Melina had been correct. It did not take long for Corin and Nanaua to leave Seingen once again. By the next day they were on the road once more.

  Now they followed the Lancang river heading northwest. This direction was one that neither Corin or Nanaua were familiar with. Rarely had they ventured north of Seingen. On the rare occasions they had traveled in that direction they had never made contact with other furtives.

  Corin, tired of the snow and the cold weather, did not even concern himself with the blistering wind. There was only one thing he wanted to know about.

  “What can you tell us about this Onsiel?” Corin asked.

  “Aside from his physical features there is not a lot we know about this furtive.” Ciana began.

  Ciana, unlike Corin, did not seem to be bothered in the slightest by the cold weather. She trailed a path that both Corin and Nanaua followed, leading them toward her home.

  “The furtive is not large in stature, he is only slightly taller than you.” She began. “He is very pale and slim. He did not seem to have any propensity for violence. He told us his name was Neles and said that he did not have a home he could go to. Beyond that he was quiet and was more interested in observing the various tasks the different forest elves were doing.”

  “Did you know then that he was an Onsiel?” Nanaua asked.

  “We knew that this furtive was unique, but we did not know the specifics.” Ciana said. “None from our thicket had ever come across an Onsiel, we did not know what he was. But we did not feel any evil intent from this furtive so we did not deem it an issue. It was only once the Seidr approached that Neles lost his composure.”

  “The entire thicket prepared to flee but Neles was paralyzed by fear. As we tried to get him to come with us we were beset by the Seidr quickly. Once we were certain of our doom was when Neles reacted. He launched a large ball of fire at the Seidr, destroying him in an instant. After this incident, Neles changed. We reached out to the trees for guidance and we were told of Onsiels and of your group. The trees let us know where we could find you.”

  “This Onsiel, did he say if he was a messenger of Jokasta?” Nanaua asked.

  “A messenger of Jokasta?” Ciana replied with confusion.

  “You don't know of Jokastan messengers?” Corin asked, perplexed. He felt a sudden tinge of hope arise.

  “No.” Ciana replied. “As I mentioned we rarely interact with furtives outside our thicket. Even communicating with other thickets is a time consuming endeavor for us.”

  Corin and Nanaua exchanged looks.

  “Who is this Jokasta?” Ciana asked.

  “The Goddess of the Furtives.” Corin replied.

  This made Ciana stop. “A furtive Goddess?”

  “Yes.” Nanaua replied.

  If Ciana had any doubts about the duo she had not shown them until now. From her expression it was clear she did not believe what was being stated.

  “The history of our thicket can be traced back through many millennia. Never in our history has there been mention of a furtive Goddess.” Ciana added. “What kind of nonsense is this?”

  “It sounds hard to believe but it's the truth.” Corin said. “All the furtives in Seingen have seen firsthand Jokastan messengers. Each of these messengers possessed a prowess unlike that of any regular furtive. Strength that could rival a Giant’s, powered flight unlike anything that a sparrowling could accomplish, the ability to move through water beyond what a siren should be able to do.”

  “Onsiels with magical abilities?” Ciana asked as well.

  “Yes. We have heard firsthand of many Onsiels, not just our friend.” Corin replied. “Onsiels are an anomaly, normally only one of them could walk this world. But now there seem to be many of them, each incredibly powerful themselves.”

  “But if there are all these messengers, where is this Goddess?” Ciana asked. “Have any of the furtives in your village seen her?”

  Corin hesitated.

  “No, only the messengers have shown themselves. She had never shown herself to the others.” He replied.

  It was the truth.

  Ciana was silent.

  “When we spoke to the trees we were told that there could only be one Onsiel at any given moment in the entire world.” Ciana continued. “The trees told us that a thicket met this Onsiel not long ago, a female human. But that is not who we encountered. The trees have never been wrong.”

  Ciana paused and looked back at Corin and Nanaua.

