“Well yes, you are in the Tanglewoods after all… what are you doing out here anyway?” She raises an eyebrow and gives me a sweeping look, pausing at my torn shirt, then at my wrecked shoes. I ponder if I should tell her the truth and decide that I desperately need to get out of here to find Marissa, so I take my chances.
“I need to get out of the Tanglewood Forest and find the boulder gnomes. Do you know the way out?” I carefully rephrase my question so as to not directly ask for help.
“I do know the way out, and I believe I know the gnomes you speak of. It is over a day’s journey out of here though and I hadn’t planned on leaving until I fulfilled my mission,” she says as a small smile tugs at the corners of her mouth. “Icanguide you in exchange for that fine sword you carry though,” she says, giving me a wink, looking a little too pleased with herself.
“Can you guide meright now?” I clarify, learning from my past mistakes.
“Yes, right now,” she answers brusquely, sounding annoyed.
“What of your mission? What was it anyway? Perhaps I can help,” I offer, trying to get on her good side.
“The mission can wait. It may well be completed on our journey. I am searching for someone but that is none of your concern,” she says as she turns around and starts walking away. “Come on, let’s go! I told you it’s over a day’s journey,” she says over her shoulder, I sheathe my sword and hurry after her.
“Hey, my name is…” I try to speak but am suddenly shushed by the woman.
“It is not wise to share your name so freely. You do not even know if my intentions with you are pure!” she scoffs.
“If you had malicious intentions I feel like you wouldn’t have told me that. You can call me Nuri,” I say, hoping my light attitude and tone will ease her clearly tightly wound nerves.
“Ugh… I’m Oleander,” she sighs, surely resigning to my charm, before she picks up speed and starts jogging through the Tanglewoods. Perhaps some caution should be taken with this one. Her namesake speaks of delicate petals and a sweet aroma but the poison beneath the facade is not to be trifled with.
It takes mostof my concentration to keep up with her and not trip on the slippery, moss covered roots sticking up everywhere, so our conversation ends up dying off. Every now and again I catch a glimpse of something fearsome and am glad to have found a guide who can shoot fire from her hands, even if she does scare the crap out of me.
Spiders the size of golden retrievers skitter overhead, the occasional wood sprite peers around the trunks of trees, clicking their twiggy fingers on the bark and licking their lips. I swear I even saw a bush full of glowing eyes tracking our movement.This place gives me the creeps.
I can feel my newly healed feet starting to blister again and can’t help the slowing of my pace. We have been jogging for half the day and I have drained my bark water vessel already, so I stop at a nearby creek to refill. The water looks harmless enough, but as I bend down I notice some white, glowing oyster mushrooms nearby that are giving off their sparkling spores which seem to be landing directly in the water. I think twice about drinking it. They could be ghost oysters, a poisonous look alike to the edible ones that wouldn’t kill me. Considering where I am and the hum of magic in these woods, I don’t doubt that they are more dubious than the ones in the human realm.
“Wait, do not drink that,” Oleander says, sneaking up behind me. “The water within the Tanglewoods has a particularly nasty effect on those who do not hail from here.”
“What does it do? I need water…” I complain, looking down at the fresh, bubbling water and feeling my mouth go dry.
She lets out an exasperated sigh. “All right, well then we will have to find a water sprite, now won’t we?” she says, as if Ishould already know that. She trudges upstream scanning the bank as she goes. I worry at what this water sprite will do as I remember the all too fresh interaction with the maddening wood sprite.Are they all the same? Will this one ask to eat my toe as well?
We trek up stream until we reach a miniature waterfall. There, just under the falls, is a blue, shimmering creature with big fish eyes, leaning back, with the watery tendrils of its hair melding with the cascading water. Its scales gleam, mimicking the way water reflects its surroundings. The sprite sees us and quickly disappears, becoming one with the water.
I look at Oleander with wide eyes, she smirks. “Little sprite, little sprite, we have a secret to tell,” Oleander calls in a melodic voice. “You must tell her a secret and she will fill your vessel… Go on, we don't have all day,” she whispers in my ear then pushes me forward. I lean down to the water’s edge and the sprite pokes her little head above water, turning her pointed frilled ear towards me.
A secret?I think to myself,what secret might I tell?I ponder about it for a moment but can tell the sprite is growing impatient as she slowly starts descending back into the water, so I say the first thing that pops into my mind.
“I am wanted by a wolf,” I whisper, the sprite’s eyes grow even wider as she looks from me to Oleander then back to me before snatching my water vessel and disappearing under the water. I look back to Oleander to see if she heard but she has donned a mask of indifference, arms crossed, foot tapping. I look into her eyes, trying to hear what she is thinking, but I am met with silence. I wonder at the shock of the sprite and hope the secret was not too big to tell when she pops back up with a giggle and a splash, handing me my water vessel.
“This will never run empty as long as you are within the Tanglewood Forest,” she says in a sweet, high pitched voice,before she disappears under the water once again. I stand up, taking a big gulp of the cleanest water I have ever tasted and peer inside the bottle to see it filling back up.
“That must’ve been some secret.” Oleander smirks, raising an eyebrow. “Come on, we’ve wasted enough time, let’s go.” She turns on her heel and starts out at a jog again. I groan and race to keep up.
We keep goingfor a little while longer before my ripped up feet become unbearable and I slow to a hobble. Oleander looks back and lets out a big sigh before reluctantly trudging back to me.
“Let’s make camp for the night. You need to find some better footwear when we are out of the woods. In fact your whole attire is rather strange,” she says, flitting her hand at me. I look down at my paint stained, black linen overalls with my white t-shirt underneath, which is more brownish-beige now, and realize she is right. I may need to find some more inconspicuous clothing when I finally get out of the forest. Judging by Oleander’s attire I would say my fashion choices are a few centuries ahead.
We find a bit of a clearing to settle down in, trying to keep well away from the roots of the trees and the little hiding places of the lurking creatures. Oleander instantly sparks up a big flame in the middle of the clearing with the snap of her fingers and instructs me to stay close to the fire throughout the night. She leaves me alone in the clearing for a few minutes and comes back with two limp, fluffy rabbits slung over her shoulder.
“I didn’t think there would be something so cute in these woods,” I say as I watch her gut and skin the first one. The sight doesn’t bother me as I’ve seen many rabbits and geese gutted from my hunting excursions with the Jones boys. She looks atme and smirks to herself then lifts the rabbit’s lip to show long, needle-sharp teeth jutting out.
“They feast on blood,” she chuckles at the shock written on my face. I inch a little bit closer to the fire. She efficiently finishes gutting and skinning the second one then grabs two big sticks for us to roast them on like marshmallows and the smell of roasting meat soon makes my mouth water.
I have never experienced hunger like this before, not knowing when my next meal will come, and a wave of sadness at the thought of my mom and dad washes over me. All of my worries and issues of the past seem so trivial now and I pray for my mom’s home-cooked meals. The longing for ignorance threatens to pull me into despair. I try to distract myself from the black hole of anxiety and dread threatening to pull me under by turning my attention to Oleander.
“So… Do you come here often?” I cringe,stop being so awkward, Nuria!
