The Seventh, Pt. 5

                                    

                                          
Sada awoke in a panic and her eyes flew open to take in the forest around her. Her chest was already paralyzed, and she tried to gasp but was unable to. Heart fluttering, she squeezed her eyes shut and counted three of the panicked beats
(1, 2, 3)
then her lungs were released from the paralyzing hold, and she drew in a huge breath.
Mind still foggy with sleep, Sada glanced around herself. It was still light, she was still alive, and she seemed to be unharmed. She looked down to make sure of the latter, and when she did, she saw an antlered head lying across her lap. Each breath from its great nostrils stirred the folds of her silver-webbed gown. Sada's frightened gaze took in more fuzzy shapes clustered around her legs, and something resembling a fur scarf was draped across one of her shins. The panic in her chest surged and Sada couldn't help but stiffen and yelp at the sight. As she did, the huge elk sleeping on her lap shot to its feet and galloped away with a bugling cry. The other furry shapes started at that too, and they all scurried into the forest, wide eyed and chittering. Sada was left with a pounding heart as she watch ed the animals disappear back into the underbrush.
"What in the heavens above and the earth below...?" she wondered aloud, hand pressed ardently to her chest. Her heart pounded beneath her fingers.
The creatures were so friendly in Elt! Even friendlier than her geldings—and much friendlier than her mares. It was nothing short of a dream, waking up to wild creatures asleep around her, and she had sent them off in fear! Thoughts of foamy mouths flashed in her mind, but the animals had looked cleaner even than the pets of her world, certainly not diseased.
Smiling at the memory of the weasel lying across her ankles, Sada drew herself to her feet and brushed bits of moss off her gown. As she did so she caught a glimpse of blue and realized her fingers were entirely stained with the juice of the berries she'd eaten. The heat was gone from her body now, despite the light that still pinkened the forest.
Well, my throat didn't close up, but I certainly had some sort of reaction to that fruit! she thought uneasily. No matter how hungry she grew in the time it took to walk through the woods, she would not let herself eat any more of the vibra nt fruits.
Looking back up through the opening in the leaves, she realized the pink orb of the sun was no longer above her. Just how long had she slept? She chewed at her lip. The day was melting into night again already; the forest was quieting, and the air was cooling. Sada picked her cloak up off the ground where it had fallen but didn't put it on—soft sunlight still made its way into the forest to warm her. She continued walking, urged on by the fear of the dark.
.  .  .
Sada traipsed through the forest for what felt like an endless amount of time, nothing to occupy her mind but her singing. As she walked, she noticed a pair or two of bright eyes looking at her from the trees. She found the stares typically came from furry elk with huge antlers, foxes with multiple fluffy tails, or rabbits with four ears. She'd even spotted a stray chicken, but when she made to approach it, making poor attempts at clucking noises and crooning in the tongue of the north, it disappeared.
By the time the sun set, Sada was still walking. The forest darkened, the bright eyes of the animals began to disappear, retiring for the night. Sada knew she should too, that it was dangerous at night, but she couldn't bring herself to stop walking. It meant she had to face the now undeniable reality: she was utterly lost. She should have reached the amber path long ago, and since she hadn't, it meant she'd gone in the wrong direction.
"Please, please, please," she kept whispering. "Please, please, please." She didn't know who she was begging, or what she was pleading for. Probably God, and probably for many things: Please let me not be lost. Please let me find the amber path. Please tell me this is a dream. Please let the scarred Elf or the pine-eyed Elf find me or appear suddenly. Please let me go home.