The whisper of Scars

The next day Sril was behaving like nothing has happened. After having a small breakfast and before the morning dew dried on the grass and leaf buds, we made our way towards the dark line of trees on the south side of the valley. I've been hearing stories about the Sevren Forest since I was very little, but never suspected it was actually that close.

Around midday we arrived at the bank of one of the rivers, close to its connection point with the other we saw from above the day before. We needed another day to reach our destination, but when we finally arrived by the next evening, it took my breath away.

We stopped for a moment at the border of the Sevren Forest. Something was murmuring silently between the branches, despite them not having fully developed leaves yet, and not a hint of wind being present. The forest itself seemed to radiate a pleasant, gentle warmth, like a living being... The river, which converged with our path not long ago, slipped in between the trees and disappeared somewhere in the distance, in their soft shadows.

"How do you like it?" asked Sril quietly upon seeing my fascinated stare.

"It's amazing..." I whispered, taking a few more steps forward and carefully touching the trunk of one of the countless, beautiful trees. "Is it really alright to just enter this place?"

"Of course. We have nothing to fear as long as we don't bring any malicious intent."

I watched the branches sway silently for a moment. "You've been here already right?"

"Yes."

"And nothing happened?"

He gave me an inquiring look. "Are you scared?"

"Maybe a little," I admitted, smiling nervously.

"There is no reason for that," he reassured me. "As long as you will be a friend to the forest, the forest will also be a friend to you."

We resumed our march. As soon as we passed the first line of trees, for some reason I started to feel entirely safe. The forest was still whispering something soothingly, sometimes the crystalline burbling of the now invisible river pierced through these whispers. Even though the time of bloom was still some weeks away, the forest emitted a pleasantly dizzying scent.

The trees were just starting to get more dense, when I caught some movement with the corner of my eye. I stopped involuntarily and turned a little. Among the forest's undergrowth I noticed a strange creature... it looked like a big snake at first, but it... had wings. Impressive wings, with feathers in color of half a rainbow. For a moment, I just stood there, completely dazed. Then I felt Sril's hand on my shoulder and forced my gaze away for a moment. He put a finger to his lips and crouched in between the scrubs. I followed his example.

"It's a couatl," he whispered.

"A what?" I tried to be equally quiet, but my excitement made it pretty hard.

"Couatl. There are many magical creatures in this forest, and this is one of them. Coutals are harmless hybrids."

"Hybrids?"

Sril seemed subtly amused by my curiosity, but proceeded to explain with the patience of a teacher: "Hybrids are creatures that are born from two different species, I think you can see which in this case. Long ago mages used to create vast numbers of hybrids, because the only thing they needed was a piece of each "component" animal, a feather for example. But creating hybrids was prohibited by the now nonexistent Mage Council, because most of these beasts turned out to be quite dangerous."

I never imagined such beings inhabited our land. It felt like the world I lived in expanded to three times the size I knew it from before my abduction over the past few months.

When the creature finally withdrew deeper into the forest, no doubt searching for food, we stood up and continued down the path.

We didn't come far though, when Sril stopped abruptly and looked over his shoulder.

"What is it?" I asked, stopping as well.

"Nothing, it's just... did you hear that strange sound?"

"No, I didn't hear anything."

"Maybe it was just my imagination," Sril stated finally, but was still frowning a little. "Let's go."

From now on I listened to the sounds of the forest with double attentiveness, trying to pick up what disturbed my companion that much.

And after a few minutes, I indeed heard.

There were tiny, gentle noises entwining with the murmur of the forest, like faint jingling, bright and clear, not quite like from a tiny bell, but rather small, metal plates or crystal chalices meeting irregularly... This time we both turned around, searching for the source of the sound.

"You heard, right?" asked Sril.

"This time yes, but... what is that?"

"I don't know..."

"Maybe I'll tell you, if you will tell me, what such two handsome boys are looking for in this forest?" we suddenly heard, and instantly turned back.

A bit further down the path there was a big rock between the trees, covered by moss. On top of it sat a young girl clad in a deep green, knee-long gown thrown over thin trousers, tied at the waist with a sash. Her long, flowing chestnut hair seemed to glint golden in the occasional sun rays, that made their way to the bottom of the forest.

My reaction to this appearance could have been described as being dumbstruck. Sril seemed simply speechless.

