That night, Sarah sat up in her bed, too scared to fall asleep. Her parents really did mean to rid themselves of their children, and her stepmother, at least, seemed content to let the forest do the job. Even though she'd made two friends in the forest, Sarah was still nervous about going into it again; after all, there was no guarantee she would come across Ludo or the worm again.
And next time, she might come across something much worse.
Sarah tightened her blanket around her and frowned. There had to be a way to thwart her stepmother's plans. Perhaps she could find something to mark her way…
Her eyes lit on her small sewing box. It was old, and had a lot of things Sarah didn't necessarily use in it. She didn't have much use for the ribbons her mother had stored in it all those years ago, and only occasionally needed a button; most of the ones she avoided using in the kit were painted. And they were bright enough that they would catch her attention as long as she was looking for them. Sarah crept out of bed and placed the ribbons and painted buttons in her satchel.
"I'm going to fix this, Toby," she whispered to her sleeping brother. "I'm going to save us."
Sarah closed her eyes just as the sky was lightening, and opened them just a few hours later. Without speaking to either her father or her stepmother, she gathered Toby, something for the both of them to eat and drink, and then left the house. Her stepmother did not try to stop her; their father did not say a word.
Sarah only paused when she stood in front of the forest, just inches away from the trees. The ribbons and buttons were still in her satchel, but she patted them anyway for reassurance.
"This is it, Toby; we'll show them that they can't get rid of us so easily." She hoisted her brother up so he sat higher on her hip, pulled out a button, and stepped into the forest.
It wasn't like yesterday, when she had no reason to suspect that her parents were trying to be rid of her. But it also wasn't like yesterday in that she was not afraid of what might be in the forest; this time she knew she had friends waiting, if only she could find them. She doubted she'd be able to retrace her steps from yesterday to find the worm again.
Every few feet, Sarah was careful to mark her path with either a brightly-colored button or a ribbon. The siblings would find their way home; she was going to make sure of it. ...But still, she checked behind her to make sure she could see which path she'd taken.
Not too long into her trek into the forest, Sarah grew tired of carrying her brother. Her stepmother would be cross if they returned, but she would be even angrier if they returned without the small pieces of firewood they were ostensibly send into the forest to retrieve. There was no way for Sarah to win.
Sarah sat Toby down on the forest floor, dangling a bright red ribbon in front of his face. He latched onto it with one chubby baby hand and yanked it out from her grip; Sarah patted him on his head and transferred the rest of her ribbons and buttons into the front pocket of her satchel, where their lunches waited. It would probably be best to wait to return home until just before nightfall so that their stepmother couldn't concoct any other chores for them to accomplish in the forest.
It didn't take her long to fill her satchel with things to take home, and it wasn't quite afternoon. Sarah sat down next to Toby and brushed some of the stray leaves from his hair.
"What do you say, Toby… Should I see if I can find my friends?" He babbled up at her without forming any real words. She took that as a yes and clapped her hands together, the matter decided.
"Ludo," she called out into the forest, hoping that the beast would somehow hear her. But it was a large forest, and she was only a single girl, so she resolved not to be disappointed if he didn't hear her. "Ludo, are you out there anywhere? It's me, Sarah, your friend!"
Sarah knelt next to Toby and waited, trying to be patient. But patience was not necessarily her strong suit, so before too much time passed she grew restless. Not even the novelty of being so far into the forest could stave off her boredom. Still, she supposed it was better than avoiding catching her stepmother's attention and walking on eggshells all day. And playing with Toby wasn't that bad, either, even if he did tend to tug on her hair.
Just as she thought it, Toby let go of her hair to point to somewhere behind her.
"Eee!" he said. Sarah turned around and found herself staring up at the orange beast from the day before.
"Ludo!" she said happily, jumping to her feet. "And… Hello, I'm not sure who you are." Sarah peered down at the little fox perched atop a huge shaggy dog. She offered him her hand to shake, but he declined, choosing instead to leap off his steed's back.
"My brother tells me that your name is Sarah," the fox said, sweeping into a bow. His tail stuck straight up behind him, and Sarah had to stifle a giggle. It didn't help that he was dressed like a knight errant; even his dog wore barding of leather and soft cloth.
