin’s limp body in her arms. Then she turned to Elodie. Her lip trembled as she searched for words.

  “I’m scared,” was all she said.

  Elodie ran to her, but Nayadu recoiled.

  “Don’t,” she said. “Please. I know what I must do, and I’m so sorry. I never wanted this. For too long I let shame hold me back from telling the truth. I should have shown myself a long time ago. You all deserved to know, but in my doubt, I hid. I will hide no more.”

  “What are you saying?”

  Light poured from Nayadu’s body. She held Martin close against her.

  Elodie reached out a hand. “You can heal him without going too far, can’t you?”

  Nayadu dropped to her knees. A tear slid past her smile. “You’re a good friend, Elodie. Will you do something for me?” Her life light enveloped Martin like shimmering liquid, and she morphed one last time where she knelt. “Tell my sister I love her.”

  As the last drop of light bled from her, Fella closed her eyes. Her body faded. The smile lingered on her lips, and then she was gone.

  15. Champion of the Woods

  Martin was alive and restored. No words could express Elodie’s relief to see him back in his normal self, exactly as he was the last time she saw him, the real him, missing hand and all. Yet she didn’t run to him right away. Instead, she stared at the space where a brave woman had knelt.

  Elodie shed no tears, for it wasn’t only sorrow she felt, but a pang in her chest where gratitude and loss mixed like hot and cold air. She knew she would never fully understand Nayadu, nor would she ever get a chance to repay her. There was nothing more for her to do. Elodie mouthed a silent, heavy thank-you. Then she went to Martin.

  He lay on his back in the leaves, lost in a deep sleep, his arms resting at his sides, his face as calm as she had ever seen it. Elodie saw no trace of trunder left on him, and when she pulled up his shirt to check his wounds, all she found were scars, little more than faint silver lines from his shoulder to his ribs. Elodie traced her fingertips down those scars. She would never forget.

  Martin didn’t wake up, so Elodie gently pulled him into the soft roots of a tree and settled beside him. She leaned her head against the trunk with her eyes closed. Weariness fell on her. As twilight claimed the woods, sleep welcomed her.

  The moon had risen high when Elodie woke up. For the first time in what felt like ages, complete peace washed over her. Martin was still asleep beside her. His chest rose and fell, and for a while she listened as his slow breaths passed through his lips.

  Even though she had only slept a handful of hours, Elodie felt no need to lay back. She bent down to kiss Martin on the cheek. He didn’t move at all. She extracted herself from the roots and walked around to stretch her legs. She wrapped her arms around herself, warding off the night chill.

  She wondered what had happened back home in the days since their disappearance, and if Martin’s mother in Aldenturf knew they were missing. She doubted anyone was still looking for them, and even if she was wrong, they were probably searching in all the wrong places.

  Elodie grinned, imagining the faces everyone would make when she and Martin strolled into town. Then her grin faded. She was homesick, even if home meant running errands, dodging maids, and putting up with Clarenbald’s outrageously long teatimes. Elodie stared up at the moon. She was ready to go home.

  Elodie wandered back to the tree where Martin slept. She eased down, smiled at him, and whispered, “Don’t make me wait too long.” She fell back asleep without trying.

  * * *

  New, warm, clean life seeped into his veins. For a long time, he slept, resting, healing from the inside out. Martin opened his eyes. Dark leaves fluttered high over his face. Beyond the leaves, stars blinked against a deep sky. He looked down and saw himself. He touched his legs and torso and arms with his one hand and found no wings or fur. A smile cracked his lips. The animal was gone, but his smile didn’t last long. He remembered it all—his trunder odor taunted his senses, and the sound of beating wings lingered in hi
s mind. A look to his left, however, wiped it all away.

  Elodie lay cradled in the oak roots beside him, her eyes closed in slumber. A strand of hair, glowing white in the moonlight, hung over her face. It fluttered with each breath she took. Her clothes were muddied and torn, tears had left streaks through the smudges on her cheeks, and dry blood mixed with the dirt on her hands, yet Martin had never found a sight so beautiful.

  “Elodie.” Tenderly, so as to not disturb her rest, he took her hand in his.

