The Laws of the Forest

We kept walking until the sun was nearing the end of its journey. The bridge had been out of sight for a while now. We set up camp and ate our food. Once we were done, all we had left was our jerky and a couple tenderloins. I might have to hunt again tomorrow. This night, it was misty, so it was quite difficult to see anything between the darkness and the fog. Not long into my watch, I heard a twig snap nearby. I grabbed my scabbard off the seat, hopped off, and poked Dannas with it. As soon as his eyes opened, I put my index finger to my mouth.

As quiet as possible, I whispered, "Someone's here." I sniffed the air. "By the wagon."

He nodded and started slowly creeping up to it while I repeated my actions with Tulas. I caught up with Dannas to the front of the wagon. I could hear something breathing at the wagon's back, so I gestured Dannas to go right, I went left. As I crept closer to the back, I slowly and audibly pulled my messer out of its scabbard. My plan was to direct its attention so Dannas could come from behind. Before my sword exited completely, a woman rushed into view with her hands up high.

"D-don't hurt me! I . . . my friends need help."

As I slowly rescabbarded my messer, I looked at her and noticed she was the same young woman from the bridge. I cautiously kept my hand on my messer's handle.

Dannas came from behind. "Thank the gods."

The young woman jumped forward. "AAHH!!"

"Oh shit, sorry. Forgot you didn't know I was behind you."

I looked her dead in the eyes. "What happened?"

"I-I don't know."

Tulas walked up. "Here; come sit by the fire."

We all walked to the campfire and sat around it.

She nervously rubbed her hands together. "When we woke up, they went in the forest for some food. After a while, Percy and I heard screams. They ran in, and I stayed behind a bit. Then I heard him scream." She started breaking down. "I-I didn't know what to do. I didn't see anything. I ran up the road hoping I could find you."

I got up and walked to the wagon while attaching my scabbard to my belt.

"What are you doing?" I heard her say from behind.

I attached my quiver to my belt. "I'm going."

Dannas grunted through a stretch. "Alright then. Guess that settles it."

"Dannas, stay here with Tulas and…"

"Meg."

I turned around. "And Meg. Make sure there's no funny business. If I'm not back in an hour, then come for me."

Meg stood up. " I-I'm comin' too."

"Why?"

"They're my friends. I can't leave them behind."

"Fine. Don't slow me down."

"Of course."

"We'll be back in a bit. Seems like you got first watch now, Dannas." I walked off.

When I got on the road, I began jogging down it, planning to conserve my energy.

Meg caught up to me. "Sorry we tried to rob you."

"Good. It was a mistake."

"Yeah…"

Before long, we made it to the bridge.

"Was it here?"

"Yes; just a bit north away from the river."

I looked away from the forest to her. "If this is a trick, you might not get the same mercy from earlier."

"I-it's not a trick. I swear."

I pulled my messer out and entered the forest. She followed just behind. After a couple cautious minutes, I caught some scents. Humans. Each individual scent led off in different directions.

"Where now?"

"They were all taken in separate directions. This might not be a good sign. It could take a while."

Just then, I looked forward to see that glowing ethereal fox again. It was standing out in the open ontop of an old, dead, hollowed-out log staring at me.

I kept my eyes on it. "You see that?"

"See what?"

I pointed at it.

"I don't see anything but that old log."

The fox turned around and jumped off the log. I followed it, vaulting over the log. It kept leading me further into the forest. The further I got, the less dense the forest became. It was odd to me, and just as my attention was shifting to that fact, the fox dissipated mid-gait. I kept heading further to investigate. Before long, I saw something even more odd. The forest opened up to a significantly less dense, large family of trees. The base of each trunk in this family looked like a person. Women, men, and children all alike as if suspended in their last moments of life. Their ears were oddly long though. From each death-positioned person, the trunk continued upward into a thin, oddly normal pale tree with wide, disk-like tops. In a triangle hung each one of Meg's friends from their wrists. They weren't conscious enough to stand. I put my messer away and pulled out my dagger. This must be the deadwood. I heard Meg catch up to me.

I whispered. "Follow me. Quietly. I'll cut them down, you untie them."

I moved in cautiously to the closest guy. He woke up just as I got close to him.

