Chapter 5
The Children of the Forest
Gebal Forest, Kingdom of Hannibal
Only a madman would enter the Gebal Forest without taking an army along with him and even then your sanity would be called into question. Between the Children of the Forest and the Forest Devils, you would be lucky to come out with your life. And that was not even considering all the other dread creatures that dwelt in the woods. Few people were willing to risk that without a spear at their backs driving them on and that was exactly what Tobias was counting on.
His hope was that a single horse and rider might escape notice. Even so, he did not dare venture in too deeply at night. Though there were still abundant perils by light of day, they paled in comparison to the terrors that lurked in the dark.
Even though the Witch did not understand him and would barely acknowledge him anyway, Tobias nevertheless felt obliged to talk to her to break up the tedium of their trek through the woods.
"You know, until about forty years ago, if you wanted to travel between Taher and Jbeil, you had to take the old forest road. One of the worst jobs in the army was escorting caravans that wanted to take the shortcut between the Lake and the interior. Whether it was the Children of the Forest, the Forest Devils, or any of the beasts that know no fear of Man, you were almost certain to be attacked at least once. I've heard them tell stories of companies two hundred strong that would take the forest road and never be seen again.
"It's hard to believe it took over two thousand years for someone to come along and propose cutting down the trees. Maybe they did in the past and it just took someone like the Mad King to make it happen. Although I don't think he was mad yet in those days..."
Before he could start telling any stories about the Mad King, an arrow whistled through the air, striking a tree little more than a couple feet from his horse's nose. His horse gave a frightened whinny and very nearly reared up, but Tobias kept a firm hand on the reins to steady him. Shielding the Witch as best he could with his own body, he drew a javelin and scanned the trees for the archer who loosed the arrow.
"You make enough noise to drive off the game and draw in the ones that'd make game of you, Sir Knight," a woman's voice said.
From the undergrowth emerged a woman whose body was smeared in mud and covered in leafy twigs and grass, like a part of the forest come to life in human shape. Her bow was lowered, but there was an arrow nocked if she chose to make use of it. Tobias did not think he could hit her with the javelin before she loosed it. He lowered his javelin but did not put it away.
"The Gebal Forest is no place for a pleasure ride, Sir Knight," the woman said. "You would do well to leave."
"Who are you?" Tobias asked.
"I am called Bat Anat," the woman replied. "And you, Sir Knight?"
Realizing it would be more suspicious for him to decline to say, he thought a moment before telling her, "Abiyah. Abiyah ben Eliyah."
"And what brings you and your... slave girl, is it?—to the Gebal Forest, Abiyah ben Eliyah?"
"We are on our way to Taher."
"There are roads for that."
"We are in need of haste."
"You do not ride as if you are in need of haste."
"We would draw all the more attention riding at full gallop."
"If you know what lives in these woods and don't want to draw their attention, you would do well not to talk until you are out of it... Too late."
Bat Anat held up her hands and slowly placed her bow on the ground.
"I would put away that javelin if I were you, Sir Knight," she warned.
She then said something in a tongue Tobias did not recognize. As he looked around, he saw that they were surrounded. The Children of the Forest. At least twenty of them he could see. Carefully, he returned his javelin to its holder and held up his hands.
One of the Children of the Forest stepped forward. As much from her bearing as any outward badge of rank, she appeared to be the leader. Was this the legendary Lady of the Woods? No, not likely. It was said that she resided in what they call the god-tree, an ancient giant that towered over all the other trees in the forest. This one was probably one of the Lady's lieutenants.
Tobias had only fought in one skirmish against the Children of the Forest. He never got a good look at one because they did not mean to make themselves seen and if one were to happen to fall in battle, no body was left behind , a sort of peculiar witchcraft of theirs. The Child of the Forest was quite beautiful to look upon, almost unnaturally so, the sort that would put the most celebrated sculptor to shame, but there was a cold sternness to this one that put him on edge.
Bat Anat and the Child of the Forest exchanged some more words before the Child of the Forest began speaking in the common tongue.
"We suffer your encroachment into our lands, Bat Anat, because you abide by the laws of the forest. You do not hunt more than your share and you do not involve yourself in the disputes among the races. Why, I ask you, should we spare this iron man? He and his kind are our greatest enemy, even greater than the... What is it you call the uzshu again? Ah, yes, the Forest Devils."
"Judge for yourself, Jiria, daughter of Jirinel," Bat Anat replied.
Feeling he should say something on his own behalf, Tobias started to speak.
"I—"
"Silence, human," the Child of the Forest said sharply.
Tobias did as she said. Jiria's intense gaze was fixed not on Tobias but the Witch. The Witch met her gaze and after a moment of silence passed between them, the Child of the Forest seemed to realize something. So too did her fellows. Hushed whispers passed among them. "Sinana Makurnayah" or something like that.
