Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Louis wakes slowly, he finds himself in a copse of trees, laying on a bed of moss. His head is pounding, his back and legs also hurt. Fortunately, he sees his pack only a few feet away. Reaching in, he grabs his travel aid pack; pushing aside the moleskin, band aids, no doz, and his iPod. At the very bottom, he finds his pillbox with the various pain pills for his different pains, grabs his aspirin and swallows it, washing it down with water from his canteen. He does not remember filling his canteen with such fresh water; repacking his small kit, he lies back down. He thinks a little nap will help his head.

An hour passes, Louis’ head feels well enough to get up. Now that he is no longer in pain, he realizes that he is nowhere near where he was attacked. Now on his guard, Louis grabs his pack and rifle, realizing that it is still loaded, though the firing pin is disengaged, and his ammo boxes are still full. Looking around, he sees a natural “doorway” in the copse, climbing through it, he sees that it is almost sundown. He gets his bearings and realizes that he can see the town he was just in, smoke is still rising from the end where the house blew up.

“Sit down, and keep your hands out where they can be seen,” says a small, but threatening voice. Remembering what happened last time he was ambushed, Louis does what he is told with alacrity.

“Who are you?” Louis asks. Then to himself he hums “doo doo, doo doo” Louis hears light footsteps, then a small figure comes in front of him, holding a small knife, and has a small bow over his back. The figure is about four feet tall, thin and dressed in forest tones. He has a mess of light hair, and obviously pointed ears. His face is sort of boyish, it sort of reminds him of Link from that video game that was huge back when he was young. Louis now sees that he is not holding a knife, but actually a double edged sword, and his bow looks very real, and potentially lethal. Louis realizing this, is suddenly light headed, and disbelieving asks, “Are you an,” he pauses and gulps, “elf?”

“You can call me such, the name we use for our kind is much to difficult for you to pronounce untrained in our language. My name is Ch’Tula, which means Bearslayer in your tongue, but you can call me Tula. My people are an ancient race that has lived next to yours for many centuries, which is how we have learned your language. Forces are moving that puts all life in the world in danger, there are many things changing, many creatures are coming out of hiding. Your people think that these animals are extinct or never even existed, but in fact, your ‘mythical’ beasts are just race memory of intelligent beings that withdrew from the world.”

Louis thinks this over for a moment, then asks, “So that thing in town,”

“Was actually a dire tiger, they used to live everywhere in the world, now only a few exist, and those have been hiding in very small enclaves, only leaving to keep the race viable. They are very long lived creatures, but many generations have been born and died since the ‘Great Withdrawal’; my race also participated, but we have stayed close, in case, like something that is happening now, ever came.”

“What is happening now?” Louis asks, he is feeling his headache returning, this time he knows it is from culture shock and general shock.

“An answer for another time, for now, we must protect ourselves, that tiger was hunting me, and you at the end, when I set the house to explode. So for now, follow me.” Tula begins to walk down the hill Louis found him on, confusedly Louis follows, not knowing what else to do, it is not every day you get rescued twice in the same day by an elf.

Once they reached the bottom of the hill, Tula turns away from the town and follows a game trail. Louis noticed that Tula makes no noise walking in the woods, while he is making sounds like an elephant in a brush pile. But after about an hour, well after dark, Tula finally stops at an ancient tree. The tree’s roots have been worn under to make a natural cave; crawling in, Louis sees that Tula or his people, have stocked it with furs, jugs of he assumes is water, dried berries and other natural foods, and several small torches.

“Wow Tula, you planned for everything!” Louis exclaims, he then looks up and sees that the bottom half of the tree is hollow, but not rotten, and hammocks are strung up even with one large enough for him. “Wow!” Louis is now speechless.

“This day has been expected for many generations, we have been watching. Our shamans foresaw this crisis three years ago. In that time, we stocked safe places like this one, moved our young and old to a more safe place, inaccessible even to your technology, and sent out scouts like myself to watch for signs. My clan disappeared while I was gone, no sign of them when I got back. So now, I wander, not unlike yourself. I have been following you for several days, as a matter of fact; it was you fish a few days go that allowed me to find you.” Tula begins to make a fire in the fire pit built off to the side, once it is going, Louis sees that a natural chimney is there to suck the smoke out.

“Did your people build this, or find it like this?” Louis asks.

“Oh, our people have perfected an ancient method to cause trees and other living things to grow as we see fit. Do not ask about details, just think of it in your head as magick, it’s easier that way.”

After this, they just make small talk about places they have seen and the events of today. Then almost at the same time, they decide it is time to sleep, they have a laugh at this, spread the coals of the fire, and climb into their hammocks.

Waking in the morning, Louis and Tula pack as much of the supplies as they can; Louis gives Tula an extra canteen he had, he points out that jars are not very travel safe, but the water is the most valuable thing in this tree. Tula agrees, then gives Louis some rabbit skin that gets shoved into his boots, then Louis puts them on and notices that Dr. Scholl’s could learn a thing or two. Then leaving, the site, they start to move away from the town. Without conversation, they both turn generally southward, they know that they are not equipped for winter travel. Louis starts to ask about Tula’s background. Tula must have sensed this because he just turns his head and says “Not yet.”

As they travel, Louis begins to pick up on some of Tula’s mannerisms; the way he moves like a whisper, the way he can tune in on sounds and identify them as safe or unsafe, and his general woods craft. He realizes that he can not compete with this being in the woods, he just needs to try to keep himself quiet to keep them both safe. But, they have not heard any thing that sounded dangerous, at least Tula has seemed at ease all day.

Stopping for lunch, they have a cold meal, washed down with water. They do not speak, not for any reason than that, there really is nothing to talk about. Moving on after their meal, they turn slightly westward. Louis, alone with his thoughts, as Tula is being very silent, he realizes that his entire life has gone completely wonky. Television, internet, hell even radio, is all gone. He will never have a McDonald’s cheeseburger, no more White Castle, all the beer will be gone or spoiled in a few months. Cars, are now nearly useless, except as raw materials for some sort of building.

As they reach the top of a rise, Louis sees that they have reached a clear area and can see the lay of the land. From his childhood camping trips, he recognizes the Allegheny National forest, seeing the rivers running through it, the virgin forest in the colors of fall; reds, oranges, yellows and browns with the occasional green pine. It is like a northern boys vision of heaven. He is overwhelmed for a moment by all of this and has to stop. Tula looks back and asks, “Are you alright?” genuine concern is showing on his face.

Louis nods and says, “Yes, more than fine, the view is breathtaking. Can we stop here for the night; I would like to take this in.”

“I can’t see why not, it is about time to make camp anyway.”

They make camp, Louis’ small pack tent is still large enough for them both, they hang their boots near the fire to dry the sweat. Tula makes a meal of some dried meat and some fresh vegetation from around where they are. Louis is quite content with the way this day is turning out, he finaly has a companion to share his journey to nowhere with, and Tula, while a complete mystery, is a pleasant companion.

“Now is the time for part of my story,” Tula announces. “first, let’s gather wood so we can have all the time I need to tell it without interruptions.”

After about twenty minutes to gather a large supply of wood, they sit down and Tula takes a long drink. “Now I will begin.”