“Hello children!” a male voice came from below.

I awoke with a start, as did Helnion who fell partway off of her branch before catching herself.

There was a man below looking at us.

Wolves surrounded him.

Judging from his looks, meaning he was filthy and only wearing a loincloth, he was one of Usui's resident fanatics and had probably not left the forest in years.

“Imagine my amazement at finding two young girls sleeping in a tree!” He laughed, “You are lucky Usui favors you child,” He looked directly at me, “Or the wolves would not have even let you come this far.”

So Usui had something to do with keeping us alive. I guess that was lucky, but I didn't particularly want to think about what made him favor me.

I glance at Helnion. She had seemed to lose interest in the conversation when she saw that it was something I would handle and was now bouncing her branch up and down because she was bored.

“Why?” I asked.

“Why?” the man repeated my question. “Why are you not dead? Why does Usui favor you? Why did the wolves give you food?” It does not matter, child. You can reach your conclusions if you wish, but what matters now is that you will not die as long as you…” He thought for a second. “Behave. Now come down from the tree and I will guide you to a safer place.”

“You're taking us out of the forest?” I asked.

“Not yet. There is another place I will take you and from there what happens to you will be decided.”

I looked at Helnion and then back at the man.

“Will you not take us out of the forest?” I asked again. “It is not far.”

The man smiled. “No one that is not pledged to Usui will leave the forest alive without special permission. I cannot give that permission so if you insist on leaving the wolves will not be so kind.”

So all we needed to do was get permission to leave. I imagine that the person in charge of the forest would be the one to go to. I didn't know if that's where we would be going.

“Will we be able to see him?” I asked.

“Oh yes. You should be honored. Outsiders like yourselves seldom get permission to go to the Deep Forest and meet with the Elder of the Forest.” He smiled. “Because they never live long enough to ask!” and he laughed.

There was no use arguing against him. I didn't want to talk to him anymore anyway so I would go with him and, after motioning to Helnion to get down, I jumped down out of the tree. It was a dumb decision. My legs were feeling better, so I didn't think about them but they were still in no shape to be jumping out of trees. When I landed my legs gave out and my knees slammed into the ground.

Helnion had gasped when she had seen and in her excitement had jumped out of the tree sideways to get to me. She lost her balance and landed on her side with a grunt. I couldn't tell if she had hurt herself. She had a hard head, so she was probably fine. The girl had smashed through the wall of a carriage and only got cuts, while I had smashed though one and had not only gotten cuts but had been knocked out for a while and I had been shielding myself with my arms while she hadn't.

Sharp pain brought my attention back to my knees, and I saw spots of fresh blood had appeared on my bandages. I was in no position to get up and look at Helnion. There was someone else that could.

“Are you two all right?” The man came rushing towards us. He looked at us, “I could not tell from up in the tree but you two look like you have had a bad day.” He walked over to Helnion first.

She jumped up as soon as he touched her and she was back in the tree before she realized what was going on.

“Salis!” she jumped back out of the tree and ran to me. She ignored the man.

The man laughed. “I had always wanted to see a monkey and now I have!”

“Are you all right?” Helnion examined my knees.

“Could I take a look at you two?” the man asked. When he leaned over me, his stench made me think it would make me more sick than any of the injuries I had received so far. “I am not well versed in medicine, but I know a little.” He walked over to us and looked us over, “I will need to get some herbs to help keep your wound from getting infected.” He said to Helnion. To me, he said. “I would not walk too much with those knees but as a Terran, you will not have to worry about infection.”

I wouldn't have to worry about an infection because I was a Terran? I had read that Terrans seemed to have immunity to most diseases, but I never understood why. I could only guess.

“Do you know why?” I asked him.

“Why you will not get infected? That is a good question. One that only the Deity would know the answer to.” He looked at Helnion, “I will find some herbs for your wounds.” He looked back at me. “The wolves will bring you more food so eat while I am away and we will leave when we are ready.” He looked at the wolves and then back at us. “Please do not try to leave this spot. The wolves will not like it if you leave without me.”

He left.

More wolves had appeared. There were two rabbits this time. Helnion and I each prepared our rabbit, and we soon sat in front of a fire cooking our meal. Strangely, the wolves didn't have any reaction to our fire.

We had finished eating for a while when we saw the man come back. He was carrying some leaves.

“Good to see you still alive,” He chuckled. “It will not take me long to make the medicine.”

Helnion and I were both extremely bored. Helnion ended up doing something to my hair and complained that there was no comb in my bag.

The man finished his medicine and dressed Helnion's wounds. “I am so sad.” He said, faking a cry. “Neither of you seem to want to get to know me. You did not even ask for my name.”

“It's not our fault,” I said. “We never stopped you from telling us. I don't care, anyway.”

“You can call me Leeja.” He smiled. “I know you are Salis.” He looked at me. “But I have not heard her name yet.” He looked at Helnion.

Helnion looked at him. She said nothing but smiled instead. It looked like she was going to not tell him, just for fun. I wouldn't stop her. It would be fun.

“I dislike that smile. You will not tell me will you.” He laughed. “I have to call you something.”

If it were me that was about to get a nickname from this man I would have immediately told him my name. I would not want to get a nickname from someone like him. In Helnion's case, it would probably be something to do with being a monkey. Poor Helnion would soon get a monkey name.

The man laughed. “I cannot think of anything good. I will just call you Salis Two. That will make it easier to remember.”

“Salis Two?” Helnion repeated the name.

“Salis and Salis Two let us move on. The day is yet young and we have far to walk.”

***

My legs were still tired and hurt and I only walked for a half-hour before I had to stop. I had a lot more energy now that I had eaten, but there was no getting around my wounded legs.

