A Blessing for the Forest

We split the watch through the night. In the morning we made our way to the village of Greendew, arriving shortly after noon. Lariss had told me that it tripled in size since the forest became hostile. It was one of the many villages on the edge of the forest that had grown with refugees. In the center of the village was a large tree that resembled an Oak with star shaped leaves.

All of the children of the Tree of the True Spirit that I had seen were either dead or the half charred one Vesta collected a sample from. In its full glory I could sense the spiritual energy coming from it. While it wasn't too powerful I felt calmer the closer I got towards it. It would definitely help alleviate tensions among villagers.

"Hey there Lariss, are you here to take care of that beast as well?" An older villager asked us as we neared the tree.

"Have there been other adventurers through her recently?" Lariss asked with concern.

"Two days ago, a group of four set out to take care of this cat-like monster. It's been taking our goats at night. We put out the quest a month ago. Is that why you're here as well?" He asked.

Most commoners wouldn't know that the Union didn't allow two adventuring parties to take the same quest. From Lariss' reaction I couldn't tell how she felt about it, but she gave the man a big smile.

"What can you tell us about the beast?" She asked.

"Oh not much that wasn't included in the quest details. We're not really sure if it has a name. About the size of a horse, black fur, and glowing yellow eyes. It runs really fast whenever it sees a human, so it hasn't harmed anyone but it has taken a bunch of goats." He said.

"What has Svanhildr had to say about it?" Lariss asked.

"Ah she's been in one of her moods again. Just told us to send a quest to the Union and say it's a C ranked one. See if you can get her out of it. She's supposed to lead us during the next festival but she just yells for us to go away." He said.

"I'll talk to her." She said.

After he left, she continued to the tree. Lariss poured a vial of water on its roots before placing her hand on the trunk and whispering a prayer. I lowered my head in reverence but didn't have a prayer to offer. In the western part of the kingdom our spirits were more animal in nature.

"Do you come through here often?" I asked when she was done.

"Now and then. My father was a forest warden of sorts. He was an A ranked adventurer that took every quest he could in the forest. We lived out of inns and traveled often between villages. So I know people in most of the villages around here." She said.

"Did something happen to him?" I asked.

Lariss was quiet for a moment. "It's not something I talk about."

"I understand." I gave her a pat on the shoulder for sympathy. I'm not the best at comforting.

"Oh, he's not dead. He just stopped being an adventurer." She said.

She definitely made it sound like he had died.

After that we headed north of the village. The Forest of Gosigronn was to the west of the village a few miles away. There weren't too many farms near the edge of the woods and those that were, had multi-colored flags along the forest near them.

We finally came to a smaller farm with a house right next to the trees. It did not have any of the flags around it but had straw effigies of different animals. I could make out a bear, wolf, and cougar in addition to two others that I couldn't recognize. One may have been a goat, the other had insect features. A small fenced in barn had a cow and a few chickens around it.

"Go away, I'm not seeing anyone right now." A voice yelled from inside the house when Lariss knocked.

"Svanhildr, I know you are expecting us." Lariss said.

The door opened and a disheveled woman with wild blonde hair stood in the doorway. "You're late." She turned and left us with the door open.

Lariss didn't seem bothered by her reaction and just followed her in. I entered right behind her. There were shelves with jars of various herbs. The table had a number of small bones and stones with runes carved into them. An open door led into a small bedroom with a ladder next to the door leading to a loft. Svanhildr had gone to a large pot in the fireplace and began adding items.

"We're less than a day late, there's no need to be rude." Lariss said.

Svanhildr stopped what she was doing and breathed in heavily. "Sorry. It's just a rough time."

"I know, but hopefully that will change when we're done." Lariss said.

"Ha, you're not the first person to say that. And where are they now?" Svanhildr went back to what she was doing but her hostility had lessened.

From the beginning I had the feeling that Lariss hadn't been telling me everything. Their little exchange confirmed it. While it bothered me that I was being left in the dark, I didn't sense any hostility from her. The soul mark on my forehead was leading me to take a risk with her.

"I've spent the last four years preparing for this. All we need now is your blessing." Lariss said.

"And what about him? Have you been preparing him for this since he was 12?" Svanhildr said.

"He meets the requirements." I'd have to get her to elaborate on what those requirements are.

