"Elves are all magic, aren't they?" Craig asked his mother.
"They are," she replied as she picked leaves out of his hair. He had been down to the river today and played in the bushes. It was fun, but he came back an absolute mess to his mother's dismay. Craig laid against her as she did it, the bump of her very pregnant belly far more awkward to lean on than his mother had been in the past.
"Are they allowed to use it?"
His mother didn't answer right away. "They can."
"Then how come I'm not supposed to?"
His mother's hands froze. After a few seconds, she put them on her son's shoulder and turned him around and looked him in the face.
"Elves...they're different from us," she carefully chose her words, "Cows and chickens aren't the same, are they?"
"No," Craig shook his head, "Cows don't lay eggs."
"Right," she nodded, tapping his nose, "In the same way, elves and humans are different. They have their own rules, their own lifestyles."
"That makes sense," he nodded, "Dad said we fight in wars with them a lot."
"Your father is correct," she nodded, "We do. Their High Queen and our...well, our leaders in Kupa don't really get along."
"Are elves bad?"
His mother bit her lip as she thought for a moment more.
"Are all humans good or bad?"
"Nope," he shook his head quickly.
"Well then, I'd like to think elves are the same way."
"Here we are," Craig announced. Though the announcement was not so much to Tweek as it was to himself.
"Yes," Tweek nodded.
As they had planned, they had woken up at the first sign of daybreak. They had quickly scuttered around to get ready, and headed back upstream to try and find the path from which they strayed. Craig had worried that the stick he had placed in the ground didn't fall over overnight, making it difficult to find their way back on the path. Nevertheless, they eventually found it as they left it, sticking straight up on the other side of the river bank.
"Are you alright?" Tweek asked, looking over to him with his wide, sympathetic blue eyes.
"Y-Yeah," Craig stuttered. He only then realized that he was far tenser than he thought.
"I'm sure we'll be fine, you know," Tweek tried to reassure him.
"Of course," he nodded stiffly and unnaturally.
The forest, at least from the bank of the river, didn't look any different from the forest on the other side. The same type of trees changing into the same autumn colors. The chilly breeze felt the same. Just standing near it didn't emit the same amount of eeriness that the Lost Forest did.
Yet this forest scared him far more.
On the other hand, it was quite odd how easy the act of going into the Elven Forest seemingly was. The Lost Forest had guards on the borders along any path, preventing your average traveler from going in or out. Yet the only thing that separated a human kingdom and this land were the vast natural mountain range and a river. Perhaps that was considered enough to deter travelers? Craig doubted it.
"There are guards preventing Barbarians, Gnomes, and other beings from leaving the Lost Forest," Tweek said, clearly thinking the same thing he was.
"To be fair, I think on Kupa's part it's every bit as much to keep us in as well."
"Not to try to downplay what you go through, but that is your kingdom inflicting it upon itself. Other nations also strictly guard the borders of the forest that don't have the same rules towards their own people."
"Don't you know a lot about Zaron's varying politics?" Craig raised an eyebrow.
"Anyone would, compared to you," Tweek frowned.
"I'm not sure about that," Craig scowled.
"Whatever," Tweek rolled his eyes, "Let's ...Let's just go in already." His voice faltered.
"Right," Craig swallowed, brought back to the reality of the situation.
The Elven Forest. They had to go into that. Tweek reached for his hand and for once Craig didn't feel the impulse to pull away. The two of them locked eyes for a moment before simultaneously giving each other a single nod.
Into the forest they went.
As it had looked from the bank of the river the forest...seemed to be a simple forest. From appearances, anyway. The trees were ordinary. Even if they weren't the type that would grow among the bank of his stream back home, they wouldn't have been out of place there all the less. It was fairly dense, but less dense than the Lost Forest, with far more sunlight seeping through the canopy to the forest that began to collect colorful autumn leaves that had begun to fall. There were also flowers and mosses growing on the ground and on the sides of trees. Ones he had never seen, but not other worldly.
In terms of feeling however, it absolutely was not "ordinary". To a degree, it seemed to be parallel to the odd feeling he felt in the Lost Forest, but this was quite different. No dark feeling where he felt like he could fall away into a trance by untrustworthy energies if he kept his guard down. Instead, the aura of this forest felt oddly...welcoming? Like warm sunlight wrapping around him, inviting him in.
It was almost enough to distract him from how singed his nerves were. Almost.
"Still no guards," Tweek noted, gently pulling his hand away.
"I don't like this," Craig shook his head slowly, instinctively bringing the hand Tweek let go of to his mother's necklace.
"Me neither," Tweek bit his lip, "It's almost like...well…"
"A trap?"
"Maybe," he sighed.
"It's still not too late for you to turn around, you know," Craig reminded him gently.
"And do what?" Tweek narrowed his eyes annoyedly, "Freeze to death on the side of the mountain?"
