Into the Deep Wood

The gruesome display did not bother the Evergreen Man.

He walked past it as if it were a notch post in the road. Val stared after him, stunned, her fingers sticky with the revolting stench of the carcass she'd just dipped her hands into. Did chorts empty their bowels upon death? It certainly smelled like it.

Val wiped her hands on the grass, fighting back the urge to retch. It was not safe. They had no fire - no weapons.

But… there was a fire. The direction in which the old man had gone was lit up, shadows of the trees and shrubbery dancing around. The light had revealed the crucified fiend in front of her to be even more treacherous - its jaw broken and hanging crookedly from its head; it had been sliced from the neck down into what Val could only think to be its nether regions. Another cut ran across its torso, where its black and bluish-gray innards had slowly spilled out.

She hurried past it, sure now that she would hurl.

Doubling over, Val emptied the contents, or lack thereof, of her stomach onto the grass. She dry heaved, her entire body shaking, afraid that the smell would never leave her nostrils. The Evergreen Man put a hand on her back, but she spat again, not quite done.

As she sat back, her head pounding, she became very suddenly aware that the Evergreen man was standing at least ten feet ahead, looking both right and left, and at her.

She jerked, the hand still on her back and whipped around to be faced with–

Marat.

“I’d said he moved twice as fast, but not in which direction.” the Evergreen Man told her.

She didn’t have the words, but the tears swelled and overwhelmed her. She grabbed his arm and pulled him down, locking him in what could be the most desperate and heartfelt embrace that she had ever felt. It pulled him off his feet and left him kneeling in the dirt in front of her. Marat held her head squeezed tight to his chest. Her always messy hair stuck to her face and got tangled in his sleeve.

Neither said a word.

They sat around a mid-sized fire in a small clearing by a creek. The ravine ran deep and turned into something dangerous later on - but here at its entrance, it was a cover encircled by rocks and trees.

Marat had a tent, supplies, and food. It was far more than he had left with. Val found out later that he made it to the Midtrade City within a few days, sold the trinkets that had been traded with the Hag and returned.

Val listened to his recap of the week’s events but could not help but notice that he did not mention why he came back east.

“Have you reconsidered the South?” She asked.

He stared off, visibly uncomfortable.

“Yes.”

The Evergreen Man sat slightly farther from the fire, listening. He was no longer asking questions but looked content to eavesdrop on their conversation - until that moment.

“Why?” He asked.

“A feeling,” Marat answered.

Val rolled her eyes. She had missed the parallels - but maybe the Evergreen Man had met his match.

“Where are you going?” She asked.

Again, he was silent. She felt that her patience was so spent after the past few days of either being ignored or getting no actual answers that she could scream.

“North.” The Evergreen Man answered for him, his hands busy with a branch he had been chewing on. The few teeth he had would pass it off between them, he'd clamp down - and he would pull it out with his hands, ending up with bits of the thin bark in his mouth.

“North?” She turned to him to see if the old man had been right.

“North,” Marat confirmed.

“Why North?” She fully expected him to ignore her again.

“Don’t ask stupid questions.”

Or, maybe he would just hurt her feelings instead.

“You.” The Evergreen Man said.

Val looked first at him and then whipped her head around to Marat.

“Is this true?”

“Where did you find him?” Marat sighed, annoyed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Does it look like I am going North?”

“Marat, I am too tired for these games. Not after the past few weeks, please.” She begged.

Since they had gotten there, they were able to eat their fill. There was an abundance of supplies, fish in the creek, and bushes of raspberries growing all around. But she had been exhausted and in no mood.

It was silent for another minute, such a long minute that she had given up on the evening and moved to get up, but he stopped her.

“I’m sorry.” He told her. “I do not owe you an explanation. You stayed behind. You wanted to stay behind. But…”

She felt her heart thump a little harder for a beat.

“I had returned to the farm.” He said hesitantly. “I waited, watched. You weren’t there. I was afraid they’d done something to you. Forced you out, or worse.”

She could not take her eyes off of him. She’d hoped, imagined even, him returning for her.

And, he had.

He’d come back for her.

“I searched the woods around and the roads.” He continued, “ I tracked you but lost the trail in the swamps. I thought that you continued on and perished.”

He looked at the Evergreen Man who had begun digging up a patch of dirt by where he was seated, seemingly not paying any attention to the conversation. He made a pile of it, decorating the top with a shriveled leaf.

“I see why I lost your trail.” Marat muttered.

She glanced at the Evergreen Man curiously.

“Grim man knows the Evergreen Man.” the old man looked up for a moment, although nowhere in particular.

Marat nodded, his expression softer. As if considering an old friend. Val looked at him questioningly.

“Do you care to enlighten me?” She asked.

“He’s a Leshy,” Marat answered. “The Keeper of Forests. The Witness. The Eternal Evergreen.”

“Evergreen, Witness, told her.” The old man confirmed.

Val looked at him for a long time. Marat spoke as if this was a creature. But, if he was of the Nothing, why had he helped her? Why was he here, sharing their fire? Why had he shared her rations?

“Does he come from the Nothing?” She whispered.

“Yes.” The old man answered, catching her hushed words.

“He does, and you’ve done well to be kind to him,” Marat confirmed. “This could have gone very, very differently.”

“But… he is not blind.” She said, feeling uneasy about being so tactless.

“Acorns.” The old man said.

“Acorns.” Marat echoed.

“His eyes?” She felt both disgusted and intrigued. Marat nodded, smiling slightly.

“You have not noticed all this time?”

They slept around the fire that night, except the Evergreen Man, who dozed off some distance away, his head dropped on his chest again.

In the morning, after they had eaten, the Evergreen Man started walking off, crumbs from flatbread still stuck in his beard.

“Wait! You’re leaving?” Val ran after him.

“Yes.”

“Thank you…” she told him, wanting to hug him, but reconsidering - now that she knew what he was, she could not help but hesitate.

“You’re welcome, Valeria Val.”

“Marat, where are we going? The Midtrade City? Can we? I’ve never been to a city… Why not South?” She rattled off, her mood soaring after a full night's rest and all the food she could eat.

His face twisted in exasperation, but something underneath it seemed light and content.

“We are.”

“And then?” She could not believe that she would get to go to a city. She hadn’t been since she was so very young!

“And then, we are going North to Roska.”

“Why are we going North?”

He looked at her, his eyes betraying his words before he even spoke them.

“Because. I am taking you home.”