Tales from Wayward Forest

The Arrival Part 2

 Time passed, none could say how much with certainty. The girl wandered even as muscles ached, feet blistered and a gaping hunger filled her body. Yet all this was ignored, forgotten. To her, it did not even exist. The light was the only thing, everything. That was until a sharp sudden pain split across her head and her consciousness was jolted from the haze. The first thing her mind was able to process was that her body was unbalanced, second, a cliff's edge was before her and third, the only thing keeping her from plummeting below was a hand around her forearm.

Before the breath could even leave her lungs or her mouth open to scream, Layla felt her body jerked backward, away from the looming drop. She brushed past another body before tumbling unceremoniously to the rocky ground, face first. An earthy, bitter taste filled her mouth along with an uncomfortable grit like sensation along her tongue. Her hands braced and she pushed off the ground, spitting out the sand and dirt before rolling onto her back, still attempting to catch her breath. A shadow blocked the burning orange setting sun, as she wiped her mouth clean and tried to make sense of her surroundings. The figure lowered a hand for her to grasp and she did so, gently being pulled into a sitting position.

"Well aren't you a lucky one. That could have been some tumble." The figure knelt down to the same level as Layla, out of the light, revealing a mischievous face with twisting black lines on her forehead and cheeks to frame her hazel eyes. Pointed ears peeked out from behind waves of white-blonde hair which was braided on the crown of her head.

"Tumble? That was a cliff! More like a skull-crushing nose dive."

"Ha, indeed you aren't wrong. How do you feel?" Layla took note of every ache and twinge and simply relied on the two words that she thought applied to the situation.

"Like shit." The gash on her leg stung the most, sharp and loud, but the heavy dull aches of her feet and empty, ravenous stomach were the loudest. Her stomach proved this by rumbling loud enough that it sounded inhuman.

"From the looks and sound of you, that seems quite accurate." The figure smiled and reached into a brown leather bag at her side retrieving a hunk of bread and cheese and held them out.

"That wisp had you deep in its thrall, you must have been walking for some time. Eat, I will tend to your wounds." After Layla took the food from her and eagerly dug in, the stranger reached once more into her satchel and began to sort through bottles of different liquids. She nodded and began to unstopper one and pour it onto cloth before dabbing it on her leg wound. A hiss escaped Layla's mouth, exposing the slightly chewed food within. Placing the food down on a relatively clean rock beside her, she leaned forward grabbed the cloth, and began to clean her own injury.

"A spirited one, good," The woman noted. "By what name should I call you?"

While Layla was intent on her injuries, the woman returned to her materials and began work crushing small green sprigs and flowers. "Layla, you?"

"Most know me as Feyrith, you may also if you like ." A quiet occupied the space between the two as they worked, the only other sounds being the occasional scurry of life or wind through the trees. They sat that way till Layla could not bear it any longer.

"I don't need your pity, you know."

"Clearly." The stranger replied, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she did.

"I don't." She clutched at the cloth in her hands tighter as she worked. "I've had more than enough to last me a lifetime."

"I believe you are mistaking my kindness for something else, young one. Kindness and perhaps a little selfishness." Feyrith satisfied the medicine was ready, left it aside, and reached forward to assist Layla but she yanked the rag away.

"I am not a child!"

"I did not say that." She gently, but insistently, pulled the cloth away before starting on a scratch on Layla's nose. Layla scrunched her nose, wincing, but reluctantly allowed herself to relax into the woman's care. "You are merely young compared to someone like myself."

"You don't look old."

"Not all things are as they appear. You will learn this soon enough." They sat in a calm quiet while Feyrith, still a stranger, methodically worked on each scuff, scrape and blister. The quiet was a comfortable one but did not last long till her curiosity won out.

"How is it selfish?" She finally asked.

"Hmm... you might say, that I'm looking after my own interests," Her focus never broke away from her task, eyes intent and hands steady.

"What do you mean?"

"Have you heard the phrase 'to do a good turn'?" Layla shook her head in response. "It means to help someone, generally to return what goodwill they have shown you."

"Like a favour."

"Yes, only this time I am doing it in advance. One day, you will help me with something." Layla's eyes widened as her body turned away unconsciously, while Feyrith reached for the paste she made earlier. This time her movements were slow as she turned back and took note of Layla's body language. "Well, now that sounds ominous. I only mean, well, I know you will help me. I have seen it. I know not the details but it involves something precious to me. So here I am, here you are and I believe we are all finished." She finished tying off the bandage around her leg and began to stow her medicines back into her bag.

"Now see if you can stand and put weight on that leg. Excellent, now take a few steps." Layla took small, slow steps with Feyrith's support. The pain from the cuts and blisters had subsided enough that walking was possible, if a tad uncomfortable.

"So you think I'm gonna help you someday?"

"No, I know it. It happens sometimes to those of my kind. I am an elf before you ask."

"How did you know I was gonna ask? Did you see it?"

Her laughter was like light bells, a high musical tone ringing out. "I did not need foresight for that. It was the next logical question for a lost one. That is what we call you. Now, enough questions or you will be late."

"Late for what?"

"Your guide home has been... waylaid it seems. If you look to the night sky, you will see the Huntress' broken arrow. The point is visible, even during noonday. It is there to always guide us North. Head in that direction and you will intercept him." The sun was close to slipping beyond the horizon, to reveal what did appear to be a bent arrow made out of stars, high in the sky.

"This bag has food, a blanket, and a flask, refill it as you go. Oh, and you will need this. It should, hopefully, prevent your mind from being addled." In her palm was a small piece of bark with a knotted, blackened symbol that appeared to be burned into the wood. Layla placed the curious gift into a pocket before being nudged forward into a walk. "The journey will take about three days. Do not delay for any reason. Do not follow strange creatures, marks, or lights. This is not somewhere to be lost, and yet that is its nature. "

Layla turned back around to see Feyrith about to disappear beyond the tree line. "But where is here?"

"Did I never say? Welcome to Wayward Forest."