I looked over to the others, only to see all three of them looking at me. “What?”
“We just wanted to see your reaction,” Pir said with a broad grin. “Isn’t it something?!”
“It's incredible! I’ve never seen anything like it! I didn’t expect it to be so colorful…but at the same time so scary.”
“The unknown is always scary. Are you afraid?” Willow asked. I could read the great challenge written behind the vast sea of his eyes.
“I’m always afraid,” I confessed, “but I can’t wait to see it for myself.”
We made it to the bottom of the mountain before midday. The path curved around the edge of the Savage Wild for several more miles before reaching the official entrance of the region, where dozens of small stands sold necessities and travel goods. The trees were so thin and close together, we would have needed a machete to break through.
“The forest is less crowded the further you go in,” Willow explained as he floated above us. “And the trees are massive. The first king built his entire castle out of one, without killing it.” He stroked his chin, a mild breeze fluttering through his fine hair. “I bet your power could get us there, Badger.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but my words got caught in my throat, and all I could let out was a nervous hum. Willow was kind enough not to laugh.
“Lighten up, I’m not serious. No need for that face.”
“What face?”
He poked my nose. “That face on your face. All the blood just drained out of you.”
“I’m not…um…”
“Never let fear control your destiny,” he advised, adjusting the layering of his gold bracelets. “Unless you want to miss some of the best sights in the world!”
Sharp whipped her head away from the map. “Hey clotpole, this is not a vacation! The mission is to visit Dr. Gold-and-Silver’s clinic before finding Pyrite. Don’t get distracted by pretty things.”
“I’m not distracted,” he argued, tying a knot with the frayed edge of his scarf. “Maybe if we finish early, we could sightsee!”
“Fine,” she grumbled, burying her face in the map again, “but don’t get us sidetracked on purpose.”
We passed many people on the widening path. Locals ignored us, except for a group of Warriors traveling back east to the Great City. They left us with a warning not to venture too deep into the woods. Fights were breaking out at the border as the Divine power of King Obsidian waned. A reluctant Willow decided sightseeing wasn’t a good idea after all.
Eventually the path curved into the forest, and the trees on both sides blocked even the slightest wind. At first the walk was calm, and the warm sun beat down in lazy waves, but soon the trees became taller, and the leaves spread to form a thin canopy above the road.
“How much longer?” Piranha whined, trying to get a look at the map. “Are we going to make it before it gets dark?”
“We’ll be there an hour before the sun sets,” Sharp speculated. “But I’m starting to remember it doesn’t matter much. Soon the canopy will be so thick, it will block out the sun.”
It wasn’t just the lighting that changed as we moved deeper. The trees outlining the path were less crowded, and their trunks became thicker and darker. A great quiet grew all around us. We didn’t speak for some time, afraid all the creatures of the Wilds were leaning in and listening to every word we said.
A bird call startled us from our stupor.
“I forget how different it feels to be in here,” whispered Sharp, staring straight up to the canopy. “It’s like a big, quiet room. I feel watched, but also like I’m alone."
Willow’s scarves dragged in the dirt behind him. “Ditto.”
“Is that really how you all feel?” I ventured.
“Don’t you feel the same?” Pir tilted their head.
The sun emitted rays of light from the spaces between the leaves. Hours earlier I was afraid of our destination, but the darker and quieter the woods became, the more peaceful I felt.
I placed a hand on the dry, warm wood. “I think the trees are watching to make sure we don’t run into any danger.”
Pir placed a hand next to mine, clawed fingers latching to the bark. “I understand. It’s like in the Jungle. The trees speak their own language, sensing things in ways we can’t imagine.”
Eventually we split from the main path to follow an old wooden sign reading: Benzay 5 Miles. The light from the sun was replaced with a dimmer illumination, bathing the trees in white-blue moonlight.
“Are there Silver Lights up there?” I asked, referring to a common City technology that converted different types of energy into simple lights.
The eyes of my friends were glowing now, like the power in the forest pulled their souls forward. Sharp smiled and said, “No, the Wilds are lit by something else. Willow?”
Without a word, he floated up through the thick, black foliage. When he drifted back, he held a piece of beige light in the palm of his hand. It looked like Wild Fruit, only wider and more luminous around the edges. Up close, it wasn’t very bright, but hundreds of them lit up the forest in the dark.
Soon, the dim forest gave way to the brightness of civilization: the town of Benzay. Unprocessed white wood gave each squat building the lopsided appearance of a beaver dam. The streets were illuminated with Silver Lights and groups of fire-dancers, insects emanating warm light from their wings and making the entire area a shade of orange. In a few places, they clustered together like little fires.
Sharp held the map to a nearby insect. “The doctor’s house is nearby. My dad said Gold-and-Silver will be happy to feed us and give us a place to sleep.”
Willow crossed his legs in mid-air and pretended to wipe sweat from his brow. “That’s a relief. I was starting to worry we might have to camp in the woods.”
She clicked her tongue. “Don’t count your chickens. Banyan is much further away, so who knows where we’ll be sleeping when we go looking for Pyrite.”
“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but overhear,” said an unfamiliar voice like a whistling breeze. It belonged to a short, wrinkled woman with black hair even longer than Sharp’s, reaching all the way to her knobbly knees. She hobbled over to us from the porch of a nearby house, luminous topaz eyes glowing with apology. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. My name is Ore.”
My three companions took a step back. I did the opposite. “Hello. Is everything alright, Ms. Ore?”
