A Nymph of the Ossian Forest

The Bogs

 "I don't like how it smells."

"Me neither. Shame on you, Ain!"

"Shut up!" Ain punched his twin, "I'm talking about the bogs!"

I couldn't but agree with him. The further we went, the heavier the air was. Green colored puddles around us dispersed stale smell, like a cellar that hadn't been opened for many years. I tried to stay on dry ground, but with the next step my foot bogged down into the muck. Indeed, these were the real bogs and they stretched as far as eyes could see.

"Is there a bypass?" Fin asked hopefully, and I found myself wishing I had Kalista's map. Or, Caereni map, to be precise.

Aidan, who led the procession, shook his head. He looked very concentrated, just as I had imagined he was during hunting. This wasn't your average hunt, I thought, but still, I had to admit he has been doing well by far.

"This is the shortest way. I don't think they will go through bogs, so we have a chance to intercept them. And please," his voice sounded simultaneous with a loud splash – Ain had just stepped into the bog. "Mind your step."

I remembered what my father told me about the origins of the bogs. It was a mossy wetland, preserving the water it received from rain and snow. There were bogs in fields, but they were usually dried for agriculture and we didn't see many of them in our daily lives. Here, hidden from the direct sunbeams and undisturbed by people, they thrived, covering many acres in acidic water filled with spongy peat. Only thin stripes of dry land were left, and that's how we proceeded forward. However, I still felt that we were literally swimming in the bog. Transparent vapor rose from the moss-covered surface, making you want to climb up one of the trees in search for fresh air. I had even heard that some bogs could make you hallucinate, and it wasn't hard to believe once you found yourself in the middle of it.

"If you light the peat up," Fin said, "You can have a nice fire! Dad told me this," He added.

"Don't even try this among the trees," Aidan said. "The fire takes off easily and you can have the entire forest on fire in several hours."

Fin exchanged glances with his brother, and then with me. "He is such a bore," he mouthed, and the twins giggled silently, making me want to laugh, too.

I couldn't but agree with them.

"Do you guys know Mina?" I asked in a low voice, climbing on a moss-covered tree stump. I didn't know why I whispered, but the entire atmosphere of the bogs and Aidan's presence made me feel like it. Besides, it gave an amusing feeling of conspiracy with the twins.

"That little dumpling? Of course, she was always hanging around with her sister. They didn't realize at once that she had disappeared as well, but when they did, everyone just started to freak out."

"Someone even said a monster lives in the Ossian lake and eats girls when they walk in the forest alone at night," Ain added. "I suggested they should go and check it themselves."

I chuckled. It certainly sounded like Ossian people. Believing in forest tales had always been easy for them. For me it still wasn't, despite that I had a little more evidence.

"What was she doing in the forest, Arian?" Aidan asked. I shrugged.

"She said she was bored back home and curious. She wanted to see everything with her own eyes." I decided not to add she was especially curious about what I was going to do.

"Girls, huh?" Fin hit his brother on the shoulder. "If she could hold her curiosity, we wouldn't be here now, up to our knees in bogs."

"If someone could keep a secret, we wouldn't be here at all," I said it in low voice but made sure Aidan was close enough to hear.