“This is no good,” Said the Stinky Wolf Man. “Those legs of yours cannot make the trip. In that case, someone will have to carry you.” He motioned to one of the largest wolves and “talked” with it.

When he finished talking to the wolf, he spoke to me. “I have asked this wolf to carry you.” The wolf crouched in front of me, waiting for me to get on. “It is good that you are still small or the wolf could not carry you.”

The going was much easier now. It was strange riding on the back of the wolf. I didn't ride it for too long. Despite me still being small, I still weighed too much for a wolf to carry for more than an hour. This didn't matter. All the wolves obeyed the Stinky Wolf Man, and I rode about four different ones before we were met by another pack and the old wolves left to go back to their territory or something like that.

The new pack brought us more food, and we rested and ate before continuing. This happened once more that day. When night fell the last pack left, and we set up camp for the night. The next two days were much the same.

Even though I had hardly walked much the last three days, my legs felt just as bad now as when I had started. They had healed some, but they had been bad.

Helnion looked worse than I did in a way. My only problem was that my legs still had a while to heal. She had to walk for three straight days. Since she was part of the aristocracy, she had had the luxury of using a carriage to get everywhere and the most she had to walk was to our hideout in the grove of trees. She didn't even have training. Suffice to say, she wasn't in the greatest physical shape and was now being forced to walk for hours with little chance for rest.

The forest had thickened substantially. When we first started I could tell a little about the time of the day. Now it was almost a perpetual twilight. Very little light was getting through the trees. If we had not entered the Deep Forest yet…

During the fourth day, we made it. The place in the middle of the Deep Forest that the followers of Usui called their home was much as I had pictured it. There were no buildings. There wasn't even a temple. They had done nothing to improve upon the land. The only thing that gave away that this was their place was that there were lots of people here. Unfortunately, most were naked and dirty. They looked as if they had shunned all Technology.

I hated this place. It wasn't because of the lack of Technology but all the naked people. It was all I could do to not see any. The only place I could look was down at my feet since they were even in the trees, and that was the worst view. Helnion didn't seem to enjoy it either.

The wolves had left us. I hadn't noticed when they had left. The only one remaining was the one I was riding on. It looked like it didn't want to be here either.

It surprised me at how many people were here. Usui had as many followers as the rest, but few were this… radical. Being amongst all these people was one of the most uncomfortable feelings I've had in my memory. I didn't look at them but I could tell they were all looking at us.

“We are here.” The Stinky Wolf Man said.

I looked sideways at what was in front of us. There was a large rock sticking out of the ground. Fortunately, there weren't many people in the rock's direction so I looked at it to see what was so special about this rock and from what I could tell there was nothing special about it other than its size. There was a naked man on top. He was the oldest person I had seen yet, which wasn't saying much since I had avoided looking at people as best I could.

“I am going back now,” The Stinky Wolf Man said before leaving.

I wasn't sad to see him go. His jokes were really lame, and he stank.

Helnion and I did nothing. Helnion wouldn't do anything on her own and would wait and see what I did. I couldn't think of anything other than to wait. I imagine that the old man up there was who we were here to see, the Elder of the Forest, and I wouldn't bother him because I didn't want to.

“You have finally arrived,” He spun himself around while still in his sitting position. That was good because his legs blocked that place, “Tell me. What is your name, child?”

I wanted to get this over with so I decided not to be difficult, “Salis and this is my sidekick Helnion.”

“I am glad to see you came here without giving us much trouble. Lord Usui would have been saddened to hear of your death.”

The EotF had directed that only at me, which meant that they didn't care what happened to Helnion. This also raised another question. Why would Lord Usui be saddened at my death?

“Why would Usui be sad if I died?”

“Why would he be sad? Because you are perfect for his collection. Ever since you entered his forest, you have been his as is everything else. But you are special. A Terran! Your uniqueness is highly prized by Lord Usui and he has chosen to have you in his special collection.”

I was owned by Usui now? The thought disgusted me. The thought of anyone owning me disgusted me. “I can't allow anyone to own me,” I said.

The EotF showed no expression. “It is this or death.”

Death almost sounded better, but I couldn't die. As long as I was alive I could move forward. I still didn't know what I was moving forward to, but I didn't care as long as I had the freedom to decide. So I would live and figure out what I could do to escape this situation.

“What are you going to do to me?” I asked that must come.

“Why you will go to Lord Usui's home and there you will stay for a thousand years when you will be returned to the life cycle.” He said but added, “If that is the fate of Terrans.”

“What of Helnion?”

“That is for Lord Usui to decide,” He twisted a ring on his finger.

We were done talking. The EotF had turned back around and paid us no more attention. There was nothing to do but wait. I didn't know if Usui himself would come and take us or what

I got off of the wolf, which promptly ran off, and sat next to the nearest tree. Helnion sat next to me with a sigh of satisfaction. I wasn't tired like Helnion, but I decided to get some rest. It was also a good time to think about what to do. I didn't know what I could do against a Deity I would think, anyway.

“Salis.” Came a voice, waking me. “It is time.”

A man was standing above me. His presence was enormous, but he was, fortunately, wearing something. In this case a highly polished breastplate and other pieces of armor.

“Are you Usui?” I stood up.

“No. I am but one of his humble servants.”

I kicked Helnion in the ankle. “She's coming with us,” I said while trying to wake her up.

“I have not received orders concerning bringing another.”

“She's coming with us,” Having Helnion with me would increase my chances of escaping no matter how small, and it would be cruel to leave her here with all these naked people. Oh, and they might kill her.

“If you must,” The man in armor picked up the now waking Helnion and grabbing my arm.

In a flash, we were somewhere else. It was much brighter, and I had to shield my eyes. I looked like Usui didn't live in the middle of the forest.