Chapter 7: To the Forest!... again

“We have to go through this again?”  Jason asked as they neared the forest.

“Unfortunately, yes. Abby said to go south and that means the forest is our first destination.” Eric looked at Jason and then at the forest with a defiant look in his eyes.  “However, the forest will be a piece of cake. You’ve proven good with ordering trees around, so that should help. I’m more worried about the other stuff we’ll have to deal with.”  Jason gave his companion a questioning look.  “What? You didn’t think we’d jut walk up to the witch’s castle and ring a bell, did you?”

“I thought…” Jason didn’t know what he was going to say. Of course, there would be other dangers. Hadn’t he witnessed a swirling black mass appear out of nothing, there in the clearing among the Sleeping Lilies? But what other dangers could there be? This world is nothing but a collection of fantasies, right? Nothing to worry about… at least that’s what Jason told himself.

He was about to ask Eric what kind of dangers they might come across when a loud rumbling sound crashed through the silence. The sound came from the forest.  Jason and Eric saw a path laid out before them when only a moment before nothing but a thick forest had been there.

“Looks like you’ve made some friends.”  And with a smile, Eric moved into the forest, following the path.

“Friends? Are you sure?” Jason asked, wary, eyeing the trees for any kind of suspicious behavior, although Jason was not sure what constituted suspicious behavior in trees.

“If I knew the minds of trees I could tell you. The only answer I can offer is that they can be quite fickle in their motives. But they seem to like you.”  Eric smiled which seemed to comfort Jason a little, though he was still wary.

“I don’t understand.” Jason moved onto the path.

“Everything’ll come back to you. Remember, you created this world. Or rather, left your mark. Just give it time. Worrying about trees won’t help you save your brother.  Come on. It won’t take too long to cross the forest.”

The ground was soft beneath their feet, soft enough that deep footprints were left in the black soil. As they walked Jason took note of the trees that made up the forest and discovered something rather interesting: they were all the same. That’s not to say that every single tree was a pine or an oak, but they were all a type of tree that Jason had never seen before.

“What kind of trees are these?”  Jason said breaking the silence, his voice sounding louder than he intended.

“What do you mean?” Eric’s voice was a near whisper, yet clear.

“Well, in my world there are different types of trees.” Jason did his best to copy Eric’s volume. “I’ve never seen these before, and seeing as how I created this world…” Jason still couldn’t wrap his head around that thought though he was standing in the middle of a forest populated by fickle trees, “…I don’t see how I would have put something here that I had never seen before.”

Eric thought about this for a minute, or at least that’s what Jason thought he was doing, before responding. “I guess you didn’t like any of the trees that you had seen.”

Jason had nothing to say to this. He tried to call up memories of his past and found that very few of them, if any, had occurred in a forest, or any place that contained a large amount of vegetation (the dry, dead brush of his hometown didn’t count). The only memory that came close was the time that his family had taken a road trip through Ruidoso, to see some distant relatives that Jason had only met once. Jason had never seen anything so beautiful in his life; he remembered fantasizing about living there, or anywhere with an abundance of trees, when he grew up.

“Anything coming back to you?” Eric asked, breaking through the memory.

Jason took a moment before responding, “No.” He pointed to the surrounding forest, “I think I would have remembered seeing these before.” He stretched out a hand towards the nearest tree and touched its bark, expecting to feel the familiar rough and cracked bark of the trees from Ruidoso, and was surprised to feel nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true, because Jason did feel something, a pressure that told his fingers he was indeed touching something, but that something felt like nothing he’d ever felt before. It was insubstantial, weak, and now that Jason was looking at the trees properly, they looked weak, blurred, as if he were looking through a camera lens that was slightly out of focus.

“Maybe you couldn’t remember exactly what they were supposed to look like and filled in the gaps yourself. You do have an imagination after all.”

An imagination that has faded, become unfocused, Jason thought.

They continued to walk in silence.

