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

Chapter 5: Roots and berries

'Can you remember our aunt's name?' Moira asked out of the blue. The twins were on the glowing path again.

'Actually, I can't... Can you?' Faolan replied slowly.

'Would I have asked if I could?'

Probably not, Faolan thought. 'I'm sure it's in the letter Father gave us.'

Silence fell on them again. It was too dark now to read the letter anyway, so this had to wait for the next day. Now that the twins were up on their feet from midday to midnight, they noticed the difference that night-time brought onto the forest clearer than ever before. In daylight, young green leaves stretched for as much sunlight as they could get while little birds and all sorts of insects were flying around and singing their own melodies.

When the darkness came, in the short time before the glowing started, the forest went absolutely silent. Even the twins walked more carefully without noticing it, it was as if everybody tried not to wake each other up. And then, when the silence was complete, the forest started glowing. Always in the same order, at first only those leaves they touched shone weakly, but soon all plants and creatures of the night radiated the intangible light in a growing radius around them. The brighter everything shone the calmer Faolan became and the more alarmed Moira seemed.

After a few days, they finally found the mountain that lay between them and their destination. It didn't just slowly rise as an ordinary mountain would, but it just appeared in the middle of the forest, showing a high stony cliff. There was no way over it and as far as Faolan could see no way around it either. The cliff went on to both sides until it disappeared in the distance.

'And now?' Faolan asked more himself than anybody else.

'How would I know? This was your idea after all.' He stood there thinking. From where they were standing, the sun had long disappeared behind the mountain, although it wasn't that late yet and the sky itself was still bright.

'Well, the mountain looks as if it would never end either way. We'll have to walk around it somehow but basically, both ways are rubbish.'

'Great. You choose, genius,' Moira said and sat down on the ground. She took a few things out of her bag and started preparing her lunch.

They were sitting there until nightfall, since they didn't know where to go from there on.

Stupid mountain, Faolan thought to himself. The grass they were sitting on started glowing weakly. I wish there was a way through it, he heard a voice say in his head. The thought made him laugh. It was silly to wish a mountain away. The only thing that was really steady and could not be fought or removed by anybody was the earth with its mountains, he thought. The only way over this mountain was having wings, which neither Faolan nor Moira had.

'Look!' Moira said and jumped up. She pointed at the cliff and Faolan followed the imaginary line between her hand and what she was pointing at. It took him a while to realise what he was looking at. Where the mountain was closest to them, a glowing path made of strong roots was digging a tunnel into the stones. Faolan stared at it with his mouth open. He got up and walked closer. The roots moved like huge arms, digging even deeper into the mountain. Their light grew stronger when he touched them and he felt a power rush through him as he had never experienced before.

'That's great! If we just follow the plants, they might dig a way through to the other side for us!' he cheered.

'And why would they do that?' Moira said sceptically.

'Because we asked nicely?'

'We didn't ask...'

'Does it matter? It's our best chance!'