"Shouldn't we have taken Light with us?" I raised my voice so it would reach Siaril through the hum of wind in our ears when we crossed the border of the valley above the low cliffs. The west wind already tore the clouds apart into herds of adorable cloudlets.

"I'm sure he would have preferred that, but it wouldn't have helped," my friend shielded his eyes from the sun as he looked south. "I doubt any of us would be able to carry him for more than five minutes, and we'll have trouble catching up with Yasenka even without any additional weight."

I looked ahead, to the far dark line of trees that was starting to get visible among the mist that the rain has left behind. Somewhere between it and us shimmered the crimson scales of Yasenka's wings. She was astonishingly far by now. What could have happened...? This wasn't like her at all, just leaving without a word in a situation that felt like it might require help...

For a while, we focused on getting to the forest as quickly as possible. Despite our best efforts though, the sun was already lowering to the far west when we arrived at the other side of the valley, almost completely exhausted. We lost sight of Yasenka quite long ago by then. We ascended a bit more to make the search for the camp easier.

"Did you notice something?" I asked at some point, watching the expanse of enormous, silvery-green trees with worry.

"What?"

"Before, the forest seemed to emit a kind of warmth, a friendly aura..." my hand wandered to my belt almost on its own, reaching to the training sword that still hung there, "and now describing it as the opposite would be sort of an understatement..."

Siaril narrowed his eyes. "Well, you're right, but..." his voice broke mid-sentence when he suddenly beat his wings a lot harder a few times. A split second later a small shadow that I assumed was an arrow barely missed his left thigh and vanished from our sight with a menacing whizz. We both leaped to opposite sides as more projectiles darted our way.

"Are they crazy?!" Siaril clenched his fingers around the sirath underneath his shirt, pale.

"I don't think they recognized us..."

"You think we can be mistaken for anything else from any distance or height?"

I winced, let myself fall to the more dense part of the tree tops and carefully approached the opening above the clearing. "Stop it, it's us, Sigrian and Siaril!" I shouted when another arrow missed my wing by mere millimeters.

Agitated voices came from below and the assault stopped. We finally landed in the middle of the camp... which unfortunately didn't really look like a camp anymore. Some of the hovels were destroyed beyond repair, the clearing barricaded by a wreath of thick branches and trunks of fallen trees. The duskiness of the approaching evening was still being dispersed in the last sun rays, but underneath the trees it already gained essence, adding to the ominousness. The illathan were armed with bows and daggers.

Arakiel stepped forward from between them. "Please forgive us," he apologized hastily. "We didn't expect multiple winged creatures to come..."

"We're alright, so let's forget that," Siaril interrupted him, clearly not wanting to waste time. "What's going on here?"

"Something has happened to the Guardian of the Forest, it seems he lost control... the animals went berserk, started attacking..."

"Guardian of the Forest?" I interjected, confused.

"It's... a long explanation," and the leader didn't seem to have the strength or the mindset to hold a lecture now. "What you need to know is that our forest is protected by spirits... and the Guardian is the strongest of them."

My jaw dropped a little. "Spirits like... ghosts?"

"Not quite, though... like I said, it's complicated. The spirits are the Guardian's eyes. Through them, he can sense the intent of beings who enter the forest, and can see when there is someone in need. And through the spirits, he can tell the animals and plants what to do. But I don't understand why he would suddenly set them on us..."

"That does explain a few things, but I think we can broaden our horizons later. Where is Yasenka?" Siaril threw a look around.

Arakiel raised his head a little, as if he was expecting her to come down after us all this time, then lowered his gaze back to us. "Wait... she did not come with you?"

"You mean she hasn't even shown up here?" a slight panic started to creep up in my chest. "She left just shortly before us, we saw her above the forest not so long ago... And she didn't explain a thing before leaving."

The leader gave it a brief thought. "Well, I wrote her that something happened to the Guardian, so maybe she didn't want to waste time and flew straight to the waterfall..."

"Waterfall?"

"Yes, the Guardian's Waterfall is the place from which one can enter the Guardian's habitat. The brook flowing through our camp takes its origin there, but no one ever got to see the spring. No one but Yasenka that is... and she always said that most of the time, it's impossible even for her."

"Why?"

The elder seemed to hesitate. "I shouldn't be telling you about this... but considering it's an emergency and Yasenka could need help..." he sighed shortly, making a decision. "Very well. You need to go up the stream until you arrive at a low cliff with the waterfall. Above it lies a part of the forest elevated above the rest. Only a few know exactly what needs to be done to cross the border. Do take a good look at the surroundings..."

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"That'll have to do," Siaril bowed his head shortly. "Thank you, and please be careful."

"You too."

We jumped over the barricade around the clearing and rushed up the stream, following the path discreetly marked among the greenery.

The moisture of recent rain was evaporating from the leaves, filling the forest with a delicate mist. It deepened the shadows underneath the trees, even though clear sky could be seen above their crowns. It also deepened the anxiety in my heart as we walked in silence, listening to the barely perceptible murmurs scurrying through the shrubs on both sides off the brook. Sometimes they seemed to come from between the branches above our heads, sometimes even from within the trunks... I kept my hand on the hilt of the sword, but it somehow didn't put my mind at ease. As if I subconsciously knew that a simple blade would be no defense against whatever it was that could be watching us.

After what felt like a quarter of an hour we saw a tree on the opposite bank, broken and reaching towards our path with its crown. It wasn't withered though, the leaves still green above the water's surface, the stream flowing underneath it like through a natural gateway. Beyond that gate, a clearing revealed itself further upstream. A dark cliff loomed between the trees, an intensifying rush of water reaching our ears.