Night fell fast across the forest due to the thickness of the trees. Jason didn’t think that it could get much darker, but he was wrong. Soon after the sky swept away the last rays of sunlight, Jason could only see a thin outline of his companion’s body. Every couple of seconds Jason lost sight of his friend and found himself quickening his step just to keep Eric visible, vague though he was. 

About an hour after darkness had masked Jason’s vision, Eric stopped, almost causing a collision, “I think we had better stop for the night.” Jason nodded in agreement, glad for the rest; his feet were tired and sore as he had never walked so far in his life, and blisters were beginning to form on his toes.

Jason followed Eric off the path and into the forest. They had only walked a few feet when they found a small area, big enough for the two of them to lay down without having to bend their bodies around the surrounding trees, something that would have caused a few sore muscles in the morning. Jason was startled by the loud gurgling sound that came from his stomach, begging for food. The sound of Eric’s muffled laughter was not as easily concealed from Jason’s ears as Eric’s physical frame. His face reddened with embarrassment.

“Food sounds like a good idea.”  Eric removed his backpack and sat with his legs crossed on the ground. Jason followed suit, wondering how they were going to see what they were eating. A bright flash of light gave him the answer.

“What was that?”  Jason shielded his eyes from the sudden change in light.

“It’s a trick I learned from Abigail. Simply put your hands together and imagine the space in between your hands gradually getting hotter until you can’t bare the heat anymore. A ball of heat should’ve been created in the palms of your hands, simply drop it over a bundle of sticks and presto, light.  It’s not hot so you can’t cook anything, but at least you can see what you’re eating.” Eric seemed to be rehearsing instructions rather than actually telling Jason how to create a ball of light in the palm of his hands.

Jason was transfixed by the glowing light and reached out his hand to touch it.  “Don’t touch it!”  Eric said, startling Jason. “The flame is very unpredictable. I haven’t perfected how to keep it shielded yet. Touching it could just cause it to evaporate but it could also explode. I didn’t use that much energy so I don’t think it would explode but I can’t tell how much energy was put into a flame.” Jason looked at the light as if it were going to burst that very instant. “Sorry if I scared you.”

“That’s okay. I was just curious that’s all.” 

They both opened their backpacks and looked inside to see what Abigail had given them. Jason wondered if it was going to be anything good.  He was surprised to find a toasted ham and Swiss cheese sandwich, neatly wrapped in plastic wrap, along with a canteen of water and a fresh red apple. Eric was already eating something that looked unfamiliar to Jason and he wasn’t about to ask what it was; besides his attention was now entirely focused on filling his stomach.

“I don’t remember Abigail packing these with anything before she gave them to us.” Jason mumbled, trying not to open his mouth too wide as it was full of ham, Swiss cheese, and bread.

“She gave us Traveling Packs. They’re used on long journeys for sustenance and slight protection. Whenever you stop, the pack is filled with food and water provided that you do two things.” Eric paused to take another bite of whatever he was eating—in which time Jason noticed that Eric’s food came in plastic containers, and his pack had also given him a set of plastic utensils. “One: eat and drink everything the pack provides and two: put anything that’s left over back into the pack, including the empty canteen.”

“Why?”  Jason asked.

“Because you’ll insult the Traveling Pack, of course. That’s the last thing you want to do when going on an adventure.”  Eric said this with the air of talking to someone who should know better. Jason looked at his pack and back at his food and started to eat everything in sight, beginning with the apple. 

As Jason took his first bite of the apple he realized that he just had to ask Eric something that had been swimming around his head since he had first seen the boy, especially now that Eric appeared to have special abilities. After swallowing his first bite, he decided to ask his first question, his eyes cast downwards, “Eric,” a slight pause, “I hope you won’t think I’m rude, but are you human?”

Eric stopped chewing for the briefest of moments, his unblinking eyes staring directly at Jason. “Are you asking if I’m an alien or something?” Eric asked with a mouthful of food. 

