“What am I doing here?” She asked herself, tugging her boot free as it suctioned into another puddle of mud. “This is crazy, isn’t it? Maybe I’m finally having a breakdown…” She pondered. She stepped over a fallen log blocking the trail, nearly slipping as her shoes slid over the wet grass. She came to a stop and stared at a lone tamarack amongst the pine and fir, some of its needles were already starting to turn, dusting the tree in gold. Her body was warming with the exercise and the urge to return to the warmth of the truck faded.
She ducked under the thick bough of a pine tree as she suddenly veered off the trail. She had walked this trail before with Marcy but had never seen a tree like the one in her dream, so, that meant she just had to search off trail. She convinced herself she’d be fine as long as she kept track of the direction she was moving in.
The rain had slowed to a sluggish drizzle and the black clouds seemed to retreat until they were a murky grey. Small branches groaned under Amelia’s shoes, but they were too wet to break. She stopped when she heard the rustle of an animal in the undergrowth, a squirrel she thought, but was wrong. A badger lumbered out a few feet ahead of her, snuffled the wet dirt with a long, black nose before it meandered away, disappearing quickly amongst the brush. She waited a moment longer and then walked on. Somewhere in the trees a hawk gave a lonely cry, or maybe it was just a hungry one.
She could see a cabin in the distance, which she thought was strange, she didn’t think that there were any homes this far up the mountain. There was no road or trail leading to it and judging by the sagging porch, she guessed that it hadn’t been anybody’s home in a long, long time. She stayed along the edge of the tree line as she crept around the cabin. She didn’t understand why, but anxiety flooded her veins at the sight of it. Something told her to make sure she couldn’t be seen.
When she had snuck along to the back of the cabin, she noticed the opening of a narrow trail that led deeper inside the old growth forest. The tall pine and firs towered along the border of that little path, keeping the way dark, blotting out what little sunlight could filter through the clouds. She had to take out her flashlight as soon as she lost sight of the cabin behind her, using the beam to light the way ahead as she struggled through the overgrown undergrowth. She was just beginning to believe that the trail would lead to nowhere when the path suddenly opened up to a fork. One trail veered to the left, looking just as dark and ominous was the path she was on now, while the other disappeared up a small slope to her right, this one was a little more open, with sunlight trickling through the open branches above.
She stood in the middle of the forked path, damp with sweat and rain, breathless from fatigue and listened to the piercing cry of the golden eagle that was circling above. “I’ve come this far,” she muttered, “I can handle a little more of the dark.” She eyed a small piece of white cloth tied around the only spruce by the edge of the path before walking into the shadowed trail.
That was four hours ago. Her chest heaved with panicked breath as she forced branches aside, a hiss escaping her lips as her foot snagged on a root, sending her crashing into the thorn bush she had been hoping to avoid. It was too thick to struggle back to her feet, so she crawled instead. When she finally pushed herself back up to her feet, a knot of icy dread filled her. There is was again. That damn white cloth tied around the spruce tree. She was losing her mind, knew she had to be, because no matter how fast or what direction she ran, she kept arriving in front of the same tree. She went right? She ended up in a loop back at the cloth. She went left? Same result. She turned around and jogged towards the cabin? She suddenly found herself jogging towards a forked path where a white cloth was tied around the base of a spruce.
She was going insane. Her clothes were stained, torn from what felt like miles of wading through broken branches and a sea of wet leaves. Her face became wet with tears as the panic truly began to take hold. It was so dark. The thick ceiling of trees created by the old growth blocked most of the light from the waning sun. She knew logically that it was growing darker because night was swiftly approaching, but to a baser part of herself, it was as if she was descending to a different world all together, where every loop around the white banded tree was darker and more disorientating.
She let her exhausted body fall back into the mud, drawing her knees to her chest as she began to sob. A hopelessness she had never felt before griped her as tightly as the acceptance that this is where she was going to die. The last light of day faded in the sky, leaving her in a night so black that she couldn’t see her hand when she brought it to her face. But the darkness didn’t last for long, thin tendrils of moonlight wove down between the branches, and as they touched her face, she felt warm.
As she struggled to her feet, she noticed the luminous indigo glow that seemed to pulse behind the white banded tree. She walked towards it; her hand outstretched to push aside its branches. “No,” she murmured, “it can’t be that simple.” But the branches parted for her, revealing a thin path heading straight to the heart of the indigo glow. Exhausted and sore as she was, she felt her legs move as if by their own violation and soon she was running. The thick, choking presence of the trees was suddenly gone and she craned her head upwards to stare at the open sky in what felt like the first time in years.
When she lowered her gaze to the place of her salvation, she saw the tree from her dream in a small meadow surrounded by a dark, great wall of trees. The bark was smooth and grey, almost silver under the light of the moon, and the leaves were the lightest shade of lavender, their veins glowing indigo. Even though she was exhausted, sore, littered with small, stinging cuts, and caked in mud, she felt light and completely unburdened. All her problems floated away until nothing else remained but the joy of being here. She was full of life and felt life in return all around her. The steady, strong beat of her heart. The sweet-scented air that drew in and out of her lungs. It was everything that people took for granted, the ones now, the ones to come, and those that had already left it.
