Chapter 43 - Fairy tale forest
The trip north of Elystead turned out to be rather uneventful in the end, with Scarlett and the others making it to the small town of Temisbrook just a short while before the sun had started setting. There, Scarlett had found an inn where there was enough space for both the horse and the carriage before she led the group to the outskirts of the town. Temisbrook was situated right at the border of Temisbrook Woods, which was an old—almost ancient—forest with massive trees reaching well over fifty meters in height, and Scarlett doubted even a bear would've been able to wrap their arms around their trunks. Many of the trees also had an odd, hardened texture to them; the bark on them almost a pale grey color similar to that of stone.
Though the forest wasn't particularly large, it was dense. There wasn't much foliage growing between the trees, but you still couldn't see much further than a dozen or so meters into it. And with it growing darker every minute, the visibility was quickly dropping.
"It's been a while since I was here," Rosa commented as they left Tremisbrook behind and closed in on the forest.
"You have been here before?" Scarlett asked, looking at the musician.
"On occasion." Rosa held the hurdy-gurdy she was carrying in front of her for a moment, miming herself playing it. "Even the people in small towns like this need opportunities to relax once in a while. Who am I to deny them those chances?" She grinned. "Besides, there aren't many places quite as unique as this," she added, looking ahead at the trees.
"Why are they like that?" Fynn asked, visibly sniffing the air as he stared at the trees. "They look wrong."
"People say that it's because they've been turned into stone by the fairies inhabiting the forest, to prevent them from withering away," Shin said. "They're not actually stone, but there is said to be some credence to the view that the cause is fairies."
"Huh," Allyssa let out, tightening the bandolier around her chest and pulling her goggles out from beneath the cloak she was wearing. She pushed back some of her blonde locks as she put the leather goggles on the top of her head. "Are there really fairies here?"
"Oh, there are," Rosa answered. "I would avoid angering them if I were you."
"And how do I do that?"
"Excellent question!" Rosa looked toward Scarlett. "I'm guessing the boss-lady has some good ideas? The fairies usually don't like it when people traipse too far into their home."
Scarlett glanced back at her. "You speak as if you have experience on the matter."