Chapter 5

An elf? It was still dark, but the moon provided enough light for Brynn to make out the silhouette standing before him. A women with sharp features and pointy ears.

An elf.

“Am I still dreaming?” asked Brynn, sleepily. Elves were long gone. How could she be here?

The elf replied with another nudge from her staff. “Let’s go,” she said, a little louder this time. “A hollow lives in this tree.”

Hollows were wrathful spirits of elves who perished in the Great War. They were the stuff of myths and legends. If such a thing actually existed and was nearby, Brynn should have sensed it.

“A hollow? You’re an elf? How did you get here?” He slowly sat up from his bed of leaves.

The elf shot him an exasperated look. Then she quickly, and quietly, made her way over to the bushes on the edge of the glade.

Brynn felt something stirring near the top of the tree. Not wanting to stick around and find out what it was, he grabbed his pack and ran over to where the elf was standing. He was all set to continue running, but the elf stopped him.

“My ancestors imprisoned the hollow in this glade. It can’t reach us,” she explained.

Brynn saw a shadowy figure appear in the dim light of the moon. It descended from the tree and stared at them with glowing green eyes.

“He was a warlock during the Great War. His family was tortured and killed by your kind. He made a pact with a demon so he could wreak his vengeance even in the afterlife. But demons can’t be trusted.” She shook her head sadly. “He became a blight upon this land. My ancestors couldn’t put his soul to rest, but at least they were able to constrain him to this tree.”

The hollow noticed something on the ground.

“My notes,” Brynn groaned. He’d left out his notes on the Fence when he fell asleep.

The hollow picked up the scrolls and studied them. Was there a hint of recognition in its eyes? It looked up and glared at Brynn malevolently. Then it climbed back up into the tree, taking the notes with it. As it made its way through the branches, it suddenly disappeared. That was strange. Maybe the tree spirit was hiding it somehow.

“I need those notes,” complained Brynn. “They’re important.” He began to step into the glade, but the elf held her staff out in front of him.

“I can’t let you go in there,” the elf said. “It would corrupt your soul. The glade wouldn’t contain you, so who knows what trouble you’d cause.” She was right. It was too dangerous for him to confront the hollow directly. Brynn gritted his teeth and stepped back.

“I’m Scout Seleeku. And you are?” She held her quarterstaff with a comfortable readiness, watching him carefully.

“Dru—”, he paused and corrected himself, “Brynn. Just Brynn.”

“Well, ‘Just’ Brynn, you must know that we don’t see many humans in these woods, and it’s even rarer to find them alive. What are you doing here?”

He could be asking the same question of her. “There’s something out in the forest that I need to find. It, uh, could present a grave danger to all of us.”

Seleeku snickered at his answer. “You were kicked out of the fishing village south of here, and now you’re aimlessly wandering around. We’ve been tracking you the whole time. Why did they force you to leave?”

Brynn’s shoulders slumped. He saw no reason to lie. He was never very good at it anyway. “They claimed that I ran away during a battle with some raiders. I was injured, though, so I don’t remember any of it. The price for my desertion was exile.”

Seleeku studied Brynn, obviously deciding on whether he was telling the truth.

Brynn continued, “Scout Seleeku, as far as my people know, elves no longer populate this land. They all disappeared at the end of the Great War. How is it that you’re here and we’ve never found you?”

“It’s true,” she finally replied, “most of my ancestors left for other lands after the War, but some stayed. We have ways of staying hidden from your kind.”

She tapped her staff on the ground pensively. “Now then, what to do with you? I’ll take you to the Scout Leader Nessana and let him decide. Start walking, Brynn. In that direction.” She pointed towards the west. “I’ll be right behind you. You look harmless enough, but I want to keep you in my sights.”

Brynn considered his options. Elves and humans fought each other in the Great War ages ago, but Seleeku didn’t seem intent on harming him. Then there was the hollow. It seemed to understand the runes, so perhaps there was an elf that could too? Brynn didn’t have his notes, but he could recall some of the simpler symbols. He could show them those. It was his best hope of learning something about the Fence.

