The Forbidden Forest

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As Nicolas continued on through the dark wood, a foreboding crept into his mind. He paused, but for a moment, to draw strength from his purpose. He was here to find answers and he would not leave until he found them. He had been walking in one direction for days without luck. He hoped he was close to the other side of the woods. He needed to get more supplies before continuing his journey in the forest.

 

Rainette crawled along the branches, gripping them with his sticky fingers and toes. He blended his skin into the color of the bark. Then he waited. Not too long later, a black bird flew up and landed on the branch about two feet from his bulbous eyes. His tounge lashed out, and the bird came in his mouth. He bit two times to kill it, he hated it when prey squirmed around his stomach for fifteen minutes before it died, then swallowed.

A sound from the south made him spring up into the top branches and skittered around the trunk, peeking around it. He saw a two-leg walker coming down one of the paths. It looked cold and lonely and lost, and most importantly, it did not look too dangerous to Rainette.

Two hops later, Rainette was on the ground about ten feet in front of the two-leg walker. He raised himself up on his hind legs and said, "Hello, stranger. What are you doing in the forest?"

 

Nicolas looked at the strange creature. He had never seen anything like it before.

"Are you native to these woods or are thou a fellow adventurer, shapeshifted? If the latter be true, I beg you reconsider your form ere you be eaten by one of the myriad large, carnivorous beasts that inhabit these woods. This place be dangerous for a skilled Drow warrior, let alone a creature as clumsy looking as you."

 

The tree-frog like looking Rainette scratched his hearing membrane with a hand, rubbing some oil around his head at the same time. His skin had blended in with the rocky path by now. "I live here. It's not so dangerous for me. What I eat, and what might eat me, usually can't see me, and if it does, I can hop away into the trees. The question is, what are YOU doing here?"

 

Nicolas thought it best to keep his quest a secret from this strange being.

"The reason I am here is of no importance to you. However, if you could tell me of any nearby ways out, I would find such information most helpful."

 

"Out?" Rainette tried to comprehend what the two-leg walker meant. The forest had no end, as far as he knew. Wait, what about the green fish? They left when they were grown, then came back to breed, and die. They had to go out somewhere. "Yes, I know a way out. Can you swim?"

 

Nicolas looked puzzled. "Yes," he said hesitantly. Nicolas wondered why the creature asked such a thing.

 

"Good, follow me." Rainette turned and started down the path. "I am called Rainette." He started singing a song. "Dee-dee, Reee-gee, dee-dee, donk!"

 

Nicolas ran after the quick, but bumbling creature, yelling questions, but receiving no answers. "Wait, why did you ask if I can swim? Where are you going?"

 

"Dee-dee, Reet-gett, dee-donk, dee-...Stop!" Rainette turned and looked wide eyed at the two-leg walker. "Hide! Quick!" He pushed the small creature into some bushes, then started pushing dried leaves over the two of them. "Be silent!" he warned.

In a few seconds they could hear rustling through the underbrush. Large stomps and breaking branches came nearer. Then sniffling sounds came, close by.

 

Nicolas didn't know what it was, nor did he want to find out. He stayed quiet just as the strange creature had told him to.

 

The sniffing came right above the bushes and stopped. A huge, feathered paw started to part the branches of the bushes. Rainette sprang out of his hiding space.

"BRAAAAKKK! BRAAAAAKKK! BRAAAKK!" Rainette croaked louder than any three foot being had a right to. He hopped across the road and into a tree, still croaking and making sure the owl-bear saw him and started chasing him. He lead the predator on a chase off into the depths of the forest. Leaving the two-legger alone in a bush surrounded by huge paw prints.

 

Nicolas worried about what happened to his hopping friend. He found a piece of bone on the ground. He stood near a the edge of a small swamp. He focused hard on the bone sending water flying upward and then spinning around it. It quickly transformed itself into a blade made entirely of water. The bone was the handle. He ran off in the direction he saw the frog creature leave.

 

Rainette lead the owl-bear off to the bramble pit. Crawling though small tunnels and passageways, he could hear the owl-bear getting more and more tangled up in the briars. They were dangerous, but stupid. He came out the other side, then went up into the canopy of the forest and doubled back to the path. On the way he saw the two-legger coming towards him, carrying a blade made of water. He jumped down to the ground, went up to the two-legger, and sniffed him.

"That's funny, you don't stink so strong to me. I thought that owl-bear wouldn't find us. But then they can smell alot better than I can. I was going to ask how you survived for however long you've been here, smelling like that, but if you know how to use a blade, then maybe that explains it."

 

Finding out that his new friend was safe was a relief to Nicolas. With that thought the water sword came apart and splashed to the ground.

"What do I smell like?", asked Nicolas a little displeased with the comment.

 

Rainette opened his mouth, moved his nostrils closer to the two-legger, and sniffed. "Well, like I said, I didn't smell anything at first, but with more smelling, I detect some dead animal skin smell, some root smell, and some sweat smell. But don't worry, you don't smell like anything I would like to eat."

 

Derek walked through the forest, wondering if the little tree-frog like Rainette was around to entertain him. The wind told him that there was a stranger, a child, in the woods.

 

"That's good... i guess", replied Nicolas. Just then he sensed someone else with them, a person like him. He seemed quite powerful indeed.

 

The wind whispered something to Rainette. "BRAAAKK!! EEP-REEP! DEE-DEET!" He croaked out his territory defending call, hearable by anyone within a mile or so.

"Excuse me," he told the two-legger. "Derek-friend should be here soon. He always has tasty things to eat for me. Maybe he'll have something nice for you to eat too."

 

Derek heard the faint echo of Rainette's call and smiled. He whispered on the wind, "I'm coming and I've got tasty stuff.."