Trek For Survival

Gia held out his necklace in silence.

"What"s this?" he asked, taking it and looking at it.

"A gift that you should wear," said Gia, touching her own. She fought not to glance at the tree next to them.

"Thanks! I really like it!" he said with a grin, putting it on, obviously thinking she was the one who was giving it to him, rather than it coming from someone else.

"I think the stew is warm enough to eat," said her mother, stirring the pot with the long handled wooden spoon Tom had carved ages ago.

"Oh, good!" exclaimed Mikey, dancing over to her and jumping up and down in excitement.

"Are you hungry?" Gia asked with a laugh, handing him the one bowl she was able to grab. There hadn"t been time or room to grab all the bowls they had. "You can eat first, then we"ll feed father."

"Okay!" he said, cheerfully, taking the bowl of stew.

"I"ll need to keep an eye out for game, while we travel. It"s going to take a lot of food to keep us fed. Good thing the super cold is giving way to warmer weather. I"m just not looking forward to the rains when they come," said Vonn, feeding bits of wood into the fire.

"That fire feels good," said Tom, stretching his fingers towards the heat.

"Done!" trilled Mikey happily, handing the bowl back to Carla.

She filled it again, and handed the bowl to Tom. "Careful, it could be hot."

"Don"t you think I know how to eat, woman?" he laughed, feeling the bowl and bringing it up to his mouth.

Humphing in amused annoyance, she went back to stirring the remaining soup. Gia could see that the pot was getting slim. Feeding everyone would finish off the pot. Tipping her water into the pot, she gave her mom a knowing look, and Carla nodded, stirring to mix the thick stew with the water, to make it last through everyone. Once Tom was done, they fed Vonn, and then Carla sc.r.a.pped the last of the soup into the bowl and handed it to Gia.

"I"ll share some with you," Gia said, taking a slurp from the bowl.

"It"s fine. I have my tea from Bob. It will last me until we eat again."

"Mom, we don"t know when that will be. You need to keep your strength up just like the rest of us."

"I"m riding in the cart. You"re walking. It"s fine."

"Let"s discuss this right now," said Vonn, wiping his hands on his pants with a frown. "No one is going to be going hungry. Everyone eats whatever there is available. We can"t afford to have one person too weak to help out. I will try to find something everyday."

"I agree, Carla, we can"t have you too weak to help me when I need to pee," said Tom, patting her knee softly.

"Fine," she grumbled, taking the bowl from Gia and eating some of it.

"I can help too! I"m a good hunter!" said Mikey with a grin, holding up his slingshot.

"Good, then if you see something, you can let me know," said Vonn, nodding at the boy.

"We need to get some sleep, so we can keep moving," said Gia, glancing back the way they had come. "I don"t want to get caught by any of the army, if they come looking this way."

Everyone nodded, and settled down, close to the fire for warmth. Gia was worried it would take her a long time to fall asleep, but the moment she lay her head down, she was out.

"Child, it would be best if you woke your family, and hurried along. There are people approaching," came a soft whisper that woke Gia up. The fire had died down to embers, but she was able to see well enough in the fading daylight, to make out the forms of her family. Glancing at the tree behind her, she couldn"t make out the face anymore, and then the message it had whispered at her made sense in her foggy brain.

Shaking everyone and trying to keep them quiet, they scrambled to get moving again. Vonn hefted up the cart, with her parents on it, and they started out again. Gia glanced back at the hastily abandoned camp, to make sure they didn"t leave anything behind, and grabbed up some of the wood Vonn had found. It was dry, and cold be used at the next fire. If she got too tired to carry it, she could always leave it behind, but after he had said it was hard to find, she didn"t want to leave it.

They stumbled forward, tripping over roots and rocks, as the dark deepened and the noises of the forest became louder. Mikey stayed close to the cart, craning his neck to see if there were any rats anywhere to hunt. The trees towered over them, and the roots began to recede, leaving them walking over a lush green carpet of thick moss. They could hear birds and bats flying overhead, and Gia wished it were still light enough to see what they looked like. She imagined anything that lived in a magical forest would be beautiful and amazing to look upon.

