Royal Guard Book 1: The Servant

Chapter 18 - Autumne - Tree Falls in a Forest

I rounded up over a hill, and there it stood, in all of its golden-orange glory. "Je savais que ce serait un chêne." I pushed on forward to the tree's twisted and knotted trunk. It looked like a crouched sleeping elephant, and its lowest branch the trunk: so heavy it dipped down to the forest floor before raising again up to the canopy. All of the surrounding trees bowed to this one.

The forest's Spirit Tree.

I was careful to not step on any of the protruding roots as I walked around to find its face. Marvin quickly scurried down my leg and started collecting as many acorns as he could fit in his baby squirrel cheeks.

<<I just fed you!>> I snatched him back up and placed him gently in my cloak pocket. Marvin did not care, instead he proceeded to try to bury the nuts in the bottom of my pocket. <<You have extremely rude table manners.>>

I traced around to the east side of the trunk, and immediately the air felt different. The moss was dry and grey at my feet. Poisonous crawling vines were sneaking along the rocks, stretching up to the trunk. The canopy was too thin. It let the cold sunlight fall openly on the blackened wound.

It looked like it had been carved out. Like They had been. A gaping hole at least a foot deep into the tree's trunk. Sap still dripped around the edges like blood. It was the perfect size to fit a person.

I squeezed my hands tightly in my cloak. <<The dryad cannot exist without the tree, however the tree can exist without the dryad... Mostly .>> I explained in a hushed tone to Marvin.

Tentatively, I reached out my hand and placed it on the bark just outside the wound. <<You're not quite the person I was planning this for... but...>> I reached into my medicine bag and pulled out the small jar of honey and a couple of tangerines. <<She will just have to share.>> I placed the items on a soft spot of ground and sat down across from the Spirit Tree. I popped open the honey jar and Marvin curiously climbed down to it. <<No, no, no.>> I quickly pulled him away from the jar and instead started peeling the tangerine, which he happily dug into.

I glanced back up at the looming tree. <<Its-it has been one year. Officially today,>> I told the tree. <<It's strange that the date sticks like a birthday now, I almost count down to it. But—anyway. Last year, the ceremony never felt right to me. I know she would have been laughing her head off seeing the big fuss. Therefore!>> I spread my arms out to the tiny pile of offerings which Marvin had already eaten half of.

My eyes flickered back up to the black twisted gash. <<Well, she would have liked it.>> I furrowed my brow at the tree and pulled open my medicine bag. I took my yarrow, chamomile, and wickmere oil and mushed them together. Then I slipped on my white silk gloves and painted the palms. Hands raised up to the Spirit Tree, I cast the spell:

"Bind the bones

Sew the sinuses

Mend the muscles

Return anew"

Performing magic, it feels cool and warm at the same time. A spring breeze tingling through your veins. And, for a second, it's like my heartbeat skips from my chest into my fingertips. And the light glows, inexplicably, out of nowhere, it glows. Just 'cause.

But when the light faded, the dripping black wound was still gaping back at me. My shoulders sank. <<I see, it's not that kind of wound.>>

I slipped back off my gloves and reassembled my kit neatly. Marvin tilted his head at me, shocked out of eating by the display of magic. The little red squirrel scurried up my arm and on top of my head, setting down among my braids. I reached up and lightly scratched his head, looking sadly at the dying tree.