We left the shadow of the trees and approached the mid-sized waterfall, its waters falling onto a small, black-stone ledge first, then further into a small pond grooved by the force of the element. Each of the droplets either causing disturbance in the reservoir below, falling onto the surrounding stone or onto the moss covering it in some places seemed to cause a different sound...

I came to a stop right by the water curtain and looked up. There were not more than seven meters separating us from the top of the cliff, but there was something else that almost immediately caught my attention. On the surface of one of the dark stones, only occasionally touched by the crystalline water, sat an inscription that at first resembled a fine netting of cracks and scratches...

"'In need only, your heart and intent pure, another's life above your own, will Elirieth's Sentinels let you pass to my domain...'"

"Sorry?" Siaril glanced at me, clearly confused as to why I was being poetic at such a ridiculous time.

"There's an inscription here."

He came closer and examined the letters with a gentle frown. "That doesn't really help... Elirieth's Sentinels?" he craned his neck too. "Maybe we should check what's above..."

We leaped into the air. As we passed the level of the cliff's top, a peculiar yet beautiful sight greeted us. The edge was thickly overgrown by some low plants, from which an occasional, big flower of fiery orange peeked out here and there. The thick layer reached a few meters deep into the forest behind the edge of the scarp. Some of the flowers leaned their calyxes out above the water cascade, as if looking for intruders. And from the lush green above our heads hung countless flimsy sprouts of something that resembled ivy, swinging almost unnoticeably, like in the rhythm of a breath... It was weird that this many flowers were able to grow and bloom so beautifully in this particular place. The growth should have been limited, because the forest bed seemed to rarely see much sun due to it being absorbed by the dense leaves above...

"You think these are the 'Sentinels'?" I asked.

"No idea. But I feel like I've seen such flowers somewhere before..." Siaril went lower to get a better look. He extended his hand towards one of the plants... and suddenly jumped away in panic. A split second later a large cloud of bright pollen shot out of the calyx, and, as if sensing their neighbor's distress, the flowers surrounding it added theirs. The ivy above seemed to have received this impulse as well, as it started to move more noticeably, unnaturally, ready to catch anyone who dared to try flying above, beyond the reach of the Sentinels. The sight alone made my skin crawl unpleasantly. Siaril was lucky that the sudden, strong beat of his wings caused a movement of air, sending the thick cloudlets in the opposite direction.

"That was the second time my sirath saved me today..." he said, rejoining me higher up and away from the cliff.

"Why, it's just plants, and that there is just some pollen."

"Sigrian, this is the Silivren Forest, in here even the plants can have a killing intent if you give them a reason... These particular ones are called narae, and if I remember correctly, it's a plant brought to Earlindon by elves... Inhaling that would completely paralyze your lungs and make you suffocate within a few minutes... I heard some illathan call it 'firedust' and are able to collect it for healing purposes..."

I shoved the question about where he knew that from and the repulsion at the idea of dying in such a dreadful manner away for a moment to rise my eyebrows and ask: "Then how in the world did Yasenka get in there?"

"How should I know? You can say that something's impossible, and she'll do it anyway, you know that..."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, I wasn't able to hold back a small smile. Not only at how true that statement was, but also at how my friend's speech became less proper when he was agitated. Why was he always so proper even among friends anyway...?

We landed back at the base of the waterfall and started to carefully inspect the steep walls of stone and their surroundings. Unfortunately, we didn't find any additional clues nor unnatural ledges or cavities suggesting that there might be another way up.

I flicked my wings in growing irritation. Some tiny spark of understanding kept glowing somewhere deep in my subconsciousness, but I wasn't able to catch it and fan it into a proper flame.

"This inscription..." I muttered, more to myself than to anyone in particular, "doesn't it sound like the 'Sentinels' are supposed to be harmless if we meet certain conditions? Like we are supposed to let ourselves get attacked, to prove that... geez, what am I even saying..." I stopped short, my breath halting too. Suddenly that spark glowed brighter with the touch of a premonition. I looked at Siaril, some strange shiver coming down my spine.

He caught what I was thinking about almost immediately. "No..." he whined. "It can't mean that!"

"But that's the only thing that makes sense."

"Even if it means risking your life?"

"Siaril, avoiding danger despite seeing a chance of success is not cautiousness... it's cowardice."

"It's not when there are two lives at stake, which a third life could depend on!"

"Exactly, someone's life could depend on us," I pointed to the faded inscription. "'Another's life above your own', right? All the more because it's Yasenka's life we're talking about."

"You're crazy..."

"Unlike you or what?"

Siaril sighed heavily, like someone who's run out of arguments. "Fine..." he capitulated after a long moment. "But I'll try it first."

"No. If we do that, we'll show that we're afraid, that the life of one of us is more important than Yasenka's." He gave me a resigned look and ascended again. I followed. "It'll work, you'll see," I tried to reassure him with a confidence that I wasn't really feeling.

"If not... I won't give you a moment's peace on the other side, keep that in mind."

I smiled bitterly and looked at the expanse of deadly flowers before us. I was getting chills just thinking about what we were about to do, but I didn't want to back away now. I gave my friend one more glance to which he nodded, more confidently now.

I took one last, deep breath and dashed towards the cliff's edge. Siaril did the same. The moment we passed the first plants, their flowers shot cloudlets of fiery pollen at us again. I tried to fight the urge to hold my breath and immediately felt a horrifying weakness come over my whole body, as if first the muscles in my chest, and then all others one after the other, suddenly slacked and refused to obey me any further. And when the wind caught my wings instead of the other way around, my mind was flooded with darkness.