The Trees Up North

Chapter VIII

I had told him the truth. I had been vulnerable with him. I walked down the path leading to Saxum Nivis, overthinking everything that happened yesterday. Hell, I almost cried in his arms.

Pine skipped happily in front of me. His arm was out, so Mylo could rest on top of it. Through the small movements of his head, I could see a big smile plastered on his face. He looked excited and alive.

The snow was disappearing from below us. The ground was now mostly dirt, with the odd patch of snow. It was also warm enough for us to now just wear our sweaters. Pine ran around in the striped sweater I'd given him, his jacket tied around his waist. My jacket hung off of the lantern stick I was walking with. The trees were less dense here as well. It was more open, and the sun seemed to glow brighter.

We'd travelled a long way, so the warmth of the sun was more than welcome. I watched silently as Mylo landed on Pine's arm, taking a long awaited rest.

Peering over my shoulder, I see Marlow stretching to feel the warmth of the sun. His shell shined.

Something tapped my right arm aggressively. I jumped, taking a step back. Turning my head, I see Pine standing beside me with the biggest grin. He let out a deep and eerie laugh. A small smile grew on my face.

Pine pushed on, making me speed walk to catch up to him.

"What was that for?" I laughed.

Pine gave me a shrug. The little smirk on his face made it obvious he had done it on purpose.

Moss grew around us, hugging the trees and the ground. It felt soft to walk on. The woods were always peaceful; however, today they seemed more peaceful. A calmness had washed over us, and a gentle smile spread across my face as I admired Pine. Despite not being able to talk, he always had something to say.

I ripped a piece of moss off a tree and took a bite. It was chewy and tasted like a wet forest, but it was nice. Pine looked at me with a wide eye.

He pointed at me and then turned his hands into fists. He brought those fists down by his waist. Pine then made a repeated pinching motion with his thumb and index finger. Pine then pointed to the moss.

I put the rest of the moss in my mouth before trying my best to copy what he had said. I gave up, sighing, after messing up my fists.

"You can eat moss." I said, grabbing more moss from a tree. "It isn't the best, but it's fun to chew on." I passed the piece over to Pine.

As Pine put the piece in his mouth, I started to think. I had only ever seen a werewolf once before, and I didn't exactly know how to kill one. The legends tell me that one was killed by removing its head. However, I would need a sharper sword than the one I have to do that. Killing vampires had been the majority of my job, with a few shapeshifters or gnomes.

"Pine," I asked aloud, "have you ever killed a werewolf?"

I looked over to see Pine chewing on the moss with a look of disgust. He clearly didn't like the taste. Pine shook his head quickly, swallowing the moss as he did.

"Well, I guess there's always a first time for everything." I shrugged a little at my own words. We'd be fine because we'd have the village people on our side. Pine nodded in agreement, turning to face the horizon. Mylo slept peacefully on his arm. I guess moths can get tired. Marlow was still trying to chase the warmth of the sun on my shoulder.

My concerns from the previous night had vanished. Everything was at peace. The wind pushed the trees silently. Pine was busy skipping along the path. I caught up to Pine, trying my best to keep up with him.

He was surprisingly light on his feet, hopping around as if he were weightless. He laughed at my attempts to catch up with him, and for a moment I felt like I was flying with him, the wind blowing through our hair and the sun on our faces.

I didn't notice all the small lights glowing around us because I was too busy admiring Pine. It was only until Pine pointed them out that I noticed them. Pine pointed out a small, pink, glowing spec in front of me. It couldn't have been bigger than my finger. I was amazed by the sight of the little lights; they moved delicately. They were everywhere around us, in the trees, in the air, and wandering around the ground. I had known what they were, for I learned about them while training to be a hunter.

"Fairies!" I screamed. I reached for the small dagger I kept in the strap of my bag. The last thing that needed to happen was for one of us to get injured by these stupid creatures. The blade fell out of the sheath with a loud ting.

"Pine, get behind me!" I yelled. Pine looked over at me, his eyes reflecting the lights of all the fairies around us. His eyes grew hard, almost looking angry. He marched over to me. I held my dagger out, ready to strike any fairies that came close to us. Pine's gaze never softened as he stood right in front of me. He grabbed my arm, forcing it up into the air.

"What are you doing?" Anger left my throat as he grabbed the dagger out of my hand and threw it into the woods somewhere. I tried to go after it, only to have Pine hold me in place.

"Pine, I was going to keep us safe." I attempted to shake his hands off of my arms, but he ignored me. I observed Pine approach a luminous green fairy with his arms raised. Before the fairy landed on it, he gently held his hand in front of it. I turned to look as he showed me the fairy by bringing his hand close to my face. He gently took hold of my hand before letting the fairy step onto it.

I jumped in shock, expecting to feel the fairy tear away at my skin. However, it didn't. I watched as it walked around my hand, looking at all the scars and moles that littered my skin. My skin was tickled by the fairy. I looked back up at Pine, who had a soft smile across his face. He turned his back and proceeded to grab another fairy; this time it was red.

At this point, the fairy on my hands had flown away. I watched as it landed next to a faraway pink one. Pine was giggling because of all the fairies that were surrounding him. He looked like he was decorated with a bunch of colourful lights. It was a beautiful and surreal sight, like something out of a dream. Some of the fairies flew over to me, picking up some of my long hair and bouncing around. Maybe the hunters had the wrong information, but I just couldn't see how these things could be harmful.

A few fairies started flying up to a tall tree by the path, and a few more followed a few seconds later. Pine waved at them happily from the ground. We watched as the lights slowly faded away in various parts of the tree.

Pine walked slowly over to me and carefully grabbed my left palm. "Harmless." He started down the path again. I stared at the tree where the fairies disappeared.

"How did you know?" My voice was sour. How did Pine know the fairies weren't harmless?

I ran to catch up with him, "How did you know they were harmless?"

Pine grabbed my hand. It pinched a little, but I couldn't see if he was mad. His face lay still with empathy.

"I grew up with fairies all around me." Pine wrote. I paused on the path, and Pine continued walking. I couldn't help but feel a sense of intrigue as Pine's words lingered in the air. His statement painted a vivid picture in my mind, filled with enchantment and wonder. As I stood there, momentarily captivated by his revelation, I realised that there was so much more to Pine than met the eye.

"What?"

Pine turned and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Pine." I spoke to him. I continued walking, trying to ignore the fact that my blade was now somewhere in the bush. Pine shook his head, making his hair slightly blow in the wind. As I caught up to him, I watched his face. He patted my head, as if to reassure me that everything was fine.

Pine had been so careful with each creature and so kind. He had been so kind and careful with me.

In the distance, we could see smoke and hear people talking. We were close to Saxum Nivis.