Children of the Forest - Sagas of Yryan - Completed #Wattys2017

Chapter 4: Too many legs

On the following days, the weather was wet and cold, but it only rained during the nights. The twins preferred not to sleep in the rain, so they decided to sleep throughout the daytime, and to walk at night. During the first nights the forest was dark and the children were nervous. Even Moira couldn't hide it and so they walked slowly. They chatted a little now and then, just to escape the creepy silence that had fallen on the forest. The animal voices, which had filled the nights before, were not to be heard. It seemed to Faolan as if the twins were coming across the same trees and bushes over and over again.

After a few nights, the forest started to glow again and the twins couldn't help being curious about it. Even though Faolan felt scared, this also awoke a strong interest deep inside him. Something in him wanted to touch all the glowing plants, but he still didn't dare to do so. When the sun rose that morning, Faolan looked at his sister and said in a worried tone, 'The sun rises in the east and we're going to the west, right?'

Moira looked at him wondering whether he'd gone completely crazy now. 'Yes, of course, what a question.'

'Well, then explain to me, why our path seems to lead straight to the sun.'

Moira looked up even more confused now. Faolan was right. 'There might be something blocking the way from leading straight. I'm sure the path will turn west again soon,' she said, but she didn't sound all that certain.

They went to sleep and when they marched on the next night, they tried to figure out whether they were really going the right way. When the night was half through and they were still heading east, Faolan said, 'Maybe we should leave the road. The forest is all bright, we should be able to see enough. And anyway, we can turn around if we don't get anywhere.'

'Leave the road to wander through the forest at night? Isn't that exactly what that woman told us not to do?'

'I thought you didn't trust her.'

'Still, she was right about there being no villages.'

'Hang on,' Faolan said. 'I'm getting really confused. Who of us now trusts what she said?'

Moira rolled her eyes. 'No matter whether she said it or not, it's not clever anyway.'

'Oh, who's scared now?' Faolan replied, trying to sound brave.

'I'm not scared!' Moira insisted. She had stopped walking and was glaring at her brother now.

'Then let's try it out. You said there might be something blocking the way, so let's find out what it is and look for the fastest way around it.'

'Alright,' Moira said defiantly. 'To the west then.' With these words, she picked up a big branch that was lying by the road and entered the forest using that branch as a hiking pole. Faolan looked at the stars one last time and then followed her with a sigh.

After a while the forest ahead of them seemed to form a path on its own. The smaller plants shone brighter, the closer the twins came and got darker again, once they had passed them. At first the twins were bewildered by this, but after a while they accepted it as something completely normal. They moved through the night quickly now and the further they had left the road behind, the more noises came up in the dark behind the glowing plants. Changes happened slowly so Faolan didn't even notice them. But when they stopped to eat and he finally had the time to look around, he realised that they were now really walking on a shiny path, while the rest of the forest around them was all dark. There were also small shadowy creatures moving quickly from tree to tree, but to Faolan's own surprise, they didn't scare him.

This time, Moira saw it too, but still she didn't quite trust her eyes. 'They must be squirrels,' she said slowly.

'Didn't you once tell me squirrels sleep at night?'