Getting to the capital city of Hevanto is tricky. One, it's fifty miles away from my own little part of civilization, and two, it's on the other side of lokekku territory. Lokekku--the forest demons. They aren't mean or violent, but they hate it when outsiders try to cross their lands. They'll call the trees when mercantile parties try to take shortcuts through the heavily wooded land, playing merry hell with the party's perceptions of paths. I've heard stories of parties going into the woods only to come out a few hours later in the same spot they entered.
However, I wasn't going to walk twenty miles out of the way, thereby skirting the forest and adding a day to my travels just because a bunch of forest demons get their loinclothes up their ass about people walking through their trees. I couldn't afford the fees to join a mercantile party, and they were far too greedy to be satisfied with having a greenwitch traveling with them. The nasty part of me hoped the leader got a cut that would turn bad and make his arm fall off. A greenwitch would be handy then, oh goodness yes!
But I had no money, and traveling the long way by myself would also guarantee a bandit attack, and I really had my heart set on getting to Hevanto *without* smelly bandit rape--just a little personal goal of my own.
So that meant attempting the forest, which was about ten miles wide at that point. Maybe the lokekku wouldn't mind a solitary young woman going through, but it was a chance. True, no one had heard of the lokekku attacking anyone--but that just meant no one had survived to tell the tale. Heartening thought.
I stood outside the forest, wearing a threadbare coat and heaviest woolen skirt of dark green, my best traveling boots on my feet, with my wares carefully stored in the cloth pack I had slung over my shoulder. The scarf around my neck was a horrible shade of brown and badly knitted, but I'm a greenwitch. I make medicines; I don't knit. But all in all I felt I'd blend in with the trees, and maybe the lokekku would leave me alone. There was always the chance.
I squared my shoulders, gritted my teeth, and strode into the trees.
I had a piece of chalk to mark the trees as I passed them as there was no path, and it seemed to be working. I made my way deeper into the forest, feeling a huge amount of relief that the lokekku didn't appear to be bothered by my trespass. Hours passed and I trudged on, stopping every once in awhile to rest my feet and take a gulp from one of the water skins, but I felt I was making progress. But then I spotted my mark on one of the trees and realized I must have backtracked somehow. I turned around...and saw another "X". I whirled and found them all around me, on every tree I saw. Some of trees even had more than one. One rather large oak had the blasted things all around the trunk.
"Damn!" I stamped my foot and glared at every mark like a personal insult. I should've known it wouldn't be so easy. "I'm one lone woman trying to get to Hevanto! Show a little pity!"
I turned in a little circle, peering through the trees to see if I'd been led in circles only a few yards from where I started, but the trees were thick and went on for as far as I could see. I took a step back, heart starting to pound as I realized I'd been allowed deep inside the forest before the tricks had started. I pulled the pack off my shoulder and backed up a little more until I was pressed against a tree, and I stood there shaking as I tried to think of a way out of this.
Suddenly the mercantile party fees didn't sound so high.
"Lost?" said a low, strangely accented voice near my ear.
I squealed and leapt away from the tree, whirling around to get my first look at one of the elusive lokekku, who was leaning against the trunk with an air of satisfaction. So this was a forest demon. The lokekku had hair like any human, but it was a mix of red and orange and gold--much like the autumn foliage on the trees around us. It was tall and thin, wearing only a pair of buckskins that rode low on its narrow hips, and they were tied around its long legs with rawhide thongs, all dyed the same tree-gray color as its skin. It had very long fingers tipped with wicked-looking claws, and its narrow feet were also long with three clawed, thick toes--something like a bird, but far less delicate. They actually looked like the feet of the "walking lizards" they sold for pets in the marketplace, though far larger. It balanced on the balls and toes of those long feet, weaving back and forth a little as it watched me with something like a smirk on its narrow face.
The face was much like any human, except the eyes were much bigger than any man's and solid black from corner to corner. It also had the wide, floppy ears of a goat and was horned like one as well. But then it grinned at me, its mouth stretching wide, and I could see sharp fangs that had little to do with a nice, grass-nibbling goat. I looked again at those wicked claws tipping its hands and feet and swallowed hard, backing up another few steps.
It followed me, starting to circle around as it gave me the same thorough looking over that I'd given it.
"Female!" it crowed delightedly, suddenly clapping its hands together. "I can tell! You have the soft bits there on your front."
I slapped a hand over my chest and leaned away as it came closer, the thin face gleefully predatory. I had no idea what it wanted, though part of me was desperately praying to every god I could name that it had already eaten.
"Please," I said, holding out one hand protectively. "I--I mean no harm to this forest. I just want to pass through quickly so that I may reach the country on the other side. I'll leave no damage, build no fires, discard nothing. Please let me through."
"Oh, no problem with one female coming through," it said, and for some reason I noticed the back of the lokekku. It had a tail--just a short, stubby tail also like a goat that was flicking excitedly from side to side. No wonder the buckskins were so low around its hips. "No problem at all...if they are respectful."
"I'm very respectful," I said quickly, nodding. "Very."
"Then why do you not pay the toll?"
Toll? What toll? No legend ever said anything about a toll. Then again, the legends never said anything about anyone actually making it all the way through the forest either.
"Toll?" I squeaked.
"Toll!" It threw its arms into the air and gave me another fanged grin. There was something almost teasing in it. Was the damned thing *playing* with me? "You have to give me something to let you pass."
"I don't have much money--" I said doubtfully, but it gave a great snort like one of the big warhorses the local knights rode.
"Human coin," it said derisively. "What would I do with it? Am I a magpie, to collect shiny things?"
"Then what do you want?" I brought my pack in front of me and held it up. "I--I *am* a greenwitch. I have lots of medicines I'm taking to sell in Hevanto, and a few herbal teas...and some wines."
"Wine?" It perked up. "I've heard of wine from elder lokekku. They say it is tasty and lets you see the world spin."
I quickly pulled the ties on the pack and opened it, rummaging for one of the wineskins. I came up with a skin of elderberry wine and held it up, my breath stuck in my chest as I waited to see if it would satisfy the lokekku. It took the skin and stared at it, shaking it a little. It pulled out the cork and took a small drink, smacking its lips at the taste.
"It's good," said the lokekku, beaming at me. But then its expression went back to predatory. "A good start. But there is only one toll that I really want."
"Please don't eat me!" I said, my words coming in one big rush as I shrank away.
It blinked and slipped the wineskin's strap over its head, settling the skin against its hip as it gave me a strange look.
