Chapter 5: Dangerous place

Nickel and Mikey stood at the edge of the forest, trees standing too close together, their bark slick with moisture and shadow. Inside, the air seemed to thicken. A few fireflies blinked lazily among the underbrush—but each flicker was swallowed by the dark, like the forest refused to hold even a speck of light.

Mikey didn't move. His eyes stayed locked on the path ahead, or what passed for one. Somewhere in that gloom, the wizard was sleeping—or so he hoped. The thought wrapped around his brain like fog, soft but suffocating. 

"Arez you zure zis will workz?" Nickel asked, folding the crumpled map and shoving it behind him. His voice cracked a little at the end, though he tried to play it off. Mikey gave a slow nod, but his jaw was tense. "No better ideas," he said.

Nickel groaned, rubbing the back of his neck. ' Maybe'z better directional zense,' he muttered in his head. 'Or a wizard zhat don't live in haunted broccoli.'

Luckily for Nickel, Mikey didn't choose to immediately run into the forest. Instead of following a path between the trees. 

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"Wait!" Mikey's hand shot up, fingers stiff, like he was expecting a tripwire to snap across the path. 

Silence.

 "...Ok, continue," he muttered, lowering his hand. Lagging a few steps behind, Nickel grumbled to himself. "Why'z we ztop zo much?" Mikey turned around towards Nickel, his silhouette half-swallowed by vines and hanging moss. "We need to make sure it's safe to go forward; why else?" Mikey spoke, his eyes flicking briefly to the trees. 

Nickel's heart thumped softly against his chest, the eeriness of the woods unnerving him. In front of him, Mikey moved like a shadow, crouched low in an awkward half-crab, half-sprint.

Ducking underneath a branch, Mikey spoke, "We haven't seen the line in the ground since we left, right? Must mean we're going the right direction." Mikey continued on, sidestepping a knotted root laid like a trap, his pace not slowing.

Nickel's ear twitched before he paused, no longer hearing the crunching of leaves behind him. Mikey paused and turned around. A gap in the dark canopy let a sliver of moonlight through, enough for Mikey to see Nickel. The goblin's ear twitched again. His head tilted slightly, like he was triangulating a sound only he could hear. In a hushed whisper, Mikey spoke, "Is something nearby?" No reply. Just another flick. 

Seeing no response, Mikey dropped down, angling his stick in front of him. Nickel's head finally clicked in a direction, his ears fully perked up as he spoke, "Znoring, azot," he muttered. Mikey looked down at Nickel, confusion evident in his face. "What do you mean?" Nickel didn't answer—just shook his head and pointed into the trees.

Mikey angled his stick as a makeshift sword before walking forward, ducking under a branch and weaving between the thorns. By now Nickel had taken the lead; Mikey could see the goblin stop every so often to recalibrate his ears, honing in on whatever it was he heard. 

Eventually Mikey could hear it too.

The buzzing of insects was loud but didn't sound like this. The crunching of leaves stopped as Mikey froze, hearing deep breaths of air getting sucked in before being pushed gently out. A gap in the never-ending forest appeared, a clearing letting white moonlight bathe the grass in front of them. No words were exchanged as they walked to the edge of the woods.

As the tree line ended, they stopped right on the edge. Nickel paused mid-step, his body growing tense. A breath hitched in Mikey's chest as he gripped the stick with white knuckles. Before them, just beyond the treeline, lay a tangle of bodies. Beasts stacked atop each other like old trash.

The moon spilled over the mass, as if the forest had arranged some grim ritual. Mikey and Nickel's eyes locked on one of them, the one on the very top. It was different; the others had feline, cat-like features: elongated limbs with slim bodies. Large eyes with larger ears. On top, though, that one had tusk, and a glowing spine lining down to his tail.

"Are they dead?" Nickel squinted, his eyes adjusting to the new light source.

The mass rose and fell softly—breathing. 

