Something Extra - Hungry Heart - Ch. 11 (Patreon)

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Chapter Eleven – The Dead Forest

Zul walked ahead, fast on his paws, but Toru wasted no time, either. Suddenly, the rabbit stopped and stood on his back paws, his ears straight. All around Vilemoor’s castle, nothing but the forest stretched. Toru was eager to hunt, so Zul’s hesitation annoyed him.

“What is it?” In tiger form, his sense of hearing was increased many times, and yet he couldn’t hear a thing. Could it be this herbivore had better ears than him? It wasn’t impossible, seeing how huge they were.

“The forest is dead,” Zul said and put his front paws back on the ground. “There’s nothing to hunt.”

“And you didn’t think to lead with that while we were at the keep?” Toru replied. “Then we should just go further. There is a world beyond this forest.”

Zul turned to face him, his shoulders slumped. “There’s no getting out of here.”

“What?” Toru shifted into his human form. “What do you mean by that?”

“Anyone who enters remains here,” Zul said in a steady voice, although Toru could smell his fear, even without his tiger senses at full capacity.

“You’re full of it,” Toru said through his teeth. “Then how come you got me here? You must have gotten out of here to be there, where we met.”

“Here, there.” Zul balanced on his paws and swung his head.

It made Toru a bit dizzy just to look at him. “Get out of the way. If there’s a forest, there are animals in it. Fat juicy animals just waiting for a hunter. I’m hungry,” he declared and pushed past Zul.

“No, you mustn’t,” Zul begged and hopped after him.

Toru stopped for a moment. “Look, I know you must be really hungry and anyone eating cabbage all day long can’t be in their right mind, but right now you’re not serving your lord.”

Zul stood on his back paws again and began squeezing his front ones in despair. “I want to, but I can’t. Ever since --” He stopped and his eyes became vacant.

“Go on. I’m not some stupid mutt. I can smell your lies from a mile away. What’s going on with Onyx? Why doesn’t he hunt? How old is he? And where are his parents?”

Zul recoiled with each of his questions. “He saw you with the titan’s eye,” he said accusingly. “He told me ‘Zul, go get him. He’s a shifter, like us.’ So I went and hoped that I could stop you. It would have been better if you hadn’t come.”

“Well, now’s a little too late for that,” Toru retorted.

“All I hoped for was for my lord to be happy that I found you. To see me as a worthy servant,” Zul complained. “But, no, Zul is just a silly rabbit,” he began conversing with himself, “he can only hunt for cabbage. But cabbage is juicy. What’s wrong with cabbage?”

Toru grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “Hey, stay with me. Leave the cabbage alone for a moment. Out with the truth, or I’ll leave you and your master together to rot in here.” He had no intention of doing that, but he needed to threaten Zul a little if he wanted to get something out of him.

“We’re all going to rot,” Zul replied and hiccuped.

Toru shook his head. There was no reasoning with him. He shifted and sprinted toward the dark forest. Zul hurried after him, mumbling some more about cabbage and whatnot.

***

The dense forest let no light in, and the mist was thicker here. The worst part was that breathing in the air filled with mold spores made him gag. Toru preferred enemies that came at him head on. As much as he didn’t like to agree with Zul the crazy rabbit, he could only feel the stench and see the signs of death everywhere.

The trees spread their gnarly branches toward the sky, in a desperate quest for the light, but there was no more sap in them, and a tentative touch was enough to let him know they were frozen in time. Hard, unyielding, but dead.

Or maybe everything was just sleeping. Toru looked around, trying to discern a scent resembling prey in all that stench. The fallen leaves made a mucky blanket at his feet, on which a human foot would have slipped again and again.

“We should just go back,” Zul said, anxiety and fear evident in his voice.

“And do what exactly? Starve?” Toru felt the fur on his back rising. There had to be a way out of there. As soon as he found it, he would convince Onyx and Zul and everyone still alive in Vilemoor to follow him away from that place.

“We won’t starve,” Zul tried to argue.

“Maybe not you. But your master will. He barely has any meat on his bones,” Toru pointed out.

