Into the Light- Lost in Translation

by Michael White

  “Thief!” it shouted this time, and the hollow shook, leaves erupting from the ground in a rage of wind and dead foliage.

  “Who are you?” gulped Paul, unable to move as the tall figure towered above him.

  The creature facing him seemed to grow a little height as its tree branch like arms spread out about it, a gesture that seemed to suggest that it was not just talking to Paul, but talking to the forest as well; or, Paul thought, perhaps talking for the forest.

  “I am the Green Man.” boomed the voice and it took another step forward, leaning down as if to examine Paul as to see precisely what it was that he was talking to.

  “And you are a thief!” it said, and quickly it began to move towards him.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The Green Man

  Paul tried his best to move but he could not free his legs from the vines that surrounded him. It seemed that the harder he tried the tighter the vines became. He was forced to stop resisting as his legs were beginning to grow numb with the pressure. The Green man advanced forwards and stopped before Paul, eying him up and down suspiciously, his green leaved mantle seeming to flow about his form as if he had his own personal gale blowing about him.

  “Thief I call you, and thief you are!” he said, reaching down and plucking a few berries from Paul’s pocket before Paul had even seen him move. The Green Man held out the berries in its gnarled wooden hand which seemed to be made mostly of twigs and moss. “Here now are the gifts you take as your own! Theft from the forest I say!”

  “They are just berries.” Sighed Paul. He was terrified of the huge creature in front of him of course, but also he felt more than a little indignant too. What could possibly be wrong about helping yourself to a few berries you happen across in a wild bush? “I was hungry.” he explained, and this seemed to enrage the Green Man even more.

  “Hungry now is it?” he shouted. The very floor of the forest seemed to shake at the creature's outrage, and it shook what seemed to pass for its hands angrily in Paul’s face. “Hungry hardly makes for permission to deprive a bird or two of its only meal.” The creature stomped to the bushes, placing the berries it had taken from Paul’s pocket very carefully on the ground. Then it strode back to face Paul.

  Paul racked his brains but for the life of him could not remember having seen any creature; bird or not, in this part of the forest.

  “I haven’t seen any birds.” said Paul quietly and the Green Man seemed to become even more animated than before.

  “Well it is not a surprise now is it?” he said, “What with you stumbling and bumbling along through the woods like a runaway wood cart. Even the birds seem to be avoiding you.” Paul thought that this was a slight exaggeration.

  “Now I will admit I can’t walk through a wood without making a noise.” said Paul, “But I have not seen a single creature in this part of the wood ever since me and my friends came within a good few miles of here along the forest road.”

  “Friends?” hooted the Green Man, spinning around as if looking for them, “Are there other thieves about the place?” The creature bowed down until it was looking right into Paul’s eyes. “How many “friends” and just where are they now? I cannot hear them crashing about the woods anywhere near here. Silent friends are they?”

  “They were taken and captured by giant snakes off the forest road.” Said Paul. “They haven’t even seen your stupid berries.” To Paul’s surprise this seemed to confuse the Green Man, ignoring the part about the snakes altogether.

  “I can’t say I have ever met a stupid berry.” it mused, “I have come across quite a few slow to learn rabbits. But a berry? Stupid?” It shuffled a little nearer to him, “How would you know?” it said, and sniffed loudly in his face.

  “It is just an expression.” said Paul, not quite sure why the strange creature in front of him was looking so confused. “Words.”

  “Well there it is.” said the Green Man, “words and words. I think myself that actions speak louder than words and your pockets do seem to be stuffed with berries. Perhaps you could enlighten to me as to whether the berries are expecting rain and taking shelter in your cloak pockets, or rather it being much more likely they were placed there when stolen.”

  “I put them there yes. But I did not know it was a problem. I have seen no bird, rabbit, creature or fowl for the last two days we travelled along the forest path, saving what may have been eagles when I climbed to the top of a tree. Nothing else.”