  “But the trees let us know that changes are happening. They spoke to us of Titans retreating, of furtive villages disappearing overnight, of strange sights. Things that in the millennia they have been alive they had never seen. It seems this Jokasta is the reason for this.” She said as she stared at her companions.

  “What you have explained, what the trees have seen, it is also what we have seen. You would be right to presume that these strange occurrences are tied to Jokastan schemes.” Nanaua replied.

  “You speak of the others in the village and their encounters with these messengers. Yet you have not mentioned any such encounters yourself. And I cannot help but notice that you are no longer accompanied by the female Onsiel.” Ciana replied.

  “We ourselves have not encountered Jokastan messengers. Our paths separated from that of the Onsiel before we came to Seingen.” Nanaua replied.

  Ciana was silent now. She understood that neither Corin nor Nanaua would speak more on the subject.

  “You two speak less than the trees.” Ciana finally broke the silence.

  Corin and Nanaua did not reply. The wind continued howling.

  “When the trees spoke to us they told us the Onsiel and her allies were on a unique mission.” Ciana stated. “One with the aim of finding an artifact that would help them fight against the Titans.”

  “That is correct.” Nanaua replied. “When we encountered the thicket the Onsiel was with us. And we were searching for an artifact to help fight against the Titans. But much has happened since then and we parted ways with the Onsiel. This Neles you speak of is as much a mystery to us as he is to you. But if we meet him we might be able to learn more about him, and how it was that he came across his magical abilities. Until then all we can do is speculate.”

  “Of course. I assume much will become clearer when we encounter Neles once more.” Ciana said as she turned around and continued walking.

  Ciana led Nanaua and Corin up the Lancang River. The forest elf was not much for further conversation.

  Corin and Nanaua followed Ciana for several days. They had left the Lancang river and were now in a forest surrounded by large fir trees. The trees were larger than anything Corin had ever seen. Some of them were several times wider than he was.

  “Is this the forest of tall trees?” Corin asked Ciana.

  Ciana stopped and turned to him.

  “Is that a serious question?” She replied.

  Corin looked around him. All he could see was a vast white carpet in every direction and massive trees shooting from the ground. He could not distinguish north, south, east, or west. All he could tell was whether it was daytime or not.

  “I guess that is a silly question. I just thought I would have noticed when we entered the forest of tall trees.” He said.

  Ciana looked surprised. She seemed to catch onto something that Corin did not.

  “This is not the forest of tall trees.” She emphasized. “We are still days away from reaching it.”

  Corin once again looked around him. The revelation from Ciana only laid bare how little he really knew of the world around him.

  “Of course this isn't the forest of tall trees.” He muttered.

  “I have to search for sunlight.” Ciana said. “I shall meet with you here near the end of the day.”

  With that Ciana departed. This had become her routine manner of letting Corin and Nanaua know that the day was nearing an end and that they should prepare a camp.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Nanaua began to set up the camp. Corin prepared to hunt. He grabbed his bow and followed the path they had been on. Corin had learned what to hunt in the area thanks to Ciana.

  “The reindeer will be your best source of sustenance.” She had told them early into their travels unprompted. “They are large pack animals and will require precision to take down. They roamed these forests in greater numbers in the recent past, but that is not the case now. You must make sure your aim is accurate for they are formidable creatures.”

  As he followed the trail all he could see were endless rows of tree trunks and a wide white carpet, but closer inspection revealed details that were easy to miss.

  Some of these were small holes dug in the large snow drifts. Corin had seen little animals poke their heads out of them on rare occasions. But these were too small to be of sustenance. There were also randomly placed large snow banks. At first Corin assumed these were some sort of snow golem waiting to attack. The truth was much more mundane. They were large boulders covered in snow.

  Then there were the alleys that had been carved out, like the one Corin was on. These seemed so natural that one would think that snow fell in such a pattern. But that was not the case. All creatures that traversed this snowy forest decided to take the path of least resistance and as such followed the same trail. Corin searched for potential game along this path.

