The sun blazed down upon the forest’s dense canopy, only a few rays made it all the way into the fresh and cool dimness below. In this world of specks of light and songs of birds, a boy had lost his way.

Ruediger was looking for his younger brother, who had chased after some animal. Far away from any path, he had lost track of direction, and even if he would find his brother, he would not know where to head to. All the trees looked the same and the ground was mostly even. Normally, he’d just head down the slope, for the villages and towns of Sturreland were all in the valleys, but he had had the bad luck of stumbling upon an unusually even area of the land.

He looked around and called out to his brother. “TOBIAS!”

He listened into the forest, hoping to hear an answer and when none came, he called out again. Finally, an answer came

“HEY!” it came from above. “You’re scaring up the entire forest, be quiet!”

Ruediger looked up and saw a face looking back at him from one of the branches. It was covered in fur the colour of fresh straw and looked to be rather angry at him.

“What are you doing here?” the fur-covered girl asked him.

He didn’t know what to answer. Was she a spirit of the forest? “I am looking for my brother, Tobias.”

“I guessed that from your incessant yelling. Why are you looking for him in the first place? Neither he nor you should be here!”

His blood froze. When she talked, he could see her fangs, four pointy teeth that looked even more dangerous than those of barking and growling dogs. “I am so sorry, great spirit of the forest, please forgive me!”

The face became even angrier. “I’m not a spirit, I'm a crolachan!” She dropped down from her branch, much higher what he would ever dare to drop down from, but she landed on her feet and stood back up like she was getting fresh out of bed.

She looked to be just a little smaller and younger than Ruediger, maybe fourteen years, and her entire body was covered by this golden fur, as much as he could see. She wore sturdy clothes, most notably, she wore pants, unusual for a girl, but in the forest certainly of use.

“I am Nannade, apprentice of the Lodge, and I better get you and your brother out of here before you get into trouble.” She held out her left hand; from her wrist dangled a medallion bearing the seal of the Lodge of Sturreland. On her fingers he could see claws where humans had nails, curved and sharp.

Ruediger took a moment to recognize who was talking to him, then he took a step back, crossed his hands above the heart and bowed his head. “I am sorry, Good Witch, I should have addressed you properly, Good Witch. My name is Ruediger, son of the miller Ludigert, of the village Groettal.”

“Fine fine. Let’s get to looking for your brother instead of focussing on trivial stuff.”

“Erm. Yes. Thank you for your gracious service, Good Witch.”

The girl witch rolled her eyes at his formalities, then turned around a few times, listening into the forest. She moved her pointy ears like a cat would, and out of her pants poked a short tail. Although he was intrigued by it, he quickly averted his gaze from that part of her body, even without a tail there, it would have been rude to stare.

She had apparently finished her inspection of the surroundings. “I better ask the spirits if they can help somehow. Kneel down, lower your head and do not look away from the ground!”

Ruediger did as he was told, afraid to even ask why, but he assumed that he had already drawn the ire of the spirits by being here. The girl began to rhythmically speak in a weird way. Ruediger thought he could understand some of the words, but they seemed too different still. He had once heard that the spirits need to be addressed in an old language, ancient even to the trees and river.

Some time went by like this, the girl calling out into the forest and growing discontent with the result, while Ruediger grew restless. He knew not what the dangers of the forests were, but almost all of the forests were off bounds to the mundane people of Sturreland. He thought he could hear beings gather around him, distrustful, angry, unwelcoming.

The girl finally stopped and turned to Ruediger. “I don’t think the spirits will be of much help. I am not at home in this forest, so they don’t entrust much to me, it will have to suffice.” She turned to find the position of the sun.

It appeared odd to Ruediger for a witch of Sturreland to not be at home in the forests of Sturreland. “I thought you’re an apprentice of the Lodge, Good Witch.”

“I am, but not in this area. I am being taught close to Heimeden, if you know where that is. Getting back there by myself is part of my training.”

“Good Witch, you’re far from home. It could take days getting back there on foot.”

“I am well aware. That’s the point. Either way, the spirits said your brother is moving away from us and he's walking towards the sun. That’s all I know, so we better get to moving into that direction.” She turned to the left and started to walk with a brisk pace. Ruediger quickly caught up with her. The longer he had been in this forest, the more closely he felt watched, so he better stayed close.

Time flew by with neither of them saying anything, but eventually he felt he had to ask her something. “Please excuse my boldness, Good Witch, but crolachans, are they not so very rare in Sturreland.”

“Well, yes, then again, I was not born here. I was brought in.”

“For what purpose? Why don't the witches train children of the townsfolk instead?”

The girl turned around and gave him an angry scowl. “The Mystic Gift is bestowed upon children by the land itself, not the Lodge or noble blood.”

“I am sorry, Good Witch. Please forgive my insolence.” He quickly shut his mouth and continued following her.

She finally did stop and turned her ears to the surroundings. “Something’s close.”

Now Ruediger's head shot up too. He tried to listen into the forest, but heard nothing out of the ordinary to him. “TOBIAS!?” He yelled, hoping to get an answer. He wanted to call out again, but the girl rushed to hold his mouth shut.

“Are you nuts? Stop making noise!” Her whispering voiced hissed in his ears. She snuck ahead to a group of bushes, where grunts could be heard from. She peeked through it, froze, then sprung up into a sprint back the way she came.

“RUN!”

Ruediger couldn’t help but shoot a glance back before following her advice. With the sound of cracking twigs and angry squeals, a large boar charged out of the bushes. He took after the girl, but she was already climbing up a tree as quickly as a squirrel. “Find a tree to climb!”

