Chapter 9: The forest part 1.

“It has been seven years already,” Adina said as she set about preparing the medicinal baths for Erik and Estrid alongside Thyra, the dynamic duo together as always as moving these medicines required a fair bit of muscle, muscle she didn’t have. 

The medicinal baths were customary for children at the age of seven to prepare them for the rough intake of food they will eat during their teens to increase their strength. She had been preparing these baths for an hour already inside one of the tents on the edge of their camp to the northeast of Lindholm, just outside the forest area. 

“Bloody tell me about it, the first few months were hell with both Estrid and Erik crying the walls of the castle together. I swear if Asa didn’t forbade me from spanking their asses, they would have long since run off to the woods by now…” Thyra laughed as she put down the final tray of the medicine, weighing a staggering ten tons. 

“When was the last time we prepared baths like these? Must’ve been like 50 years or so right for Ødger, the first son and heir of Jarl Harald of Nidaros?” Thyra wondered as she looked out over the baths.

“Might be yes, they paid us a large sum for the creation of the baths when his son reached 7 years.” Adina replied shorthandedly as she once again set her focus and attention on the baths. 

“Adina.. I just noticed but where are Erik and Estrid? Ain't they supposed to be here and waiting for the baths?” Thyra responded as she set her eyes roaming about the tent to find Erik and Estrid. 

“..What!?” Adina shouted as she turned around from the baths and set her eyes to the two chairs in a corner of the tent where Erik and Estrid were supposed to be waiting.

“hahahhahahaha I bet Erik got the better of you! He probably hid a knife somewhere in his belt bag.” Thyra laughed as she started to pet Adina on her back with a big smile on her face, as Adina glared back at her in response.

“Relax, they must be about the camp somewhere playing with either some of the other kids or Erik has once again snuck into the stables and is petting Eldblesa while Estrid stands guard outside. I don’t know how only he and Ase can pet him, that stubborn horse never lets anyone else close.” she continued not caring at all about the glare as she exited the tent with her shoulder wrapped around Adina. 

 

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“Erik… I don’t think this is a good idea!” she shouted as she followed Erik through the dark forest close to the camp. They had escaped the baths together when Erik cut an exit into the tent with his knife, taking advantage of Adina’s tendency to focus on her task at hand, and at that moment it was preparing the baths. 

“Estrid.. aren’t you curious what animals live in the forest?” Erik said as he turned around and smiled at Estrid. It was the same interaction they had countless times. He wanted to explore and run off and have fun, while Estrid would be the diligent child and do what her mom told her to do, but this time she followed him, though for how long he did not know. 

“Erik… please come back, mom told me the forest is dangerous and the animals even more so!. We should not be here!” Estrid shouted as she started to feel scared of the dark and silent forest. They had stumbled upon an animal path as it didn’t have any blocking vegetation on it and it went past the trees in a zigzag type of manner. As she looked up, she noticed that the sunlight barely got past the tree canopy and the surrounding bushes made it hard to see 20 meters or so to either side. 

“Then go back yourself! I can explore fine by myself!” Erik shouted back and turned around to go into the forest further, eager to just see what animals lived in here. He knew she would follow him, but as the steps behind him grew fainter and fainter and the cries ever more distant with each step he took, his confidence started to falter and he turned around to see he was truly alone.

“hmph stupid mommy child Estrid! Fine, I can go further by myself!” Erik spoke to himself as he took off on following the animal path further into the forests, though his confidence was rapidly being swapped for worry and fear. 

 

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A rustle of leaves being stepped upon awoke it from its slumber in the trees. It had been tired lately as the camp of strong humans some few hundreds meters away had set it on edge. It was confident in running away or fighting almost anyone in the camp, barring a few very scary monsters that would certainly be there, for it would be dust in a second, but moving was out of the question as well. This was its territory and it would have trouble moving further into the forest, for it housed other predators far stronger than it. 

This was his territory for the past 10 years, as it won the fight against the previous holder in a fight that had injured it for years, recovering just recently from that deadly battle. It had managed to sustain itself on small animals for those 10 years, but the rustling of leaves meant this was a bigger prey that was wholly oblivious to its surroundings. 

It started to hop about between the trees with its agile feline body and went in search of its next meal, quite some distance away from itself, but not far enough to be out of range for its hearing.

