by Logan Byrne
6
The forest was mesmerizing, with mossy rocks and trees lining the perimeter as we were transported into a place I’d only read about in books. It was unlike any forest I’d ever been in before, picturesque, with rolling streams and paths winding along the forest floor.
I looked behind me, at the town, quickly fading away as we walked further into the forest. A shroud obscured it, almost, like the forest was inviting us inside and not yet wanting us to leave.
“I feel something here,” I said, looking around, but I didn’t hear or see anything other than birds chirping above as rays of sunlight broke through the canopy and speckled the ground below.
“Your mark?” Faus asked.
“No, because I feel it as well,” Britta said.
“It just feels, I don’t know, magical. As if there’s something here, a buzzing feeling that’s ringing through me,” I said.
“This place doesn’t feel like a normal forest, at least I don’t think so. Do you think it really is home to so many magical creatures?” Charlie asked, glancing around.
“What do we need to be on the lookout for? We don’t really know what we’re going to come across,” Blake said.
“Centaurs, fairies, elves, shifters, and who knows what else. I think this place is going to be a melting pot in terms of what creatures we’re going to find,” Faus said.
“I did hear about a tribe of forest elves,” Britta said.
“Great, just what we need,” I said.
“If they’re anything like Pokeshi, we’ll be fine,” Blake said.
“Ones out here, living deep within the forest, won’t be like Pokeshi. They’re going to be, should I say, more traditional,” Faus said.
By traditional, he meant hostile. Truthfully, I couldn’t stand forest elves, and even though that was a generalization, it was true. They were mean, crass, and would kill you if you looked at them the wrong way. They loved to smuggle, and their nails and teeth were as sharp as razors.
They were completely different from the high elves, really not even looking anywhere close to relatives, which was probably a good thing for the high elves. I knew they hated being compared to their cousins.
“Remember about Kiren’s men out here,” Charlie said. “They seemed to be worried about that back at camp.”
We climbed over a few fallen trees with wide rotten trunks. “Do you think they’re out here already?” Blake asked.
“It’s hard to say. I would imagine they’re on the trail, if this item is that important to Kiren and his master plan,” I said.
“What do you think will happen if he succeeds?” Charlie asked.
“The total annihilation of all of us, not to mention the genocide of anybody not pure enough of blood,” I said.
“You think it’ll be that bad?” Faus asked.
“No, I think it’ll be worse,” I said frankly.
“He won’t get it, so there’s nothing to worry about,” Britta said.
“I like the optimism, but it might not be the best thing in this scenario,” Blake said.
“No, it is the best thing. If you think you’re going to fail before you’ve even tried, then you have no chance at success. We’ve overcome some serious obstacles before as a group, and we can handle this one. We’ve beaten those duskhowlers every single time, so I’m not worried about tacking one more onto the total,” Britta said.
“Wait, what’s that ahead?” I asked, squatting down.
“Centaurs,” Faus replied.
“That one appears injured,” Britta said, as she tilted her head for a better look.
The centaur was indeed injured, bleeding from a wound on his torso. The others huddled around him as he writhed in agony. “What do we do?” I asked.
“We need to help him,” Britta said.
“Who is there? Show yourselves!” a centaur yelled, pointing his bow in our general direction.
“We’re friends. We’re not here to hurt you,” I said, standing up slowly, my hands in the air. The others followed suit, trying to prove that we weren’t there to hurt them any more than they had been already.
“Men just like you, mages, attacked us and hurt our tribe mate. How are we to trust you?” he asked, his bow still pulled back, pointed towards us.
“Here,” I said, slowly unsheathing my wand.
“What are you doing?” Faus asked nervously.
“Maybe if they see the wand, they’ll understand,” I said, as I pulled it out. It glimmered in the rogue rays of light that spread through the forest. He looked amazed, mesmerized, before he slowly released the bowstring and put away his arrow.
“You have the crystal wand,” he said, shuffling his hooves a little on the dirt.
“We’re members of the resistance. We’re friends and equals with many of your colleagues who have joined us. All we want to do is help you, not hurt you,” I said, inching closer.
“I trust you. You may approach,” he said, and we ran up the small hill towards the injured centaur.
“It hurts!” he yelled, squirming around.
“Let me see,” Britta said, trying to pull back his hand as he cupped it tightly against the wound. He relented and dark blood oozed into his short brown hair.
“It’s bad,” he said, before gripping his wound again.
“Help keep pressure on it,” Britta said to the other centaur who knelt beside him.
“What are we going to do?” Charlie asked, looking a bit sick from the sight and smell of the blood.
“I think I can stop the bleeding, but I’m not exactly equipped for the wound itself. It’s going to be difficult without herbs and a medical kit,” Britta said.
She pulled out her wand, looking through a travel-sized spell book that she’d stuffed in her bag. She mumbled to herself, flipping through, before stopping on a page and scanning her finger across the lines.
“Move your hands,” Britta said, before clearing her throat. “Vulnere Instaurabo.”
