The trees were whispering again. They loved to torment me, the breeze carrying their words down to my ears, almost able to make out what they were saying but.... not quite. I looked up and saw the leaves flip over and sway, when I half-closed my eyes, I could see the faces they formed up there, the mouths opening in laughter at my incompetence.
I continued along the forest path, my feet feeling every twig and adjusting so not to make a sound. The Inn back at the village was running low on fresh meat, so I had taken my bow to the forest to find a rabbit or two, but apart from the whispering trees, the forest was silent. Something had been taking my prey in recent weeks, and it was getting harder and harder to find a food supply. Farther and farther I had to travel to find it.
A few days ago, I had found something odd on the ground near the path that chilled me. Some poor creature had met its end in some way, and had been... drained... It was completely intact but twas nothing but bones and skin. No blood, no meat, no innards, for when I poked it with a stick it collapsed into a dry, flat pool, the bones in a pile under the skin with nothing to hold them together. Thankfully I had only seen that once, and have tried to forget it.
So I was, hunting for a prey that seemed to no longer exist where it always had before. I was about to turn around and give up, when I heard the faintest sound of a dry leaf being disturbed on the ground.
Tensing, I slowly reached for an arrow, thinking I had finally found an elusive hare. As I crouched down lower to the ground and turned toward the sound, something spoke.
It spoke the language of the trees, only this time I could understand every horrible word.
I did not see what spoke, or where it was coming from, but this is what it said..
"Thisss iss not your land, creaturrre. Thissss land belongsss to the ssspirit Helssseuri, sssshe of the ssserpentsss. You tresspasss here, and ssshal be sssubject to be herrrr prrey ifff thy ssshow your pale faccce here again. Thisss isss the only warning forrr yourrr kind there will be"
It wasn't the words alone that chilled me, it was the sound of them, ancient as the earth itself, dry and brittle, and crawling inside my head like maggots. It is impossible to describe, but I didn't have to think for one second.. I RAN.. Ran like I had never run before, my feet not even touching the forest floor, and it seemed to me I was still there in its presence, its inhuman eyes staring coldly at my back.
But at last I fell into the clearing of the village, sobbing, so glad to be alive still.
Noone saw me as I lay there, my sides shuddering with sobs, and eventually they subsided and I could think again. What was this burden placed upon me? What was to be next? What would happen when that.. thing.. had nothing left to take from the forest? Would it go after the villagers? Something had to be done, and soon.
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