Fae Woods

So guys here is chapter 4, I let my imagination run a little wild in the creation of the fae world. Hope you all enjoy what I came up with. Look forward to your comments and votes.

~sylentpoet~

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Going through the fae gate was a bit disorienting for Dillon.

"You get used to it." Sienna stated. "The more

you use the gates the less affect they have on you when you cross over."

As he got his senses under control, he got his first look at the fae world. What greeted his eyes was amazing. There were trees that were

impossibly tall and gorgeous flora with blossoms as full as his head. He had never seen plant life like this in all the years he worked in horticulture. His first thought was to take samples back to his lab to examine the fine nuances of what was out here. His eyes were assaulted with all the vivid colors. He released Sienna's hand going over to a bright yellow flower with. The smell coming off the flower was intoxicating. His intention was to get a closer look maybe even a sample he could examine later. As he reached out to stroke a petal of the flower, Sienna grabbed his wrist stopping him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He looked at her questioningly. "It would do you good to remember while you are here to know that nothing is what it seems. The clowa flower, though beautiful and benign looking, can be quite dangerous to those who donna know better."

She bent and picked up a long stick from the ground and stroked the petal he had been about to touch. Edges around each petal sprouted teeth and the flower snapped shut taking half of the stick with it. Dillon jumped back from the flower.

"Keep in mind that we are not the only carnivorous creatures out here." As if to punctate her point said flower opened again shudder and hissed at them and retreated further into the brush of its own accord.

"Consider it duly noted."

"Let's get moving. We don't want to be caught out here outside of the protection of the village after dark."

"What village?"

"My village, it is to be our destination for now."

"'for now' what is that supposed to mean?"

"You know, you surely have a lot of questions."

"It's an occupational habit. I'm a scientist you know. And you still did not answer the question. Well..."

"Well, on this side your science will not help you. It'll be magic you'll be needin' and with the way the Fates have marked you. You should have plenty of it. You just need to learn how to tap into it. Speaking of..." Sienna reached into the air and like the only other time Dillon saw her use magic, and fingers began to glitter glow and began to rub his still aching arm seeming to wipe the marks right off of him. "This is only a glamor. When you figure out how to get rid of it then you will be ready to show them. If not, then you are sure to get a lot of attention that you willna want to deal with."

Amazed at her use of the magic, Dillon looked at his now unmarked arm and said "Wow, I don't know if I'll ever get used to all this."

"You'll get used to it faster than you know. Now, let us get movin' again, we want to get to the village before dark. Its goin' to take us a bit longer since you don't have your wings and we won't be flyin'" She started walking not waiting for a reply as they were wasting the very limited daylight they had left. The first trial they had to face a waited them in the village better they do it before they had to face something worse in the wood. The fae world could be a very dangerous place if you didn't know how to navigate it. There were things out there that made carnivorous plants look like daisies.

They trekked on through woods as the sun made its decent. Dillon was amazed at all the different flora and fauna that did not exist in the earth realm. Sienna told him of the different species as they traveled enjoying her home world a new through his eyes. She told him of the plants that were poisonous, dangerous, and even edible and shocked him with the last when she plucked a flower and took a big bite out of the bright pink flower. Laughing and chewing around the bite she said, "No worries, they are quite tasty. Not as good as the pasty you used to bring me but they still are very good you should try one."

Dillon shook his head no as he'd seen enough of the dangerous kind plants to take a chance on eating one. Just then, Dillon heard the voice of someone that seemed to be distressed.

"Sienna, do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That voice. It sounds as if someone is in trouble." The voice was troubling him. He started to go in the direction he thought he heard the voice coming from. Sienna grabbed his hand to prevent him from going in the wrong direction.

"I'm not hearin' what you are. And you can't just go off not knowing where you are. Come on we don't have much time before the sun is gone. We have to go." Sienna said thinking he was losing it and, with a firm grip on his hand, started to walk towards her village.

The sun was getting dangerously low. Dillon started to follow but her but stopped dead in his tracks when heard the voice again the owner sounding even more distressed. He couldn't ignore it as Sienna seemed to be doing.

"No, I have to go see." Dillon on pulled his hand out of Sienna's and started taking quick strides in the direction his instinct was telling him to go.

"Dillon no, we are already pushing it" Sienna said worriedly quickly following Dillon.

