Witch, Wolf, Woods

CHAPTER 25: UNSETTLED & ANNOYED

Wolf's ears pricked upwards, and he stepped forward for a better sniff.

"It's definitely from the Black Forest," he said. "It smells like home."

There was so much unexpected longing in his voice, Katja felt her chest constrict, so she refocused her attention on the vine.

Shuffling forward the slightest bit closer, she let her eyes trace the vine around the railing, down the thick wooden post, and along the edge of the bridge, until it disappeared into the tall grass on the opposite bank...where she assumed it stretched all the way back into the Schwarzwald.

Was this how the forest expanded? Extending a vine here, a weed there, deciding on the most desirable direction to grow in? Katja had pictured the entire forest moving outwards all at once, the result of some enormous expenditure of magic, but perhaps it was more surreptitious than that...or more intentional.

The leaves sprouting off the vine were a triangular shape, with bright red stems and a streak of red running down the center. Something about the plant was so appealing, she wanted to reach out and touch it, to run her finger over the slick stem and thick leaves, to feel the life pulsing inside it, the heartbeat of the Schwarzwald.

At the same time, she knew what she was supposed to do.

"We have to tell someone about the vine," she said, surprised at her own reluctance to mention a thing that was, for all intents and purposes, incredibly dangerous.

Wolf nodded. "I suppose if the forest is attempting to cross the river, it makes sense to choose the bridge, but then again, the forest shouldn't be choosing where it wants to spread." He looked at Katja, his amber eyes troubled. "I sense something deeper at work here than just the random growth of plants."

"Me, too," agreed Katja. "Let's go back and tell the Sprechen."

Even as the words left her mouth, her feet stayed where they were, firmly planted on the wooden boards.

"What's wrong?" asked Wolf.

"I don't know," admitted Katja. "It shouldn't be a second thought, much less a question...I know the vine doesn't belong here and it can't mean anything good that the forest is expanding. But once I tell someone, they're going to come out and kill the vine."

For some reason, that thought made her inexplicably sad. "The vine didn't do anything wrong. Why should it be punished?"

Wolf didn't respond, and Katja avoided answering her own question in favor of sighing and repeating, "We have to tell the Sprechen."

As she stared at the vine, a bud pushed its way forward and slowly began to unfold, the edges of the new leaf expanding outwards before curling under, a bright red line running across the emerald green background.

Only with great reluctance was Katja finally able to tear her eyes away from the vine. Forcing herself to turn around, she walked away, feeling the presence of the forest growing dimmer with each step she took towards the castle.

She glanced back over her shoulder one last time before stepping through the doorway into the courtyard, then swallowed down a tangled mass of feelings and questions and headed toward the Sprechen's office.

When she was invited in after a polite knock, she dipped her head in greeting to Sprechen Lorna, a witch with an affinity for understanding the stars who always seemed as if she'd rather be alone on top of the observatory in the dark, telescope in hand.

"I saw something out walking today I thought might be important," began Katja, "given what's been happening with the Schwarzwald."

She told Sprechen Lorna about the vine she'd seen, and the witch inhaled sharply, her attention pulled from the stars and fixed firmly on the land outside the castle.