CHAPTER TWO
ON THE COUNT OF THREE
On and on they went through the abyss of blue trees. Their minds emptied of all emotion. That was the only way to survive in the forest for any length of time. The forest played a small part in helping the travelers to accomplish this task, having neither wind nor small critters to distract them. The longer they stayed in the forest, the stronger the curse seemed to become. Even that empty-mindedness proved useless after a while. With each step, their destination seemed to grow further away. Sadness began to wash over Katie and her uncles, like waves over the sand. Morbid thoughts crept into their minds. Their breathing became heavy and their pace slowed.
The light of the bright season shined all around them. The days were long and humid. The sun gave the forest an eerie glow. Looking about, one could see the forest hadn’t always been as it was now. Remnants of the life that once lived there still remained.
Small blue mushrooms sprung up from the ground, growing in circles or ovals. Patches of grayish-green grass grew in varied thickness all around. Gray moss blanketed many of the trees. Those trees without moss gave off a faint blue glow. The low branches had leaves of violet and gray and blue. There were even small blue trees that slowly grew into adulthood. “These old bones aren’t what they used to be,” Bahumaku said, wheezing as he spoke. He sat down on a low branch to catch his breath. His hair was frizzy from sweat and humidity.
“I’m beginning to think you’ve lost us,” Chander said playfully so as not to worry his brother of his true concerns.
“If you think you can do betteh, then by all means,” Bahumaku argued. He put out his hand, motioning for his brother to take the lead. Chander looked around the forest but gave no response.
“It’s times like these I miss Faldeh,” Bahumaku said.
“Agreed,” Chander said.
“Who’s that?” Katie asked.
“He’s ouh brotheh,” Chander said.
“How come I’ve never seen him?” Katie spoke out of confusion. As long as she had lived with her uncles, she had never heard the name spoken. She began to think that her uncles had finally snapped under the depression of the forest. If that were true, if the forest finally had taken its toll on her uncles, then she was truly alone in the world. Katie felt a sudden need to cry. The thought filled her.
Her lips quivered. Her vision blurred. She thought of her mother and father. A hope stirred within her. Her tears turned to desperation.
There had to be a way, she thought, some way to knock the sense back into her uncles. At present, nothing came to mind, but she would not surrender her hope.
At last Bahumaku spoke. “We were separated during the Nine-Hundred-Year Wah.”
“In the forest was the only time he eveh proved useful,” Chander added.
“What do you mean, ‘useful’?” Katie asked. A sense of relief came over her. The desire to cry remained, but now for the opposite reason. She wiped her eyes with her arm and smiled.
“The forest and he had a kind of bond,” Bahumaku said.
“Anyone traveling with him was sure to find his way,” Chander added.
“And his name was Falder,” Katie said, trying to memorize the name. She felt that it might be important someday.
“We were all three named afteh a part of the moon. My name, Chandeh, is the part of the moon you see during the early hours of the morning. It represents weariness or sleep. The name Bahumaku comes from the part of the moon you see at night. It represents life and energy.
“As foh Faldeh, his name means, literally, the dark side of the moon.” Chander gave a nod. If he were smiling, Katie could not see it. His thick silver mustache was much too large.
“Thanks. I guess,” Katie said. She doubted the information would ever be of use to her, though she was grateful all the same. Katie tried to picture what Falder might look like. She pictured him with Chander’s mustache first. Then she pictured him with Bahumaku’s beard. Katie settled with him having Bahumaku’s large nose and Chander’s round chin. She assumed that, like her uncles, he would have green eyes. Bahumaku interrupted Katie’s thoughts.
“Sure. You can remembeh all that. But try to get you to remembeh what you did at breakfast this morning, and Gawd forbid.”
“What did I do at breakfast? I can’t remembeh foh the life of me,” Chander said, deep in thought. He sat on the log with his hand on his chin.
