Chapter Ten - Unexpected Aid
I motioned for the girls to stop and get behind the trees. Someone was coming up the road and I couldn’t risk whoever it was. I grabbed Cameron's hand and helped her flatten herself against the largest tree. I watched Sari climb her tree and ready her bow.
The first thing I saw was horses. Six of them drawing a carriage behind them. The driver was wearing armor, but it didn’t look like he had a sword on him. I let my grip on my own blade loosen, despite not even realizing I’d reached for it.
I looked up and saw Sari had an arrow drawn. I waved for her to lower the bow, but she kept it trained on the driver of the carriage. On the one hand, I should have been glad that she was ready to defend us if necessary, but on the other hand, she might just get us killed trying to protect us. I returned my gaze to the carriage driver.
The carriage stopped. The driver hopped off and moved to the back, where he retrieved a small box. He reached inside the box and pulled some oats out and fed each of the horses in turn. I kept my eyes on the carriage. No one was getting out of it, which either meant no one was in it, or someone wasn’t willing to let themselves be seen in such a place. The driver returned the box to the back and then pulled himself back onto the front seat.
I looked back up at Sari and saw that she’d slightly lowered the bow. I turned back to the carriage and watched as the driver snapped the reins and got the horses moving. I moved Cameron around the tree so that the driver would never see us as the carriage passed. The carriage kept on, so I assumed we weren’t seen.
Then the carriage stopped.
The back of the carriage was pulled open by long fingers with even longer fingernails. The head that thrust outward was almost camel shaped, with large nostrils and larger eyes. I couldn’t tell if the creature was male or female, or even what race it was, but it began to sniff the air around the carriage. Its eyes darted left, then right, then -
Directly at the tree Cameron and I were behind.
I slid Cameron and myself as close to the tree as possible, but the creature’s gaze didn’t leave our direction for a good minute. Then, another long fingered hand reached out and pulled the first creature back inside, and the carriage continued on its path forward. I waited until it was out of sight before I finally let Cameron go and breathed a sigh of relief.
Sari slid down her tree and slipped her arrow back into her quiver. “What was that?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No idea.”
Cameron added, “Nobody ever comes into these woods. Dad told me there was a large battle here a long time ago, and the spirits of the dead linger.”
Sari glared at me. “Great. You led us into another ghost place.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, we were dying the first time.”
Cameron looked between us. “I have no idea what yer talkin’ about.”
I ruffled her hair. “We’ll tell ya when you’re older.”
I looked around the forest now. It didn’t look out of the ordinary, so how Cameron had actually pegged this forest as the one where the spirits linger, I had no idea, but I also wasn’t from around here and figured she knew what she was talking about. If there were ghosts about, neither Sari nor I could do anything about them.
The last thing I wanted to deal with was more ghosts, but if I had to, I had to.
“So where do we go now?” Sari asked.
I looked over at Cameron. “Which direction is that town your dad told us to go to?”
She shook her head. “No way to know.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“The forest. When we find a way out, we’ll be where we’re goin’, but…” she pointed east, “it could be that way,” now west, “or that way,” then down, “or that way.”
“Down?” Sari asked.
“The forest doesn't care. Out is out and that means we’ve reached our destination.”
I sighed. “Great. At least it's not a specific direction.” I heard something in the distance, sounded like a wolf. “Sounds like whatever direction that’s in is the one we don’t wanna go.” I turned to Sari. “Pick a path, we go that way.”
The path Sari chose was more or less the path that carriage had taken. I wasn't comfortable with it, but I had no better way to go. If we were lucky, we wouldn't run into the carriage and we would be out of the forest soon.
Taking that path made me think about the carriage. Whoever was riding in it had to know about the forest, so why had they come here? Were they looking for something? Someone? And why did it seem like they were looking straight at me? So many questions, nothing even resembling answers.
I put them out of my mind and focused on the forest, the possible threats. Cameron knew nothing of what animals dwelled in the forest, only that whatever called the forest their home was lost there, permanently. I thought back to Kalena and her beach. That was one lost soul that had been left without peace. Cameron made me think this forest was full of them.
I looked up through the trees and watched as the sun began to dip downward. It had been early morning when we set out and I know less than two hours had passed. Either time passed differently here, or the forest was already starting to screw with us.
“This place is givin’ me da creeps,” Cameron said. She threw in a shiver for added effect.
Sari hugged Cameron from behind. “This is nothing. Cres and I spent some time ona beach recently that a ghost lived on.”
“I thought ya said ya weren't tellin’ me that til I was older.”
“You’re thirty minutes older at least, now’s as good a time as ever.”
I laughed. Sari glared.
“What happened?” Cameron asked.
“We met a girl named Kalena, she lived on the beach,” I answered. “She helped us forward.”
“She was the ghost?”