“True, true,” Zul admitted, while stumbling after him deeper into the forest. “Do you think my master would be better if,” he stopped for a second, and then whispered, “he ate me?”

“Ate you?” Toru shook his head. “Frankly, you don’t look too fetching, either.” Seeing how he was dealing with crazies, it was better to try to convince them without contradicting them directly. “It must be because of all that cabbage.”

“So you don’t think he would eat me?” Zul asked with relief.

“I don’t. Onyx wouldn’t do that even if you were fat and juicy.”

That seemed to put a spring in Zul’s step, and they were now padding through the forest side by side. “He’s the only one of his kind, you know?”

“How did that happen?” Toru asked, cautiously so as not to make Zul clam up by being too upfront with his questions.

“Ah, you see, one day --” Zul began but stopped as abruptly as before.

“Yes, continue,” Toru encouraged him.

Patience was not his forte. But he needed to be patient if he wanted Zul to disclose what the hell had happened with that place.

“I forgot,” Zul replied. “I forget more and more.”

Now, that could be an issue. Toru didn’t insist. There was a possibility that everyone had become a prisoner of a foul place and the wrong time. He had heard stories of witchcraft and dark forces lurking underground and above it during his travels. But he had thought them to be nothing but fairytales until now.

Toru stood still, trying to sense the direction of the wind, a different smell in that world of ruin, but nothing moved. Birds weren’t singing in the trees, flies weren’t flying and the earth’s smallest critters, worms and bugs weren’t frolicking in the mud beneath their feet.

In a moment, he felt overcome by a feeling of intense sadness. The forest around him was prey to something deeper than death. Toru couldn’t even tell why he felt so sad. There were people in the world who still cared. A man with orchish blood ... What was his name? Toru shook his head, trying to get a grip on his thoughts.

“Young tiger,” Zul called for him. “We’re in the swamp of forgetfulness. Can you feel it?”

Toru raised his eyes. In front of him nothing but murky land stretched fringed on its edge by the same still forest behind them. Thick mist rose from it. “Forgetfulness? Why do you call it that?”

Zul seemed to be under the same spell as him. He just shifted from one paw to another, without saying a word. “I’ve come here before,” he said with much difficulty.

Toru didn’t take one step further. His heart was beating slower. He needed to remember, to do something about the sinking feeling in his gut. Zul moved past him. “What are you doing?” he asked, but his words came out sluggish, and his voice was foreign to his ears.

“It’s here,” Zul whispered. “The reason to forget.”

As soon as the rabbit stepped on the murky ground, something happened to him. Toru watched, incapable of moving. His limbs were made from lead. Zul transformed under his very eyes. When he turned, the rabbit was nowhere in sight. In his stead, a tall young man with long silver hair flowing down his back stood. He had large strange eyes, colored a dark purple, striking on a beautiful smooth face the color of snow. The sadness in them was as deep as the dead forest.

“Here,” he pointed to his right.

Toru’s eyes followed, and in the blink of an eye, his sadness was replaced by revulsion and fear. He lurched back. On the surface of sickly green water, skulls floated, fragments of fur, meat, and gristle still hanging from them.

“And here,” Zul pointed to his left. “And there. And there. Here and there and everywhere.”

Toru couldn’t keep from watching. His stomach would have revolted, but there was nothing left in it. He had seen death before, but nothing like that. “Are mom and dad here?” he asked.

“Mom and dad?” Zul stared at him obliquely, his eyes turned opaque.

Toru realized it then. He was standing on a battlefield, the earth under his feet soaked in the blood of all those dead. He couldn’t tell how he knew, but it came from deep inside. In a moment, he shifted into his human form and grabbed Zul by the hand. “We need to go back. We have to tell Onyx.”

Zul struggled against his hold, with surprising strength. “No.”

“What do you mean, no? He must know. For how long have you lied to him?”

Zul’s strength vanished. As soon as he was on firmer ground, he shifted back. Toru held his paw, and the same eyes stared at him. “Lied? Who did I lie to?”

Toru opened his mouth to tell him, but no words came out. What was it that he wanted to say? He was just so hungry. “Let’s find something to eat.”

“Yes,” Zul replied. “Let’s have some cabbage.”

