As Emil turned around he bumped into another person, wrapped in a greenish brown cloak. His nose was assaulted by a rank stench.
“Pardon me,” Emil said and attempted to swiftly carry on. He was halted by a tight grip around his arm. The grip felt wet and slithery. Emil was reminded of a time he visited a large fishery on a hot summer’s day.
“No need to apologise lad,” said a voice with a slight but uncanny slur. Emil turned around and came face to face or rather mask to mask with a wooden fox mask.
“Well then I should really get going,” Emil replied and attempted to break free of the grip. He was unsuccessful in his endeavour and somewhat unsettled by the animal on the mask.
“Please hear me out. I need your help in a matter of love.”
“Oh I wouldn’t really know too much about that, sorry.”
“I don’t need advice. I need actual help. Come with me.” He pulled Emil along and got them both a drink. They sat down in a secluded area on the edge of the glade. After they settled the stranger stared straight at Emil through his mask for a minute and then cleared his throat and moved his cloak to the side.
“The woman I love is located in this forest. She is under supervision of a nasty creature, that will not even let me see her. All I need from you is that you keep it distracted for a little while so that I can tell her how I feel. Very simple task, but I cannot do it alone you see.”
“Wait, she is in this forest? Where even are we? I didn’t know there were people around here.”
“Ah yes, well much like us she has already passed away, but unlike us she ended up with a different caretaker.”
“I see, so is everyone here dead?”
“Wait are you new here?”
“I suppose you could say that.”
“That explains a lot. Anyway to answer your question. This land is populated by a lot of people that have died but not quite moved on. Besides that there are also many beings that simply call this place home. It is a different place from our world, but as you can see it’s very real to us.”
“I see, thank you for telling me this.”
“No problem whatsoever. Now if you are feeling very thankful, there is a good way to show it.”
“Fine, I will try to help you, but before that I must ask you this. Will I be in any danger because of this?” The stranger waved his hands.
“Not at all. As I said just a short distraction and we’re good.”
“Okay, I will help you.”
“Excellent. My name is Iwo.”
“I’m Emil.” Iwo held out his hand and Emil reluctantly took it, the memory of the smell and the feel still fresh within his mind.
“I look forward to working with you Emil. Let’s no waste any time and get right on with it. Follow me.” He stood up and led the way past the edge of the glade. They walked side by side among the trees and in a single file where the undergrowth grew too heavy.
“What happens if morning comes before we finish?”
“Don’t worry about that, time doesn’t work quite the same here. We will return once we are done here.”
“Who are we even looking for?”
“Amelia. She was the love of my life. She had a very hard life and in the end a sickness took her.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. It happened a long time ago.”
When they began walking through the woods they were completely alone. Now they began hearing and seeing some nocturnal animals. Hoots of owls and songs of nightingales tore through the veil of the night. Emil suddenly stopped. Iwo waved at him.
“Come on, this way.”
“I hear something.”
“It doesn’t matter let’s move.”
“I think it’s crying.” Emil paid no heed to Iwo’s urging and followed the sound. Not far from where they were walking was a patch of thorns. There was a small woodland fairy tangled in and crying.
“Let’s just leave her and go,” said Iwo. Emil continued ignoring him.
“Hold on I’ll get you out.” He began untangling the thorny vines from her dress and hair. Iwo was shifting on his feet behind him. Soon the fairy was free and began flying in a spiral around the two. She had the wings of a dragonfly and most of her body was covered in shiny scales. The dress was slightly torn, but it didn’t seem to bother her at all.
“Thank you so much for saving me.” She waved her hand and sparkling lights surrounded them. When the lights faded she was nowhere to be seen.
“They are never any help. I’m pretty sure they get into this situations on purpose to annoy people. Let’s move on.” They were back on track, walking in silence for a while.
“It has been years, you know.”
“What do you mean?”
“So much time has passed since I, we, were alive. She died before me, but I was unable to live without her, so I followed her some years later.”
“So you?”
“Yes, I took my own life. I threw myself of a bridge and drowned in a river. It should be fairly easy to tell that I am a drowned dead just from my look and smell, right?”
“Well I…”
“It’s fine I know it. When we were alive I tried my best to make her happy, but we weren’t able to be together. She had and abusive stepfather and we couldn’t see each other because of him. He kept a close eye on her and even locked her in her room most of the time.”
