I woke up to a strange fluttering on my cheek. Opening my eyes, I saw a magnificent sight. Hordes of beautiful butterflies were flying up and out of the top of the tree we were on and the tops of the trees around us. They were eye catching and glittering, no one quite the same as the other, in an array of colors and dizzying patterns. The butterfly that had landed on my cheek flew up with them. The common theme seemed to be the brighter the better. Their wings were different from regular butterflies, narrower and longer, almost like a dragonfly. They kept flying higher and higher, creating an illusion that they were journeying towards the sky.

There are many moments that I miss my earlier life. I miss my family. But then there are moments like these, that are achingly beautiful and make me aware that for everything that I have lost, there are things that I have gained. Something must have woken Inparem up, I felt him shift and saw his eyes open.

“Look,” I whispered to him, wiggling my arm out of the hammock to point up. Speaking anything louder than a whisper would have ruined the magic of the moment. I saw his eyes widened fearfully.

“Keep your head down and your hands over your ears!” he hissed at me. He must have predicted my question, because he whispered with a sense of urgency, “no, don’t ask now. Keep your mouth shut tightly and head down.” His urgency impressed on me, I copied his movements. I closed my eyes too. Through my covered ears, I heard the muffled sound of a bird cry, followed by more cries pierced through the silence. I wanted to look up and see what was happening, but then Inparem had seemed genuinely frightened. Curiosity killed the cat, I reminded myself. Trying to convince myself to keep my head down. My mind helpfully conjured the next lesser known continuation of the saying - and satisfaction brought it back. Keeping my hands on my ears I slowly looked up and peeked an eye open. Birds were flying high above the tree tops and with the butterflies flying after them, at impossible speeds for the butterflies that I had known. It looked like a chaotic dance, full of swirling and swooping performers. I stayed with my head back down until the cries died down, and then some time more, until Inparem nudged me.

I quirked an eyebrow at him.

He didn’t need me to say something, used to my curiosity. I appreciated how he understood me quickly, it made me feel even surer about wanting to be with him.

“They are called Bites of Decay. They live in cycles, where they hatch together, and feed together. They force themselves unto the birds, going through any orifice they can. Once inside, they control the birds. They crash the birds together, make them dig their own grave and lay eggs to start the cycle again.”

“So why did you react like that?”

“Their preferred prey are the birds of the forest, but if there are not enough they will go after any animal closest to them.” 

“Even humans?” I asked, 

“Somebody once passed by the village to go into the forest and harvest them. Their dead bodies are worth a lot of money, they can be crushed into a hallucinations drug. And the Walkers have a hold of that market, because the Bites of Decay mainly stay in the forest. But this man was a desperate one. Most anybody who tries to harvest the Bites of Decay is, because no normal net or material can hold or keep them back long if you try to gather them. He came back one day with a small pouch full, seeming to be fine. After a day he started shouting and hitting anything and everything. It was terrifying, but more terrifying was when he gave up and started to beg. He begged for help, forgiveness, for the pain to stop. There was nothing anybody could do for him. He died no longer being able to talk, crying and twitching in Matre’s arms. She and I were the only ones who would come close to him. We buried him far, far away with his pouch.”

I realized with horror how close the soft fluttering on my cheek could have been the start to a gruesome end. Any romance I had been feeling from our closeness and the beauty of before had fled. I shivered, despite not being cold. 

“That’s horrible.” We had had a few conversations about the forest before coming, and although Inparem had said it was dangerous, I hadn’t understood the reality of it.

Something in my eyes must have conveyed what I was thinking. Inparem held me tighter. 

“It’s over now. They are gone. In a way this is good for us, our trip will be easier now. Most animals would have fled to be far from the horde.”

“How can you be sure that we won’t die tomorrow?”

“How can we ever be sure that we won’t die tomorrow?” Inparem quipped, smiling at me.

I poked him, not appreciating his chosen moment of humor. 

“You know what I mean.”

“Did you feel anything bug sized enter you?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“No?” I was unsure. After what he had said, my skin felt like it was crawling with bugs, although I could see that my arms were clearly bare. I knew that the Bites of Decay must have been gone by now, otherwise Inparem wouldn’t be as relaxed.

“Then you’re safe.” He smiled reassuringly.

“Let’s go down then,” I said. I wanted to get down and away from what I now knew had been a battlefield, not a dance. The faster we could harvest the Dog Stalks, the faster we could leave. 

“What about some breakfast first?” Inparem asked, holding up a familiar loaf of stone bread. 

“You eat, I’m not hungry.”