Besides, he didn’t think he had much choice in the matter. Even if he somehow managed to escape from Seleeku, he was sure the elves would track him down. He nodded in assent and began to walk.

---

They spent the next several hours walking deeper into the woods, the moonlight illuminating their path. Occasionally, Seleeku would bark an order at Brynn to turn randomly left or right, following a trail that only she could see. He soon became thoroughly lost.

As they traveled, Brynn thought back to his dream-visions of Kodroth. His recollections of them were indistinct, more feelings than actual memories.

Brothers. Darkness.

Backstabber?

The word brought back a fuzzy remembrance of fighting Kodroth with a spear. Had it really happened? Or had it been part of his dream? Try as he might, he couldn’t bring about any more clarity to the moment.

Kodroth had implied that they were both touched by the Darkness. Somehow that made them connected. Brynn wished he could draw upon the resources at the College of Galdir. Surely there was a dusty tome in the Library that discussed this dire magic. Something that could give him a hint as to what was happening and how to overcome it.

Seleeku stopped near a low rock wall, the kind that farmers made when clearing their fields. Time had reduced it to a shadow of its former self. In the distant past, this part of the Far Forest had been cultivated. Brynn wondered what kind of people had lived here. Elves? Humans? Something else?

“Biscuit?” Seleeku had taken two out of her pack and proffered one to Brynn. He took it and cautiously had a bite. It tasted of butter and honey and was delicious. He ravenously gulped down the rest.

“Scout Seleeku,” Brynn asked, still chewing, “might I ask if you’ve encountered other humans before?” He was still having a hard time coming to terms that he was travelling with an elf.

“A few times,” she replied. “Several years ago, a man was exiled from your village, the same as you. He died. A will-o’-wisp tricked him into drowning in a swamp.”

She pulled out a wooden flask, took a sip from it and handed it to Brynn. The water was cold and clear, as if it had come straight from a mountain stream.

She repacked her flask and tin of biscuits. “Some time before that a small band of adventurers got it into their fool heads that there was treasure in the forest. They stomped around all over looking for it. They died too. Eaten by a pack of wyverns. Then there’s the story my grandfather tells of a squadron of knights who entered the Forest to slay a dragon.”

“Let me guess,” said Brynn. “They also died.”

“Of course! How stupid can you be to attack a dragon? Those creatures just want to be left alone. My grandfather says the dragon left the Forest soon afterwards, never to return. It’s a shame really.”

They sat on the wall, resting, and listened to the birds’ gossip to each other as the first rays of dawn lit the forest.

“I was only supposed to watch you,” she admitted, “and let the Forest decide your fate. But of all the places you could wander into, it had to be the Hollow’s Glade.”

From the tone of her voice, it sounded as if she would have preferred that he had encountered a will-o’-wisp. Or a pack of wyverns.

“I couldn’t just leave you there,” she continued. “As I said, it would have corrupted you, and maybe used you as a means to escape. We’re all lucky that it’s been dormant so long that it didn’t notice you at first.”

Perhaps she was trying to convince herself that she had made the right decision. Brynn replied, “I thank you for saving me, Scout Seleeku. I am in your debt.” He paused before asking, “Have you seen another human recently? A very large man?”

Seleeku frowned and looked at Brynn suspiciously. “You should save your questions for Leader Nessana.” She stood up. “We’ve wasted enough time here. Let’s get moving.”

---

Brynn began finding evidence of the trail they were on. He couldn’t read any of the physical markings, if there were any, but instead noticed a subtle change in the magic of the land. He didn’t know if it was intentional or just the product of the elves’ constant passage. Either way, he realized could follow the pathway without needing Seleeku’s guidance.