  “Well it is hardly an excuse. What if I wandered into your residence, whatever that may be I hasten to add, and stole the contents of your pantry? What then?”

  “You would have a long way to go.” muttered Paul under his breath.

  “What’s that? What’s that?” shouted the Green Man, “Speak up now or tooth and claw I will kick you from here to Anchor Bay and back.” The creature bowed down close to Paul’s face again, and to Paul’s surprise the small green eye winked. “Or worse.” it said and then stood up again.

  “I was apologising.” said Paul, deciding that by doing so it would at least get the conversation back on track.

  “Bit too late for that.” said the Green Man, “What with you and your friends eating all the…” The creature stopped mid-sentence as if listening to something, a sudden but definite faraway look in its eyes. “Snakes you say?” it said suddenly, stepping back to examine Paul again.

  “Yes.” said Paul, pleased that he now seemed to have the creature’s attention. “There were eight of us on the forest road going to Anchor Bay when we were surprised by snakes and they were captured.” Paul swayed forward, still unable to move as the vines were still wrapped about his legs, “They said something about eating them! You must help me!”

  “Help you?” said the Green Man indignantly, “The serpents are part of my realm too you know. I would not overly concern myself with them. After all, your friends are probably in a pie by now.”

  Paul looked suspiciously at the Green Man.

  “Do snakes eat pies?” he said, and to his surprise the Green Man smiled widely.

  “Probably not.” he sniffed, “Nevertheless. If they said they were going to eat them then they are probably eaten by now.”

  “I need to save them.” said Paul and the creature sniffed at him again.

  “Groblettes are they?”

  “Groblette-Ra.” explained Paul, remembering the name for the tribe of Groblettes that lived at Anchor Bay were from.

  “That’s better then.” Sighed the tree creature, “At least they are not those silver eyed lardy legged pitchers of fat that those Groblette-Ru are.”

  “Indeed.” said Paul.

  “Well they are probably eaten anyway, no matter where they are from.” The Green Man shook his head as if trying to remember something, “Now where were we? Ah yes. Berries. Berries and a thief!”

  “I thought we had established that I was not engaged in thieving I just was not aware that it would be a problem. I was lost and starving and you know,” Paul felt himself getting angry. His legs were slowly going dead and surely cramp would set in soon, “You know.” repeated Paul, trying to resist the urge to shout and failing miserably. “I am not from around here you know. So you can probably tell I would imagine.”

  The Green Man looked him up and down as if trying to determine where he actually was from.

  “Are you from Thamin?” he asked and Paul, shook his head. “Not Surlien either I think. Fingernails far too clean for there. Stanegarth?” Paul shook his head again and the creature sighed, looking up at the sky above as if deciding how long he would take to get an answer from Paul. “I give up.”

  “Well it is far away from here.” sighed Paul. “In fact I don’t actually know where I am at all.”

  “You are in Black Root Forest.” said the Green Man. “With two pockets full of berries.”

  “I know that.” said Paul testily, “I mean the whole place. Felastia, or whatever you call it.”

  “You don’t know where it
is?” asked the creature, sounding confused again.

  “I think actually it is all a dream” said Paul and the Green Man started to make strange trumpeting sounds that took Paul at least a minute to realise was laughter.

  “You think I am a dream?” asked the Green Man and Paul nodded, “Well now. A dream I am now. How clever.” The creature seemed to think for a while, rubbing its chin earnestly and then apparently coming to a conclusion. “So in a dream there are no consequences for your actions.” Paul nodded and the Green Man sighed, “And so the berries are not important.”

  “Correct” smiled Paul, and the creature nodded.

  “Where are you from?” asked the Green Man suddenly, a dreamy edge creeping into its deep booming voice. Before Paul could react the creature shot out one of its hands and grabbed him tightly by his left arm. “We shall see.” whispered the creature dreamily, “We shall see indeed.”

  Paul felt the hand on his arm grow warm, making him flinch beneath the Green man’s grasp. He tried to pull back but it was like trying to push a mountain away. With the vines still wrapped about his legs he began to struggle, but try as hard as he might, he could not escape.

