024 – The Green Wood – Part 1 –

Uriel leapt after the bird and the white and black mare ran by his side.

They bounded through the open terrain at the fastest pace their tired bodies would allow, chasing after the bird, but they were merely dwellers of the land, while the bird was a dweller of the sky.

As the bird pulled out of view Uriel didn't despair he could see the direction the bird was heading in, and in the distance, there was a large hill and some trees.

The landmarks made it easier for him to navigate, over the past week he had ended up walking in full circles in areas where the land was especially flat without any notable differences from one place to the next.

It forced him to learn how to memorize landmarks and imprint them in his mind.

After getting a baring for the direction the bird was heading in he slowed down and watched as the sun started to sink below the horizon, the trees that he could see were quickly disappearing from his line of sight.

So in order to keep himself from straying he decided to set up camp where he was, it was another long night in the biting cold, but Uriel comforted himself with the thoughts of the coming day.

When he thought of the bird his face couldn't help but twist into a sheepish grin as he imagined catching it and eating some nice soft and juicy meat.

He curled up with Zeresha and pulled his cloak as tight as he could against himself, with each passing night the cold was only getting worse, it was the month of Iona, and usually by the end of this month he would bring out the blanket for Zeresha and Lopper to sleep with.

Uriel woke up earlier as usual and went through his usual routine of gathering water, but something strange happened this morning.

Cooooo.

Cooooo.

Cooooo.

He heard the sound of birds cooing in the distance, he couldn't tell how far away it was, only that it was echoing throughout the land.

When the sun started to climb up the sounds grew and Uriel looked in the direction of the sound, it was coming from the same general direction that the bird from the day before had gone.

Uriel grinned and got Zeresha up, for what felt like the first time in forever he didn't feel the need to convince himself to get up and move.

Eventually, he reached the hill from the day before and climbed up the short slope to get a view of what lay ahead.

Soon he could see a vibrant green canopy of trees covering everything in sight from the north to the south, there wasn't an area in sight that was not a luscious green.

But the sight of it did little to reassure Uriel, in fact, it did quite the opposite because now he knew where he was, at least in a sense.

It was The Green Wood Forest, had he wanted to come to the forest he could have set a course for it, and with certainty, he would have reached it.

As the Green Wood Forest encompassed almost half of the middle lands, it was quite hard to miss, and it was teeming with life which in this case was not a good thing.

The Green Wood Forest was home to all kinds of beasts and plant life as well as abominations, creatures that were not natural, and it was also home to druidic tribes.

Uriel would have been happy for any human contact, but the druids were notorious for being vicious against people who wandered into the forest, and it was said that they would cast curses on anyone who disrespected the forest.

More than one tale spoke of how the druids eat the flesh of those who dare to trespass on their territory.

Uriel had been to the forest three times in his life, during the frost the men would get bored of sitting at home all the time without anything to do and they would come into the Green Wood for a hunt.

They would track down a deer an ox and a springbok, that was the goal, to capture one of each and bring them back to the village where the entire village would have a feast with the meat.

It was during one such expedition that Uriel learned of his Eldrin powers, he had accidentally gotten separated from the group, and while he was on his own the ox they were hunting came upon him.

He could have sworn that he was going to die on that day when the ox was upon him he passed out and when he awoke an entire acre of the forest had been leveled.

Trees were uprooted and flung throughout the land and numerous fissures had torn open everywhere.

It was a miracle that no one had died due to his powers as for the ox it either escaped or got swallowed by the earth, which one… Uriel didn't have a clue.

But after his explosion the men decided to call the trip short and left the forest, afraid that the druids might attack them for what had happened.

Uriel didn't want to chance going into the forest, as there was a lot more than just wild deer and other free meat, there were wolves and prowlers and all other kinds of strange beasts, not to mention the deadly plant life.

He'd heard of a vine plant that could catch a cow and squeeze the life out of it, and he did not want to run the risk of getting himself or Zeresha caught in such a trap.

"Well girl what should we do?" he asked stroking her head with uncertainty.

The forest was dangerous but then he didn't know where else to go, he had been wandering around blindly for a week, the forest might have been dangerous but at the same time what made it dangerous also made it possible for him to survive.

It was full of life, even from here he could see several bushes with berries and trees with fruit of red and purple colors, there was life everywhere and Uriel longed to have a full belly.

Zeresha nudged his head with her muzzle knocking him in the direction of the forest, giving him a look with her large innocent eyes.

"Alright girl, let's go, with a forest so large there has got to be a lot of water," he said getting up, he knew that the amount of water she had been getting each day was very little compared to usual.

It was just enough for her to get by, but she was already starting to show signs of malnutrition in her coat of black and white fur.

As they drew closer to the tree line a gap opened naturally between the forest and the edge of the open terrain, a gap in which nothing seemed to grow.

Uriel looked down at the earth finding it to be oddly dry and there were numerous holes scattered throughout the patch of land, but right across this gap he could see a bush filled with berries and a tree with fruit.

"Ngggghhhhhhh!!!!" suddenly Zeresha started to get a little frantic and skittish.

"Come on girl, the food is right over there," Uriel patted her head trying to comfort her, when suddenly he felt a sudden pain explode in his leg.

"Ahhhhhh!" Uriel shouted in pain as he looked down and his eyes went wide as he saw a long snake with its long body creeping out of a hole in the sand, the body of the snake was as thick as his thighs and its mouth was locked onto his shin.

Uriel fell to the ground behind him he could still hear Zeresha moving about frantically.

A second later the snake pulled back its head to reveal its two large fangs and on the tips of each fang was a greenish substance.

Uriel looked at his leg with a rising heartbeat and he could see a wicked green poison filling his wound, causing his leg to rapidly swell.

The snake looked up at him with its small eyes trained on his and tilted its head in a manner that looked as if it was mocking him.

Uriel pulled one of the cooking knives from his belt and lunged for the snake, but at the last second it whipped to the side dodging him.

Uriel looked around with desperation for anything that could help him out of his situation when he noticed that the snake had wrapped itself around his leg.

As he felt his vision blurring Uriel lunged down at the body of the snake and using his full strength he cut into the thick body of the creature, but at that exact same moment, the snake lunged for his neck.

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