Chapter 11

The forest on the other side captured her attention no matter what she did. It had drawn her attention as she had looked through the bag, to see what Raven had packed for her. She couldn´t look away as she was eating the dry bread and drinking the water from the river. It became such a problem to look away, that she decided that there was no way she was setting up her camp nearby.

"I must be going crazy", she laughed at herself as she put down her bag beside a tree that would shield her presence with its low-hanging branches. Even though she tried to keep herself distracted, her line of sight constantly wandered back to the runes in the tree across from her.

Ava crossed her legs as she sat down with her back against the tree, and her line of sight directly aligned with the runes. She brought forward her bracelet once again and brushed her fingers over the small carvings as she looked at the runes.

She had no idea how she could figure out what the runes meant. Nothing made any sense. She would have to get to a library in a town to find out what the runes meant, and the only library in a miles radius is the one back in her hometown. In the same hometown where everyone wanted her dead.

Her gaze broke away from the bracelet as she heard a branch crack further down the forest, from the other side. She got up on her feet, preparing to sprint away if it was a wild animal, or if there was someone on the hunt for her. Her gaze wandered about the thick forest, where the trees stood so close to one another that she could barely see in front of her.

The sunlight could barely break through the top of the trees, even though it was shining brightly down at the river beside her. She listened in on the complete silence which had tucked over the forest. There wasn´t a single sound for a few seconds. The forest had turned completely silent as there were no sounds of animals, birds, the wind rustling in the trees or, the river moving along.

Her gut dropped, which made her turn around to look behind her in paranoia. The eerie feeling of someone's gaze lingering on her, made her heart pound. Her gaze quickly wandered about as she looked all around her, even though she couldn´t see anything or anyone. The trees blocked out whoever or whatever was watching her, and the realization made her sick.

With trembling limbs, she quickly collected everything she had brought into the forest, before heading down to the riverside. Her gut was all over the place; it told her not to stay on this side of the river, but also told her to stay away from the other side.

After sending another glance over her shoulder, and into the forest which grew darker, colder, and more unwelcoming by the second - she stepped into the river. With a few quick and long steps, she crossed the river. She didn´t notice until her feet landed on the other side, how the cold water had been biting at her toes. Not that she paid her aching feet any attention.

Her entire focus lay on the other side of the forest, where the trees were now swaying alongside the non-existing wind. As the first bird chirped above her head, she jumped, taken completely off guard. Even though she barely dared to look away from the haunting forest on the other side, she glanced around herself.

Here, she could feel the warmth of the sun, hear the sounds of the branches swaying and hear the wildlife thriving. A new life had been breathed into the forest, just by moving across the river. As she looked back to the other side, it had gone back to normal. There was no eerie darkness threatening to swallow her whole. No non-existing wind. Nothing. It was the same forest she had attempted to settle down by.

A low huff escaped her as she realized that she might be borderline crazy at this point. There was no natural explanation as to why the forest had gotten a life on its own. Ava glanced around at the forest, and once again found herself staring at the runes carved into the branches of the trees. Without thinking, she reached out for the closest tree and brushed her fingers over the runes.

The wood felt coarse and rough under her fingers, yet, it was a familiar pattern. It was one of the same runes she had traced over on her bracelet, which immediately let her know that the trees and the bracelet were connected somehow. She had no idea why or how yet. As she looked around, every single tree she could see was covered in the runes.

If she could have known what they meant, it would have made her life a lot easier. She could easily see what some of them represented, others she had no idea. The one she had touched earlier was a moon, others had arrows pointing in each direction ahead, some were swirls that made no sense to her and some swirls had sharper edges than the rest.

As she looked around, she realized that she had no idea where to go next. Her gut told her nothing as to which direction to head for next. Normally, she would rely on her instincts, but they were now nonexistent. She was an innocent lamb standing in front of a wolf that hadn´t eaten in days and had no survival instincts whatsoever.

Even though she had no idea where to go, the forest seemed to give her the direction to go towards. Once again, behind her, the forest seemed to close in, shutting out all the light, as it did to both her left and right. The only place where the sun still came through the treetops and lit up the ground was straight ahead. Once again, there was no reasonable explanation as to why the forest would have a life on its own, yet it was determined to get Ava on the move.