Cloaks

Chapter 11: The Witch's Wood

The party moved quickly past Dunshire, keeping to the woods that encircled the city and avoiding travelers whenever possible. The trip was more or less uneventful, until they reached the path toward the mountains and the sun had fully set.

Though Ruby and Deruque were both on edge for reasons they couldn't put into words, it was Bardy who first noticed it.

"We've been by here before," he said, looking at the ground. He was the only member of the party without darkvision, and the moonless sky didn't help matters, but he had stepped on something moist–a small puddle of verdure slime drippings. And, as Ruby had pointed out before, Patch (blurbling happily on Ruby's shoulder behind Bardy) was likely the only verdure slime within hundreds of miles.

"How?" Malakos asked, consulting their map. "We've been following the only path, with no other paths connecting to form any kind of loop–"

"No other paths through the trees," Deruque said. "But what about trees through the paths?"

"That doesn't make any sen–" Malakos started, before following his gaze. There, off to the side, were a copse of trees, sprouting up through what appeared to be a frequently traveled path, shooting just off their own. Glistening just past the first row of trees was something wet–another small puddle of slime drippings.

As the rest of the party stared, trying to make sense of what they were seeing, Ruby turned sharply. She had just seen motion out of the corner of her eye. And yet, she hadn't been able to sense any animals for the past mile and a half. Then, she saw it:

It was a tree. Or something that looked like a tree. And it was moving.

Several of them were moving.

Slowly.

Quietly.

Enclosing them into a smaller and smaller space.

"Run," Ruby said.

Nobody paused even a beat to question her.

As the team flew down the path as fast as they could go, Deruque looked off to the side. Something was glimmering past a small row of trees. He squinted at it.

It was a lantern–flickering warm and stalwart in the gloom, hanging off a tiny cabin in the middle of an open field.

"THIS WAY!" Deruque roared, leaping off the path and plunging into the dark forest. The party followed him, crashing through the foliage briefly before reaching the edge of the light's illumination. The party kept racing until they reached the porch of the cabin. Deruque reached the door first, and started pounding on it. Ruby and Patch came quickly after, then Lorenzo and Bardy, with Malakos bringing up the rear. The tiefling stumbled for a moment, as they passed a row of white rocks at the edge of the field. As he crossed it, he was suddenly hit by a small wave of nausea.

Celestial magic? Malakos thought. He slowed slightly, then turned around–still backing toward the porch, but keeping an eye on the treeline. Something–dark shapes that must be trees, moved toward the boundary, but were stopped at the edge by some unseen force. Malakos continued to watch, but no other trees approached the boundary. The wind hissed through the branches, giving off a sinister sound of frustration. Just as the tiefling felt it was safe to turn back around and join the party on the porch, he suddenly heard a crashing, bellowing noise. His head whipped to face the new threat, and he saw a dark shape racing toward them, yelling loudly and waving an ax overhead.

"GET AWAY FROM THERE!" It bellowed.

The tiefling reached for his amulet instinctively–he was still half the field away from the cabin, which made him the first line of defense against this new threat.