Jason didn’t really know how to respond; was Eric trying to be funny or was he being serious?  It was hard to tell. “It’s not that. It’s just . . . well, you’re different.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No. I didn’t mean to offend you or anything. I just wanted to know. I mean, you look human; there’s just something a little different about you.” Jason’s eyes darted to the ball of light hovering between them. Eric flushed a little. “With the magic and all, I just don’t think any human could do things like that.”

It was Eric’s turn to look at the ground, the sandwich in his hands dangerously close to falling to the ground. “Usually, anytime anyone . . .”

“Anyone what?”

“Well, the truth is I don’t know. I think I am, but…” Eric’s voice was barely audible.  Jason couldn’t believe what he heard.

“What’d you mean you don’t know? Surely you know who you’re parents are, right?” Jason was saddened by his friend’s revelation. How was it that he didn’t know where he came from? That would drive me mad, Jason thought.

Eric just shook his head, “That’s part of the reason I want to help you find your brother. If I can get to the castle, maybe someone there can give me some answers.  It’s a long shot, but right now it’s my only chance. See there’s only supposed to be one human Guardian at a time. Other humans are not supposed to know about this place. They can stumble across it in their dreams. We would be able to see them, but they would be nothing more than a ghost to us, a slight shift in the air, a pale reflection of their real selves.”

There was a long moment of silence before Jason responded; his head was swimming, trying to understand what Eric had just said. “Guardian? What did you mean by Guardian?”

“Oh, um, well… I shouldn’t have said that. Abigail told me that you must figure things out on your own, that I must not tell you anything. I’m sorry.” He paused, “But since I already told you… You were… are a Guardian. That’s why this place seems so familiar to you. Aaron is kind of Guardian, too, but somehow he missed his opportunity to officially take the job, so to speak. So, it looks like all three of us have something unique about us.”

Jason could think of nothing more to say, or even ask. It seemed answers would have to wait. Plus, something Eric had said troubled his mind: somehow he missed his opportunity. Thunder and lightning. A memory stirred, locked away, forgotten. 

Jason took a moment to decide if swallowing the core of the apple hurt his Traveling Pack’s feelings, but decided that his backpack would probably not be offended, so he just threw the core into his pack.  Nothing happened. The bag was content. 

After dinner was finished Eric placed everything that was left of his meal into his pack and closed it tight, Jason did the same, almost mirroring Eric’s movements in fear of incurring the Traveling Pack’s wrath. “We should get some rest.” Eric’s voice broke the silence, tentative. “Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.” Jason nodded and placed his pack at the foot of a tree and laid his head on it. He was surprised to find that it was as comfortable as any pillow he had ever slept on. Within minutes he was yawning, fighting the heaviness of his eyes. Eric lay down near Jason using his own pack as a pillow. 

“Till morning,” Eric said closing his eyes.

Jason could only manage an inaudible, “till morning,” before drifting off into sleep.



* * *

The world dropped beneath him as he gazed over the edge of the cliff.  Something wasn’t right. A feeling of dread crept up from within him telling him not to turn around. Jason couldn’t shake the feeling that someone, or something, was boring into his back with their eyes. Curiosity is what did it. It forced him to turn and look at that unseen force behind him. As he turned he saw, out of the corner of his eye a black monolith rising out of the ground; a castle of some kind, with no windows, balconies, spires or anything that resembled any known castle, but Jason knew that it was a castle all the same for no other word fit.

A deep rumble escaped its black walls, a sound that seemed desperate to escape. Jason couldn’t feel a breeze but that didn’t stop him from shivering. The monolith grew larger before him as if it were coming alive. If it could it would grow arms to grab me, Jason thought to himself. And he wasn’t far from the truth.

He was standing at the front entrance, or what he could only guess was the front entrance. The only thing signifying it so was a symbol, unrecognizable, that rested at eye level. Jason had no idea what the symbol meant or why it graced that terrifying castle, even its image was hard to see, blurred. He reached out his hand to touch it, instinctively knowing that Aaron was on the other side of that door.

