Who? Hoo

Rudsis found a cave in which to hide, but he couldn't be sure that there was nothing living there. He climbed a tree and settled on a big, somewhat comfortable branch to keep an eye on it. The day went by, and he spent the whole night awake to see if something would seek shelter in the cave.

Nothing did.

The following morning, he pulled a big branch of a tree and got into the cave, but covered the entrance with the branch and its foliage. Rudsis spent the whole day in the cave, his fear so great that not even his stomach complained about the lack of food. The night was cold, and he shivered, but that was alright. It helped keep him awake and make sure that nothing would get to him while he slept.

The cave was not very deep at all. Had it not been so low that it made him crawl, three or four steps would have been enough to cross it from entrance to rear. On the third day, Rudsis sat hugging his legs, his back leaning on the wall, staring at the bright spots of light that filtered through the leaves of the branch covering the entrance.

There were bags under his eyes, but he refused to shut them and sleep. His skin clung closer to his muscles because of dehydration, and his stomach growled. But Rudsis was determined to ignore it. The chirping melody he'd heard that night, and the screams of the woodsman, were too present in his mind still. There was nothing but those sounds to Rudsis. They made his whole body tremble, but he didn't even notice that. And neither did he notice the fact that he was on the verge of dying from inanition.

His head hung low, but his eyes stared intently ahead beneath his brow. Barely alive, his lungs drew air in and expelled it incredibly slowly, barely expanding his torso. The constant shivering of his body was consuming what precious little energy there was in him.

A laugh came from outside.

Rudsis immediately pushed himself as flat as he could against the back wall of the cave, trying to remember if the woodsman had told him anything about laughter coming from the woods.

"Oh, Rudsis," said the voice. "Things could have gone much quicker if only you'd paid a little more attention to who you chose as your guide. But it never occurred to you to seek out people that Krenen knew, did it?"

"Who?" Rudsis tried to speak, but his throat was so parched that no sound actually made it through. He had to try several times before his strained voice finally managed to emit the word.

There came a laugh again. "Who? Hahahaha. Oh, I hope you understand the joke when you see me. But right now, you should eat and drink what I've brought for you."

Eat and drink, said the voice. Rudsis' mind was not working logically, but instinctually. The reminder that there was food and drink in the world made him automatically get an all fours and crawl to the mouth of the cave. Language, the fact that someone was speaking like a human, made him feel safe. When he'd removed the cover to look outside, there was a wooden plate with cooked meat, and sliced potatoes and apples. Next to it, a big clay cup full of water.

Still with enough presence of mind, Rudsis went for the water first, but was careful not to spill any. When he'd emptied it halfway through, he attacked the food and finished it in a minute at most.

"Now take a moment to remember your situation," said the voice.

Rudsis finished the water with huge gulps, and gasped heavily as he passed his hand over the lower part of his face. The beard he felt surprised him for a second, but then the former guard looked around. When he saw nothing, he closed his eyes and listened.

"There's nothing near us except some harmless animals," said the voice. Rudsis noticed it sounded womanly. "I can lead you back to the city, if you want. Or you can continue with your quest."

"Where are you?" Despite sounding nearby, Rudsis could not locate where the voice came from.

"Don't worry about that for now. Tell me what you want to do."

Rudsis breathed heavily, closed his fists tightly, and scowled. "I want to find the witch. But I can't."

"You can. You just have to know how to fight the monsters."

"How do you know?" he demanded turning this way and that. "Who are you?"

"You'll know soon enough. Or maybe not. It depends on how you answer. What do you want to do, Rudsis? Forgive me. I meant to say, what will you do?"

"I…" The trembling was not gone yet. And even as Rudsis mustered his courage to diminish it little by little, it was not completely gone when he said, "I will free the folk."

"As expected," said the voice. "Now listen carefully, Rudsis. This is ancient lore that everyone knew back when people still spoke the first language. Are you listening, Rudsis?"

"Yes."

"What is a raccoon?"

Rudsis grimaced with confusion. "What?"

"I'm making sure you're listening."

"It's...a-a small creature with dark hands and feet. The hair around its eyes is darker than the rest, and it has stripes along its body."

"Good. Now listen."

There was a brief instance of silence, and the voice sang:

"The chirping spiders crave blood,

but that of death will make it ill.

The hissing worm will kill you in dreams,

but your mind is yours, and in it, you rule.

The prowling bat eats tongues to learn them,

but if you entertain it, a great story it will tell."

"Now repeat it," said the voice.

"Why?" Rudsis' question was more a sigh than anything else.

"I'm teaching you to fight the monsters, you ungrateful little imp. Now repeat it, or I'll switch you like a mother who caught her kid playing with its father's tools."

It took him three tries at least, but Rudsis managed to repeat all the verses perfectly.

"Good," said the voice. "Each couplet is about a different monster you'll probably come across as you search for the witch. The chirping spider is what attacked you a few nights ago. You need to get the blood of something that's been dead for a day at least, and feed it with the blood. It won't kill it, but it will make it seek its lair to recuperate.

"The hissing worm will come to you at night. It can smell you wherever you are, and will find you no matter what. When you're sleeping, it will bite you, and poison you. The poison will prevent you from waking up for five days, and the monster will haunt you in your dreams until you die. If you take control of your dreams, however, you'll wake up instantly. The monster will be asleep next to you, but you cannot kill it, so go away and put as much distance as you can between you and it.

"Finally, the prowling bat will only come to you if you have a fire going at night. You can't do anything but hope that it speaks your language. It will try to greet you many times in different languages from the shadows beyond the light of your fire. Pray that you hear your tongue, and when you do, greet it back. It wants you to tell it a story, and it will tell one back to you.

"Did you understand all this?"

"I—" Rudsis hesitated for a second, but he had understood everything. "Yes. Is everything you just said true?"

"It is. And the monsters are real."

"Are those all the monsters I have to worry about?"

"I hope so."

Rudsis let out a quiet grunt.

"Are you going back into your cave? I won't be bringing more food or drink to you."

"No." He was still trembling. "No. The folk need me."

"Good. Look up, then."

He did, and saw a black owl with silver eyes, and golden feathers around its head.

"Hooo," it hooted.

Rudsis chuckled. "That's—that's the first thing I said to you."

"Aaaah," the owl said without moving its beak in any way. "You did see the joke. Now steel yourself, Rudsis. The first thing you have to do is go back to your little camp, and get back the steel you abandoned there."

Rudsis thought he understood immediately. "The king's sword?"

"Yes. The witch will need it to help you kill Treni, and that chirping spider might still be there."