Witch, Wolf, Woods

CHAPTER 37: MEETING THE WALDKONIG

The next morning dawned bright and cool, with a grey mist curling around the trees, and Katja settled her mother's red cloak over her shoulders.

Running her hands over the soft fabric, she tried to channel her mother's boldness, as well as the woman's singular determination to uncover answers, but try as she did, she couldn't quite overlook the fear sloshing in her stomach with each step she took.

She and Wolf soon reached a wide canyon, its rocky walls shooting upwards at odd angles.

Katja's eyes traced the ridge line, pausing on a spot that looked decided differently from the others—it was smoother, completely barren of trees, as if a landslide had occurred at some point and the entire top of the wall had collapsed and slid down into the gorge, restructuring the cliffs and reshaping the canyon below.

Katja tried to draw a deep breath, but fear kept her lungs constricted, and it didn't help that the air was so still, it might as well have been frozen in place.

"This is it," said Wolf, keeping his voice low "The heart of the Schwarzwald."

"What do we do now?" Katja whispered in response, then startled as a nearby tree suddenly extended a branch and pointed toward the opening of a cave. At the same time, the grass beneath her feet rippled, the colors changing and creating a gradient of light that pointed in the same direction as the tree.

The Waldkonig must know they were near, and the realization made Katja shiver.

Wolf made a face as he stared at the cavern doorway, his tail drooping towards the ground.

"I'd prefer to stay out in the open," he said. "That gives us a better chance of escaping...although, if the Waldkonig truly controls the forest the way I was taught he does, perhaps that's not really an option."

Katja crouched down and placed her palm against the ground. She could sense various types of metals, some close by, others far below the surface, and knowing they would be underfoot when she went into the cavern made her feel better, even if she couldn't see them.

Rising to her feet, she touched the wolf necklace, then squared her shoulders and raised her chin.

"Let's go," she said determinedly, and side by side, step by step, she and Wolf strode into the cavern, leaving behind the sunlight and heading into a darkness that might as well been a portal into another world.

Tiny blue lights crawled over the slick tunnel ceiling, and bright yellow and green dots scuttled over rocks. The smell of rot and decay was almost overpowering, and Katja felt like gagging numerous times; only through sheer force of will was she able to keep her mouth closed and her feet moving.

Strange things bloomed here beneath the ground, odd-looking plants with leaves that glistened and reminded Katja of knife blades. Blue and purple orchids twisted their petals to watch as she passed, clicking their leaves against one another in a language all their own. Furry orange moss seemed to cover an entire stalactite, at least until she got closer and the entire mass suddenly made clinking sounds and turned gold, each creature somehow throwing up a protective shield that joined together to form one single, impenetrable covering.

Through it all, though, the one constant was the black veins snaking over and through everything, plants and rocks alike.

Thankfully, the tunnel wasn't very long, and it soon opened into a sunshine-drenched field, so bright Katja had to squint to allow her eyes the chance to adjust. The sun shone down on a ground carpeted in thick green moss streaked with the ubiquitous black lines, and trees of all kinds grew in a semi-circle around what appeared to be a throne, fashioned from woven branches.