Jason Cosmo: Hero Wanted

Chapter 17

The Incredibly Dark Forest rose from the river plain like a pulsating green wall. Ancient trees towered hundreds of feet above us, their massive trunks robed in concealing tangles of vines and foliage. No birds called and no insects buzzed, but those trembling leaves murmured ceaseless lethal whispers that might drive a man mad.

Eight bloody days on the river had brought our twenty-foot river cutter to the southernmost bounds of the Incredibly Dark Forest. The line of colossal trees stretched more than ninety leagues east and west of the river. The forest proper was fringed by countless acres of spiky brambles, thick brush, and hidden pits. Entering the forest by land would require hacking our way through that wasteland, a task that might take weeks in itself, even assuming the hell gophers and warp wasps left us alone.

Which they wouldn't. 

The river offered another way in. We were at the sneering green Mouth of the Forest, where the cold, murky water of the River Arbenflow slithered out from a maw-like opening in the trees like a long black tongue questing for prey.

"Are those piles of sun-bleached skulls on the river banks?" I asked. "Or just disturbingly shaped white stones?"

"Bones," said Merc. "Not stones."

"Do we continue, milord?" asked Lufkin Starke, the captain of our vessel.

"Would you rather wait for nightfall?"

"Uh, no."

"Then no time like the present," said Merc.

Starke ordered the lanterns lit. Eight oarsmen rowed in silence. The gunner and his mate stood ready behind the ack bolted to the forward deck.

We entered the Mouth of the Forest. Cold, damp air oozed over us like the foul breath of a corpse. As we left the morning sunlight behind, I felt my Rae-given strength fade.

"It's incredibly dark in here," I observed, feeling the need to speak softly.

"Hence the name," whispered Merc.

The only sounds were the splash of our oars, the creak of the planks, and the quickened beating of our hearts. Lanterns at bow and stern barely penetrated the gloom, illuminating only a small patch of water directly around the boat. We could distinguish no features of the shadowy river banks looming over us like the hulking shoulders of a giant. I looked back longingly at the sunlit doorway to the outside world. Then we rounded a bend and the darkness was complete.

"How will we find the Hidden River? We can't even see the one we're on."

"The Gods will guide us somehow," said Mercury.

"That's your plan?"

"So far."

"Look!" said Starke. "All around us!"

Eyes. Hundreds of eyes. Pairs of feral red pinpricks on both banks and high above in the canopy, glaring at us with palpable hatred. Goosebumps marched across my skin. My nape hairs stood stiff. I clutched tightly the haft of my new battle axe. 

"What do you think they are?" I asked.

"We'll find out when they attack," said Merc.

No attack came during the first hour, nor the second. But the silent watchers grew ever more numerous, until the blackness around us resembled a hellish skyscape full of demon stars.

"What are they waiting for?"

"They're trying to frighten us, keep us on edge," said Merc.

"It's working." I tested my blade for the eighty-seventh time.