The Butterfly Quest

by Wayne Russell

  Chapter 3

  The Butterfly sat on a low hedge, slowly fluttering its wings in the morning sunshine. Jazmyn slowly crept up beside it and feeling foolish asked, “Can you talk?” The Butterfly did not answer, instead it took flight once again and headed over the hedge and into the trees beyond.

  It took her several moments but Jazmyn found a place where she could climb over the hedge. The woods here were open, many of the trees had been cut down over the years to feed the fireplaces of the castle and town. Jazmyn thought she had lost sight of the Butterfly but as she made her way back along the other side of the hedge she found it sitting, waiting on a low stump. As soon as she got near it flew away again.

  For the next hour it flitted and floated its way through the woods and Jazmyn followed, weaving her way between trees and under branches. Eventually she heard the sound of running water and the countryside sloped down towards the bank of the River Jardin.

  The Butterfly sat atop a clump of rushes and waited for Jazmyn to make her way down the muddy slope that led to the river. Once again as soon as Jazmyn was there, the Butterfly took off again. This time headed across the river.

  Jazmyn stopped and stared. The river was only shallow here, so she would be able to cross easily but beyond the river lay the deep woods. Deep and dark. Even the hunters rarely ventured into this part of the woods. There were wolves, bears and other things that hid in the dark and filled some of the scary stories she had heard.

  The Butterfly had already reached the other side of the river and was fluttering, waiting. It must have sensed Jazmyn’s fears and she heard the voice again. Not a whisper this time, but still a gentle voice. “Safe, Follow”

  It almost sounded like her mother’s voice. Almost, but not quite. Jazmyn looked across the river at the Butterfly and the dark woods beyond. The Butterfly spread its wings wide and for a moment it was exactly the same shape as the pendant on her mother’s necklace. Jazmyn stared and stepped into the water. Slowly she splashed across, her shoes filling with water and slipping on the river stones. When she made it to the other side she sat down on a large rock and emptied the water and stones from her shoes. She leant back and stared up into the sky, feeling the warm sun on her face and to her surprise the Butterfly landed on her nose. Only for a second before it began to fly again into the woods.

  Jazmyn quickly put her shoes back on and followed. After only a few steps the woods had become dark, only small spots of light filtering through the leaves above. Twisted tree roots covered the forest floor but the Butterfly led on. It chose a path that was always clearer than the rest of the forest, always led around the spider webs, never led her through mud and waited whenever Jazmyn needed to catch her breath.

  After a short time Jazmyn came to the edge of a deep gully. On the other side of the gully the forest seemed to give way to some cleared land, and in the distance she could see a horse grazing. A horse could mean people, and the Butterfly’s path seemed to be heading straight for it. As Jazmyn stared at the horse she was sure that she saw it turn and look her way. ‘It would be nicer to ride than tramp through this muck’ she thought to herself, ‘but first I need to get through this gully.’

  The Butterfly took off again, down the steep slope into the gloomy ravine. Jazmyn followed.

  It was darker than she had first thought, and despite the Butterfly trying to lead her on a safe path, she fell several times and branches scratched at her face. Finally they made it to the bottom of the gully and Jazmyn sat on a moss covered log to rest for a moment. She could hear herself breathing, deep heavy breaths that seemed to echo through the gully. Jazmyn worried that something might hear her and took a deep breath and held it.

  The deep heavy breathing however did not stop.

  It was not Jazmyn’s breath.

  Slowly she turned looking for where it was coming from and froze before she could even scream when she found two large wolves crouched on a rock behind her. The wolves’ teeth were bared and dripping saliva, and ever so slowly they were creeping toward her.

  The wolves snarled and the scream that had been frozen in Jazmyn’s throat finally found its way out. The wolves stopped for a moment, stared at each other and then began creeping forward again. Somewhere in the forest another animal had heard Jazmyn’s scream and was now charging down the slope toward her. ‘NO.”, she cried “not a bear as well. You said I was safe”, but the Butterfly was nowhere to be seen.

  Jazmyn crouched down low under the log, closed her eyes and waited as the wolves creeped ever closer.

  She could her branches break and stones fly from further up the slope and huddled herself tightly into a ball beneath the log. Suddenly a large beast burst from the bushes nearby. It was black and huge. The wolves began to wail madly and one of them yelped in pain, and in an instant the two of them were gone. Now there was heavier breathing, snorting and whatever it was, it was standing directly over the top of Jazmyn.

  Slowly Jazmyn peeled the hands away from her eyes and looked up at the beast above her, trembling more than she could ever remember.