by Nicole Yek
At first, all that Garnet could hear from Biff were distressed chirping, but after paying closer attention, the little wren had actually been calling out for his mother all this time. He was crying out for her, hoping that it would wake her up, hoping that the bullet hadn't actually killed her, hoping that she would come back to him. His cries soon became strained and his voice started to crack. Garnet could see that his eyes had turned watery, but she knew that he couldn't shed tears. His current body wouldn't allow him to.
"There, there," Mathis attempted to comfort the little wren but the usual light in his hazel eyes were gone. "It… it will be alright, everything will be alright…" his voice sounded thick and he looked as though he himself was about to break down into a paroxysm of tears.
"M-mom…" Biff continued to call out. "Mom, wake… wake up! Don't leave… don't leave me…"
Everyone was in shock by Anbreen's unexpected death. They were trying to allow themselves to accept it, but they all knew that a wound as deep as this would take a long time to heal, and even after it healed, there would always be a scar, a hideous reminder of this event etched into their hearts and minds for as long as they lived.
"She'd risked her life to protect Biff when the outsider came in with his rifle," Atticus spoke as a way of explaining how the mother wren had died. "I assume that any animal would have satisfied his bloodthirst, but both Rutherford and I had hidden among the rocks in the stream, and with Mathis and Button having gone along with the two of you, there were only Anbreen and Biff left in his line of vision.
"She'd intended to take Biff and fly off to hide in other parts of the Wood, but the outsider had already seen her and he pulled the trigger before she could take off. He missed and struck the tree branch instead, but… he didn't miss the second time." The frog looked down at the ground with sad beaded eyes and a grim frown. "Anbreen managed to cause enough of a distraction for him that allowed Biff to escape into the nearest trees before the outsider could see him. So I suppose that we have at least Biff's safety to be thankful for."
Rutherford frowned. "She was such a wonderful woman."
Button gave a light nod in agreement. "Indeed, she will be greatly missed."
There was a short period of silence when none of them uttered even a single word or cry, a gloomy atmosphere invaded the warm evening air and Garnet noticed Hywel's shoulders becoming tensed and the blue veins on his wrists popping out from the flawless surface of his pale skin. "I'll kill him." He hissed under his breath and she thought that she must have misheard him.
"I'll kill him!" he screamed, unintentionally scaring the others. His next movements were so fast that Garnet could barely comprehend what was happening. He placed the mother wren's lifeless and bloody body back into the nest, stood up from his crouched position on the ground, and turned around to head back into the Wood, most likely to hunt down Mr. Jenkins.
But she managed to chase after him and grabbed hold of his arm before he could set foot out on the other side of the curtain of leafy vines. "Hywel, wait!" she cried out as she endeavored to remain her grip on his arm even when he started forcefully tugging it out of her grasp. "Stop, listen to me! You can't do this!"
"Let go, Garnet!" he let out an animalistic growl, turning around to glare at her with utter rage blazing in his blue eyes. But the girl didn't cease her movements, instead, she tried harder to pull and hold back the wolf boy. "Deranged or not, that man deserves to die!"
"No! You can't do this! Stop- stop fighting me!" she was struggling to maintain her grip on the boy, even though the unnatural strength that came with his curse was only accessible when he Changed, it was still evident that he was much stronger compared to her. She knew she wouldn't be able to hold him back much longer. Her energy was fading and her arms were starting to hurt. So she released his arm and took his face in her hands, making him look at her with those blue eyes darkened with fury.
"Stop and look at me!" her grip tightened on his cheeks but she was careful not to exert too much pressure in fear of actually harming him. "Look at me and listen to me, Hywel!"
The boy rebelled against her hold on him at first, but when he noticed the expression on her face from the corner of his eye, his body stopped fighting and slowly, he turned to look at her, truly looked at her and the sight broke his heart. The brunette's forest green eyes which were always so bright and lively with optimism and enthusiasm were then filled to the brim with tears and her lips, which were tugged down into a deep frown, were quivering. It was as clear as day that the girl was attempting to hold herself back from bursting into tears, and that knowledge was enough to make the fuming rage go out of him like the flame of a lighted candle being blown off by a midnight breeze.
"You're not going to kill him, you can't," she said, biting down on her bottom lip and shaking her head. "You'll be cursed with a lifetime's worth of guilt if you do that, and I don't want that to happen to you, I won't let that happen to you."
Hywel could only stare at her, stunned. He felt guilty when he saw the girl looking as though she was about to break down at the seams, and he felt especially so knowing that he was the one who added salt to her fresh wound that was from learning of Anbreen's awful death.
"So please," Garnet sniffed, trying to calm her breathing and to push down the growing urge to sob. "Don't kill him, revenge isn't worth it."
This brought the boy out from his dazed state and he absentmindedly reached a hand out to touch her dirty cheek. "I'm sorry, I promise you that I won't." he said, because truthfully, those were all the words that he had managed to grasp at that moment. The only thing that he knew was that he was completely, utterly, and wholly sorry for the pain that his rash actions had inflicted on her.
