Adventures: Episode Six

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Star awoke in the early dawn curled between the roots of a great oak tree. The darkness had gotten so deep that it seemed to press in on her and the flame that lighted her path. She had thought that perhaps it was not the natural darkness of evening, but some charm or enchantment from the same source that drove the ogres. Soon, even her charmed torch could not compete with the weight of the darkness and the night pressed in on it so heavily that it was extinguished, as if pinched off between two malevolent fingers. At that precise moment, Star stumbled in the darkness and landed against something rough and solid, yet moist. She pressed herself against it and, in her panic, could not remember any charms that could help her in this moment. She starred wide eyed out into the darkness as pairs of bright nocturnal eyes began to appear. They seemed to float as they came nearer and nearer in that cursed heavy darkness. Without warning, they stopped about a span away. Star’s fear combined with her exhaustion finally overcame her and she knew no more until the morning.

When she awoke, the mists were still laying low over the land. She stood and began to again track her quarry. As she stalked, she mused about the strange behavior of the nocturnal creatures. She did not understand why they had hesitated and then, more surprisingly, left her alive all night long. When pangs of hunger could be ignored no longer, Star reached into her pouch to draw out a chunk of dry bread. Her hand brushed, instead, some of the plants she had collected the previous day.  Marchthorn Root!  The ninth use was in an amulet against malignant intent.  Those who had designs to harm the bearer of such an amulet, would find the deed reflected back onto themselves.  Perhaps, in its natural state, Marchthorn root acted as more of a repellent and merely caused some sort of unpleasant sensation to those who bore ill-will toward it or its bearer.  Perhaps this property was known before and lost, mused Star,  and that is why Marchthorn root was used in the amulet in the first place.  It might just have been a coincidence, but this new property of Marchthorn root bore further study.  Finally grasping the bread she had been searching for, Star gnawed thoughtfully as she walked.  The terrain was beginning to change.  Dense forest gave way to rocky steppe.  Fields of dry grasses replaced mossy mushroom beds.  The wind picked up and Star pulled her cloak tighter about herself.  Suddenly, Star stopped.  She noticed a greater change than the environment.  The trail that she had been following ended abruptly in the middle of a field.