There is Nothing Outside The Forest, Part 2

   The tiny pools of dappled green light which could filter through the trees woke me at dawn. I left early and silently, so as not to wake my sisters or mother. I took only my axe, knives, rope and traveling cloak, for that is all that we need. I climbed down the rope from our nest to the leaf covered ground.

   The forest is beautiful in the dawn… or atleast it is in the places where the Orc have not been. All above is green and gold, all below is gold and red. The air is cool. The sun’s burning heat and the storm’s wrath do not meet us here.

   We, The People love the tress.

   We know the Oak is brother to our kings, and the Hawthorn is sister to our princesses. The Ash fights beside us. The Willow weeps with us. The Pine stands firm beside us.

   The Orc hate the trees as the trees hate the Orc.

   The trees grow, the Orc destroy, and we struggle to live.

   That is our nature.

   Knowing not which way to go, I followed the river next to our nest, for it is wise to stay close to water when traveling far.

   An aurox and her calves drank from the river. The aurox was not started or enraged by my presence. I drank beside her calves, watchimg the young beasts lap the water as I cupped it in my  hands. The aurox know that we only hunt them in the summer, and it was autumn. The aurox is a mighty and noble beast. They are our brothers.

   When I was refreashed, I walked on, to the Sleep Trees that mark the limits of my family’s land. From an Oak tree we hang the bones of our ansestors, so that the trees know that this is our family’s land. On a Yew tree we hang the skulls of the bull aurox, as an offering to the trees. As a child, I feared the Sleep Trees; I did not like to see the bones, and hated the smell of freash offerings, and most of all I dispaired to see the birds picking out their meat. Now I am a woman who has seen 19 winters, and the Sleep Trees inspire me with pride- as they should.

   I passed between these two trees which are the gate to the free land in the forest, and I continued to follow the river. Soon I would need to eat, so I was watchfull for rabbit or deer.

   The rabbit and deer are our sisters, and it is sad that we must kill them, but all things must eat.

   The People learn to throw a knife as soon as we are old enough to hold one. When I saw a fawn drinking at the opposite bank of the river I was able to take it before she knew I was there. I swam across the river and finished her with my axe. I cut off a leg and scinned it for my breakfast, the rest I would carry with me- exept for the head, which is left so the spirit of the deer can find a new body. I cleaned my blades and tied the young deer’s body across my back. I ate the leg as I walked. The meat was good, she was a beautiful fawn, and I hope she has better luck in her next body.

   Unlike the Orc, we do not burn our food with fire. Fire is wasteful and dirty, and the tree’s hate it, so we use it only when we must.

   I walked untill late in the afternoon, then I saw a terrible thing. Ahead of me there was smoke from a dead fire, and trees had been slaughtered. An Orc camp. I hid behind the nearest tree and sniffed the air. The Orc smell foul, like smoke and dung and dead things all together, but worse in a way there are not words for. The Orc smell was faint. I could hear nothing but wind and birds. The Orc are loud things, and birds cannot stand them, so I knew it was safe.

   It is sad to see the things Orc do. Whole trees killed, some burnt, some wasted. Whole animals thrown on the fire, heads destroyed and only legs eaten. There was an aurox calf lying half butchered on a stone slab. Blood lay in pools and was splashed about. The Orc kill anything at anytime.

   Suddenly, I felt that some one was watching me. I turned around and looked and listened carefully. I detected no threat. We are never alone in the forest, I knew that, and maybe the Orc mess was making me edgy.

   I could not stand the smell so I walked on, but soon I frooze, for I thought I saw a sleeping Orc. It lay behind a bush a few paces ahead.

   They are taller than we are, and very wide and strong like an aurox bull. There scin is deathly white, like a dead body that has lost too much blood. Their teeth are huge and sharp like a boar’s tusks. They have no hair, and their eyes are yellow like fire.

   Ugly. Ugly and fearsome.

   A knife was already in my right hand and my axe in my left. I needed to kill it quickly, because if it woke it would soon overpower me.

   Then I saw the flies about its eyes and mouth. It was dead. I moved around the bush and inspected it. There were cuts on its arms and gut. It had been slain.

   The Orc are proud and brutal, they often kill each other for sport, or in petty disputes.

   I walked untill it was dark, then I found a tall Yew tree to climb up. I ate more deer, then lay across the branches, wrapped in my cloak and ready for sleep. Only then did I feel alone. I had done a strange thing. My family would be looking for me. Maybe I would walk alone in the forest forever…

    I needed to sleep, so I did.