I nodded. “And all she wanted was companionship. Hopefully, Sari and I helped her find it.”
“She helped us find money, at least,” Sari said. She’d let go of Cameron and reached for her bag.
“Ultimately,” I said with a raised voice, “I think we helped her more than she did us.”
“What did ya do?” Cameron asked.
Sari answered, “We gave her friends.”
I was about to add to that when I saw what was in front of us and stopped dead in my tracks. The girls stopped beside me, the expressions on their faces told me they too were worried.
The carriage.
Sari didn't draw her bow, but her knife instead. I unsheathed my blade and motioned for Sari to stay with Cameron. I took slow, careful steps toward the carriage. It was overturned, wrecked. I reached it, looked inside. No one was in the back, no driver at the front, it was as if the carriage had never had anyone in it to begin with.
I knelt down by the horses. Dead, blood wet, but wounds almost ancient. I put my hand on the corpses and no warmth radiated from them. It had to be some trick of the forest, but it was a strange trick. It was as if the forest had killed them long ago but preserved their blood.
I stood and saw the driver. He wasn’t dead, wasn’t with the carriage; he was instead standing a few yards away, glaring at me. “Are you alright?” I asked. He didn’t say anything, didn’t move. Something was… wrong about him. I adjusted my grip on my sword and took a step toward him.
And then he was gone.
I looked around, trying to find him, but I couldn’t. He was nowhere to be seen, nowhere to be heard, hell, I might have imagined him in the first place. I jogged over to where he’d been, my eyes focusing on the ground where he’d stood. Tracks, just as I’d hoped, proving that I hadn’t been crazy when I saw him, but the problem was that the tracks led to the spot he’d stood, not away.
I knelt down by the tracks and realized they, too, weren’t recent. Somehow, the ground had kept them, held onto them, but if they’d been made at any point in the last few years, it would have been a surprise.
“There’s nobody here,” I said to the girls. “Nobody but us, I guess.” I turned to head back for the road, but made no movement.
The girls were gone.
The carriage was gone.
The road was gone.
“Aw, sonuvabitch, don't tell me I’m alone, now…”
I looked around and saw nothing but forest around me. Either the forest had decided that I needed to be away from the girls for a bit, or it was just screwing with me for no good reason, either way, the only thing I could do is make it out of the forest and hope they did the same. I made it my pledge that if I ever got out of there, I’d never set foot in another ghost place again.
The direction I’d picked had been a very boring one. I didn’t see anything but trees for at least a good three miles, though I could have been wrong about the distance. Trees, sticks, twigs, a rock or two, and the occasional budding flower. How anyone made it through this forest was completely beyond me.
Of course, that was probably the point. The forest stopped people from leaving, trapped their souls. The fact that every way was out was just to lull you into a false sense of security and leave you stranded there for the rest of your life. I understood it, but that didn't mean that would help me escape it. I had to find the girls, pure and simple.
That didn’t seem like it would be easy, however. Every tree looked the same, every second felt the same and if the sun had moved, it had moved backwards, because there was just as much sun as there had been when I had been separated from the girls. I couldn’t even tell how much time had actually passed. Had time actually passed? This place was unnatural, so for all I knew, time didn’t work right.
“You are correct,” a voice said. I spun around and drew my sword in one motion and nearly fell on my ass. Standing behind me was one of the camel faced creatures I saw in the carriage. It looked at me with glazed eyes, eyes that simultaneously looked like they’d never seen anything in life, yet saw everything there was to see. “This place is the last destination for many, therefore time is a worthless element.”
I lowered my blade. “Who are you?”
The being ignored my question and instead walked past me to one of the trees. I couldn’t place its accent, but the h’s were stressed. “I first came here to escape time. Time has enslaved my people longer than most. This forest was but a myth to us, a place where time had no meaning. We sought it for centuries.”
“What are you saying? What even are you?”
It turned to me. “I am Arcrin, the last of the Khaalhees.”
I raised my sword again, but didn't point it at the creature. “You knew we were on the road, and I saw another of you in the carriage. How are you the last?”
Arcrin walked around me, its eyes on everything I was carrying. Then, it stopped at my scabbard and look a long sniff. “Your have already felt the timelessness. You saw us on the road you believe it to have been this morning. In truth, four days have passed since then, four days of traveling the path to find my carriage how it was a thousand years before you were born.”
A thousand years? Hell, just the idea that the girls and I had been in this forest for days was enough to make me go insane, and somehow Arcrin had been here for centuries. If the creature wasn't completely mad, I’d be more than amazed.
“Do you know a way for me to find my friends? The young woman with the bow and the girl under our protection?”
Arcrin finally turned to me now. Its face looked older now than it had when it had appeared. “I know many ways. Many ways to do many things, all of them impossible for me and difficult for you.”
