by K.N. Lee
A sword. I didn’t know how to use it, but I had it.
And I had exactly zero experience taking care of myself, let alone a toddler. All of my life, I had been coddled by my family and our staff. I couldn’t even cook. How were we going to survive out here?
I thought of my parents. Surely, in all of their travels, they had hard times like this. They couldn’t have always been prepared. There had to have been moments when they felt frightened and unsure.
If something awful happened to me out here, well, maybe I deserved it. But Kadria didn’t. She was innocent and young. It was up to me to get her home safely.
The Forsaken Woods weren’t going to get the best of me, not so long as I had Kadria to protect.
“I promise I will get you home,” I said. “No matter what it takes.”
6
I decided that my best course of action was to pick a direction and walk straight until we found our way out of the Woods. Walking in circles sure wasn’t going to help us. We had to get moving before night fell and — and I didn’t know how to finish that thought. I was scared enough being in the forest when I could see where I was going, but the darker it got, the more I struggled to hold my panic at bay. The forest was beginning to rustle with night life. How that night life looked, however, was not something I wanted to hang around long enough to see.
Trying to guess the right direction didn’t seem to be helping. These Woods couldn’t just go on forever, right? If I just picked a direction — any direction — eventually, we would have to emerge. I picked up a stick and spun it on my palm. When it stopped spinning, the tip pointed into the Woods to my right. That was the direction we would go.
“Up.” Kadria held her arms up. I was already tiring of her up-and-down game. My arms were hurting. There had to be a better way. I lifted her up and positioned her on my back, holding her in place with my hands clasped beneath her. She held onto the shoulders of my tunic, only sitting still when I galloped like a horse. If I walked like a normal person, she squirmed and complained. Usually I was more than willing to entertain Kadria, but right now, I wanted to focus on finding our way out of here, not playing horsey. Kadria had other ideas.
I thought I heard voices whispering in the trees, but when I turned to face them, there was nothing. Shuddering, I soldiered on.
Just keep walking straight. The Woods have to end eventually.
The hairs on my neck stood on end with the creepy sensation of being watched. Or followed.
I hated this place.
I never thought I would wish for my own bed so soon after finally leaving Silverleaf. Hadn’t I wanted adventure? Well, I got it. Maybe a little too much of it.
Visibility diminished as the last lights of evening faded into darkness. The forest was misty, and I couldn’t see where I was about to step. My heart pounded with the constant fear of tripping again and hurting us both. In fact, I almost ran into trees several times. I had never experienced darkness so total. Maybe we should stop moving before we got hurt.
But as soon as I stopped moving, the disembodied whispering once again reached my ears. Leaves rustled as something moved closer.
Nope. No stopping.
“Down,” Kadria said.
“No, Kadria. I’m not putting you down.”
“Down!”
“No!” I shouted.
Kadria had never heard me yell before. She started to cry.
“Oh, Kadria. Please don’t cry. I can’t put you down. It’s too dark. I don’t want to lose you.”
Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Just keep moving.
I was so focused on trying to find even footing that it took me a while to realize I was actually seeing better. Had my eyes adjusted to the darkness? Or was this the result of a light source?
I looked up to see something glowing from among the trees. Trying not to get too hopeful, I crept closer.
A lonely cottage lay ahead, with cheerily glowing windows, flowers in boxes and a little cobblestone path leading to the door. It was so out of place in the Forsaken Woods; I was sure I was imagining it. I expected it to vanish at any moment as I approached, but it didn’t. Was there really a little house in the middle of this awful forest? My exhaustion was causing me to imagine things, like the rhythmic pulsing of the locket with every step I took.
It wasn’t until I almost reached the front step that I realized I had no idea what to expect on the other side of the door. Before I could even begin to formulate a plan in my exhausted mind, the front door of the cottage opened, cutting the dark night with cheerful light.
