This is a longer chapter, and if anyone finds a spelling mistake please let me know!

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The air is full of mist, it smells musty and dry, like dust in my nose. The mist feels thick, I can feel it between every finger. I think I’ve been here before… the forest. The trees are dark I can’t see a thing.

“Mama? Father?….Kye?!” I get a bit louder with each word but the sound doesn’t seem to travel far from my mouth. The thick mist seemingly swallowing my voice. “I’m scared….” I can feel tears welling up in my eyes, it’s hard enough to see without the blur of tears in my sight. I wipe them away. A shadow races past beside me at a small distance. I try to look around but I can’t see anything, my hands are sweating but I feel a chill wash over me. This is wrong, all of it feels wrong.

I feel the stale air part behind my ear, I’m too afraid to look…. Long fingers like sticks touch my face. A shrill bark pierces my ears and the mist is gone in an instant, the fingers scratch my cheek as it all vanishes around me.

Dizziness blurs my eyes, ears ring, nothing…

Kye’s wet tongue wakes me, I’m in my bed.

Mama and father stare at me faces wet from tears.

“What happened? Did Kye wake you again? I’m sorry, I had a bad nightmare again.” I felt embarrassed, Kye always woke them with his barking when I have bad dreams.

“Can you tell us what you remember, honey?” Mamas voice was quiet and shaky.

I explain the dream, reach up to touch my cheek…

There was a scratch, it hurts. “It was real…” I whispered to myself.

“I don’t understand.” I look at my parents in disbelief.

“I stayed up all night, I couldn’t sleep after what happened coming home, hearing Bakir’s voice rattled me.” Father was calm but clearly upset as he explained. “One moment you were here in bed, the next, Kye is frantically ripping the door open.”

Looking over, I see that our front door is shredded in half, shards of wood scattered the floor. Father continued.

“You weren’t there anymore, and by the time I got up to open the door, Kye was out and already climbing the gates. I rushed behind, remembering what had happened before when you were younger. I had hoped it would never happen again…” fathers voice cracked, holding back tears. He reached over and grabbed mamas hand and held it tight.

“The guards said they saw Kye run into the forest, we all heard an absolutely horrific bark, if you can even call it that. The fog seemed to just vanish, and here you were lain on your dog’s back, racing back home.”

“Where is he??” I said panicked, realizing he wasn’t next to my bed.

“He’s with the healer.” Mama said, that silken voice was always a reassurance, her golden hands grasped mine, “he’s going to be ok, but he had some pretty big gashes on his hind leg and back. You can go see him if you like, I’m sure the sunshine will do us all some good.”

The walk to the healers wasn’t far, just a few doors down. Father went to the lumber mill to get supplies to fix our door. And mama and I walked together to see Kye.

People stared at us like we had a sickness. “This is why I hate leaving the house, everyone always treats me like I’m a disease…” mama tried to cover her skin as much as she could, I don’t know how anyone could look at her and not see beauty. My mother shimmered golden from head to toe, even her eyes. But as I said, this town doesn’t like outsiders, even if you grew up here and just look different. That’s why I don’t have any friends, I’m a mix of my father, a native to Thorn, and my mama, born here in Thorn but native to Grantin. My skin is a dull green, like the brush in the tundra. Eyes like stone with flecks of gold and blue. I was an oddity among oddities. Having a strange giant dog didn’t help me fit in, but I never wanted to fit in, the people in this town were cold.

We knocked, and Mata opened the door. She was always very kind to us.

“Hello Irrin family, always nice to see you!” Mata said with a chipper disposition.

“How is he?? Can I see him?” I blurted out. I didn’t mean to but I just needed to know he was alright.

“He will be fine, Finn, he just needs some rest, go on in the back room there and get him. He’s been impatiently waiting for you!” She let out a chuckle.

As I walked back, their voices turned to muffled whispers, I know they were talking about me.

“Kye? You in here buddy?” I said while opening the door.

Before I knew it I was on the ground, Kye licking my face so much I couldn’t breath past his giant tongue and excessive slobber, but boy was I happy to see him!

He pulls me to my feet as I hug his neck and burry my face in his soft coat.

“You’re such a good boy.” Words muffled as I fully stand and remove my face from his fur. As I stand I see huge stripes of fur missing from his back but the skin was healed.

“What?…” I whispered to myself, thoroughly confused. “Come on, boy.” I motion my hand to have him follow, though he would have followed me without prompt.

Mama and the healer were chatting over the apothecary table in the corner behind the front counter. A really beautiful shop, fresh bundles of herbs hung all over to dry, small glass jars neatly lined and organized on shelves along the walls, it smells lovely in here. Almost like, honeysuckle and lilac, with a bit of cedar. Sounds odd I guess but, it has a comforting smell.