  Soon he spotted tracks and followed them down into the densely packed snow. All Corin focused on now was the prints in front of him. It did not take long for them to lead to his target. He found a herd of the large animals. They had not noticed him. He aimed and let loose.

  When his arrow hit its target it caused a stir in the herd and the animals fled, all save one. Corin approached the fresh kill. The animal was much too large for him to bring back to their camp, so he cleaned the animal and took as much meat as he could.

  Corin walked back to the camp trying to focus on the food he was about to prepare, but his mind could not stop churning. Throughout the entire hunt, no throughout the entire time they had been traveling there had been something that he had been struggling with.

  Corin was now tending to the fire, trying to get it started before cooking the meat. He used a stick to move various embers around a campfire.

  Ciana is correct. It should not be possible for another Onsiel to be roaming about. But how is it possible?

  Did he meet Jokasta?

  But how is it possible that he is by himself?

  “Corin.” A voice called to him.

  “What?” He replied still half in his thoughts.

  “Were you planning on cooking?” Nanaua asked him.

  Corin looked to his side. Next to him on the snowy blanket covering lay the fresh meat. Corin had been so lost in his thoughts that he had forgotten what exactly he had been doing.

  “I just don't understand.” He began as he prepared the food.

  Nanaua looked at him and then around them.

  All around what could be seen were large firs towering over them in all directions.

  “I agree.” Nanaua replied.

  Corin understood. Even without Ciana they were not truly alone. From the moment they entered this forest every word they said, every action they took, everything they did was noted. They had to be careful of what they said.

  Corin and Nanaua ate.

  “What a unique taste.” Nanaua commented after taking a bite.

  Corin stopped before taking a bite.

  “Do you not like it?” He asked.

  “No that is not it.” She followed up carefully choosing her words. “I just meant to say that, well I do not recall eating meat with such, how should I say flavor before.”

  Oh no. She hates it.

  “I'm sorry, I will try different spices next time.” He began. “I think if I grind up some of the pepper I found in the area, I-”

  HOWL!

  Corin and Nanaua both turned their heads toward the source of the sound.

  Nanaua stood up with her weapon.

  “Is that where Ciana went to?” She asked.

  “I don't know.” He replied.

  Ciana would weave in and out of the forest as if she was one with it.

  HOWL!

  Nanaua did not wait. She hurried toward the sound of distress.

  Corin picked his blade and followed behind her.

  Traversing through the thick layers of snow exhausted Corin. Each step required him to raise his leg much higher than a natural gait. Nanaua plowed through the snow much easier than he could. Corin gasped for air.

  HOWL!

  “Argh damnit!” He said as he pushed through the snow.

  They ran until a clearing lay ahead of them. There at the center they saw the source of the commotion.

  HOWL!

  A large grey wolf howled in desperation as it struggled to free itself from the clutches of a large ice creature.

  “Is that a golem?” Corin yelled.

  Nanaua did not care for what the creature was. She ran at it and slashed across it shattering it into many pieces.

  Corin ran next to Nanaua as she stood over the helpless creature. Corin could see that one of its legs was curled up. It seemed the wolf had been injured by the frost golem.

  “This was the reason you made so much noise?” Nanaua said out loud as she kicked the remaining ice to the side.

  HOWL!

  The wolf howled again and stared in terror behind Nanaua and Corin.

  Corin turned around. A row of the ice creatures had formed. He could see around ten of the creatures standing at the far end of the open snowy field. He had not seen them there only moments ago.

  “What is going on?” He yelled.

  “Action now. Questions later.” Nanaua replied as she calmly raised her pike. She walked towards the row of the ice creatures.

  The first one roared and lunged at her. Nanaua easily sidestepped the large creature and followed with her own attack. Unlike the creature she did not miss. Her pike moved meticulously through the air; there was no wasted effort in her attack. Where once there stood a large ice creature, now the air shone with thousands of ice crystals.