  “Far away.” said the Green Man. “Over the hills and far away. Far further than I have ever seen.” The Green Man suddenly flinched. “Marked.” he said, and his grip on Paul’s arm tightened to a painful level, as if the creature was searching for something. “The gift of voices.” he sighed, then he felt the Green Man suddenly jump as if something had bitten him and he pulled back from Paul, stepping back two paces. Instantly the vines about his feet disappeared. Paul stumbled, and fell to the ground, sprawling in front of the Green Man.

  Who seemed to have forgotten that he was there at all.

  “The Shadow Lords of Old.” he whispered, “It cannot be. You have stolen the gift of language from the minions of the Shadow Lords of Old. They too named you thief. Pugga thief!” The word, “Pugga” sounded familiar to Paul, and thinking back he remembered that that was what the Groblettes had called the mushrooms they had found in the abandoned mines. The ones that when he ate them they enabled him to understand the Groblettes language. He realised then also that he had not eaten one for several days, and when he had last seen the Groblettes he had no difficulty in understanding them at all. Flip had said that they would eventually work their way into his system, and he was supposed that he was right. The thought of his friend filled him with sadness. The Green Man could not possibly be right. He would still have time to save them, surely?

  “You have been marked.” said the Green Man accusingly, staring down at him. The creature reached forward and deftly pulled up Paul’s right sleeve to reveal the cold puffy ring of skin that still bore the finger marks of where the creature from the caverns had clutched at him. If anything it looked more like a skull then ever. The Green Man touched the scar carefully, and then shivering from head to foot withdrew its hand again. To Paul’s surprise, his left arm began to ache as well in precisely the spot that the Green man had been holding him. Now his left arm felt warm; almost feverish.

  “It’s just a scar.” said Paul unconvincingly, “It will soon heal.”

  “I think not.” said the Green Man, “Some wounds are deeper than others.” He held his hand out for Paul who reached for it and as the two touched the forest seemed to melt away and darkness fell over them. Slowly Paul became accustomed to the dark and slowly became aware of a dim luminescent green glow that lit the dark stone cavern in which he stood. Below his feet were the Pugga. The mushrooms that the Groblettes had picked which when he ate them gave him, as the Green Man had called it, “The gift of languages.”

  “I know where we are.” whispered Paul as the cavern became familiar to him, “This is the mine where the Groblettes took me.” he shivered at the memory of the creature grasping him through the wall, “I don’t think we are safe here. We must leave at once.” Paul gulped as he began to panic, “In fact how did we get here in the first place?” He tugged on the Green man’s arm urgently, “We must leave!” he shouted, but the tall creature paid him no heed at all.

  “Come shades.” Said the Green Man, his grip on Paul’s arm strong again, “Reveal yourselves.” Slowly from out of the walls and the darkest shadows of the cavern in which they stood floated shadow like spectres, shapes of men who once were but were no longer; shadows of night and dark, floating over the ground, long shroud like cloaks and hoods masking their features. They drifted like smoke, or a mist upon a river, and they came in their hundreds, floating through the dark and surrounding the two of them.

  “The Green man.” mocked one of the shadows directly in front of them. “Begone creature of wood and stream, nurturer of leaf and branch. You have no authority here. Begone!” To Paul’s surprise the Green Man actually laughed at this.

  “Shades of darkness.” announced the Green Man almost formally, “You are dismissed from this realm.” he raised his other arm and then spread it wide about him, “What was shadow cannot exist without light. What is dark cannot endure with the flame.” He whispered the final word almost as if it was the conclusion of a prayer, “Begone.” he intoned, and a fierce white light shot from the Green man’s upraised arm, and there were screams from all around them, but when the light faded the spectres had vanished.

  Paul stood shaking beside him, and he noticed then that the Green man had a determined look about him, almost as if he were readying himself.