“Oh god, that’s so horrible.” Emil tried saying more, but was at a complete loss for words. What could he possibly say in a situation like this? He felt like nothing could help. His words would at best be so obvious as to not be necessary at all or at worst insensitive. He decided to try to steer the topic in a slightly different direction. “So how do you know where to find her?”
“I’ve been searching for her for a long time. I lost some of my memory when I awoke after drowning, but as soon as I remembered Amelia I began searching for her. First I tried talking to everyone in Veles’ glade, but after I had no success there I ventured beyond and deep into the forest. It still took me years to finally find her.”
“I hope you succeed this time.”
“Thank you. With your help I’m sure we will triumph over anything that comes.”
They walked deeper and deeper into the forest. The trees grew closer together, making every step arduous. After struggling with the difficult path the trees slowly began to grow more sporadically making the way somewhat easier.
“Finally we’re past that thicket. We’re getting close to our destination.”
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“Good. Wait what is our destination anyway?”
“We need to reach the lake. She will be there.” They continued and came to a clearing in the middle of the forest. It was a meadow filled with colourful flowers. It seemed like a heavenly garden to Emil as he stared in awe.
“Great luck. We will be there in no time if we cross this clearing.” Iwo went towards the flowers.
“Turn back please, it’s dangerous,” a voice in Emil’s mind spoke. He recognized it as the fairy that he had saved before.
“Wait!” Emil shouted. Startled by the call Iwo turned around.
“What is it?”
“We should go around the clearing. We could be in danger if we cross it.”
“Nonsense. Let’s go across, it will be much faster, and probably even safer.”
“I heard the voice of that fairy from earlier. She warned me against going here.”
“I told you already that those creatures are completely useless. Come on we need to move.” With these words he continued towards the meadow. Emil stood still for a second with a doubtful look on his face beneath the mask, but with no other option he began following Iwo. Without a care Iwo entered the field of flowers and trampled them on his way. Emil followed, but before he even reached the edge of the beautiful fragrant garden the ground beneath them began to shake. Emil lost his balance and fell on his back and Iwo was waving his arms wildly to keep on his feet. They looked around and one after the other gasped in disbelief at the terrifying sight. A giant stood a good stone’s throw away, coming from within the thicket of trees. He towered at twice the height of Emil. His long beard and tangled hair were a mixture of green and grey. There were fir tree cones hanging off the hair. The muscular body was partly covered in vines, branches and ivy. His long arms almost reached the ground and in one of them he carried a short uprooted tree. Short in a relative sense, since the tree was about as big as the giant himself. He roared and moved towards the duo. The ground shook beneath every step of the colossus, but he left no destruction in his wake. He passed the trees and then the flowers as gently as a summer’s breeze. This brought no consolation to Emil and Iwo, who started running with a terrified scream. They ran through the bushes and among the trees. Thorns were clawing at them as if they wanted to slow them down for the giant.
“What is that thing?” Emil asked as he caught up with Iwo. It was quite easy to talk now that breathing was no longer necessary for him.
“A leshy. They are forest spirits. We must have pissed this one off.” As they talked a thin branch whistled past them and embedded itself into the ground right beside them. Wide eyed they looked at each other and Iwo raised a finger to his lips or rather the mouth of the fox mask. Emil nodded and they ran on more stealthily and silently. Looking behind them they seemed to be out of the line of sight of the leshy, but the ground still shook and they knew he could not be too far behind them. The giant roared, causing the trees and the two runners to shudder. There was a howling in response coming from the right of Emil.
“Oh no, he called the hounds. We need to hide,” whispered Iwo. They changed course to get further from both the giant and the new pursuers. They were crawling through thick ferns and bushes and eventually came to a steep slope. They rushed down, confident that the incline would keep them concealed for at least a while. Iwo touched Emil’s shoulder and pointed to a great old tree. There was enough space for them both underneath the roots, which were surrounded by heavy undergrowth. They gathered leaves and dead branches and dropped them at the hiding place. Iwo held Emil by the shoulders.