  The other creatures all began to circle Nanaua. Corin ran towards her. This did not deter her in any way. Around her he could see the dance of her pike as it swung from side to side leaving large clouds of ice crystals in her wake.

  As Corin neared her he saw one of the creatures that stood behind her raise a sharp appendage at her. He ran the creature straight through with his blade, upon pulling his blade from the creature it exploded leaving behind only a large cloud of ice crystals.

  From the corner of his eye Corin saw a large blade of ice swinging down upon him. He moved back and the ice blade cut through the air. Corin stabbed the creature straight through and pulled the blade sideways, shattering the creature in the process.

  He looked ahead of him to see one last spray of ice crystals and Nanaua standing alone, pike in hand. She studied the field around them.

  “Do you see any more?” He asked her as he scanned the open field.

  There was nothing that he could see.

  “Sadly that seems to have been the last of them.” She mused.

  She turned towards the wounded animal and the two of them walked to it. The wolf upon seeing them attempted to run away but could not move.

  Nanaua said nothing and handed Corin her pike.

  “Ugh.” He replied as he held on to the heavy weapon. Even after many hours spent training with it, it was a struggle to hold it.

  Corin looked at the animal from a distance. It was a large animal. He had seen coyotes and other canines before but this wolf was larger. He had never seen a gray wolf before, he had only heard about them. Its eyes were a deep yellow and it focused them intently on Nanaua as she neared it. Near its chest Corin saw a tuft of fur caked in blood. Nanaua knelt in front of the creature as she studied it. As she neared the creature it snarled in response to her baring its teeth at her and growling lowly.

  “Bah, quiet your snarl.” She told the animal. She raised her hands to show them to the wounded animal.

  “I mean you no harm noble creature. If I wanted to harm you I would have done so already.” She added.

  The animal studied Nanaua and stopped snarling. It moved its head to the side to avoid looking directly at Nanaua.

  “Corin, do we have any dried meats?” Nanaua said without breaking eye contact from the animal.

  “Do we?” He replied. “Don't you have some?”

  “I was hungry earlier. Come now and don't deny this noble beast sustenance.” She obliged him.

  Corin gave Nanaua what she asked. She held out the meat and the wolf turned its head. In one fell swoop it snatched the food from Nanaua's hand and began chewing on it.

  “This creature must be hungry.” Nanaua said as she petted the wolf. The wolf did not react to Nanaua and only focused on eating the food.

  “We should have enough food for it, back in the camp.” She said.

  “You want to bring it with us?” Corin asked.

  “Leaving it here is to leave it to its death. If I can help this creature I will.” She replied.

  “Fine.” Corin sighed. He knew he was not going to convince Nanaua otherwise. He would also have to return to the carcass of the reindeer for more meat.

  “I shall pick you up and bring you to our camp.” Nanaua spoke to the wolf.

  The wolf eyed Nanaua with suspicion.

  “Corin more meat.” She asked.

  “What I don't-” he began but was cut off.

  “Come now Corin, I know you still have at least two more rations worth.” She said as she held out her hand.

  Corin obliged, handing her the meat. She gave the food to the wolf and petted it. After the wolf finished its meal, it licked Nanaua's hand.

  Nanaua moved to pick up the wolf and it began to snarl.

  “Hush now creature, I only aim to help.” Nanaua said as she picked up the creature.

  She draped it over her shoulders and began walking.

  “Come Corin.” She said. “Lead us back to camp, for I don't know the path back.”

  Corin agreed. He followed the tracks they had left and soon enough found the smoke emanating from the fire they had left.

  As they arrived at camp Ciana awaited them, she did not exhibit any surprise at their appearance or about the wolf they brought. Nanaua placed the injured wolf near the fire and began to tear bits of meat for it to eat.

  Without prompting Ciana began to tend to the wolf’s injured leg.

  “I assume you are aware of what we encountered.” Corin said out loud.

  Ciana, Nanaua and the wolf all turned to face him.