"You have to trust me. Someone is in need. I can't ignore it." Dillon said going through thicker brush, ducking under the low hanging branches. Then came to a stop when he found what had him troubled. Sienna almost crashed into his back from the abrupt stop he made. Dillon didn't know what to make of what he saw. He heard Sienna's sharp intake of breath when she looked around his wide shoulders to see what he saw. There at the bottom of a hillside in a glade was a small creature, almost childlike in stature, looked to be trapped beneath some large rocks. She either fell or was pushed over and got wedged between the rocks causing the lose rocks and pebbles to fall with her if the debris on top os her and caught in her hair were any indication. The cries that Sienna had not heard before now made since as she looked on the creature. It was a maladen nymph. They were not very large creatures and did not speak audible as most other creatures in the fae world did. They communicated on telepathic channels most fae could communicate telepathically but the maladen had a frequency that was all their own. They usually travelled in packs for their protection as they were not that powerful in magic but made up with it in their vicious fighting skill and pack mentality. The fact that this one was out here and alone did not bode well for her or the others from her pack. And looking at the current situation she was in it did not look good for her survival if they didn't help her fast. The strange thing was that there were very few in fae kind that had the telepathic ability to communicate with this particular breed of nymph and only then the most powerful of their kind could. This obviously spoke volumes as to the amount of power the Fates had given to Dillon. He was using his powers in a very unique way and was not even aware that he was doing so.

Dillon, "He have to help her, she is in so much pain."

"She doesn't even look alive by the way she is draped over that bolder. She hasn't moved an inch since we walked this way."

"I can't see how you say that she is all but screaming for help. You can't tell me you don't hear her."

"No Dillon I can't but we can discuss the particulars later. If we are going to help her we have to do it now and fast. Night approaches soon and if we stay out here we will be the one needing help."

Dillon looked at her as if she was the one losing her mind the sound of the agony from the girl in front of them ringing in his ears. They walked over to where the little nymph lay to asses her situation.

"How are we gonna get her out? She is stuck in there pretty good." Sienna said

"Can't you use some of your faery magic to get her out? You know the whole glowing finger deal."

"Sorry, it's not like I can magically lift the bolder. I make things appear and appear to disappear. Neither will help her out. We are gonna need some brute strength here."

"I don't want to hurt her any more than she already is if I try to move the main rock on top of her. I could cause her more injury." The little nymph managed to lift her head though it was obviously a struggle for her to do so and looked directly into Dillon's eyes, he paused for a moment as he listened something she was saying, then he spoke again directly to the little nymph as she dropped her head. "Are you sure? I may not be able to lift the boulder enough to get you out." He paused again in silent communication. With and ok to whatever the nymph had said, Dillon looked over to Sienna.

Dillon hurriedly dropped his pack and grabbed the bottle of water from the side. "She has to have been out here most of the day if the dried blood from that gash on her forehead is any indication. I'm going to give her a bit of water, I'm sure she is dehydrated. While I'm doing that, Sienna, If you could, clear away the smaller rocks first, then I'm going to try and lift that big bolder off of her. WHEN I lift it I'm going to need you to try and pull her out." They got down to the business at hand and after much straining on Dillon's side did not budge the rock one bit. Thankfully the little nymph passed out from the pain but Dillon could tell that she was still alive. Those instincts that led him earlier told him so.

"Dillon, we are running out of light, we may have to leave her."

"NO, I will not. We have to save her!" Something in his tone must have hit a cord with her as she had to take a step back and a flash of fear went across her face but was gone as quickly as it had come.

"We are in danger in the open like this. We have to leave now before the night creatures come claim all of us." The worry was apparent in her voice. This gave him pause.

"Sienna, just what kinds of creatures are out here?"

"I'm sure you do not want to find out, most are worse than anything you have in the Earth realm. But the worst are of the two legged faery variety. We really should leave." Dillon heard the voice of the little nymph in his head again.

"No please do not leave me to die like this! Please, please don't!"

Dillon felt something surge on the inside of him. He would not leave her like this. Like a man possessed he attacked the bolder. Pouring all of his strength and everything he had into trying to lift the boulder sweat pouring from his brow. He grunted and gritted he teeth with the effort he was putting forth. What he could not see, at that moment as he channeled all that he was into his task, was the glow that began to take over. His hands first and the marks so recently covered by Sienna started to glow through the glamor she had put on to cover them. Sienna was so shocked by what she was seeing that she almost forgot what she was supposed to be doing. As the runes and symbols glowed brighter, Dillon began to lift the bolder. He had so much power going into the bolder that pieces of the bolder began to crumble away at the pressure he had on it. Sienna quickly got a hold of herself, and grabbed the little nymph under her arms and drug her from beneath her rock prison. As soon as she was clear, Dillon dropped the bolder and collapsed to the ground his breath ragged from not only the physical exertion but the use of so much magic to one who was unfamiliar to it. It had taken a lot out of him. His magic faded as he tried to catch his breath, once again disappearing under Sienna's glamor.

