The sun was out, warming them with its rays, but there was a nice breeze that continued to keep them cool. The weather was perfect for a hike. The morning went by quickly and they had covered a lot of ground by the time they stopped for lunch.
Xecran slipped his pack off, set it up against a stone and rummaged around for his bag of mixed nuts. “Ah, there they are!” he exclaimed, pulling out the bag. He sat down on the stone and took a drink of water. His cousins were already doing likewise. “Do you two always keep such a brisk pace? I could barely take in any of this beautiful day.”
His cousins glanced at each other, but it was Klavis who spoke, “Sorry, we’ve walked this so often we’re used to the scenery.” Klavis smiled and gave a wink as he said, “I guess we could slow it down, you know, to a novice’s pace.”
“Bah, whatever.” Xecran nodded towards the Beacon Trees, “We’re almost there anyway. Why slow down now?” He stood up and tied the bag of nuts to his belt, so he could easily reach them. He took one last drink of water and stowed his water skin, “Well, let’s get going. I can walk and eat.” Xecran looked over at Klavis with a sly glance. “Although I’m not sure about Klavis…”
Klavis had barely found his own bag of nuts when Xecran began to walk again. He grunted as he stood up and put his pack back on “I can walk and eat too; I just prefer not to.”
Kamilis took a deep breath and slapped his lap as he stood up and cheerfully said “Well, let’s get to it!”
It wasn’t more than a few hours till they were near the base of one of the Beacon Trees. To say they were big would be an understatement. They could easily be seen miles away from their village. Even from there they were an impressive sight but standing at the base of one, that’s another matter altogether.
Xecran had never been this close to one before. Even the last time he was out there, when he had passed the invisible line made up by the trees, he hadn’t gone near the base of one. He had been at least a mile or so away from the tree last time and the base had been hidden by the surrounding trees.
It would take at least 40 people linking hands to circle one tree, maybe more. Unlike other trees whose bark was various colors of brown, the Beacon Tree’s bark was shades of white. Xecran slowly walked up to the Tree, touching it. It looked like it was bark, but it was so smooth, it was more like stone.
Standing next to the tree and looking up he thought back to the descriptions of the Beacon Trees he’d read and he knew those authors had only known them from afar. On a closer inspection the bark wasn’t just shades of white, it also had some faded brown mixed in, highlighting what should have been a bark texture.
He looked up, straining his eyes, trying to make out the leaves high above. He had never realized how big the leaves must be. They must have been several stories up, but he was close enough he could still distinguish some of the individual leaves. They too were white, but the veins…Were they red?
After several moments Xecran felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked over and fidgeted slightly as he was brought back to the moment. Kamilis spoke to him softly “It’s nothing short of awesome, isn’t it? Such a sight and no one ever dares come and look at them.”
Xecran’s eyes stayed a moment on Kamilis’s hand. It was as white as the tree, and he looked into Kamilis eyes, red like the veins of the leaves, “What an odd coincidence.” Xecran thought to himself. He nodded and looked back at the tree, letting Kamilis’s words linger in the air. Thinking to himself, “Yes, awesome is the only word that would fit.”
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Klavis plopped his backpack on the ground, causing the pots to clink loudly, breaking the spell of the moment.
Xecran and Kamilis jerked their heads towards the noise quickly enough to see that even Klavis jumped a little at the clanking himself. Xecran glared, “You never do anything quietly do you?”
Klavis shrugged, “Sorry, didn’t know we needed to be quiet. You’re more than welcome to carry the cooking gear if you like.”
Xecran smirked, “No thanks”
Klavis almost looked a little disappointed, “Well, then you can deal with the noise and without that glare thank you very much.”
Kamilis just rolled his eyes, “Why exactly have you taken your pack off anyway. We still have a ways to go and I’d like to have camp up before it’s dark.”
Klavis gave Kamilis a pointed look, “Because, we should tell him.”
Kamilis raised an eyebrow, “Tell him what, he knows where we are going”
Xecran looked back and forth between his cousins, “I know we’re going to the forest, …right? Back to where you camped before?”
Kamilis frowned, “No, not exactly.”
Klavis sent his brother a quick I told you so look. “See, I knew he didn’t understand.” Klavis looked back to his cousin. “Where we were camping wasn’t really part of the forest. It was the edge of the forest; you can tell because of the different plants and smaller trees. The forest proper was the dense trees you saw a short distance away. We haven’t actually been in the forest, just next to it.”
Xecran raised his voice, “You haven’t been to the forest?!” He looked over at Kamilis, “You didn’t think it was important to let me know you haven’t actually been to the forest? You know, the one what we’ll die if we go into?! I thought you found a way to not die. When were you going to tell me?”
Kamilis slightly shook his head, “No…no, I thought you understood.”
“Well, I didn’t!” Xecran gestured towards Klavis, “I wouldn’t have dared to walk past the Beacon Trees that first time if he hadn’t sent me a light trail.”
Klavis decided to jump back into the conversation, “But that’s part of the point. You walked past the Beacon Trees, we all did, and nothing happened. Who's to say anything will happen if we go to the forest. Besides, Kamilis said it was safe and he knows all that magic stuff better than either of us.”
Xecran looked over at Kamilis and raised an eyebrow, “Is it safe?”
Kamilis nodded, “Yes, it should be. I can’t say for certain but if something was going to happen it should have happened when we passed the Beacon Trees.”
He looked back to Klavis, “I can’t promise what will happen…” He looked back towards the forest “but I still think we’ll be safe.”
They all stood there in silence until Kamilis looked back to Xecran, “Klavis is right, I should have explained it better. You’d be more than justified to turn around and go home.”
“You’re damn right I’d be justified!” He looked over at Klavis, “Pick up your pack. If we’re going to do this lets hurry up and do it.”Klavis grinned as he picked up his pack and went about securing it, “Ha, I knew you’d still go.”
“Of course, I wouldn’t want you to turn into legends without me. The first people to dare walk in the forest. I couldn’t live knowing I turned that down.”
Klavis picked his pack back up, pots clanking, as he situated it on his back.
Xecran took a moment to look at the tree once more. He reached out his hand and touched the stone smooth bark of the tree, putting his hand fully on the trunk. He held it there for a few moments, trying to feel the life of the tree, to understand its nature, its place in the world. For a moment he swore he could almost feel a heart beating under the bark. A sense of sadness and longing crept into his soul. He prepared to turn and go, when he noticed out of the corner of his eye, the biggest leaf he’d ever seen, floating down to the ground. It landed at his feet.
He reached down and picked it up. It had the shape of an oak leaf, but it was nearly the size of his head. It was white, with a hint of a green shimmer and he had seen correctly, the veins of the leaf were indeed red. In his hands it felt like a piece of supple leather.
Kamilis walked over and looked at the leaf in Xecran’s hand, “It’s rare for a leaf of a Beacon Tree to fall. I’ve never seen one up close before. They are even bigger than I imagined.”
Klavis finally had finished getting his pack situated and said, “Alright, let’s go” as Xecran took off his pack. Klavis looked exasperated, “Now what?!”
Xecran rummaged through his pack, rearranging some of his clothes, “I don’t know, it seems a shame to just leave this on the ground.” He made room between his spare pants and extra shirts, where he could lay the leaf flat, with the hopes that it remained whole and undamaged. He quickly put his pack on and looked at his cousins, “Shall we?”
They continued from the Beacon Tree with renewed vigor. Xecran and Klavis, both smiling, journeyed towards the forest. Kamilis followed behind his brother and cousin, the smile on his face quickly fading as his eyes strayed to the forest ahead.