Ruin.

The Forest.

Chapter 28: The Forest::

Aridi had woken him at daybreak, already packed and ready to leave. 

“You didn’t wake me to help pack?” He was surprised, and not pleasantly so. Always used to doing his own share, it was a new, and unwelcome, experience. 

“You would have gotten in the way,” she teased, poking him in the ribs. 

“I would have been helpful,” he argued.

“I know. You just would not wake up.”

Trystan dragged himself off of the couch as the tiny creature burst into laughter. Shouldering the larger of the two packs, the one obviously meant for him, he grumbled under his breath. “Let’s go.”

She giggled again, her laugh sounding like wind in the trees. “Do not be a party pooper.”

Her laugh was contagious. He couldn’t hold in his own chuckle as they walked outside. The lock clicked and they made their way quickly and quietly out of the town’s borders. “So where to now, my lovely guide?” 

“The forest is about two hours travel to the west. You can see the flames once we reach the crest of that hill,” Aridi explained, pointing out west.

He nodded, acknowledging the information. They trudged along in companionable silence, each one spitting out a sentence or two as they walked. 

“So, don’t your kind live in the forest?” He wasn’t sure, but from what he’d heard, all nyxs lived within the forest’s borders, only venturing out in extreme emergencies.  

He meant it only as a harmless topic for conversation, but he obviously had struck a nerve in the little creature. Her face went blank and her lips pursed. 

“I am not allowed in the forest anymore, Trystan. I would not participate in their barbaric rituals, and so I was banished from my own home.” She looked angry and hurt, so he decided not to pursue the topic any farther, dropping back into silence.

The sparse grass crunched under their feet, sending sparks of heat up to bite their skin, irritating but not seriously hurting them. 

When they reached the top of the hill, it was a welcome relief. The slight incline hadn’t bothered Trystan and Aridi at first, but as the climb dragged on, his legs began to tire. 

The flames were closer, brighter than he’d ever seen them before. The colors, indistinguishable as separate strands from his distant balcony, spit and leapt in jets of blue, green, and every color on the spectrum. 

“Beautiful,” he murmured under his breath, and the nyx nodded in mute agreement. 

They set up a quick lunch in the shadow of a few large pines, eating quickly before settled down for a couple minutes of rest and conversation. 

“Why do they call it the Forest of Teeth?” The question had been parading back and forth through his mind all day, but he hadn’t wanted to ask it while they were moving. This was the perfect time. He remembered Marait saying something about the name, but couldn’t remember exactly what.

Aridi settled farther into the grass, rearranging her leaf skirt into shorts so she could cross her legs. “It is really not that complicated of a story. The very worst of the nyx, of my species, terrorize anyone who enters the forest. They reach out and snatch men from their saddles, leaving their party to endure the terrible screams that echo back as they devour the unlucky soul. The bodies are always left, like a present, next to their campfire during the night. The teeth marks covering what remains of the corpses gained the Forest of Teeth its name.”

Trystan could tell that the friendly, caring creature before him was angered, and somewhat frightened, by her more aggressive kin. 

“They won’t hurt you. You can trust that,” he swore vehemently, feeling a fierce urge to protect the girl.

“It is not me I worry for,” she whispered, looking back at him with a feral gleam in her eye. “We should go if we want to be through by sunset.” She rose gracefully to her feet, her movements so fluid it was like a dance. Shouldering her pack, she strode forward, looking back only once to motion to him. 

The first hour of their journey was fairly uneventful. The fire lit the trees, making the game trails easy to follow. 

Dark, evil looking birds watched their every move. Staring hungrily down at the two, they squawked and cawed, obviously waiting for their next meal. 

“Vultures,” Aridi spat, the word rolling off of her tongue with the force of a bullet. 

Although the complete lack of noise, excluding the avian scavengers, was unnerving, nothing jumped out of the shadows and attacked. Relaxing a minute amount, Aridi thought aloud. “Maybe we will be lucky enough to escape unscathed.”

The words had barely left her mouth when a dark, rough-skinned hand wrapped about Trystan’s wrist.

A crackly voice rose from the perpetual smoke. “Do not be so sure, Aridiantha,” it crackled cruelly. 

“Pan.” Her voice cracked like a whip, cutting across the still air. The ugly, red-skinned nyx, Pan, jumped, startled by her venomous tone. 

Trystan took advantage of his momentary distraction, pulling his hood away from his face. 

“You dare lay a hand on Typhateion, brother to Abadan?” His voice rolled and growled like thunder. “You will die for this mistake.” 

Pan laughed, heartily amused by this threat. Laying a heavy hand on Trystan’s neck, he growled. “How? What can the big, bad demon do to me?”

The little man’s hand started to smoke, shock registering in his eyes before the black Aratami fire climbed his body. 

The pain tore mangled screams from his throat. The other two strangers, one dark blue and one a vibrant yellow, stared wide eyed, caught like deer in headlights, before vanishing back into the burning trees. 

Aridi stared at him, a question in her eyes. Pulling his hood back up, he motioned for them to keep moving. 

“Later, I’ll explain. I swear it.”

With a last, distrustful glance in his direction, she led the way out of the forest.