Through the Portal

Everyone woke early, the next morning, eager to get started. Even though Katherine had made it clear that the forest was dangerous, she’d also said it would bring them close to the Blue Palace, which was what everyone wanted most.

“Make sure to refill your water bottles out here and pack several pieces of fruit,” she told them as they prepared to leave, “There won’t be anything to eat or drink in the forest and we will be there for, at least, three days, possibly four.”

William chewed a bit of nimbus weed for his ankle, but was relieved to find his back didn’t hurt much. He felt incredibly grateful to Katherine for that. He shouldered his satchel, the same as the others, and followed after them, not even limping.

Katherine stopped them right in front of the forest, still hesitant to enter. She turned back to the group one more time. “Keep close together. We can’t afford to get separated in here, especially at night, understand?”

They nodded, nobody daring to ask for clarification. With any luck, they wouldn’t find out what there was to be afraid of in the woods. Josie took William’s hand, her eyes wide. He gave it a squeeze and smiled at her. “Don’t worry. It will be okay.”

She nodded and moved closer, expecting William to protect her, should anything bad happen.

Once she was satisfied that they all had their guards up, Katherine led the way into the trees, which grew thickly together. There was hardly any distinguishable path and, without the guardian, they would easily have become permanently lost in the forest. It quickly grew dark as the branches above them tangled together, creating a thick canopy to block out the light. The further they went, the darker it got because the close-growing trees blocked the light that followed them in.

“Might be a good time to start glowing,” Jake suggested, trying to cover his nerves.

“If I glow, it will be a beacon for every hungry animal in this forest.” Katherine looked around, although only her silhouette could be seen. She whistled a tune and tiny lights appeared throughout the woods; on the trees and in the grass. In the darkness, they looked like stars. She looked back at the surprised faces and smiled. “Star snails. They light up the forest when encouraged.”

“Well, I guess that explains the name of these woods,” Meredith commented. “It’s really beautiful.”

Josie was looking around with wide eyes, her nervousness forgotten. William made sure he had a good hold on her hand.

“Tread carefully,” Katherine warned, “You don’t want something sneaking up on you, here.” She led them down a path that only she could see. They stepped over rocks and roots, glad for the light to warn them. Every now and then, she’d have to whistle the tune and encourage more snails to light the way. Something jumped in front of them, looking like a frog, at first glance, but covered in dark fur. It chirped and hopped away, not interested in the humans.

Josie giggled at the animal. “That was cute.”

William smiled down at the child, but still didn’t relax his hold on her hand. If Katherine said the woods were dangerous, he was inclined to believe her.

At one point, she stopped the group and held up a hand for silence. She looked to the side and the others followed her gaze to some bushes where the light of the star snails reflected off huge, cat-like eyes. They expected Katherine to tell them to run and braced themselves. Instead, she knelt before the creature and encouraged them to do the same, although the rest of the group suspected they would probably be eaten. She spoke, softly, to the unseen beast. “I am Katherine, guardian of Mirra. These are my travelling companions. We seek safe passage through the forest and mean no harm to any creature here.”

Meredith wondered if the girl was insane, trying to reason with an animal like that. However, she remained silent, praying it would work.

After several agonizing minutes, the creature slunk away into the forest, having decided not to attack them. There was a collective sigh of relief from the group and Henry looked at Katherine. “You can talk to animals?”

She nodded. “A gift of the guardian. I can communicate with any sentient being.” She stood and looked at them. “Before you ask, the wyrm that attacked you when you first got here and the lizard in the tunnel would not have listened because they were very hungry. They were far from home and frightened, so communicating with them wouldn’t have worked. Also, don’t count on me to be able to convince every creature in this forest not to attack us. That will only work on the ones who are willing to be reasoned with. Some will see our mere presence as a threat and some will harm us for sport. That’s why we have to get out of this forest as quickly as possible.”

The rest of the group stood and nodded, following her as she began walking again. They looked around, warily, constantly afraid of meeting a less agreeable creature in the forest. They understood why she was so hesitant to bring them through it and hoped they could all make it out, safely. She barely let them stop to eat and there was no time for training. They walked as quickly as they could and William had to take another nimbus leaf to keep his ankle from slowing him down. Even Josie seemed to be warier after meeting the creature in the bushes. She held tightly to William’s hand, not daring to let go.

He looked around at the trees and plants, noticing that, while they were all covered in leaves, there was no sign of any fruit or mushrooms. He remembered Katherine warning them that nothing in the forest would be edible. They hadn’t even passed a stream on their path, although he was certain there had to be one. Even if it was a magical forest, there had to be water somewhere within it. He couldn’t believe the plants all grew without it.