"I thought you couldn't freeze," Craig smirked.
"Let's go," Tweek groaned, starting to go down the path without waiting for him.
The path in front of them was very clearly made out and oddly inviting. It was a soft, smooth brown dirt path clear of rocks or vines. The soil was soft, making it very easy to walk upon for his worn out feet. The sides of it were aligned in grass and autumn wildflowers flowers. Craig paused and analyzed this for a moment before scurrying after Tweek.
"This territory right here," Craig asked in a quiet voice when he caught up to Tweek, "Is it High Elf territory?"
"No," Tweek shook his head, "This is unincorporated Wood Elf territory. They're nomadic people who share a lot of similarities with barbarians except-"
"I thought the Drow Elves were their barbarians."
"Drow Elves are more like orcs or the Dark Kingdom, if you have to make a comparison," Tweek frowned, "Though you're not wrong that they're similar to Wood Elves. Though while Drow Elves are fiercely independent and hate anyone outside of their own kind, Wood Elves have good relations with most other elven groups. I was going to say that that was what makes them the most different from us Barbarians, who don't get along with anyone."
"I dunno, you make Drow Elves sound a lot like Barbarians."
"We're nothing like them!" Tweek scowled, his voice louder in anger than he intended.
"Alright," Craig rolled his eyes.
"But...there are many elves," Tweek went on, his tone of voice calming down, "Even us Barbarians like to group them together as High and Drow, so I can only imagine that in Kupa they are just as simplified if not more. In the same way Human territories have many different kingdoms and groups, the elves do as well. The Wood, Drow, Wild Elves...not to mention the High Elf Kingdom historically rivaled in influence and power with the Sun Kingdom."
"I don't really give a damn as long as we accomplish what we came to do," Craig reminded him. He probably learned a lot of this when he was briefed back in Kupa City, but he didn't care then and he didn't care now.
Plus on principle, the idea of learning about their culture made him sick.
"Of course you don't," Tweek sighed. He paused a moment before adding, "But you were the one who brought it up."
"I guess," Craig allowed, without missing a beat, "But mainly I guess I wanna know how relevant the land we're on now is to our destination and how likely the people here are to kill us."
"Somewhat related, for the prior question and," Tweek thought for a moment, "Luck for the latter."
"I don't know if I like that answer."
"I don't either," his voice fell as he looked down to the ground.
It was then that Craig looked long and hard at Tweek and his body language. His head was hung low far more than usual, but he could clearly see him chewing on his bottom lip. His arms were down by his side, but tenser than natural. His hands were balled into fists, but he twitched his thumbs through his fingers, as if nervous fidgeting.
"You're scared, aren't you?" Craig commented. Tweek didn't answer, merely sinking down into an even smaller posture. The answer was clearly yes, Craig thought to himself. He didn't know if that made him feel better or worse. On the one hand, seeing Tweek also feel discomfort made him feel less alone. On the other, his lack of optimism didn't help to make his own lessen.
Craig tried not to think about it. To not dwell on the fact that he was in elven territory. That at any minute an elf might come out and reveal himself. It wasn't the fear of being killed by one that worried him. Nor the fear of failure.
He didn't know how his body would react to seeing an elf in person. For so long, for so many years, the mere thought of elves made him want to vomit. He didn't know what would be triggered. His fight complex? The urge to get back on those who killed his family? Or his flight complex? Would he merely go into a panic, wanting desperately to run away?
"Don't think about it," he told himself under his breath, immediately after hoping Tweek didn't hear him. Whether or not he did, he didn't acknowledge it. Instead, they walked for a few more minutes in silence, with tension that Craig felt like could be cut with a knife.
"Look!" Tweek suddenly called out, both of them stopping in their tracks.
"What?" Craig asked, beginning to instinctively reach for his blade. Tweek lightly touched his arm to stop him.
"Pixies," Tweek gestured over to the left aways. Craig blinked, relaxing somewhat as he looked to whereTweek was pointing to. Sure enough, he was right.
The pixies weren't exactly the same as the ones in the Lost Forest. Their glows were softer and less neon in color-which fit with the overall softer and more inviting feeling of this forest. They flew more gracefully and less erratically, examining the autumn flowers peeking up in the light green moss on the sides of boulders and a fallen tree.
Cautiously, Tweek walked over to them. When they first spotted him, they were quickly alarmed, flying to hide themselves behind the boulders and tree like a startled stray cat, very much unlike the Lost Forest pixies that were overly gregarious. However, they slowly reached their little heads out to peek and see what was going on. Tweek laughed.