With his fingers only inches away from the symbol, Jason was startled to hear voices coming from inside. Instead of the deep rumbling he had heard earlier these were two distinct voices having a heated conversation, one belonging to an elderly woman and the other . . . Jason couldn’t say whether the speaker was a man or woman. The voice seemed to be both but at the same time neither, and it was old, very old.

Placing his ear on the black material he felt a numbing cold surge through his skin; the voices became clearer but only clear enough to hear pieces of the conversation. 

“Blood . . . needed.  From . . . of them,” the androgynous voice said. “The potion . . . ready. . . little time. . . I can’t. . . forever. . .” A string of coughs broke out.

The woman’s voice responded once the coughing subsided, “Surely. . .boy’s. . .sufficient,” she continued.

“No!” the other yelled clear enough that Jason pulled away for a moment, frightened, “. . . his. . . as well. . .If speed. . . want. . .send. . .Mor. . .He will. . .you want.”  There was a long stretch of silence before Jason heard anything else.  “. . .brother needed. . .kill. . .others.”

Jason didn’t know who said that but he got the idea. He jerked his head away from the door and was about to run away from the castle when a deep growl came from inside; the hair on Jason’s neck stood as he turned to look again at the symbol on the entrance. Judging from the loudness of the growl Jason could guess that was inches from the other side of the door. His heart pounded in his chest, threatening to escape if his feet didn’t start moving. But his feet were lead, firmly holding him in place. Jason held his breath as the symbol started to glow blood red. A line that ran from the base of the castle to a point ten feet taller than Jason appeared on the monolith. Jason held his ears as screaming broke the silence of the night. It was so loud that the sheer force of it buckled his knees causing him to fall to the ground. He closed his eyes praying that it would stop, willing to give anything. The screaming echoed off into the distance. Jason opened his eyes and suddenly wished that he hadn’t.

Standing before him was the largest dog that he had ever seen. Describing its fur as black would be an understatement; the color was so dark that Jason would not have seen the animal against a moonless, starless night sky. At that point his heart stopped as his eyes met with a pair of yellow eyes with black slits as pupils. The animal’s teeth shown in a sinister grin as another deep growl escaped from its throat. Jason shielded himself as the black wolf lunged at him teeth snapping.



* * *

Jason awoke in the darkness screaming, but the only sound that escaped his lips was a muffled yelp; something was covering his mouth. His eyes looked down and saw that the outline of a hand had prevented him from screaming. Something hot brushed up against his cheek and then realized that Eric’s face was within inches of his own. Eric shook his head signaling Jason to be quiet, which immediately required the response, why? But the answer was provided before he could form the word in his mouth.

A low, rhythmic, rumble emerged from the darkness of the forest. The sound grew and lessened, much like breathing, but Jason did not think that that sound could come from something living, however, the realization that it might be something unnatural came to mind. Jason realized that the fire that was still burning as he fell asleep had been extinguished. He turned to face the source of the sound and only saw darkness. Eric removed his hand from Jason’s mouth and slowly moved away from him. Jason’s own breathing became a battle, the need for oxygen weighing against the need for silence. 

A soft white illumination blanketed the camp. Jason looked for the source and found a soft ball of white light floating in front of Eric’s left hand. His right hand was stretched out in front of him with his palm facing the darkness of the forest.

“What’re you doing?!” Jason whispered.

“He knows we’re here. Be quiet.” Eric said, his voice strained, yet calm, like he was concentrating hard on something other than Jason’s questions. The ball of light started to pulse, the soft glow fluctuating, but growing more and more intense. Jason could now feel the heat, though it might have been the fact that his heart was pushing the blood through his veins at rate beyond normal. Moving instinctually, the small sword that Aunt Abby had given him was unsheathed and shivering in Jason’s hand. Of course, he knew how to handle a blade; he had taken fencing lessons since the age of five, at his father’s request.  But the sword was shaking nonetheless.