"Brother?" she asked, failing to see the similarity between the two creatures.
"Brothers in arms, to be more precise, fair maiden. I am Sir Didymus." He straightened his cap on his head so that it sat evenly between his ears, making Sarah smile again. The forest, she was learning, was very, very far from the awful place she'd grown up thinking it was. In fact, it seemed downright magical. If she'd known about Ludo and Didymus as a small child, perhaps she wouldn't have been as lonely.
"But tell me," the fox knight continued, "what a girl such as you would be doing in a place like this?"
Sarah shrugged, pulling Toby back to her side so he didn't crawl too far away.
"Our father and stepmother want us out of the house. Or rather," she amended, "they want us gone for good. Everybody thinks that there's something terrible in the forest, and I suppose they think it will finish us off for them."
Ludo rumbled, the angry sound coming from deep within his chest.
"I know," Sarah placed a hand on his forearm. "But there's nothing bad out here; just you two, the worm, and the trees."
Ludo and Didymus exchanged glances at her words, and for the first time that day, Sarah wondered if she'd been too trusting.
"We are not the only denizens of the forest, fair maiden, but the others are not for you to worry about. Put them from your mind. Why don't you spend your day with myself and Ludo?"
Toby was already enchanted by Sir Didymus's dog, and the dog himself seemed content to let the boy crawl all over him. Toby would be kept content for a long time, Sarah thought.
"I'd love to," she answered her new friend.
Sarah taught Ludo and Sir Didymus how to make crowns out of the ivy climbing some of the trees and whatever fitting leaves she could find. Didymus took to it easier than Ludo, who was more content to let Sarah decorate him with whatever she made. Sir Didymus taught Sarah the best way to climb a tree, and after a few false starts-one of which required a rescue from Ludo-Sarah thought she was getting rather good at figuring out which handholds were best to pull herself up by.
But it wasn't until she was sitting at the crown of the tallest tree she'd climbed that day that she saw something peculiar in the distance. It wasn't the cottage that she shared with her family, as Sir Didymus told her that was to her back.
No… Sarah squinted into the distance and shielded her eyes form the glare of the sun. This was much more grand than just her home; this almost seemed like a castle. What looked to her like a tower spiraled into the air, higher than any of the trees around it. And if Sarah looked closely, she was sure she could see gardens. It looked lovely. She wondered how long it would take to walk there.
"Didymus," Sarah said, scrambling down from the tree as fast as she dared. "I saw something very interesting off in the distance. It looked like a castle, but I can't think of why one would be so far out here in the woods. Do you know anything about it?"
Sir Didymus stilled, the tip of his tail twitching. Sarah thought that it was very good he styled himself as a knight because he could never get away with anything as dishonorable as lying.
"I do, but young maiden, you must never go there. The master of the castle does not… he is not prepared to receive guests," Didymus said, and Sarah thought that he was perhaps stretching the truth. Not a lie, she thought, because his tail didn't twitch again. But perhaps not the entirety of the truth.
"Okay," said Sarah, who was still entirely too curious about the castle. Didymus nodded once, the matter settled in his mind.
"Wouldst thou perhaps enjoy a game of tag, young maiden?"
Sarah laughed and said that she would, proclaiming Didymus "it" before he could say anything else. She took off between the trees in a random direction, satisfied that he and Ludo would not let her get lost and that Ambrosias would not let her brother wander away. Besides, Toby had chosen that moment to take his afternoon nap. And Sarah, so long denied the frivolous games of her childhood, could not pass up the opportunity.
If her stepmother knew she was cavorting around the forest with two talking beasts, Sarah was fairly certain she'd be very, very cross. And perhaps afraid, because the woman seemed afraid of just about everything from the forest. Her father would shake his head but would not likely say anything else on the matter. It was that sort of hands-off attitude that landed herself and Toby in the mess they were in to begin with, and as Sarah dashed around a particularly large oak, she decided that she didn't care one whit about what they thought, since they clearly didn't care about their children.
The thought was freeing, in a sad sort of way.