“We really should be on ouh way.” Bahumaku looked up into the high trees. The light of the sun somehow made its way through the thick leaves and onto the ground below. A dreadful silence fell over the forest. Only Chander could detect the fear in his brother’s voice as he spoke.
“Let us make haste,” Chander said. The three of them cautiously treaded the blue wood.
Not long after they left, a dark creature landed in the spot where Chander had been standing. As it landed it let out a horrific scream, like an ear-shattering whistle. The sound trailed off into the distance, bouncing on trees and finally vanishing into nothingness. The creature began sniffing the ground like a dog that has lost its trail. Off in the distance, another scream came in response. The creature perked up. It had found its scent. With a giant leap, the creature dug its claws into the branches of a tree. It was agile despite its lanky body. It let out another horrifying scream. This time there was no reply.
As they walked, Katie, Chander, and Bahumaku heard a loud ear-shattering cry. The cry brought a marvelous fear into Katie’s bones. Her skin crawled. A long shiver made its way down her spine and into the ground below.
“W—was that a—a . . .” Katie stuttered in her fear.
“A shadow guard,” Chander said. It was the only time Katie had ever seen her uncles afraid.
“We should hurry,” Bahumaku said. The three of them made their way quickly through the forest. They heard the horrific sound as the creature continued to chase them. Katie was frightened. In her mind, the sound repeated several times. Her fear grew each time she heard the terrible cry. She tried to find a place to hide. Chander stopped her in her tracks. He took her hand and told her that they must hurry on. Katie went along until her uncle let her go. She would try hiding several more times as they ran, each to the same result.
To Katie, it felt like months before they finally stopped to rest. Bahumaku and Chander leaned against a tree. Their breath was heavy though not quite as heavy as Katie’s.
Her whole body shook uncontrollably. She pressed her hand against her heart, which was beating a mile a minute. She stood out in the open and looked frantically around trying frantically to find some place to hide. She bit her bottom lip in thought. Her mind worked to remember everything she had read about shadow guards. The encyclopedias back home were very vague. Shadow guards were creatures born of magic, originally created by Merlin to protect humans from celestial magic. They were creatures of neither good nor evil. Constantly, they sought the magic in which they were created to protect. Their cry, it was said, could be heard across continents.
“Do you think we lost him?” Bahumaku said in a long exhale.
“It would appeah so,” Chander said after a moment’s silence.
“Still, we mustn’t lingeh.”
Bahumaku looked on at Katie, whose lips were slightly purple. “I feah this running may be the death of all of us,” he said. Katie waved him off, taking in several deep breaths. Bahumaku clasped Katie’s shoulder in response. He gave her a stern look. Katie looked up at him and nodded. Her hands clutched in the pockets of her denim skirt.
Katie and her uncles made their way deeper into the forest. All sense of direction was lost now. They wandered aimlessly, but still they did not lose their hope. The forest had no hold over them. Their determination and wills were too strong to ignore. The forest had imprisoned Katie and her uncles long enough. Now their only thought was to find the way out. There were five ways out of the forest; any would do. Once out, they would take some rest. From there they would reassess their path. They only hoped that the forest would allow them to do so, for the trees liked to change.
“I don’t remembeh this road being so long,” Bahumaku said, pretending he still knew where he was going. Katie and Chander glanced at one another, but neither of them gave a response. “Perhaps we should do something fun to pass the time.”
“What did you have in mind?” Chander questioned.
“We could sing carols,” Bahumaku suggested.
“And listen to youh lousy voice? I’ve heard dying wolves sing betteh,” Chander spoke harshly.
“All right, what do you suggest?” Bahumaku said, equally as harsh.
“How about a nice game of I spy?” suggested Chander.
“I think blue might get old afteh a while,” Bahumaku said.
“Well then, what do you suggest?” asked Chander.
“Don’t start that again,” Bahumaku said.
“Start what?” Chander spoke.
“Youh memory is equivalent to a goldfish,” Bahumaku said in a groan.
“Well you . . . what are we talking about?” Chander said.