 

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“Stupid Estrid, stupid forests, there is absolutely nothing here!” Erik shouted in frustration as he continued along the animal path he found when he first entered the forest, some hour ago or so. “I guess Estrid is almost back to the camp at this point, probably telling on me to my mothers..” he sighed as he sat down, wholly oblivious to the feline eyes that were on him at this point some trees away. 

“I have not seen a single animal for this entire time, nothing interesting either besides trees, bushes and flowers.” Erik sighed once again as he stood up and continued along the animal path, hoping to eventually find something.

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It had found its prey, and it was a small human, likely from the camp some distance away. An easy prey, but it was careful and afraid, for humans never let their children out of their eyes. It was wary of this being a trap setup by the humans to easily spot it and kill it. For while it was strong, it would be unable to see or sense those who are stronger and if they attacked while it was focused on the small prey, it would be dead. It knew from experience that the camp setup closeby was a kill camp, a camp of soldiers that go into the forests and kill any strong animal they could come upon, all done to protect the farm villages nearby. 

It observed as the small human sat down and said some things it did not understand, a sitting prey in a perfect angle to attack and its instincts were telling it to strike and kill right now, but while it still had animal instincts, its mind had grown since it went through the steps and it had become strong and intelligent, intelligent enough to not act on its impulses. And so, it continued to stalk its prey. 

As time ticked by slowly, the small human began to make its way to a clearing with a pool of water it would often drink from, and it would strike there. The clearing provided an ample amount of sight to spot any trackers of the small human from the height of the trees and it was confident it could escape from even a 5th step human if they were the tracker of the child, as long as the child was in the middle of the clearing and it could not spot any trackers.

As time passed and the child finally came to the clearing, it started to move closer to strike, for it had grown hungry. The child walked up to the pool of water in the middle and that was when it decided it was time to start the attack. 

It crawled through the snowy grass, providing camouflage in combination with its white fur to come close into striking distance.  And as it inched closer and closer into striking range, its instincts were telling it to run, but as it looked around, it could not spot anyone. Even if the danger was a 5th step human, it would be fast enough to escape if they were still hiding with the child in its jaw, so it continued to creep closer into striking range and when it came within 2 meters of the child, a man suddenly appeared out of nowhere. A man whose power caused it to almost die on the spot as its legs grew weak under fear, for this man was far beyond a 5th step human, it was a being similar to the Arctic owl that held sovereignty over these lands, it was a 6th step being. A god. 

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“Why are you here child..” a voice, unfamiliar and emotionless, called out to Erik as he fell backwards from the freight of being disturbed. He had been lost in his own little world as he stared at the pool of water, beholding his own reflection and a beautiful view of the sky above.

“Who… are you?” Erik asked with worry and fear apparent in his voice as he did not expect anything or anyone in this remote clearing.

“I was just about to collect the soul of a dead person from this planet, a soul whom I do not know” the man answered in kind as he lifted up his hood and exposed his face to Erik. 

The man’s hair was a mix of ashen gray and pure black, his nose straight and a startlingly rock grayish lips. The shapes of his eyes downturned and protruded containing the most beautiful set of eyes Erik had ever seen. For there was not a singular color in it, but a myriad mix of gray, black and silver and in the center of both eyes, he could barely make out the shape of a skull, a human skull. 

“The soul of a dead person?” Erik asked, startled as he recovered from looking into the man’s eyes. “But there is no dead person here..” he continued as he started to look around. 

“Correct, it was supposed to be you. I went here to collect your soul.” The man answered as he sat down on the ground opposite of Erik and pointed to the grass 2 meters to the right of Erik. “That is where your death was” and with a wave of his hand the grass started to rapidly decay, revealing the snow white furred face of a feline creature Erik had never seen before. 

“ahhhhh” Erik screamed as he stumbled away from the grass, flailing and falling continuously until he came to be next to the man. “What is that!?” he screamed in horror as his eyes never left the feline creature. 

“Like I said, your death. It was just about to kill you.” The man answered calmly, not at all afraid of the feline creature. “Now I ask you again child, why are you here?” he continued once more, his eyes never leaving the sight of Erik.

“Why am I here? I wanted to explore the forest and have some fun with my friend Estrid, but she left me and went back to the camp. So I continued on on my own until I came here.” Erik answered truthfully after a minute of calming down, his eyes still not leaving the feline creature.

“That is not what I am asking…” the man answered as he let out a sigh. His eyes started to leave Erik and he turned his head upwards, looking at the clear sky. “Tell me.. what do you see when you look at the sky?” 

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