Forest of Dreams

Chapter one

I poked at the fire with one of the sticks I'd acquired from the forest floor. I was spending my first night camping here by myself. Until now I'd spent every night of my life in Tarthin, a small, uneventful town near other small, uneventful towns. But now I was on an adventure, or perhaps mission was a better description. I was travelling to the city of Qren to search for my Aunt, my only living family member, who'd simply vanished on her last trip there.

She went to Qren to buy supplies for the stall she had at the market. It was a trip she made regularly to source obscure ingredients she wasn't able to grow herself. She sold remedies, cures for ailments and supplements for vitality. I assisted her with the herbs, growing some in my garden and helping her dry and process them, but she never let me go with her to Qren, despite me pleading with her to let me join. She said it was too dangerous, that I'd get lost or robbed or kidnapped. I think she just didn't want to lose out on the money if there was no-one to tend her stall in her absence.

She never returned from her last trip there. On her usual supply-runs she was away for about a week at a time. It had now been three months. A week after her expected return I grew nervous, asking around anyone returning from Qren to see if they had heard anything from the city or on the road, but no-one had. If something had happened to her on the journey someone would have seen something and would know about it. She must have made it to Qren, but why didn't she come back? I couldn't handle sitting around at home any longer, waiting and wondering. She wasn't well-liked, no-one else cared that she was gone. I had to try to find her myself.

I spread one of my blankets out on the floor and leaned back against a wide tree trunk. I took a bite of bread and cheese, enjoying it while it lasted. I only had fresh supplies to last a few days, after that I was going to have to survive off dried bread, cured meat and other preserved foods I'd packed for the journey. As I swallowed a large chunk of crusty bread I'd bought warm from the bakery that morning I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the forest – alien and otherworldly to me. Normally at this time of the evening I would be listening to the sounds of tradespeople finishing work for the day, going home or to one of the taverns, and then the sound of the empty, monotonous streets. The sound of the forest coming to life for the night was enchanting. I thought about the animals waking from their slumber, unaware of all the events that had passed during the daylight hours, thinking that the world only came alive at dusk. I hoped I'd get to see some of them as I was passing through.

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I woke groggily after a night of intermittent sleep. I'd not been able to get comfortable on the forest floor, despite having plenty of blankets and a comfy pillow. As the night had progressed the sounds that had at first sounded curious and charming grew stranger and eerier. I'd listened to every noise, trying to trace its origin – from what body in what location was the sound coming from?

By the morning my fire had reduced to embers and I was shivering under my blanket. It was April and the mornings were still crisp. I roused myself, re-lit the fire and made a kohi while shrouded in my blanket. The forest seemed still again in the daylight. I wasn't sure now whether it really had been as lively as I'd thought last night, or whether my imagination was wilder than the forest itself.

I packed up my small camp and loaded the bag onto my horse Sivia, a gorgeous silver mare I'd had since I was a teenager. She seemed to have had a better night than I had. She was a good horse – calm, sturdy and reliable. For now I planned to use her to carry my bags until I joined the main road, when I would ride her the rest of the way to Qren. There was faster route, if I took the road out of Tarthin, but I didn't take it. I told myself it's because I wanted to explore the forest, but perhaps I was delaying my arrival in Qren. I didn't know what I would find there.