Howl's Twisted Castle

32: The secret of the Highlands

It was difficult to put into words the sensation I experienced, being taken from one place and landing in another. There was a weightlessness like the ground had been taken out from under me and then I was hurtled through the air at such an alarming speed that I thought I might faint. As I clutched the stone to my chest, I closed my eyes in the hopes that it would make the process a little easier. I had barely enough time to register what was happening before everything stopped and I landed with a painful thud on the ground.

Chancing a quick glance, I found myself surrounded by the familiar greenery of Dunbeath. The rich dark earth seeped into my dress, soiling the white slip as I lay there, taking in my surroundings. By my estimation, I couldn't have been too far from town, that is if the stone Alex gave me had worked the way it was supposed to have.

Cloud cover had settled in, obscuring the suns light and along with it, its warmth. As I sat beneath the ancient cedar trees, I took the time to assess my injuries. My fingers were swollen and tight, but luckily, I could bend them a bit. My wrist was much worse; it was angry, purple and dreadfully hot to the touch, with an ache that was both constant and incredibly sore. I needed help.

The memory of how I had got it invaded my thoughts, and had I push the events of the last hour out of my head before I could let them overwhelm me. I wasn't ready to accept what happened, not while I was lost with what I was certain was a broken wrist. I needed my wits about me if I had any hope of finding my way back to Alex's library.

First things first, I had to figure out which direction would take me to town. Using a nearby cedar as leverage, I pulled myself off the ground and brushed the sticky needles off my dress.

Without the road, I had no bearings, which was my first problem. The last thing I needed was to become hopelessly lost on top of being injured.

If I had had a knife, I could have used my father's old trick to keep myself from getting lost. His method involved marking the back of the trees with an X so when he looked back, he could track his progress. It was an effective way to prevent him from walking in circles for hours, but the trouble was that I didn't have a knife or any object sharp enough to do the same.

Or did I?

Pulling at the hem of my dress, I rubbed the soft fabric between my fingers. If this plan worked, I could be out of the forest well before nightfall. Maggie would be upset that I had ruined the dress she'd lent me, but I had no other options and the day wasn't getting any longer.

Finding the seam at the edge of the dress, I pulled it apart quickly, ripping it neatly up the side to my knee. I changed directions and tore the fabric straight across so that I had enough fabric to rip into ribbons. My wrist throbbed from the movement, so I used my teeth to tear the rest of it up neatly.

My now bare legs felt the bite of the harsh wind that had kicked up, urging me to get going. Draping the ribbons over my bad arm, I picked a direction that looked promising and set out.

One by one I tied a piece of my dress to the low hanging branches, just far enough apart that I could see this distance I was covering by looking behind me. The forest thinned out slowly, but by the time I was able to see the clearing, I was disheartened to find myself back at the stony grove, the complete opposite direction I had wanted to go. As frustrated as I was about wasting daylight, I knew that following the ribbons back would put me in the right direction to town.

One by one, I counted each of my ribbons as I followed them backwards, stopping only briefly to rub the cold chill out of my mottled legs. Maybe tearing up my dress wasn't the greatest idea, but the cold breeze was just a temporary setback that spurred me onward.