“You know, you’re the first one she’s let see her in a hundred years.” Eli said. She tore her gaze from the tree to take in his sudden appearance by the black wall of trees. She wasn’t surprised to see him here, though she thought that maybe she should have been.
“You knew I was going to try to find it.” She accused, her heart waking from its easy, calm lull to beat hard against her ribcage. She was alone out here, only one person knew where she was but even she didn’t know how deep Amelia intended to go into the forest.
Eli seemed to sense her unease and took a small step back, raising his hands to appease her. “I’m the guardian of this place. I can sense when someone passes through the barrier.”
She still didn’t trust him; the tree demanded her attention more than Eli’s presence did and she slid her eyes back to the soft glow of light in front of her. When she spoke, her voice was a whisper, hesitant to disturb the quiet around her. “And what exactly is this place? I’ve never seen anything like this…it shouldn’t be real.”
“This is one of the life trees. I am her guardian, just as my father was, and his father before him.” Eli said.
“This is the tree of life?” She asked. “Are you seriously trying to get me to believe that the tree of life as A, real, and B, in Eastern Oregon?”
“A tree of life. There are dozens of them across the globe.” He explained. “Each one supports a different region. North America has six, there are three in South America, and one in Hawaii and Alaska respectively.”
“And the rest of the world? They exist everywhere?” She asked, her head spinning as a thousand questions swirled around her brain.
Eli nodded. “Everywhere there is life one exists.”
Her legs trembled and her knees grew weak, buckling and sending her sinking into the soft, tall grass. Eli darted forward; his arm outstretched as if to catch her before deciding against it. “I don’t-“
“Deep breathes,” he instructed, “I understand it can be a lot
to take in. The energy here can be overwhelming at first.”
“Why doesn’t anyone know about these?” She demanded.
Eli sighed, his shoulders slumping as if under a heavy burden. “Why don’t we return to my cabin? You can get dry, and warmed up, and I have some soup we can have. I’ll explain everything there.”
Her posture straightened as she tensed, alarm bells ringing in her head. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He held up his hands again. “I’m not going to hurt you, Amelia. I just want to help you. You’ll catch your death, you’re soaking wet, the temperature’s dropping, and it’s miles to the nearest road.” He said and sighed when he saw her hesitation. “What if I give you this?” He asked and dug his hand into his pocket until he pulled out closed pocketknife. He tossed it into the grass in front of her before she had the chance to panic, taking several long steps away. “It’s the only one I have with me.” He said and turned his pockets inside out to demonstrate. “See?”
She snatched up the knife, feeling the heavy, cold metal slowly heating in her palm. “Okay,” she finally said. “I’ll go with you, but if you try anything, I will stab you in the face.”
Eli hid a smile behind his hand before nodding seriously. “I understand.”
The walk away from that tree was physically painful. Every step away from the peaceful thrum of its life energy and towards the seemingly impenetrable dark wall of trees left an ache with every drum of her heart.
Chapter 4
The front door banged against its jamb and somewhere behind them, in the depths of the forest, a coyote began its scream-like cry. His cabin was nothing like it appeared to be on the outside, inside was warm and rustic, with varying rugs spread over copper colored, hardwood floors. Lanterns hung from metal hooks driven into the log walls, casting flickering, golden light across his home. The fire crackling in its hearth drove thick walls of warmth through her rain sodden clothes and into her chilled skin.
He shut the door behind them, cutting off the dark forest and the oncoming cold. For the size of him, he moved quietly around her, banking the fire, putting the kettle on, and gathering a well-worn pile of clothes. This, he offered to her. “Take these, they’re clean. You can change in the bathroom.”
“Thanks.” She snatched them out of his hands and retreated into what she assumed to be the bathroom. She was never so grateful in her life to see a lock on a door. It took her three times to successfully pull the bolt through the lock, her hands were stiff with cold and shaking. Once the door was locked, she sank to her knees on the horrifyingly pumpkin colored bathroom rug. Her heart was racing, she could feel it beat as quickly as a hummingbird’s wings within her breast. What was she doing? Alone with a man she didn’t know, stranded on a mountainside, miles away from any help if she were to need it.
Her fingers scrabbled to hold onto the pocketknife he had given her. At least she had a weapon, but what good could it really do against a man his size. He was probably like a grizzly bear, he’d need several shots to be put down, she could forget about doing any damage with a few pokes of something pointy. She inhaled a deep breath through her lips and forced herself to look at the facts of the situation. She was stranded, more than a little lost, tired, and weak from the cold. But she wasn’t helpless. She had the knife, and she was fast. Tired or not, if she could hurt him enough to slip away, she knew she could outrun him. Running had always been what she had done best. On the track and in her life.