Every now and then, when Sarah turned quickly or paused long enough to take a good look at her surroundings, she thought she saw something in the underbrush. Whatever it was definitely had eyes, yellow and luminous and larger than she'd expect of a stray cat. As she squinted into the shadows, Didymus bounded up to her, tapped her on her knee, and proclaimed her "it." Sarah stared at where she thought she saw the mystery creature for a moment longer, and then, when she decided it was a fruitless effort, took off after Didymus herself. Ludo was easy to avoid; his lumbering size made traversing between the trees at a rapid pace difficult for him, and unlike the fox, the noise he made always gave away his position. Sarah could tell that he was somewhere behind her.
Sarah jogged in the direction she thought Didymus dashed off in, only to come across a particularly thick layer of brush. He was small enough to fit through it, and if she were a fox, that was exactly where she'd hide; Sarah pulled some of the branches away and fought her way through.
She stood in the opening she'd wrenched open, slack-jawed and staring at what was before her. It was the castle, and it must not have been as far away as she thought it was; only a little bit of running and she was standing just before it.
The castle stood imposing behind the gardens she saw, made up of solid-looking brown stone and, if buildings could have moods, generally rather grumpy looking. Didymus said that the master of the castle was not up to receiving guests, which was a shame; the gardens looked peaceful and welcoming, and although the castle itself cast a shadow that reached almost to where she stood, Sarah thought it looked like it might me warm and clean inside.
Just as she was about to take a step forward, Ludo yanked her backwards through the brush. It closed behind her, hiding the castle once more from her view.
"No," Ludo rumbled, shaking his head so that his fur was tossed from side to side around his face. "No, no, no."
"Okay," Sarah soothed, patting his arm. "Alright. I didn't know it was there-I was just… looking. No harm meant."
But Ludo could not be made to relax, and seeing him so distressed upset Sarah. She did not protest when he tugged her back to her brother, and she waited patiently as he went off to find Didymus. There was no use arguing; he seemed as convinced as Didymus that the castle was a bad place. Despite its welcoming appearance, Sarah was prone to believe them. After all, they knew the forest and its denizens far better than she. But all the same, she was full of questions.
"The sun is setting, fair maiden," Didymus announced as he returned with Ludo. "Perhaps it is time you returned home. We will lead you." His tone would not allow any protestation from her, but Sarah was not inclined to argue. It was getting late, and she was tired.
"Can you please tell me about the master of the castle? I promise I won't try to find it again-it was an accident, I swear. But I am curious, and we are neighbors in a way."
Ludo would not even acknowledge that she asked a question, and Didymus avoided answering for a very long time. Sarah started to see some of the ribbons and buttons she'd placed before he opened his mouth.
"He is a wizard, a master of the arcane, and we are all his vassals. We daren't cross him, for his temper is wild. Please, young maiden, do not question me further. I do not know how much more I can say."
Sarah frowned and almost patted the fox's head at his mournful tone.
"I won't," she promised instead, hugging Toby closer to her. "Perhaps I will see you both tomorrow?"
Ludo shrugged, his lips held tight together as if he were trying to keep himself from saying anything. Didymus bowed once, briefly.
"Perhaps," he murmured.
Sarah tried to kill the trepidation that she felt, choosing instead to think positively.
"Well, goodbye until then," she said, and walked out of the forest and to her home. Behind her she head Ludo and Sir Didymus scuttle away. In front of her waited her stepmother, hands on her hips. Her father held his woodcutting ax above his whet stone, but the fury in her stepmother's face and the sight of the ax made Sarah wonder if the castle might not be safer. For the first time she was really, truly afraid to be home.
"What exactly were you thinking," her stepmother asked, "taking all of our ribbons and spare buttons into the forest?"
Sarah wanted to argue that she did not do what she was being accused of. The ribbons and buttons were hers to do with as she pleased. It would do her no favors, however, to argue with someone whose mind was already made up.
"I did it so that we might find our way back," Sarah said, challenging her stepmother as much as she dared. Her stepmother's lips thinned into a thin white line, a sure sign of her impending fury.
"Get something to eat and get yourself and your brother to bed," her stepmother demanded, and Sarah wasted no time in getting out of her sight.
That night, Sarah listened to her stepmother clear the house of anything that Sarah might use to mark her path the next day.