Chapter 27 – Down the Path
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"So, where the fuck were you? I woke up and you were gone," Elvira says.

 

The three of us - her, the wooden thing, and I - had set up a makeshift camp on the path through the dark forest. Well, not much of a camp. I once again lost all my luggage when the abyss walker attacked, and despite the seemingly infinite walls of trees on either side there are no branches around to make a fire with. Our camp is just the three of us sitting in a circle talking, Elvira using light magic so she can see. At least the dirt of the path is loose enough that I can write out my responses.

 

Went to the human city, found food. Left it behind when attacked.

 

"You went to the- What if someone saw you?!"

 

It was night. Used dark magic to hide.

 

"You- I- That... Fine, yeah, that makes sense," she finally concedes.

 

Got a message from Yehma and Thrane. Going to Lucet, can talk to them there.

 

The elf looks at me for a moment before saying, "Why am I not surprised you just nonchalantly bring up talking to the literal creators of the universe."

 

"You spoke to the Mothers? Good, good!" The wooden creature interjects. "Going to Lucet? Is that the human place with the big church for the Light Mother? This Path goes there, it does!"

 

... Elvira, what is this thing?

 

"Right, you wouldn't know. Umbra, this is a spirit of life. They're like... creatures made by the Great Spirits to make sure the world doesn't fall apart," Elvira explains. "This one looks after trees and other plants, making sure they don't all die out. Spirit, this is Umbra, champion of Yehma and Thrane."

 

"I know, I know! I can feel the Mothers' power on the Void born!"

 

Spirit? Do you know what that abyss walker was? Or the Master of Voices?

 

"Hmm, the bad Void born with the voices?" The spirit asks. "Nope! I dunno!"

 

Of course it doesn't. That would make things easier, and things can never be easy. At least this "Path" will take us to Lucet, maybe I can get some answers there. Or the goddesses can continue giving vague hints without any real explanations. Both are equally likely.

 

Anything we need to know about the Path?

 

"Hmm, I dunno! There shouldn't be anything bad here, but maybe we'll meet a faerie? But most of them are nice! We just need to walk down the Path until we get to the end, then I'll open a Way out!"

 

"Wait wait wait," Elvira interjects. "Do you mean Fae?"

 

"Yep yep!" The spirit says. "This is their Path, through their Otherworld! But you don't need to worry much about them, they don't like mortals, so they'll probably stay away!"

 

"That's... not what I've heard about them. But you're the expert, I guess..." Elvira responds, sounding entirely unconvinced.

 

Anything else?

 

"Hmm, maybe don't make bright light? The bad faeries might see it, and then they'll come play mean tricks! And don't leave the Path, and don't tell anyone your name, and don't name anyone else, and don't talk to anyone, and-"

 

"Alright," the elf cuts in. "How about I put out this light, you stop talking, and we just try to get out of here as fast as possible. Nobody talks to anybody. Sound good?"

 

"Okay! We just need to go that way!"

 

Alright.

 

Elvira closes her fist, smothering the light, and we begin to walk.

 

It only takes a few minutes for me to notice how quiet the forest is. Unnaturally quiet. There's no wind blowing through the trees, no birdsong, no animals moving through the forest. Just perfect silence. Judging by how Elvira keeps nervously looking around it seems like she has also noticed, though the spirit is just happily skipping down the Path. Besides the sounds the three of us make the eerie silence remains unbroken.

 

Until the singing starts, that is.

 

It's quiet at first, just enough that I catch the occasional snippet, but steadily grows louder. It sounds as if whatever is making the song is slowly moving through the forest towards us from all sides, including above. I'm still debating whether I should stop to write out a message when the elf notices.

 

"Um, spirit?" she says, forcing an upbeat tone. "If I, perhaps, heard something in the woods would that be a bad sign?"

 

"Hmm, maybe?" the spirit responds. "If you're talking about the singing it could be good or bad!  The nice faerie like to sing, but the mean ones do too! We'll know when they get close enough to make out the words!"

 

I pause for a moment, writing out the words that I can make out so the spirit can read them. Luckily it doesn't need nearly as much light as Elvira.

 

Tha Màthair na h-Oidhche a’ seinn1The Mother of the Night sings

Air latha a 'ghrian a' bàsachadh a-nuas2Of the day the sun dies

Agus gabhaidh a' Chùirt Unseelie an saoghal 3And the Unseelie Court will take the world

 

"Oh! Yeah, those are the bad faeries! That's too bad, the elf is probably gonna die!"

 

"I'm what?!"

 

Tell her to calm down. We aren't letting her die.

 

"Oh, the champion says you won't die!" the spirit says with surprise. "Well, that's good! It'll probably be okay if the champion says so!"

 

"Okay, okay, deep breaths Elvira," the elf whispers under her breath. "Alright, what can you tell us about the faerie that are coming."

 

"They follow the Dark Mother! Call her Unseelie Queen and Mother of the Night! They tend to be pretty mean, they like killing and eating travelers, or soaking their hats in their blood, or trapping them for centuries in the Otherworld, or-"

 

"Okay, not helpful! They worship Thrane, yeah? So, Umbra's the champion of darkness, it should be able to reason with them, right?"

 

"Maybe! Probably not! Mister champion, would other Void born do what you ask just because your the champion?"

 

No. Maybe some, but mostly no.

 

"Then nope! They're a bit different than the Void born, but both were made by the Dark Mother, so they probably act the same!"

 

Then they'll try to eat us.

 

"Hmm, maybe not the same then. Some of them like to eat people, but not all of them! Lots just like trap people, or make them crazy, or drag them away so they're never seen again!"

 

"This... really, really isn't helping, spirit. How do we get away from them?"

 

"We don't, nope nope! This is their Black Wood, nothing escapes if they don't want it to!"

 

"So what do we do?! We can't just lie down and die!"

 

"Hmm... Even if they're the bad faerie, they're still bound by faerie laws! Request hospitality! That might work! Then follow the rules, no eating any food, or giving your name, or-"

 

An arrow appears from between the trees, hitting with enough force that it decapitates the spirit. The second brushes past the elf's ear and plants itself in a tree. The third hits me, pinning me to the ground.

 

 

 

So, I'm a fan of Gaelic mythology, and as such I wanted to use Scots Gaelic for the faerie song since Scotland is home to the Unseelie Court and generally the scariest Fae. Thing is, I don't speak a word of it and Gaelic is really complicated. I used google translate to piece it together, but I am under no illusions that it's even remotely correct, and I'm absolutely sure it would sound terrible if you tried to sing it. If you know any Gaelic please do let me know where I've gone wrong or if you have any suggestions, I'd really appreciate it.

 

Also, as a side note, if you have any good sources that record Gaelic myth I'd love to hear about them. I can never seem to find any, I just have a couple books and Overly Sarcastic Productions videos as sources, and they're mostly Irish.

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