She waved her wand over the wound. The centaur squealed before the flowing blood slowed and dripped down his side. A few seconds later he began to breathe normally again as the bleeding stopped.
“This stopped the bleeding, but repairing the actual wound will be harder. I need some time,” Britta said, looking up at me.
“May I speak with you?” I asked the centaur who’d found us minutes earlier.
We walked over about ten feet away, before I looked over, seeing the group fixated on Britta’s handiwork. “What can I help you with?” the centaur asked.
“How did this happen, exactly? You said it was people that looked like us?” I asked.
“They were mages, warlocks, and they attacked us as we hunted for food. It happened in an instant, not even the slightest bit of warning. Light flew through the air and they began to crack and break trees and branches all around us,” he said.
“Was there anything special about them?” I asked.
“No, not really. Not in appearance, anyway,” he said.
“They weren’t wearing masks?” I asked.
“No, but they were dressed reasonably nicely, at least for humans. No masks, though,” he said.
We did have word that the duskhowlers were out here, trying to find the Malum, but now I was questioning whether it was them who attacked the centaurs. Why would they be traveling around, attacking, without their masks on? It seemed like something that could potentially hurt them, and it didn’t make any sense at all.
“How did you get away?” I asked.
“We fought back the best that we could before retreating. We weren’t ready for full combat. You just don’t have those sorts of things happening around here,” he said.
“Did they say anything? Maybe they asked you about something?” I asked.
“They wanted to know where it was. They kept asking us where it was,” he said.
“Where what was?” I asked, playing coy.
“The Malum,” he said bluntly.
“Did you tel
l them?” I asked.
“Centaurs do not bother themselves with objects of that nature. We have no use for that kind of item,” he said.
“And when you tried to leave after telling them that, they didn’t chase you down?” I asked.
“They left, plain and simple. I’m guessing they knew they wouldn’t find that item near us,” he said.
“Lexa,” Britta called.
“Yeah?” I asked, rushing over, the centaur coming with me.
“I think you could close his wound. You know,” she said, looking up at me.
Though the bleeding had stopped, the wound was still open, flaps of skin pointing outwards. It looked like a dark pit that would eat you alive. I wasn’t sure my mark could heal something like this, it wasn’t just a scratch, but I couldn’t say I wasn’t curious.
“I’ll do it,” I said, before getting on my knees beside Britta.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” the hurt centaur asked.
“Nope,” I said, before placing my right hand near his wound.
I closed my eyes, breathing slowly, summoning the mark and feeling the power tingle a little before growing throughout my body. I concentrated, funneling it through my veins and muscles before pushing it into my hand. I opened my eyes, seeing my hand glowing bright blue, like a flame, as the wound began to bubble.
The skin moved inwards, the edges sealing together perfectly without scarring, before the final little lip closed up and he was whole again.
I let go, both of him and the mark, my hand quickly fading back to normal, before I felt a little dizzy and fell backwards onto my butt.
“It’s okay, I’m here,” Blake said, catching me, as I lay back against him.
“How did you do that?” a centaur asked.
“She bears the Mark of Merlin,” Faus said proudly.
“The centaurs of this forest will always be in your debt,” the centaur said, and they all knelt before me, bowing their heads.
“Are you going to be okay? Here, eat this,” Britta said, handing me pieces of dried fruit from the camp. “They’ll help stabilize your blood sugar so you don’t feel so faint.”
I took the three pieces of dried pineapple, nibbling on them as I tried to regain strength. I hadn’t practiced or trained my mark in so long that it was rusty, not that I did any better before, but that was beside the point.
Using it had started to scare me, making me a little nervous, as I wondered what it was going to be like during my battle with Kiren. What if I was kicked out of the mark, or I couldn’t sustain it long enough? Would I fall out of it and be unable to even stand on my own? That would give him an advantage I wasn’t willing to concede. It made me feel inadequate.
“How are you feeling?” Blake asked ten minutes later, sitting on the ground holding me as he stroked my hair back.
“Better. I think I could probably keep going,” I said, before trying to stand up.
Charlie grabbed my hands, pulling me upwards, and I shook my head, stumbling a bit but standing on my own. “See,” I said, smiling.
“We should keep moving if we’re going to find the Malum,” Faus said.
“May we ask why you search for such an item?” a centaur asked.
“We seek to destroy it and make sure nobody can ever use it for evil. The men who attacked you want to do just that, and we can’t allow it to fall into their hands,” I said.
“We may have heard whispers of it being somewhere in that direction,” the centaur said, pointing straight ahead. “Of course, those are only whispers.” He winked, before the group of them turned around and galloped off. I supposed we’d earned the trust and respect of the centaurs. It might just be enough to help us find the Malum before Kiren’s men.
“Are you sure you’re ready to move?” Blake asked, his hand on the small of my back.
“I’ll be fine. Hopefully I’ll get to the point where I no longer get light-headed after using the mark,” I said, smiling.
I felt my pocket as we started moving, making sure the fairy dust was still inside. It was.
