The Innocent

The First Day

Melanie woke to blinding light, in an extremely uncomfortable position. She had a branch jabbing her in the side, and the blanket had wrapped itself tightly around her, constricting her movement. A fear suddenly grasped her heart and she gasped for breath. The magnetism of what she was about to do struck her. She was afraid and doubtful, unsure and shy, not what you would expect in a would-be heroine. She was the one you would expect to be telling the tale, to ears of eager listeners impressing them with what someone else had done. In fact Melanie would have quite enjoyed that, but here she was acting the story that someone else one day might tell. That is if anyone was left to tell it and if she ever found them.

Standing Melanie arranged her belongings and set out deeper into the forest. As she got further in, a chill snuck up on her and latched on to her heart, holding it in its cold arms. But although she was freezing and had no idea where she was going, she pushed on, towards the rising sun. Her path took her further into the forest than she had ever been before. It was deathly silent in there and she found herself longing to be back home in the cosy kitchen with her mother banging her pots and pans and clattering around. But there was nothing to go back to, not really, even when everyone was still there Melanie hadn't fitted into any of the crowds and hadn't tried to. So all that was left was to press on although what she was going to do when she got there, or even where there was, was a mystery to her. The further she went the colder it got. Turning around she looked back the way she had came and could see off at the edge of her sight it looked warmer. There was no explanation for it, the way home simply welcomed her. She'd only been walking for a matter of hours that day, it would be easy to turn back. A bird cackled off in the distance and she spun her head to look. All she could see before her were the dark  trunks of trees. They grew wilder here and the ground was rough with roots. Bushes crowded the spaces between trees, there even seemed to be some blackberry brambles with the berries hanging ripe off them. She pulled a scarf from her bag and looped it so it made a small pouch before beginning to collect some of the berries. She wondered why people never came up here. Besides the chill she hadn't seen anything unusual. She popped a berry into her mouth as she continued.

She was feeling a bit odd as she took a sip from her canteen. She'd walked through lunch nibbling only a little on the berries. She didn't want to eat too much now as she didn't know when she'd find more food. She hadn't seen any of the usual creatures she hunted, no rabbits or pigeons seemed to live up here. She stumbled a little and shook her head. She had to watch her footing better it would be quite easy to trip over a root. She walked a few more steps and looked ahead of her it was hard to focus. She stumbled sideways this time into a tree. Her hands went to her head as the world began to spin, her limbs felt tired and cold. She sunk to her knees then over balanced and toppled landing face down in the wet grass. Her muscles clamped up and sleep appeared in the corner of her eyes, her eyes began to close. Melanie wrenched them open knowing that if she slept now she wouldn't wake up. Pushing herself up onto her knees, she saw around her the trees that stood tall above her moving like dancers. Crawling slowly over to one she griped its rough bark relieved to feel it still under her hands. A hot pain stung her knee and she glanced down she'd crawled into the edge of a bramble as she struggled to reach the tree. Her hands to had spots of blood where thorns had pricked the skin unnoticed. She put her now bloodied hands to her face and rubbed the warm blood into her cheeks. Leaning back against the tree she giggled. What a mess she must look. Covered in blood, propped up against a tree, lucky no one was going to see her. The pain had cleared her vision a little and she was able to use the tree to stand up. Stumbling , moving from tree to tree she went, clinging to the knowledge that somewhere far ahead of her was the end. Her steps took her further and further in an unknown direction. Soon her vision began to cloud again and her steps wavered. Perhaps she was ill. She swayed against a tree trying to regain her bearings, as she leaned her eyelids drooped and she slid down once more to the ground. She slept then, earlier than she had though and when she woke it was dark.Slowly her lids parted and she could see a bright light ahead of her. Besides a pounding headache and aching muscles there seemed to be no other signs of what she had felt yesterday. The dizziness and cloudy vision were gone. She had fallen asleep where she's slid down the tree and her pack was still on her back. The light ahead was moving from side to side. Beckoning. Taken by a sudden urge to investigate she straitened up and followed it. Wandering on behind the floating light it got no closer staying the same distance ahead as  when she'd woken up. As she followed Melanie saw off in the darkness pairs of eyes. Blinking open and closed, one pair caught her eye. It seemed to have a face behind them. A familiar face, Melanie swerved and the light flickered. She stared hard at the eyes, which seemed to glow in size and the face behind them changed into a twisted apparition. Shocked she stumbled back and tumbled to the ground. The normality she had taken comfort in before was gone. Looking up she located the light it's warm glow soothed her encouraging her on, it was something out of a dream but she trusted it. She'd wandered without a direction for too many hours now and it at least promised a path and direction to follow. With a last glance behind her at the eyes she hurried on as the light bobbed on. Glancing down a path had begun to form under her feet and looking up again she saw a new sight.