“No. Meat,” Toru said.

“But there’s no more.”

There had to be some somewhere. The hunger pangs were so strong now that he needed all his strength just to walk straight.

***

They spoke little as they walked toward Vilemoor. Duril had a thousand questions on his mind, but he didn’t dare to say a thing. Varg was lost in thought, and his broad shoulders slumped a little. They both knew their quest wasn’t the easy kind.

“Are we on the right path?” he eventually asked.

Varg raised one arm and made a swinging motion. “That mist warning us not to get near, that’s where we’re headed.”

Duril fell silent, but only for a moment. “Do you think there’s a grain of truth in all those stories?”

Maybe Varg wasn’t fond of talking, and he was just running his mouth for no reason. But the wolfshifter sighed and replied, “A grain of truth must be.”

“What do you know of it all? I’ve only heard stories, but maybe you -- Forgive me, Sir ... I mean Varg. This is just me, yapping my mouth.”

“No, it’s all right. The more we know, the better. The Zoroander tribe was the most powerful in those parts, a long time ago. The place wasn’t always called Vilemoor.”

“It wasn’t? What was it called?”

“Rumor has it that it went by the name of Fairside. The forests surrounding the keep were filled with creatures of all kinds. I was only a cub when I first heard the old tales. One ancient grey wolf who came to visit once told us that there was no place on earth as bountiful as Fairside.” Varg’s eyes became distant as he recalled that story from his childhood. “We gathered around him, and he stood there, resting against his cane. I can still recall his eyes as he spoke of the evil that had overcome Fairside, turning it into Vilemoor. They were filled with demonic fire, or so we thought.” He chuckled. “Please bear in mind, Duril, I was just a child back then. But what he said,” he took a moment as if to remember the words exactly, “was that something from another world had come and twisted the kind heart of the lord of Fairside. He gathered all his troops and went into the forest.”

“Why? To hunt?”

Varg grimaced. “Wolves are hunters, but they know how fragile the balance of life is. We would never decimate entire populations of creatures of the forest. It’s just not done. Those creatures keep us alive, and it is our duty to protect the forest.” He said the words as if surprised, like he couldn’t believe that anyone would go against that fundamental belief. “And yet, the Zoroanders had done just that. So were the rumors, and so was the tale the ancient wolf told us. He said the wolf leading Fairside had lost his mind and brought his entire family to ruin. I meant it when I told you about us saving up as much of our supplies as possible. Once we enter there, there will be no more hunting. If we even can enter the forest.”

“Did the ancient wolf you speak of say anything about why no one can enter the forest surrounding Vilemoor? And if no one can enter, how is it possible to know what truly happened there?” Duril was a bit overly conscious of how curious he sounded, but he truly wanted to learn more about the dangerous place that could have already claimed Toru.

No, he wouldn’t think of such things now.

“As I grew up and heard more stories of the place, I began to question the veracity of his words, too. Some valiant knights tried their best to enter the forest, only to come back with stories of impenetrable trees and paths that take you round and round in circles.”

“But we will find a way,” Duril said with conviction. “We must. For Toru.”

“Yes,” Varg confirmed. “Those knights must not have had the right motivation to make the forest open for them. Isn’t that so?” He offered Duril a heart-melting smile.

If Toru prefered Varg, Duril would understand. There was nothing not to like about the wolfshifter. His strength and warmth gave him confidence, too, that they would prevail in the quest in front of them.

“Plus, we have something to help us.” Varg searched in his leather pouch and showed Duril a strange vial.

“What’s this?” he asked, his eyes drawn to the viscous liquid inside.

“I don’t know, and I dare not question it. Agatha gave it to me and said that I would know when to use it.”

Duril pursed his lips. “I don’t know why witches feel the need to be so mysterious.”

“I know, right?” Varg said with a chuckle. “But it might be of help, whatever she gave us.”

“She’s not the kind to do things without a reason, I suppose.”

“What’s your strongest skill?” Varg asked as he made the vial disappear back into his pouch.

