The Mist of Moningsbury

Chapter Eleven

Basil's car squelched into the muddy carpark. Only two other cars occupied it, presumably dog walkers. Suzan climbed out the car and surveyed her surroundings, donned in a yellow coat and wellies. Trees. There were trees everywhere, many towering high into the clear sky that you couldn't see beyond them. A couple of gravel paths entered their depths. One was straight and wide, obviously the main route. The other, tucked to the side of the carpark, wound away out of sight almost immediately.

Basil, putting on his rucksack, headed for the main path. "Come on then. Let's get this over with."

"Wait a moment Bas." Suzan called out. She was looking at the smaller path. A feeling crawled over her skin, forming into an uncertain hunch.

Basil stopped in his tracks and wheeled around to face her. "Please don't ever call me 'Bas' again. My name has two syllables, no less." He caught sight of where she was looking. "I'd rather not go down there. The main path is far more interesting."

"A cockatrice is not going to live near a busy path."

"That path is also busy."

"With who? There's like, two other cars here."

"Well, it can get busy."

"Oh, don't be such a wimp Basil. I'm going this way." With that, Suzan strode off down the winding path.

With an exasperated huff, Basil followed.

As they set off, bright sunlight filtered through the canopy of the forest. The gravel crunched in a satisfying way under their feet and the birds made happy chirping noises above their heads. Suzan caught sight of dens and wigwams made in the wide, spacious areas between the trees, ferns crawling into the gaps beside them.

Basil ran his hands along the cow parsley that grew beside the track. Suzan heard him murmur, "I do like wild flowers. They hold their own, special kind of beauty don't they."

"Yeah." Suzan replied quietly. She had never really thought about it before.

The two of them did not talk much as they walked. And they walked a good deal, turning off down every narrow path Suzan had a hunch about and the occasional path Basil insisted they go down because their current path led to a dead end. Or so Basil claimed. Suzan reckoned he was finally getting into the spirit of things and secretly wanted to find the creature too.

By now they were no longer walking on gravel but the dusty, hardened soil of the earth. Vegetation brushed and embraced them from either side. The canopy above them had become an almost impenetrable roof, the trees so close together that the forest had become dense and dark.

"Birds." Basil broke the silence.

Suzan turned around to hush him, "Shh. We must be close now. What about birds?" she whispered.

"I can't hear any."

It was getting harder to see in the dim lighting, but Suzan thought he looked worried. 'Perhaps we really are getting close.' She thought. She could see a brighter patch of woodland up ahead.

The closer they got, the more she felt certain. The bright patch up ahead became a clearing. The closer they got, the stronger the feeling became in Suzan's gut. The trees surrounding the clearing were lifeless. Some on the verge of collapse. In the clearing itself a few stumps and trunks remained. There was no vegetation inside the circle of light ahead, no insects clambered over the rotting wood. Even the sunlight had lost its brilliance, touching bare and empty ground. Ground that was devoid of grass and flowers. Suzan even noticed a small mouse-like skeleton hidden beside a fallen trunk, not a single scrap of flesh left upon the tiny bones.

They crouched at the edge of the clearing atop a small slope that tumbled down into the little barren landscape.

"This must be it." Suzan whispered.

"That or this area has suffered some kind of disease." Basil whispered back.

"This doesn't look like anything a disease could do."

Basil was inclined to agree with her, not that he was going to say so.

"Please can you take a photo? I just realised I left my phone in the car." Suzan asked.

"Sure." Basil said, "But why do you need a photo?"

"So I can use it to plan a trap without getting killed."

He rolled his eyes, "oh, right."

He pulled out his phone while Suzan stared intently ahead to where an increasingly loud rustling noise came from.

Basil cursed at his phone, too preoccupied to notice the noise. "Why won't it swipe?"

Suzan suddenly clutched at his arm.

"Ow! Do you have to do tha-"

Her hand swiftly clamped hard over his mouth. He looked up. Below them in the clearing a creature had emerged from further down the slope. Suzan assumed there must be some kind of burrow beneath them. It had its back to them, showing a scaly pronged tail being held just above the ground. The dark, glittering scales rose to a pair of wings, stretching out in the daylight as if the creature had just rolled out of bed. Above the wings, the scales became hidden by a mass of red and green feathers that adorned a rather small head. A head that was now slowly turning towards them.

"Run, RUN!" Suzan yelled, yanking Basil to his feet and sprinting back into the darkness. She could hear it coming after them, the thud of two small feet and wings slapping against the ferns. An ominous, loud screech reverberated through the trees. She kept on running, her gasps for air quickly becoming louder and more ragged. She was vaguely aware of Basil yelling "Not that way" but she was too focused on running to listen. Her feet pounded on the dry earth. Her heart thumped in her ears. Her lungs were burning. It was a while before she realised she could no longer hear any pursuit. Not risking a glance behind, she cautiously slowed her pace from a frantic pelting to a more gentle jog. She could hear a few birds singing over her gasps. Eventually, she dared to stop and turn around. Nothing. Taking in deep, ragged breaths she sank to her knees. It wasn't there anymore. She had escaped.

Basil wasn't there either.

"Er, Basil?" she called out, once she had regained some breath. She could feel her panic start to rise again. "Basil?!" No response.

"It's fine." She told herself. "It's fine. Just follow the path back." Except, was this one of the paths they had come by? She wasn't sure. 'If I follow it anyway, It's bound to lead somewhere.' She reasoned. So thinking, she straightened herself up, took a deep breath and set off.