Chapter the Fifth: Mary-Sue's bag of junk to the rescue. . . or maybe it's just a bag of junk. Also know as: We Are All Still Lost.
We walked for hours more with no change in anything. There was no end to the trees, no end to the cold, and no end to the number of dark shadows. I was starting to get really, very hungry. I felt gross. Ikky, ikky. And everyone smelled really bad. I guess being hungry makes me grumpy.
We only stopped a couple times to melt some dirty snow in our hands and drink it. No one was really talking much, but no-one had to, to get on each other's nerves.
Hours later Sala dropped me on some more melting snow. It was beginning to get darker. We were in a slight clearing, and I could look up and see the sky through a tunnel up through the trees.
We had been soggy all day, but the ground was soggier. Everyone tried to start a fire, even I pitched in, trying to get a spark to light the kindling. When it finally caught, night had fallen. The others talked quietly, but I could not understand them. Lowan was playing with the toggles on my bag. I couldn't believe that we were lost in a forrest starving and they still insisted on carrying around my pajamas. I shook my head, I couldn't believe I had let them. I grabbed it and began riffling through.
"Hey, this is a bit edible," I said out loud pulling out my toothpaste. "I mean its bad to eat it, but oh well. And you know what I bet this soap is nontoxic too." I dumped out my bag. Then I saw IT. One lone happy box of Smarties.
"Smarties!" I squealed. I got the feeling that others, if I indeed could see them had a blank look on their faces. Surely they had smarties in . . . where ever they were from. . . But if they did indeed not know what these were I could just go behind a tree and eat them all. . . no, these people were my rescuers, and consequently my friends, and we were going to be fair. . . I divided them up equally.
"Hwelc hie sindon," [What are these,] said Lowan, examining the smarties in the firelight. I shoved my handful into my mouth, and the others got the idea.
"Hie sindon ful god," [Those are pretty good,] said Sala, "a ic motan ne gelic to hwelc hi eor." [but I'd hate to find out what they were.] The others laughed.
"But don't forget, it is candy, so you should brush your teeth," I said giving the useless toothpaste tube a nudge with my foot. Lowan grabbed it.
"Hwelc hit is?" [What is this,] he said looking at it. Ryce grabbed it next,
"Ic don ne cunnan." [I don't know.]
"It's toothpaste. You guys know," I pointed at my mouth.
"Ah, hit is gelic in forstrang etan, o§§e fodor" [Oh, it is a spice, or food."]
"L¾tan me cunnan hit," [Let me try it,] said Sala, once again grabbing it. He tried to pull of the lid, but Benidictus unscrewed it first.
"Th¾t beon ne god!" [This stuff is awful!] said Lowan.
"W-heataneng tu-ut-hpost?" said Sala.
"W-heatanin-g, hweat- tanin-g, hwit an ¾nig hieran, hieran, ic forstandan hwelc Anna is cwethan-" [W-heatanin-g, , hweat- tanin-g,. . . white one any, hey, hey, I understand some of what Anna's saying.
"Ne, th¾t ne don andgit," [No, that doesn't make any sense,] said Ryce.
"Thu midd writan," [You mean writing,] corrected Benidictus.
"Gea." [Yes.] We were actually almost (emphasis on almost) a merry party for the next couple of hours. But eventually the laugher died down, and we where left surrounded by the absolute darkness. Our fire seemed like a tiny bubble in the forrest, and if you walked outside of its light you really could not see anything.
It was bitterly cold that night. There was a cold breeze which tried to freeze all the wet bits of my clothes. . . which was everything. It also froze all the water. Slowly the dark turned to dim light, but I not could describe what the hours were like waiting for it with any justice. It didn't get fully light in that forrest of course; the tree were too old, gnarled and close together. I looked at the others. They looked what I felt. Wet, dirty and miserable. The older ones had scruffy hair growing on their faces. Everyone had a lot of tiny cuts, red faces which stung, and very runny noses.
We all got up and I noted that despite the fact they had been obsessive about dragging my bag of clothes, which various members of The Tourists were now wearing under their tunics to keep them warmer, my shoe, which corresponded with my messed-up foot, was now somewhere far, far, far behind.
The bag (of junk) was left behind, and we trooped off, rather out of a strange sense of duty, the source of which I am unable to say, but most likely stupidity.
All we did was walk that day. Maybe they were trying to get somewhere. We tried hard, though I did not even know what it was I was trying for. I suppose it was simply the act of trying. I wondered where we were going.
There weresome berries, which Sala said were edible, and the Ryce said they weren't, and it turned out the latter was right and the former disproved his point by puking. Otherwise everyone just melted a lot of slush in their hands and drank it. All we saw of any living creatures was one lone bird between a space in the tree. Flying above, it could see the end to this forrest, but none of us on the ground could.
I saw some of the underbrush growing green. It stuck me as very brave plants. They do not normally grow in December. Although it did seem to be rather warm for about a week before the coldest time of the year. It struck me then, that is was very important we got unlost very soon. It is nasty and wet having snow melting onto you, but temperatures if temperatures were at minus forty, or even half that, with a terrible wind-chill. . . especially dressed like my, um, companions, are fatal.
"Please God, get us out of this very, very soon," I prayed.
A soggy slush began pelting down off the trees. It must have been getting warmer above the trees. It was so quite that one wanted to say anything to break the splat, splat.
Then dark came, like I knew it would. After the hours had ticked by, I knew it would get dark. I had just hoped it wouldn't. The prospect of spending another night in this forrest was absolutely terrifying. It was like we in the belly of a very enormous beast, just waiting for a bunch of digestive juices to render us into beast fuel and fertilizer.
Once again somehow we got a fire started. I was beginning to have a healthy appreciation for people in history books in the times before matches. Beside me Lowan looked up at the stifling canopy sadly. I looked up to, but the sight was a fairly depressing solid darkness.