  She groaned and rolled on her side. Her eyes peeled open, and she yawned for a good five seconds before noticing him. For a moment she froze, her mouth open in the shape of an o. Then she screamed and threw her arms around him. She buried her face in his neck, and he held her shaking form, furiously blinking away a tear or two of his own.

  At last she pulled away from him, though her hands stayed on his shoulders. A grin shined through the grime on her face. She laughed, hugged him once more, and laughed again.

  “It’s you,” she said at last. “I mean, I knew you were you, and I wasn’t expecting you to not be you, but you were—and now we—it’s you!”

  Martin couldn’t hold back a wide smile. “You make a frightening amount of sense when you’ve just woken up, did you know?”

  “Really? I spend half the night watching over you, and when you finally have the courtesy to wake up, you poke fun at me? Martin Colter, I’m surprised at you.” She pulled him in a third time and held him close. “Don’t ever, ever, ever leave me again.”

  “I won’t.” Then he stepped back. “I hurt you. Don’t deny it, because I remember everything.” This time, no amount of blinking held back his tears. “I hurt you, Elodie. Not just physically, which is bad enough, but I abandoned you.” He saw the brass ring she wore on her finger and cringed. “I broke my promise.”

  She grabbed his hand to hold it firmly. “I’ve already forgiven you.”

  Martin didn’t know what to say. “Thank you.”

  She rested her forehead on his collar.

  Then he asked, “What happened? Tonight, I mean. After you fought off Wolf—”

  “Wolf?”

  “The black trunder.”

  “I didn’t know they had names.”

  “Just nicknames I gave them,” said Martin. “Don’t think about it too much. Anyway, I don’t remember anything after that. It hurt, a lot. But then I just...you know.”

  Elodie’s eyes glistened. “I can explain everything. Walk with me, Martin. This is going to be hard.”

  * * *

  Martin and Elodie spent most of the night walking in circles together near the hill, so they easily found their starting point when they had nothing left to talk about. Elodie went back to sleep, but Martin had too much on his mind. He sat on a thick root and watched the dawn turn the black sky to foggy gray. He thought about his time in the cottage with Fella, how she looked out for him from the moment he first met her, how she always exhibited a special sort of selflessness. But her…Nayadu…he couldn’t wrap his mind around what she had done for him. Alone with his swirling thoughts in the night, Martin wept.

  Morning came cool and fresh. Dew glistened and thin mist twined through the forest’s ankles. The sky’s colors gradually panned the spectrum until the first rays of sun poked the woods.

  Elodie woke up soon afterward, while Martin was still sitting on the root. She wandered off, muttering something about water and washing. While she was gone, Martin searched the area for signs of Wolf or Copper. He smelled nothing and found no trace of them, but he and Elodie couldn’t stay long. Wolf posed a serious threat even with a broken wing, and if he found them again, Copper would be with him.

  Elodie moseyed back, having rinsed her face and arms in the spring. She tossed him the refilled flask. Martin drank it dry.

  “That was for both of us,” said Elodie. “Now I have to go all the way back.”

  “We need to move anyway,” said Martin. “We’ve spent too much time here.”

  Elodie rubbed under her eyes. “I’m so tired.”

  “Then let’s go back,” said Martin. “Nothing’s stopping us now. We’ll find Illo, cross the river, and rejoin the others for as long a rest as we need. Then...well, then we can go home.”

  “It sounds so simple.”

  “Maybe it will be. What do we have to work with?”

  Elodie tapped down her fingers. “The knife, a wad of sticky prune mush, a flask that needs filling again, and sore muscles for weeks. At least I’m relatively dry.”

  “Sounds good,” said Martin. He stretched his arms above his head. “Which way to Illo?”

  “We’ll get pretty close if we circle the base of the hill. I’m not climbing that thing again. I’m pretty sure I can find her without retracing my exact steps.” She handed him the knife. “I’ll take the water flask. You take the weapon.”

  “Elodie, this is a kitchen knife.”

  She stuck her nose in the air with a little less enthusiasm than usual. “A girl has to be resourceful. It served its purpose, and I don’t want it digging into my hip all day.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Make sure you don’t lose it. I didn’t tell Podgin I was borrowing it.”

  They set off to the southwest. The hill jutted skyward on their right and the sun rose on their left. They stopped at the spring for water.

