Vinny looked at Wali and Yacob, “Come on. We gotta run. The death of this one will trigger the others in the area. We can get away if we move quickly. Fell Bears will eat their own as much as they’ll eat anything.” He turned to move as Wali and Yacob moved to follow.

The next hour was spent running. They covered the ground as fast as they could, dodging around the enormous trees, leaping over boulders, and splashing through creeks. The frightening roaring of more than one Fell Bear sounded out behind them. This pushed them to flee like foxes before hunting hounds. More than once, they stumbled, only to recover and push on again. Tag flew ahead of them, and Gulli ranged behind as scouts. Neither Yacob nor Vinny could see the spirits, but Wali had them reroute when Vinny’s route would have led them into a vast spider’s nest.

After some time, they came to a place of sunlight. One of the ancient trees had fallen. The four-meter-thick log had shattered near the base and had cut a swath through the canopy. Already a thirty-centimeter-wide tree grew from the stump. The log itself lay like a sunlit wall across their path. The log’s bark was covered in a thick layer of moss and mushrooms, thick with ferns and other ground plants vying for the patch of sunlight.

The boys paused in a cubby formed by the trunk and a pair of broken branches. This created a naturally enclosed space. Panting, they sat sprawled out, catching their breath. Vinny spoke first, “I’ve never heard more than two of those demon-beasts before today.” -pant- “You two doing okay?”

“Yeah, I’m winded, but okay,” Yacob replied, breathing heavily.

Wali was the best off of the three of them. He had drawn on the dense natural mana and circulated his Heart glyph. He was as fresh from the run as he would have been for running only a hundred meters. He passed around a waterskin. As they paused to recuperate, Wali asked, “Just what were those?”

“We call them Fell Bears. Some magi made them millennia ago as an experiment, and of course, they got loose and now are a part of life around here. Usually, they are loners, but sometimes you can find a mated pair. More than two, though, that’s new.” Vinny explained after taking a drink.

“So those are natural?” Wali asked.

Vinny lifted a hand and made the so-so gesture. “Sort of. They breed like normal animals but can’t exist outside the Forest. So, sort of?”

Yacob interjected, “Who would make something like those things?”

Vinny chuckled, “ Some sick fuck that wanted to kill the elves around here.”

Wali and Yacob looked at him; there was a story there. Perhaps this wasn’t the time to share. Once they had caught their breath, they decided which direction to go. Routing around the log was not much of an issue, and neither was going over the girth, as there were several thick old branches. It would be an easy climb with the surface covered in moss and vines. Due to the way said moss and vines peeled away easily, it might be a bit treacherous. They decided to walk around the barrier, as there was no particular rush.

They headed toward the stump. They could see the crown; the profusion of branches at that end would only cause more issues. After a short while, they rounded the tree’s base and looked at the stump. The bottom of the fallen log was ragged and mostly rotten. Wali poked around in the pile of rotten wood at the base. After a few moments, he found what he was looking for, two clusters of potato-sized round black truffles. These were known to Wali from Longtooth as Ancestor Truffles. He could feel the dense swirl of mana from them. Extremely rare and valuable, they only grew in the rotten wood of naturally fallen Spirit Trees. He grinned at Vinny and Yacob, “We’ll eat good tonight.”

Ancestor Truffles were more valuable than gold with many uses. A single fist-sized truffle could be turned into a variety of potent longevity potions, healing potions, mana potions, and other alchemical brews. They had a strong earthy flavor that was a delicacy fit for Kings. Gulli had sniffed these out, and Wali mentally set aside one truffle for each of his totems. This left seven for the trio to use as they saw fit.

They traveled further into the forest, encountering little more than a few deer, squirrels, and a few potent herbs Wali gathered as they walked.

Dusk was a time of change in the forest, and the diurnal animals grew silent. The ever-present birdsongs, insect calls, and angry squirrel noises quieted. The nighttime was one of relative silence and stillness. The trio had not been able to locate a handy Hollow Cedar to stay in and were forced into a more conventional camp.

Yacob raised a three-meter-wide pillar of earth and stone above the ground level. The mana stored in his gauntlet allowed him to push the ring they stood on a few meters above the forest floor. It would crumble over time, solid enough for one night’s sleep. Vinny had found a bramble patch, and they placed the pillar inside the hedge. Any ground-based critters would be wary of the brambles before climbing the pillar. Wali erected a tent for them atop the pillar, lighting it with the Tear and cooking with the heat brick.

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That night they slept fitfully. Things scratched at the reinforced canvas tent, the keening of night animals, clicking bats, chittering insects, and some crashing in the bush not far away kept them alert. Tag kept watch and did not alarm Wali of any threats, so they did not leave the tent.

Morning came, and they set out. They found that something had been at the brambles, and a bloody mess of feathers was not far off from where they had slept. Something had been out there, something hungry.