“I guess that would be making potions,” Duril replied. “I’m afraid I’m not that particularly a good healer, but whoever tried my stomachache remedies told me they felt as good as new in just a matter of hours. I’m afraid such skills won’t be too helpful in our trip ahead. But I do know how to dress a wound and make healing potions of all kinds,” he added quickly. He didn’t want Varg to believe that he was nothing but a burden and question his decision to allow him to accompany him.

“I knew you were modest. I trust your skills will be put to the test in more ways than one.”

Duril knew Varg didn’t say that only so that he could compliment him on being an acceptable healer. He meant those words, and that meant they would face many dangers ahead.

“I can yield a sword, too,” he said quietly.

Varg nodded. “What waits for us ahead might not put our strength and steel to the test, but our sanity and quickness of wit. You’ll see why I’m counting on you.”

Duril said nothing. Varg had a way of making him feel flustered, and he didn’t know how to react to that. But their quest, as he could see it now, would demand much of them, and he would give his all to find Toru and have him in his embrace again.

***

Night fell quickly over the forest. Toru still kept Zul’s paw in his hand as they walked. The hunger was growing stronger and food was the only thing on his mind. Had the road back grown in length? For now, he had to give up on finding anything to hunt.

It wasn’t like him to feel so tired. He could usually go on for days without food. But now his hunger was deep, gnawing his insides. For a moment, he looked at Zul, at his soft belly and white fur.

He shook his head. No. Onyx must have resisted that temptation for who knew how long. The state of those dead bodies told him that the events could not have happened a long time ago, but nothing about that place was normal.

And he would never touch another shifter and consider them prey. Zul spoke and walked on two legs, and his face was tender. The rabbit hurried as much as he could, but he seemed weakened, just as Toru was.

“Where are we?” he asked, giving voice to his fear in the end.

“The forest shifts,” Zul replied. “It must be because you’re here.”

“The forest is dead. How could it shift?”

“It moves when you’re not watching. The tree there,” he pointed at a twisted trunk resting over a pond of green stale water, “I’ve never seen it before.”

“And you have the memory of a bird,” Toru said back in frustration. “There’s no way I can count on what you’re saying. But you should, at least, know the way back. We’ll hunt again tomorrow.”

“We didn’t hunt today,” Zul insisted.

Toru didn’t need to be reminded of that. Now, he could even eat a vegetable stew if that was on the menu. “Zul, try to remember. Which one’s the way back?”

They were standing in front of a fork in the road. With the night, chills descended on the trees and Toru could feel them through his thin clothes. It was better to turn into his tiger form since then he would be better prepared to face the night.

Zul pushed into him. He shivered. “We should hurry. It’s getting so cold.”

“Just hop on my back,” Toru advised. “I hate to say this, but we might have to find shelter around here for the night.”

“We cannot,” Zul said, as soon as he was on Toru’s back. “If night catches us sleeping, it will last forever.”

“For how long has this place been like this?” Toru murmured to himself, not really waiting for an answer.

“For hundreds of years,” Zul said, taking him by surprise.

“Hundreds?” Toru could feel his fur bristling all along his spine.

“Yes,” Zul replied.

“Are your memories back?”

“When the night falls,” came the confirmation. “For a bit, the mist clears, and I remember.”

Toru didn’t care about listening to old history at the moment, but it could be his only chance to hear it. “Tell me what happened here.”

Zul rested on top of him, and the warmth from his body was helping Toru, too. He wasn’t one to suffer from cold, but right now, he was thankful for being able to get warm like that.

“Three hundred years ago,” the rabbit started, “Amethyst and Opal Zoroander ruled over Fairside.”

Toru sighed. He couldn’t trust Zul’s scattered brain for a moment. “We’re in Vilemoor. Tell me about this place, not others.”

“Here is there, and there is here,” Zul insisted. “Fairside is Vilemoor.”

“Do you mean that it went by a different name?”

“Yes,” Zul replied, a bit invigorated by Toru’s words. “Yes, it did.”

“So mom and dad were Amethyst and Opal?”

“Onyx’s parents, yes. My fair lady and my just lord,” Zul said. “Opal Zoroander brought me to the castle when I was but a kit. He could have just eaten me,” he added matter-of-factly, “but he couldn’t bear to see me so helpless. I had no eyes and barely fur anywhere. My parents were no more.”