The Children of the Forest left their positions to gather around Tobias, kneeling down as worshippers. He could not understand what they were saying, but he kept hearing "Sinana Makurnayah" again and again. Angrily, Jiria rebuked them, but they did not listen to her.
Trying to rein in her anger, she turned to Tobias and asked him, "What do you intend to do with this girl, human?"
"I was trying to deliver her from the hands of those who would ill use her," Tobias replied.
"Even though they are your fellow humans, serving under the banner of your Queen?"
He did not know how she knew that, but he replied all the same.
"Even so. I have shed blood to set her at liberty and cannot escape the bloodguilt for what I have done."
"And these chains?" Jiria asked, looking at the Witch's collar and manacles.
"There was no key," Tobias said. "I was going to seek out a blacksmith in the next town. It is why I have entered your woods."
Jiria stepped closer and touched one of the Witch's manacles.
"Do you know what this is, human?" she asked. "No human smith can break these. This is the craftsmanship of the Sons of the Mountain. There is an enchantment upon it, a pact of blood. Only two people can break this enchantment: the owner of the pact and the original craftsman. And there is only one Son of the Mountain who can craft an enchantment like this, the master smith Barthak. If you truly wish to free this girl, you must first seek him out."
Tobias did not stop to consider the ramifications of what it would mean for him to venture into the mountains. His only thought was of fulfilling what he had pledged to do, and so he asked without hesitation, "Where will I find this master smith?"
"Where you will find any of the Sons of the Mountain," Jiria replied. "Go west and find their City Under the Mountain. I warn you, though, the Sons of the Mountain do nothing without exacting a price. For this, the price will be high indeed."
"I don't have much money."
"One such as Barthak is not satisfied by silver and gold. He requires something more valuable."
"Such as?"
"You will have to ask him."
She pulled out a silver necklace with a small gemstone from under her tunic and offered it to Tobias.
"Take this," she said, "so that he will listen long enough for you to ask."
"Why are you doing this?" Tobias asked.
"Perhaps one day you will understand, human," Jiria replied. "I will forgive your intrusion this time and this time only, but you must leave with all haste. Turn neither left nor right. And may I never see you again."
"Thank you," Tobias said, holding up the necklace. "I'll be going now."
Jiria simply nodded and stepped back.
"I'll see him out," Bat Anat said, then added something else in the Children of the Forest's tongue, perhaps some words of parting.
The Children of the Forest withdrew, still muttering something about "Sinana Makurnayah".
While Tobias was wondering at this, Bat Anat said, "Let's get moving while their good humor holds."
Tobias accepted her offer to escort him out of the forest. Despite her earlier admonition against talking, it was she who started up the conversation.
"Well, that really was something," she said. "Never seen anything quite like it."
"What does 'Sinana Makurnayah' mean?" Tobias asked.
"'Sina na Makur-Naia,'" Bat Anat corrected him. "'Daughter of the Earth Mother'. Seems like the Children of the Forest think your slave girl is some kind of goddess."
"Not just an honorific like your name or mine?"
"How do you know I'm not a goddess myself?" Bat Anat asked with a grin. "And for all I know, you might be a god."
"There is only one God," Tobias said, "and I am not Him."
"The heavens must be lonely for you Yehudi."
"There are a million million of His angels and all those who have found rest in the bosom of our father Abraham."
"But no wives and daughters, brothers and sons to bicker and quarrel and wreak torment above and below."
"The Seven Heavens are sanctuaries of peace and order, of respite and comfort."
"Boring, in other words," Bat Anat said. "Sounds like something my sister would like. Do you have to be born Yehudi?"
"There are proselytes. My father was one such."
"Huh. Speaking of religion, that necklace the Guardian gave you, that's one of the emblems of the Children of the Forest's faith. Moonstone."
Tobias looked at the gem and said, "This isn't moonstone."
"Not by our reckoning, but by theirs. They also call them 'Tears of the Goddess'. They believe that before their mother goddess went to the moon, she wept for the children she was leaving behind and those tears took the form of crystal droplets. They're supposed to be very rare, handed down from generation to generation over thousands of years."
"Why would she give me something so valuable?"
"You're the one carrying around a goddess. You need to ask?"
"Yet she said this wouldn't be enough for Barthak."
Bat Anat shrugged.
"What can I say? The Sons of the Mountain are greedy, I hear. I don't know what he'd charge you, but I'd love to see how you're going to pay."
"I guess I will have to worry about that when I get there."
"You're actually going?" Bat Anat asked incredulously. "You, a knight of Hannibal, to the City Under the Mountain?"
"If it's the only way to free her of these chains..."
"You'd better hope she's a goddess of luck or you'll never make it out alive, if you even live long enough to get that far, that is."
Tobias looked at the little gem and closed his hand around it. It would seem this journey would involve one unimaginable risk after another. The mountains to the west were the opposite of the direction he intended to go, but if that was where his journey took him, the only thing for him to do was to go forward.