'Lucy would love this. She would absolutely love it here, I'm sure.' Liam cried even louder.
'Who's Lucy?' G quickly enquired.
Liam went a little red in the face thinking aloud like that. 'Oh…she's just a friend. But she's so cool and smart, you see…'
'And very pretty too,' G teased.
'Aye, she is, but how the hell do you know that?' Liam asked, a little too defensively.
'I saw her too, remember. I was watching last night while the two of you were discussing fairies and other such creatures at that stone monument thing outside the cave.'
'Oh, I see,” Liam chuckled. 'I almost forgot about that. Hey, you know that stone monument thing near the cave. We actually call that a fairy stone back in Edinburgh.'
'Really,' said G, sounding genuinely surprised.
'Aye. So it would seem that not everyone in our world has forgotten all about you there.'
'I guess not,' G continued, smiling warmly.
'Hey? Do you think…do you think I might be able to bring my friend Lucy here sometime? Just to see this place, you know? Even just briefly. Do you think that would be possible?'
'I don't see why not, boy. The more nice, good-natured and decent humans coming here for a friendly visit, the better, I say. But let's see how we get on today, yes? If this little adventure of ours turns out to be a trouble-free one, we'll talk some more.'
Liam felt delighted and his mind raced all over the place as he thought about seeing Lucy again. He couldn't wait until she returned from Dublin City. He would tell her every single damn thing that had happened to him today, and in the most picture-perfect detail too. If it were possible to run back and bring her here that very instant, he would have done so in a heartbeat.
When Liam was done playing and dancing around in the grass, he took another quick glance towards the dark, eerie-looking woods on the other side of the clearing. The woods where the trees looked more twisted and intimidating than the ones where G was leading him on the opposite side of the pasture. For a second he thought he saw someone or something move on the edge of the dark forest, something very small and very faint, but then it was gone in a blink of an eye.
'What is that other forest over there, G? And why does it look so much spookier and meaner and less inviting than the one we're heading for?'
'That's the flesh-eating forest, boy.'
It took Liam a few moments to fully comprehend what G had just said.
'Fairies and most other creatures here with their wits about them don't go anywhere near those woods,' G continued.
'Jesus. So are there, like, proper meat-eating monsters and other flesh-eating creatures lurking amongst those trees to give it such a name?'
'No. The trees ARE the flesh-eating monsters silly. Most of the trees in that forest will eat anything living or breathing with blood in its veins. And they will digest you—or whatever unlucky living creature they happen to catch or entice inside—slowly and painfully, stripping your flesh to the bone over a hundred years.'
Liam felt sick. Trees that ate meat and slowly digested you over a hundred years? He couldn't imagine such a thing.
'Oh my god. That's…that's just mental. And I thought stingy nettles were a pain in the arse back in Edinburgh'
'Don't worry, though. We won't be going anywhere near them today.'
'So nothing lives inside that forest then, whatsoever? Just the trees, aye?' Liam enquired further.
'There are legends and tales of some hideous beings who have managed to befriend and tame the monster trees and live amongst them.' G replied. 'But they must be creatures with such dark and magical powers in order to influence a whole forest like that. And if some things do hideaway, living in there, then they are probably doing so for a very good reason. However, no one has ever laid eyes upon these beings. I suppose they're just legends and stories at the end of the day, that's all.'
'You mean just like humans living in another world far, far away from here are just legends and stories to fairies?' Liam retorted with a wry grin.
G turned back to him and smiled teasingly. 'I guess you're right, boy. But I won't be going for a wander in there anytime soon to find out. But if you do ever happen to wander too close to those woods, beware! They have ways of enticing, say, less savvy creatures than yourself to come inside for a quick peek.'
'How the hell do they do that?'
'By making you see things that aren't actually there and that you really, really want to see. Some say that the trees have dark, magical ways of seeing into the deepest parts of your mind.'
Liam glanced back at the first few rows of trees in the flesh-eating forest. For a heart-stopping moment he thought he could faintly hear the trees and their twisted and contorted trunks groaning and moaning for him to come closer and nearer. For another anxious moment he thought he saw something else move beside some rocks on the forest edge. But when he blinked and refocused his attention, just to clear his mind and eyes, there was nothing there at all. Of course, he told himself, he'd imagined all the strange movements. Perhaps it was a slight gust of wind moving one of the thick, jagged branches.
Meanwhile, from the very edges of the flesh-eating forest and resting its old, scaly hands upon a twisted tree trunk, something was indeed watching Liam as he and G continued towards the pale green forest on the opposite side of the clearing...
The Wrath of David Page 27