“Like I said, a goldfish,” Bahumaku answered. With that, Katie’s uncles began arguing back and forth. Katie could only watch as her uncles argued from one thing to the next. The longer they fought, the more ridiculous it became. Katie laughed silently at her uncles.
The argument came to a halt after a fight over purple and green socks. There, Chander and Bahumaku had both agreed to stop talking to one another. It was a long time before anyone spoke again.
After a short rest, Katie and her uncles continued. It wouldn’t be long now before they would be warming their feet by a nice fire and sipping at cups of hot cocoa. At least that’s what Bahumaku said. The truth was that they were lost. Bahumaku had lost the way some time ago. He would never admit that, of course. His pride would cost him in the end.
Katie and Chander had known for a while that they were lost. For fear of further losing the way, neither of them spoke. They were quiet, letting Bahumaku think. He led them this way and that until they were more or less back on track. Whether or not it was the right track they would never find out.
Somewhere high above the trees a shadow guard lurked. It stalked its prey as a lion ready to pounce. The creature leapt from tree to tree. It wrapped a boney tail around a branch for support. Thick black claws dug deep into the heart of the tree. It sniffed the air, making sure its prey had not strayed too far. With a giant leap, the creature flew through the air and landed gracefully onto a branch. It sniffed once more and leapt onto the next tree.
Unaware of this creature’s presence, Katie and her uncles walked blindly through the forest. They came to a rest near an old stump. Katie was about to sit when she heard a horrific scream. It was a scream filled with both power and terror. Katie covered her ears in a failed attempt to drown out the noise.
When the screaming finally stopped, Katie opened her eyes. She shot back in fear and fell to the ground. Bahumaku picked her up by the arm. His eyes never left the creature.
The sight before her made Katie feel sick to her stomach. Its bones seemed to stick out all over. The creature’s teeth must have been seven inches long. Its bat-like ears, twisted back and forth, listening. Katie tried to mask her breath, but she was sure it could hear her.
“On the count of three, we split up,” Chander said.
“What?” Katie said urgently. She turned to face her uncles.
“One.”
“Wait—”
“Two.”
“Where—”
“Three.”
Before she knew it, Katie was running through the damp, cold, dark of the Sapphire Forest. The creature was hot on her trail. What did I do? Katie thought as she ran. For some reason the creature had chosen to chase after her. Maybe it felt she would be the easiest target. Katie wondered how she would go about losing it.
She had no clue where she was going. As she ran, she began to wonder why. If she was eaten, she could be reunited with her mother. Katie tried forcing herself to stop, but she found that she could not.
Try as she might, her legs wouldn’t cease. It was as though some other force was controlling her. A force that wanted her to survive. Katie continued to run. She ducked under branches, dodged trees and jumped over logs, anything that might cause the creature to lose her trail. Nothing would stop her. Not even the upturned roots could keep her off her feet. Finally, Katie jumped into a pit of sapphire mud.
She held her breath as it stared right at her, sniffing the damp air around her. Katie could see herself in the creature’s silver teeth. She could see the slimy saliva dripping down its lips. She could feel the damp of its dog-like nose as it sniffed at her. A smell like old meat lingered on the creature’s breath. It had no eyes, for which Katie was relieved. Still, she held her breath. She was careful not to make any sudden movements for fear that it might find her.
After what felt like forever, the creature backed off.
It made its way back into the depths of the forest. Katie fell into the mud and let out a long exasperated breath. She lay there, alone, in the mud and wept. Katie tried to control her whimpering, tried to stop her from shaking, but it was no use. She had to let it out.
Katie curled into a ball and cried.
She cried until there were no tears left. Even after her weeping stopped she lay there, letting her breath catch up to her. Finally, after goodness knows how long, she was able to pick herself back up again.
Somehow, Katie had managed to escape. Later, she would question how and why. For now, she was just happy to be alive. The realization that she was hopelessly lost soon set in. Without her uncles to guide her, she would remain in the forest until the loneliness consumed her.
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