Monsters Beyond the Gate

Chapter Five: Into the Forest

The crisp autumn air surrounded me like a blanket, leaving me chilled and confused.
Wasn't it summer time?
I gazed at my surroundings, mystified.
The sky was a pale blue, almost gray color and the sun was hidden behind a patch of thin, sad looking clouds. I looked down at my body to see I was wearing a long white ballgown.

Curious, I thought.

In the distance a raven cried. I watched it fly overhead with gleaming black feathers. It's dark hue stirred an unpleasant memory that seemed to rise up like the sensation of a sneeze, only to dissappear before presenting itself.

Very curious, indeed.

Ahead of me, my green eyes scoured the land. A field of dead corn stalks stared back at me. They were all higher than my head. In the center of the field I spotted an opening. It was a few feet wide, but I couldn't see much past it.

A pulling sensation formed inside my belly, urging me forward. I glanced back to get a glimpse of what I was leaving behind and was startled to see thick, black woods. The sight of it turned my blood icy cold and I knew I couldn't go back.

Ever.

With a deep breath I started towards the entrance of what looked like a corn maze, though I hadn't actually been in one since I was a very small child.

My heart raced as I stood at the very edge, squinting to see what was waiting inside.

It looked empty, so I stepped forward, pulling up the hem of my flowing white gown.

I reached the first intersection in the maze rather quickly. I could go left or right. My fear of choosing the wrong direction was palpable.

Stick to the right, I told myself, although I wasn't quite sure why. The left path looked more beaten, but I couldn't shake the eerie feeling it gave me when I stared down it.

No, I had to go right.

The path was long and winding. It turned this way and that way, but did not branch off for a long time.

When I finally reached a fork in the path I decided not to take it, but to follow the one I was on, for I feared a possible dead end...or worse.

Adeline, I heard my name whispered inside my own head. The voice sounded foreign and raspy. I jumped at the sound, stopping dead in my tracks.

"Who's there?" I called out loud. My voice was an octave higher than usual. My cheeks reddened at my embarassing, childlike tone.

No one answered, but there was a rustling noise to my left. The corn stalks moved as though something had brushed against them.

My heart raced faster.

There was a sudden wooshing sound and a flash of black fur zoomed by on the right. I hardly got a glance of it in my peripheral vision.

I whipped my head towards the sound only to be greeted by a pair of gleaming yellow eyes two inches from my face.

A scream built up in my chest as my eyes flew open and I sat straight up. Panting, I looked around only to see that I was lying on the floor of Liyra's cottage, covered in an old hand stitched quilt.

The pale dawn light streamed in through the windows and illuminated my surroundings. Another moment of blind panic seized me.

Why am I here and not in my own bed at home?

Where's Fisher?

The thought had hardly made itself known in my head before the events of the previous day came pouring in like a broken dam.

All of the guards at the gate--besides Kirk-- were dead. A wolf had stole Fisher and brought him over the gate, into the forest.

A sense of dread weighed down my stomach like a rock. The conversation Liyra and I had the night before rang clear in my mind.

"I'm going after him myself, Liyra. There's nothing else I can do," I'd said to her.

She didn't try to change my mind, but she did however warn me about traveling into the forest at night.

"If you leave now," she'd said grimly, "You'll be dead by morning."

So, we agreed that I would wait and spend the night at her cottage. Gather my strength, pack supplies and head out with the rising sun. It was rare for the wolves to be out during the day and I'd have hours of daylight to my advantage.

I tried to push the image of the startling yellow eyes from my mind. I stood up and stretched. My back was stiff from sleeping on the hard floor.

Liyra was still fast asleep on the love seat and Kirk slept silently in her bedroom. He hadn't regained consciousness since I'd arrived and he was running a horrible fever. Liyra had been up half the night trying to break it with little success.

I crept to the kitchen and started some tea and then gazed out the window. The land was empty, which wasn't a surprise. It would be several before anyone came looking for Fisher and I. Stepmother was used to us staying the occasional night at Liyra's house...in fact, I think she quite enjoyed being rid of us.

I was counting on this though, because if they came looking before I'd already set off into the forest, my father would never allow me to go.

"I'll take a cup of that if you don't mind, Child," Liyra croaked from the den.

I jumped at the sound of her voice. I was so deep in my own thoughts that I'd forgotten she was mere feet away.

I turned my attention away from the window and back to the tea which had started whistling. Quickly, I pulled two glass cups and saucers out of the cupboard and filled them both. I added a spoonful of honey to mine before carrying both cups over to the coffee table.

Liyra smiled gratefully and took a sip. She grimaced ever so slightly and I remembered the wolf bite on her leg.

"How is the bite? It's not...infected is it?"

She waved my words away.
"No, no, I have a great immune system, and a lot of luck."

I flashed a worried glance towards the bedroom where Kirk was sleeping and lowered my voice,

"You...you don't think he is, do you?"

Liyra studied my face for a moment before replying.

"I suppose only time will tell."

I let out a small gasp. There were many stories about those who had been bitten--rumors Father said. It had been years since the last breach of the gate. I'd been almost too young to remember, but I could still hear the screams echoing down the streets of the town as people ran frantically from a massive dark brown wolf.

The guards had eventually shot it to death, but not before it bit two people. A young woman and an old man.

The old man was fine after they stitched him up. The woman, on the other hand, was not.

The virus consumed her body, and she eventually transformed into a Sandy colored beast, larger than any natural wolf could be.

She'd been weak and disoriented from the change and the guards had exterminated her easily, but I could still remember her screams of agony as she made the change. A deeper fear had grown in the hearts of the townspeople.

I shivered at the memory and shot another weary look at Liyra's bedroom.

"If he's infected he'll kill you, Liyra."

"What would you have me do, Child? Throw him over the gate?"

My heart skipped a beat. "No!"
I thought of Kirk's warm, honey colored eyes and light brown hair. He typically wore a welcoming smile that could remind a person that happiness still existed...even at a time like this.

No, I definitely did not want Liyra to throw him over the gate.

"I'm just worried about you," I whispered.

Liyra laughed, though it was a sorrowful sound, "Oh, child you don't need to worry about me-" her eyes grew sad and cold, the white one resembled an oncoming storm, "-I'm not the one going into the forest."