  “Of course I know.” Ciana mentioned. “The ice golems have become quite the nuisance around here since the frost Giant, Bitiu left.”

  “You didn't think of warning us?” He replied.

  “I knew that if you crossed paths they would be no trouble for you two.” She said as she turned back to the wolf to tend to its wounds.

  The wolf snarled as Ciana applied a salve to its body.

  “Hush warrior, save your strength for later.” Nanaua spoke to the wolf.

  “A warning would have been helpful!” Corin replied.

  “Corin is correct.” Nanaua chimed in. “I too would like to know where these Golems may be so as to test my skill against them.”

  Ciana did not bother replying to Nanaua.

  “No Nanaua, that is not what I was trying to say.” Corin added, sounding defeated.

  “The truth is I wanted to see how you would react to the sound of a creature in distress.” Ciana replied. “I had exhausted my ability to learn of my companions through words, actions were my only alternative.”

  Corin was silent as he heard Ciana. It was clear she didn't trust them. Corin wished it wasn't this way, but they could not divulge the truth. He wasn't prepared to do so, to speak openly of what he had let loose unwittingly into the world.

  “The wolf howled as it was being chased, but none of its kin came to help. Do you know why that is?” Corin asked.

  “He, like the other animals of this forest, are being slowly driven out or killed by Bitiu’s abandoned Golems. His kin have either died or left the forest altogether. He might be the last gray wolf left in this forest.” Ciana replied.

  “Of course.” Corin muttered. He stared at the large canine.

  He felt a mixture of foolishness and guilt.

  Even animals like these are suffering because of our actions.

  “He will be fine.” Ciana said after tending to the wolf. “By morning he will be able to walk under his own power.”

  “Does he have a name?” Nanaua asked Ciana.

  Ciana turned to look at Nanaua.

  “Kaha.” She said as she smiled.

  Night was fully upon them now. Corin could hear Nanaua's low rumbling snore, while the wolf lay near her. Corin got up and walked to a nearby clearing. Here he could look above the cover of the trees. There was not a single cloud in the sky, and it was a moonless night. All that Corin could see were countless stars in the night. As he looked he remembered when he and Livia would look at the stars. There had been a period of time when Livia had been obsessed with the night sky. She had made note of many different stars and would track them throughout the year. She had noticed patterns in their movement and was convinced that these lights must be following some sort of set path.

  He remembered one of their earliest conversations.

  “You see those three stars over there?” Livia pointed out to Corin. “The ones that form what looks like a belt?”

  Corin looked and found what Livia was referring to.

  “What of it?” He replied.

  “If I remember correctly those three stars were higher in the sky during winter time.” Livia told Corin.

  Corin looked at the trio of stars. He had seen them countless times and had never bothered to think about their placement.

  But now he looked at them. Just like she had mentioned to him the belt of stars were higher up in the sky.

  He smirked.

  “Of course you're right Livia.” He said.

  He quietly went back to his bed. Nanaua and the young wolf both snored in tandem. Sleep came easily to Corin now.

  ***

  Corin stood on the edge of a frozen river. He had covered his entire body in cloth yet the cold whipped at him as if he was barely clothed. The only part of his body uncovered were his eyes.

  Unlike him, Nanaua, Ciana and Kaha did not seem as bothered by the cold.

  Kaha had refused to leave Nanaua's side from the moment they had departed the camp. Corin had tried to encourage Kaha to return to the forest, but the wolf did not pay him much attention. Nanaua on the other hand put little effort into trying to dissuade Kaha from following them. She kept handing Kaha meat whenever they stopped at a camp.

  On the edge of the river in the distance Corin saw something that confused him. He tried to make sense of it but was struggling to.

  “Are those mountains?” He asked.

  In the distance he saw large structures erupt from the ground. They were as tall as mountains but did not cover the same amount of terrain. Yet they were still very wide, wider than most Giants Corin had come across.

  “That is the forest of tall trees.” Ciana mentioned.