19. Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Nineteen
Embla
“Are you sure it’s safe?” Extending my boot clad foot, I toe the tree line and peer into the shadows. The fog that rolls out of the forest and covers my feet is slightly cooler than the air. Uncertainty found a home in my chest, and I can’t shake the fear that grips my heart. The fear of what leaving Papa behind means for him. I don’t know if he’ll be there when we return... If we’ll ever return. I didn’t want to leave him behind, but I wasn’t given another option. I just hope the student physicians are taking good care of him.
“It’s as safe as it can be,” Astrid says with a confidence I wish I could emulate.
“But what if we run into a werewolf or a vampire?” I squeak, my stomach lodging in my throat at the thought. Demendia is full of rumors about the monstrous creatures that roam our woods.
“Good thing it’s morning, and they only come out at night.” Astrid motions to the sun that is making its way into the sky. I step onto the path behind my sister as she slashes through the vines and underbrush with her sword.
A few steps into the forest and it’s like we’re swallowed whole, shrouded by fog. The trees are bare of leaves, their black and gray trunks are long and thin. Skeletal. Small thorns line the bark of the trunk as it stretches up, up, up. Branches sprout and reach for the sky, growing skinnier until they each end abruptly, cut off by the light of the sky. I turn in every direction, and all I can see is the unending sea of trunks. My breath turns shallow as I attempt to force deep inhales to quell the fear and building need to run back home. Purple vines that grow from the ground like parasitic weeds wind around the trunks and cover the ground.
The brush rustles as we make our way through. Astrid motions for me to be quiet, and I freeze, waiting for her instruction. A heartbeat passes, then another. Nothing happens, Astrid shrugs her shoulders, turning to continue our hike. When a small ball of orange and white fur comes charging out of the brush followed by a few more. My shriek shakes the trees before it falls silent as I realize the small bundles of fur are hareogs. They are small, rabbit-looking creatures that snatch flies from the sky with their tongues and have a burping croak. I read about them in secondary school. Their fur is revered across the lands as being the warmest. I can feel the blood drain from my face at the mistake I made.
“I—I thought it was a bear.” I turn to Ash who is doubled over with silent laughter written across her face. At my words, she falls to the ground clapping her hands together as she cackles.
“Whew, it's okay, Em, I needed that.” Astrid wipes her eyes with the backs of her hands, standing as soon as she is able to contain her laughter. A few giggles slip through her lips. “You need to calm down, not everything is out here to kill us.” She continues forward like nothing happened. I rub my hands over my arms, willing the goosebump that have taken up residence there to go away.
“I don’t like this.”
“We have to keep moving. If we stay still for too long they’ll find us.” She doesn’t glance in my direction as she hacks at the next cluster of vines that are blocking our path.
“We don’t know anything about life out here though,” I say. Astrid tosses the cut vines behind us with an unladylike grunt.
“We’ll figure it out, right now we need to get to where we are going.” Astrid throws the words behind her as she walks deeper into the forest.