Of Disappearances and Dragons - Complete

Part 4

And then as suddenly as it had begun it was over. It took a few moments before Finn noticed the change but then he slowly raised his head and looked around.

The wind was gone and apart from the small ripples emanating out from the boat the water was as flat and still as glass. And more importantly, they had almost reached Arys Isle.

The coast stretched off in either direction in front of them but there was no obvious town for them to head to, just small houses grouped together in twos and threes overlooking the many sharp, craggy inlets and bays. Finn could see why so many of the sailors had laughed at his request. Their great ships would never have gotten anywhere near the land. They'd have been shredded on the rocks long before this point.

Laris began rowing them into one particularly small bay. Standing watch at the entrance to the bay was one solitary house nestled between rocky outcrops and the base of a cliff. It looked like a desolate spot to live. There wasn't even a proper path between the house and the land beyond the beach, just great sprawling rocks to clamber over. And yet it was to this house that Laris rowed up to, tied up the boat and, after a nod of the head to Finn, went inside.

The movement of the water here was barely perceptible but it was still too much for Finn. He clambered out of the boat as quickly as his trembling limbs would let him and then sprawled out on the rock, thanking the gods he was still alive.

Once he'd recovered Finn pulled the map out of his pack, thankfully it was still dry. It looked like they'd landed at Yarrow Bay which meant he needed to head inland, go straight through The Forest, meet up with the River Malley on the other side and then follow that right across the island where it joined the sea just south of Hawthorne Beach. All going well he should be there by midday tomorrow. Not that he had any idea what he was going to find once he got there. As if on cue the letters on the map began to swarm, rearranging themselves into the now annoying familiar message.

Help me Finn.

"It'd be a whole lot easier to do that if you stopped messing with the map," he muttered as he set off over the rocks.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Finn was unsure if The Forest was so called because it was the only forest to be found on Arys Isle or if there was something particularly significant about this forest but what he did know was that it was dark, damp, seemed to be going on further than he'd expected and was still better than being stuck back in the city.

The path began to head downhill. As he followed it a new sound reached Finn's ears, one which didn't belong there. An unhappy voice. The path opened up into a circular clearing and on the far side was a most comical sight. A short man in a vivid purple suit was jumping up and down in front of one particular tree, waving his arms about and crying out in frustration. On further inspection Finn noticed a purple top hat was caught high up in the top branches of the tree but the man couldn't reach the lower branches even while jumping.

"Can I help you at all," Finn asked, approaching him slowly.

The man spun round breathlessly and Finn realised he barely hit four feet tall. He studied Finn for a moment, or more likely his height, and then broke into a grin.

"Oh could you? Yes please! The tree has got my hat," he replied in strangely lilting accent.

Finn paused for a moment at the peculiarly worded statement and then assessed the tree, looking for the best route up it to the hat. It was strange, there was no breeze to speak of the branches were moving as if there was.

"How did it get up there?" Finn asked as he dropped his pack to the ground and rolled up his sleeves.

He got one foot wedged in the fork of a low branch and pulled himself up.

"I was just walking by minding my own business when the tree took it from me-"

"Sorry, the tree took it from you?" Finn interrupted.

The little man nodded. "Not sure it'll be too happy with you climbing up it either."

Finn had no idea how to respond to that. Clearly the best thing to do was to get the hat and be on his way as quickly as possible before the man started lecturing him that trees had feelings too. He reached up for the next branch but before he could get a decent grip on it the whole tree started waving and flailing as if it was caught in the middle of a storm. None of the others were behaving in the same manner, just this one. And then a branch swung round and hit him in the stomach. He lost his grip completely and fell backwards. Although he wasn't high up he still hit the ground with a sickening thud that knocked all the wind out of him. The tree stopped moving.

"Oh my dear fellow, are you quite alright?" asked the other man, hurrying over to him. "Perhaps I should have warned you the tree was a living tree."