It felt late in the evening when they set up camp, although, it was difficult to tell without any light. Henry looked at Katherine. “Do your powers work in this forest, even though you can’t see the lights?”

“They still aren’t quite as strong as they are in the open air, but I should be able to use my magic, if needed. However, we should all hope that I don’t need to do that.” She took just a sip of her water and ate a single piece of fruit, reminding them to conserve as much as possible. “We will not come across any food or water until we are out of this forest, so be careful not to run out.”

William followed her example, eating as little as possible and only taking a sip. He still felt hungry, but he knew it would be worse if he ran out, completely. He looked around at the rest of his group, glad they were doing the same. Even Josie seemed to understand. He briefly watched the elves, but they were all perfectly capable of surviving on their own.

Katherine and the elves set up a protection spell, as usual, causing a thought to occur to Meredith. “Couldn’t you just keep a barrier like that around us as we go through the forest? That way, we would be safe.”

Katherine shook her head. “It is very difficult to maintain a protection spell while walking. We would run out of energy and it would fail before the end of the day, leaving the four of us too weak to fight and everyone unprotected.”

“Of course, it would.” Meredith sighed. “I guess I should have known such a solution would be too simple.”

Katherine smiled at her. “It would be a good idea if it worked. I’ve tried it before, myself. It just didn’t go very well.”

“What happened?” Josie asked, always eager for a story.

Katherine gave the child a warm smile. “I will tell you all about it when we have more time. For now, you must get some rest. We have another long day ahead of us, tomorrow.”

By that time, the children were used to walking long distances each day, but they couldn’t wait until they reached their destination and could have some proper rest.

“Katherine, what’s the Blue Palace like?” Henry inquired, looking at her.

She considered the question, for a moment. “Well, it is incredibly beautiful. It truly is blue because it is made from limpet, which is the strongest material in Mirra. It’s in the middle of a city, which is protected by a wall and a great dome made of diamond. The whole thing is cloaked in the strongest protections spells and there are wizards who make sure they stay up, so everyone within the wall remains safe.”

“You have wizards?” Josie asked with wide eyes.

“Ah, yes. The best wizards in all the realms. They keep the citizens safe and there are all sorts of people there. We have elves, dwarves, humans and even a fairy or two.”

“Fairies?” Josie seemed about to jump up and run off to find them.

“They are not especially common,” Katherine explained, “but they occasionally visit the city. Everyone is welcome there and I’m sure all the citizens will be happy to meet you.”

William smiled as he watched Josie’s elated expression. He laid a hand on her head. “You’d best get to sleep, so we can get started early and head there.”

She nodded and lay down immediately. “Good night.” She closed her eyes.

William chuckled and lay down beside her. “Good night.” The rest of the group lay near them, as well. Nobody dared to be away from the group during the night.

The light of the snails was beginning to fade as they lay down to sleep. Katherine didn’t bother whistling, again. She closed her eyes, making sure the barrier she and the elves had set up would last through the night, keeping unwanted creatures out.

Josie awoke in the middle of the night, staring into the glowing face of a curious fox. She smiled at it and sat up, but the creature ran off a few feet, looking back at her from the safe distance. Amused, she got up and tried to catch it, careful not to wake the others as she moved around them.

She whispered to the small animal, “It’s okay, little fox. I’m a friend.”

The creature was almost transparent. It was white and had a friendly glow about it. It also had three tails, which seemed to wave at her. She reached out to touch it, but the fox ran away, again, turning to look at her as soon as it was a few feet ahead. She giggled. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

She moved closer and almost managed to touch it, but it ran a little further away, once again turning back, as though to make sure she was still there. Unable to resist, Josie followed the fox further into the forest and away from her group, as well as the protection spell.

William awoke a little later with the strong sense that something was missing. He reached for Josie, but touched empty grass. He remembered the tune that Katherine had whistled and mimicked it, making the star snails shed light on the camp. He looked among the sleeping forms, but found no child. He stood, trying to see better.

“Josie?” He saw no sign of her and looked around, calling out more loudly, “Josie?”

The noise caused the group to stir and Meredith looked up at him through heavy lids. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t find Josie.” There was a hint of panic in his voice and he called the name even louder, “Josie!”

Katherine stood and shushed him, looking around at the group. She felt her stomach dropped as she realized he was right and the child was nowhere to be seen. She cursed herself for not waking up, sooner. Everyone else stood and looked around for any sign of her. Katherine knelt and pressed a hand to the ground, closing her eyes to focus.

