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Chapter 3: The Forbidden Forest
‘‘The absolute nerve,’’ she muttered under her breath, treading carelessly on any weed or flower that dared cross her path, the clean air invading her faculties, clearing the cobwebs and dust of gossip from the nethermost corners. Exercise, she noted, always did one good.
Time became open then, unoffending in the expanse of the rugged landscape as she followed the trail with determined strides ever upwards, towards an outlook she loved best. And there, where craggy boulders stood like broken teeth against the cool horizon, she shuddered suddenly as a gust of wind wrapped its probing tentacles around the thick wool of her shawl.
She glanced at the sun hidden behind the thin sweeping clouds, and supposed that people, perhaps kinsfolk, had lived and worshipped and existed on this here woodland for far longer than she could ever imagine.
The breeze grew chill, and she pulled her shawl closer.
And at last she found her destination, a great slab of boulder that continued in an inexorable pull towards the heavens, peering down upon the continuation of stone and heath and nothing. The blustery air tugged at her braids and whipped them about her face. She felt queer, and alone, and, eyes darting about, she wondered if the little folk of tales told at campfire were really so far gone; for in this place, she would not be so surprised if she happened across the dwarf-like water sprite and was whisked far away.
Liziwe…
She whipped around, heart pounding wildly in her chest- but there was nothing. The stillness of quaking grass concealed naught but the creeping insects, and high above, an eagle wheeled. It let out a shriek, piercing in its strength.
Liziwe…
She trembled, taut as a bow string, and wondered if at any moment she might burst from the anxiety that held her hostage, chilling her very soul. She had heard it, far away on the phantom wing of that bird… That unmistakable-
‘‘Miss Matiwane!’’
Her knees buckled, and darkness reigned.
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