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

Chapter 14: The slow race

Together, they carefully climbed down the cliff. Sometimes they reached parts were the path had crumbled and every time that happened, tiny plants that were growing out of the cliff started glowing in a green light and soon built a handrail the twins could hold on to while they were climbing down. This way, they reached the forest at the bottom in the middle of the afternoon.

Exhausted and unable to keep on their feet any longer, the twins sat down on the ground and breathed heavily. Only now, Faolan noticed how hungry he was, so he took some bread and ate it hurriedly even though it had gone hard. Moira ate a little too and they both drank from their waterskins. As soon as they'd regained their strength, they got up and walked through the forest to the river in the east.

There they filled up their water supplies and gazed at the river in amazement. It was much broader than they could have imagined, at least three times as broad as the one the little creatures had helped them cross. Then the twins walked on, following the river as closely as possible.

At times, they had to bypass rock formations which appeared to be too loose to climb. Faolan distracted himself from all his worries by watching his steps and looking out for Moira from time to time.

The fact that they had to walk even though Faolan would have preferred to run was nearly driving him crazy. They were as close to the bridge as never before but they were running out of time. However, there was still a long way to go and they'd need their strength, so, against all logic, running would have only slowed them down.

When darkness fell over the lands, Faolan begged Moira to keep going and so they did. As soon as the darkness was complete, the glowing reappeared. It was blue again and that reassured Faolan a lot. When they ran into some bushes with berries, he ate the tiny fruits quickly. Moira watched him suspiciously, but then she couldn't resist the sweet berries either.

They picked more than they could eat right away and walked on, eating berries whenever a clicking sound from the forest around them scared them.

Soon there were no berries left and they crouched down by the riverside to wash their hands. When Faolan touched the cold water, he saw uncountable eyes looking at him from deep down. Then they all blinked simultaneously. Faolan quickly withdrew his hand, walked a few steps further down and washed himself there. Like before, Moira observed him before she started washing her hands as well.

When they walked on through the darkness, they met creatures of the night. None of them harmed them, but all of them glowed in different tones of blue. When a small birdlike creature sat down on Moira's outstretched hand, its colour changed from bright blue to pure gold and then levelled out to the green of fresh grass.

The twins watched it in amazement but the bird soon leaped off Moira's hand and disappeared into the forest, turning blue again. They stood there for a moment, staring into the night.

'Why would anybody consider such abilities to be dangerous?' asked Moira as they walked on.

'Well, we kind of made a forest dig a tunnel through a huge mountain for us... I think that could be considered dangerous,' Faolan replied thoughtfully.

'But why? It could be really useful. People would be able to travel much faster and trade would be easier, too,' she said.

'Now you sound like Father... Imagine there's a war at hand and your enemies could walk through tunnels that would be able to form just about anywhere. The world would end in chaos,' he explained.

'Faolan?' said Moira after a while. 'If you are able to make the forest dig a tunnel through a mountain, can't you get the plants to make a bridge across this river? After all, this forest grows blue, too,' she added.