Into the Bush

Wyatt had been in the bush that surrounded the town many times. All the kids played in there, less so as they grew older. Now he mainly went to gather the ingredients his master needed. Today though it was different. He didn’t just need ingredients he needed goldwood that in itself wasn’t unusual as he had gotten goldwood plenty of times, it burned longer and hotter than normal wood and grew quickly so it was quite practical, the difference was that this time all the other stores had sent apprentices to fetch it as well. Not to mention the various inns trying to keep the visitors warm during the unexpectedly cold nights. This meant that the goldwood nearest to town was going to have been harvested so he had to go further into the bush, much further. Still his master had hinted that a promotion may be in order as compensation for sending him out to fetch the wood so late and maybe the chance to go and see the game on at least one of the days. It had been two years since the town had last hosted an A.O.T.C match and he couldn’t wait to see a live game again.

The section of the bush that he was going to was just north of the stadium and south of reflection lake. He had woken up early planning to get the wood and then head to the stall where he helped make the Hambal soup that their town was famous for. Walking along he couldn’t help but feel excited by the commotion of people setting up around the stadium. The colours of the Filans and the Amrens were on display as flags and banners were being unfurled. Vendors were arranging themselves in the best locations, the paving was being cleaned. Then he stepped onto the leaves of the outskirts of the forest.

It was quite a difference leaving the hustle and bustle behind and embracing the serenity of the bush. He noticed that the leaves covered the ground like a mat. He breathed in the rich earthy smells that arose from the ground. The sun gently shone its light through the trees warming him up. A little display of the power it would likely show later in the day when it was going to be too hot to move, he thought to himself. No matter how many times he walked this route he never tired of it

“Watcha doing today?” came a voice from above interrupting his thoughts. Wyatt looked up and spied a furry pointy eared creature that was not as tall as him and wore some very impressive clothes that Wyatt’s sister had made. “Hi Cim, I’ve got to harvest some goldwood for my master.” “Oh, are they making Hambal soup?” Cim asked “Of course and Jam towers, if you want to come with me, I can get you a couple” Wyatt replied “thanks that’d be brilliant”

“So how are the clothes going?” Wyatt asked “I get some funny looks and stuff from the others but I can’t not wear it after what your sister went through to make them”

“Yeah, she put a lot of thought into making it”

“I can’t think of anyone else who would have gone to such lengths, I just wish I could repay her”

“She won’t accept it, anyway she was just repaying you remember”

“Yeah… still” he sighed

“Well at least I can help you, if you’re looking for goldwood most of it’s gone, and it won’t grow back for another couple of months.”

“I know, that’s why I have to go to the Deep Grove”

“You can’t though it’s dangerous”

 “If I don’t get goldwood though my master is going make me stay third apprentice for the rest of my life”

“Better that than ending up finding out the stories are true”

“I’m just going to get some goldwood and get out. I won’t be disturbing anything”

“Chief Paizo has forbidden us to go in there, he says that the stories aren’t the full truth and if you believe any of the stories then the truth is 10 times worse “

“He’s right you know, care for a toffee apple?” a kindly old lady stood there holding out a very nice-looking toffee apple “if you like I have plenty of goldwood at my house that I would be happy to give to you”

“No thank you” replied Wyatt and kept on walking. He had fallen for the lady’s tricks once before and still had nightmares about it despite the years of therapy his parents had made him take afterwards. He shuddered as he remembered that if it hadn’t been for his sister that night, he probably wouldn’t be here today. Since then, despite all of the complaints from children and parents no-one who had been sent to find the old lady was able to locate her. In the end they decided it was best to educate the children to stay away if they saw her. However, a few children ignored this advice, which (thank the signs) turned out to be a good thing as they discovered that if they politely refused the lady and whatever she offered she would leave them alone.

“Don’t you always say that you can’t trust Chief Paizo because he keeps on talking about the next hero coming even though there hasn’t been one in 500 years?” Wyatt said trying to distract himself from thoughts of the old lady

“Yeah, he’s still our leader though and I think he’s right about this, every-time I’ve gone near that grove I’ve felt sick and I’m sure I saw monsters roaming around there” Wyatt didn’t reply, he knew that the wise thing to do was not to go into the Deep Grove. He also knew it would be foolish to return to his master empty handed.

They continued on, Wyatt walking the well-worn track through the bushland and Cim jumping and swinging from tree to tree. Both of them dodging the black ooze leaking from the stumps of the goldwood trees.