  “Beware.” said the creature slowly, “The Shadow Lords of Old have returned. One of their number draws near. Do not let him touch you, Paul. Whatever happens do not permit that.”

  Paul shrunk back, unsurprised that the Green Man knew his name, and as he did so he heard a low moaning coming from the darkness of the shadows. Something was approaching. Paul peered into the dark and he saw a shape moving slowly towards them through the darkness. It was not just a part of the dark that surrounded it; it was the dark. It was tall, perhaps six feet tall, a shroud of blackness that held no features or shape. It slowly approached. Paul recognised instantly that it was the strange shade that had grasped at his arm during his previous visit here with the Groblettes.

  “Forest lord.” Sighed a voice from the shadow, “You are far from your domain.”

  “I name you.” said the Green Man, “Though you are long since forgotten.”

  “Not so hastily forgotten I think.” said the shade, and there was mocking laughter in the voice.

  “I would dismiss you too.” said the Green Man and the shadow laughed aloud, mocking him.

  “That you could.” sneered the shade, “We are not of your realm. Your power here has limits.” The shade began to mumble quietly. Paul could not make out the words but he felt nauseous suddenly, as if the very air was stifling his breathing.

  “I elude you now, creature of dark. Your power here is weak.” said the Green Man almost formally, “In the name of Cerene; she who walks the woods of the world, I leave you. You cannot restrain me here! We shall be gone!” There was a sound like the ringing of a bell and Paul felt himself move through the air, the Green Man clutching tightly at his right arm. The darkness faded and they were stood atop a large hill. Paul saw that judging by the height and position of the sun that the road below them a road wound off to the west, veering northwest as it did so. To the east however it entered the forest which covered the horizon off to the east.

  From this vantage point Paul looked out over the hills that surrounded him and far away almost on the horizon he could see the sea. A stiff wind blew briefly about them and he smelt the salt off the sea, redolent of the waters of the world around which the Groblette-Ra were the masters.

  “What the hell happened there?” asked Paul, blinking in the sunlight. To his great concern the Green Man was frowning, looking down on his forest to the east. “Are we out of the forest?” asked Paul and finally the Green Man nodded.

  “This is the exit to the forest you were seeking. As for our trip to the caves I fear something old and
terrible has returned. The Shadow Lords of Old are abroad once again.”

  “The shade sent us away?” asked Paul.

  “It did. It would not have the power to do that here, but under the earth in the cold and dark places of the world it holds domain.”

  “What was it?” asked Paul, and he was surprised to see the Green Man kneel down and then sprawl in the grass in front of him, sitting down.

  “It is a long tale Paul, but I will, be brief, for I fear that you want to search for your friends.” Paul nodded eagerly, and the Green man smiled widely.

  “When the creator made the world he entrusted the realms of spirit and wood, of earth and air to creatures of his own resemblance. Neptune the god of the sea, Cerene, her most holy lady of wood and stream, Rauf the god of animals and all creatures, Hios the god of the air and the sky. Velan the god of the earth and cold stone. There are many more. Then the creator abandoned them, reasoning that each god would determine and look and care for their own realm, and so the peoples prospered, Groblettes and largers alike.”

  “The Groblette-Ra and the Groblette-Ru?” asked Paul and the Green man nodded.

  “Of the day and the night; the sun and the stars, yes.” he answered, “Yet the world of men was not content for they wanted dominion over all, and so the council of seven; the seven realms of men or largers as the Groblettes call them was convened. They searched the dark corners of the world for any power that gods or men could wield to increase their influence upon the world, and they became reckless. So was made the Council of the Shadow Lords of Old.

  Yet the forces of the gods and men were not all in the sway of these lords of shadow. Some resisted, and thousands of years ago they were cast down and their deeds fell into tales and myths to frighten children by in front of the hearth on a winter’s night. The shadows were bound by seals that none of this world could cast asunder, and so they faded into myth.” The Green man stared off into the distance, looking over the woods as if he was eager to get back there.