Of the Woods

by J A S Bennet

  “Sheridan.”

  “Yeah?” she answered drowsily. He knew she would be exhausted after her work today. She would probably be drained for days.

  “I need to tell you something,” he whispered.

  She tried not to tense up. Those words scared every single person who ever heard them.

  “Okay,” was all she could muster without her voice shaking from both fear and exhaustion.

  “There is something you need to know before we, um, get closer.” He seemed scared and she felt it as well. “I know we are attracted to each other. It has nothing to do with my job. I need you to know that.” He paused and the world seemed to still. “If we consummate our relationship, it is going to create a bond. I know I want that, but you need to be aware of what that means. If I am to be yours and you are to be mine, we will bond with that act. It will be a choice and it will be forever. You need to know that.” He was in love with this woman and it scared him to think she wouldn’t choose him. He could have let it happen. Guardians had done that before, but he would never want to trap her. “I, uh, we need it to be your choice.” He kissed her on the top of her head, gave her a gentle hug, and that was it.

  She didn’t open her eyes or respond with words. Somehow those words were comforting to her. Any kind of relationship between them would be a joint choice. He gave her the power to choose him and she knew that if they were meant to be together, they would be. She didn’t have much time to think about it because she was beyond any kind of tired she had ever known. A peaceful sleep took her under while he held her in his arms.

  Ava was exhausted. They had gotten so much done today, but according to Sheridan it wasn’t enough. She really wanted to help with the distress Sheridan was in, but it never seemed to alleviate her pain. Ava looked forward to a nice warm bath and a cozy bed. It had been a long time since she’d felt this exhausted.

  Entering her room, she immediately started taking off her clothes to get in the shower. She didn’t have time for that relaxation she got from a three-hour bath, but she did want to wash the stink off. She got in her bathroom wearing just her bra and panties and stopped dead in her tracks. It took a few minutes to realize what or who exactly was in her room. She only saw him from behind, but it only took one guess to know it was Grog. “What the actual hell are you doing in here?” Grabbing a towel, she covered herself quickly.

  “Me lady likes me to clean, yes?” She looked beyond his body and saw that all of her makeup was strung out on the floor. He had placed all of the brushes under the makeup itself in a manner that made it look like a funeral pyre with makeup on top. He looked at his creation, then back to her with a smile.

  “What the fuck are you smiling at? Put all of that stuff back where you found it. Do you know how much all of that costs?” She pointed to the makeup and Grog just stared at her with a look of confusion.

  “What does mean, fuck?” Well if he thought she was going to give him a lesson on English cuss words or sex education, then he had another think coming.

  “It means to clean up this mess and get the hell out of my room.” Ava was trying to point at the mess and still hold up the towel wrapped around her. She wasn’t doing a good job of it.

  “‘Tis pretty, no?” Stomping over to the mess on the floor, Ava pulled her foot back and kicked the makeup all over the floor in frustration. When she pulled back from the mess she smelled the worst smell she had ever encountered. She held her nose.

  “Tis not pretty, and what is that smell? Did you shit yourself or something?” Looking around the room for a pile of crap, Ava started looking at the creature and backing away. “I’m going to leave this bathroom before I puke, you are going to clean up this mess and spray some air freshener.”

  Ava left the bathroom and threw on an old Rolling Stones T-shirt and cut-off blue jean shorts. She smiled a little to herself. She and Sheridan did have a little thing in common, at least in their choice of T-shirts. The boots were still ugly as hell, but the feel of them was growing on her, she felt like they could do some real damage, Someone or something had hurt her friend to the core today, and she didn’t like that one little bit. Whoever had done it was going to pay.

  She walked over to the window and stared at the stars overhead. Hearing the movement in the bathroom she could only hope that Grog was cleaning up and leaving, she raised her hand up to see if she could actually touch one particular star that seemed so close and felt something give beneath her fingers. She gave it another look and it seemed to be a button on the side of the latch of the window. Like a latch within a latch. She pushed the button down all the way and the window began to rumble. Panic ran through her entire body. “What is happening?”

  She placed her hands on the window and watched as a small floor extended from the side of the house that shifted to include a railing. She kept watching the floor and when it finished extending out, it shifted to go down, making steps that seemed to go on forever.

  “I knew it!” She gave a little hop and opened the window to test the newfound addition to her incredible room. Moving slowly, she tested the balcony with the weight of her foot. Feeling positive that the structure was sound, she crawled out of the window entirely and stood up straight on the new landing. Looking around, she saw a railing on the right side of the stairs, against the wall on the left. The stairs descended directly into the fog and darkness beyond what her eyes could see.

  Forgetting all about Grog, she slowly started to walk down the steps. When she reached what her eyes couldn’t see she realized that the trees overhead were moving, but she felt nothing of that wind. She was guided by the light of the full moon and there was a small illumination that seemed to be coming from the walls themselves.

  The farther down she got the more the tunnel needed to provide light. She noticed there were ancient weapons placed on the wall. She reached the end of the tunnel and a small table was sitting right outside a door. On the table was an envelope with her name on it. Ava picked up the envelope and ripped it open. There was no reason to be gentle. In the envelope was a letter and a map.

