Goldentracks

Chapter Six

Waking up the next morning Una felt rested and calm. But as the events of the previous day came back to her in a rush, her eyes popped open. She was lying on a short bed in a small room. The ceiling was the underside of the ninety-degree-angle roof. She could see the support beams. The room was simply furnished—two short beds with a small table between and a chest of the far right corner of the room. She couldn't remember falling asleep. She could just barely remember discovering the steep, narrow stairwell hidden behind the fireplace wall.

Where do I go from here? She groaned as she massaged her stiff neck and shoulders. She'd fallen asleep in the fetal position, and now her legs were itching to move. She stretched her arms and legs as best she could in the cramped space. Relaxing, she heard a slight thumping sound followed by a muted pattering on the wood floors below her. She held her breath and stared at the opening that was the head of the stairs. And then a small figure appeared.

"Zurburt!" she exclaimed. He croaked in response. She laughed, still caught between anxiety and surprise. "So it wasn't a dream after all!"

"Una," he said, "we must go." She blinked. "You cannot stay. Follow me." Just as she opened her mouth to protest, the toad turned and walked away.

Una frowned, yanked the covers off her legs, and put her doublet and boots on. "What do you mean go? Go where?" she said as she exited the room. Zurburt was waiting for her on the top step. She looked at him with annoyance. He remained silent as he started to creep over the first step. Una wordlessly offered him her hand. Zurburt climbed on and, once she kneeled at the bottom of the stairs, just as wordlessly climbed off again. She wasn't exactly angry at him, but she was definitely annoyed she couldn't stay in the cottage. But the way he'd said she couldn't stay had also left a slight feeling of unease in the pit of her stomach that kept her compliant.

She needed to stop pouting. "So, where am I anyway?" An edge of annoyance still tinged her voice.

"In a cottage in the woods," he said.

"Ha, ha! Very funny. Okay, so what's the name of this forest? I'm obviously not from here, so where is here?"

"Eastwin."

"The forest is called Eastwin?"

"No, we are in Eastwin, and part of the forest is in this county."

"Oh." She frowned. "But then, wouldn't that make this Eastwin Forest?"

Zurburt made a sound that resembled a chuckle and started moving toward the back door.

"Wait," Una said as a thought struck her. "How did you get in here? I mean, on top of being WAY too small to reach the handle, you don't have a key."

Zurburt's eye seemed to twinkle when he looked at her. "I need no handles or keys where there is wood," he said. "Trees are better, but wood is no obstacle."

Una felt her annoyance return as she sensed a teasing tone. Zurburt was good at giving her the run around. Thinking back, she remembered how he'd entered a tree the day before. Had it really been only one day since she woke up in this strange place? Shrugging off the memory, she said, "Wait, so you can enter trees like a human enters a house?"

Zurburt chuckled again. "Not quite. Trees are how we get from one place to another quickly. If your destination is near a maple, the best way there is to enter a maple tree. We can come out of a different type of tree from our tree of origin, but I would not recommend you do that on your first try. You might end up in a different county. Or you might come back to where you started. It takes some practise. As for this door, it is a dead tree. It cannot take me anywhere, nor can it stand in my way."