4 Entering the Wood (4)

Caeli had been in the forest for hours by the time she happened to find a good place to camp. She found a tree with a wide hollow base where the root system had lifted itself off of the ground.

Caeli tethered the horse to a nearby low hanging branch and began collecting firewood to start a fire.

She had never gone this far into the forest before. The Fae had always given her warnings, to never wander too far from the human village. Her Fae friends were honest and open about the fact that some Fae were not as friendly as others.

Once she had built a fire and made camp she attempted to eat but she lacked the appetite. She knew she needed the strength but her heart was broken. Although she had few friends, the ones that she had were very dear to her and all in one day they were gone. The spirits and Demetri, her kind friends who had always loved her despite who she was, she would never see them again.

She mindlessly poked the fire when she heard a commotion in the bushes to her right. Her heart began to race. She slowly turned her head to look in the direction the noise was coming from. A rabbit jumped out from the foliage and looked around frantically then jumped off.

It was going to be a long journey if everything was going to terrify her. She would have to work on that.

She wrapped herself in her mothers cloak and laid back against the tree. Maybe she will get somewhere tomorrow, or run into a group of wizards.

*If I could be so lucky*, she thought sardonically to herself.

"Let's hope." Caeli whispered to herself before drifting into sleep.

The next morning she awoke to a whisper that was similar to the sound of wind blown leaves. Caeli's eyes snapped open, ready to confront whatever it was that she had heard. She laid her hand to rest on the knife by her side and tried not to move while taking in her surroundings.

The fire had gone out a couple of hours before and was barely smoking from the remnants of the coals. The gelding was nervously flicking his tail and swiveling his ears back and forth.

Something was coming.

Quickly, and as quietly as possible, Caeli stood to her feet. She brandished the knife in her hand and widened her stance. She knew next to nothing about fighting but she had read a book on different techniques that could be used. Her minds pages flipped frantically as she searched for the information.

*Bend your knees, just a bit now, not too much. Arms up, be ready. What else?...*, she thought to herself, her breathe quickening.

Directly across form the fire she saw the movement of the bushes and determined that was where the noise must be coming from. As she stood waiting, anticipating, the noise became louder, and as it approached, she realized it was more like hissing.

A cold sweat broke out onto her forehead. She had once met a snake beast that lived in the forest. The local creatures had warned her that they were cold and unfeeling. They had no remorse for their prey and although they tended to be solitary creatures, they controlled the other snakes in their territory. The beast man she had encountered that day, she had never forgotten. He had been bigger than most of the beasts she had encountered in the forest. With the upper body of a man and the lower half of a snake, he had been fast and strong. She had also been told that most of them were poisonous. If she encountered him without the forest acquaintances she had made at the time, she would have been killed without question.

She waited.

And waited.

The noise continued but nothing came forth. She moved towards the bushes, glancing at the ground as she laid each foot, avoiding dry branches and crinkling leaves to the best of her ability.

As she approached she gently parted the leaves and branches to see that there was a circle of snakes, all black and brown and green surrounding what looked like a significantly smaller snake in the center.

The snake being surrounded was the smallest but undoubtedly the most beautiful, covered in golden scales and with bright red eyes it cowered as the other snakes snapped their jaws at it.

Caeli stared in confusion, why would the snakes be attacking one of their own?

As she stood there she realized the snakes were talking.

"He will expose us all!"

"He's a danger, he can't be hidden and he's to small to fight, he must be eliminated"

Caeli stepped forward.

"Leave the child alone." She said as confidently as possible. She pointed her knife at the snakes. It was not long ago these same sentiments were aimed at her.

"Stay out of it human."

The golden snake stared up at her with his head bowed. Ever so slightly he was trembling.

Caeli stepped forward into the center of their circle and scooped the small snake into one hand. He was only about a foot long. He meekly glanced at her and made himself as small as possible. Anger rushed through Caeli. He had to be a child and already he was being bullied and cast out.

Fire in her veins, she whirled on the group of snakes.

"His coloring will give us away. Since his birth we can hardly feed ourselves. Every mouse, every frog sees him beneath the brush and flees before we have a chance to catch them."

The snakes moved closer and closer, tongues flicking in the air, lifting their upper bodies higher and higher attempting to be more threatening.

"I will take the child. In exchange he will no longer threaten your nest and its inhabitants."

The snakes suddenly stopped. Each of them still as statues suddenly.

"We could eat him. You would be depriving us of a meal, human." The snakes moved forward again.

"If I leave behind some of my fruit as bait for mice and frogs will you let me take him?" The small snake lifted his head to look at her directly his stare seemingly desperate and confused as his head tilted to one side.

Silence fell for a few moments. If the snakes were communicating with each other, Caeli was unable to discern so.

"It will be done." Said the largest snake with black and brown scales. "You will leave the bait and you will leave our territory and not bring him again.", he hissed.

Caeli nodded sharply. She walked back to her campsite and sifted through her bag. She grabbed the majority of the apples she had brought and tossed them at the snakes. Without another word she walked back to the horse and prepared to continue her journey.

The golden snake sat silently in her hand staring at her.

"Would you like to be set down or put into my pocket? I apologize but I need both hands to ready my things for our journey.", she said with a slight frown. She dare not put him down lest the nest decide to break their word.

The golden snake nodded once and slithered up her arm and over her shoulder. Caeli's heart started to beat quickly. She had never had a snake so close to her let alone on her body... nearing her neck.

The snake wrapped itself once, then twice around her neck so as to rest his head on her shoulder. She looked down at him and he up at her.

"Is this ok?", asked the snake.

Caeli was shocked, at first she wasn't sure if the snake would be able to talk as he hadn't said anything the entire altercation with the other snakes.

"Are you comfortable?", she said swallowing a lump in her throat. The question had came out as a croak. Although Caeli had always had a place for creatures in her heart, and snakes were no different, she did not know if he was venomous or if he truly would be kind to her and not hurt her. What did she have to lose?

The golden snake nodded shyly, and looked as if he was smiling.

Caeli furrowed her brow. Snakes couldn't smile, could they?

She nodded and went to work putting out the few hot coals and gathering her things.

What a strange way to start a journey, she thought to herself.

"Off we go then." She said to her companions, a horse and a snake. She gently urged her mount towards the north. Towards Flumen. Towards new beginnings.