Witch, Wolf, Woods

CHAPTER 20: MIDNIGHT EXCURSION

After dinner, Katja made a quick stop at her room to retrieve warmer outerwear for the upcoming excursion, and while she was there, she grabbed a book for herself, as well as one for Wolf.

When she returned to her workspace and opened the door, she was startled to see that Wolf had transitioned to human-form and was sitting in a chair at the table, studying the tools in front of him.

"I brought you something to pass the time," she said, offering him the book, which he eagerly accepted.

She said the spell to light the fire in the fireplace, and as the wood crackled cheerfully, she did her best to find a comfortable seat in one of the high-backed chairs, trying to keep her attention on her book. Unfortunately, she wasn't at all used to sitting in the same room as a boy, and she kept losing her place or forgetting what she'd just read.

Finally, she closed the book and rested her forearms against the edge of the table, clasping her hands in front of her.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to," she began hesitantly, "but if you don't mind, could you tell me a little about the Black Forest?"

Wolf raised his head from the page he'd been staring intensely at and blinked at her, as if just remembering he was in a room in a castle and not wherever he'd been reading about.

"Of course," he replied once he'd processed her question. "What would you like to know?"

Everything, thought Katja immediately, then quickly pressed her lips together before the word could make its way out, trying to settle upon a suitable answer.

"Really, it's fine," assured Wolf. "I don't mind talking about the forest. It's the place I loved most in the world. If you ask something I'm not comfortable answering, I'll tell you."

"I appreciate that," replied Katja. "I'm just not used to being able to ask whatever I want about the Schwarzwald. We talked about it in school, and occasionally there's a reason to mention it at an assembly, but otherwise, it's really not discussed."

She paused, then added, "I don't think it's natural for one of the Hexen to be so interested in it."

"Well, lucky for you, I'm not a member of the Hexen, and I love talking about my former home," smiled Wolf, turning his chair to face her.

"Did you feel safe growing up there?" ventured Katja.

Wolf considered that, then nodded.

"I always felt safe, but I also knew that could change at any minute. You see, my family learned early on that our safety was entirely dependent on our relationship with the forest. Growing up, there was a village not too far from mine, where the people wanted more land to grow food. It certainly wasn't a bad or evil reason for wanting to clear the land, so they marked a few trees to be removed.

"Apparently the Schwarzwald wasn't happy about their plan, though, because the next day, accidents started to happen.

"At first it seemed to be pure chance—cutting down trees is dangerous work and things happen. Someone stepped in a hole and broke a leg. Another person walked under a tree as it was felled, and it landed on them, killing them instantly.

"After a few such instances, the villagers wondered if perhaps they'd made a mistake in trying to clear the trees rather than finding a nearby meadow or some other place they could use for farming. But the elder in the village assured them everything was fine, so they made plans to remove another tree the following morning."

Wolf looked directly at Katja. "None of the people were heard from for a week afterwards, until a woman stumbled into our village, claiming her home had been destroyed and she'd been trapped in the wilds, tormented by the forest, until she'd managed to make her way to us by following the smoke from our chimneys.