The girl watched us for a few moments with gentle surprise on her beautiful features. "You can't tell me I'm more terrifying than that couatl you've met a while back?"

"Forgive us, you've appeared so suddenly..."

The girl laughed lightheartedly. "No, forgive me, I didn't mean to scare you," she hopped down from the rock and approached us. "Who are you then and what brings you here?"

"We are searching for Yanka, a girl living in this forest."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"We need to ask her something about an important matter."

The girl was silent for a few moments. "Ask away then," she finally said, obvious amusement in her voice.

Sril's eyebrows raised slightly. "It's you? You are Yanka?"

She just gave him a hearty smile, dispelling our doubts. She then glanced shortly in my direction, tilted her head a little in what seemed to be surprise and approached me slowly.

She was about my height... and breathtakingly beautiful. The color of her hair and the way they were tied at the back of her head made her look angelic and a little mischievous at the same time. She bent slightly, looking at the crystal on my neck with the same curiosity that I was watching her with. I was sure my cheeks were on fire already, but she didn't seem to care much. Finally she gave Sril another look, as if searching for a sath in between his clothes as well and asked: "You're the Apostless of the Last Dragons?"

"Yes?"

Her eyes sparked with a returning memory. "That's right, you were here not so long ago, weren't you? I saw you from afar, when you were talking to archdruid Akiel..."

"Yes. Then you must also know, that we are searching for the third Apostle."

"And you think it's me?"

Sril nodded, clearly a bit unsure. "Did you notice anything strange about yourself recently, something that could indicate you're one of us?"

"You mean... something like this?" Yanka raised her left hand a little and opened her palm. Suddenly a tiny flame came to life between her fingers, a little tongue of fire, that started to flicker lively, not even touching her skin.

"So it is you..." mumbled Sril absently.

"Then I guess we're at full strength now..." I managed finally. "That was quick."

Yanka looked me in the eyes silently for a few moments, which made me blush again perceptibly. Fortunately, she chose not to make any comments about it, and instead asked: "Aren't you Sian?"

I blinked. "How..."

"Oh don't worry, there are still countless surprises before you on your path as a Apostle," she answered evasively, and turned to Sril again. "Do you have some plans already?"

"Well... we should find out where Shaeth is currently staying and what exactly he's planning for the nearest future. But most importantly we need to work on our abilities, although, to be honest, I don't know much about it... and we should do it in some secluded place in order to prevent any harm to anyone."

"Not here then, because the consequences could be tragic."

"I know."

"What do you suggest then?"

"I suggest we move to my acquaintance's house. He lives in a rather desolate place and is already aware of the situation. And to be honest... I think he would almost feel offended if we refused his offer..."

"Sounds like an interesting character," Yanka chuckled quietly. "Today though I would like to invite you to our camp. The sun is almost down, and we are not in that much of a hurry... we could leave tomorrow morning."

Sril gave me a questioning look. "I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of the forest and having a good rest," I said, and he gladly agreed.

We allowed Yanka to lead us deeper into the forest. The camp turned out to be fairly close, after just a few minutes we noticed the glow of fire shining through the tree trunks.

The place was literally wild. There were about thirty sturdy hovels dispersed between the trees around a small clearing. Little birds were perching on the twigs that stuck out of the roofings here and there, chirping a little sleepily already. The soft air was warm and filled with some delicate indefinable smell.

Yanka lead us straight to the biggest hovel, standing beside the fire, that blazed in the middle of the clearing. There was a man in a long robe sitting by it, smoking a pipe. When Yanka came to a stop in front of him and bowed her head slightly, he looked up.

He watched me and Sril in silence for a minute, then stood up, and a hearty, warm smile made its way to his lips. "It's a pleasure to see you again, dear Sril," his voice was deep, pleasant to the ear. "I'm glad you were able to find your companion," he added, turning to me. "I'm honored to meet you Sian, I'm Akiel, and I hold the function of the archdruid here."

"It's a honor for me," I bowed my head with respect.

"I assume you invited them to stay with us tonight, Yanka?"

"Yes master."

"Feel at home then. Rest to your heart's content, tomorrow I can answer all of your questions and you can continue down the path of destiny."

We thanked the archdruid and followed Yanka again.

"Would you like to wander around a bit more or ask me something?" she asked, watching my curious gaze scanning the surroundings. "Or maybe you would like to go to sleep already?"