Difficult didn't surprise me. In fact, I was used to it. I slid my sword back into the scabbard and folded my arms across my chest. “Tell me.”
It waved to the forest. “You must find the lowest point in your journey. You must seek that which will help you continue. It may not be what you expect.” It walked over to me and put its hand on my shoulder. “Once you and your friends have been reunited, you will find your way. Once you have found your way, you will leave the forest.”
“And how will I - ” I cut myself off when I realized that Arcrin was gone. I looked around as if I thought I was going to find it, but of course I didn’t. It had appeared as abruptly as it had appeared, as mysteriously as it had appeared. I supposed I shouldn't have been surprised. I had just hoped it would be around to help more.
Find the lowest point in your journey, Arcrin had said. You must seek that which will help you continue. I had no idea what the words meant, exactly, nor did I know what the “lowest point” in my journey would be. Considering I’d been going on for who knew how long without finding one shred of evidence that I’d be able to get out of this damn forest with or without the girls, it seemed like I’d already reached the lowest point.
But I trudged onward. I went only in a straight line, for fear that if I turned around, I’d never find which way I wasn’t going, or was going, or whatever the hell passed for progress in this almost evil place. The idea that I might be trapped grew in my mind. I was beginning to believe I’d be stuck there forever, much like Arcrin.
I collapsed against a tree and realized for the first time since losing the girls that I was exhausted. I’d run for days and never felt this tired before, but now I simply couldn’t stand. Everything about me seemed heavier than it should have. If my arms weren’t fallen logs, my head wasn’t a rock and my chest a slab of stone, I would have been surprised. Of course, none of it was true, but that didn’t stop me from feeling as though it were real.
The lowest point in your journey, my mind replayed. Perhaps I’d finally gotten there. Maybe this was finally the end of my journey instead.
A hand appeared before me. I looked up and saw a girl standing before me. It didn’t take long for me to recognize the girl from the store back in that village during the Royal Escort attack. She motioned for me to take her hand. “C’mon,” she said, “I promise I totally don’t bite.”
I took the offered hand and stood. I didn’t realize before just how much taller than her I was. Sari was at least half a foot shorter than me, and this girl didn’t look to be even that tall. Now that I could see her without my life being in danger, I saw things I didn’t notice before. Her face seemed warm, kind. I recognized it from somewhere else, though. I saw someone I knew from some time ago in this girl’s face, but I couldn’t place who or when.
“You’re the girl from the village,” I said, as if it were the only thing I could say to her.
She nodded. “And you’re the boy being attacked by the Royal Escorts.”
“How are you… How are you here? Did you get sucked into this forest, too?”
She shook her head. “I’m here because you’re here.” She walked around me to the tree I’d sat against and picked up my sword. When I had unhooked the sheath from my belt, I didn’t know. She thrust it into my arms. “All things are here because someone’s here.” She waved to a flock of birds that stood watch upon a tree. When they appeared, I had absolutely no idea. “These birds.” Now to a pair of rabbits poking their heads out of side-by-side holes. “These cute rabbits.” She motioned to herself. “Me.” She motioned to me now. “Even you. You’re here because of your friends, right?”
I returned my sword and sheath to their proper place on my belt. “Yeah, I am. So, you’re not real, then?”
She shook her head again. “I’m real. Realish, I guess. I’m not really Riley, and she’s not really here, but in a way I am and she is.” She poked me in the chest. “In here.” And now on the forehead. “And here.”
Riley. Was that really the girl’s name? And even if it was, how would a manifestation of my memories know the name when I didn’t? “You’re here to help?” I asked.
“I am,” she answered.
“Is this a you’ll tell me what I need kind of help or a you’ll be very vague and help me without helping me kind of help?”
“More of a look over there and walk with me kind of help.” She pointed to my left and my heart nearly stopped.
Sari and Cameron.
Wandering around like dead souls.
I broke into a run and managed not to trip myself up on the all the fallen branches, rocks and even dead animals that hadn’t been in my path just before. The path seemed to grow longer as I neared the girls, no doubt a trick of the forest. I pushed on, however. I wasn’t letting this goddamned forest stop me this time. As I got closer to them, I lunged forward, and found myself rolling on ground that had gained a slope just a second before I jumped.
“Cres!” Sari shouted. Oh, thank christ they saw me… She slid down the slope after me and came to a stop with her boots hitting me in the chest. I groaned, which caused both her and Cameron to laugh. “Where the hell did you go?!”
I got her feet off of me and stood up. “I went to check on that carriage - “
She cut me off. “And vanished right alongside it. This place is fucking weird.”
“No kidding.” Cameron slid down the slope. “What have you two been through?”
Cameron answered, “Ya wouldn't believe it. Ghosts an’ dragons an’ a giant frog. Pro’ly the strangest thing was tha’ thing we saw in da carriage, talkin’ ‘bout this place being a kinda trap.”