We walked for hours more with no change in anything. There was no end to the trees, no end to the cold, and no end to the number of dark shadows. I was starting to get really, very hungry. I felt gross. Ikky, ikky. And everyone smelled really bad. I guess being hungry makes me grumpy.
We only stopped a couple times to melt some dirty snow in our hands and drink it. No one was really talking much, but no-one had to, to get on each other's nerves.
Hours later Sala dropped me on some more melting snow. It was beginning to get darker. We were in a slight clearing, and I could look up and see the sky through a tunnel up through the trees.
We had been soggy all day, but the ground was soggier. Everyone tried to start a fire, even I pitched in, trying to get a spark to light the kindling. When it finally caught, night had fallen. The others talked quietly, but I could not understand them. Lowan was playing with the toggles on my bag. I couldn't believe that we were lost in a forrest starving and they still insisted on carrying around my pajamas. I shook my head, I couldn't believe I had let them. I grabbed it and began riffling through.
"Hey, this is a bit edible," I said out loud pulling out my toothpaste. "I mean its bad to eat it, but oh well. And you know what I bet this soap is nontoxic too." I dumped out my bag. Then I saw IT. One lone happy box of Smarties.
"Smarties!" I squealed. I got the feeling that others, if I indeed could see them had a blank look on their faces. Surely they had smarties in . . . where ever they were from. . . But if they did indeed not know what these were I could just go behind a tree and eat them all. . . no, these people were my rescuers, and consequently my friends, and we were going to be fair. . . I divided them up equally.
"Hwelc hie sindon," [What are these,] said Lowan, examining the smarties in the firelight. I shoved my handful into my mouth, and the others got the idea.
"Hie sindon ful god," [Those are pretty good,] said Sala, "a ic motan ne gelic to hwelc hi eor." [but I'd hate to find out what they were.] The others laughed.
"But don't forget, it is candy, so you should brush your teeth," I said giving the useless toothpaste tube a nudge with my foot. Lowan grabbed it.
"Hwelc hit is?" [What is this,] he said looking at it. Ryce grabbed it next,
"Ic don ne cunnan." [I don't know.]
"It's toothpaste. You guys know," I pointed at my mouth.
"Ah, hit is gelic in forstrang etan, o§§e fodor" [Oh, it is a spice, or food."]
"L¾tan me cunnan hit," [Let me try it,] said Sala, once again grabbing it. He tried to pull of the lid, but Benidictus unscrewed it first.
"Th¾t beon ne god!" [This stuff is awful!] said Lowan.
"W-heataneng tu-ut-hpost?" said Sala.
"W-heatanin-g, hweat- tanin-g, hwit an ¾nig hieran, hieran, ic forstandan hwelc Anna is cwethan-" [W-heatanin-g, , hweat- tanin-g,. . . white one any, hey, hey, I understand some of what Anna's saying.
"Ne, th¾t ne don andgit," [No, that doesn't make any sense,] said Ryce.
"Thu midd writan," [You mean writing,] corrected Benidictus.
"Gea." [Yes.] We were actually almost (emphasis on almost) a merry party for the next couple of hours. But eventually the laugher died down, and we where left surrounded by the absolute darkness. Our fire seemed like a tiny bubble in the forrest, and if you walked outside of its light you really could not see anything.
It was bitterly cold that night. There was a cold breeze which tried to freeze all the wet bits of my clothes. . . which was everything. It also froze all the water. Slowly the dark turned to dim light, but I not could describe what the hours were like waiting for it with any justice. It didn't get fully light in that forrest of course; the tree were too old, gnarled and close together. I looked at the others. They looked what I felt. Wet, dirty and miserable. The older ones had scruffy hair growing on their faces. Everyone had a lot of tiny cuts, red faces which stung, and very runny noses.
We all got up and I noted that despite the fact they had been obsessive about dragging my bag of clothes, which various members of The Tourists were now wearing under their tunics to keep them warmer, my shoe, which corresponded with my messed-up foot, was now somewhere far, far, far behind.
The bag (of junk) was left behind, and we trooped off, rather out of a strange sense of duty, the source of which I am unable to say, but most likely stupidity.
All we did was walk that day. Maybe they were trying to get somewhere. We tried hard, though I did not even know what it was I was trying for. I suppose it was simply the act of trying. I wondered where we were going.
There weresome berries, which Sala said were edible, and the Ryce said they weren't, and it turned out the latter was right and the former disproved his point by puking. Otherwise everyone just melted a lot of slush in their hands and drank it. All we saw of any living creatures was one lone bird between a space in the tree. Flying above, it could see the end to this forrest, but none of us on the ground could.
I saw some of the underbrush growing green. It stuck me as very brave plants. They do not normally grow in December. Although it did seem to be rather warm for about a week before the coldest time of the year. It struck me then, that is was very important we got unlost very soon. It is nasty and wet having snow melting onto you, but temperatures if temperatures were at minus forty, or even half that, with a terrible wind-chill. . . especially dressed like my, um, companions, are fatal.
"Please God, get us out of this very, very soon," I prayed.
A soggy slush began pelting down off the trees. It must have been getting warmer above the trees. It was so quite that one wanted to say anything to break the splat, splat.
Then dark came, like I knew it would. After the hours had ticked by, I knew it would get dark. I had just hoped it wouldn't. The prospect of spending another night in this forrest was absolutely terrifying. It was like we in the belly of a very enormous beast, just waiting for a bunch of digestive juices to render us into beast fuel and fertilizer.
Once again somehow we got a fire started. I was beginning to have a healthy appreciation for people in history books in the times before matches. Beside me Lowan looked up at the stifling canopy sadly. I looked up to, but the sight was a fairly depressing solid darkness.