“So Viranee, how’s the inn going lately?”

Mata didn’t look up from the table, she was crushing some herbs with her moonstone mortar and pestle. She always used that one when making teas for me when I’m sick. She has others, but I’ve never seen them used. From wood to crystal, she has one of every material it seems.

“The inn? Gosh, it’s been so slow. I think we’ve only had one or two travelers stay in the past few cycles. But it is still warmer out, most people would rather camp then spend their coin, you know?” Mama let out a disappointed sigh. She dreamed of owning an inn, and now there’s hardly any business. I know it puts some stress on her. But I’m sure business will pick up again in the winter.

“Mata?…” I slowly walked up next to mama with Kye trailing behind, he was tired I could tell.

Mata stopped what she was doing to look at me, crystalline blue eyes sparkled in the candle light.

“Let me see that scratch…” she said before I could ask her my question.

She leaned in and grabbed my face.

“Hmmm, where did you get this?” She asked, curiously.

“I’m not sure what it was. But, I think it… well it looked like a hand, but it was also like the branch of a tree?” She stopped inspecting my wound to look me in the eyes with concern, then looked at mama.

“I…I thought it was a dream.” I said, I felt like I had done something bad, as if I were about to be scolded.

Mata quickly turned to her herb shelves looking through the jars as fast as she could. Grabbing a couple here and there. With her arms full she set the jars down on the counter. She then turned and grabbed a black mortar and pestle from the furthest corner, it was covered in a velvet cloth.

“We need to hurry Vira.” Mata said calmly but with sternness. Mama looked panicked,

“What do I need to do?” She asked as she went to Mata’s side. Not much was said besides the occasional mumble, the shuffling of quick movements, and the crunching of herbs in the mortar. Mama crushed the herbs while Mata mixed oils.

After a few moments Mata runs up to me and slaps a very wet and smelly cloth on my face.

“Hold this firmly,Finn. Don’t let go until I tell you, then we will talk.”

“Ok.” I said, confused and a bit worried.

What felt like a lifetime had passed, both Mata and Mama staring at me waiting, as if I were going to explode or something.

“Alright Finn, let’s take a look.” Mata gently and slowly pulled the cloth off, and let out a sigh of relief.

“It’s gone?!” Mama was amazed. “How??”

“That scratch was from a forest guardian. Very, very toxic if not treated in time. And thankfully, we were just in time.” She said with a smile, back to her usual calm and loving demeanor.

“A forest guardian? I’ve never seen them, or even heard of them, what are they?” I asked, touching the smooth skin on my cheek where a burning cut had just been.

“They have been lost to time, not many know of their existence anymore. And no one has seen one for many lifetimes. The last person to claim to have seen one, was Yenir the blacksmiths father. And that was, oh, 30 years ago now, but no one believed the poor old man. He spoke nonsense most of the day, hearing his wife speak to him years after she had passed away. Would beg the guards to open the gates in the middle of the night claiming that his wife was out there.”

Mama and I looked at each other, a bit of shock across both our faces.

“…what?” Asked Mata.

“We believe that’s what happened to Bakir, and whatever is out there spoke to Jasper last night beyond the walls. Finn heard it too. And then Finn just disappeared in the middle of the night, like he did when he was a tot.” Mama said quietly, as if she were telling a secret.

“Please, tell me every single detail. And I mean everything.” Mata said, pulling up chairs for Mama and herself, and we described every little detail of our experiences of the past day.

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“So, Mata, I’ve been needing to ask you a question.” I interrupted the silence that hung after our stories. “Kye’s wounds are already healed, well I guess so is mine. How did you do that? Was it the same creature that got us both, I don’t remember anything after the scratch.”

“Actually Finn, Kye’s wounds healed all on their own. But they were not the same creature. I was able to see the wounds before they healed on your pup here, and they looked like black burnt flesh, rather than clean cuts. Whatever it was, it wasn’t natural by any means. I am curious about Kye though, because he also isn’t natural. As good of a boy as he is, I believe he may be a descendant of a myth long ago.” Mata stood, when she returned, she held a very large, old book in her hands. It took two hands to hold it. The pages within looked worn and yellow, and a bit torn on some edges.

“Let’s see if I can find him.” She said, not exactly excited to dig through the massive book, she let out a small sigh.

The pages crinkled with every turn, they were stiff, some stuck together from tears along the page edges. It looked more like an old journal, hand drawn images and scrawlings, some things written sideways around the perimeters. The images were all pretty good though, very detailed and intricate.

“This looks like a journal, but, it’s sooo big.” I said, while watching Mata flip through pages.