When she opened them again, she stood and headed in the direction the child had gone. “This way. Everyone stay with me.”

The group obeyed, desperate to find the girl before it was too late.

Josie giggled as she followed the fox deeper into the trees, heedless of the danger. At one point, it dropped its head to the ground and wagged its tails like a playful puppy. She ran after it, but the fox ran away and assumed the same position. She was starting to get tired of running when they came upon a stream.

Josie suddenly realized she was very thirsty, but she remembered that Katherine had warned them not to eat or drink anything in the forest. However, the fox lapped up some of the water, so it seemed safe enough. Besides, it was clear and resembled the water she was familiar with, so she figured it couldn’t be that bad. She knelt beside the stream and dipped her hands in it, cupping them to catch the water.

Katherine led the group deeper into the forest, wondering what could have possessed the child to run off like that and blaming herself for not being able to prevent it. She could only hope that they would find Josie before something else did. She sensed they were drawing close and frowned as she heard the sound of running water. She moved faster, forcing the whole group to speed up. As they reached the stream, the fox ran off, but it was too late. Josie was already lifting the water to her lips and taking a drink.

“Stop!” Katherine ran to the girl and jerked her hands away from her face. She knelt in front of Josie and grabbed her cheeks, allowing herself to glow enough that she could look into the child’s eyes. “Did you drink the water?” When Josie didn’t answer immediately, Katherine tightened her grip, her voice a little hysterical. “Did you drink the water?”

“Yes.” Josie stared at Katherine, fearing she was about to get into big trouble as she looked at the older girl’s panicked expression. “I’m sorry. The fox drank it, so I figured it was okay. It tastes like jelly beans.”

“How much did you drink?” Katherine demanded, still focusing on Josie’s face. She knew already that the situation was dire, but she needed to know just how bad it was. “Answer me!”

Josie flinched. “Just a little,” she replied. “It was really good, though, and I’m still thirsty. Can I have some more?” She knew that probably wasn’t the right thing to say, but the water was all she could focus on.

Katherine swallowed. “You shouldn’t have drunk any of it. What were you thinking running off into the woods on your own?” She relaxed her grip, a little, feeling guilty for yelling at the girl.

“I was chasing the fox with three tails.” Josie sounded close to tears. “He was really cute and he just wanted to play.”

“I’ll bet he did.” Katherine sighed and released her face. She let her glow fade and whistled, so the snails would illuminate the scene, instead. “That was a kitsune, a fox spirit. They like to play games and pull pranks.” She frowned. “Josie, I’m so sorry. I should have protected you better. I promise, I will do everything in my power to save you.”

“Save me from what?” Josie asked, thoroughly frightened.

William stepped forward, not liking the direction of the conversation. “Katherine, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“The stream.” Katherine took a breath and looked at the water. “It’s cursed. The more you drink, the thirstier you get. It consumes you and…” She didn’t finish the sentence for Josie’s sake. She looked back at the girl. “You only drank a little, so we have some time. We may be able to get you to the palace in time to fix it.”

Josie nodded, trusting the older girl. “Can I have some water? I’m really thirsty.”

Katherine shook her head. “I’m sorry, but you can’t until you are fixed. Drinking anything now will only make you thirstier.” She took the girl’s hand and stood. “Let’s start walking. The sooner we start moving, the better the chance we will have.”

Josie nodded and stood up. She allowed Katherine to lead her back to the group, but took William’s hand, feeling more secure with him.

The guardian led them back to their campsite to get the items they had left there. She took Josie’s water bottle, knowing the girl would not be able to resist the temptation if she had it. She looked back at the group. “We’ll have to move faster than ever, now, so stay close and watch your step.” She didn’t wait for a response as she led them away.

Meredith caught up to the guardian and spoke softly. “What’s going to happen to Josie?”

“She’s going to get dehydrated. It will get progressively worse and she’ll feel quite sick by the end of the day,” Katherine replied, not looking at her. She knew there was no point in trying to make it sound less frightening than it was. Being scared would make them move faster, at least.

Meredith frowned. “But we can’t give her water?”

Katherine shook her head. “The more she drinks, the worse it gets. If you give her water, she will become more dehydrated and give us less time to save her.”

Meredith swallowed, scarcely daring to ask the next question. “What happens if we don’t reach the palace in time?”

The guardian kept her gaze fixed straight ahead, never slowing. “We will reach the palace in time. We will save her.”

Meredith nodded, understanding what Katherine wouldn’t say: if they didn’t reach the palace in time, the child would die.