“Wyatt, there is something else I need to talk to you about” Wyatt looked up to show that he was listening

“Chief Paizo has said that the signs have aligned but they are not in your favour” in his best Chief Paizo impression “we must leave now and quickly”

“You mean that your actually leaving? like as in packing up and going somewhere else?”

“Yeah” Cim replied sadly

“When?” Wyatt blurted out, perhaps a little too loudly, not sure how to take this unexpected news. He knew Cim’s tribe were nomadic, yet they had been here for the last 30 years or so.

“Chief Paizo said we must leave as quickly as we can…after the game”

Wyatt couldn’t help but laugh a little “Yeah the chief may be a stickler for following the signs, he can’t say no to watching a game though.”

Cim laughed along “He said signs or no I’m not missing the game for anything” although that had lifted the mood a little Wyatt was still worried that his friend and he would be separated forever.

They reached a small cliff that had a good view of the Deep Grove. Cim was right something was off about it. He could see no monsters roaming around though which didn’t surprise him no monsters had been seen in these parts in months.

“You don’t have to come with me Cim” he said as he unslung his axe focusing his will on his task of walking to the grove so as not to get distracted by the tales of this place that were threatening to explode throughout his mind.

“No way am I letting you get all of the Jam towers” said Cim as brought out his own axe

“What about what Chief…” Cim held up his hand

“Two of us can chop faster”

They walked to the nearest group of goldwood trees, keeping as far from the black ooze as possible that had begun to run down the cliff in small obsidian waterfalls making similar sized rivers below, winding between the trees.

“It would be nice if we could use the ooze for something useful” remarked Wyatt trying to disrupt the fear he could feel rising inside.

“Yeah, it doesn’t work as glue or paint and if you try to drink it you just throw it back up again” Cim said realising that he probably wasn’t helping the situation.

The bark of the goldwood trees seemed to shimmer in the morning light as it glistened with the dew running along it. The two raised their axes breathed deeply and got to work. With each strike they tried to remain confident however their eyes nervously darted towards any sound. Each time they saw no monsters and breathed a sigh of relief, in fact the worst thing they encountered was a sparrow that flew a bit too close.

Working together it didn’t take them long to amass a large pile of goldwood. They felt much better as they loaded it into Wyatt’s backpack. Now that they had discovered that there were several animals that called the Deep Grove home. Cim admitted he had probably just imagined the monsters.

“Hey at least you were here. I might have run off at the first rabbit I saw if you weren’t here with me.” Wyatt said half-jokingly

“Hey what are friends for.” Cim replied. With that Wyatt heaved the sack of wood onto his back and they set off.

The cool of the morning was giving way to the heat of the day, thankfully the trees made it a bit more bearable. The black sap that had leaked out of the trees was beginning to bubble in the heat causing steam to rise from it. Cim said he had never seen it do that before, Wyatt had to agree although he hadn’t seen this much of it before either. Still, they pressed on they didn’t have time to investigate. As they walked, they noticed that in the black streams nearest the path the bubbling was more intense. It produced a foul odour, so they covered their mouths and noses in an effort to block it out, soon it was apparent that it wasn’t working though as their heads began to swim.

They decided to move deeper into the bush to sit down and clear their heads away from the noxious fumes. Cim was just about to say he was feeling better when they saw a black lump rise from the ooze. It grew forming into what looked like a hand or a claw followed by what they assumed was an arm. This continued until there was a creature about the same height as them staring in their direction. It had horns on its head and teeth like sharpened rocks. They got a good view of these as it opened its mouth and let out a yell that made them feel like rabbits on the wrong end of a hunt. Suddenly more lumps began to rise from the black ooze. The ooze slowed as the lumps reached their full height, solidifying into something that resembled skin. The creatures ran straight for the pair. Up until this point Cim and Wyatt had watched mesmerised. Now they finally realised that their hearts were telling them to run. They bolted towards the town in a line that was parallel to the path managing to keep ahead of the monsters. Wyatt ignored the weight of the pack he was carrying. Cim quickly moved through the trees zipping from branch to branch trying to keep watch whilst moving as quickly as he could.

