There is nothing outside the forest, 2/6

  Days passed like dreams and nights like nightmares.

  Then eventually came hope.

  The height and density of the trees dropped. Young samplings, herbs and flowers replaced ancient and giant trees. Rabbits, ox and birds replaced deer and boar.

  Then I saw The Sky.

  Not simply a sky, not the specs of light that appear above the forest, or the great sky above the Great Lake…

  An overwhelmingly vast, endless Sky… and a blinding light.

  Burying my eyes in my palms, I fell to my knees.

  Blinded, I crawled back to the shade of a young yew tree. From there I could look across to where the forest ended and a limitless expanse of golden grass lay.

  Shielding my eyes under my hand, I gazed up at an infinite blue canopy.

  Then I saw the children. Children of the People, but with subtle differences. They were fully dressed, for a start, maybe to protect them from the sun, and their hair was cut short. Their faces wore an intense pride, like a stag deer, or an ancient woman introducing her many descendants

  Until they saw me….

  Then they screamed and ran.

  Soon after the fighting men came, led by an old woman.

  They were dressed in metal, like the orc use for their blades. Foot to neck in metal, like creatures from a nightmare- they shone like the moon. Bright hats towered over faces that were too proud. The men held massive spears and the old lady bore a mace.

  ‘Stand down,’ the woman commanded her men in an accent which I could barely understand. ‘Only one of them.’

  She took a place towards me. I stood to greet her, totally overawed.

  I had found something outside the forest. An open, golden land and a strange branch of the People.

  ‘You have wandered too far, beast.’ she said to me with utter disdain.

  I looked at her, trying to show respect, but utter confused and still dazed by the light.

  ‘Monsters are unwelcome here…’ she continued,’ how did you get past our guards?’

  I laughed, hysterically… what was this about?

  ‘Grandmother, you think I am Orc?’ I asked.

  ‘No, Beast, I know what you are!’

  ‘Fey?’

  ‘Yes. Worse than the orcs. Orcs can be tamed, taught, controlled. They are our watch dogs. We breed them and train them to guard us.’

  ‘Guard you against what?’

  ‘Against you! To guard us against your barbarian people… You savages who live in trees full of skulls. Who eat raw flesh from every animal you see. Who live in darkness and worship death! Fey!’

  It was time to go home. There was nothing outside the forest for me.

  I had, at least, seen and known Great things.

THE END