The rhythmic growling, for that is what Jason decided it was, was replaced by another sound: the rapid pounding of something running through the forest. Running very fast. Jason’s heart threatened to shoot out of his chest in an attempt to escape. His palms grew slick with sweat, so much so that he was unconsciously wiping them on the seat of his pants every couple of seconds. Eric maintained his strained clam, even when the pounding grew to a thunderous sound crashing through the forest. He seemed to be locked in some kind of meditative state. A state Jason envied very much.

Jason could not believe the size of the monster that crashed through the trees, splintering them into toothpicks. The creature had to be ten feet tall and covered in pitch-black fur. But, before he could see anything else the clearing exploded into clarity as Eric brought his hands together in front of his chest creating a bar of fire that erupted from his hands. The fire raced along an invisible path and struck the beast in its chest. An explosion of light and heat erupted beneath the animal as it stood on its hind legs, waving its front paws, beating at the consuming fire. But the beast did not scream in pain, instead it roared with laughter. Jason’s bones chilled beneath his skin despite the increasing heat.

As suddenly as the bar of fire had illuminated the forest it was gone, vanishing, letting the night enclose them in darkness once again. Jason could still see the outlines of both the beast and Eric, who was now so weakened by his efforts that he had collapsed as soon as the bar of fire had vanished. The creature grinned in the darkness, its yellow-green teeth creating a sickening light all their own. Jason could now see that the animal was indeed a wolf. And not just any wolf but the Wolf. The wolf from his nightmare.

It lunged for Eric; its mouth opened, preparing for a late-night snack. Jason snapped out of his paralyzed state and leaped toward the charging animal raising his right arm, hoping to sink his sword into the thing’s flesh before it could reach Eric. The sickening yellow-green light was just enough light to see the Wolf’s head lean down towards Eric’s weakened frame, jaws opening wide as it closed the distance between hunter and prey. 

“Leave him alone!” Jason screamed at the creature. There was only a slight hesitation at the strength in Jason’s voice, but it was enough. Jason reached within a foot of the animal’s huge head, looking directly into its right eye, and brought down the sword with all his strength. Its blade sliced the Wolf’s right eye as it came down. The Wolf reared again towering over the two of them as it screamed in anger. Jason quickly turned to Eric, standing between him and the howling beast, grabbed him under the arm and lifted him. He flung Eric’s arm over his left shoulder and wrapped his arm around Eric’s waist, supporting his weight. 

The ground shook beneath them as the Wolf wildly flung itself around the clearing, slamming its massive body into the surrounding trees and then onto the forest floor.  Jason tried to pull away from the thrashing giant, carrying Eric on his shoulder, but he did not get very far. In its attempts to shake the pain and frustration of losing an eye, the Wolf fell to the ground only two feet away from them, those disgusting yellow-green teeth once again glowing in the darkness.

In a swift violent motion the Wolf lifted its head and swung it towards them. The air was forced out of Jason’s lungs as he and Eric were lifted into the air. 

Eric landed on the ground in-between two trees while Jason struck the one on Eric’s left. Stars filled Jason’s vision as the forest itself began to drift in and out of focus.  As he struggled to regain clarity Jason realized in horror that the screaming of the Wolf had stopped and changed to a thunderous growl. He tried to stand but his legs would not allow it. Jason fell to the ground holding his sword out in front of him, determined to protect Eric in what was most assuredly the last thing he was going to do. And, exactly how he was supposed to protect Eric when he could not stand was a question he did not want to answer.

“Don’t make me kill you, boy.” The beast said without moving its mouth, its voice a mingled montage of other voices speaking in broken unison, a chaotic jumble that somehow managed to make its words heard. “I have a job to do and I plan on doing it.”  The Wolf grinned in the darkness moving to within inches of Jason’s face. Jason winced as its decaying breath reached his nostrils. The smell made his stomach heave into his chest, threatening to send the previous night’s dinner back out into the night.