She dressed slowly, trying to soak as much warmth into her bones as possible. She kept her shoes on, lacing the boots backup tight, fixing her hair, pulling it back in a tight ponytail. The last thing she needed was her hair whipping in her face as she ran through the trees and undergrowth. After the knife was tucked discreetly into the sleeve of her oversized flannel, she waited one more second to steel her nerves. A much steadier hand unbolted the door. Eli was sitting at the small, circular kitchen table, shoulders hunched towards his ears as he folded in on himself, trying to make himself seem smaller. She couldn’t stop the hysterical laugh that escaped her. The sight was just too ridiculous.
His brow wrinkled, the corners of his mouth pulling farther into an unattractive frown. “What’s wrong?”
She flapped her hand in dismal, moving to keep the armchair between her and him at the kitchen table. “Nothing.” She said, ignoring the empty seat at the table across from him with the steaming cup of tea. He was crazy if he thought that she would drink anything he made while she was out of the room. Instead, she remained standing, arms crossed over her chest. “You said we needed to talk. So, talk.”
Eli sighed softly, posture relaxing as he leant back in his chair. “How exactly did you find this place?”
She hesitated for the briefest moment, debating if she should tell him the truth of how she came to be here or if she should fabricate a lesser truth. She knew she should probably lie. The truth sounded crazy even to her.
“Mia?” he prompted her.
Yeah, she was going to have to lie.
“I had a dream.” Well, so much for lying. “I this place and…I knew from the moment I woke that I had to find it.”
Eli rose from his slouched position as she spoke. “You dreamt of the tree? Of that location?”
“Look, I know it sounds crazy but that’s exactly how I found it. It was just-It was something I needed to do.” She forced herself to stand her ground, to not take a step back even though Eli was now staring at her with rapt attention. “There’s nothing else I can tell you, but there’s more you could tell me. Back in the forest, you said that tree was a tree of life. Do you really expect me to believe that?”
An amused smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Then tell me, have you ever seen another tree like it?”
Well, she supposed he had her there.
“No, obviously I haven’t. But the tree of life…It’s-It just can’t be possible. If the tree of life were real, then we would have heard about it. It would have been discovered and in magazines and part of some national park.”
“There’s not a soul on this Earth that could find that tree if she did not want them to.” He shook his head as she began to protest. “People have been driven mad in these woods. You do not have to take my word for it. You can go to the library, there have archives there with old newspapers. You can see for yourself how many have been lost here, how many claim to have wandered in circles for days, unable to find a way out.”
She didn’t need to go to the library. She already experienced the same effect in the forest. How long had she been lost before the way through suddenly revealed itself to her?
“Why would the tree of life let me find it?” She asked. “I’m-“ She didn’t finish, the word nobody felt too much like the truth.
Eli hummed under his breath, the frown once again turning down the corners of his mouth. “A tree of life, and that’s what is troubling. There’s obviously more at work here than you or I can comprehend.”
“Okay, you keep saying that. A tree of life? Do you mean to tell me that there’s more than one?” She asked.
“There are many, as I said before, scattered across the earth. What do you think supports life? Each tree supports the life of that region. All life, the plants, animals, even the insects.”
“So, this tree supports…?” She trailed off, unsure of how to phrase her question.
“This is the tree that provides support to Oregon, Idaho, most of Washington, and some parts of California.” He told her.
“What if one of the trees dies? What happens to its regions?”
“I assume you’ve heard of Chernobyl.” He said.
“Of course, I have but that was a nuclear disaster. That didn’t have anything to do with a tree dying.” She said.
“That was simply the reason they gave when no other presented itself. The exclusion zone, that was the region of the tree that perished.” He said.
She watched him, still unable to believe that this could be the
truth. But, if it was a joke, it was probably the most elaborate one she’d ever seen. The rational part of her was telling her that it was impossible, but she couldn’t explain what she had seen or what she had felt when she was standing before the tree.
“If this is some sort of global secret, then how come you seem to know so much about it? You knew how to find the tree.” She said.
“Ah,” he rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s against our laws to reveal ourselves but I suppose it can’t do anymore harm. You’ve already been to the tree; you know of her location.”
“Reveal yourself as what?” She asked.
“I am one of the Guardians.” He explained. “Every tree has one. Their job is to protect the tree and the land, to make sure that it is never found or tampered with. Although, there is never usually such a problem, as the tree also protects herself.”
“But if the tree is such a secret, how does it get a guardian?” She asked.
“The honor is inherited. My father was guardian and his father before him.” Eli explained.
She hugged herself tighter through the thick flannel, she could feel the events of the day catching up to her, and she honestly would love to be buried under the covers of her bed right now. She glanced at Eli, knowing she should keep herself from looking down diminutively if she wanted to keep whatever power she convinced herself she had in this situation. What she saw caught her off guard.
“You’re hiding something from me.” She accused. “And I want to know what it is.” She watched his guarded expression, the guilt in his eyes, and the twist of the grimace on his mouth. “Whatever it is I deserve to know. Do you know why I’m here? Why I dreamt about this place? You do! Tell me, damnit.”
Guardian of Bear Creek Page 3