"So… so stop being so sad," he swallowed and gave a weak smile in hopes of brightening the somber atmosphere. "And clean your face, would you? It seems to be dirty every time that I look at you."
It was a poor attempt at a joke, but Garnet laughed anyway, mostly in relief of successfully being able to prevent him from making a terrible decision that would most probably ruin his life rather than the humor of the joke itself. Hywel smiled slightly and turned around to look at the others to find that they had been watching the duo the whole time. A light blush crept onto his cheeks and he cleared his throat before speaking. "Listen up everyone, we'll give Anbreen a small burial and afterward, we'll be leaving the Wood."
Everyone's face lit up vaguely at his declaration, a few staring at the wolf boy in surprise while others in confusion. "I'm happy to say that after four years of being trapped in this maze-like prison, we've finally found a way out." Hywel clarified. "However, I'm not certain if we would be entirely free from the curse once we leave the forest, but I assume that it's better to be back out in the world than to be imprisoned in here. So, what do you all say?"
"Why on earth would you even ask such a foolish question, Hywel?" Atticus said. "Of course we want to leave!"
"Ah, yes, I would most definitely like a change of scenery. I've been staring at trees and rocks for the past four years." Rutherford agreed with a nod of his head. "And I don't plan to spend the rest of my life, no matter how short that might be, living among rocks in a stream."
"That's good to hear, Rutherford," the boy smiled at the old tortoise and shifted his attention onto the little wren who was still perched on the fallen branch next to the nest. "Biff, how about you? Do you think you want to go back?"
"Yes," Biff replied without a hint of reluctance. "I want to get out of this scary place. I want to go back home."
Hywel swallowed. "Even if your mother won't be there with you anymore?"
There was a brief pause but the little wren nodded. "Yes, I don't want to stay here any longer. Please take me home, Hywel."
"Very well then." The boy said.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! It's settled! Aha!" Mathis cheered, jumping up and down, practically radiating with joy. "We're finally getting out of this wretched forest! We're getting out tonight! We're leaving t
onight!"
Garnet couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the exuberant squirrel prancing around her in small circles. Hywel rolled his eyes and walked back to the fallen branch to crouch down and take the mother wren's unmoving body back into his hands. He glanced at Biff whose dark eyes were transfixed on his mother in the boy's open palms. "Where do you think she would want to rest, Biff?" he asked with a gentle voice.
Biff took a moment to ponder on the answer to his question before replying a few seconds later. "Maybe next to the stream? Mom had always loved looking down at it from our nest, she'd thought it was pretty."
"Alright then, next to the stream it is." Hywel gave him a warm smile and stood back up. "Would either one of you two recommend us a nice spot?" he turned to look at Atticus and Rutherford who both spent most of their days either near or in the stream.
"I do." The frog said and began hopping along the side of the stream.
The others followed him and they stopped when they reached a small spot next to where the stream started. It was under a tree and the grass was occupied by a few white and pink flowers. Hywel gave the mother wren to Garnet before bending down onto his knees to dig a small hole using his claws. When it was done, he moved aside, allowing the brunette to come down and carefully place the body into the hole. Biff came hopping towards it and he leaned down slightly to have one final look at his mother. "Goodnight, mom," he whispered. "I hope you'll have a good sleep."
The little wren turned to Hywel and gave him a light nod. The boy returned his nod and pushed the dirt that he'd dug up from the ground over the hole, covering it up and completing the brief burial. He sat back and clasped his hands together in a prayer and so did Garnet. Everyone had their heads cast down and Button murmured out a short farewell prayer. Once he was done, they all lifted their heads and took a long last look at the miniature grave. Garnet plucked one of the flowers growing beside it and placed it on top of the small grave.
"May you rest in peace, Anbreen," she whispered, feeling her throat clog up with rising sobs. "I know that I haven't known you for a long time but… thank you for everything."
With that, the funeral had ended and everyone went to prepare for their long-awaited escape from the Wood.
***
The path of roses was much easier to find than Hywel had expected it to be. He'd assumed that the Wood would rearrange itself again during the time when they were having Anbreen's burial and that they would have to search for it all over again. So it would be an understatement to say that he was surprised to find the path that they took to reach the trail of roses was exactly the same as the one that he, Garnet, Mathis, and Button had used that afternoon.
"The Wood has stopped moving." He observed aloud, making his companions look at him. "We took the exact same path this afternoon and nothing seems to have changed even a bit."
"I see," Atticus mused. "Then it must know that we've already found the path of roses, this could also be a part of the hint, that after discovering it, the Wood would still and allow us a solid way out."
"That is an interesting notion," Button considered the theory. "And it would explain a lot of things."
"Interesting or not, all I can say is the witch who cast this spell over us must've had a twisted sense of humor and a knack for tricks." Mathis complained with his furry arms crossed over his chest.
The small group was walking down a path with blood red roses guiding them and the flowers only grew in numbers the further they went. Hywel would like to think of them as a sign to inform them that they were getting closer and closer to the exit.
"Why didn't anyone tell me about this path of roses earlier?" Garnet asked aloud, a mixture of hurt and annoyance lingering in her tone. "I could've helped you all find it, you know?"
