Ellara Brightleaf's Arc

Chapter 4 of 5

They walked at dawn. The trappers' warnings still sat heavy in Ellara's chest. By midday the ordinary forest gave way to something older. The trees twisted up in strange spirals. Their roots glowed with faint blue lines, and pale mushrooms sprouted from the bark. Delicate leaves shimmered overhead. Ellara knew this ground. It fed off her grove's edge now, spreading outward like a stain. "We're close," she said. She gripped her staff. The crystal at its tip caught the odd light and held it. Erikku walked a pace ahead, sword loose in his hand. He said nothing. He never wasted words. But his eyes moved over every shadow between the trees. The silver fox kit on Ellara's shoulder went stiff. Its ears pinned flat. It let out a low whine. "It smells them," Ellara said. The goblins came from the roots. Six of them, maybe more, crawling out of the glowing hollows with rusted blades. They screeched and rushed. Ellara had trained for this. She raised her staff and cast her wind spell with no warning pull of her hand. The air cracked. Two goblins flew backward into a trunk and dropped. Erikku stepped into the rest. His sword moved clean and fast. He took one through the chest, spun, and cut down another. He did not shout. He worked like a man splitting wood. Ellara hit the last two with a second gust. They slammed the ground and stayed there. Silence came back. The fox kit lifted its head. Ellara lowered her staff, breathing hard, her palm stinging where it gripped the wood. "Easy," Erikku said. He wiped his blade on the grass. "Too easy." Ellara crouched by one of the bodies. The goblin's skin bore the same blue lines as the roots. She pressed a finger to it. Cold. "The grove made these. It's testing us. Seeing what we do." Erikku looked at the twisted trees around them. "Then it's watching now." That thought sat between them as the light faded. They pushed on until the trees thinned into a small clearing. Ellara stopped there. "We camp," she said. "We don't go in blind at night." They built a small fire. Erikku took the first watch, sword across his knees. Ellara sat with the fox kit curled against her leg and watched the flames. The grove knew they were coming. It had reached out and touched them already, through those cold little bodies. Tomorrow she would walk into the thing wearing her home's face. The fox kit twitched in its sleep. Beyond the fire, something in the dark trees moved, slow and careful. Not goblins this time. Ellara sat up. A shape stood at the clearing's edge, watching. It wore a face she knew. It wore hers.