A number of ropelines had been cast into the red forest, with Pyrik and one half of the Hospitallers holding one end on the outside while the other half was inside with the other end tied to their waists. The lines remained steady as Pyrik fed out more rope as Potash ventured further inside. Then, like in previous trails, the rope went taut and straight as the ones inside stopped in place, waiting for whether the onset of immunity would arrive. With exception to her, the longest any person could withstand the forest was Menov at roughly two minutes. While the rest counted out the seconds, hoping that a remedy was finally discovered, Pyrik was watching her line eagerly, hoping to rather pull Potash out than have him walk out on his own two feet.

Seconds passed, mounting to a minute, slowly creeping toward the two minute mark. Pyrik swallowed, her hands getting sweatier while holding the rope. Murmurs of excitement started to spread among the Hospitallers, prematurely optimistic at the current results. This was the longest any of them had lasted so far.

Pyrik could not precisely place why, simply that the Hospitallers, particularly Haldane, should not be allowed to have the ability to roam the forest without impediment. The intention was noble, to enter the forest to eliminate the insectoid once and for all. That was the critical win condition for life to resume in the settlement, for repairing homes and mending lives with whatever remained in the rumble. That was a good thing, and the price was worth paying. A child should not have to practice hiding for their lives and pretend it was play. She furrowed her brow. There was always a cost, and it might not be worth the price.

The excited murmurs suddenly stopped. One by one the lines were desperately tugged on, and while the Hospitallers sighed with disappointment and went about pulling their comrades out, Pyrik had to bite her tongue to suppress a grin as she reeled in Potash.

Hospitallers stumbled out of the red foliage, collapsed onto their hands and knees, some rolling onto their backs while others vomited out bile having lost their lunch to ground in the first trial. Among them was Haldane, who was pounding the grass with a fist after wiping the bile off his lips. During previous trials he would linger on the grass for a while, waiting for the effects to pass, however, this time he stood up immediately and refused the water that the rest impatiently drank. It appeared the frustration was far less bearable than head spinning nausea.

“Or you going to hand over that canteen or what?” Potash said, breathlessly panting while he was sprawled out on the grass.

“Oh. Sorry.” Pyrik handed him the canteen.

More water spilled down his chest than down his throat. Potash smacked his lips, somehow quenched. “Thanks.”

Pyrik caped the empty canteen and swiveled to Haldane. He was walking toward them, with a leather-bound notebook tucked under his armpit, his lower lip pressed up with dissatisfaction.

“That’s all of the plants we’ve observed the crows sample,” he said, sounding incensed and perplexed. He shook his head. “I don’t understand. One of these cursed plants should’ve been the one!” He glanced at the sun, which was already charting its descent down the horizon. “I must be missing something. That has to be it.”

“Or maybe there aren’t any… natural remedies,” Potash said.

Haldane turned to Pyrik. “Can you possibly take one more look inside the forest?”

Pyrik tried searching for a hint of suspicion in the corner of his lips or hidden somewhere in his eyes, none showed. Either way, to not raise any doubt, she nodded and compiled with the request.

***

“...Hello?” Pyrik called out after traveling sufficiently deep into the red forest.

She felt kind of foolish, calling to nothing but the bone-white trees and sanguin-red leaves. Then again, faith was tricky in the way that it expected a person to take leaps and bounds and hoping for consistent footholds in the dark. The forest (or was it the crow?) had spoken to her the first time. It was only reasonable to expect the forest to reply.

The silence was almost mocking.

An exasperated sigh came out loud and sharp like a shot.

Well now I feel ridiculous…

Then, a crow descended from above the red canopy and landed on a high branch.

...Maybe not.

The crow had one of the ribbons tied on its ankle, and previously she saw it nibbling on a tumorous berry from a spiralling bush that looked like it was whipped up by a tornado. When it acknowledged her, the curious creature picked up some detritus on the ground and offered it to her with great persistence. Sensing its intentions, Pyrik brought it to the Hospitallers, which Haldane was keen to test out on his hapless test subjects. In the end, all the detritus did was offer a false modicum of confidence instead of any real protection. Truly, a comedy of errors as additional sick covered the bright green grass.

Red leaves sailed down the branch as the crow jumped up and down. How amusing, those stupid Hospitallers! Shame that they have given up for the day. Is there no way you can urge them to continue their little farce?