"Yes, we should have." Atticus agreed apologetically.
Her gaze darted onto the wolf boy who was walking beside her and carrying Rutherford in his arms. It was apparent that the old tortoise's movements were much, much slower compared to everyone else's, and because of this, Hywel had decided to carry him instead of letting him crawl after them on his own in fear of him falling behind… which he most likely would if he was left to his own devices.
"Well, to be honest, most of us have already forgotten and stopped talking about it until recently when Mathis brought it up," the boy admitted sheepishly. "We’d all thought that the hint was a bluff told by the witch because for the first two years of being trapped here, we had searched high and low for it but none of us found even a single rose."
"Yes, and only after you came did we remember that we were missing a fairly important part of the hint." Mathis added as he rode on Button's back while the white rabbit hopped on.
"Which was…?" the brunette raised an expectant eyebrow at the squirrel.
"Oh, she said that we have to wait until the right person comes along, only then would we finally be able to break the curse." He answered. "We still aren't certain whether she meant the curse of being trapped in the Wood or the entire curse that we are all under."
Garnet took a second to process his words. "Wait… so you're saying that I'm the person whom the witch was speaking of? How… how is that even possible?"
"How is that not possible? As Master Hywel have already said, we've searched nearly every inch of this forest for two years yet we found nothing, then you showed up and we found this path of roses in less than three days!" he said animatedly, flailing his arms to emphasize his point.
"But… I still don't understand, I don't know any witches, in fact, I didn't even know they existed before I met you all." The brunette sighed.
Hywel gave her a small smile in reassurance. "We can always solve the rest of this after we get out of the Wood." He said and was about to say more when a familiar shiver ran down the length of his spine and caused him to halt in his tracks. He immediately looked up at the evening sky which had darkened not too long ago before returning his gaze to the brunette who was staring at him with concerned green eyes.
"What's wrong?" she inquired.
"The moon's going to come out of the clouds soon," he held out the old tortoise towards her. "Please take Rutherford and the rest of you go on without me."
She took the tortoise into her arms but shook her head at him. "No, we're not leaving without you. We can wait until you've Changed-"
"I can't ask that of any of you, especially not them," he cocked his head towards the small animals who had ceased walking and were currently watching them intently. "They've been imprisoned in this forest for more than four years, I don't want them to wait for even a second longer to escape. It's alright, I won't be long, and I'll join you afterward."
When he noticed the girl's hesitation, he added in the most sincere tone that he could muster, "I promise."
She swallowed and considered his words for a moment before nodding her head. "Alright then."
He flashed her one last smile and disappeared into the direction from whence they came. Garnet let out a sigh and adjusted Rutherford in her arms so that he would feel more comfortable. She looked down at the other animals who were staring at her and raised an eyebrow. "Well?" she said. "You've all heard what he said, stop staring and start moving! We've got an escape to make!"
Mathis instantly broke into a mouth-splitting grin at her words and amusement flickered across Atticus and Button's features. The three obliged to her order and moved onward. Garnet smiled slightly and turned to look at the little wren who was perched on her shoulder and had been keeping silent the whole time.
"Are you alright, Biff?" she whispered.
The little wren lifted his head to meet her green-eyed gaze and nodded. "I'm fine… it's just that… I'm upset that mom left me alone. She promised me that she would always be by my side… she broke her promise…"
"Biff…" the girl trailed off, uncertain what to say to comfort him. This was even more so since she had experienced her parents' deaths before. During those difficult times of attempting to move on from them
, there was absolutely nothing that anyone could say to comfort her, nor did she know what someone could say that would be able to reassure and encourage her to keep on living her life as how she had in the past.
"Alone? Are you blind, child?" Mathis exclaimed, outraged. "How on earth are you alone when you have all of us? What do you take us for? Dirt?" he crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. "I am truly, truly insulted!"
The squirrel's brief performance of anger made the little wren giggle on the brunette's shoulder. "Not at all, Mathis, you know that I think you're the best person in the world." Biff teased, making Garnet smile down at him.
"Well, I… I forgive you for your unintentional slip of words," the squirrel said which caused Biff to giggle more. "But don't let it happen ever again!"
"Yes, sir!" Biff chirped.
Mathis cracked a lazy smile. "Good, and as for your mother's promise, she couldn't help it, Biff, you must understand that. I'm sure that she hadn't meant to leave you, and even if she did leave you, she left you with all of us! You still have a remarkably handsome squirrel and… a few other animals."
"A few other animals?" Button echoed, annoyance evident in his tone. "Why do you make the rest of us sound as though we are of insignificant to no importance at all?"
"That is because I am the one who has the most outstanding personality!" the squirrel said, puffing out his small furry chest.
It was Button's turn to let out a huff. "More like the one who has the most irritating and narcissistic personality."
Garnet and Biff watched the two animals' conversation in great amusement and just as Mathis was about to respond to the white rabbit's witty remark, Atticus' voice interrupted him in mid-action. "As much as I'd like to continue listening to your mindless argument, I would like to notify you all that we might have just found what we'd been looking for all these years."