He made a half-hearted attempt at hiding his knowledge from her, but it soon became clear he knew which way to go. It was just too easy to forget and to go the correct way before waiting for Seleeku’s instructions. Brynn could sense her growing uneasiness.

Brynn stopped at a crossroads and Seleeku stepped up to him, her expression wary.

“How do you know our secret paths?” she asked.

What could he tell her? He could try to lie and say the he had no idea what she was talking about. He knew that wouldn’t go over well. Maybe he could say that he was a ranger, and could read the patterns of the leaves on the ground? No, that was just absurd.

“You’ve been using these trails long enough that it’s affected the spirits of the land. They guide me along the path.”

“The spirits of the land are giving you directions? You expect me to believe that?” She let out a sharp laugh.

Brynn simply shrugged. Seleeku glowered at him briefly and then scanned the forest.

“We’ll go that way,” she declared, pointing off to the left. The trees in that direction looked the same as everywhere else, but Brynn could tell she was taking them off of the elven trails.

Brynn once again contemplated attempting to escape, but thought better of it. Sighing, he set off towards the way that Seleeku had indicated.

---

Several times, Brynn felt that they had circled around and arrived at the same location but from a different vantage point. He assumed that Seleeku was trying to confuse Brynn’s awareness of where they were going. He was already hopelessly lost, though, regardless of his ability to sense their trails, so it didn’t really matter.

Eventually they reached the edge of a grassy fen, full of flowering sedges. Tall reeds stood in the distance. A chilling thought entered Brynn’s mind.

“Are you going to kill me and dump my body in the marsh?” he asked, grimly.

“What?! I’m not a murderer, Brynn,” she exclaimed. “I’m sure the Scout Leader will take you to the Council. They’ll decide what to do with you.”

Brynn wasn’t sure he could find solace in her words. She was treating him well enough, but there was no way to know how the other elves would feel. Her attitude had also changed when he’d asked about Kodroth. She had become even more distrustful when she found out that he could read their trails.

They continued through the fen. When they reached the edge of the reeds, Seleeku pointed at a thin opening among the stalks. It was a hidden pathway through the bog.

“We need to stay alert,” Seleeku stated. “This way could be dangerous.” She made no mention of what that danger might be.

Brynn entered the gap in the tall grass. Biting flies and stinging gnats began circling around his head. Brynn trekked on miserably through the mire.

The reeds eventually gave way to still ponds covered with thin layers of green algae. A chorus of frogs croaked in unison as they travelled. Brynn stopped suddenly. He could sense something unsettling off in the distance.

Seleeku stepped up cautiously to him. “What is it?” she whispered.

“Something up ahead. Something’s … not right.” Brynn answered.

She looked around dubiously. “Are you trying to trick me into turning around?” she said. “It’s not going to work.”

“There’s a spirit up ahead. I think it’s angry.”

“An angry spirit? Is that the best you can think of? This swamp is full of them.”

“Can we go around it?” Brynn asked.

“No,” she replied curtly.

“Can we at least go ahead slowly and carefully?”

“If we go any more slowly, we’ll be standing still,” she retorted.

Nevertheless, they continued at a more deliberate pace. Brynn reached out with senses, trying to ascertain what was up ahead.

“You mentioned something earlier about a man who drowned in a swamp? It didn’t happen to be this swamp, did it?”

Seleeku paused. “Ummm …” She pointed straight ahead.

A creature was clawing itself out of the turbid water. White, skeletal, and covered in algae, it stood before them holding a rusty dagger. A bonewalker was blocking their path.

“I think that’s him,” Brynn said.

The bonewalker twirled the blade expertly between its bony fingers. Seleeku readied herself to charge, holding her staff high.

“Wait!” Brynn cried to Seleeku.

The creature had frozen mid-twirl, the dagger spinning away, thunking blade-first into the soft mud. It stared at Brynn with black, empty eye sockets. Its skull was devoid of expression, but Brynn could tell that it recognized him.

Brynn shuddered. No, that wasn’t it.

It recognized Kodroth.