It had been three days now since Marcus survived his encounter with the Leshen. Though petrifying at the time, in hindsight the boy could not help but feel grateful for the encounter. It provided him and Max with three days’ worth of food, albeit raw, greasy and half burnt food, but a hungry belly seldom discriminates.

Max however seemed to enjoy it more however, the brown coated canine loudly gorged on the last bits of flesh attached to the hind leg. Marcus rubbed him on the head but Max attentively continued to devour the scraps. Marcus turned to his tested tactic and rubbed him under the chin. The dog now reared and licked his hand.

Marcus smiled sadly, ‘I wish I could get you more food…but I don’t know how ‘

He was not really good at hunting or gathering food or any type of hands on work for that matter. His father had taken him once on a hunt and well it did not go too well.

I was never good at anything…Fredrick is strong as an ox and so brave. Wilhem is cunning as a fox and always knows the answer to everything. And Schniezel, there was nothing he was not good at and he was so beautiful. Even Greta and Sylvia envied his long wheat colored hair. No wonder father always smiled when talking about him to other elders.

He looked at Max still earnestly munching on his lunch, trying to tear the rubbery raw skin off the bones.

I’m sorry Max that I…I…found you. If they had found you instead, you would never be hungry, you’d be far happier

He looked again at Max, he was a tiny thing. Not more than a few months old. He was frail, alone and without family.

Like me Marcus thought, his head sank.

Greta, mother, Uncle Henry…will I ever see them again?

As he looked at the last scraps of meat, he got reminded of their fat cook Farna and how she’d make delicious goat stew. But then his father’s face came before his eyes. Stern, cold, looking down….

A red streak of light all of a sudden lashed on to his eyes. He looked at the westward sky, the sun was about to meet the horizon and fangs of dying light swept along the clouds, giving life to various shapes.

A horse with cloudy hooves and reddish eyes, a sword and…

Is that a face….as a gust wind blew by it became clearer

A skull?

A faint skull like figure seemed to form in the clouds right atop mount Calibra. His heart swelled, for he knew what lay just behind the mount.

His father once said, ‘Fields of Gold and foes of old ‘

His trance was broken by a tug on his legs. Max was wagging his tail and looking at the sun. His belly also gave out a small rumble. Marcus let out an awkward smile

‘Well I guess it’s time for us to head back to the cave ‘

He took the sack he fashioned from his undershirt in his right hand and got up. A sting of pain shot from the grazed skin on his right knee but it was tolerable now. He looked at the sack, he had some blueberries and some purple fireweed flowers, all without poison to the knowledge of sage Lenowitz. It wasn’t much but he had other arrangements.

‘Come Max lets go see on the traps ‘

The two friends then started to go towards the woods.

In daylight the forest was far less frightening. Despite all the myths and legends about witches, demons and man eating trees, the silver forest was not all that different than Elyrian forests in reality. It mostly populated by pinewood, cedar and oak trees.

Most of the here were very old, centuries perhaps millennia as Marcus guessed from looking at some of them. Some of the oak trees stood as tall 80-100 feet, punching deep into the red evening sky, as if the forest wished to defy the light of Sun. And in some patches it succeeded, where tall oaks or cedars completely blotted out the sun.

And amidst these trees was a dense ecosystem of birds, hundreds or thousands of types of birds, all with their unique sounds.

Marcus saw a dove return to its nest on a high branch, the younglings started chirping at their mother.

Marcus smiled; he always liked birds, seeing them fly across the evening sky always made him happy for some reason.

As he went forward he looked for the stones he had laid beside the contraptions. Marcus had always been poor at remembering locations, so beside every hole he dug and concealed with leaves and berries, he placed a large grey rock, each marked with Leshen blood.

He came upon his first trap beside a small running stream, only to find the berries absent but the leaves intact.

Marcus scratched his head the books say that these traps work but maybe it should’ve warned about birds.