“Dragons?”
She nodded. “Big one, pro’ly about six feet tall, turned into a girl shorter ‘an Sari.”
Sari rolled her eyes. “She was just as tall as I was. maybe an inch shorter. Kinda tan or dark skinned, looked kinda familiar.”
I asked, “Did she look like that?” I pointed up at the top of the slope. Riley was standing there, waving, a smile on her face.
And almost as suddenly as she arrived, she was gone. I turned to Sari and Cameron, who both looked confused. I smiled. “I’ll explain later.” I looked at the forest around us and finally saw an opening in the trees. “I say we leave first.”
The sun was just beginning to set when we reached the town of Farson. The place was settling down for the evening, stores were closing and people getting off of work were gathering on their porches to watch their children play in the road. Everything looked happy and peaceful. It was the kind of place that reminded me of home, so many years ago.
I gripped the sheath of my sword and thought of the day my father died. The day my mother died. The day Circi and I were made orphans. It was and would always be a fresh memory, no matter how much time passed.
My thoughts turned to how long it had been since the girls and I had entered that bastard forest. It had been the sixth of October when we left Cameron’s home in Vesperia. I needed to see a calendar, or simply to ask someone. I couldn’t do that from the street, though. I spotted an inn just off the main road and made my way toward it. Sari and Cameron followed behind me, likely because they needed sleep. As did I.
The inn wasn’t a kind looking place, not like the one in that village that I met Riley in. The wallpaper was tearing in many places, and the fireplace in the lobby was falling apart. The check-in desk still looked pretty good, but the woman behind it looked to have seen better days less recently than the inn had.
“‘Ow can I ‘elp you?” she said, in an accent that wouldn’t have sounded out of place across the east sea.
I spotted a calendar on the wall. Still October, though from the days crossed off, it was apparently the eighth now. I shouldn’t have been surprised, really. Four days in there, two out here. We were lucky it hadn’t been years out here.
“A room for three, with separate beds, please,” I said. “Adjoining rooms, if we can get them.”
She shook her head. “Nah. Ya can get three rooms or ya can get one room, but ya can’t get adjoinin’ rooms.”
I sighed. “Okay, we’ll take one room with three beds.”
“Ya can’t ‘ave that, neither.” She walked to the board of keys behind her, grabbed one and slammed it down on the desk in front of us. “Three thirty-six. Ya get one bed and one night.”
I sighed again, grabbed the key and handed it to Sari. “You two get comfortable up there. I’ll be back in a little while.”
She looked at me funny. “Where are you going?”
“To see if I can get us some transportation for the morning.”
The innkeeper piped in, “Ya might wanna try the bar ‘cross the town. Lot’sa bounty ‘unters willin’ to take people wherever they wanna go.”
I nodded. “I guess I’ll do that then.” I turned back to Sari and Cameron. “Back in a little while,” I repeated.
The bar I found looked even worse than the inn. One of the windows was completely broken out, one of the lights by the entrance had a person’s head smashed through it - still - and none of the lights inside the bar seemed to be working. The place was lit by candlelight, almost as if electricity hadn’t been discovered yet.
As I walked in, a jukebox came to an earsplitting screech as it stopped and nearly everyone turned to look at me. The bartender behind the bar was polishing one of his glasses, a couple of patrons by the jukebox who were holding onto one another had stopped kissing or whatever the hell they had been doing, the three people sitting at the bar turned around to gawk at me. It was as if I’d interrupted everyone’s daily routine.
Then again, I might have.
I walked up to the bar and sat down on one of the stools. The bartender walked over to me, still polishing his glass, and leaned against the edge of the bar near me. “No,” was the first thing he said.
“No to what?” I asked.
“No.”
“To what?”
A bald-headed man with what appeared to be a Plains Tribe tattoo covering one side of his face turned slightly toward me. “To anything you ask,” he said, answering for the bartender. “The Raven’s Claw isn’t kind to outsiders, least of all those carrying a Qinatan blade.”
I gripped my scabbard. “That so?”
He nodded. “Lucky you, I don’t have a problem with outsiders or Qinatan blades.” He gestured to the sword he wore on his back. “I have one myself.”
I leaned over the bar, grabbed one of the glasses and reached under the bar for a bottle. “Mine’s a family heirloom,” I said.
“Mine, as well.” He took a long, hard drink of whatever he had, then took the bottle from my hand and refilled his own glass. “Just not my family.” He took another drink. “You being an outsider, I figure you need to go somewhere. I’ll take you.”
I took a drink from my own glass. “I just need passage west. Me and my companions.”
“I don’t care where you’re going. I’ll take you west.”
I angled my glass toward him then took another drink. “That was a little easier than expected.”
He smiled. “I’m sure.”
