When she woke up Lillium was happy to see Alma nesting on Subito’s chests, and smiling in dreams. He was awake, but he seemed uncomfortable at her, watching so she turned her head away hurrying to leave them behind. Her nose was leading her toward Schnew who was baking something over the fire. He smiled when he saw her and offered her several small birds threaded on the stick, roasted red. They smelled delicious and taste was even better. She was high on grease when she suddenly froze:

“Where have you found these birds?”

“There is so many of them in this cave, and you ask me that?”

She punched him in the shoulder: “They were storing his information. You shouldn’t have done this, we need his help. He was a god. Do you ever think?”

He smiled: “We were supposed to pay the price, now the price has three parts… He should be happy I haven’t baked him, he snores so softly. If you don’t tell him, I won’t either. He would not notice a few of them are missing, not with so many others around.”

She didn’t know what to say.

“I promise I will try not to do it again, but I can’t guarantee I won’t if he pisses me off again.”

Lillium was patiently waiting for him to finish with his meal, and then covered remains of the fire and bones using floor dirt. When she followed Schnew in common room they were all up. She could feel music in Alma’s movement and see the flame of happiness in her sapphire eyes. Sometimes she was sorry she wasn’t born as a man, especially when she would see such a beauty in a woman. Bebuli was there also, she examined his bold, wrinkly and bloated baby head, but he wasn’t showing any signs that he knows about Schnew’s breakfast. She was relieved and joined the others, trying not to look too suspicious. Bebuli started:

“I was consulting my birds, about the problem with mountain lactating,” Lillium addressed reproachful glance to Schnew, at first he was not heeding her, but when she insisted on it he turned to her and made what with his mouths. Innocent like a newborn, he was, she could strangle him if he was just a little closer to her. “You need to go to Iron tree, north from here. There they have problems with ghosts. You will use this amplifier of the smell on your milk sample and lure the ghosts toward the mountain. They will chase away animals and remain feeding on milk. This way we will solve two problems at once.” He gave them vial of a transparent liquid, he just described as an amplifier of the smell.

“Wait a moment,” who else but Schnew had a question “why would you solve beast problem on the road by bringing in bunch of ghosts? Why would ghosts want to feed on milk? And finally, why would they follow us peacefully, without trying to harm us?”

“Clever questions…”

“My questions are always clever. I invest a lot of mental power to achieve that. Tasty little creature.” He proclaimed petting a small bird, which landed on his knee. But he abruptly interrupted that when he saw how pale Lillium is. If she starts to throw up, Bebuli could sense something was wrong.

“Sure, now the answers: when the ghosts start to feed on the milk they will be harmless, they just need some love and care. This also answers to your second question, those are the ghosts of dead children from the Iron tree, and they are in search for motherly love and care. They have little space inside Iron tree. The terrible custom of killing young infants who are surplus have deep roots in their culture. And they will not follow you peacefully. You will have to run in front of them. They are really dangerous, hurt by the ones they trusted, confused and lost. In a blink of an eye, they can tear apart grown man.”

“Lovely.”

Now Alma had a question: “why are we helping these monsters, who are killing their own children?”

“We need ghosts.” Schnew interrupted.

“Yes we need those ghosts, and we can’t call someone monster before we step into his shoes or at least know his story. When the Fog came several people retreated in the temple of nature which was located on the hill above their village. This temple was famous for its iron statue of a tree, one of the forms of Mother Nature. But a decade or so later, both hill and the temple were also swallowed by the fog. By the mercy of Mother Nature or as a result of fog, Iron tree came alive. It attached to the hearts of humans who were there using his roots. They have fed his leaves with the light of their souls and it gave them back portions of produced food and water it was getting from the ground. But people reproduced too quickly and the tree was withering not being able to sustain all of them. So they had to keep their numbers limited. That’s why they have to kill their offsprings, that’s why you won’t find any old Iron men. Their leader High Torturer kill them before that. He will maybe tell you more about their customs and religion.”

“This sounds interesting, let’s go I have to see these freaks.”