“My, my, you must be lost.” An old woman stood in the doorway, her hair pinned back under a bonnet. She wore a plain, brown dress with a stained apron. She smiled at me, completely unperturbed at our arrival. Almost as if she had been expecting us.
“Y-yes,” I stammered. I hadn’t realized just how exhausted I was until I tried to speak. How long had I been walking? I was losing all sense of time as well as direction.
The old woman looked me up and down and then nodded her head, a decision made. “Come in, come in.”
I was too tired to be polite. I didn’t even introduce myself, but stumbled into the warmth of the cottage without a word. The cottage was a single room, crowded with mismatched furniture that was worn with age.
“You must be hungry,” the old woman said. She bustled around the kitchen, pulling assorted dishes out of the cupboards.
I finally found my voice. “You live here?”
“Yes, of course. There are many like me who live in these Woods.”
“I always heard that bad things happened to people in the Woods.”
The woman tutted. “You can’t believe everything you hear, dearie. I’ve lived here for quite a while now. It’s not paradise,” she acknowledged, “but it’s home.”
“What about the monsters?”
“Monsters? Ha! There are no such things as monsters, girl. Those are all a bunch of fairy tales.”
I thought of Inejor — his awful, rotting teeth and shrewd, twinkling eyes — and quietly disagreed. I thought of the bear-creatures he had summoned out of thin air and remembered the way one of them had so easily knocked Tor off his feet.
I wasn’t sure if I believed in monsters before my ill-fated trip, but I certainly believed in them now.
“The only monsters I’ve ever met were people,” the woman said, as if reading my mind.
She dished some soup from a cauldron on the fire and placed the two bowls on the roughly carved wooden table. I slid Kadria off my back and patted her cheeks to wake her. She needed to eat while she had a chance. She blinked blearily at me as I sat her on the bench beside me.
“Time to eat,” I said.
Kadria looked out the window at the dark forest and then back at me with an expression of utter confusion. It was dark outside. Kadria never ate when it was dark outside.
“Please eat?” I cajoled her. The old woman handed me a spoon, and I ladled some soup onto it.
“No me.” Kadria took the spoon out of my hand and used it to launch soup at our host.
“I’m so sorry!” I gasped, rushing to help her clean herself up while Kadria dunked her hands in her soup and splashed it all over the floor.
“It’s no trouble at all,” the woman said. She grabbed a cloth and wiped soup off of her arm. “How did you and that little thing get lost in these Woods anyhow?” the old woman asked.
“We were attacked. We ran for cover, and now we can’t seem to find our way back to the road.”
“Ah. The forest does that sometimes. It grabs people and doesn’t let go.”
I shivered as I used a rag to wipe the soup off of Kadria’s face and out of her dark hair. “How do we get out, then?”
The woman laughed. It wasn’t cruel, but it was a little unnerving.
“Get out? You don’t get out — not until the forest wants to let you go.”
My stomach twisted. “Is that what happened to you? Did you just wander in and—”<
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“I’ve never found the edge of the Woods,” she said. She must have seen the look of panic on my face. “Now, now,” she said. “There’s no need to fret. At least for tonight you’re safe, right? You have food, a roof over your heads, and nice warm beds to sleep in. Stay here for tonight and don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll find your way home. It will all be over soon enough.”
I was so hungry I didn’t even taste the soup as I shoveled it into my mouth. Kadria nodded away beside me, physically struggling to keep her eyes open. Normally, Kadria required exactly two bedtime stories and three songs before she would finally fall asleep. If Ariana left her side too soon, she would throw a fit, and the whole routine would have to start again from the beginning. But Kadria was too tired to insist on her usual routine. Lest she fall asleep and tumble to the floor, I scooped her up and carried her to a bed that the old woman showed me. There were two beds side by side: a full-size bed and a little child’s bed. How perfect.
It occurred to me that I was probably taking the old woman’s bed. I should say something about it or maybe sleep on the floor. But I also didn’t want to be rude. The woman had been so kind to us. I would hate to offend her.
