A Surprising Spring

Chapter One

Nichloas woke up to bright sun on his face. He opened his eyes slowly, his featured scrunched up against the light. Above him, a thin canopy of green leaves were shining, thin branches moving gently in the breeze that made him shiver against the cold earth.

"Happy bloody spring," he muttered, stretching his arms and legs out. Turning his head to the right, Nicholas saw a bank of green, undergrowth sprouting from the bases of trees and knotting itself so that the slightly muddy ground was almost invisible. To his left, he saw with a groan - his neck clicked painfully as he looked - was a clearing, small but idyllic looking. The trees on its far side were thicker and broader than the ones he lay next to, their leaves spiky and dark, lending a slightly sinister aura over the otherwise pretty scene. "Are they firs?" Nicholas mused, as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. "Pines? Is there even a difference?"

Eventually, he rose up onto his feet. "Ugh, my hair is disgusting." He frowned, running a hand through the shoulder length brown locks. "In fact, I'm just a big mess all over." His skin was browned from the sun and slightly grimy from the forest floor, and his hands and feet were caked in mud - his bare feet, he spotted. The shirt he was wearing was tattered, several loose threads hanging where buttons should be and a torn seam up his side, letting the wind chill him thoroughly. His trousers were light brown with wide pockets in, not ripped but doing little to keep him warm.

"Wonderful, wonderful." He groaned, sitting down on a tree stump a few feet away. "And I'm talking to myself as well - I've completely lost it."

Just then, he heard a strange half-cough from behind him, and span about to see a middle aged couple standing stock still with dog leads in their hands, having just come around the corner of the path. They wore thick fleeces, the man had a hat on his head and their dogs - collie crosses of some description - were sitting rigidly at their owners' feet.

Nicholas leapt up, his impulsive nature kicking in. "Why, hello there!" He cried, dancing a little way closer to them. "Good morning!"

"B--B-Brian," the woman stuttered, tugging at her husband's elbow. "I d-don't think we w-were meant to..."

The tangled young man from the forest floor grinned wider. "You're lost? I'm sure I can help."

Swallowing visibly, the man nodded. "Thank you. We were just headed back to the car park..."

Nicholas laughed, and the sound echoed slightly in the silent forest, falling eerily upon their ears. "Oh-ho, I can't help you get back to where you came from. I have no idea where the car park is. But I can give you one good direction," he said, walking closer.

"Yes?"

He stopped about a metre and a half away from them, and leant forward conspiratorially. "Get away from here. Right now."

The couple stammered slightly, glanced at each other fearfully and then span around almost in synchronisation, pulling their dogs with them.

Once they had gone, Nicholas stepped forward slowly, his feet edging carefully in front of him as if he was testing a tightrope before walking across a pit of lava. He was concentrated completely on the ground in front of him, his hands wavering out to his sides. "Must... be..." he grimaced, edging his two forward a tiny bit more and-

He was thrown backwards, a white-hot spark shooting up his leg and through his body, rendering him unconscious for a matter of seconds. "Shit!" he cursed, rubbing his foot with one aching hand.

There was a voice from behind him. "Nicholas, Nicholas, ever the same, you think you'd get tired of playing this game."

He shut his eyes as if in pain, before replying, not bothering to turn around. "Ah, Zekiel, you're here. And still talking like a children's spells book, I see."