I put my index finger to my mouth. "Shhh…"

I cut his rope, and helped him sit down. In a clockwise order, I cut the rest of them down and brought them to the same tree as the first guy, all of them waking up during the process. I then stood in the center of this mostly open space. The tops of these trees covered any visual past their heights, creating a consistent, flat ceiling in the whole area. Some of them had large, light green and blue, drop-like fruits hanging from them. The more I stood here, the more I realized this area was as silent as a grave. It was as if the forest itself had a sense of reverence for this place. I was looking for anything. Mostly people, but I saw, heard, and smelled nothing except the people I just cut down. The group's mumblings started growing louder.

I pulled my bow out and nocked an arrow. "Be quiet, I need to listen to the forest. These arrows aren't meant to quiet you people up."

None of them risked saying another word. I closed my eyes and focused on hearing. I could faintly hear some sounds off in the distance, like bats beating, bugs buzzing, and the river flowing, but beyond that, not much. I focused more close-range, for the subtlest of sounds. After a minute in this silence, I heard an incredibly silent exhaling breath above the trees. I immediately drew my arrow and fired at the sound. Just as the arrow disappeared into the ceiling of leaves, just above the group, a man descended from the same place. He wasn't hit, and when he landed, he made no sound. He had a green, leaf-like cloak around him. It was difficult to see in the darkness, but he had smooth, wood-like features on his face, and very light, almost white, blue eyes that lacked any pupils. Suddenly, fifteen, maybe twenty people, men and women alike, descended from the trees in the area. Unlike the rangers, none of them used ropes, and none of their landings made even a sound. They all had leaf-like cloaks on, covering everything but their faces. One of them, the girl I recognized from camp. I was surrounded and separated from the group.

Fuck.

The first one to descend opened his cloak to reveal a green, leaf-like rapier. "You actually almost hit me there. Tell me, boy. How did you find them? How did you find me?"

"I've been training with the rangers."

"Oh really?"

The girl from earlier stepped forward. "I saw him at their camp. It's true."

"Thank you, Inowyn. Even then, I'm surprised a human would ever find one of us." His eyes squinted a bit. "What are you? Your scent is odd. Your air is odd."

Another one of them walked forward. "I bet he's a demon in disguise."

Inowyn suddenly, and without a sign, creeped headfirst infront of my face. She stared into my eyes for a minute before backing away just as quickly. "There's more to him than meets the eye. I can feel it. He's different."

The first man chimed back in. "Very few humans are different from the rest."

"I'm not human."

"I told you! He's a demon!"

"I'm not a demon."

"Then what are you?"

"I can't guarantee my safety if I tell you."

The first man stepped forward. "I can guarantee we won't kill you for what you are."

I looked around the forest, landing my sight on Meg's group huddled against the tree. "I'm a demidragon. I heard your breath before I drew my arrow."

"Impressive. A demidragon, huh? It's been a long time since any of us last saw one of your kind. How did you find the humans?"

"You're using the word human an awful lot. What are you?"

He paused. "In your tongue, we're elves. Wood elves to be exact. In our tongue, we're Trewa Álfari."

Elves are real? I thought they were fairytales. Then again, I thought the rangers were too.

"Why did you tie up the humans?"

"Why did you cut the criminals down?"

"They needed my help."

"We tied them up to bait the missing one, incase she found them. We made it hard to find them eitherway. How did you find them?" He started walking forward while other elves started closing in on the group.

"All the scents were leading in different directions, but . . . wait. Why are you kidnapping them?" I nocked an arrow.

"Don't make a decision you'll regret. Even if you draw an arrow in time, you'll die before any of us."

"It seems to me the only choice I'm getting is a regrettable one. I'll answer your question if you answer mine."

"They've all been condemned to death. They picked and ate the fruits of our ancestor trees. It is one of the worst crimes you can commit to elven kind."

"I see. You won't believe it, but when I found the scents, A sort of ghost-like glowing fox led me here."

All the elves started mumbling and murmuring amongst each other before the man could bring words out.

"The fox spirit guided you? How is that possible? It's extremely rare for any of the forest spirits to show themselves to anyone. Even my kind." All of a sudden, his suspicious glares turned to a reverent stare."

"I came to save them. There has to be a way to avoid killing them."

"I don't think you understand how grievous of a crime they commited. They defaced the bodies and souls of our dead. We cannot treat this lightly."

"But how would they know that? How would they know eating what looks like harmless fruit would be a crime?"

"It doesn't matter."

