CHAPTER 1
The smell from up here told me everything about what was being made for dinner back home. The smell also told me that I would go hunting tonight in this forest and have my dinner elsewhere. I might even visit my hidden cache of fruit. Once a week I visit the cave where I planted that fruit tree, and once a week I take a single, blue fleshy fruit.
My stomach grumbled me to move. I muttered, "It's decided then."
I swung my legs up off the branch and stood. I stared out on the immense trees of the forest and my home, The Shaws. The night sky was favorable this time of the season as I could see through the trees and gaze upon our mountain range, The Sairs. Well, I could see two out of the four mountains. The far two, The Owls, always hid behind the comfort of constant fog. I promised myself that one day I'd visit there and find out the truth behind Algrad's story of the perpetual fog. Another stomach grumble reminded me to take care of the present and to seek the truth another day.
With a well-placed hand here and a strategically placed foot there, I shimmied down the tree as if I grew up in one. Which wasn't far from the truth. I am a Tree Maker after all.
Tree Maker is not what we originally called ourselves. It was a title given to us by foreign traders that frequented the two roads that weaved through our forest. It was a long time ago when that title was given, and the elders chose to let it slide. The knowledge of the real name can carry power and, in contrast to many of their other decisions, the elders actually made the right decision. After all, "Tree Makers" was an oversimplified description of the relationship we had with nature.
For instance, there are trees along The Snakes separate roads that run north to south and east to west that could look unnatural to an outsider. The crossing of The Snakes in the center of the forest was sheltered from above due to the overlapping and interconnecting tree branches. We didn't make the trees do that so much as we asked them. But hey, if outsiders thought we made the trees and they awed my people for doing so then I can't complain. It made my duty that much easier.
While I'm all for awe, I still grimace whenever people refer to these roads as The Snakes. Being called a Tree Maker gave us some power while the name of the roads lacked any sense of power. Alas, while I am the head warden of these lands, no one really asked my opinion on naming things. In fact, rarely do they ask my opinion unless someone needs a sweet, unique treat from afar or if they want me to make someone permanently disappear.
"What are you doing now, Brim?" The feminine voice was soft and cute. It also startled and annoyed me.
My shoulders sagged and I turned around to gaze upon the emerald-green eyes of Caryanne. Her eyes smiled at me while the rest of her face gave away nothing. As she stepped away from the tree, the rest of her body became less camouflaged. Unlike most of my people who preferred loose clothing to hide weapons and potions, she preferred tighter, overlapping clothing to accent her petite frame. Her clothes were the same dark brown as her hair, but her uncovered arms showed the natural light brown skin of my people.
As always, her hair was pulled back save a little curl that fell onto her forehead. The curl gave her an innocent, youthful look that she used along with the tightness of her clothing to deceive others. She is as physically strong as I am and just as old. Actually, she is a few decades younger - as she likes to remind me. Although when you've walked among these trees for a couple centuries, a couple decades don't really matter.
To the traders, however, we looked like we were in our early twenties. A perception we played to our advantage. There is a certain joy when some traders think they can bully me because I look so young. It's only a moment before they find themselves on the ground with my foot on their throat. Or in Annie's case, poisoned or bleeding and with a foot on their throat. She didn't have the same subtlety as I did.
"What do you want, Caryanne?" I asked.
She hated when I used her full name instead of her nickname, Annie. I hated that she was the only one able to sneak up on me. If I didn't find her so attractive, well, I would just walk away. I'm pretty sure she knew how I felt since hiding feelings from her wasn't something I'd mastered yet.
"Oh, you know, just sneaking up on you," she coyly replied.
I saw her shimmer a little and a light green aura appeared around her, about a foot away from her body in all directions. It lit up the forest around us, pushing the darkness out. Within the aura, light green stars began to fall as she sauntered towards me. I shook my head and averted my eyes. "No, no, and no. You can't go using your gift to get me to stick around."
She walked through the brush and broken branches without any sound save the soft tap of her hide shoes on the dirt. Her voice seemed to saunter the way her body did. "Who says I want you to stick around? I mean, you're only a head taller than me. You always have that beard stubble that doesn't quite grow into something more. All you really have going for you are those blue eyes."
I heard a slight noise in the distance. I tuned out Annie so I could tune in elsewhere. I could already hear better than any other Tree Maker and, with my eyes shut, I could hear even better.
Each Tree Maker is born with at least one gift and they can develop it into something greater over time. However, some Tree Makers just enjoy the long life and easy living, so their gifts do not end up being honed.
