Friedrich, Marina and Blackjack were led through the forest by the army of green lurkers. The wooden golems did not touch them, but kept close ranks around the three, seemingly upon the orders of the voice who spoke through them.
“Where are you taking us?” asked Blackjack calmly.
Friedrich had wanted to ask the same question, but all he could do was grunt when he was in his minotaur form.
The green lurkers guided the trio through a small gap in a tight group of trees; so tight it was impossible to see through them and the green lurkers passed through one by one. Within was a small clearing where a throne made of branches and vines sat, surrounded by a circle of glowing mushrooms. In the centre of the circle and right before the throne was a small pool of water in the ground. As the group were made to stand before the pool, Friedrich reverted to his human form.
“It is you,” came a voice from the pool as it started to swirl.
The water rose up, and then fell away. Hovering above the pool was a translucent figure, one of a humanoid woman with bark skin and vines for hair. The vines covered where her ears would have been, so it was difficult to tell whether she was closer in shape to a human or an elf.
“It is me,” said Friedrich awkwardly.
“What is your name, soulful warrior?” asked the tree spirit.
“Friedrich,” replied the young man.
“You have been chosen by the gods of nature. You are blessed with the power to become one with the beasts of the world, and I know that you are the one who was sent to me.”
Friedrich glanced at Marina and Blackjack who had blank expressions. “Alright,” he said to the spirit. “If you say it is so, then it must be so.”
“It is so.”
“You said before that I could set you free?”
“It is true,” said the spirit. “At least, I pray it is. My name is Faeryn, and I am the guardian of these woods. I am the one who protects the trees from hostile invaders with my army of green lurkers, but my powers have been weakened for my soul has been imprisoned within this pool by a wicked magician who must be stopped. You will be my champion, Friedrich. You will be the one who stops Malzuth and restores me to my throne.”
“How did this happen?” asked Friedrich. “If you’re so powerful and your army is many, how did you get imprisoned?”
“Through trickery,” said Faeryn, her voice somewhere between anger and sorrow. “Through fear. That foul orc penetrated the forest shrine that houses the magic of these mystical woods and tainted it with evil magic. Magic that made me believe falsehoods were coming to pass, magic that made me believe that all was already lost.”
“So if we agree to help you…what’s in it for us?” asked Friedrich.
“You will not be executed,” said Faeryn sternly.
“Nah, I don’t buy it,” said Friedrich. “If you believe me to be sent here divinely, you would not do such a thing. I’m going to need payment of some sort.”
“You would extort me?”
“You kidnapped us. I think asking for some sort of payment is only fair.”
“I do not have kupons,” said Faeryn quietly, “but I will permit you to take one item of value from the forest shrine. Be it a jewel, be it an artifact, be it a trophy. That will be your payment.”
Friedrich turned to Marina and Blackjack, neither of whom had dared say anything up to this point.
“That is a better deal than I thought we would be offered,” said Blackjack, while Marina nodded lightly.
“Then it will be done,” said Friedrich to the tree spirit. “How do we reach this forest shrine of yours? We’ll see to it that this Malzuth fellow is brought to justice for you.”
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“You are welcome to rest a short while,” said Faeryn.
“I’d rather get this over with,” said Friedrich. “We’ve been delayed on our journey enough.”
“Very well. You must venture through the maze to the north of this sanctuary and you will find the shrine beyond that. Fear not my lurkers, for they will do you know harm, but be warned…do not dare betray our agreement and stray from my sacred woodland.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” said Friedrich nonchalantly and then turning to leave. “Let’s get to it then.”
Friedrich strolled through the gap in the trees and the green lurkers parted to let him pass, while Marina and Blackjack kept close to him. Once they were away from the lurkers, Marina tugged on Friedrich’s tunic.
“Are we really going to do as Faeryn asks?” she asked.
“Of course,” said Friedrich. “I said we’d do it, didn’t I?”
“It would be poor etiquette to go back on our words,” said Blackjack.
“I love a good bluff as much as anyone,” said Friedrich, “but she said we could take anything we wanted from this shrine and that’s an enticing offer.”
Marina cocked her head. “Didn’t she say take any one thing from it?”