Toru didn’t dare to ask if maybe Opal had thought Zul’s mom and dad as tasty treats, and that was what happened to make him an orphan.

“You must be wondering if Opal ate my parents. He didn’t. Shapeshifters don’t eat other shapeshifters.”

It was a truth Toru knew well. No matter the species, it would be like eating one of their own kind. “So what happened next?”

“Amethyst had just come through a difficult birth. She was a proud alpha she-wolf, so no one ever saw her cry. But Opal knew how much she worried over her pup who had been born weak and sickly.”

Zul was talking about Onyx. Toru remained silent, now more curious than ever to hear the entire story.

“So, Opal took me home and put me in the crib with Onyx. They told me so later because I didn’t know much of myself or the world at the time. My lord told me that it must have been my strength that kept Onyx alive. But he must have said those things only because he was kind. My lady was kind to me as well and she gave me as much love and care as she gave her own son.”

Toru allowed the short silence that followed. Even if he had been an orphan, Zul had known the warmth of a home. Others hadn’t been as lucky; he pushed those thoughts away.

“Onyx had trouble shifting. Me, not so much,” Zul explained. “I realized quickly how pained he was that he couldn’t, so I stopped shifting in front of him.”

“Are you and Onyx the same age then?”

“Rabbits age quicker than wolves. It’s a rule that applies to shapeshifters, too, even if we rabbitshifters get to live much longer lives than our non-shifting brethren. When Onyx turned twelve, I was already in my twenties.”

That was the approximate age Toru had guessed for Zul when he had seen him shifted. In human form, he didn’t seem older than twenty-five. And he had a feeling that Onyx was still twelve years old, even if Zul recalled bad history happening three hundred years ago. That strange land was just getting stranger.

“What happened when Onyx turned twelve?”

“Opal was a kind wolf,” Zul continued. “But he could not bear the sight of his son having so much trouble shifting and grew more and more impatient. Amethyst was a mother, so she protected Onyx as much as she could. She fought with her husband, telling him that Onyx just needed more time. But Opal began searching for ways to cure his son, ways that caused him to stray from the right path.”

“Witchcraft?” Toru asked. That could explain a lot of things.

“Onyx is very clever,” Zul said, ignoring the question. “He knew his father no longer came to see him and play with him as often as before. He could tell that Opal was upset with him, so he was sad and angry. I tried my best to cheer him up, but nothing seemed to work. So, one day, he ran away.”

Toru could sympathize with that. His shifting abilities had given him power and faith, always. If Onyx couldn’t shift at all, it would have been better, maybe. But knowing that there was a weakness in him, that was the type of thing that made Toru tremble at the thought. The poor pup must have felt without an anchor in the entire world.

“We looked for Onyx far and wide. I knew all his hiding places, and still I couldn’t find him. But I couldn’t find my sleep at night. His mother, either. I could see the midnight oil burning at her window, night after night.”

“How did his father take his disappearance?”

“At first, he organized search parties and was relentless. But more and more, that fire in his eyes was dying out, and I could see it. I knew that I had to do something to find Onyx, for the sake of his parents. I waited for a night without moon and snuck outside.”

“Why did you have to sneak out?” Toru just wandered aimlessly at this point, but listening to Zul’s story was soothing in a way.

“Strange things began to happen. Not all search parties came back in one piece. Talks of strange creatures made of darkness began to circulate. So Opal decided to take charge of each such party and not let anyone out of his sight. No one was allowed to wander outside the gates at night.”

“Did you manage to sneak out?”

“Yes, and the forest,” Zul stopped for a moment and shivered, “it came to a new life at night. I was so scared, but I had to find my master Onyx. You see, we grew up together, and he remained younger than me, but I always thought of him as my lord.”

“What happened in the forest at night?” Toru questioned.

“I brought this cape with me,” Zul explained, following a train of thought only he could understand. “To hide my white fur. I had learned a bit of magic by then --”

“You’re a magic wielder?”

“My learning stopped short, as you can see,” Zul replied. “But I could pull the kind of trick I pulled on you when we met.”