Schnew was already playing his bone fife. Traveling took almost half a day this time. Two rivers below the hill, were hugging each other in the eternal dance. They were becoming one in order to reach the depths of some unknown sea somewhere on the east, in the lands they knew nothing about. Iron tree was illuminated in golden light coming from the lighthouse next to the river. Light sparkled in intermingled waves of two rivers. It was flowing from the lighthouse and from many fires burning in the tree crown. White stones in the lighthouse walls and rivers were reflecting the light back at each other. It was like they were made of pearls. This old sentinel, lighthouse was the guardian of secret love between two travelers who were flowing under it. Lighthouse was made in the shape of a tree. In the distance amongst the mists on the hill above was her twin, the real Iron tree, dark and hostile. It was like a lighthouse somehow reflected in the fog the same way she was reflecting in the rivers. They followed a narrow path up the hill on foot in order to give Iron men time to spot them and avoid unpleasant surprises on either side. Iron tree was at least a mile and a half in diameter, so they started to circle around it in order to find some kind of entrance.

“I bet that would cut human in half in no time” Schnew pointed to some kind of spring operated machine loaded with leaves of the tree. Same as the tree was, its leaves were made of iron. Sudden squeaky noise startled them. Small doors opened in the tree bole and some shiny dark face was carefully watching them.

“Bebuli sent us to solve your ghost problem.”

He waved for them to come in. His hair was very long, falling below his knees. On his backs was a stack of iron leaves. Tree root was emerging from his heart and dragging behind him as he moved, his skin was the same color as the tree and shining like it was made of metal. Schnew knocked on his head to make sure, but the sound was not metallic, it was common meat and bone sound. With a frown guard knocked back on Schnew’s skull. On the other side of the door was a narrow opening leading deeper inside the tree. Schnew knocked on the tree, this time metallic sound followed echoing through the hallway. Guard frowned again and led them into some wider room on the side of the hallway. He took some animal skulls and demonstrated his skills. Obviously he didn’t like these knocking strangers. Schnew tried to start conversation couple of times, but the guard remained silent.

“They are friendly, aren’t they?” Schnew spat on the floor.

Guard took two leaves of his backs and dancing around crushed and sliced skulls he arranged in the circle around him. He was using leaves mainly as the shields, but also for crushing hits and for slashing with the sharpened edges. After that, he threw a couple of leaves hitting his mark without a mistake. Finally he used his hair to shatter a skull with a swift movement of the neck. Unlike his head, his hair was obviously made of metal. Afterwards he was leading them through the numerous hallways connected with stairs or ladders till they reached the room of High Torturer. He was somewhat taller than a guard, elsewise they couldn’t notice any other difference between two of them. Hanging from the ceiling were iron cages containing Iron men similar to these two, Torturer was walking between them and pulling nails out of their infected nails. Screams of agony were bringing smile on his face. He was going around humming a strange song:

“Baby in the cradle, old man holding a cane

Question in their eyes can you feel my pain

Why, o why they have to ask why

No matter why they are all going to die

I will do in seconds, life will take years

Trade your ounce of pain, for whole life in tears

Why, o why they have to ask why

No matter why they are all going to die”

After a while he presented them with couple of iron benches and they sat, never moving hands of their weapons, not even for a second.

“How can I help you?”

“Actually, Bebuli sent us to help you.”

“Oh, the Wise One… You are here about the ghosts, yes?”

“Yes.”

“We have contained them in the lower levels together with their bodily remains. Unfortunately some of them manage to pass through our magical wards and harm some of us. They just won’t leave us alone, hideous creatures.”

“Maybe you have deserved that.” Lillium couldn’t hold on any longer.

“It could be so. We are doing only what we must.”

“Let’s say I can understand you have to kill, for the lack of the food sources. But why are you torturing these men?”