  Ava,

  If you are reading this then you have found the hidden tunnel attached to the Warrior Room. This is an important step for you as you continue with your training. The guardians who train you are aware that you have found this tunnel. They are alerted to anyone that enters their guard house. With the discovery of this tunnel you can now be trained with weapons. Beyond this door lies your private dojo. No one can enter this space without your permission. They must be invited in to cross the threshold. As a warning, make sure that you know the person you invite in completely. Once they are invited they can reenter without further question as long as you are present. Along with this letter, you will find a map that only your eyes can see. Study this map, you need to know every exit route available to you when you need it. All of the weapons you see within your room, this tunnel, the dojo, and training room belong to you. You are in charge of their distribution should a battle call for it.

  You are trusted with all of these things because you have been chosen. Use this power wisely. Listen to the men and women who are trying to train you. It is up to you to protect.

  B.

  She would ask the guardians who B was later. Ava unfolded the map after she placed the letter in her pocket. It gave a precise drawing of every detail in the tunnel. Included were things that couldn’t even be seen unless you knew it was there. Upon looking at the map it became clear why Ava could see the trees moving and not feel the breeze. The tunnel was covered in a magical charm that allowed her to see out, but people on the outside couldn’t see in. Ava saw secret underground tunnels and how to get to them, she saw magical weapons her hands would soon learn to wield. The longer she looked at it the more the words and images started to blur. She needed to sleep soon.

  One last thing was on her mind before she gave into the pull of sleep by returning to her bed. Turning the knob on the door to the dojo, she felt the excitement all over her. As soon
as the room was occupied it lit up on its own. The room was circular and contained any number of amazing weapons. There were punching bags hanging on the wall and free weights to enhance her endurance. A huge smile formed on her face as she thought about it being all hers.

  The pull of sleep hit her again with a stronger force. Folding the map and placing it in the same pocket as the letter, she exited the dojo and began to climb the steps to her room.

  Upon entering her private space, she watched as the balcony and stairs disappeared. She went to the bathroom to take care of a quick shower and remembered about Grog when she smelled the atrocious smell that still lingered. Giving a sigh and a small curse under her breath, she bent down and picked up all of her makeup and brushes that were once again arranged in the pyre that Grog thought was so pretty. She stepped back out in her room to put the map and letter beside her bed for studying later. Her shower was calling to her, almost as loudly as the bed was. It had been a long day.

  Cian jolted awake from a dead sleep. Someone had entered the guard house beside the castle. All of them were equipped with the ability to feel it, he had just never felt it this hard. He closed his eyes to discern what his abilities were demanding from him. He gave a smile when he realized what the demand was. She was in her dojo. This meant that her training with him was about to begin. Cian’s specialties lay in the weapons department.

  “That a girl, princess. Now we are going to have some fun.” Opening his eyes, his smile widened to include almost all of his teeth. He sensed that everyone else had slept through this momentous occasion. As he closed his eyes again, he fell back asleep, asking himself why he felt it so strongly.

  23

  The Struggle

  Jenny was in the need for coffee. Strong coffee. She didn’t seem to be her normal bouncy self. The exhausting day before was surely to blame. Knowing that Sheridan would still need time to recover from that horrible day, she decided to drink her coffee while fixing breakfast for everyone else. Unaware of what everyone preferred to eat, she decided to make a little bit of everything. She entered the kitchen to the familiar grunts of Grog.

  “Good morning, Grog. How did you sleep? Do you sleep?” She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him rest.

  “Grog needs no sleep. Much to do.” His present assignment seemed to be cleaning out the pantry in the kitchen. Currently he was picking up every grain of rice that had spilled out when he removed the box, placing them neatly in a bowl. Upon picking up his last grain, he exclaimed, “Aha!”

  Jenny continued observing him as he abandoned the task he had set with the pantry and moved the last grain of rice across the room and placed it on the counter. He then moved to a cabinet under the sink. Removing part of the abundance of bottles and cans, he crawled in.

  Jenny walked over to the pantry to replace all of its contents in the right spot. She could see Grog tossing things out and hear him mumbling. He emptied the cabinet and said “Hmmmm.” before moving on to another room. She had just enough time to draw in a deep breath to tell him to get back in the kitchen and clean up his mess, before Fergus walked in the room. She closed her mouth and stared at him observing the mess.

  “I didn’t do this. I hope you think I have more respect for this place than to tear through the kitchen like this.” Fergus could do nothing but shake his head before he bent down and picked up the contents of the cabinet and replaced them.

  “I’m just glad the caretaker doesn’t enter the kitchen before dinner prep time. If she had seen this, she would’ve lost her mind.” These words made Jenny think for a minute until she figured out why they bothered her.

  “The caretaker has only ever been calm, sometimes eerily so, around us. Does she have a crazy side?”

  Fergus seemed to move a little quicker when she finished her question, nervously placing things in the pantry to help her. “No. She’s nice. Really. I was just saying that as a figure of speech.” She stumbled at his words and gave a strained smile to complete the awkward back-stepping.