"What? You and your people hide in forests, right? I'd guess you probably don't want humans to know you even exist. If people don't know you exist, they'd never know your laws. It's just not fair."

His respect turned to fiery anger. "Fair? Do you know why we hide in forests? Why we hide our very existence? It's because of humans. Our kind taught them, helped them, lived with them, and loved them. All we got in the end was a crusade to fuel the fires of their greed. We lost most of our kind, all of our land—all of our homes. Don't tell me what's fair and what isn't."

"I understand that, but I can't leave without them."

"Why waste all this breath—All this energy for their kind?"

"Because then their deaths would be on me. The only reason why they ate your fruit was because I knocked them all unconscious and left them by the bridge when they tried to rob me. If I acted differently, this could've been avoided."

"So they're robbers aswell now?"

"Is there another way? Anything that could be done?"

Inowyn stepped up to us. "There is trial by combat. They don't look like fighters, but they can pick a champion to fight for them." She turned her attention to him. "Come on, Tarwyn."

Tarwyn growled for a second. "Fine." He turned to the group. "Do you choose death, or trial by combat?"

Meg stood up, looking around nervously. After a moment, her eyes met mine. I nodded to her. "Uhm w-we choose trial by combat."

"Very well. Take a moment to choose your champion. We shall choose our own. Trying to run away will forfeit your life, so don't think about trying it."

All the elves moved to one side of the dead wood as I walked back to the group.

I sighed.

Meg's face carried the same fear the rest of the group had, except she held more worry than they did. "I-I'm sorry."

I took a deep breath. "It's fine. I'll be your champion."

One of the men from the group grabbed Meg's arm. "Are you sure? He's a demidragon."

"I'm right here."

"You saw him fight earlier, Percy. And besides, we need someone as powerful as a demidragon anyway. They're elves for fuck's sake. We need him. End of discussion."

The man who held the sword earlier stood up. "I agree. I don't care if he's a demidragon or not anymore. I care about us living. I want us to go back to our families."

Percy slumpt back down in a humph.

"Thank you, Terin." She turned to me. "What's your name?"

"Ladon." I looked across the deadwood to see Tarwyn turn to us.

"Have you decided on your champion?"

Meg turned to them. "W-we choose Ladon as our champion."

I stepped forward.

"Verywell." He stepped forward. "I will be your opponent."

I took my cloak off, revealing my quiver, scabbard, and scarred arm, then he removed his cloak to reveal his long ears, long, ponytailed autum hair, plant-like rapier, and leaf-like mail armor colored in a gradient from summer to autum. His body was slender, and his arms revealed it wasn't just his face that resembled wood. We both walked forward until we were near the center of the area. The group and the elves moved closer to watch.

"The rules are simple: we duel until yield or death, whichever comes first. You may use any weapons at your disposal. Any outside interference is prohibited. Out of respect for the forest spirits, I'll try not to kill you, nor will I condemn you for that arrow earlier. Any questions?"

I pulled out my bow and nocked an arrow. "No."

He pulled his rapier out with a cocky smile. "Then let's begin."

As he took his first step, I drew and released my arrow aimed at him. He narrowly dodged it with only his head.

"There really isn't any chance at deflecting that, huh?" He started jogging.

I let loose another arrow while stepping back. He slid under it. As he was quickly getting up in a rising sprint, I released a third arrow. He jumped over it as I put my bow back in the quiver, and detached it, allowing it to fall as I pulled my messer out. Just after the tip exited its scabbard, my blade clashed with his, making a sound more similar to metal striking wood than metal on metal. Despite what the sound would make me assume, my blade caused no damage to his. I used my blade to shove him back, though it took some effort.

"You're stronger than you look."

"So are you." I entered a fool's stance, holding my sword low to the ground.

He closed the distance and went for a thrust to my torso. I stepped to the right while deflecting his blade to the left, point facing down. Keeping its momentum, I rotated my wrist, bringing it over my head, and back toward him in a counter-attack. He, keeping his momentum from the deflect, crouched while spinning clockwise under my counter-attack. Once he was close to facing me, he went for an up-right diagonal slash while rising from his crouch. I narrowly dodged backward as his blade just barely cut a small part of my shirt; a part I was certain wouldn't get cut. It was as if his blade was longer than I anticipated. When I looked at his blade, I noticed it looked a little longer too. Not by much, but still longer. I looked to the ground by his feet and saw some of the grass was missing in very small patches.