His second trap beside an old decaying log fared slightly better, the berries were only half eaten though not by birds but rather by white slimy insects pouring out of the wet log.

Marcus retched at the sight.

The third one however hit the charm. In place of the berries and leaves was a gaping hole and beneath lay a white doe scurrying in the ground.

‘Yes!’ Marcus leapt, ‘we did it Max! ‘

Max wagged his tail and barked in approval.

‘Now we won’t have to go hungry tonight and then….’

His eyes caught on to those of the rabbit. They were blood red, standing out against the snow white fur. They had a sense of dread. And then it struck him,

What if she has a litter at home? What will happen to the children at home?

He stalled but a voice within him said, Kill it, it’s just an animal, you were meant to have it.

The rumbling in his stomach amplified the voice.

And then the image of his father looking at him sternly and the image of his mother’s sad long face came before him. His fists clenched.

He gulped and said, ‘Max I think the berries are quite good…they’ll do fine ‘as he pulled the doe out of the hole. The creature reared back, pausing for a moment in suspicion. Max let out a bark and the Doe made a run for it.

‘Come Max, let’s go back home ‘

Their home was a peculiar Grotto the duo stumbled upon the previous day. Max had chased a rabbit into a cavern with Marcus following suit. However while pursuing it through the cavern Marcus slid down what at first seemed to be solid ground.

It revealed a tunnel that went deep into the Earth. The two explored the tunnel, it led through moist yet firm passages that led to a myriad of tunnels one of which led to a thick barricade of roots and shrubs. A peek through them gave sight to a stone object on the other side.

Upon clearing it, the two found themselves inside a massive chamber built into the earth. At the far end was a huge stone throne while a rectangular altar stood vigil in front. The walls were scribbled with red engravings that gave off a raw stench.

The chamber had a proper entrance however, a flight of stairs that led to a cave above ground. The entrance was covered by a pile of rocks. A thick oaken door stood at the other end of the chamber to the stairs

I wonder what those engravings were, Marcus thought as he neared the mouth of the cave. He could speak and write Aedirnian to some extent but the engravings bore little resemblance to any alphabet he ever saw. They were written is arcane patterns, but one image kept standing out, a three headed creature lashing out.

At first he thought they were the leviathans, like the Elyrian flag, which carried the face of a silver leviathan against a dark field, looking forward.

But the creatures here painted differently they seemed more like Jackals, Marcus thought

Maybe I should check the tunnels more, just like the Alan the dragon slayer in that book! Maybe I’ll find the egg of a dragon!

As he cleared the woods that led to the mouth of the cave, he ground to a halt. His eyes fell on them, he had guests.

There were some men in front of the cave, five or six all in dark brown cloaks, one of them was holding a torch. His eyes dilated and just as a one was about to look this way, he hid behind the bush.

He peeked out, now there was a women as well, clad in black robes. He couldn’t see clear from the distance, but it seemed as if she had markings on her face. Max was about to stroll out but Marcus quickly grabbed him in his arm and took him behind the bush, before he could bark he put a hand on the dogs mouth, Max looked at his eyes and instantly understood the message.

Several more appeared from the west. Five women were carrying baskets while four men carried a large wooden Dias, as they came towards the cave, the woman with the markings said something to them and motioned them inwards.

The red cloth covering the baskets moved in a strange way.

Marcus was confused, for a moment he thought that he would go towards them and greet them, after all he hadn’t seen people for several days now. But then again, his father always said that the people of this land were enemies.

Maybe I should just run but then again…

Now they were moving more things into the cave, things that looked like drums, a bunch of firewood and…

Is that a goat’s head?

He couldn’t tell from afar but whatever it was, it vanished quickly into the cave.

Max started to shuffle in his hand as well, as if sensing his friends’ anxiety.

Marcus knew that he should’ve just walked away from the place but his curiosity triumphed over his judgment.

I have to see what they are doing, I doubt they know of the rear passage but they certainly don’t know of the hole above!