Chapter 293: Into the Fey Woods

The terrace looked too small until The Sixth Knot began descending toward it.

From the cabin, Rod could see the three mooring pillars and the dark line of the forest beyond them. Nothing marked the place on his map except Tessa’s small square. Kesh circled once, letting the crew inspect the stone before he approached.

Tessa pointed out the repaired corner through the window.

"Keep your packs clear until we finish securing the vessel."

Rod waited with the others while Belda and Orin worked. The ship touched gently against its landing supports. A line tightened, the deck settled, and Min reduced the lift. Only then did Tessa open the cabin door.

The air smelled of rain despite the clear sky.

Dirk stepped onto the stone first. He studied the forest edge while Rod helped pass down their packs. Dain moved his shield clear of the mooring line. Lana followed with Midnight inside her bag, his dark head showing beneath the flap.

Nessa looked toward the trees.

"Quiet."

Rod could hear birds, running water, and the creak of wood moving overhead. He understood what she meant. They had left engine noise and the ordinary sounds of a crew working around them. Here, they could hear something moving without knowing where it was.

Tessa showed them the first white stone.

"Left going in. Blue cuts on the left coming out. Do not guess the return route from the shape of the path."

She handed Rod Hadrin’s white cord and stone. Their collection day was twelve days away. If they returned early, they could wait at the station. If delayed, they were to leave a message beneath the terrace sign. The Five Knots would check twice before assuming they needed another arrangement.

"If something follows you here, warn us before we descend." Tessa said.

Rod agreed. They had hired a ship, and he intended to keep its crew out of any fight they brought back.

They waited beyond the steps while The Sixth Knot rose. Belda brought in the last line, and the vessel climbed above the treetops. Within minutes, its shadow passed from the clearing. Rod adjusted his pack and turned toward the eastern path. ℯ

White stones marked a narrow opening between two oaks.

Dirk led, with Rod behind him. Lana and Nessa walked in the middle. Dain took the rear. The path could have carried a cart once, although roots had narrowed it in places. They passed a drainage cut lined with flat stones and a fallen branch that someone had sawn into movable lengths.

At the first bend, Rod looked back.

Birches filled the slope where the landing should have been.

He stopped long enough for Dain to notice, then continued. Tessa had described the change. Seeing it for himself still made him want to check their direction.

Dirk raised a hand before the next white stone.

A small figure crouched beside it, sorting acorn caps into piles. Its skin was brown, its hair the color of dry grass. A narrow knife lay across its knees. Rod recognized the quick, precise movements before he identified the creature.

A quickling.

The figure looked up. Its eyes moved across the party’s weapons, paused on Dirk’s bow, and returned to the acorn caps.

"Lift the back end." it said.

Rod glanced down. A heavy branch lay across the drainage channel beside the path. Water had backed up against it.

"Why?"

"Because I cannot."

Dirk moved aside while Rod examined the branch. It was dead wood, thick at one end and caught beneath a root at the other. He set down his pack, took hold with Dain, and lifted. The quickling darted in, scraped mud and leaves from beneath it, and sprang clear before Rod lowered it.

Water rushed through the opened channel.

"There." the quickling said.

It gathered the acorn caps into a pouch.

"Does this road reach White Stone?" Rod asked.

"If you keep walking."

"Any trouble ahead?"

The quickling pointed to a patch of pale flowers beyond the bend.

"Do not stand there if you like your boots."

It vanished up the trunk before Rod asked another question.

Lana watched the branches settle.

"I remember them being less interested in drainage." she said.

Rod picked up his pack. "We usually met them while they were trying to kill us."

The flowers occupied a shallow dip beside the road. Their roots had pushed under the paving stones, lifting two and opening a crack in the third. Dirk tapped the ground with a fallen stick. A thin creeper curled around it and tightened.

He pulled. The creeper held.

"Useful warning." he said.

They kept to the opposite edge. Nessa marked the spot on their copied sketch. Rod did not cut the plants. The path still offered enough room to pass, and he had no reason to start destroying growth beside someone else’s maintained road.

The waystation appeared after another turn.

Hadrin stood in the yard with a broom. He watched them approach, saw the cord in Rod’s hand, and leaned the broom against the wall.

"The airship people found someone."

"They sold us the information." Rod said. "We came to hear your offer."

Hadrin inspected the five of them openly. Dain’s shield and Rod’s axe seemed to satisfy whatever he was looking for. He brought them into the common room and offered a table near the window.

Rod removed his pack before sitting. The room smelled of baked grain and dried herbs. A row of cups hung above a basin. Scratches marked the floor where heavy trunks had been dragged toward the sleeping rooms.