"Caught my trick that fast?" He lowered his point to the ground. "Guess there's no use in hiding it. You're good, I'll give you that."

As his point rested just above the ground, blades apon blades of grass pulled from the dirt all at once in a spiraling motion as they slowly connected with his blade. He slowly rose his blade as the grass formed into it, lengthening it much more than ever before. The blade began to curve and widen as more blades of grass joined. By the time he drained the earth surrounding him of its grass, his sword had turned from a rapier into a long scimitar.

"Is it just grass?"

"No, we can make use of all plantlife; not just grass."

I rushed forward just to see him do the same. As we clashed, we passed each other, spinning clockwise to give no pause to the fight. Rotating around each other, we traded attacks, deflects, parries, and counter-attacks, neither of us inflicting any damage against the other. Before I knew it, our spiraling fight led my back against a tree. He stepped back, giving me room to leave it. As I moved away from the tree, I noticed he wasn't growing tired yet. At least, if he was, I couldn't see it. He sent a thrust my way, which I deflected just for his blade to snake into a second thrust. I deflected again to see him finish its figure eight into a slash I then blocked.

He held his blade against mine. "Try not to get too close to these trees. If either of us so much as damage one, let's just say it would be quite easy to declare a winner, since the other would be executed."

"Maybe I should. It would be easy to win that way." I lowered my point, and stepped to the right, allowing his blade to fall with its force as I snapped my wrist, sending my blade toward his neck. He rose his left arm to block it with his forearm. As my messer made contact, I noticed my blade was embedded in a layer of several large leaves; leaves that were no longer a part of his amoured torso.

"Maybe you wouldn't get the opportunity to do so!" He swung his left arm behind himself. Realizing my sword was stuck, I took no chance to make myself vulnerable and let go. As his swinging arm reached its end, I saw the leaves unharden and fall off as my messer fell away with its own momentum.

Before I could consider retrieving it, he swung his scimitar at me. I dodged backward, avoiding his blade. As he finished its swing, he rushed at me, sending an upward slash my way. I dodged to my right. Immediately after, he sent a horizontal slash to me. I fell to a crouch, like he did, to dodge it. He then sent a low leftward slash at me. I used my low crouch to spring up into the air, dodging his sword completely. As I was in the air, I realized I made a mistake since I could no longer maneuver myself away. As I landed, a downward slash cut through the air right to me. Unable to get out on the way in time, I planted my left foot behind me, and attempted to catch his blade with the palms of my hands. With one loud clap, I felt the successful friction between my hands. The strain from pushing the wagon these last few days was becoming very prevalent as I struggled to hold his sword in place. I saw he was smiling, probably assuming victory was just up ahead for him. Considering how calculated his choices have been this whole fight, I guess it makes sense.

Using both my hands, I took a risk, and began increasing the heat around and inbetween them. His sword is made of grass; it must be flammable. Strenuously holding his blade in place as he applied more force, I kept raising the heat. It grew exponentially in a matter of seconds. I knew I couldn't control it yet, but in this instance at least, that didn't matter. Just as his blade became engulfed in flame, I threw it to the side. It burned to ashes down to the hilt in a roaring flame by the time it finished its downswing. He dropped it in shock, realizing he was now without a weapon too. I took a few steps back, realized my sword was maybe ten meters behind him.

"So that's your element. I should have guessed as much, demidragon. You have disregarded this forest by using fire here."

"We were far enough from the trees. I wouldn't have taken the risk otherwise."

"Good."

He rushed at me. Once he got close, he threw a jab toward my head. I used the back of my right arm to deflect it, and punched him in his side with my left hand. Just after, I lowered my right arm and went for a gut punch. He caught it with his left hand, so I immediately hooked my right leg behind his, and pushed his chest with my right fist, tripping him onto his shoulders. As his momentum rolled him onto his front, I ran to my messer, slid to it, picked it up, and turned around to see him unmoving on the ground. Eventually, he slowly started pushing himself up. There were more empty patches of dirt again. As soon as he faced me, two small daggers were launched from his hands, spinning and curving through the air to reach me. I deflected one with my messer, but the other pierced my lower left soulder. I pulled it out and dropped it to the ground. Should've just dodged both.

He lowered to the ground, placing his hands above the grass. "Hand to hand combat with a demidragon was a mistake." He coughed a bit. "Those fists pack quite a punch."

"How are your grass weapons so effective?"

