Summer, 1331

Eventually the path began to descend, swinging down a series of switchbacks before abruptly ending at a prominent stone cairn. Karlen stopped.

“And so we reach the boundary of Wetherill.” The duregaren announced. “Further on are the Sabine Lands. I know little about them, and I avoid them.”

Sufjan immediately took the lead.

“Finally we leave the harsh lands of stone and snow and back into the forests of life.”

Karlen snorted. “We take care to maintain our defenses and our cities. This very road was extensively surveyed and lined with stone down six feet into the foundations so it remains usable in any weather. What have you woodfolk done with this route through your lands? Let it turn to nothing!”

“Purposefully.” The Sabine responded. “We want nothing from outsiders- especially diggers and engineers like your kind- anywhere near our sacred ecosystem.”

“Buncha progress-hating cowards, keeping whatever an ecosystem is.”

Sufjan stopped and gave a wry look at her counterpart. “Careful, for our lands are not defenseless, duregaren. It may decide to consume you and I will not be able to stop it.”

“What?”

“Peace.” Logan sighed, stepping between the two figures glaring daggers at each other. “Our mutual enemy is the Trasgu and I will not have you two bicker like children.”

“Very well. I myself can’t wait to continue!” With a laugh the Sabine leaped over the cairn to smoothly slide down the steep cliff edge. “Onward then into life! We take the deer paths and buffalo traces into the Grundy Basin, then follow East Prong Creek to Mansee.”

Descent was only simple for one other member of the party; Mera glanced at the sheer precipice, shrugged, and just glided down the escarpment, leaving the remaining humanoids to carefully lower themselves over the cliff using pitons and rope. Still, after an hour of ginger descent everyone had safely managed to reach the bottom. The trees loomed ominously overhead: the trunks were dark, and instead of the mosaic of bright green Logan had observed previously the leaves were now a mesh of dark green, casting the understory into a deep gloom. Karlen looked horrified, Mera’s eyes turned to slits, while Glib’s eyes shone at the scene before him, and Logan, Dr. Moller and Liza all looked warily into the darkness for signs of danger. Lord de Trobliand seemed unperturbed as usual.

“Why does the forest feel more hostile than the last time we visited?” The Forester wondered aloud at the abrupt change.

“The Other Men have burnt their way across much of Wôbanakiak, and the forest understands the threats of the invaders.” Sufjan explained without breaking stride as she entered the gloom. “It protects itself. The trees grow tighter and let in less light, and extend thorny, water-storing plants in response. Animals flee, and the ones that remain grow more vicious and deadly. Stay close.”

Mera and Glib quickly followed, and after a pause the rest of the party entered the greenwood and soon all were quickly consumed by the trees.

For a long time Logan’s Party silently trudged through the dim understory, dark and shadowy as evening. With no visible trail the others barely kept up with Sufjan seemingly gliding ahead, or more specifically Karlen, Dr. Moller and Lord de Trobliand lost track of the Sabine entirely and instead followed the large bulky dragon moving in front of them. Mera himself could see well in infrared and could move fast, but the dragon also somewhat clumsily maneuvered around thorny bushes and fallen logs while also avoiding low hanging branches and tangles of vines. Things were similarly uncomfortable for Logan; despite normally being at home in the woods the Forester felt like an intruder here; the trees seemed to be closing in on all sides, and something was watching his every movement. Logan readied himself for a fight, gripping his awlpike tightly.

“This is like being in the belly of some beast.” Karlen muttered aloud.

The party continued on, but the way was slow going, many of the group tripping over roots and getting cut by thorns. Glib moved fast, but frequently seemed distracted by some new plant filled with spikes or emitting some pungent odor, while some of the others uneasily tried to detect glowing pairs of eyes that only appeared at the edge of their vision. Dr. Moller seemed lost in her thoughts, and with her dark gown seemed to cause the plague doctor to disappear entirely from view.

“How do you see anything under this canopy?” Liza finally complained aloud. “We’re barely making any progress. Doesn’t this forest know that we’re fighting the same enemy?”

Karlen snorted. “How could a buncha dumb trees be anything but hostile to us?”

Abruptly the entire dark forest lit up, nearly bright as a new dawn, revealing that the group had entered a small clearing. As everyone stopped and adjusted their eyes to the new light, the Forester realized that it was no sun illuminating through the woods, but instead the bright yellow glow from millions of little luminescent beetles.

Logan and Liza stood in awe at the scene. Mera seemed slightly concerned, gingerly trying to avoid stepping on any large groups of the little creatures, though the insects scattered fast enough before his movements. Glib was absolutely enthralled, walking around in a giant circle with mouth agape at the glowing bugs. Even Dr. Moller appeared to be fascinated by the synchronous, luminous landscape that appeared to follow the party’s movements, checking one beetle that landed upon her gloved hands but quickly flew off when she tried to grab it. On the other hand Karlen seemed immensely disturbed by the unearthly sight. “What unholy magick is this?” He uttered under his breath, and made some sort of hand gesture under his bread.

Sufjan, of course, was beside herself.

“The forest itself has blessed our quest, and will help guide us on our journey!” She exclaimed joyously ahead of the rest of the group as the cloud of light moved past her in a single unified direction, illuminating a new stretch of forest. “Our cause is just! We cannot fail!”

Again only Lord De Trobliand remained unperturbed by the display before them. “It is good that we have the blessing of the Good Mother Earth.” He replied to the enraptured party. “Let us gain whatever energies we can from this for the coming fight.”

***

Guided by the beetles, Logan’s party gradually worked its way through the forest, which despite being made up of a complex tangle of ferns, laurel and rhododendrons, seemed surprisingly open now following the path shown by their tiny supporters. When the glowing creatures finally stopped moving, the group had crossed some 20 miles of woods and ended up at a moss-covered cliff edge by which a large creek flowed.

Here the Sabine stopped, though seemingly with plenty of energy remaining. “We stay here for the night. Tomorrow we follow the East Prong Creek through Dismal Canyon, then cross to Icewater Spring and finally climb up to Mansee. At our current pace we should be able to reach the foothills in four days.”

As the party settled in a large rock shelter in the cliff, the beetles finally scattered and the cloud of light gradually dissipated, plunging the forest back into darkness. Logan got up and began gathering firewood, only to be stopped by Sufjan.

“There will be no fires in this place.” She firmly stated.

Karlen and Glib, who were also collecting, stopped as the Sabine proceeded to turn her gaze at Mera, who shrugged and decided to lie down instead.

“We will be treated well here. As we settle down, there will be a new source of brightness, lower in intensity. It will not get cold, and I will in a short while bring back some food from the forest to supplement our rations.”

“Very well then.” The Forester replied.

Sure enough after a few minutes, the new light source appeared in the form of bioluminescent worms clinging to the walls of the canyon, giving the rocks an unearthly blue hue. Sufjan gently scooped a few dozen of the worms in her hand and placed them in a little lantern covered by quartz crystals, amplifying the blue light around Logan’s party of adventurers. She hung one over a rock, then repeated the move and placed another lamp on the tip of her bow hanging from her back so that it rose up over her head.

“The forest is wary, but it knows its friends.” The Sabine stated as she prepared to leave. “Keep on its good side, respect it, and we’ll all come out of this fine.”

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Radical Face - Welcome Home, Son

From  chickenzaur!