"No, zleeping." One beast stirred, its ear flickering at the sound. Then its eyes snapped open, black and unblinking. It locked eyes with Mikey; neither moved.

The catlike creature lifted its head, the others shifting slightly; the sounds of bone creaking rang in Nickel's ears. With a graceful leap, it fell to the bottom of the pile, its eyes still staring back at Mikey.

Nickel whispered to Mikey, "Zalk back, zlowly." Mikey didn't respond as his foot left the ground. The cat's ears twitched at the sound as it began to slowly creep towards them. The buzzing grew louder, as if every bug in the forest was in attendance for what was about to happen.

Crack. 

The sound was small, but it was enough. From around them, the forest went silent. The creature tensed up, its wide eyes nearly doubling in size. The pile of beasts snapped awake.

The one on top jumped down and landed next to the first, its back hunched, the glowing line on its back flaring up. Caught off guard, Nickel took another step back, his foot landing on a leaf;

Crunch

 The large-tusked cat turned towards Nickel, its eyes widening before it happened.

A green hue came over the forest, the catlike creatures in front of them crowding behind the glowing green one. Without warning, something lashed out above Nickel's head. Like a whip, a branch struck the ground in front of the cat creature. Mikey didn't wait for a second strike. He yanked nickel down, ducking low as more branches began to sway unnaturally.

The forest went silent, as if scared to earn the trees ire, the only sounds being distressed cries and growls from the cat creatures. A bone-shattering crack caused Mikey to look up again; the form of a cat creature being whipped through the air burned in his eyes. 

It should've just hit the tree, maybe even broken a few bones. But it didn't

The tree changed; a mouth that wasn't there swallowed the thing. No crunch, no bite, no cry or growl for help. Just some blood splattering on the ground. The green one in the middle kept on waving its glowing tail above him; the glow seemed to help.

The trees continued lashing out; anything unlucky enough to get grabbed never got put back down. Mikey and Nickel watched with bated breath, too scared to move, lest the branches find a new target.

The glowing one in the middle seemingly getting tired. Luckily for the cat creatures, the trees stopped, locking back into place as if nothing had happened. The ones around him still growling at the forest. Mikey turned towards Nickel for the first time since the trees started lashing out. Nickel stared back, eyes wide.

'What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?' raced in Mikey's head. The branches above them concealed their forms from the cat creatures, but the branches were nowhere near safe. Nickel stayed still, noticing the trees were focused on the cat animals or just not attacking anymore.

Slowly, Nickel stood up, pulling Mikey up as he did. The cats ignored them as they continued growling at the trees. Neither of them said a word as they backtracked out of the forest. As they left, they made sure not to touch a single branch, nor a single bush, not even a passing leaf.

Only when they reached the main path they took to enter the forest did they finally stop. Mikey released a breath he didn't know he was holding as he spoke, "W-what was that?' Mikey said, deep breaths filling the void in his speech. Nickel panted, his hands on his knees, "Z-zhos are zhenfalk, forezt creaturze." Nickel paused before continuing. "But ze treez? I don't knowz." Nickel sat on the ground as he spoke. 

Mikey stood, still gripping the stick with white knuckles. "What do we do against that? How come the trees didn't attack us during the day? Were those creatures just out there earlier?" Mikey spoke all the thoughts in his mind back-to-back. His only response was a sigh from Nickel.

Mikey started pacing back and forth. "I know we have to rescue the princess, but how? This guy is our most solid lead, and we can't even get to the outskirts of the forest, let alone find him?" Mikey said, his response being Nickel shaking his head. 

"They need gear, a plan, zomething." Nickel said, looking towards Mikey's figure. "That's it! We need gear, a plan, something." All of Nickel's tenseness drifted away with Mikey's words; instead, annoyance coated his mind. As they left the forest edge, Nickel glanced back once. The trees were still. But something was watching.

A single green eye blinked in the dark.

Then vanished.