The locket that Ariana had given me pulsed with heat against my chest, as if it were filled with warm coals. Yet I knew the locket was empty. So what could be causing the uncomfortable heat? I pressed my hand against the front of my tunic, feeling the shape of the locket beneath the fabric. I could feel the heat, like a stone in hot afternoon sunlight. How strange.
But I couldn’t worry about such silly things right now. I needed to sleep while I could. Tomorrow, Kadria and I would continue our search for a way out of this awful forest. But for now — for now, I could rest.
What were the odds that I would be lucky enough to find this kind woman with this comfortable cottage in the middle of the Forsaken Woods? She even had food ready for us and beds made.
It was almost too good to be true.
7
I slept so deeply I didn’t even dream. I might have slept for days if I hadn’t awoken to the sound of Kadria whimpering “No. No. No.” over and over again. At first, I thought that she must be having nightmares. I should have comforted her, but I was so relaxed and sleepy. Her voice sounded far away, and I drifted back to sleep.
“No!” Kadria yelled.
Heat seared my chest as if I had just been poked by the business end of a hot iron. My eyes flew open. The cozy cottage was gone. There was nothing above me but trees and strange, wispy white walls. Had we been moved in our sleep?
I tried to grab the locket to see what was causing me such discomfort, but my hands and feet were tied down by silky white ... spider webs?
Normally, spiders didn’t really bother me. When I found the occasional spider in the Silverleaf mansion, I would scoop it up and drop it outside. But those were little spiders who ate bugs and made delicate webs in tall, dark corners. These webs, though, were huge. I didn’t want to meet the spider big enough to make them.
I didn’t have a choice.
“No, no, no,” Kadria said, her voice a mix of anger and fear.
I craned my head toward the sound of her voice. My stomach clenched with fear at the sight of the monstrosity trying to wrangle Kadria. It was a giant, black spider with a vaguely woman-shaped torso and human arms and hands. She stood taller than a full-grown man and was as long as a horse. Her abdomen was marked with a big red X. Black widows were dangerous enough when they were tiny. This one was enormous.
She had six glowing red eyes, all of which were currently glaring at my niece. The giant spider-woman clutched Kadria in a precarious hold while Kadria inverted her spine in that way that only toddlers can, trying to wiggle free.
“Hey! Let her go!” I yelled. I don’t know what I had hoped would happen. Maybe I could scare the thing away. Spiders were generally more afraid of people than we were of them, right?
The spider-woman turned her head toward me, her face pulling into a sharp-toothed scowl.
“Bother,” she said in the voice of the old woman. “You’re awake.”
The spider was the old woman! Her kindness, her reassurances that monsters weren’t real — it was all a trap. The cottage hadn’t been real. The “bed” I lay on was nothing more than a pile of old leaves, the “table” only a fallen tree, secured to the ground with more of the cord-like spider webs. Not even the soup had been real, which explained why I hadn’t tasted anything when I shoveled it into my mouth. It had all been an illusion to lure us in and make us feel safe — just so this creature could eat us. And I had fallen for it.
I was supposed to be protecting Kadria, not serving her for dinner!
“You foolish human. Lost in the Forsaken Woods,” the spider-woman teased. “Do you know why these woods are called ‘forsaken? In the Forsaken Woods, little human, you are nothing but food.”
“Let her go!” I struggled harder to release myself from the webs wrapped around my wrists and ankles. I looked around for something — anything — I could use to cut myself free.
The sword. I still had the sword.
Unfortunately, it was sheathed at my hip. I had been so tired earlier that I had fallen asleep without bothering to take any of my equipment off. With my arms pinned against my body, I couldn’t reach the only weapon I had.
I had to get to that sword!
And then what? I had never used a sword before in my life. But it couldn’t be too hard, right? Just point and stab.
The spider-woman yelped when Kadria bit her hand. She wrenched her hand away and dropped the child on the ground.
“Kadri!”