  “Yeah, that’s not too convincing there. I say a lot of crazy things and I know how someone acts when they put their foot in their mouth.” She placed the last item on the shelf and closed the pantry door. “Is she just hard to work with or something?” Just as Jenny finished her question to Fergus, they both turned their heads as they heard footsteps coming toward the kitchen. Jenny saw Fergus stiffen and wondered if he was afraid it was the caretaker, even though Jenny already knew who it was.

  “What the hell is this little fucker doing now? There is random shit all over the floor. Can’t we put some kind of a leash on this asshole?” Jenny smiled at Ava’s remarks and turned to Fergus as he sighed out a breath of relief. “Why are you two just standing there? Make him go outside or something, and can’t we find a way to put clothes on him? I’m so tired of seeing his thing swinging around all the time. He messed with my makeup last night and I guess he came into my room while I slept to make a tower of my shoes next to my bed. I almost fell on my ass when I tripped over them.” Ava was ranting and Jenny was about to tell her to shut up.

  “Grog makes things pretty. Pretty.” Grog started to sling things out of the hall closet and made a pile of umbrellas beside the front door. Opening several, he managed to recreate a defunct-looking Olympics symbol. “Pretty!” he cried, before running upstairs to destroy something else.

  At that moment, Deaglan entered with coffee and Ava’s computer. “Rosin sent this for you with your computer.”

  Ava took the envelope and tore it open immediately.

  Ava,

  Your concerns were somewhat founded. The keystroke and click history revealed that someone opened your email, clicked for a new outgoing message, began typing a message, and then deleted it. I can’t be sure it wasn’t actually you, because the email was addressed to the same address as all of your emails have been in the past.

  Let me know if there is any more I can do. When you next open your computer, it will ask you to enter a new password. Do so and this will never be a concern again.

  In your service,

  Rosin

  Ava had had a feeling all morning that she couldn’t shake. Getting this letter made her feel even stranger. Like anxiety for something she couldn’t control. She’d never felt this way. Deaglan handed her coffee first every morning. This morning was different. Everyone else had gotten theirs and left the room.

  Deaglan could sense enough from her to know something was wrong. “What seems to be troubling you this morning?” With a shake of her head Ava went to him and put her hand out to take a coffee. Deaglan stopped her. “What’s the problem? Tell me.” She put her head down.

  “I feel it. I feel the weight. It feels like something is not right. I can’t place it, I can’t explain it. I just know that something is amiss.” Deaglan looked around the rooms he could see from the hallway they stood in.

  “Where is Sheridan? Hasn’t she been down yet?” Searching her mind for who was in the kitchen earlier, she came up with everyone else, but no Sheridan. The weight was getting worse. Deaglan handed her the coffee and grabbed the warm bottle of Diet Dew to take to Sheridan. Without a word, Ava grabbed her coffee and her computer on her way to her room. She’d learned something; things were getting weirder around her. Not only did she have to worry about what the caretaker was doing on her laptop, that woman would just need to be kept under watch, but now there was this weight. Something was fishy and it wasn’t just the aquarium in Jenny’s room.

  Sheridan was still in bed. Deaglan had risen with this sun and left to get to work, like the responsible guardian he was. She couldn’t bring herself to even acknowledge the day. Her heart beat sadly with the weight of destruction she’d witnessed firsthand. Her soul cried out in sadness at what was done, not by nature, but intentionally to get her attention. She held herself accountable for those wounds being inflicted. They were a message to her and she received it loud and clear. All of her efforts to save and heal would lead to evil reciprocation in the h
arshest form. She shuddered as the image of the broken fawn came unbidden to the forefront of her mind.

  Too much. All of it was far too much.

  She couldn’t handle that level of sadness again today. The bed offered her safety from moments like that. The bed was where she would stay. Safe. Sleep would offer the only solace available.

  But the catch persisted, that worrying didn’t ever stop. The forest was now a worse place because Sheridan had become a part of it. She couldn’t get that thought out of her head. All the options took turns, mentally entertaining worst-case scenarios on repeat.

  Throwing the pillow over her head, she begged oblivion to take her back. Sweet sleep. Numb blankness. Peace.

  It was way to quiet and she couldn’t will herself to sleep. She couldn’t sleep but she couldn’t think of a reason to get up and do anything. She felt stupid. She had felt like this could be her home but there was no home for her. There never was and there never would be. She loved her parents, the only people she loved, and they died because she wanted them to come back home early from their dinner out. It was her fault they were dead.

  Everything she touched died. She was nothing but an arrow rod for pain. This place could have been her purpose but she tried to help and it just caused another innocent to die. She needed to get out of here before someone else paid the price for her heart. A tear slipped out of her eye and she let go for a minute. I just need one minute to cry, she thought.

  Drawing a breath after her weak moment, she went to the bathroom to clean up the mess of her face. She didn’t have the energy to shower, so she just crawled back into her bed, closed her eyes, and dozed. She was exhausted.

  Deaglan came in with lunch. He had let her rest all morning. He had seen the physical and emotional energy it took to do the work she had done in the woods. He had decided to bring her pasta and bread. Carbs and cheese were both comforting and would give her back some energy. He didn’t know for sure if she was a vegetarian, but he would guess she was.