"I would prefer the last option..." I murmured, feeling tired despite all the fresh excitement.

She led us through the camp, not paying much attention to the intrigued stares of the other druids. Among the soft shadows, that slowly shrouded the forest, we suddenly noticed a lonely hovel leaned on the resin-smelling trunk of a tall spruce, a bit away from the others.

"It's not the biggest, but I think it will be enough for two," Yanka said, placing a hand on one of the branches close to the top of it.

"Is this... yours?"

"Yes?"

"Where will you be sleeping then?"

"Oh don't worry. I rarely even come here, I prefer to sleep in the open. Make yourselves at home, I'll bring you something to eat."

When she left, we carefully entered the hovel. It was quite cozy. The ground was covered with a few blankets and three little pillows rested in the back.

I freed myself from my haversack and pulled one of the pillows closer, when Yanka returned. She kneeled down by the entrance and carefully handed us two wooden pans. One of them was full of various fruits, the other held two freshly roasted fish.

"Don't hold back, they're really delicious," she said with a smile and, after wishing us a good night, disappeared again.

There was a moment of silence.

"She's so..."

"Fantastically affectionate," I helped Sril find the right words. I carefully took one of the fish from the pan. "I think it will be good to have her with us... but who even are these people? Why do they live in such a secluded and wild place?"

"I think this is just the place where they feel most comfortable, besides, they guard this forest. They are descendants of elves and human mages. So you could basically say that they are half-elves, but they didn't inherit much of the magic abilities..."

"I see..."

We enjoyed the rest of the meal in silence, while I wondered where Sril took all this knowledge from.

When we finished our meal and laid down comfortably, Sril put his hands behind his head, stared at the roofing for a few seconds and spoke unexpectedly: "Sian..." I gave him a sleepy mumble, so he continued: "When you said, that it would be good to have Yanka with us... you meant that it would be good for me, because her attitude could lift my spirits, didn't you?" I opened my eyes. "Does my state really concern you that much?"

I sighed silently. "You said it yourself... it's just the two of us now, well now three, and it's not like you're the only one who feels responsible for the others. We all should take care of eachother. I don't want to believe, that this state will last your whole lifetime..."

"Do you wish to know... how my friend died?" Sril whispered calmly. I wasn't sure. I probably would have been better off not knowing. "It wasn't some simple, common cause like disease or accident... He was killed, Sril... he died for me, because of me, even though it should have been me, who paid that price back then..."

"What?" I wasn't able to stop that word from getting past my lips.

"It was roughly one year ago..." his voice was trickling in the darkness like an invisible, sad brook. "A man appeared in my hometown. I've never seen him before, but when I happened to meet him, while I was alone, he quickly gave me to understand what his purpose was. He was an emissary of Shaeth and came to kill me, just like you were meant to be eliminated. Before I could do anything though, Trel appeared out of nowhere to stand in his way... it happened so quickly, I hardly registered anything... and after that... the assassin just left me there. He came for one purpose exclusively, but didn't even touch me in the end..."

I could almost see how every single word touched the wounds on Sril's heart and lacerated them anew. I wasn't able to do anything, just listen to the anguished sound of his gentle voice.

"You're a bit like him you know...?" he whispered. "I don't mean the looks, but the nature... he usually pretended like not much could faze him, but on the inside he was always concerned for the people around him... sometimes his pride got the best of him, he could be ridiculously stubborn, and yet sometimes so withdrawn and considerate it was hard to believe it all fitted into one personality..."

I for my part felt an urge to object to certain traits that he listed, but upon giving it a deeper thought I had to agree to a certain level... I realized that I shifted my behavior towards him as soon as I realized the dead look in his eyes. It felt like the times at the royal castle, when I wasn't sure how to behave when I came face to face with something that didn't sit right in my mind...

"Well then..." I finally spoke. "If I'm so similar, what stands in the way of us being friends then?"

Sril let out another heavy sigh. "I'm sorry, but I would rather not... I guess I'm afraid of getting closer to anyone since that day... it just hurt too much..."

I opened my mouth again, but backed down in the last second. I really didn't want to further renew the wounds he revealed to me. I was kind of glad, that he trusted me enough to show them, but on the other hand I deeply regretted that we even started this topic.

And there was one more apologetic breath at my side: "Please don't bother yourself with me Sian... it's not worth it..."

I started to feel like I've made a mistake in my decision after all...