Chapter the 4th: Now We Are All Lost
We had been walking for a long time. It had never actually gotten completely light in the forrest, for despite the fact that all the leaves had fallen the trees were very old and had grown very close together. In the summer I'm sure it would have been closer to dark than light. Actually it was all very creepy, and after hours of tripping over the thick dead underbrush, and slipping on dead leaves, it still felt very creepy. The snow was melting off the trees above, but it froze when it landed making for some very icy patches. Long and growing icicles hung like stalactite which glowed clear and pitilessly.
Back when the guy who had been so humble before was confidently leading our trip back to civilization I had learned the names of all my rescuers: Benidictus, Lowan, Sala, and Ryce. Now, hours later the confidence of our self-appointed leader, Ryce, was beginning to wane.
"We sculan beon onweg of th¾t holt be nu," [We really should be outside of the forrest by now,] he said dropping me. Break time. But though in my heart I found a certain element of celebration, I might wish it had not been in a pile of melting snow. Or in this creepy forrest. . .
The others crouched around.
"Don thu agan ¾nig hige to hw¾r we heord?" [Do you have any idea where we are?]" asked Sala. Ryce through up his hands and burst out,
"Ic agan beode inne th¾t holt in hund hwilu. Hit is ne efne th¾t great! Inne ord hit is ful m¾te! We sculan beon ganodon inne abutan!!!" [I have been in the forrest a hundred times. It is not even that big! In fact it is very small! We must be walking in circles!!!]
Silence settled over our group. I was getting an inkling of what was the case. Yes, they were lost. We were all lost.
"You know the best thing to do when you are lost is to stay in one place. That way the search parties will be able to find you," I interjected. I made some general hand gestures in a pathetic attempt to convey the fact.
"Motan beon we heord gan in abutan," [Maybe we were going in circles,] suggested Benicdictus.
"Nymfle . . ." [Unless. . . ] said Ryce.
"Nymfle? [Unless?] said Benidictus
"Don this beseon th¾t holt we ganode on." [Does this look like the forrest we entered.]
"Hu ic cunnan," [How would I know,] muttered Sala.
"Na, na, na, th¾t beamu beseon ellorg¾st," [No, no, no, the trees look different," clued in his little brother, Lowan.
"Hwlec th¾t andgit of is we agan gan forhwega cl¾ne other," [Which means we've gone somewhere totally different,] ended Ryce.
"Forthy we sculan ceosan hwelc ¾fre ¾ghwede naleas to findan forhwega . . . ahw¾r. And th¾t is?" [So we should pick whatever direction is guarrenteed to meet up with somewhere. . . anywhere. And that would be?] said Benidictus.
"F¾gere motan beon east?" [Well perhaps east?] said Ryce. "East? I beon hicganeth ma north-wes." [I was thinking more north-west.] said Sala.
"F¾gere we metan th¾t ®ttrynesceap ea. Th¾t is forheard ne to findan, efne inne in holt," [Well we'll meet the ®ttrynesceap river. That would be hard to miss, even in a forrest,] said Ryce.
"Hit is be healf in d¾ges gan, ac he is riht," [It is about half a days walk, but he is right,] said Sala, "We motan ne findan Wesban gif we agan scrithanode to feor." [We might miss Wesban if we have wandered too far .]
"Ic eom hungor!" [I'm starving!] said Lowan, rubbing his belly.
"Gelic ¾lc an elles hider, dol," [So is everyone else, stupid,] shot back his big brother.
"Ic eom ne th¾t dol an . . . dysig." [I'm not the stupid one. . . stupid.] The two began to yell at each other, and I'm sure it would have come to blows had not the quiet guy (Benidictus) quite suddenly said,
"Beon giet, beon giet. Hlystan. Cunnan eow ne hieran th¾t." [Be quiet, be quiet. Listen. Can't you hear that.] They all fell silent again, and this time we heard it. Or rather heard the lack of it. The forrest was stiflingly silent, like evil had veiled it, and wanted to smother all life from anyone who had been unfortunate enough to wander into it's grasp. Like it was an enchanted forrest. This was stupid. I shook my head and coughed. Enchanted forrest? What was I thinking. The others did the same.
"Hit is nawiht. Th¾t hrith helm th¾t breahtm." [It is nothing. The snow muffles the noise.] said Ryce. It was a few seconds before Sala spoke up.
"L¾tan us gan," [Let's go,] he said standing, and pulling me up. We all began walking, or as in my case hobbling and hopping. I still thought it would be smarter to just stay in one place, but then of course the Murderous Lunatic might find us before the search parties did.