Friedrich shrugged. “If there happens to be a treasure chest filled with emeralds, I’m not taking a single emerald. I’m taking the whole chest. That seems reasonable to me.”
“Just as long as you do not get us killed,” said Blackjack.
“It hasn’t happened so far.”
“No, yet we were largely ineffective against Balgreuh. It was Marina who saved us. Had it been the two of us, we may not have made it out alive.”
“Well, then I’d better prove myself this time.”
The trio walked through the woods, which grew ever denser. The air was thick with the smell of oak and every step on the dirt felt as though it was the first ever, this path having been walked so rarely. As the undergrowth became near untraversable, the three happened upon an upended hollowed out tree, large enough for the trio to squeeze through if they kept their heads low.
They journeyed through to the other side where the canopy of leaves above was so dense that the sunlight could barely reach the forest floor. Before the party was a large bush, solid as a wall that ran to the left and to the right for a few yards before turning into corners. They had found the maze.
“Which way?” asked Marina.
Blackjack stared to the right. “I do not know, but my intuition says that we—”
Friedrich placed Kitt’s mask upon his face and agonisingly transformed into a fox. He sniffed the ground, his nose brushing lightly against the soil. He could smell something odorous, like unclean feet that had been bathed in manure. It was the smell of orcs—for there was the scent of more than one—who had been walking in sweaty boots. He nodded to the left path and then led the way.
“Who needs intuition?” joked Marina, but Blackjack frowned.
“It rarely serves me wrong,” the elf muttered.
Friedrich guided the girls through the maze, bypassing all of the wrong turns as he followed the route that the orcs had taken fairly recently. They passed pools of water and bizarre podiums with inscriptions, but Friedrich ignored each of them, for he knew the way to go.
He led Marina and Blackjack to a stone staircase that led up and to a stone walkway. He bounded across it, more certain than ever that what they sought lay ahead, and then slowed as the staircase sank back to the forest floor. He walked up to the edge of the bush and peered out into a clearing where a tent sat with five orcs cooking a bunch of skewered rabbits over a roaring fire. Behind them, sat the shrine.
It was made of stone, but the corners where the bricks should have connected and intersected were not further stone supports, instead there were trees. The trees rose high into the sky, piercing the canopy above and reaching beyond. At the top of the shrine was a statue of a creature resembling a much more formidable lurker. Beneath it, between two stone columns was an entrance leading downwards.
“What do we do?” asked Marina.
No sooner had she finished her question, did Friedrich transform back. His sudden change caught the attention of one of the orcs who alerted his comrades.
“Company!” he grunted, and they all drew bows or battle-axes. Friedrich stood in front of the girls with his shield raised as Marina and Blackjack unleashed a series of flickering bolts and straight-shot arrows that decimated the company of orcs in seconds.
“I didn’t even get the chance to attack them up close,” lamented Friedrich, lowering his shield.
“You blocked two arrows,” said Marina, placing her hand upon his upper arm.
“You do not need comforted,” said Blackjack. “You led us all the way here without as much as a falter. Do not pity yourself.”
“It wasn’t pity,” said Friedrich, scowling. “It was an observation.”
“How deep do you think this shrine goes?” asked Marina. “It looks much older than I thought it would. I thought a shrine would be…I don’t know, maybe one or two rooms?”
“It seems as though the shrine above leads to a much deeper temple down below,” said Blackjack, peering into the dark hole in the shrine that opened the way to the descent.
Friedrich walked over to the five dead orcs and started rummaging through their pockets. “Might as well make the most of it,” he mumbled, searching for their wallets.
“Does that not leave a sour taste in your mouth?” asked Marina.
“No,” said Friedrich, “but their smell leaves a foul scent in my nose. I’m just glad I’m human and can’t smell it as strongly as I could as a fox.”
Friedrich continued his rummaging, undeterred by Marina’s comments.
“Anything?” asked Blackjack as Friedrich finished searching the final orc.
“One hundred and thirty-three kupons,” said Friedrich, counting out the small gems in his hand before placing them in his wallet. “We can divide them out later.”
“A profitable venture already,” said Marina, skipping over to the staircase and then hesitating. “Who wants to go first?”
“I will,” said Blackjack, “seeing as you two are blind in the darkness.”