CHAPTER 7
The next morning, Darcie stopped abruptly in the middle of the path, at a fork in the road. A wooden signpost to the left read ‘Trenelburg’.
“It looks like there’s a town up here and to the left,” she said, “I hate to lose time, but I think we should stop by, and get some more supplies,”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Tobin agreed.
After walking at a brisk pace for two hours they came upon the town of Trenelburg, which was remarkably similar to Tobin’s hometown of Belvedon. As they walked down the main street, he marveled at how the shops and homes along the street bore such a likeness to his own hometown. He found himself strangely homesick for his little home in Belvedon.
Darcie made an abrupt turn down one of the streets off the main thoroughfare. Tobin took a moment to catch up, wondering what had caused such an abrupt change in direction, when the smell of baked goods reached his nose.
Sure enough, smiling triumphantly, Darcie stopped in front of a small bakery, with a cheery sign out front that read Mama Hasling’s Baked Delights.
“You want more muffins, don’t you?” Tobin asked her, grinning widely in amusement.
Grinning back, Darcie marched up to the front door.
A silver bell tinkled softly as they entered the small bakery. The aroma of fresh bread, cinnamon and sugar, made Tobin feel immediately at home. There were a few tables scattered at the front of the shop. Darcie chose one close to the window, and they took of their cloaks and rucksacks, propping them up against the chair legs.
From behind the counter came a plump, smiling woman with frothy red curls peeking out from underneath a little white cap. Her apron was covered in icing and flour, and her cheeks were pink from the heat in the kitchens.
“Hello, dears!” She greeted them warmly. “I’m Mama Hansling. Welcome to my little shop! What can I get you today?”
“I would like a cup of the beef soup, with some of the fresh brown bread,” Darcie replied, eyeing the chalkboard with the specials.
Tobin’s stomach growled in agreement. “I’ll have the same,” he told Mama Hansling. She smiled widely, and returned to the kitchen to get their lunch.
“This seems like a sweet little town,” Darcie said, looking out the large front window into the street. People moved up and down, going about their daily tasks, smiling at each other, and stopping in the street to chat.
“It reminds me a lot of Belvedon,” Tobin said.
“Does it really?” Darcie asked, leaning forward eagerly. “Is your town really this small?”
Tobin smiled. “It’s about this size, yes. Maybe a little bit bigger. My house sits just outside of town, so I’m not really in the thick of the town activity.”
Darcie nodded, and returned to her study of the townsfolk in the street outside.
Tobin thought about how he had deliberately sought solitude for so long, and wondered to himself if maybe he ought to visit the town, and his family more often when he returned home. After all, he had enjoyed the company he kept in the castle, and of course his time with Darcie had been very pleasant. Perhaps he had shut himself off from others for too long.
His thoughts were interrupted as Mama Hansling bustled back out of the kitchen with their lunch. She placed the steaming bowls of soup in front of them, and then stood back, beaming at them with her hands on her hips.
“It’s so wonderful to have out of town visitors,” she proclaimed.
“How did you know we were from out of town?” Darcie asked around a mouthful of bread. Tobin laughed out loud, and exchanged an amused glance with Mama Hansling.
“Well my dear, because I know everyone from town, but I don’t know you,” she replied smiling down at Darcie. “Mind you, you’re not the first out-of-towners we’ve had in the last few days.”
“Oh?” said Darcie conversationally, much more preoccupied with an unusually large carrot in her soup.
“Yes, just a couple days ago we had a strange Northern fellow who came through. He mostly kept to himself, really. Not a very friendly chap,” Mama Hansling was obviously not particularly fond of the visitor. “Not like you folks, of course,” she finished.
Darcie had stopped eating, and was frowning up at Mama Hansling. “How do you know he was from the North?” she asked.
“Well I didn’t see him come into town, of course, but apparently he arrived along the northern path. But mostly, he was wearing all of these heavy furs, as though he’d been up in the mountains. Can you imagine wearing such things in this heat?” Mama Hansling clearly thought it was a foolish decision.
“What did he look like?” Darcie asked, intently.
“Well, he had dark hair and eyes, and a hooked nose. He looked rather fierce,” Mama Hansling replied, faltering under Darcie’s intense gaze.
“Do you know which way he went when he left town?” Darcie asked.
“I believe he went due West,” Mama Hansling replied, looking at Darcie uncertainly, “I remember I thought it was strange, since there’s only deep forest out to the West. Is this man a friend of yours?” she asked Darcie cautiously.
Darcie paused for a second, and then seemed to realized how intense she had sounded, and she put a reassuring smile on her face. “I doubt it,” she answered Mama Hansling, “he doesn’t sound like a pleasant sort of fellow at all,”
Mama Hansling was obviously reassured by Darcie’s pretense, and happily began wiping down the tables near them.
Tobin stared at Darcie questioningly.
“Later,” she murmured quietly, so Mama Hansling couldn’t hear.