This place didn’t seem like somewhere you could find something you’d lost. It would be like losing a tiny piece of glass on the sea floor, as it would be sucked alive by the ever-growing and moving pile of moss that seemed to cover everything here.
Still, no matter how treacherous the slippery moss was, I couldn’t help but be entranced by the surroundings of the forest. It truly was like nothing I’d ever seen before. The trees above swayed gently in the breeze while deer ran past in the distance, mixed into life with magical creatures, some of which would have their heads for dinner.
“Are we ready for a break?” Charlie asked a while later, stretching, as Faus stopped to look at a map he’d been given before we left.
“There’s no point in even looking at that thing. We’re lost, and I’m fine to admit that,” Blake said.
“We aren’t lost, we’re just, you know, directionally challenged,” Faus said, before inspecting his map closer with a small magnifying glass.
“I vote for a rest while we figure it out. We can eat and fuel ourselves up. Besides, we’re just walking aimlessly. We haven’t gotten any closer to anything,” Britta said.
“The sun is starting to go down, at least I think it is. It’s kind of hard to tell with all the trees,” I said.
“It’s just about six. Wow, time flies when you’re having fun,” Blake said, looking at a watch he’d stuffed in his bag.
“Maybe we should just call it a day?” I asked, looking around at the group.
I was still tired from earlier, even if I didn’t let it on. I felt drained, like I’d pushed some of my own life force and energy into that centaur when I healed him. Eating a few pieces of dried fruit wasn’t exactly enough to restore what I’d lost, and I was beginning to think some good old-fashioned rest was the cure.
“We’ll need to get up bright and early tomorrow if we stop now. Pote had a sense of urgency in her voice. I think the war is coming sooner than we think,” Faus said.
“Well, if Kiren gets the Malum, it’ll be over before we know it,” Britta said.
“He’ll wage war immediately once he has that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he uses his little monster to wage that war,” I said.
“Should we use any sort of protections around our camp?” Blake asked.
“We can try to obscure ourselves, but I’m not sure I can conjure something long-term and across the entirety of our camp,” Britta said.
“It would be an undertaking. I’m sure we’ll be fine,” I said.
“I don’t know, something about this forest at night isn’t sitting well with me,” Blake said, looking around.
“Birds are chirping, deer are trotting, and a little stream is rolling nearby. We’ll be fine,” Charlie said, pulling the tents out of Britta’s bag.
A rustle nearby caught my attention, but I didn’t see anything move, not even a bush. It was eerie standing here, the deafening silence of the woods making me feel a bit of distrust and panic. I just wanted to get this camp up and running, with enough of a shield to protect us through the night.
It was like dangling your legs off the side of the bed at night—there’s that fear that something will grab your ankles and drag you down with it, but the moment you’re in your bed and under your covers, you’re safe. That was what this camp was to me right now—it was safety.
“Obscuria Totalium,” Britta said as she slowly swiped her wand along a tree line and created a thin film that spread outwards.
“Need help?” I asked, pulling out my wand.
“Start on the other side. Just keep incanting the spell about every six feet or so. It’ll take a little while, but it should provide protection for at least twelve hours,” Britta said.
“Obscuria Totalium,” I said, swiping my wand, looking out in front of me as I did so. My eyes darted from side to side, moving along with every spoken spell, as I made sure nobody was watching.
I knew this sp
ell would obscure us, but I didn’t think it would actually protect us, and that was the key. It almost made me wonder if we would be better off using shield spells on the camp rather than being hidden. At least that way we’d stand a chance.
After ten minutes, I met up with Britta’s starting point, a translucent film rippling gently in the wind as my spells met up with hers. They merged, sparking lightly, before sealing together above us, creating a dome as Britta finished off her part as well.
“There, we’re obscured,” Britta said, sheathing her wand, as we walked towards the guys.
“So nobody can see us?” Charlie asked.
“Or hear, or even smell, unless they somehow get into the bubble. It should deter creatures from even coming near, making them take a different path,” she said.
“What about protection?” Blake asked.
“No, unfortunately it doesn’t do that. If something comes our way, whether natural or spell, it will pierce the spell like a hot knife through butter,” Britta said.
“That’s sort of scary,” Faus said.
“I would do both spells, but Mirian hasn’t taught us yet with how hectic things have been. I don’t want to risk tainting it,” Britta said.
I raised the tents, securing them into the ground, as the boys made a small fire pit with rocks that were nearby. I saw a deer pass by the bubble before stopping and looking at us. It chewed leaves, its mouth moving side to side, before it blinked and walked off. I had a feeling I would be on high alert all night long.
“The topography of the forest is a bit suspect, but I think I’m getting it down. We should be here,” Faus said, pointing at a small mark on the map he’d made with a pencil earlier. “Our current trajectory has us going this way.”
“What’s that?” Charlie asked.
“It looks like a natural cave system that’s pretty deep and extensive,” Faus said.
“I wonder if Kiren’s men know about it,” Blake asked.
“Likely so, but it does look menacing. Note this,” Faus said, pointing at a small skull a couple inches away on the map.
“There’s a skull on the map itself?” Charlie asked.
