Poor Trees

Luna

When my master led me into the horse stables, I thought, "of course! What better place to have a hideout that no one else knew about than in the stables." (I mean, most people preferred their horses when they were outside, looking prim and proper and ready for a ride, not when they were here, reeking of hay, and well, horse. You would understand if I don't want to go into details about what the 'horse' part means. Not that I minded horses, I mean, I did stop by with Lea for a quick greeting.) Then, he had continued right on to the last stable and pushed in. I had hesitated, wondering if my master had meant horse fundament when he mentioned a hideout. Then, he had walked over to the wall and pushed a door open. I had been so shocked, I had gotten a mini vertigo. Sure, I hadn't really been a frequent visitor of the stables but I had taken in the compartment after he went in and could have sworn the door hadn't been there a second before.

"You coming?" He had called, extending his arm which was when I was realized I was still outside, standing transfixed. I had rocked on my feet for a moment, considering how wise it was to follow a man into a mystery door in the stable but my curiosity soon won over as I walked over and grabbed his arm. He led me in and whispered a, "don't freak out," before shutting the door and plunging this place into almost complete darkness, the only light coming from some tiny openings some distance to the front. He pulled me along. I figured that he saw better now with his wolf but I wondered how he had managed before now. I usually had a good sense of direction but even I was finding it difficult to maintain my balance but it probably had to do with my fear of tight spaces. I whimpered as this place seemed to be closing in on me. I kicked against something and yelped as I scooted closer to Indrik. He seemed to understand my panic as he tightened his grip on my arm and wrapped his other arm around my shoulder. "Just a couple more feet." He whispered reassuringly. I didn't feel reassured. Every second in here felt like an eternity. I knew my fear was ridiculous, I mean I had done worse things, like work in 'The Haven' where everyone was a beast and poison Indrik which got me in a whole lot of trouble. Compared to them, this place should have been a walk in the park but it didn't make me feel any better. Fear, they say, has no shame.

It seemed like an eternity later when Indrik pushed another door open and we stepped out in the open. I stumbled out and doubled over, trying my best to regain my breath. I had waved Indrik off when he tried to help. It was bad enough to have him know about my fear. I couldn't bear any sympathies. It took a moment but finally, colour started to return to my face and I finally got the strength to stand straight. A gasp escaped me almost immediately as I pulled at the dirt that had clung to my face and stumbled forward. Turning around, my mouth opened so wide, I was surprised it didn't fall right off. Speaking of falling off, I barely managed to escape a green slithery thing that dropped right before me. For a moment, I feared that it was a snake and nearly screamed. Luckily, I managed to kill the scream in my throat as I realized that it was nothing more than a green plant that had probably been pulled free on my way out.

With that out of the picture, I turned my attention to my surroundings once again. I had never once thought about the final wall of the palace that I had never seen but now that I saw it, I couldn't help marvelling about it. Obviously, it had been abandoned for what seemed like an eternity with the white paint growing green moss in places where the paint was not peeling off. The massive walls still towered over us but they seemed to have lost whatever made the other walls look impressive, so, that was not what made me so entranced. What got me so excited was the wall of trees standing a couple of feet away from us. Having lived in a world where humans were cleaning out nature as fast as they could and then in a world of wolves where nature lived side by side with them, seeing this place where nature reigned supreme without being controlled by other not so 'naturely' children of hers felt rather surreal and ethereal.

I took in the brown barks which rose to what I reasoned would be around twenty to thirty feet where they were crowned with green wreathed branches that grew so thickly into each other, I was certain that nothing could be seen of this place from above. It seemed like the trees had decided to keep whatever their treasures were away from prying eyes. On the ground, the trees grew to a breadth of about six feet and also drew so tightly together on rows to the sides and back that it was impossible to see, much less go into the grove of trees. Something told me to get Indrik away from here before he could damage the trees after all, that was what his kind did best. Another voice dissuaded me. Indrik had known this place for only the goddess knew how long yet he had never once exposed it to the others. Surely, someone like that could be trusted with nature. My apprehension spiked as he turned to me.

"How would you like to visit my lair?" He asked, making me wonder what he had done to the poor trees.