The Forest (Complete Unedited)

The Forest Chapter 10

ALICE'S DREAM

   I'm like the trees now, I sleep through the winter. But unlike them when the deer nibble on the bark I feel it and slap them away. Even in winter I feel snapped branches and torn bark. I can check the situation quickly. If an animal is just passing through I can ignore it.
   When someone is cutting a tree I try to scare them or save the consciousness of the tree with the roots. But more and more stumps are dug out of the earth each year along the edges, getting closer. I draw the roots and stumps deeper into the earth. I send branches out each spring to feed the forest. The leaves need the sunlight.
   The ancient ones help me when they can. Their reactions are slower but they can grow quite fast in spring and summer. My father moves around the forest, I sense him as long as there are roots under the earth. He protects as much he can but after three years he dies near our little cottage. I gather him into the roots of the forest, he joins my mother and sister.
   After this the years blur. Sheep are always eating the leaves. I make the leaves bitter and protect the centre of each tree. They are wide enough. One day an injured pig hides at the centre where I lie. Her blood wakes the trees.
I understand they protect any hurt creature as long as they are not destructive. The blood is like a gift. But they would not accept sacrifices. Only the blood of live creatures given willingly or by accident. The villagers told stories of human sacrifices by druids but this was not true. The trees shared their knowledge with me.
   The pig is dying. But though the trees can only protect it from predators I think I can do more. I cup the pig in a basket of roots, capturing it's blood. Feeling where it's hurt I see a gunshot wound. I use a thin root to pull out the lead ball. I pump the filtered blood back into the wound. Sewing it shut carefully.

~I see, this is how you repair flesh~

~Will this creature become our servant or feed our roots~

~In time we will know~

~We were wise to help you~

   The pig sleeps, it still might die. I feed it with watery sap as the trees had to me. It thrashes about. But it doesn't die. I wait. It wakes after a few days. It seems surprised. It hadn't expected to live. Climbing out of the roots it grunts. The trees say it's thanking them.
   It comes back weeks later to build a pile of sticks and leaves. She knows this place is safe. She delivers eight piglets shortly afterwards. Now she protects this place and then the generations of pigs do so afterwards. Who would guess pigs would become the new servants of the forest.
   Each year piglets born at the centre protected the trees as taught by their mothers. Of course this was good for the pigs too. They loved to eat acorns.

   The trees are happy with me, they allow me more control. Around sixty years have passed. I wonder if my body is getting old beneath the roots.
   Though many are hunted, enough of the pigs survive to protect the trees. Small patches of forest are untouched and I allow them to grow again. In others the trees are like shrubs on the moors.
Other animals come for protection but they are not always saved. Rabbits live among the trees, digging safe burrows. Though they nibble at the small branches. The air from the burrows helps the roots grow stronger.
Even a great stag tries to help. He brings his does here also. In the winter he brings them out of the forest to eat. Later generations gain this habit.
   People rarely come. Less trees are cut. But new saplings rarely survive.
An injured girl approaches. She is guided to the centre. I try to talk to her. But my body can't speak. But it's been so long since I've seen another person. I keep trying, she can't hear me. I strain myself until she turns around.