Eternal Forest: Eternal Forest Saga - Prequel

Chapter 6

Once the rush was over, once the overwhelming joy of finding her parents alive subsided, Shimmer's emotions dropped back down to a harsh and confusing reality. She had found them in some impossible corner of the wild woods outside the village, but the strange tree-woman who led her to them still remained a mystery.

Shimmer could still remember the way she looked vividly: like flora made flesh, able to walk among the creatures of the forest. As her parents walked with her back to the village, she glanced back at that small birch over and over, watching to see if the woman changed her form again. When she saw nothing of the sort, she started to wonder if she had been going mad.

The tree-woman aside, there were other things weighing on her mind as well as on the collective minds of the whole village. The midday sun cast beams of light through the foliage above, illuminating every detail of the carnage and destruction that had befallen Moon-hollow. Discolored corpses lay scattered about the blood-stained dirt. Homes were reduced to splinters and debris was flung about the village. The community was ruined, the people were dead, the harvest was gone, and all hope seemed lost.

Her hands and feet were full of splinters as she helped the rest of the elven villagers clean up the pieces of their broken lives. Her dress, the most beautifully elegant garment she'd ever worn, was torn and stained with a smeared mixture of blood and dirt. Her hair, once cleaned, brushed, and braided magnificently, resembled a bird's nest at the end of the spring. She was a walking manifestation of her village: a beautiful thing suddenly destroyed, leaving behind a tarnished and mangled shadow of its former self.

"Shimmer!" Snowflake shouted.

Shimmer looked up from the pile of broken branches she was hunched over. The pile had once been the home of a dear neighbor, but they would have no more need of it now that they had gone to be with the Lady. Rising from her knees, she was back on her feet just in time to receive the warm embrace of her best friend.

"I heard you found them," Snowflake said as she wrapped her arms around Shimmer's upper body. "Lady be blessed."

"I guess we were lucky," Shimmer responded. It was hard to feel anything other than guilt when the death toll for the whole territory was considered. She was relieved, yes, but her fortune also brought with it the jealous looks of those around her who mourned over the bodies of their fallen family members. It kept her and Snowflake from outwardly showing their joy that their families had survived. After all, there was nothing truly happy about any of this.

"Have the elders said anything yet?" Shimmer asked. Rosewood and the tribe elders had been meeting privately ever since the sun came up. As the elves worked to pick up the pieces, they waited with anxious anticipation for any words of sense, direction, or assurance from their leaders.

Snowflake shook her head. "None of them have even returned from the Wilds. They likely won't decide anything until Valdin and the others get back."

Shimmer let out a long exhale as she shut her eyes tight. Valdin; she had gone all morning not giving that dreaded human another thought. Her mind had been too preoccupied with death, destruction, and strange women turning into trees. At the mention of his name, all those thoughts and feelings she'd finally managed to stave off came flooding back. "By Lady's grace, I hope I never see that dreadful Harmonious again," she said.

A flurry of motion off in the distance caught Snowflake's attention. Her head rose just in time to see several familiar faces emerge from the foliage. She sighed. "It seems her grace for you has run out."

Shimmer turned just as Valdin stepped from behind a wide tree trunk and onto the debris-covered ground. The other Harmonious, along with the elven army sent after the hoard, filed into the village in clusters, some dragging the bags full of harvest behind them.