  Over the course of the next hour, Elodie had to pause a few times to figure out which way to go. “We’ll be able to see that green boulder over the cave from down here. As long as we stay close enough, we won’t get lost.”

  Shortly afterward, however, she slapped a hand to Martin’s chest. “Do you smell that?”

  Martin gripped the kitchen knife. “He’s back.”

  Heavy footfalls pounded their way. Wolf exploded out of the trees at a dead run, his crumpled wing dangling at his side. Martin pulled Elodie to the ground just as Wolf leaped at them. Wolf’s momentum sent him crashing against a tree, but he didn’t stay down long.

  “Run,” Martin hissed.

  They didn’t have time to run. They hardly had time to stand up. Wolf charged again. Martin jumped in front of Elodie, brandishing the knife.

  An arrow hissed past his ear and struck Wolf in the neck. The trunder drove into the ground and the arrow snapped under him. Wolf slid to a stop a foot from Martin and Elodie.

  “Finally, a perfect shot,” said a voice from the trees behind them.

  Martin and Elodie spun around. Illo dropped from a low branch, but her leg failed her and she landed on her face more than anything else.

  Martin caught Elodie’s eye, a sudden weight bearing down on him. Sooner or later, they would have to face Illo with the painful truth.

  Elodie shook her head. Not yet.

  Illo got up with a grin. “What? As if you didn’t see that coming. I deserve a thanks and a title of some sort, don’t you think? Illo, Trunder Slayer and Champion of the Woods. Hmm. Yes, I’ll keep it.”

  Elodie ran to hug her. Illo patted her clumsily on the head, nodding at Martin over Elodie’s shoulder.

  “Good to see you back on your own two feet, hog-moggins.” Then she frowned. “Oh. I forgot I wasn’t supposed to call you that anymore. Sorry.”

  “You earn your titles, I earn mine,” said Martin. “I am, more often than not, a hog-moggins.”

  “But he’s my hog-moggins,” said Elodie, letting go of Illo at last. “I’m keeping him that way.”

  Illo stuck out her tongue. “Yuck. You two can turn my stomach inside out later.”

  “How did you find us?” Elodie asked.

  “Sheer cleverness and a healthy dose of that thing’s fumes.” She pointed at the dead trunder with her bow. “I’m dying to know how you got back to normal, Martin, but it’ll have to wait. The red trunder wasn’t far behind when I left my tree.”

  Martin scowled. “Copper. I was afraid of that.”

  “Call her what you like,” said Illo. “We need to get out of here. That was my last arr
ow.”

  Just as the words left her mouth, a familiar howl cut through the woods.

  16. No More Running

  Copper’s cry rooted Martin in place. The trunder wasn’t close yet, but it was only a matter of time before her predatory senses led her straight to them.

  “So much for things being simple,” said Elodie. She edged closer to Martin. “I don’t know how many more trunder fights I have left in me.”

  Martin thought quickly. “We don’t have to fight it, at least not all of us. You two run to the river as fast as you can. I can buy you some time.”

  Elodie smacked his arm. “That’s the dumbest idea you’ve ever had. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

  “Elodie, you can’t—”

  “Don’t argue, Martin. I just got you back. Can’t you see we’re meant to work together? Sure, it’s easier when all we have to worry about are Cabbage Cart escapes and pig chases, but things aren’t easy now. They’re dark and dangerous, and that’s when you need me at your side the most.”

  Martin turned to Illo for help.

  She held her hands up. “Don’t look at me. I’m not thick enough to stand in that girl’s way.”

  He knew he couldn’t win. “Okay, we’ll stick together. But we won’t make it far if we try to outrun a trunder. Wolf was fast, but Copper’s faster.”

  “You really need to stop naming the animals,” said Illo. “Also, we don’t have to make it all the way to the river. Just far enough to pick our own ground.”

  Elodie snapped her fingers. “The badger den by the grotto.”

  “Right,” said Illo. “That’s what I was thinking too. It’s close by, and we’ll all fit without a problem. The trunder will have a tough time sticking her claws where they don’t belong.”

  Copper howled again, closer this time.

  “By all means, lead the way,” said Martin.

  Illo and Elodie set the pace. Elodie helped Illo hobble along. Martin watched the sky and the trees, but he couldn’t see Copper yet, which was good news.