“We need to cover our tracks and make new ones,” he whispered in his ear. Emil only nodded and they walked backwards, erasing any marks they made towards the tree. When they were done they continued the marks forwards down the slope until they reached a river. The ground there was covered by rocks so there wasn’t any way to create tracks in the first place. They ran back, making sure to cover any unwanted tracks. The howling and growling was growing louder and they knew they were quickly running out of time. They threw themselves under the root of the tree and used Iwo’s cloak to conceal themselves. The cloak was covered by the leaves and branches making it almost indistinguishable from the ground around the three. They laid there, thankful for not having to breathe. The hounds were loudly running down the slope breathing loudly and growling. The hidden duo laid completely motionless. As they ran past Emil could see them for the first time. They looked like wolves shrouded in a dark shadow. In the darkness of the night it was hard to make out their paws so it seemed as if they were hovering above the ground and gliding. They ran straight along the tracks left by Emil and Iwo. Upon reaching the river the hounds stopped and began looking around. After a moment they split into three groups, one going straight past the river and the other two going up and down along the river. After the hounds were gone the two looked at each other in relief, but the tension didn’t disappear completely. They already felt the slight tremors of the ground beneath them that grew more and more fierce.
“Take this,” a voice said inside Emil’s mind. He knew it was the fairy again. He looked around and saw a golden flower growing in the dirt next to him. It was faintly shining. He lightly grasped at the stem and the whole flower came from the ground. Some of the dirt was still hanging on to its roots. He placed the flower in one of his pockets. As he was busy with the flower the leshy stopped at the bottom of the slope, following a trail of soot, left by the hounds. He was still carrying his improvised club. His back was towards the tree that hid his quarry. Emil noticed that Iwo was slowly rummaging behind his belt and began drawing a short dagger with trembling hands. His eyes widened with terror and he put his hand over Iwo’s, attempting to stop him. Emil looked into his eyes and shook his head. Iwo removed his hand and continued drawing the weapon. The two struggled for a while but were interrupted by a loud roar. They both froze with fear. For a moment there was complete silence. They glanced at each other. Just as they began hoping they were clear the cloak was ripped away from its spot, exposing them to the bearded giant. In a panic Iwo drew the dagger and with a scream lunged himself toward the leshy. The latter responded with a mighty swing with the club. Iwo dived away, just barely escaping the fate of being flattened by a tree. Some branches still hit him and tore at his clothes. As he landed on the ground he lost both the dagger and most of the will to fight. He lay there as if petrified and could only drag himself along the ground as the colossus approached him, ready for the finishing strike.
“Wait!” Emil screamed as he sprung to his feet and moved towards the leshy. The giant faced him, completely ignoring Iwo, who began searching for the dagger. Emil signalled him to stop and he obeyed, collapsing to the ground.
“Please just take this. We didn’t want to disturb you.” Emil slowly drew nearer to the leshy. He carefully took out the flower. It shone a little brighter than before. The giant lowered his weapon and stepped towards Emil, who held out his hand, offering the flower. The giant knelt and extended his own hand towards Emil. There was still a lot of space between them and Emil didn’t know whether he was supposed to come nearer. A moment later however vines began coiling themselves around the leshy’s arm and extended onward, becoming braided and growing leaves on the way. Only a thin strand, no wider than a d string on the violin reached Emil end wrapped itself around the stem of the flower. Emil let go of the flower, which seemed to become entangled in green veins. The vines brought the flower back into the giant’s hands. He brought it closer to his eyes and examined it for a minute. After that he brought it to his chest, which began opening up, the vines and branches disentangling themselves and making space inside the giant. He inserted the flower in the opening and the branches intertwined with the vines and fused together, sealing the opening as if it never existed in the first place. The leshy himself began glowing slightly, becoming even greener than before with the new leaves and moss growing on him. he stared for a little while at Emil, then turned around and left. This time instead of the ground shaking beneath him, he left completely noiselessly. It seemed as if he was passing straight through the trees. Emil slumped to his knees and felt like crying. He looked up and his eyes met with Iwo’s.
“What the hell man, didn’t you tell me this was totally safe?”
“How could I have known? Leshy are normally indifferent to others.”
“You should have listened to the fairy.”
“I keep telling you, they have never been useful. I don’t understand why that one decided to help you. Anyway we can now move on. Now that we’ve reached the river it’s only a short way towards the lake.”
“I hope nothing else will try to kill us on the way,” grumbled Emil.
“Don’t worry, the hounds lost interest the moment that the leshy decided not to pursue us any more.”