The deeper they pressed into the forest, the more the vegetation changed. And the only other creatures they’d seen so far were dead or dying. As they walked, a flicker of movement drew their attention to the branches overhead. A wren was flitting from branch to branch of a goldberry tree, looking agitated. The bird plucked a berry from the tree with its beak, held it for a moment, then flicked it aside and moved on to another branch while the plump golden fruit fell to the forest floor. Once the bird reached the next branch it paused, seeming to eye the berries there suspiciously, then picked another one from the tree. This one seemed more palatable, so the bird gulped it down, before hopping to inspect another cluster of the little yellow orbs. Moments later though, it teetered unsteadily, wings twitching, then tumbled to the ground. It hit the undergrowth with a dull thud, and lay still.
Nyssa crouched beside the bird, looking at it without touching. It lay limp, with its beady black eyes open and beak slightly parted.
“That’s the third creature today,” Kellam noted from behind her. “The elven side of the border the forest has always been dangerous, but never like this.”
The healer nodded. Earlier, they had passed a young doe sprawled beside a stream. Before that, a goblin, twisted in its final agony near the roots of an old elm with its lips blackened and fingers stretched out as though it had tried to claw something out of its own throat.
“It’s a good job we’ve brought food with us,” Nyssa said. “I don’t think it will be a good idea to eat anything, plant or animal, that we find here, at the moment.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
They continued along the main path in grim determination, until they were forced to a halt again by yet another example of the expanding corruption. A stretch of mould or fungus spread across the ground like a pale carpet, spanning the entire width of the road and beyond, into the surrounding undergrowth. In places it was bunched up in soft mounds. But this was no ordinary mushroom growth: the entire mass rose and fell in a rhythmic motion, as though it were breathing.
Kellam stayed with the nervous horse, trying to calm it again while Nyssa stepped forward to inspect the strange substance. She bent down to look more closely, then jumped away as a portion of the fungus pulsed upward, releasing a cloud of spores. She stumbled, coughing and choking. As she staggered, Kellam put an arm out to catch her around the waist, steadying her. With tears streaming from suddenly red-rimmed eyes, Nyssa urgently pushed the ranger back, bringing the horse with them, out of range of the fungus. She staggered, clutching the amulet around her neck and coughing so hard she could hardly breathe. Kellam held her upright, not knowing how else to help, but eventually her coughing subsided. When she finally caught her breath, she said in a calm voice, “It occurs to me now that the spores of that…stuff…might be poisonous. Especially to smaller animals.” She pointed at the mounds and humps covered by the furry rug of mould. Mounds and humps that now seemed to resemble small bodies.
If she lingered in the warmth of the ranger’s half-embrace for slightly longer than necessary after regaining her breath and balance, neither of them acknowledged it.
“I’m wondering,” the elf said carefully, “if perhaps we should take that detour to the moonflower glade after all."
Nyssa’s still-watering eyes were fixed on the undulating fungus. "Agreed."
Hmm. Some crucial things do happen in this chapter, but I feel like the pacing is getting a bit slow. Any thoughts?
