Cursed Times - Only Yesterday! Sequel to Wattys 2015 winner!

Chapter 38: Trueth - Autumnworld 1

End of last chapter:

A gust of cold wind rushed through the clearing. Miss Fluffy shivered in her mules. 'Can we stop the kaffeeklatsch and get somewhere warm please?'

'I can't imagine these people are going to be overly thrilled, when this hodgepodge assembly arrives in their backyard, ' Myrtle said.

***

The twins had returned from their trees and were greeted by a vociferous reprimand from their parent. From the bored expressions on their faces, they were used to such treatment. Minion-shorts started bouncing up and down on the soles of his feet. 'I'm getting cold man, let's move on.'

Trueth hadn't finished wondering whether she would ever be able to match a pair of shorts with a name when the boys disappeared into the undergrowth. Of which there appeared to be a lot, judging from the shouts of dismay coming from the direction of the bushes. Another cold gust hit Trueth's back.

'This is taking too long.' She strode to the side of the clearing where the teenagers had disappeared, stretched out her hand, drew on her sun-flow and sent a blue ray into the thicket, pulverising some shrubs. First she heard indrawn breaths from the group; then a young voice spoke from the greenery.

'Lady, watch out, you nearly zapped me!' Simpsons-shorts stuck out his head from behind a birch tree at the end of the blackened tunnel of leaves Trueth had created.

'Sorry, couldn't see a thing, I thought you'd gone further. Show me where to point and I'll get rid of that flora for you,' Trueth said.

She felt Myrtle's presence next to her. 'This is a bit too brutal. Let me try, I'm good with plants. And right now I feel like I could take on a whole plantation of them.'

Before Trueth could work out whether there was such a thing as a tree-whisperer, Myrtle went towards the birch, closed her eyes and stretched out her hand. With a soft hushing sound, the twigs, leaves and creepers next to it obediently moved aside, fluttering gently in an invisible breeze.

'This will work,' Seisi said with satisfaction in his voice. 'I'll go ahead with these young ones, reading their mind so that we don't go astray. It isn't far, but I don't like this.'

Without looking once, he pointed to the skies, then joined Myrtle and the boys.

'Let's go,' Trueth said and was moving before she realised what her ingenious companion had just said. Or rather, the way he had said it. However, now was not the time for linguistic considerations, a fine drizzle had started to fall, the leaden skies and rising wind threatened more and worse to come. So Trueth joined the damp and dismal little trek fighting its way through the strangling confines of woods untouched by human presence for what must have been ages.

Myrtle eventually had to be relieved by Daisy, the giftshop girl who was a cousin and equally endowed with the witchfolk's version of green fingers. With a boost from Trueth, she too convinced the forest to let them pass. Her skills did not, however, protect them from the steady rain that was falling, dripping from leaf to leaf and into the moss, rebounding scents of mushrooms and rotting leaves as well as soaking everybody to the bones. To further enhance the experience, a fine mist had risen, which was sending spidery tendrils into the gloom.

Another knotted tangle of ivy, elderberry and hazel bent out of the way, and suddenly they hit another clearing. Man-made this time, the opening displayed half-submerged cobblestones scattered on the ground, forming a track that lead towards a little village with thatched Tudor houses huddling on both sides of the street. A faint ripple in the air ahead of them indicated the veil the boys had detected earlier. Everything behind the magical barrier—houses, streets, carts and a green patch of grass complete with pond—was in pristine condition, as if bubble-wrapped by magic. The stones on their side of the veil, however, were covered in lichen, untrodden for centuries, sad reminders of human mortality... .