[Forest of Dreams] A new dimension

[S'Lon]

Kalendryas 39, Winter, Era XV

It had been a long journey from Centripax in the early winter, but it had proved less far than he'd expected. Keeping to the roads so that his horse did not risk snow filled holes he'd made slow but steady progress, not being of a mind to hurry and so not taking advantage of the speed that the windstepper he'd won in Natura the previous era gave him. The main reason for his lack of haste had to do with curiosity with the countryside that he travelled through. Not for him was the journey something to be endured in order to arrive at his destination, instead the journey was the destination. The area strange and he knew little of it and was content in that, taking shelter where he could and passing news and what other aid he could in payment, and there the horse cost him dear eating heavily into the meagre savings from his caravan guard duties. He should have taken a job for this trip he knew it, but the pleasure of the journey wasn't to be spoilt by having to work.

Eventually his travels brought him to the Forest, something of which he'd had no particular warning since he'd not given any particular destination to his hosts, and they had no reason to assume that any stranger would drift away from the main roads in such weather. But the Forest attracted him in ways that he couldn't pin a finger on. They were wild and remote, something that reflected well his own feelings just at that time and the rough edge went well with his inner turmoil. What drew him here he couldn't be quite sure of, but to be immersed in a distant land, in the trees that he loved gave him a feeling of security which was more a state of mind than a physical truth.

He didn't penetrate too far under the trees before he made camp. It seemed a wild region and he was of a mind to explore it, so he made the camp somewhat more permanent than he might normally have done, relying on his rations for the nights meal and feeding the horse a little grain before settling down for the night, his small fire banked carefully against the log reflector to keep him warm while he slept. His plans for the next brightening would be to explore and hunt and it was something that he looked forward to.

[Gossamer]

The forest was a living thing. People who spent time within them knew this. They knew this intimately and accepted it as a fact they had to work around. Each piece of ground had a different personality and flair, just like people did. S'Lon had spent hundreds if not thousands of hours sleeping under the stars by himself. Winter, summer, even the floods of the spring never seemed to deter him. It was a matter of just changing plans, sleeping high, sleeping warm, sleeping cool. For someone with a noted lack of social life, his curiosity to get to know the land was driven by the need to 'know' creatures, even if they weren't of his same race. This meant even the great looming trees or the silently passing clouds. It wasn't a bad existence. No, not really... rather it was the sort of existence where time looses its meaning. Days run into each other and seasons as well to some extent. There was a magic in a life like this, and a noted lack of worries beyond where the next meal was coming from or where fresh water was going to be found.

S'Lon solved these things by hunting when he hungered and drinking when he thirsted. There was no true thought needed to it beyond that simple need. When his bladder was full he relieved it. When his feet were tired, he rested and eventually slept. It was a means of traveling that brought peace into a man's heart and to some extent cleansed their soul.

S'Lon was no different.

And so it was that he came to the edge of the Forest of Dreams. He wouldn't have known its name, for the locals didn't talk much about it. They avoided it. There were creatures and situations within the wood that made it treacherous for them to venture too deep. And beyond that, a strange curling smoke sometimes filled the trees. The smoke was said to cause waking dreams... hallucinations. People lost their mind there. They went deep into the trees and never came out. If S'Lon had heard them first hand, he'd have realized that perhaps there was a superior predator or an easy explaination. Rangers were like that. They looked for the how of the why and rarely accepted the why of it for its face value.

But he made camp easily and got his fire set up to keep him warm. It wasn't until well into the Darkening, that the horse started fussing. He'd drifted off to sleep, lulled by the busy night sounds that felt more normal than anything else. But at the horse's restlessness, he woke abruptly.

The night was silent and jade eyes peered out of the gloom.

[Gossamer]

OOC: Unsubscribing. Let me know if you return and would like to continue. I will gladly resubscribe at that time.

[S'Lon]

He knew nothing of the Forest, by reputation or name. His avoidance of people, always a little typical of him had now begun to approach something that might even be considered paranoid. He didn't distrust the country folk, he knew them too well, but neither did he entirely trust them either, and again because of that knowledge. Back in the Sherian, his profession had given him a degree of immunity against the subtle hostility that was often put in place against the dangers that strangers might represent.

Out here, who was to know what were the practices of those who lived out here, away from the careful control of the Empire? A stranger could disappear and never be heard from again, mysterious forests or no. He played it safe, avoiding contact when he could, both to avoid the memory of him in the minds of those who might reveal it later, and to avoid the risk of becoming victim of some strange ritual. Perhaps there really was no risk of the latter, perhaps the locals made no sacrifices to their gods, he found it easier to avoid the chance and at that he was happy.

The land he could deal with, and the challenges that She might place in his way, for he knew that She would protect him too. Her ways were mysterious, and likely enough, had he heard of the forest then he might just have suspected that Her hand was there and been drawn to it like a moth to a flickering flame. The forest and it's creatures were Hers, he knew that in his heart. He also knew that She was a hard Mistress, and while She might have sheltered him in the past, the land was Hers and she might set him challenges that he would not be able to overcome. He was not some hero of legend who could overcome all, She might well have lessons to teach him about humility, lessons he could fail with fatal consequences.

Fear then was in his heart, not just of people, but also of Her and Her creations. For all that he loved and respected Her, he knew his place, or he hoped that he did.

But his thoughts had been a long way away from any such deep and meaningful contemplations, instead he was tired and he ached from being in the saddle. He had yet to adjust to being a rider, and perhaps never would fully. The brightening might yet come when he would abandon the use of the horse and return to the feet which had served him so well. Feet which while not so fleet were more devious in their paths.

His eyes flickered open, staring up into the darkening above him, the noise of the horse vague in his memory as he fought to throw off the shackles of sleep. Warmth from the fire caressed his left cheek and he squinted with that eye to avoid being blinded by the few flickers of flame that licked the ends of the logs. He lay there for a few moments attempting to hear as much as see anything that might be out there. The horse was a good warning, but it perhaps attracted predators that might have passed him by.

His hearing didn't aid him in locating the cause of the disturbance as his left hand slipped down to the worn wooden handle of his knife. He rolled slowly to his right and scanned the edges of the clearing, seeing nothing and then he stopped, his breath catching and his heart accelerating. Something watched him, or the horse from the darkness. Whatever it was, it had alarmed his horse and that made it likely that it wasn't just a fox, curious about the interloper into it's territory.

Likely it would run, whatever it was, but out here, there was always danger that it might be something that wouldn't do that. He started to shift himself, continuing the move that he'd made, determined to get his feet under him. If that didn't get rid of the eyes then he reached also for clara. He wasn't afraid for himself if he could reach it, but most of the druidic spells he knew wouldn't help the horse.