“I don’t care what you have to do. You’re not going to hurt either one of us.” Jason tried to sound calm and he would have achieved this if his voice did not break near the end. Sick laughter burst from the Wolf’s throat, a deep throaty laugh that shook the earth. 

“Don’t be foolish, boy. The only reason I won’t kill you is because I was told to bring you alive. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t hurt you.” Jason swallowed hard.  “And as for your friend. Well, let’s just say that he’s not needed.” His vision was returning slowly and he was able to stand without feeling as if the world was tipping.  Jason’s grip tightened around the hilt of his sword, and stood ready for the next attack.  Somehow, he hoped to take something, anything, of the Wolf’s before it killed Eric.  Either way he was going to fight. If this animal could not kill him then he would make the creature break his promise. Jason dug in his heels and stood firm, holding the sword out in front of him, aiming for the Wolf’s working eye.

The Wolf threw back its head and laughed, “So be it.” Its claws tore the earth as it leaped forward, jaws opening for the kill. All the muscles in Jason’s body tensed; everything moved in slow motion. Through the darkness he could see the huge body of the Wolf flying through the air and all Jason could think was I hope it’s quick. But the Wolf never reached its target.

Out of the corner of his eye Jason saw a gray blur burst through the trees, catching the Wolf in the torso just as it was about to land on top of them. Wide-eyed, Jason watched as two giant animals rolled on the earth clawing and snapping at each other as they fought, grass and mud flying up creating a cloud that surrounded the fighting animals. Jason was reminded of those shows on The Discovery Channel or Animal Planet when they showed two lions fighting on the plains of Africa. He could do nothing but watch in awe.

After what seemed an eternity, they broke apart and stood on all fours, both growling and snapping their blood stained teeth, hair standing straight up along their backs. Jason now saw that the gray animal that had saved his and Eric’s lives was a second giant wolf, only slightly shorter, and for an instance Jason caught a glimpse of the wolf’s eyes: a dazzling blue.

Eric finally moved out from between the two trees and shakily stood beside Jason, eyeing the standoff between the two wolves with a curious expression. He closed his eyes and brought his hands in a prayer-like position in front of his chest, only instead of being palm to palm there were about five inches of space between each palm. Jason turned back towards the fighting wolves.

“Out of my way woman! Or I’ll tear you to pieces!” Yelled the black wolf, speaking in that chaotic but discernable voice. The only response that the gray wolf gave was an even deeper growl, inching forward a little. Her blue eyes burned, casting an illumination, much like the Wolf’s teeth but somehow different, warmer. “You want to die tonight. Well I won’t disappoint you!” It lunged for the gray wolf, bearing all of its teeth.

An explosion of white light lit up of the night as another bar of fire cut through the air and struck the Wolf once again but this time on its left side. Unprepared for this attack the animal screamed in pain and turned away running deeper into the forest. The fire disappeared and Jason saw Eric collapse once again.

“Eric!” Jason knelt down beside his friend and grabbed his shoulders. “Are you okay?!  Come on, speak to me!”

“He’s going to be fine. His body’s exhausted. Magic is a lot of work,” said a calm, soft voice only an inch from Jason’s ear. He screamed, startled, and jumped back hitting his head on a branch. Someone laughed.

“Who’s there?!” Jason demanded holding out his sword.

“It’s all right. Don’t be afraid.” A hand reached out and touched Jason’s right shoulder, soothing. Jason tried again to get an answer from this strange person but was stopped by something intriguing. Bright blue eyes glowed in the dark just a foot in front of him. He had seen those eyes only moments before, but that was impossible. Surely they could not be the same eyes. However, he already knew that he was wrong. The bright blue eyes of the gray wolf belonged to the young girl, no older than he or Eric, now standing before him. 

“Who are you?” Jason said in complete awe, his voice never registering above a whisper.

She smiled as she said, “I’m Tara. It’s nice to finally meet you, Jason.”