They finished their soup and bread in silence, and happily agreed to a piece of cherry pie when Mama Hansling suggested it. Darcie made sure to restock her supply of muffins from the freshly baked tray. They paid for the meal, and the muffins, and with a final wave to Mama Hansling they were back in the main street.
Navigating the side streets of the small town, Darcie led them out onto the western path out of town. It wasn’t until the town had disappeared from view behind the thick forestry that Tobin turned to Darcie. “Okay, care to explain what that was all about?”
“I had a hunch about the man who visited that town,” she replied, continuing down the path.
“I see,” Tobin replied, “And what was this hunch?”
“I think that the man she spoke of is connected to the magical signals we’ve been encountering,” Darcie said.
Tobin stopped dead along the path. “What on earth would make you think that?” he asked, staring at Darcie bemused.
Darcie stopped walking, and took her heavy rucksack off of her back. “Don’t you think it’s strange that a town that rarely ever receives visitors, had three within a matter of days?” she asked, an expression of infinite patience on her face. “And don’t you also think it’s strange that he didn’t take his heavy fur cloak off the entire time he was in town?”
“Mama Hansling said she thought he came from up North,” Tobin replied.
“Okay, well that would explain why he had a heavy fur cloak, but not why he kept it on down here, where it’s quite warm. The only plausible reason he would keep himself covered, is to hide his identity.”
“That’s not very much to go on,” Tobin said, doubtfully.
“No, but there’s also the fact that he barely spoke to anyone in town. Why even go into town, if you’re not going to talk to anyone?”
“Maybe he was just unfriendly!” Tobin suggested, shrugging his shoulders.
“And then there’s the fact that when he left, he was heading due west.” Darcie replied.
Tobin raised his eyebrows, not understanding what she was getting at.
“The magical signal that we’ve been following inexplicably changed from the north, to the west, just days ago!” Darcie exclaimed. She was looking at him as though she couldn’t quite understand why he didn’t agree with her.
“Darcie,” Tobin said gently, “none of that proves anything. You’re right, his behaviour was unusual, an
d the direction is certainly a strange coincidence, but that’s all it is. A coincidence.”
Her shoulders slumped slightly in defeat, and she nodded. It was the first time Tobin had really seen her like this. Usually she was so certain, so confident. It was another reminder that she had spent the last year alone searching for her grandmother, trying desperately to figure out what had happened to her.
“You’re right,” she said softly. “I think I was so desperately hoping that this was a clue I’d stumbled across, that I got carried away,”
Darcie was quiet as they walked down the path, and she continued to be subdued as they made their camp for the night. After dinner she didn’t begin her usual study of the artefacts, but instead curled up under her cloak, and murmured a quiet ‘goodnight’ to Tobin.
It took Tobin a much longer time to find sleep, but as he was finally drifting off, he resolved to do his best to make Darcie feel better tomorrow.
Tobin awoke into the darkness of the night. At first he wasn’t sure what had woken him, but then he realized; the night was too quiet. Normal nocturnal sounds of Elden Forest, crickets chirping, owls hooting, were conspicuously absent. Tobin sat up; an icy finger of fear pulled at his stomach. He craned to hear a sound, any sound, that would tell him there was nothing to worry about.
The ground shook.
Tobin held himself as still as possible, barely daring to breathe, and stared at the dying embers of the fire, unsure if he had just imagined it. He waited an infinitely long moment. Just when he’d made up his mind that he had imagined it, the ground shook again, accompanied by what sounded suspiciously like a growl.
Tobin jumped up. He tried hurriedly to cover the last of the glowing light from the fire.
“Darcie!” he whispered loudly, frantic with fear. Darcie rolled over and looked up at Tobin groggily. “Something is out there!” he whispered urgently.
This was punctuated by another thunderous shake of the ground.
In one fluid movement, Darcie was out of her bedroll and onto her knees, her hands quickly darting into her leather case.
“What is it?” Tobin asked in a low voice, peering into the dark forest. Darcie stood at the outer edge of their campsite, holding one of her instruments, the Catalogue, out into the darkness. A faint beeping sound came from the metal instrument, as they waited for whatever was in the darkness to register. The moonlight that trickled through the trees cast fearsome shadows. Tobin’s mind began to see loathsome creatures everywhere.
Darcie let out an explosive breath as her Catalogue stopped beeping, and the results appeared on the screen. “It’s an ogre!” she exclaimed, shocked.
“What?!” Tobin cried. He was extremely confident that there had never been an ogre anywhere near Elden Forest. Ogres were confined to their ancestral home of Drauglof, near the Mureton Mountains, and far away from Elden.
“That’s what it says!” Darcie replied, staring at her instrument.
Another crash sounded loudly, to the left of the campsite. Tobin keenly felt the urge to run madly, as far away from the ogre as he could. Only Darcie’s confident presence forced him to restrain himself.
“What can we do?” he asked, unable to keep the terror from his voice.
“Well, it no doubt already has our scent. Ogres can smell very well,” Darcie said considering. “And we can’t run, because ogres can also see very well, especially in the dark.”