"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," he said. He slowly bent down and reached out a hand towards them. The actionstartled some of them initially, causing them to hide further. However, after a few moments of him leaning down towards them, eventually a couple of them slowly emerged from their hiding spots. Slowly with his other hand, Tweek reached into his pocket and got out a little food and offered it to them. It took them a few moments, but eventually they slowly began to flap their wings and approach him. Very quickly, one grabbed the food and then retreated back in fear. Tweek laughed again.
"You really like magical creatures, don't you?" Craig asked. The pixie that grabbed the food-a bit of dried bread-brought it back on top of the stump and held it out for other pixies to gather around and examine. Slowly, they sniffed it before breaking it apart and eating it.
"Well, I do like pixies," Tweek answered, "They are very kind and childlike, I think. Even in the Lost Forest, with how dangerous and wild it is, they always manage to remain happy and playful. I think we could learn from them."
"Aren't you the philosopher?" Craig snorted.
"No," he frowned, "I don't see how-"
"I'm just teasing you."
"Right," Tweek turned pink, looking away.
After the pixies finished eating, Tweek stood up from his kneeling position and rejoined Craig. Some of the pixies followed him as if to thank him. A few flew up and handed him some flower petals as a thank you gift. With a polite nod and a soft smile, he accepted them.
"Let's go," Craig said.
"Right."
Both were too stubborn to admit it, but they were both incredibly fearful as they tried to find a place to sleep that night. They settled for a mossy area surrounded by bushes that would hopefully conceal them. They had found some berries along the way that Tweek recognized from his own forest as edible, and while it wasn't much, they were able to get by on that without using any more of the food they had stored just in case. Not that they had to conserve too much-the High Elf territory was supposed to only be a couple days journey within the forest.
Craig wasn't sure how he was able to sleep at all that night. Perhaps he had forced himself into such a sense of numbness, convincing himself not to think of where he was. Perhaps it was the odd aura of the forest, forcibly keeping him calm. Of course, it still wasn't easy for him to sleep. Yet, nonetheless, he eventually found himself drifting to sleep under the canopy of the forest.
They next day they had to cross Drow Elf territory. They had quite a lot of land scattered throughout Elven territory, but thankfully this was only a small, narrow arm of it that they could get across within a day. They didn't even come across a single Wood Elf the entirety of their passage through their land, so they hoped their luck would hold with the Drow Elves as well. Still, they both knew that they had to be incredibly cautious.
Craig figured the way that most elves were nomadic forest people who didn't even guard the entryway into their territory, the borders would be incredibly vague. He figured that the Drow Elf part of the forest would be exactly the same as the Wood Elf part, only they might accidentally run into a different sort of elf.
It turned out that he thought wrong.
In a blink of the eye, the oddly inviting feeling of the forest vanished completely. Instead came a feeling of utter coldness. Dread. It was still clearly autumn, but in this land the autumn was not nearly as beautiful and cozy, but instead seemed to be a reminder that the leaves and flowers were , perhaps that was it. There was an odd feeling of death.
"You feel that, right?" Craig asked.
"A little," Tweek answered.
"A little?" Craig responded, bewildered.
"Yes, I feel it."
Still, that vague answer troubled Craig. Was it possible he was more affected by auras of enchanted forests than Tweek? Well, Tweek did spend his whole life under the influence of the Lost Forest, a forest that's aura made him feel like he was slowly losing his sanity. He told himself it was probably that.
Even the ground felt different here, Craig noted as they walked. It was as if the dirt beneath them was somehow harder. The crunch of the dying leaves beneath them sounded less like...well, leaves, and reminded him more of the sound of bones crunching.
"I know I said I don't care," Craig said, "But I gotta admit I'm wondering. Is it the magic of the things living in forests that affect how they feel, like some sort of intentional curse way, or is the forest just...naturally like that."
"I would guess some of both. I don't really know."
"I see," he replied, looking down.
"Regardless..this place scares me," Tweek admitted.
"Yeah, I feel you there."
Woosh.
There was a rustling of leaves, but in too forceful a way for it to have been from the wind but not nearly fast enough to be from a small wild animal.
"Get back," Craig turned to Tweek as he reached for his blade, heart pounding heavily in his chest. Tweek was already alert, eyes wide and bow already in hand. Craig had forgotten in the split second of panic that Tweek was actually more competent in battle than he was.
"Drow Elf," Tweek whispered.
"I don't see 'em," Craig responded. His throat felt dry and his heart felt like it might come up it, but he kept his eyes on his surroundings, carefully looking for the elf. Craig and Tweek instinctually went back to back, carefully analyzing everything.
"Really?" an exasperated voice very close to them said. Tweek and Craig both jumped. From the same area, Craig heard the sound of a longsword being unsheathed. Slowly, Craig turned his head to see who it was coming from.
When he did, however, he was taken aback to realize that he was not met with the glowing yellow eyed glare of a grey skinned drow elf.
Instead, he found himself being looked upon by the very blue, very human eyes of a young man.