Keeping Seinna's warning in mind about the wood, Dillon got himself together and while sienna still held the little nymph in her arms, quickly went about tending her wounds with the extensive first aid kit he had inside his pack. One of her legs was defiantly broken and did his best to reset the bone and stabilize it with binding some ace bandages and two large sturdy branches that ran the length of her leg. At some point, Sienna manifested a magical orb of golden light as the sun had completed its final decent into the night. Dillon felt the since of urgency from Siennna that she did not need to verbalize but from someone who was more familiar with this world than he, he did not take the warning lightly. When he was done binding the nymph as best he could, he put the pack back on and lifted her into his arms. Sienna did not need any more encouragement than that and they quickly set out on their way, Sienna and her glowing orb in the lead. She set a brisk pace looking this way and that as if waiting for something to jump out at them at any moment. Dillon did not complain as he heard the Fae Woods a wake with sounds life that had a vibrancy of its own completely different from the day light.

"Will we reach the village soon?" Dillon said a bit breathlessly to Sienna. He was still exhausted from earlier and his new little burden was not helping. In addition to that he could feel the eyes of something watching them as they went or more like he felt that they were being hunted.

"Yes, we are just on the out skirt of the village, we just might make it!" No soon had those words left her lips than the sound of a very menacing growl let lose way to close.

Dillon let out some very colorful explicative and Sienna quickened their pace even more. They were now almost at a run trying to get away from whatever it was that was surely hunting them. Another growl and rustle in the leaves up ahead had Sienna veering off in another direction. At this point they did break out into run. Just then a huge trunk from a tree fell in their path. It shook the ground with its girth and weight and They both came to an immediate halt.

"Oh no, it's too late." Sienna said slowly backing away from the trunk of wood with a look of terror on her face.

"It just a tree trunk, we can climb around it."

"You don't get it Dill, that tree trunk is what we've been running from."

"What are you talking about?"

"Tygerwuds."

"Wah! This is no time to be thinking about gulf players. We have to get a move on."

She just shook her head and pointed "No, Look". He again turned his head to look at the fallen log once again. Right before his eyes the trunk began to change unfolding from itself and before long before him stood and 7 foot tall tiger, he could just imagine how intimidating the beast would be if it were to go back on its haunches. Also, for all accounts its coat looked as if it was made of tree bark and had eyes that glowed green. The beast slowly stalked towards them emitting a growl that set the hair on the back of his neck on end. It continued to emit he growl making him sure that it was going to attack in a moment. He glanced over to Sienna and back noting that at some point during his appraisal of the beast that she had worked a bit of magic and now held a bow and arrow that was cocked directly at the approaching beast.

Going on his instinct which had not failed him thus far in this new world Dillon said, "Put the bow down Sienna. All you are doing is making it angry."

"I may not be able to kill it in one shoot but maybe I can maim it enough so that we can get away." The growls from the beast came louder.

"That is not a good idea, please trust me put the bow down." Dillon slowly put the little nymph he had still been holding down behind him along with his pack, cradling her head with it. His instincts kicked into high gear.

"What are you doing?! These mindless beasts will tear you apart without blinking and eye." His attention was now focused on Sienna what happened next happened so fast it was a blur. Sienna released the arrow, the animal lunged at her, and Dillon pushed Sienna out of the way of the lounging beast. The arrow missed its mark, as Sienna screaming as she fell, landed off to the side and the beast landed on top of Dillon with a thud that again shook the ground. He could feel its claws digging into his arms. The face of the beast so near his, that he could feel each exhale of breath on his cheek. Yet, his concern was not for himself. He yelled for Sienna, to run and save herself leaving him to his demise. The growling, teeth bearing beast amazed him even more. It spoke, with a booming, deep gravelly voice that was still distinctly female.

"That won't be necessary Chosen. If the female ceases to attack, so will we." With that she backed off of Dillon sitting on her hind end. And as Dillon sat up he watched as more of the Tygerwud beasts detached themselves from trees all around them as they had apparently had his little group surrounded and didn't know it. They all settled around them and the apparent leader spoke again.

"You are the Chosen and we have been waiting for you."