Kadria landed on her back. For a moment, she lay still, stunned from the fall, but not so stunned that she couldn’t scramble away from the spider’s grasp. One of Kadria’s favorite games was catch-me-if-you-can. Hopefully she was as good against giant spiders as she was against me.
While I continued my futile struggles with the webs that held me, Kadria ducked around more webs that stretched from the nearby trees to the ground; these webs had created an illusion of walls. There was only one web-free way out of here, which was the direction we must have entered through earlier. We had walked right into a spider-monster’s nest.
Kadria ducked behind my head, placing me squarely between her and the giant, man-eating spider.
Grand.
“Pesky human,” the giant spider complained. “I only wanted a little snack. I suppose I’ll just have to settle for the main course.”
And let me guess: I was the main course.
The spider-woman maneuvered smoothly through her own labyrinth of webs, quickly closing the distance between us.
“Kadri,” I whispered. “Grab the sword.”
“No, no, no, no, no, no!” Kadria’s voice grew shrill with panic as the spider drew closer.
“The sword! It’s on my belt. Kadria! Get the sword!”
Kadri stepped over my arm and fumbled for the hilt of the sword. She yanked it as hard as she could. It slid out of the scabbard, the tip of the sword dragging on the ground as Kadria struggled to handle it. It wasn’t a heavy sword, but it was unwieldy, especially for someone so small. The sword was longer than she was tall.
The spider-woman stepped on my leg with one of her clawed spider feet. She was heavier than she looked. Or maybe she was just being cruel. She pressed all her weight into my leg as she lunged to grab Kadria.
Kadria walked backward, dragging the sword with her. She tripped over the webs that secured my leg and dropped the sword. The falling sword sliced the webs that pinned my left leg. I kicked my free foot in a sweeping motion, catching the spider on the ankle, throwing off her steady footing. But she had seven other legs and recovered her balance quickly enough.
I kicked straight upward, hitting the spider square in the face with my too-big boot. She screamed in agony and stumbled backward.
Now she was hurt, angry, and hungry.
Fantastic.
Two of the spider
’s six eyes were swollen shut from the kick. In a blind rage, she dove forward. I braced myself for impact, nearly deafened by the ferocity of Kadria’s terrified scream.
Someone dived between us. I heard a grunt, followed by a shriek of pain. Blood splattered over both of us. The spider staggered backward, clutching the remains of a severed leg.
“Stay back,” said a familiar voice.
“Tor!”
Tor was alive!
Tor spun to face me. With a few deft swipes of his sword, he sliced the webs that trapped the rest of my limbs.
“You cut off my leg! I’ll have your head!” The spider-woman howled. Tor dropped to the ground, grabbed me, and rolled us both out of the way.
I scrambled for my sword as Tor regained his footing.
“I said, ‘Stay back!’” he warned the monster.
I stood, sword in hand. Kadria had the good sense to hide, but she wasn’t very good at it. The webbed walls were too thin. I could see her clearly. And so could the monster.
“Kadria, run!” I yelled.
Kadria did not run.
“Grab her and go!” Tor commanded.
“I want to help!”
“Then get her out of here.”
Who was I kidding? I was no guard. This wasn’t even my sword. It felt awkward and strange in my hand. Could I really use a sword to lop off another creature’s limbs? My stomach churned at the thought. No. This wasn’t a fight I could win.
The spider-woman shot webbing at Tor’s feet, knocking him off his feet.
“Tor!”
“Go!” he yelled as the spider-woman dragged him closer.
My heart in my throat, I hurried to where Kadria was “hiding” and grabbed her arm. I held the sword in one hand and Kadria with the other.
A horrible scream pierced the night. Was that the final cry of the spider-woman?
Or Tor?
We ran wildly, without any specific direction in mind. All I wanted was to get away from the monster that had just tried to eat us. Kadria wasn’t much help. She was funneling all her energy into sobbing at the top of her lungs, which somehow made her feel ten times heavier. This poor kid was having the worst night of her life.