We had been walking for a long time. It had never actually gotten completely light in the forrest, for despite the fact that all the leaves had fallen the trees were very old and had grown very close together. In the summer I'm sure it would have been closer to dark than light. Actually it was all very creepy, and after hours of tripping over the thick dead underbrush, and slipping on dead leaves, it still felt very creepy. The snow was melting off the trees above, but it froze when it landed making for some very icy patches. Long and growing icicles hung like stalactite which glowed clear and pitilessly.
Back when the guy who had been so humble before was confidently leading our trip back to civilization I had learned the names of all my rescuers: Benidictus, Lowan, Sala, and Ryce. Now, hours later the confidence of our self-appointed leader, Ryce, was beginning to wane.
"We sculan beon onweg of th¾t holt be nu," [We really should be outside of the forrest by now,] he said dropping me. Break time. But though in my heart I found a certain element of celebration, I might wish it had not been in a pile of melting snow. Or in this creepy forrest. . .
The others crouched around.
"Don thu agan ¾nig hige to hw¾r we heord?" [Do you have any idea where we are?]" asked Sala. Ryce through up his hands and burst out,
"Ic agan beode inne th¾t holt in hund hwilu. Hit is ne efne th¾t great! Inne ord hit is ful m¾te! We sculan beon ganodon inne abutan!!!" [I have been in the forrest a hundred times. It is not even that big! In fact it is very small! We must be walking in circles!!!]
Silence settled over our group. I was getting an inkling of what was the case. Yes, they were lost. We were all lost.
"You know the best thing to do when you are lost is to stay in one place. That way the search parties will be able to find you," I interjected. I made some general hand gestures in a pathetic attempt to convey the fact.
"Motan beon we heord gan in abutan," [Maybe we were going in circles,] suggested Benicdictus.
"Nymfle . . ." [Unless. . . ] said Ryce.
"Nymfle? [Unless?] said Benidictus
"Don this beseon th¾t holt we ganode on." [Does this look like the forrest we entered.]
"Hu ic cunnan," [How would I know,] muttered Sala.
"Na, na, na, th¾t beamu beseon ellorg¾st," [No, no, no, the trees look different," clued in his little brother, Lowan.
"Hwlec th¾t andgit of is we agan gan forhwega cl¾ne other," [Which means we've gone somewhere totally different,] ended Ryce.
"Forthy we sculan ceosan hwelc ¾fre ¾ghwede naleas to findan forhwega . . . ahw¾r. And th¾t is?" [So we should pick whatever direction is guarrenteed to meet up with somewhere. . . anywhere. And that would be?] said Benidictus.
"F¾gere motan beon east?" [Well perhaps east?] said Ryce. "East? I beon hicganeth ma north-wes." [I was thinking more north-west.] said Sala.
"F¾gere we metan th¾t ®ttrynesceap ea. Th¾t is forheard ne to findan, efne inne in holt," [Well we'll meet the ®ttrynesceap river. That would be hard to miss, even in a forrest,] said Ryce.
"Hit is be healf in d¾ges gan, ac he is riht," [It is about half a days walk, but he is right,] said Sala, "We motan ne findan Wesban gif we agan scrithanode to feor." [We might miss Wesban if we have wandered too far .]
"Ic eom hungor!" [I'm starving!] said Lowan, rubbing his belly.
"Gelic ¾lc an elles hider, dol," [So is everyone else, stupid,] shot back his big brother.
"Ic eom ne th¾t dol an . . . dysig." [I'm not the stupid one. . . stupid.] The two began to yell at each other, and I'm sure it would have come to blows had not the quiet guy (Benidictus) quite suddenly said,
"Beon giet, beon giet. Hlystan. Cunnan eow ne hieran th¾t." [Be quiet, be quiet. Listen. Can't you hear that.] They all fell silent again, and this time we heard it. Or rather heard the lack of it. The forrest was stiflingly silent, like evil had veiled it, and wanted to smother all life from anyone who had been unfortunate enough to wander into it's grasp. Like it was an enchanted forrest. This was stupid. I shook my head and coughed. Enchanted forrest? What was I thinking. The others did the same.
"Hit is nawiht. Th¾t hrith helm th¾t breahtm." [It is nothing. The snow muffles the noise.] said Ryce. It was a few seconds before Sala spoke up.
"L¾tan us gan," [Let's go,] he said standing, and pulling me up. We all began walking, or as in my case hobbling and hopping. I still thought it would be smarter to just stay in one place, but then of course the Murderous Lunatic might find us before the search parties did.