"Magic."

Slowly, the grass started to form into the rapier he started with. I stood still and allowed it to happen, both because I didn't want to attack him with a weapon while he was unarmed, and I needed a breather. Burning that scimitar took a lot out of me.

"I suppose I should end this fight soon."

I entered an ox stance. "I was thinking the same."

He charged at me. Once he was close, he thrusted his blade toward my heart. Moving my sword to the left, I shifted my point downward to deflect his thrust. Once his blade passed my left arm, I rotated my wrist to prepare for an upward strike to his deflected blade. I put all my strength into it, sending his sword out of his hand and flying up into the air for a short time, then sent a rightward slash toward his neck, but stopped before it could make contact.

"Do you yield?"

"I thought I had one more thrust in before this." He placed his hand against his side and grunted. "Yeah, I yield."

I pulled my sword away from him and put it in its scabbard, then began walking to my bow and quiver.

"You know, Ladon. You're quite deft with a blade. Much better than I thought you'd be. How much training have you done?"

I picked up the quiver, attached it to my belt, and began returning some escaped arrows to it. "A little more than a week of full day training."

Inowyn began walking to me from the crowd of elves. "Looks like you lost to an amateur, brother. I can't wait to tell grandfather all about it." She pulled down her hood to reveal her long, green-blonde hair.

Tarwyn walked over to his lost rapier and picked it up. "Shut up, Inowyn. He's clearly gifted."

"The elf to succeed Trewari Borowyn, lost to an ameteur."

"You're not going to let this go are you?"

She smiled. "Never."

"Gods strike me down."

She finished walking to me. "Ladon, was it?"

"Yes."

She lifted her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Ladon."

I shook it. "You too."

Suddenly, my palm felt a sharp pain, followed by an odd warmth. I recoiled from her and looked down to it. It seemed tattooed with a brown picture of a large tree, roots sprouting just as wide and missing any soil, like it was just floating in nothingness. Suddenly, it began glowing bright green.

"What did you do?"

"It's the mark of the wood elves. It'll glow in the presence of my kind, unless you want it not to. It will also tell any of my kind you are to be trusted. We do not give this lightly, or often."

"How have I earned this?"

"You proved you're a good person by fighting for those humans. You showed mercy when you could've killed my brother. You showed talent as a tracker, bowman, and swordsman." She smiled. "Also you beat my brother."

"Thank you."

"Of course. You'll be welcomed by my kind from this day onward. Anybody trusted by the forest spirits is trusted by us."

Tarwyn walked up to us. "You have the mark now. Don't let anyone know what it is, unless they are already trusted with the knowledge of our existence. Do not tell anyone of our existence. Breaking our trust, or our laws, now that you are marked, would be even more egregious."

"I understand. Thank you, Tarwyn."

He turned his head away. "Y-yeah." He awkwardly walked away.

Inowyn reached into a small hip pouch, pulled out what looked to be various herbs and some kind of brown moss, spat on them, crushed them together in her hands.

"What's going on?"

"I'm going to heal your wound. Don't worry; it may look unclean, but it'll work. It'll only hurt for a few seconds. Oh, also remove your shirt. It'll get in the way."

"O…kay…" I took my shirt off, revealing my bleeding stab wound. I never really noticed how bad it was. The pain began to really hit as soon as my attention was now on it. I need to be more careful. It's dangerously easy to shrug off a wound in the heat of battle.

She pressed the mixture against the wound in my shoulder. It stung and burned as if a pile of salt was shoved into it. "Ínthras . . . suthras . . . menden und áman sál nëmu…" A light began to escape from where her hands were pressing as the pain began to lift away. "Líndin líf; líndin láf."

She removed her hands and wiped the mixture away. Aside from the smeared brown all over the area, my shoulder looked as if it was never bothered, let alone stabbed.

"Woah… I've never seen magic like that before. Thank you."

"Of course."

I started putting my shirt back on. "Do all elves have access to magic?"

"We're all familiar with chaos in one way or another, yes. I mostly use the tongue of chaos. It's the language invented by my kind to translate chaos into action. We use it to communicate aswell."

"Just three weeks ago, I never truly thought magic existed. But now, I've done it myself, and seen four people use very different magics in very different ways."

"Bending the will of chaos is more common than you might think, Ladon. Even in our current days. You just have to find the right people. Chaos speech used to be the most common form of magic in the ages past."

"I see."