Hearing noises behind them, they all rushed behind one of the giant trees to hide. A group of three men, heavily armored and carrying swords appeared shortly. One paused to check on the ground, but shook his head.

"I can"t see any tracks with this moss, sir."

"They can"t be far away. With that cart, we should catch up to them in only a few moments. Keep your eyes open and stay quiet," said the obvious leader as they approached, looking around in the growing gloom.

Everyone stayed quiet, waiting for them to pa.s.s. Even Mikey stayed quiet with his eyes wide open, watching as the adults around him waited in hiding.

A noise on the other side of the glen drew the soldier"s attention, and they rushed over to investigate.

"This way, friends," said a soft voice at their feet.

A short ugly man, with green hair and a green beard, motioned for them to follow him. Without any hesitation, Ven turned the cart to follow him.

"It"s my friend!" whispered Mikey, happily. "He told him we needed somewhere to hide!"

"What are you talking about?" whispered Gia, trying to keep her brother from making too much noise as they tried to escape from the men. Glancing behind her, it was getting too dark to see if they were being followed.

"Don"t you see the mushrooms on his head? My friend, the mushroom man, must have told him to help us!"

Gia looked back at the tiny figure they were following, and realized Mikey was telling the truth! There were tiny little red mushrooms growing in the guys hair, and along his back. The more she studied him, she realized he was only wearing a loin cloth, and was completely barefoot! He must be freezing!

As the man paused next to a tree, he knocked twice and stepped back as the whole side of the tree swung wide to expose a path leading down underground. Taking off her shawl, Gia handed it to the man.

"Thank you so much for helping us!" she said, before following the cart and her family into the dark opening.

"Anyone the mother blesses, we try our best to help," said the man, wiping a tear away from the side of his bulbous nose and hugging the shawl to his chest.

As soon as everyone was inside, the tree swung shut again, leaving them in complete darkness for a moment. Then a soft glow lit their path.

"For a moment, I knew what it was to be blind," muttered Carla, glancing at Tom who snorted.

"That was a forest trolling. They"re smaller than the more dangerous forest trolls," murmured Vonn, as he pulled the cart carefully down the slanted path. "I"ve seen them before from a distance, but they always disappeared whenever I tried to show them to anyone, or got close. Never thought one would actually help us. Why do you think it said we are blessed by the mother?"

"It"s probably these little necklaces we"re wearing, that the tree gave us," said Mikey, holding his up.

"The tree?" asked Vonn, glancing over at Gia.
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"The tree we were camping by said she would help us find a place to put down roots," explained Gia. "These are supposed to keep us safe by making anything we run into friendly, instead of trying to attack us."

"These are heart stones?" he exclaimed in surprise, pausing to look at his closer. "I"ve heard stories, but have never seen one before. Best not let anyone get them, everyone. These are priceless! We might actually be able to survive this trip!"

"Only if you figure out how to haul this cart right," chuckled Tom, rubbing his neck. "All this start and stop stuff is giving me a pain in the neck."

"Oh, you!" sighed Carla, shaking her head.

There were little mushrooms growing along the edges of the path, that glowed a faint blue-green color. As they followed them, they descended further until the tunnel opened up to expose a vast glowing mushroom forest.

"Do you think any of these mushrooms are edible?" asked Carla, gazing around at the hundreds of different mushrooms around them.

"Probably, but I wouldn"t know which ones. There are so many different ones, I don"t recognize any, and even if I did, with us being in a magical area, I don"t know that we should try any," said Vonn, not pausing to answer.

"What"s this about being hungry?" came a deep voice from all around them.

As they looked around, for the source of the voice, the entire forest, to their left, rose up and a smiling face could be seen. The mushroom trees were growing out of this things back!