Celestial Roots

Chapter 16 - Lorgá's gift

As she entered the forest, Taghna felt more alive than ever. Her legs carried her as lightly as if she were a leaf flying in the wind. She had no doubts or fears and her sharp mind was focused on the task she had set herself onto. She was not distracted by the words of Rissar or Séabanh. Only her conviction, linked to her feelings, mattered.

The woods were her domain and she had no trouble finding her way around them as if they were simply a larger version of the village. She took long and deep breaths and drew a mental map of the presence of trees, animal passages and even insects around her. She could detect the familiar traces of her classmates among this crowd of scents. They formed olfactory beacons that she used to follow the paths that opened up before her.

Taghna jumped, leaped and dashed from trace to trace. She didn't need to actively search; nature revealed herself, giving away her secrets. She was led to the clearing where the stroïgil had been held. Taghna was surprised to have reached it in such a short time. In an instant, she spotted the scents of three of her classmates, as well as Færn's. She rushed down that trail.

Her strides lengthened and covered more and more ground, so much so that she entered a part of the forest that was completely unknown. It must have been very far north. The séarach shared their territory with some brich and many ferns were sprouting by their trunks. Taghna walked through the expanses of mosses that dampened her silent steps.

Færn's smell was strong but mixed with those of other animals as well as Ranié's weaker, fainter marks. As Taghna arrived near an uprooted tree with an almost completely rotten trunk, she picked up a repulsive aroma. She could't stop her mind from being filled with pictures of rotten meat and dead bodies.

Determined not to let her imagination take over, she followed the trail by repelling the nausea that was slowly overwhelming her. She easily found its origin. Hidden in the entanglement of a root node lied Ranié, rolled into a ball. Her skin, covered with spots that were turning black, had a bluish tint. At her feet was the unfinished construction of a fire.

Taghna approached with caution. Her nose, filled with the smell of death, turned up in disgust. She touched Ranié's cold body. Her skin had lost its elasticity and Taghna could feel blood clots under the muscles. She looked away from Ranié's face, unable to face her expression frozen in a mask of pain.

Sounds of swarming insects and mandibles doing their job made her turn her heels. Taghna shed a tear that fell on her arm. She realized she was completely naked. In her frantic race, she hadn't realized it. Like adults, she was now immune to the cold. Yet Ranié had wanted to start a fire. Obviously, the girl had not benefited from Lorgá's gift. There had not been enough uisgaïr to fully immerse her body.

While Taghna should have leaped with joy as she was finally being endowed with the same skills as adults, she only felt bitterness and guilt. Ranié was dead because of her. What she had feared so much had finally happened. She let a few tears run down her cheeks but refused to let herself be overwhelmed by sadness. She dried her eyes, wiped them in a rage with her forearm and went on her way, even faster, to find Færn.

After following Færn's trail for a long distance, a scream ripped through the tranquility of the forest. Færn was in danger. She rushed in his direction. She had to get used to her finer hearing as it took a long, desperate while, to reach the source of the cry of distress.

As she approached, louder growls could be heard and a powerful, musty smell permeated the air. Taghna wanted to puke with anxiety. She accelerated her pace for fear that Færn would in turn succumb.

She found herself facing a scene of horror. Her friend was scaling a tree as a bear was about to slash his legs with its long claws. Taghna, her mind blank, threw herself on the beast's gigantic back as it pulled itself up on its hind legs reach its prey.