“Well believe it or not, young one, this was my grandfathers. He copied his pocket journal sketches into this book, and then wrote down the descriptions in more detail. Guess he needed the giant pages to be able to get it all to fit! There is so much written on these pages, it’s hard to remember it all. I have a note book here somewhere that I have my own notes in for medical purposes, but I can’t seem to find it, been missing for years now.” Mata seemed irritated, like she knew it wasn’t missing, but more likely stolen. I wonder who would have taken that, not like anyone else knows anything about healing in this town.

“Ahh!” Mata’s exclamation startled me in my thoughts.

“Here it is, I believe your pup here, isn’t a pup at all. Look here, Finn.” Mata points at a sketch that looked very similar to Kye. Only real differences were that Kye is pitch black, this animal in the book had silver stripes along its spine and tail.

You can see this animals bones under its coat it was so thin. The creature Mata’s grandfather saw must have been starving.

“This was what once was called a Mistal Hound.” Mata looked at mother and I in turns as she spoke and gave us a history lesson on legends.

“These have long been thought of as mythical creatures, legends, fairy tale beings to scare children into avoiding the woods. But my father said he had seen many of the creatures in this journal of my grandfathers. I never knew him to tell a lie.” She said this with such confidence in her father.

“So all of these creatures are still… alive?” Mama asked with a bit of shake in her voice.

“Some. I wouldn’t say all of them, and a lot of that has to do with the creation of the Mistal Hounds in fact. The legends tell, that a madman lived in the forests of Nidell…” seeing the confused look on my face, she paused. “Nidell is very far from here, it’s in the marshes of Crowlin…” still confused, as I’d never left Thorn, she sighed. “It’s very far, you have to take the river up about fourteen days.”

“Oh that is far…” I said astonished, for my whole world was only about twenty minutes walk around the streets.

“So this madman was said to have hated the marshes creatures. Specifically the ones who seemed mysterious, but mainly that meant the creatures that were dangerous and not well understood. He was so paranoid and afraid that he bought 13 local war hound pups. The breeder asked why he needed that many, and when he explained that he wanted to hunt down every beast in the marsh, she put an extra pup in the crate, free of charge, and she smiled with an unsettling grin.” Mama and I sat on the edge of our seats, enthralled by the story.

“The madman soon realized that this extra pup was huge compared to the others, and was so protective of the others that he couldn’t get near them. So he locked it up away from the other pups for the night. He awoke to the sounds of squealing metal and cracking of trees. He heard the most god’s awful screech, and when he came outside he saw a dead beast in front of his home, the cage with the small pups was broken and the large unknown pup had broken through his metal cage, covered in blood from the beast, all pups safe and sound huddled behind their savior.”

“What happened next!?” Again I blurted out words when I didn’t meant to.

“Finn, don’t interrupt her.” Mama gently nudged my arm.

“What happened next?” Mata played in to my excitement, just like she was telling me a spooky bedtime story.

“The madman decided that he would breed this animal with the war hounds. What he got, was a less aggressive but strong, and loyal new breed of dog. After years of breeding these animals, adding new genes like wolves, even, he had about 20 or so. And people started calling them the Mistal Hounds, because they seemed to appear and disappear, just like the morning mist. So the name stuck. And the Mistal Hounds wreaked havoc on the marsh. The madman had bred them so much that they no longer had the loyalty left of the original war hounds. What he was left with, were untamable beasts that killed anything in sight. The only way to stop them was to get the poison from the forest guardians, tip the arrows with this poison and kill them from a distance. Other methods didn’t work, nothing else seemed to hurt them. And getting too close meant an imminent death.” Mata stopped to take a drink of her tea.

“The Mistal Hounds spread far and wide across the regions, killing beasts and innocents alike. The walls around Thorn were built because of them. And all Hounds were soon eradicated. But the imbalance caused, was never fixed. With the forest guardians killed for their poison, the evil of the forest and marshes took hold. People disappear all the time now, no one bats an eye usually, “the forest got them.” they say.” The sound of the door swinging open had us all jump, all except Kye, his sleepy eyes barely opened to see before closing them again,

“Jasper! Oh no what time is it? I didn’t get your lunch prepared!” Mama exclaimed as she hopped up on her feet.

“It’s ok Vera, I ate.” He chuckled softly. “So, what did I miss?” He asked looking at Kye and then looking at my face, staring at me with a look that said, I swear you just had a cut on your face…

Father didn’t say anything, he just gave a confused look at Mata.

“I missed a lot didn’t I?”

“You may as well pull up a seat. Would you like tea, anyone?” Mata asked as she poured herself another cup. Steam rising smoothly from the surface.

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If you have made it this far, I want to say a huge, huge thank you! It means a lot. I know not everyone has time to read long posts like this, so thank you so very much, and I greatly appreciate any feedback!

~A