“I am High Torturer it is my duty to set them free. Let me explain you the basics of our religion and customs. We are, as you have already seen, connected with our tree by "connectors"- long, live iron wires which entwine around our chests and grow in our heart. Those wires are actually tree roots. There are only so many “connectors”. We can get several children, but we can keep only one which will inherit “connector”. Rest of children we have to kill practicing our torture skills. It is the ultimate sacrifice for our community and gods. We are taking care of the tree, removing the rust, carry pollen, provide tree with the light of our souls, and much more. In return the tree feeds us. We have the iron hair, and we use it as a weapon. Hair is especially effective in torture, leaving hundred small wounds, victim some time dies for weeks. There is not enough food Iron tree can give us, so every couple is allowed to have only two children, all other children have to be killed.

Only on special occasions when there is some couple which can’t have children other couple is permitted to keep more than two children.

We believe when someone dies, he starts to remember and reliving same life again, from birth to death, when he get to the part when he dies, he starts to remember and reliving same life again, and so on forever. For us life is never ending circle. Our only prayer is "Not again". We usually repeat it for hundreds of times every day. Only in the moment of birth mind is really aware of his cursed destiny. We consider childhood to be smartest and wisest of all stadiums of human life. Old people are considered most foolish. We believe circle of life could maybe be interrupted by total destruction, so we have a Temple of Torturers. Priests in Temple of Torturers have only one mission, to find a most painful way to kill a man. According to the theory we have developed if we manage to traumatize the man enough, during his torture and death, he will forget everything due to the stress. So he wouldn’t be able to remember life anymore, and will leave circle of life to be free and finally find a peace.”

“Astonishing, but it still sounds like a load of crap to me.”

“Everyone has their own believes, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself screaming “not again”, in the moment when death takes you.”

“Whatever.” They walked the rest of the way in silence.

“Here we are, you just need to wipe this line of this charcoal drawing on the wall and they will have free passage.”

“Clear all passages to the exit, and draw same wards on every side hallway.”

After some time Torturer came back to inform them that it is done. Schnew made his cape hovering and they all climbed on it. Lillium addressed Torturer:

“Move away into the side hallway, when all of them exit following us, get in and take their bodies. Follow them to the mountain where you will bury them.”

“Good luck.”

“Please don’t wish us luck, you are the jinx.”

Lillium threw seed stones into the hallway, mixed milk sample with amplifier and wiped part of the ward. In no time she was on the cape, and they were all floating toward the exit. Terrible noise of mixed sobbing, yelping and moaning was following them through the halls. And then they saw them, creatures smaller than a man with huge eyes, and hands reaching to the floor. With no neck and thin legs accompanied by plump torso they were waddling around quite fast. Their whole body was covered with short white fur. Those were not the ghosts, but creatures created by the fog which returned life into the baby carcasses. Lillium knew Iron men won’t find any bodies, but that was the last of her concerns right now. Creatures were approaching them faster than she was expecting.

“Faster, Schnew, we have to move faster.” And he played melody faster. But just before the exit, one of the creatures jumped up and attached on Alma’s leggings. Terrible scream cut the air as Alma was grabbing for support, loosing balance. Subito was ready, with a swift blow to the head, creature bounced away. As cape was rising toward the sky squeezing through narrow doors, Alma was shaking in Subito’s arms and kissing him.

“Yuck! You two, quit it! It’s like watching a brother and sister kissing each other.” Schnew yelled.

“We are not brother and sister. You are just jealous.”

“Maybe, just a little bit.”

Noise was following them from below. Just to make sure Lillium would occasionally let a few drops of milk fall down. When they got to the mountain, it wasn’t a long time before the creatures destroyed beasts leaving only blood and fur particles. And after that they were peacefully feeding on milk. For a moment Lillium thought she can see the glow of happiness on their disfigured faces, and then she turned around:

“Let’s get out of here.”

***

As previously arranged Melessar found Galatu waiting for him on the platform in front of the library. Shadows were getting longer announcing incoming evening. The wind was already playing his slow night song using whispery crowns of the trees as his guitar. On the west sun was dying, coloring darkening skies with his fiery blood. Air was heavy with anticipation of the night. Pleasant cold was bringing relief after hot day. Somewhere from below the trees came distant song of frogs and crickets, swarms of them.