After Inparem ate, and convinced me to have some too, we climbed down the tree. Climbing down was harder than climbing up. I slipped once, for a heart stopping second I thought I would fall, but my foot came to rest on Inparem’s shoulder, who was climbing directly under me and I awkwardly embraced the tree trunk until I found a safe foothold. From then on, he spoke to me softly the whole way, instructing me where to put my feet. 

Reaching the bottom, my legs shook badly and buckled. I managed to make it look like I took a graceless seat, sitting against the tree trunk. With one hand I buried my fingers into the earth. By the way Inparem sat next to me and took out some water, I wasn’t fooling anyone. I remembered reading about sailors who kissed the earth after long voyages, at the time that I had read it I had found it amusing. I had climbed down a tree for less than half an hour, and I felt almost ready to do the same.

“Let’s go,” I said quietly, standing up. I didn’t want to be a burden anymore than I already was. I wanted to show Inparem and myself that I was strong enough for us to do this together. 

“Try to step where I step. As we go deeper, don’t speak unless you must.”

I tried to emulate his movements. Stepping first with the balls of my feet, and then letting my heel down. His movements were spry, his limp barely noticeable. Something felt wrong for a while until I realized why. There were no bird sounds. 

A few hours later, there was birdsong again and we reached the area that grew Dog Stalks. The area was lighter than the rest of the forest around, with the grass growing tall, taller than me. It was picturesque to look at, looking out of place with the massive trees growing around it, but after this morning I didn’t want to linger long. The plant itself looked like regular tall grass, but thicker. Many animals were attracted to the field of stalks, although most didn’t eat it. They would burrow in large numbers under and around it. That in turn attracted more predators. The plant itself grew in a rare break between the tall tree branches, where the sun shined through. If it would have been a larger area, I would have called it a meadow. 

Inparem stopped. I nodded to him, we had discussed this. Inparem would keep watch, while I harvested. He was the better climber, and recognized the dangers better than I. He also had a sharpened stick that he could throw if need be. I tried not to think of the scenario that would be needed. He climbed up a nearby tree to have a better viewpoint. 

Basket in hand I waded into the small field, to try to get to the middle where the plant was most potent. Within two steps, I couldn’t see anything past the stalks. They grew tightly together. I heard a hoot and stopped. Was that Inparems signal that I was in the middle or that there was danger? We had decided on it a few days ago, and I had forgotten. I thought it was to go more forward. I hesitantly took another step forward, and then the tall stalks seemed to take a step forward as well, colliding into me. 

A haze filled my mind, it felt like a balloon in my head, growing larger and larger until it popped out and I was drifting upward to the blue sky. I had one last thought, that I could even see the sky now, before I was ricocheting somewhere else. 

For a moment, I was standing between two horses, they turned to me as one and neighed, the sound pushing me somewhere else. I was in a dirty alley, everything unproportionally big around me with a group of children kicking a ball. I was kicked somewhere else. For one nightmarish blink, I saw a giant cat’s eye, encircled with scales. Then for the longest visit yet, I was walking next to a familiar looking honey colored brown spotted bear. I looked around, and saw the trees of the Walker’s Forest. In this dreamlike state, I felt comfortable burying a hand into the soft fur. The bear turned her head to me, and I recognized her eyes too.

“Go back to yourself,” she said, her breath blowing me away and away until I snapped back like a rubber band, and could see the sky again. A shadow moved to block it, it was Inparem. 

“Marin!” He was shaking, or was it me who was shaking? His voice sounded distant. 

“I’m fine.” I sat up, ignoring the dizziness it brought up. “What was that?”

“If you can move we have to leave now.”

I didn’t question him, as we stood up I saw that he had my basket in his hand. 

“The Dog Stalks?”

“No time for that,” and turned towards the grass, with a few hard jerks he roughly uprooted a handful of what was nearest. A far cry from the careful instructions he had given me on how to harvest it. We moved without stopping, walking for hours just under a run, until we reached the edge of the forest. Only then, did the rigid outline of his shoulders soften.

“What was that?”

“Marin, you promised you would listen to me, but you kept moving after I hooted!” 

“I’m sorry, I mixed up the signals.” 

“You can’t do that, everything about the forest is a dangerous place, in particular the place of the Dog Stalks. A mistake like that could have gotten you or both of us killed.”

I wanted to say that it didn’t, that we had succeeded with getting the plant, and were anyways almost out of the forest. But that sounded childish even in my mind. Keeping my voice even, in the hopes that it would keep things from escalating, I asked again. “What was it?”

The slower pace we had taken while talking, picked up again as Inparem continued walking. He mumbled something. 

“What? I didn’t hear you”

“I said I don’t know.”