My gift, one of my main ones, involved extraordinary hearing, and I never squandered my time training it. Although my hearing gift is constantly being sharpened, mainly because I have a rare form of the gift where it is always active. Imagine centuries of instinctively sharpening a blade everywhere you went and it's not hard to envision how you can cut through anything when you need to.
When I focused, I could travel in my mind to wherever my hearing took me. At this moment, I traveled across the worn path and into the forest. I cut through the noise of the leaves and branches swaying as the evening wind tickled the tops of the trees. There were noises of waking baby birds from an unseen nest at the edge of the clump of trees to the east. Just past that nest is where I found him.
I knew it was a male by the breathing. Yes, I know it sounds odd, but females and males of every species breathe differently. Like their exterior, the males are rough and lack refinement in their breathing. Females retain an element of class even the crabby crones that always complain when I show up after they've put away the dinner. This male breathed slowly, but loudly in a wasted effort to hide from us.
"Get down!" I snapped as I reached behind with both hands, pulling the blades from under my tunic, and crouched.
"Who me?" Annie was still trying for seduction and unaware of the predator.
I growled, "Get down, Caryanne. Now."
She shimmered again and the green glow gave way to the black of night. She turned away and put her back against mine. There was a thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk and I knew she had extended the javelin she kept up one of her sleeves. We had switched weapons a few nights ago so she could improve her skills with my weapon. I'd taken her blades for a refresher. It would appear the gods wanted to put us to the test.
She pressed closer to me and whispered, "Where?"
"East. Find Big Owl and drop halfway between the ground."
Big Owl was a nickname for the tallest of The Sairs. I shut my eyes and tapped one blade twice against the other's hilt. It was our code letting her know that I'm going blind and she needed to heighten her eyesight. I heard the knock of wood as she acknowledged with a rap of her knuckles against the javelin. Then I heard her feet shuffle and the warmth against my back disappear as she moved to face the same way as me.
I asked, "See him?"
"Oh yeah. Idiot thief," she replied.
Thieves had always been common in this part of The Snakes. Annie and I constantly joked about how the thieves probably thought the name of the road was meant to encourage their presence. It wasn't, but that hadn't stopped their activity.
"Why do they all smell the same?" I asked as I relaxed from my crouch and opened my eyes.
Annie and I had spent many days and nights hunting down thieves as it was our duty to protect everything within The Shaws. Although their activity was increasing more than ever.
"Why do they all insist on wearing their spoils?" Annie asked then released a disappointing sigh. "This one is actually wearing a gold whale earring of one of the northern traders. As if I wouldn't recognize their emblem from here."
I glanced where the thief was. I could make out the glint of the earring thanks to the moon's light-blue light. At ninety yards through thick brush and trees, my vision went a bit hazy. Annie, however, could see over five hundred yards through anything except a mountain when her gift was in full swing.
When I asked how her gift worked, she explained it to me as simple as changing colors. She knew that certain things had certain colors, like tree trunks being brown, and she would make them gray. Instantly, she could see all the world without any browns. Thus, leaving the other colors to stand out. The downfall of the gift was that it took so much focus that it made her nearly deaf and extremely vulnerable. It's on the list of things to help her with, don't worry.
Annie let out a defeated sigh. "I suppose it's my turn, isn't it?"
I pointed out, "I got last time."
"Fine. Can I at least use my aura on him?"
She'd never used her aura to actually seduce anyone because I knew she only cared for me. She made her intentions known a while back and, unlike mine, they were quite obvious. I mean when a female falls on me by accident and remains there with her face a few inches from mine, even I get the hint.
Although, I can't quite stand the idea of being with her as my partner for life, at least not in that way. There are too many complications. Then again, it could be nice. I'll wait a decade or so then I'll get around to making a move. Maybe. I'd sooner count the stars in the sky than try to organize and express my feelings.
I sighed in frustration. "Sure. I'm hungry so let's get it over with and I'll share my dinner with you."
"You just like how they make me burp," she responded with a flirty smile.
In all honesty, it's that smile that keeps me from being completely removed from the rest of my people. Trust me, sometimes I just want to live at the edges of the forest or far north where only a handful of my people have been. Always at the brim, they like to tell others about me. Oh yeah, that's why they call me Brim if you didn't know.
I nodded in agreement. "You do belch like a trader full of our ale."
"Hmph," she grunted and turned away. The light green aura extended a few feet in every direction around her and began swirling like a dozen breezes. Shoulders back, she headed straight for the thief.
"The poor bastard," I muttered.
"See you on the back side."
"On it," I replied. As I made my way to circle around the thief, I shimmered and went invisible. Oh, did I forget to mention I can do that?