Dirk glanced through an open door and counted the beds.

"You used to receive a lot of travelers."

"Enough." Hadrin replied.

He served a pot of stew and named a price before ladling it. Rod paid from the common purse. They had accepted neither the commission nor its lodging, and he preferred beginning with something simple.

While they ate, a pair of small winged fey arrived carrying a basket between them. They landed on the windowsill, set the basket inside, and argued with Hadrin over the quality of its contents. The mushrooms were smaller than the last delivery. The sellers insisted that they were firmer and would keep longer.

Hadrin bought half.

Rod watched one of the visitors count the coins twice before passing them to the other. A few moments later they left, struggling to keep the remaining mushrooms level as they rose.

The exchange made the empty room feel more like an inn. There were deliveries, disagreements, and meals to prepare even with the deeper road closed.

Hadrin put the mushrooms away.

"You have been among fey before." he said to Lana.

"In Fey Nights."

"Then you know something of the woods."

"Some creatures. Some tricks."

"That will help."

Outside, something struck the wall hard enough to shake a cup from its hook.

Dain caught the cup before it reached the floor. Rod was already standing.

Hadrin swore and went to the door.

A broad-backed creature stood beside the stacked poles. Its hide looked like rough bark. A broken carrying harness hung from its shoulders, and two long splinters protruded from a pad of moss behind its head. It swung toward the doorway, dragging a length of timber beneath one foreleg.

"Stay inside." Hadrin said.

The creature struck the pole stack again.

Rod stepped beside the keeper, leaving the threshold clear for Dain. "What is it?"

"Moss carrier. Usually they follow the supply path. This one has caught its harness."

The dragging timber struck the stove. The kettle fell, spilling water across the paving. Hadrin reached for a hooked staff beside the door.

Lana had a clearer view through the window. Midnight climbed onto the sill, and she watched the creature turn through his eyes while its bulk blocked her own view.

"The timber is twisted through the rear strap." she said. "It pulls tighter when it moves."

Rod kept his axe covered.

The creature was large enough to break a person’s legs. Its first swing had struck stone where Hadrin’s head would have been if the keeper had approached directly. Rod waited until it turned toward the spilled water, then moved beside the pole stack.

Dain followed with his shield raised.

"Keep its attention." Rod said.

Dain struck his shield once with the flat of his hand. The moss carrier wheeled. Rod caught the end of the dragging timber and lifted it clear of the harness. The creature pulled against him. Its weight shifted, and the paving scraped beneath its forefeet.

Lana froze the spilled water around the timber’s lower end.

The brief resistance stopped it twisting. Hadrin hooked the strap, drew a narrow knife, and cut the worn leather. Rod let the timber fall as the creature lunged forward, suddenly free.

Dain stepped aside instead of meeting the charge.

The carrier ran three paces, stopped, and shook itself. Moss and splinters scattered across the yard. It sniffed the spilled stew water near the doorway, found nothing worth eating, and wandered toward the supply path.

Nessa checked Hadrin’s hand. The hook had scraped his knuckles, but the skin remained unbroken.

Rod picked up the severed strap.

"Does that happen often?"

"No." Hadrin said. "The harness belongs to someone who should have replaced it."

He took the leather and examined its old repairs.

The party helped restack the poles before returning inside. Dain placed the rescued cup on the table. Lana thawed the ice outside so the keeper would not step onto it later.

Rod sat with his meal cooling before him. They had been at the station less than an hour. A quickling had helped them avoid a hungry plant, fairies had sold mushrooms, and a creature dangerous enough to injure the entire party had needed a strap cut.

He looked toward the empty bracket outside the window.

"Tell us about the bell." he said.

Before the keeper could sit, Nessa asked to see the hook he had used. Its leather grip had split during the struggle. She wrapped the exposed edge with a strip from the broken harness while Hadrin inspected the damage to his stove.

Dain brought the kettle inside. The spout had bent where it struck the paving, but the seam held water. Hadrin set it aside for repair rather than putting it back over the fire.

"Whose carrier was that?" Rod asked.

"A supplier from the lower groves. They follow a familiar circuit. Someone will come looking for it when it fails to reach the next stop."

"Should we leave a message?"

Hadrin fetched a board and chalk. He wrote that the carrier had passed the station with its harness cut, then hung the board beside the supply path. Rod watched him add the damaged strap beneath it. Whoever arrived would know which animal needed attention.

The party washed before returning to their food. Their first encounter at White Stone had left them with wet sleeves and grit under their nails. It had also given them a chance to see how the keeper handled trouble when there was no reward to offer.

Hadrin lowered himself onto the opposite bench and reached for his written offer.