They saw a building up ahead, surely, they weren’t back at town yet. As they got closer, they realised it was the old lady’s house there was no mistaking the gingerbread walls or windows made from boiled sweets. She stood there beckoning them inside. Wyatt looked at the house whilst trying to catch his breath, the fear he should have felt looking at it was pushed aside in the face of the current danger, then he got an idea. Wyatt swung his axe at the side of the house smashing through the wall easily. Cim got the idea and jumped down grabbing one of the colourful chocolates from the roof throwing them towards the oncoming monsters. Wyatt grabbed the bits of wall he had broken off and joined in throwing them as hard as he could at the oncoming hoard. The old lady didn’t stop trying to pull him inside though. Until she caught sight of the monsters herself. Terrified she bolted inside and slammed the door. As she did this the house collapsed leaving nothing but dirt. Cim sat on the ground feeling sore and looking confused. He was going to ask what had happened when he saw that they were now surrounded by the monsters.

“The stars have aligned but not in your favour” laughed the biggest of the ooze monsters. As he swung his claws at Wyatt. Wyatt jumped back tripping over the bag of wood. The monsters laughed again and the biggest moved towards him. Cim grabbed his axe and swung at the beast. He missed although the creature did step back. Wyatt got another idea, dropping his axe he grabbed the bag of wood. He yelled at Cim to get down as he swung the bag in a circle getting faster and faster. Then he let go, the bag flew into one of the monsters. There was a puff of black smoke as the monster hit the tree behind it.

Its allies called out making new noises that the young pair did not comprehend. The largest Monster moved its claws in slow movements drawing the black smoke towards the circle. Wyatt and Cim did not notice though as the other monsters attacked. Cim swung at them with his axe. Wyatt tried to remove the dizziness from his head as he regretted spinning around. Cim was holding them back, except each cut he gave them seemed to instantly heal. Somehow though he was making the monsters move back, or so he thought. He breathed in the foul-smelling smog from the black smoke before he knew what was happening and then everything changed.

Wyatt finally cleared his head just in time to see the monsters had backed away forming a makeshift arena and in the centre was his friend charging at him. He rolled out of the way of the axe as it came down. “Cim stop it’s me Wyatt!” he called. Cim kept on going relentless in his swinging. Cim obviously hadn’t been as tired from chopping the wood as he had thought. Then again whatever had happened to his friend probably made him not care. Wyatt raised his own axe blocking Cim's attack. His friend screamed in rage. Then he swung for Wyatt’s legs, Wyatt was too slow to stop it and felt a sudden burning sensation and collapsed to the ground. Cim continued his attack, Wyatt managing to either just parry or block each one. He was getting weaker with each strike, he reached for something to throw to stop his friend. He grabbed the nearest thing he could reach and threw it. A bunch of leaves hit Cim in the face. Not what he had been expecting and definitely not effective.

A bright flame appeared in the middle of the monster arena followed by a huge gust of wind that blew the flame out in a circle towards the monsters knocking them high in the air and far away. It continued on making a horrible howling noise dissipating the black smoke as it went. When it was done the sounds stopped and the bush was quiet again.

“The signs have aligned but not in your favour” said Chief Paizo standing in the spot where the fire had appeared. He walked over and bandaged Wyatt’s leg. “He always was a strong one” he said shaking his head towards the unconscious form of Cim lying a few meters away. “That should hold until you can get home” he said as he rose. He picked Cim up and slung him over his shoulder. “You must head back to town and warn the others. Those creatures are just the beginning if you want to survive, we need to act fast. Cim will be fine, I can’t say if you will ever see him again.” Then he disappeared although not before muttering “I was really looking forward to watching the Filans play”

Wyatt got up and grabbed the bag of wood from where it lay. The weight seemed much heavier than before however he wasn’t prepared to give up. He hobbled back to town his thoughts were a jumble why couldn’t Chief Paizo have given him a lift? He had to let everyone know what had happened yet at the same time he didn’t want to think about it.

The stall thankfully was set up on the edge of town. “By the alignment of the signs, brother” his sister said as he approached “How did simply collecting wood cause you to come to this?” “Monsters attacked us from the goldwood sap. Chief Paizo says we must take action soon” Wyatt said wearily suddenly feeling tired, as he mentioned the chief’s name he was drawn back to his words, did he say that I might not see Cim again? What about the jam towers he had promised? Then before he could relay anymore he collapsed.

His sister picked him up in her arms. To one of her workers she said, “grab the wood and start the fire”, “You begin the cooking” she said to another. It looks like we have more than tourists coming to visit us, and we will need all the food we can make. The signs have aligned indeed, and they better be in our favour she thought as she carried her brother to the hospital.