An Island for a Cloud

10.2 The company you keep

Thank you very much for reading this chapter. If you spot any spelling mistakes or awkward sentence structures, please be nice and let me know :)

Since the moment Patz set foot into the ancient forest, he felt fear worming its way up within him and could not stop his hands from shaking. There was something about ancient forests that made him very uneasy.

And it did not help that all the while the boys felt as if something was watching them and it did not like intruders in their lands. Over and over again they heard strange screeching and hoots coming from above their heads. Every time it made the boys jump and look up. Yet, the trees were very tall and their bushy branches concealed the light, making it difficult to see the face of danger.

The deeper the boys proceeded into the forest, the more wary they became. They began noticing now and then dark slender shadows gliding between the branches. The fear in Patz's limbs rose to alarming levels and his teeth clattered uncontrollably. The boys assured each other that it must have been just birds. No one truly believed it. And so they kept their eyes firmly on the ground as if not seeing what was lurking above them would also prevent what is lurking above from seeing their small group.

Yet it watched them and at least for now did not make any attempt to get closer.

And so the boys dragged their feet through thick layers of fallen leaves that covered forest floor. They concealed the roots and small holes in the ground that waited to trap any unwary traveller. By the end of the first day, the forest whitnessed many a time one of the other Flizer's painful cries.

That night, they made a fire and it almost reminded them of home and how they used to sit in a circle and tell each other stories. But this time no one felt like talking. Instead, gloomily they watched shadows moving, getting closer to their camp and then moving away again. The boys hoped that the fire they made with dry leaves and brunches would keep whatever it was away.

For the first time it was decided for one of them to stay up and keep watch. Klatz was first to volunteer.

The noises, occasional cry of an unknown bird, the buzzing and cracking of the forest life around them, and the tension in their bones made it hard to sleep. Once Patz and Zatz finally did fall asleep, it did not last long.

"The trees walk!" they heard Klatz's cry.

Patz was pulled by his feet. The rough awakening left him startled and confused. And in the little light that the dying fire provided, he saw the dark shadow of the trees moving. Their large roots pulled out of the ground like living snakes. The massive roots glided over the ground carrying the tree's heavy weight. Their long branches scratching each other with their wooden claws. The tree closest to the boys' sleeping place, glided to the spot where Patz has just been lying and he watched with a wide open mouth the roots growing into the ground again, smoothly and effortlessly. Many more trees moved about them as if coordinated by one powerful mind.

Zatz clang to Patz terrified. Klatz watched the scene with annoyance more than anything. And all Patz could think of was that Klatz had saved their lives. Again. If he didn't pull Patz and Zatz away, the tree would have certainly crushed them under its weight.

But this was just their first bad surprise that night. Sometime during the incident, all their bags disappeared. Gone was their food and gone was the map. The only thing that remained was Patz's walking stick and only because he held it in his hands foolishly believing that it could protect him from the trees.

The loss of all their provisions, devastated the boys. They thorught they heard laughter reaching them with gasps of wind which made them shake their fists in anger at the invisible foes. No one said it, but it was understood that if they did not leave the forest soon, they would be doomed. They had not spotted anything at all yet in this fresaken place, that could fill a Flizer's stomach.