"Well your life will be in his hands, so for your sake I hope you're right." Svanhildr said.

"Does that mean you'll help me without complaint?" Lariss asked.

"You know damn well I don't do anything without complaining." Svanhildr said. Lariss laughed and hugged her friend from behind.

"We'll do it first thing in the morning." Svanhildr said.

"Oh I was hoping to head in as soon as possible." Lariss said.

"You tell me you're prepared but want to enter the forest at this time of day." Svanhildr said.

"Why can't we enter now?" I decided to join in the conversation.

"Have you even discussed what the forest is like with him?" Svanhildr looked towards Lariss who avoided eye contact with her. She shook her head and went back to her pot. "Because you want to spend as few nights in there as possible. Leaving in the morning gives you the most time."

There was something in her tone that made me think that wasn't the full answer. I needed to ask better questions the next time I joined someone else's quest, soul make or not.

"Then I guess we're going to have to stay the night." Lariss said.

"If you are then you'll need to put in some work. I'm already giving you my blessing for free." Svanhildr said.

I soon found myself chopping firewood while Lariss went to feed the animals. Shortly after Svanhildr started pulling some herbs and other plants from a nearby garden. Out of the corner of my eye I kept catching her looking at me. When I was done she brought me a cup of water.

"If you were smart you'd leave in the middle of the night." Svanhildr said.

"Do you think that would stop her from going in alone?" I replied.

"She's on a path of death either way. There's no reason for you to join her." She said.

"I don't suppose you'd let me know why?" I said.

"If she hasn't told you then I'm not going to either. But why follow her to your death?" She asked.

"Would you believe me if I said I had a dream about it?" I said.

She gave me a skeptical look as she squinted her eyes at me. The longer she looked the more intense her look became. Her stance shifted from a passive one to an aggressive one. A chill entered my heart as I felt a power coming from her. My auras began to circulate as I prepared to pull my sword out of my storage ring.

"Who are you?" She said.

"I'm Wilmaer, a D ranked adventurer that's here to help your friend." I replied.

"A D ranked adventurer, don't make me laugh. Someone with your spiritual energy, just happens to come to a place like this, at a time like this." She said.

"She approached me about coming here. Though I have found that fate tends to throw me where it wants to." I said.

I could see her weighing my response. As she retracted her power, her demeanor relaxed but there was still a weariness when she looked at me. The chill in my heart also lessened.

"So you're a spiritualist." I hoped to change the subject away from me.

What she said about my spirit was similar to what Floriana had said. There weren't many people with strong spiritual powers outside the Church of the Holy Light. My family weren't followers of the church, so I had very little interaction with those with spiritual powers.

"I don't hide behind other titles. I'm a witch." She said.

It was my turn to tense in surprise. This world had a complicated history with witches. Centuries ago witches led many villages and cities in their spiritual practices. Then about two hundred years ago a line of witches caused chaos and tried to take control of the kingdom. The Church of the Holy Light led a crusade against them. It was similar to the witch hunts I remembered from Earth.

Had they ended their campaign after the Nlorthen witches went into hiding, they may have been able to become the only dominant religion in the kingdom. But they continued killing witch bloodlines wherever they could, alienating the people who saw them as holy beings. In response more bloodlines went into hiding and turned to revenge.

It ended when the Church went after the wife of one of the princes. When the prince refused to give her up, their holy knights raided his castle and killed everyone there. The rift between the church and nobility has never fully healed. They only survived as an organization because the Holy Father at the time rounded up those responsible for the massacre and handed them over to the king.

Witches' powers came from their bloodlines and were given to them by powerful spiritual beings. They couldn't replace their lost numbers easily and were replaced as religious leaders by others, including the priests of the Holy Light. To this day attitudes towards them were mixed. The Church of the Holy Light would continue to blame any disaster on them, including the Years of Sorrow.

"Feel free to leave if you want." Svanhildr said.

"I'm sorry for my reaction. I shouldn't have allowed the misdeeds of others to affect how I treat you." I said.

She was taken back by my apology. The Osgar family suffered greatly from the Nlorthen witches. My father never had a nice thing to say about witches and there were a few curses about them that were specific to the Western province.

"It's time for me to prepare supper." She took her herbs and went back into her home.

"So, you've had dreams about me?" I turned around to find Lariss giving me a playful smile.