The Harrowed Half-Breed: A Tarnished Lands Story (Forgotten Woods Book 1)

Loose Ends

~Barne~

For the next couple weeks, Barne found himself commissioned with the quest of recovering fallen pits from the battlefields. Hoger wanted an army and he needed Barne to assemble the recruits, as he was invisible to the reaping cloud.

Barne started to understand his folk side more as he inspected the pits he gathered. Depending on how cracked they were, he could determine how old they were. Each had a unique color and texture that might be overlooked by the naked eye.

The whole camp was working hard to expand the nursery in preparation for the upcoming war.

The moon was nearly a sliver in the sky, when he was approached by Merim. "You were always a healthy eater," he said, standing behind Barne in the rations line.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing. I have a job for you."

Barne wondered why everyone wanted to use him for their errands, like he was a piece of their property. "I'm busy enough collecting pits."

Merim forcefully pulled Barne out of line. "I wasn't asking for your opinion."

"What do you want?"

"Tomorrow, I need you to find the albino tree, and cut me off a piece of its bark. About this size," he instructed, stretching his hands about a foot apart. "Can you do that for me?"

"I suppose. What do I get out of it?"

"Your supper." Merim pushed back in line, taking Barne's rations along with his own—just like old times.

The next day, Barne had finished his sweep early, only having found three old pits. Since he had extra time, he decided to search for this "albino tree."

Because he had never seen such a tree, he decided to search an entirely new section of the forest—one that had never been part of a past conflict—and sure as rain, he found it.

The albino tree looked exotic and pure. Although, despite its color, it didn't look much different than the rest of the oaks.

Not one for questioning, Barne took out his digging spade and chiseled away at the bark. He took off a piece about the size Merim had instructed.

Clouds rolled overhead, making the forest dark and ominous.

He didn't know if it was a coincidence or his guilt imagining false signs. Nevertheless, he collected the bark and finished his daily quest, twice as hungry as normal.

Barne went straight to Merim's cleft, bark in hand, hoping to recover his rations from the previous night.

"Merim?" he called out.

No one answered.

It appeared he wasn't there. Through the window, he spied evidence that Merim had, in fact, already eaten both their meals.

"Figures."

He was about to leave when he heard a sound coming from inside the cleft. He rushed straight to the back of the room, hoping to find Merim...and he did. Merim was stuck to the wall, a stone sword pinning him there.

"Merim, are you okay?" Barne pulled the sword out of Merim's chest and caught him in his arms. His folk blood spilled on the floor.

"Hoger. He is..." He died in his arms, right then and there.

Barne took the weapon and dislodged Merim's pit from his body. Once removed, his body instantly turned into a husk.

He rushed it over to the nursery. "I found one more, Nanis," he said handing him the bright green pit.

"I thought you were..." Nanis stopped himself upon seeing it. "What happened?"

"I think Merim got on Hoger's bad side."

"No, I cannot accept this. Hoger is very specific about allowing his enemies to be reborn."

"You said they come back different?"

"Those are his rules. Not mine," he said, pushing the pit back at Barne.

"I want to save everyone. I'm not going to play favorites."

"Fine, you want to save him, you do it." Nanis went back to digging fresh holes.

Looking around the nursery, Barne watched a youngling crawl out of its mound for the first time. Covered in dirt, it looked soft and magnificent. Its cry immediately alerted a folk who swept up the babe in its arms.

Barne surreptitiously dropped Merim's pit into the mound and covered it, leaving a tiny hole for the moonlight to penetrate the pit.

Good, now I can sleep tonight.

Barne made his way back to Nanis. There must have been thousands of pits growing in the new nursery.

"I'm glad I didn't see where you put it. Merim and I didn't quite get along," Nanis admitted.

"I don't think he got along with anyone."

"I was going to ask you, how did you come across his body?"

"He wanted me to fetch him this..." Barne explained while taking out the white bark.

"Put that away! Where did you get that?"

"From the albino tree," he reluctantly said, shoving the bark back inside his pack.

"I know where it came from. Why do you have it?"

"Merim said..."

"Come with me," Nanis whispered, putting his arm around Barne as he led him to a quiet alcove.

"The albino is the first of all trees. It holds magical properties linked to each bloodline. And if Merim wanted it, then he was up to no good."

"Can I use it to help, somehow?"

"Absolutely not. It's forbidden to take from the white."

"But I already took from the white."

"Well, put it back."

Barne knew that Nanis was much more stressed than usual. Building this army was leaving him with very little time to sleep.

"I will take it back tomorrow."

Nanis let out a sigh, "That's a relief to hear. One thing..."

"Yeah?" Barne said, looking at the old folk's doleful face.

"I'm sorry about betraying you. I..."

"No, let's not do this right now. We all have done things we can't take back."

"Stop. Please, I need to say this."

"Okay."

"Call me selfish, but I couldn't live with myself after what I had done. Every night I contemplated taking my own life. The only thing that kept me alive was hoping someday...I could make it right by the forest and by you. Seeing you again made me feel as if the forest had granted my request. That's why I've been working so hard, to make right by you."

Without warning, Barne embraced his old friend as if he were still a little folkling. The feeling was the same—safe, warm and loving. "You've already made right by me, old friend...and then some."