Chilling, how the crow spoke. The black bird itself did not jabber its beak as words came out to speak to her, but rather that it was more like a vessel for the person to speak through like water poured from a jug.

“Perhaps if you offer real results, maybe this farce can come to an end,” Pyrik said.

My little birds have seen what those Hospitallers did, in that rotten wheat field, in that dreadful butcher shop.

“Do you care to tell me what happened, or will you tease me til I’m red with cryptic riddles?”

Its head tilted from side to side, considering. Tonight, there will be another attack. Search the butcher shop for that Hospitaller’s journal while they are all preoccupied. All your answers will lie there.

“You… can’t simply be direct with me?”

You’ll... Something is wrong. My crows... some have gone missing.

"What happened?"

Go! Get the journal and immediately return to the forest! Then the crow flew away.

“No wait... GAH!” Pyrik shouted. “I’m not done talking to you! I still have questions!”

Despite her frustration echoing throughout the forest, there was no more crow, no further response. Abject silence.

She kicked a pile of detritus, scattering twigs and dead leaves.

At least I’m leaving this forest with more information than when I came in.

While Pyrik plodded her way out of the forest, she picked through whatever she could recall about the rotten field and the butcher shop. Haldane and his Hospitallers were burning bodies when she stumbled upon them. There was a chance that the pyre also doubled as a guise to hide illicit activities, however, any potential evidence was most definitely incinerated to ash and it would not elucidate about the time of disease progression. No, the answers she sought were in Haldane’s journal.

Suddenly something moved from high up in the canopy. There and gone, within the blink of an eye.

Pyrik drew up her blunderbuss. The thing looked like an insectoid. A strange sight considering they only emerged at night, yet she entertained it as a threat regardless.

Pyrik poured into the canopy, stilling herself as much as possible, resisting the urge to blink to detect any sudden shift in the leaves. After a moment she blinked and lowered her gun, having found nothing.

Did I imagine that?

Either way, Pyrik quickened her pace to a run until she burst out of the forest, panting.

“Oh curses, are you alright?” Haldane hurried over to her side, concern etched on every wrinkle on his face.

“No… no, I’m fine. I’m fine. I just lost track of time inside the forest, and was afraid that I may not make it back to the settlement in time," Pyrik made up.

Haldane chuckled and clapped both hands on her shoulders, relieved to the core. “Good. That’s good. I’d be a tragedy if you weren’t here. We might have found a solution to this immunity conundrum.”

Pyrik resisted the urge to slant her brow with suspicion. “How did you manage that?”

“Kind of a funny thing, you see. I was trying to get Potash to retest one of the samples again when something occurred to me. It’s quite simple, really. Rather than observing what the crows eat, why not examine their digestive tracts instead? Any substances that may have been overlooked will be found there.” Seized in a zeal of brilliance, his grasp clamped down on Pyrik like talons on a mouse.

“Good to hear. I was starting to feel sorry for Potash. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to retrieve something from the settlement before continuing with the investigation.” Pyrik tried to break out of his restraints, however, he would not let go.

“No, you’re not going anywhere.” Haldane turned to Potash who looked grim as an execution, then bounced off the rest of his Hospitallers who made dead crows in their hands, where after a silent arrangement was reaffirmed, dropped the dead birds and started to encircle Pyrik with swords, like wolves cornering prey. “I’m sorry, Pyrik, but I’m not done with you yet. Even though a method of immunity may be at hand, a question still remains as to how you derive yours. Which is strange, no? You look human, sound human, eat and act like a human, yet somehow... you are able to withstand the forest, something that only beasts can do."

Quick as a stab, Pyrik was struck with the horrific realization. Although he had a firm grip on her, Haldane did not know about the voice inside and the savagery in her. "You don't have to do this, Haldane."

"I'm sorry, however, I think that I do. I won’t be satisfied until I cut you open and rummage around your insides.” He nodded behind him. "You may kill me firstin the melee, but can you get them all as well?"

Thwack!

Haldane was thrown back, an arrow in his shoulder.

Several other Hospitallers fell to the ground, moaning, pierced with arrows like needles in a pin cushion.

A volley of arrows had flew out of forest, missing Pyrik, hitting only Hospitallers.

Quick! Retreat into the forest!

There was another volley of arrows. Rifle fire rang out. Haldane was screeching for his men to capture her. Without any other choice, Pyrik escaped into the red forest.