Toru snorted. “I wouldn’t call that much of a trick.”

Zul didn’t seem to take it to heart. “It was too little, but it helped me move through the forest, hopefully without being detected. I say, hopefully, because I think the evil there never rested or closed its eyes.”

“Did you find Onyx?”

Zul didn’t reply for a while. “I did,” he said quietly. “He must have stumbled upon a gate to the netherworld as he wandered through the forest.”

“Did you know of such things before Onyx disappeared?”

“There were rumors. Tales to scare the little ones. But I don’t think any of the grownups believed them. Life was beautiful in Fairside. Not a cloud was in sight.”

“So, what happened when you found Onyx?”

Zul hesitated, but then he began to speak quickly. “His body was half trapped in this hellish gate in the ground. He was whining softly, and his eyes were half closed. I could see the light of dying embers on the ground, and I immediately tried to set him free. But I couldn’t.”

Poor Onyx, Toru thought but didn’t say a thing. He hadn’t run to his freedom, after all.

“Onyx had never gone very far from the castle before. His sickly nature didn’t allow him to undertake long trips,” Zul continued. “And now, he was so skinny, just bones.” He shuddered, and each of his shivers moved through Toru, too. “But he was so brave. He stopped whining the moment he saw me. I told him that I had to bring his parents once I saw that I couldn’t free him by myself. And do you know what he said?”

“How could I?” Toru said with a small scoff. Then he reconsidered. It was an astonishing thing to listen to that story.

“He asked me not to tell them anything, that he deserved to be there, in that hole in the ground. That they were right to be upset with him for not being able to shift and hunt. That they would be happier if they had other pups.”

“But I suppose you went back and told Opal and Amethyst all about it, right?”

“How could I not? My heart bled just watching him there, feeling so abandoned and alone,” Zul said and sniffled. “The soonest I was back, I went and told them everything. The entire castle was up and about in the blink of an eye. And we rushed to where Onyx was.”

Another silence followed.

Zul continued, but his voice was getting heavy now. “We couldn’t free Onyx. Not his father, and not his mother. We brought him food and stayed with him, but eventually everyone had to admit that it had to be magic that kept him there, imprisoned. So Opal went to find answers, while Amethyst and I remained with Onyx.”

“Did he find the answers he was looking for?”

“I don’t know everything. When he came back to us, Opal was a changed wolfshifter. He was gaunt, malnourished. It had been weeks. But he had someone with him, a wizard of sorts. I didn’t like the look in his small beady eyes,” Zul said with revulsion. “He drew a circle around Onyx and the gate with ashes only he knew how he had procured. He asked us to join hands and step on the circle. I was so scared,” he recalled and his voice choked. “The wizard mumbled something about wolves and their blood. When he finished, Onyx pulled himself free. Everyone was happy.”

“That wasn’t the end, right?”

“No, it wasn’t,” Zul confirmed. “We were barely back at the castle when Opal ordered a big hunt. He instructed me to stay with Onyx inside the gates, but he took all able-bodied shifters and humans with him. They marched into the forest, and,” he added in a whisper, “they began killing everything in their path.”

“And did they return?”

“A few times. I could tell they were less and less them. They were turning into something else. I tried to talk to Opal, but he snarled at me, and advised me to take Onyx and hide. But where could I go? Eventually, I pretended to play hide-and-seek, and took Onyx to a place I knew under the throne room.”

“How did they all die?”

“Mist descended on the forest. I came out of the hiding place and the entire castle was deserted. When I went outside, the place was like you see it now. Onyx and I searched for them.”

“You found them,” Toru added for him.

“Yes. And Onyx went mad with grief. But as soon as we were out of the forest, he forgot everything.”

“And ever since, he waits for mom and dad to come back?”

“Yes. At first, I accompanied him back to the forest, to search for them, although I knew the truth. But I just couldn’t bear seeing him overwhelmed by pain like that. So we stopped going, and I started to forget, too.”

So, he knew the story now. But how could that help? Toru wondered as he looked ahead; the dead forest appeared to stare back at him. Someone was watching.

TBC

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