He looked around. None of the trees had low hanging branches. “I can’t climb trees like-“ an angry squeal made him turn back around. The boar was charging towards him with wild eyes and rumbling hooves. He leapt to the side just as it was about to rear him to tatters with its tusks. He landed on the ground lengthwise, but the boar was already turning around for another charge. He was picking himself back up and saw the boar approaching. He knew it was too late.

In a blur, the girl witch landed on the ground before him, facing the boar, arms outstretched. Was she planning to take on the beast? No, instead, she pressed her hands together and bowed, yelling another ancient word Ruediger thought to know but could not understand. The boar made a sudden turn and stopped. It was stomping its front hooves, grunting and rearing its head in anger. The girl repeated the word and the bow again and again, then she turned around and helped Ruediger up.

“Come on, she's still angry with us. Let’s get out of here!”

The boar was grunting and squealing at them as they walked away until it was out of sight between the trees.

“What happened?” Ruediger finally brought forth, forgetting the appropriate language for a moment.

“It was a mother sow protecting her young. I- WE interrupted her while the piglets were suckling.”

“But you saved us, Good Witch, I am so very grateful to you!”

“Well I am still worried. I don’t know if you noticed, but there was blood on her tusk.”

Ruediger had to think for a moment. Now that she had said it, he remembered it too. “Do you think Tobias has been wounded?”

“Yes. We better find his trail.” She again listened into the forest while turning into every direction. She found a direction and headed off even faster than before. Ruediger ran after her to keep up, until the girl witch came to a spot she apparently found interesting and stopped.

“These must be his tracks.” She said, pointing to the ground. Ruediger saw nothing at first, but when he looked closer, he could see footprints, appropriate for Tobias’ age, along with drops of a dark liquid. The girl witch knelt down to inspect the drops, and when she got back up again, she showed him her palms. Unlike the back of her hand, her palms and underside of her forearm were not covered in fur. On her fingertip was a drop of dark blood.

“Is that Tobias' blood?”

“I assume it is. These are a human’s tracks.”

They followed the tracks, more precisely, the girl witch followed them while Ruediger followed her. To him, they were barely visible on the forest ground, but she followed them as surely as thread of thick, white yarn. She kept an eye and ear turned to the forest and followed the tracks even through a shallow brook, always looking side to side. It was as if she would not let herself be distracted by worries or fears, instead, her mind seemed to be woven of steel threads.

After a while again she stopped to listen into the forest. “I can hear a child crying. How old is Tobias?”

Ruediger thought about calling out to Tobias, but the girl shot him a cautionary glance to not make the same mistake again. Instead, he answered her question in the hushest of voices “He’s nine.” They snuck on and soon, Ruediger too could hear sobbing and crying; he was sure the voice was Tobias'. A tree with a low hanging branch came into sight and to it clung Tobias. His right leg was dangling down, blood flowing from it and dripping onto the ground.

“TOBIAS!” Ruediger could not hold himself back any more. He dashed towards the tree. The girl did not hold him back and instead caught up with him.

“RUUDYY! OOOUUWAAA! MY LEG!” Was all Tobias could bring forth. It looked like had been there for a while. Ruediger arrived and helped Tobias down. The girl witch caught up and immediately looked at the wound.

“Don’t worry, Tobias, she’s a Good Witch of the Lodge. She led me to you and she’ll make your leg all better. Won’t you, Good Witch Nannade?!” He looked to the girl while she was still inspecting the wound.

She took off her backpack and produced a rolled-up blanked from it, then spread it out on the ground. “Ruediger, put him down here. Tobias, tell me what happened to you!”

Between continued cries and sniffles, he finally brought forth a few coherent words. “I ran from a boar but it got me, so I got up here and it left!”

The girl witch's face did not seem promising. “We need to clean the wound. It goes in deep, the flesh has been torn up all the way from the bone. I don’t have any medicine with me, but....” she took off her backpack and started rummaging around in it. She produced shreds of white cloth, a small pot the size of her palm, a water flask and a set of knives with simple blades and cord wrapped around their tangs as handles.

She undid one knife's cord and tied it tightly around Tobias’ leg above the wound, and immediately it seemed to slow the flow of blood, then, with one of the shreds of cloth made wet, she cleaned the wound of the crusted and dried blood around it. Although the wound was still deep and bleeding, it suddenly didn’t look so gruesome anymore. She pressed another piece of cloth onto the wound and held it in place tightly with another cord.

“This should help for now.” She turned to Ruediger. “I have to go back and find some ingredients I saw earlier. You stay here and hold his leg up, understood?”

Ruediger nodded hastily. Then the girl witch grabbed one of her knives and dashed off into the woods. The moment she was out of sight, Ruediger realized he was alone here again, apart from Tobias, who was holding back any more tears. “I promise, it will all be well! She’s a Good Witch, after all!” He wouldn’t have believed his own words if he had been in Tobias’ place, but he didn’t know what else to say. It seemed to help however; his little brother was suddenly a lot braver. That was until another rustling noise came from behind them. The forest seemed much deeper again all of a sudden. Ruediger, turned around to see what was moving between the bushes and trees.

“What is it? Is it the boar?” Tobias tried to sit up, but Ruediger gestured him to be still.

Thoughts shot through his head. Could he fight what was coming? Should he grab the knives and defend himself and his brother? Or should he try carrying Tobias and run away? His considerations came to an end when he saw the figure pushing its way through the underbrush.