The next few days were relatively uneventful. Vinny would disappear for an hour before sunset to hunt a small deer, a large ground fowl, or the like for their dinner. Wali and Yacob would set up a camp of some sort.

They opened their tent on the morning of the third day to find a fae spirit investigating the camp. Tag had not alerted Wali, so it apparently was not hostile. The tiny being was an odd mix of things. It had the shape of an androgynous human adult but was half a meter tall. It wore the skull of a large rodent as a helmet and bone-white skin under a simple dirty fur poncho. It did not walk on the ground but seemed to walk on the very air as if it were solid. In its hand, it had one of Vinny’s broken arrows, which was old and caked with dried black blood.

In a tiny voice, it held the arrow up to the trio. “This yours?”

Vinny replied in his cursed high-pitched voice, “It was mine.”

Instantly the fae creature responded by taking up an offensive ready position, the broken arrow held like a short spear. “Are you mocking me!? Why are you mocking me!?”

Vinny held his hands placatingly as Wali stepped in, “Blessed Fae, we do not mean to mock you. I apologize for my friend. He is cursed.”

“Then your cursed friend is mocking me!? No one mocks me!?” The small creature was ready to fight. It had run up the air to eye level, pointing the arrowhead at Vinny and Wali’s eyes.

“No, no, no. Please wait. Blessed one. He sounds that way because of the curse. That is not something he can control.” Wali did his best to calm the furious fae.

It paused. They could see the suspicion in its body language as it relaxed slightly. “Blessed One? No one calls us that anymore. Who are you that walks with this cursed elf that mocks me?” The fae asked, obviously stuff miffed and untrusting.

Wali said, “Blessed One, I am called Wali, and I am from the Colri. While I had never interacted with your kind before, my mentor taught me the ways. Can I offer you a gift to repay our disrespect?”

Vinny and Yacob looked askance at Wali, but he motioned for them to wait. The fae stared at him for a moment. “You lie! No Colri walk this place anymore.” The fae became even more incensed. It lunged forward but was caught up in the talons of a swooping Tag. Tag had drawn on Wali’s mana to empower itself. Tag snatched up the screaming little creature. The screams of fury turned into shrieks of fear. Tag dropped to the ground pinning the fae to the dirt with a taloned foot and holding the arrow hand to the side with the other.

“Wha-! Get it off! I DEMAND you get this thing off me!” The fae shrieked as Tag examined it closely with a single eye.

A wave of magic washed over the trio, and dozens of the tiny figures suddenly surrounded them. One stood out, taller and wearing a poncho of black and white feathers instead of dirty furs with a raptor skull for a helm. “Brother to the spirits, I recognize you.” Intoned the fae leader.

Wali turned and sent a mental command to Tag. The bird spirit dropped the fae and flapped up into the air, fading away with a screech. Wali turned and spoke with respect to the feathered one, “Blessed One, I recognize you.” He said without emotion.

“Our apologies for the behavior of that one.” Said the feathered one. “It was to locate and identify the intruders in our territory, nothing more,” it said with a clear voice that sounded very similar to Vinny’s.

“It seems that we have had a misunderstanding then. We would pass through if you allowed.” Wali stated.

The original fae scrambled to its feet and strode angrily to stand in front of Vinny’s head. “This one mocks us!” Voice indignant, as it pointed with a shaky hand.

“Be quiet, and do not offend!” Shouted the feather-clad one at the first. “Return!” The first one shook in anger but turned and haughtily walked away from the trio before disappearing a few steps away.

The feathered one turned back to Wali, “Brother to the spirits, please pass through.” It said and faded back into nothingness. As they faded away, Wali took a breath and released the tension he didn’t realize he was holding. He motioned them to break camp quickly, and they were soon on their way.

Once they were a few kilometers away, Yacob looked a Vinny and asked, “Do you know what those were?”

Vinny nodded, “Bone Fae. Never dealt with them directly like that before.”

Yacob asked, “What are Bone Fae?”

Vinny replied, “Assshole faeries, apparently. But most fae are pricks anyways.”

Wali chuckled and explained to Yacob, “You heard of faeries, right? Well, Bone Fae are one sort of faeries. Faeries come in all sorts, as all people do. As a general rule, Faeries are nature spirits that also take on one or more aspects of the world. Bone Fae are easily identified as they are made of bones, kind of like skeletons. Those weren’t skull helmets but their actual heads. As they are mostly spirits, they are incorporeal unless they decide to incarnate or if another spirit attacks them. That’s why Tag was able to pin it down. If it had been you or I, we wouldn’t have been able to fight them without magic. All fae are self-centered, haughty creatures, as they were here long before us. The one that attacked us is likely over a thousand years old but is still considered a child. The feathered one was likely ten thousand or more years old. They only talked to me because I have bonded totems that can hurt or kill them. Since they aren’t true spirits, they can be killed; it’s just very difficult.”

Yacob nodded, “Yikes, that was a bad thing then.”

Wali and Vinny nodded in agreement. They all hoped never to deal with the fae again.