“Well we can’t be invisible!” Tobin snapped. A panicked desperation was starting to sink into his judgement.
Darcie looked at him, her eyes widening, and a slow smile spread across her face. She knelt down beside her rucksack and began rummaging through it furiously, looking for something. “What if we could be invisible?” she asked, grinning triumphantly as she held up something that glinted silver in the moonlight.
It was the fork of invisibility.
“Will that work?” Tobin asked worriedly, as Darcie took the block of pure magic from her leather case, and began scraping some of it onto the fork.
“I think so,” Darcie replied. “It’s certainly not a very subtle way to use it, and the fork hasn’t been properly calibrated to us, but it should work,” she said confidently.
As the scrapings of magic were absorbed, the fork began to sparkle.
“Quick! Give me your hand!” Darcie exclaimed.
Clutching Darcie’s small warm hand, Tobin watched in fascination as the invisibility began to leak up from the fork into Darcie’s arm, and up her shoulder.
“Grab your rucksack and don’t let go of my hand!” Darcie instructed.
Since they couldn’t let go of the others’ hand, they had to help each other load their rucksacks, but in no time they were stepping cautiously through the forest, listening intently for any hint of the ogre.
All Tobin had for reference, in the dark forest, was the feel of Darcie’s hand in his. He could no longer see his own body. It was a most unsettling sensation.
They moved cautiously through the forest, trying hard not to step on the uneven undergrowth, keeping as silent as possible. Darcie would gently pull on Tobin’s hand to lead him, so that they didn’t fall. Between each step they stood still, listening for the sounds of the ogre.
Suddenly there was a thunderous roar, and the trees directly in front of them were uprooted by a massive hand.
Tobin stood frozen, paralyzed with fear. The cloud cover cleared the moon; the dim light momentarily illuminated the forest, and Tobin caught his first glimpse of an ogre.
It was enormous, at least five times as big as Tobin. The ogre was massively muscular, with coarse hair all over his body. Dressed in crude trousers, it had a bare chest, and long hair hung lank and greasy around its shoulders. Dull, and listless, little intelligence lurked behind its eyes. Drooling and snarling, it moved through the forest.
Darcie was pulling on Tobin’s hand, frantically trying to get him to run. He took a few tentative steps away from the ogre.
“Tobin!” she cried, “Just run! Don’t worry about the noise.”
In desperation they fled, deeper, and deeper into the forest, running for what felt like hours. Their hearts pounded as their lungs gasped for air.
Darcie stopped so suddenly, that Tobin crashed straight into her, and they both tumbled down into a small creek.
Tobin lay in the cold water, grateful for the refreshment, after their harrowing chase through the forest. Looking over he could see his hand still engulfing Darcie’s, and half of her arm, before it disappeared into invisibility. Tobin watched her arm closely as the invisibility seemed to leak out of it, like ink from a spilt bottle. It was fascinating.
“Darcie! I can see your arm,” he said weakly.
“I know. I’ve been watching the invisibility leave your arm,” she replied.
They sat in the creek, listening for any sounds of pursuit from the ogre; watching as the invisibility drained out of each of them.
“I think we’re safe,” Darcie said finally.
Tobin’s body immediately relaxed. He hadn’t been aware of how much tension he’d been holding.
“Do you want to try and get some sleep?” Darcie asked.
Tobin smiled ruefully. “I don’t think I’d be able to sleep.”
“Me neither,” Darcie replied.
They repacked their belongings, which they’d had to gather in such a hurry. Darcie exclaimed over their good fortune in not losing anything in their hasty flight. From the rucksack, she pulled out her Field Scope.
“We’ve been turned around a bit,” she told him, as she consulted the compass.
“We need to head this way.”
They trudged through the forest, much more slowly since it was still dark, than they had been used to travelling in the day. Tobin found it much harder to be sure of his footing without the sunlight, and without the path they had been following. They carried on for several hours.
The sky began to lighten when Tobin noticed a small flicker of light through the trees. He sto
pped immediately, trying to discern what it was he was actually seeing, in the faint light of morning.
“What is that?” he exclaimed loudly.
It was the strangest building Tobin had ever seen. It appeared to be a composite of different houses that at one time had been amalgamated together into one. Standing on tall stilts, there appeared to be a perfectly spherical room in the middle of the structure.
“What is what?”Darcie asked, returning to where Tobin had stopped. Wordlessly he pointed at the house. Darcie stared at it for a moment and then took off towards the strange structure at a dead run.
Feeling slightly apprehensive, and completely confused, Tobin followed, at a slightly less frantic pace.
When Tobin caught up with Darcie, she was standing in the doorway, at the top of the stairs leading to the bizarre house, talking to another woman.
The woman had dark skin, and a mop of black corkscrew curls on her head. Her liquid brown eyes seemed to emanate kindness. She smiled at Tobin.
Darcie beckoned to Tobin to join her at the top of the stairs. “Tobin,” she said, “I’d like you to meet my friend Vivian.”