The Redwood was an alien place. The trees on the outside had at least had the good grace to look like trees, but the further they delved into the forest, the more warped the trees became. Ratface was sure one of them had turned to watch them pass it by. It hadn’t even had any eyes that she could see but that only made it worse. Some occasionally let out a burst of flame into the air. One did that close to her and she had to wipe her face as a thick layer of pollen covered her. It was warm.

Another tree seemed to be growing out of the air. Its branches reached for the ground like it was trying to grab the earth to tether itself.

The animals were no less weird. The ‘birds’ moved through the air like they were swimming instead of flying. The fact they were in the air was the only reason she called them birds. One looked like a strange fish with wide fins that it used to glide around. Its mouth was on its underside and little tentacles lashed out to grab critters on the ground.

A squirrel was nearly caught by the ‘bird’, but it flickered away. It was like an illusion shattering. The squirrel’s body shattered into little shards and moved out of the way of the tentacles. Once the shards had reached the safety of one of the trees, they reformed the squirrel. It was like a puzzle assembling itself until the whole squirrel appeared, blinked, then ran away.

Tiffany seemed particularly disturbed.

“What’s up?” Ratface asked.

“It’s the trees, they keep reaching out to talk to me, asking for a deal.” She shuddered. “Their voices are so different. It’s like I’m not talking to a tree at all.”

“Don’t make a deal with them, not until you have more practice,” said Isabelle. She hissed at one of the fish birds that had been getting too close. It banked away from them and into the forest and Isabelle shook her head.

“Stupid red-rays.”

A cough startled them all. Abigail looked around at them in confusion while her eyes swivelled into focus.

“Ugh, feedback,” she said.

“You’re okay?” Ratface asked. More concern bled through than she wanted to admit to and the way the old woman smiled told her she’d noticed.

“Sort of. That elf hit hard in the end and overloaded one of my cores.” She pushed herself up until she was standing. She still rested a hand on Ratface and the weight pushing down on Ratface’s shoulder told her the old woman was still injured as Abigail limped next to her.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“We could keep dragging you,” Ratface offered.

Abigail grimaced.

“Maybe but this faster. I want to get to my chair.”

“Yes, it’s the chair you’re excited to see,” said Isabelle, her voice deadpan.

Ratface got to see Abigail blush of all things. It made her look younger.

The forest seemed to respond to it. A clearer path opened before them and the trees started offering them flowers. The flowers were strange too but at least they seemed to be in a competition to be the most beautiful. One definitely made itself into a ring with a flower on top that Abigail put on with a chuckle.

“Typical. I’ve been talking for most of the trip, but the moment Abigail wakes up suddenly it’s all flowers and ease. No love for your apprentice?” Isabelle asked the forest. She crossed her arms in a huff, but she couldn’t help the small smile on her face.

Ratface found it a little surreal how relaxed Isabelle and Abigail were. This place looked like it would be filled with monsters and there was an elf stalking its edges. She thought Tiffany and Alberts agitated stares were more appropriate. It didn’t escape her knowledge that the two had pushed closer together to get away from the steadily blooming flowers that now lined the path.

Ratface’s opinion was somewhere in the middle. None of the creatures had attacked them on their way in, and the flowers blooming pretty much confirmed that was from someone watching out for them. It seemed they were in that person’s good graces, maybe the warlock Abigail had mentioned.

At the same time, controlling a forest like this would require a lot of power. They were walking right into that person’s territory. It’d only take one of them making them mad for this to be a more certain death than fighting the elf.

She shuddered as she remembered Amaranth’s eyes. Her mother had made a point of keeping her hidden from the elves as much as possible. To have one not just see her but mark her was a terrifying prospect.

It was the choice she’d made though. She thought her mother would be proud of what she’d done. It was hard to regret it with that thought comforting her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the path opening into a clearing with a mansion situated in the middle. It was sculpted out of the land around them and had clearly had a lot of care put into it. They were standing in its backyard which was a little weird but still a lovely sight. Some of the plants here were even normal and she could see Tiffany give a sigh of relief at seeing them.

The sigh was short lived as a lady opened the door and rushed down the stairs. She ran over to Abigail who, despite the pain, picked her up and twirled her. The two laughed in joy at seeing each other and Isabelle watched it with a small smile.

The rest of them didn’t laugh and Ratface imagined the same look of terror that was on the other children’s faces was mirrored on her own.

The control the woman had over the Redwood all made sense as Ratface stared at a creature that even elves feared. Part of Ratface insisted that she should like the woman just for that, but that part was an idiot. When two predators fought the only sure thing was that the prey got eaten.

Calling her a warlock made sense now, how could she be anything else? The woman who Abigal held and who smiled at them like a friend instead of a monster was not from this world.

Ratface beheld the Warlock of Redwood. A demon standing directly in front of her.

It was almost enough to make her wish for the elf.