Chapter 4: Forbidden Areas
This was definitely not good. Standing in front of Seth was a giant ten foot tall nipsie. It was nothing like the other nipsies Seth had seen ,and not just because it was as tall as Hugo. It also had bright red skin as if it had been sunburned. It had giant antlers growing out of its skull like some of the demons Seth had seen at the opening of Zzyzx. It eyes had to been as large as a basketball and had biceps like pre wrestlers. He could easily attack the satyrs and Seth.
"Hi." Seth said, hoping that the nipsie was friendly. He was met by giant roar that made his ear drums pop. "Run!" Seth yelled already sprinting up the tunnel with Newel and Doren at his heels. Seth heard another thundering. He glanced back and started sprinting faster as the giant nipsie was gaining on them.
They burst into the bright noon sunlight with the monster on their heels. Newel and Doren sprinted forward and took the lead, leaving Seth the first to be killed if they got caught. The two satyrs broke left and ran into the forest. Seth followed them through the shadows of the trees, twigs snapping at his arms and leaves falling in his hair. A moment later the trio burst in to a clearing. It was covered with barren rock and ugly dirt a blackened tree stump stood in the middle along with a burbling, pit of tar.
The two satyrs skidded to a stop a few feet from the bubbling tar pit. Seth, not expecting to stop so suddenly, collided with the satyrs and sent the three of them within inches of the tar pit. Seth cringed not wanting to watch himself be killed by a ten foot beast. Another roar thundered from the woods. Seth opened his eyes and saw the giant nipsie pounding his giant fists into a unseen barrier.
The nipsie continued this behavior for several more minutes then finally let out one more ferocious roar and sulked back the way he came.
"Okay. I have now defeated a revenant, stopped a shadow plague, stolen an unicorn horn from centaurs, found Vasilis, killed two of the most powerful demons in the world, watched the destruction on Zzyzx, and now have been chased by a giant mutant nipsie. Why does everything odd happen to me?" Seth asked, into the air. He turned and saw the satyrs sitting down on the barren, rocky, ground. In their hands were two crude fishing poles.
They appeared to be made of tree branch with the line made out of spider thread, that was so thin Seth could barely see it. Newel tugged on his line which was about half way across the bubbling pit of tar. Newel tugged harder and harder until finally the line came free from the sticky black goo. Attached to the hook was a sword about six feet long. The hilt was appeared to be made of gold and was encrusted with diamonds. Even though it had been covered with tar for who knows how long, it shown like it was just polished.
Newel tugged one last time and the sword came flying from the tar pit. Doren dropped his pole and grabbed the flying sword by its hilt. He unhooked the sword from the hook and tossed it to Seth. "Keep It." Doren said, picking up his fishing pole.
Seth fingered the sword observing it more closely. The blade looked recently polished and reflected the sun brightly. It looked incredibly sharp. The hilt was made of pure gold and intricately carved. A large diamond was set in the middle.
"Hey. Seth." Doren called, "Want to fish?" he asked holding up another fishing pole. Smiling Seth took the pole and sat down.
. . .
"Guys. Want to go check out Graulas' cave!?" Seth exclaimed already heading toward the woods
"You mean the cave that the demon Graulas inhabited. The same Graulas that over threw Fablehaven's foundational treaty." Newel asked already wide-eyed already following Seth, with Doren at his side.
"That is exactly where I want to go." Seth said.
"Then let's go."
Seth followed the Satyrs through Fablehaven's forest. He trusted that the satyrs knew exactly where they were going because, even though Seth had been to the cave many times, he had never come from Kurisock's tar pit. The trek was a long one through the grueling heat and high humidity, but finally after a half-hour Seth recognized the familiar cave.
He and the two satyrs continued to walk toward the cave. Seth had not been there for several months, since he had healed Graulas with the Sands of Sanctity, Graulas grabbed the rest of the artifacts, took control of the Society, overthrew the foundational treaty of Fablehaven and opened Zzyzx. As they neared the cave, they heard a low growl come from inside. The three all shared the same look. What is in there?
"Umm…What was that?" Seth asked, not wanting to walk in and be torn apart by some evil creature with giant fangs and claws.
"No idea." the two satyrs said in unison.
"Only one way to find out."
The inside of the cave was just how Seth remembered. A couple of bookshelves were set off to one side along with a small table. The smell was still as putrid as the last time Seth had been in there. The only difference was that no heap covered in cobwebs was sitting in the corner. Instead, the giant ten foot nipsie that had chased them to Kurisock's domain was there.
The monster let out another roar that sounded like hundreds of fighter jets all taking off simultaneously. "Run!" Seth yelled. He took off running from the cave at full speed with the satyrs in front of him. The monster ran after them letting out another ferocious roar. Again Seth followed the two satyrs through the tangled mass of Fablehaven's forest.
The three of them raced through the preserve for what had to be the better part of twenty minutes, all the time running for their lives from a ferocious nipsie. After a while the path that Seth and the Satyrs had been following started to look familiar. Seth suddenly remembered that this trail led to the Valley of the Four Hills. An Idea popped into Seth's head.
"Guys!" he yelled at the satyrs. "Follow me." He cried above another thundering roar that came from the monster chasing them. Seth ran in front of his friends and made a sharp left turn. Instantly Seth recognized the signature four hills that surrounded a large valley covered in a giant forest. Seth ran between one of the four hills and giant tree. The satyrs followed. Seth stumbled and rolled down the remainder of the hill. Seth looked up and saw that as he hoped the giant nipsie was throwing punches at an invisible barrier. Eventually the monster gave up and stalked off. Likely already heading toward some place that Seth wanted to go to, waiting to ambush them.
"Well… that was close." Seth said breathing heavily. Newel and Doren both chuckled.
"So. Where to now?" Doren asked. Only two other forbidden places were left, one was the swamp and the other was the centaurs land.
"I say we go to the swamp and see if the swamp hag surfaces."
"Good choice." the satyrs agreed.
. . .
Seth had never been to a swamp and he had not planned to but now that he knew that a swamp hag lived in one at Fablehaven a swamp sounded like a wonderful place to be. The trek wasn't long at all, only a few minutes. The swamp was so extremely humid, Seth was surprised to find it not raining. The water in the swamp was covered in a thick green cot of slime. Gnarled old trees grew from the water along with several other types of plants. A boardwalk grew outwards over the water.
"What are those things swimming under the water?" Seth asked pointing at several suspiciously human shapes swimming under the dark water.
"They are said to be the souls of dead people the swamp hag has killed." Doren said creepily. The two satyrs chuckled. " They're weird types of fish. Most have no eyes. None have brains. They are almost like zombie fish." The two said the last sentence in excited unison.
The trio walked out over the dark water. The boards creaked eerily, giving Seth the sense that they would break under their weight but the boards held. As they walked, Seth noticed that the thick slime that coated the swamp began to move and spin. Some of the trees giant limbs appeared to start groping forward as if looking for something, or someone.
Doren pulled out another fishing pole, this one was only about a foot long but had to have had forty feet of line. Newel grabbed the fishing line and started yanking it. The twine unraveled like a spool of thread. Newel dipped the end of the line into the water and continued to yank making the line sink farther into the pool. This continued for several minutes. Then the line went taut. The water began to bubble to glow and out came the swamp hag.