“I will eat mushrooms, which will help me go to dream land and transform. Please catch my body before I fall down and hurt myself. You have everything you need?”

“Yes two books I am translating and my Book of Voice. Clothes on my backs, and a cap on my head. What else man could ever need?”

Galatu smiled: “I can see you were not able to resist the charms of the sunset. It has infected you with romanticism!”

He popped mushroom into his mouths and soon fell asleep. Melessar caught his falling body and gently laid it on the platform. White bird, was already circling around, releasing an occasional shrilling cry. Then she grabbed Melessar for his belt and carried him upwards and away from the city. Despite the fact he knew Galatu will never hurt him, goose prickles covered Melessar’s backs. Clouds gathered tremendously fast out of nowhere. Soon the bird was floating on the breath of monstrous wind instead of flying. In terror he saw the wind tearing out gigantic tree and swinging it thousands of feet away. Galatu the bird positioned him on its backs, Melessar gratefully clutched on his feathers. Next hours were wet from the rain and were spent in tiresome flight over the monotonous gray mass of the fog, occasionally disturbed by the wind. Melessar even got a couple of minutes of sleep.

His eyelids closed by themselves, and he was already in that sweet phase between dream and reality when a flock of birds almost threw him off Galatu’s backs. He cursed after them, holding firmly with his only hand and adjusting position in order to improve his balance. When he was finally satisfied, he raised his eyes just to establish they are coming again. This time he was ready, holding with his knees he pulled out a sword and cut a couple of them in half, sending their corpses to long fall into the fog. Still hit was rather strong. He barely protected his eyes, and he was bleeding from several scratches caused by beaks and claws.

“What the hell is wrong with those birds?”

Galatu the bird answered in strange high and metallic voice:

“I can sense that they are controlled by a wizard. And if I am not mistaken wizard is controlled by an entity unknown to me.”

“Could it be we are attacked by those Lorantides, my sword brother fought against, or it is something else from the fog? Who knows what lures there? They are coming again.”

But this time the birds were pushed away by the wind and carried far from white bird and her rider.

“I believe we should hurry up,” saying that the bird was already swinging her wings. They were moving incredibly fast, but now and then Galatu would feel the presence of other wizards, like they were part of some giant net, meant to catch travelers. Finally Galatu had to stop the storm and to dive into the fog. After a couple of hours when they again emerged above the fog there were no signs of their persecutors. They were safe now, and close to their goal. Not long after, they were already above the Ulan Island. Melessar was trying to avoid sentimental feelings, but his heart was dancing on the sight of his home. He was fairly certain silly smile was twitching on his lips, but he couldn’t help it. How can someone not love these green meadows and dense woods, was beyond his comprehension. But a sudden collision with another flock of birds abruptly ended all of his joy. Before they hit the ground in a form of a big ball of feathers, he was able only to conclude those wizards that were following them noticed others about the direction of their movement. Those others of course set a trap for them, and here they are emerging from behind the trees. Five of them dressed in black with golden helmets. He pulled out his sword. But he immediately dropped it on the ground, pain was devastating, their whispers were unbearable. When his clothes and skin started to smolder, he knew – they are trying to burn him using witchcraft. He was praying like he never prayed before:

“…Murder

If there is life after death, murder is not really taking of life, just speeding up of the travel toward the final goal. If there is no life after death, life has no sense or true purpose, so taking it can’t be wrong. You will kill, you will die, and everything remains the same.”

He was able to resist their spells with the strength of his will, but only for a while, there were too many of them. In terror he saw his clothes catching fire. Rolling on the grass and screaming he glimpsed Galatu letting one of the wizards to place a squid at the base of his skull. His religion prohibited him to give any resistance or to inflict any kind of harm to other beings. All the sudden he felt only indifference, he couldn’t even feel the pain anymore. He was ready, ready to surrender and give up the fight. He thought “That’s it.” And he was surprised to feel no disappointment, just indifference, like someone else was dying instead of him.