Her bright guide was gone but the sun had come up. She could see beyond the glow that had been cast by her light now and see how far she had come. Looking behind her a path stretched off winding in and out of the trees. Ahead the sun flickered down through the leaves onto the path. Slightly stunned Melanie walked forward wondering if she'd been dreaming. It appeared she had walked all night and quite a way into the next day. She felt entirely rested too. A quick glance at the position of the sun told her nothing. She was starting to see why no one came this way once this far there was no going back.

Through an opening in the trees at the end of the path the light poured in. Melanie broke into a run coming out in the brightly lit space between the forest and the mountain territory. At the foot of the mountain were more trees, leaning towards the forest as if waiting on the edge of battle, poised ready to attack when someone froze time. Melanie glanced upwards at the peaks of the mountains, and was shocked to find that an army of birds was gathering there. As more and more birds arrived their mass began to shade the ground below them from the sun. Her brother had said to trust and follow them and it seemed they were all heading beyond the mountain. She sat and thought, chewing on a crust of bread. As night fell she prepared for sleep on the edge of the forest wondering again about going back.

As the sun rose again, Melanie sat up wondering for an instant where she was. Glancing around her she took in her surroundings and as she saw the straggly trees that covered the bottom of the mountain she recalled the happenings of the previous day. She sat there for a while pondering something that had come to her in the night. A strange dream had visited her. She was running from a black army and birds clouded the sky. Blocking the sun and bringing such a screeching and a squawking that even the noise of the marching army was drowned out. It was a fearsome force that hovered above the battlegrounds, plunging in and out. Snatching up people and creatures alike and dropping them back down. Then the dream had changed to a desolate landscape, in which lay the ruins of a city, above the birds flew once again in their thousands unchallenged. She wondered at what she had dreamt. Her father had always said there was meaning in dreams. Her heart beat faster at the thought as she glanced up at the milling birds above her. The ones from the dream were larger again she realised. Perhaps that was to come. She continued to look up at the daunting cloud. It had grown over night, to an enormous pulsing mass. She would probably be safer to return home, shut the door and stay put. Leaving the adventuring to the heroes. But that was not her life and going back had stopped being an option, she faced forward putting one foot in front of the other as she began to climb.

As Melanie moved upwards a light breeze brought a harsh smell, down the mountain. It was like nothing she had ever smelt before, a putrid odor. She pulled the scarf from her bag, letting the berries tumble to the bottom, and wound it around her face trying to block out the smell. The result was a sort of headscarf that left only her eyes in view. It did manage to block out some of the smell despite itching slightly so she left it on. As she walked on she discovered that the smell seemed to have wound its way slowly through the scarf although it wasn't as bad as it had been. Her steps had taken her into shadow. As she had gained ground she had drawn closer to the cloud of birds until she was underneath them. Looking back to the light, she could see where in the trees the shadows stopped and the light began; it gave the effect of an enormous cave mouth. Walking in the putrid shadow did nothing to help lighten Melanie's mood. The further on wards and upwards she went the deeper her heart sank. At one point she almost turned around to go back, but her feet kept on walking. They carried her slowly up the mountain. The further she went the more her will waned and soon her mind had all but shut down, her feet mechanically carrying on.

Noises above her brought Melanie back from the reverie she had sunk into. As she walked more and more birds arrived spreading their darkness. There were many types of birds; crows, hawks, ravens, eagles, magpies, owls and many more that Melanie couldn't identify. They must have flown for miles to get there in such numbers, but why, what was it that brought them to this place? They simply drifted above her at the top of the mountain. It was a strange sight to watch.

A feeling of danger was creeping up upon her as she neared the top of the mountain. Here the smell was greater and her nostrils stung. She grasped a rock and pulled herself up onto the shelf at the very top of the ridge line. A gasp escaped her lips; in front of her a panorama of mountains spread as far as the eye could see into the dark. It would have been a beautiful view but overshadowing it all were the birds. Many, many more than there were above this first mountain. They all seemed to be staring at a point in the distance, the largest mountain of all.