Dill ran ahead, desperate, while behind me came a panting Archer. I did the same only awkwardly, for that shield weighed on my back. The woods were dark even though it was daylight and a thick fog made it difficult to run, and at any moment we could hit a tree. Two minotaurs came after us with bows and arrows. The trees helped us by shifting the arrows that they carried. I could see at a glance, I still did not believe they really existed, it seemed like a dream, or a nightmare.
We ran from the minotaurs like gazelles of a group of lynxes. Dill was the most active, she ran more than us. I was almost gone from my sight. All the while, however, the Archer decided to fall against his will in a trap. I could only see this when she asked for my help and screamed like a little girl. He was hanging on a tree upside down, with his left foot tied to it. There was no longer running away and I would not leave him alone in that situation. Dill had disappeared, but he still heard her footsteps, running incessantly.
The minotaurs arrived, it did not look like they had run so far. Nor were they panting. They looked chilling. They were like strong men, like those who practice bodybuilding, with the detail of the head being a bull. A black head, whose muzzle was damp and his eyes looked like a man. The horns were sharp as a knife. I screamed like crazy to get away from us. They looked at each other and laughed. Was it too strange to notice a laughter in a bull with a man's body (or a bull-headed man?), But I know they were laughing. And I noticed that they talked, did not understand the language they spoke, but they did not attack us. Instead. They released my friend. They pushed us to walk, they wanted us to go in front of them, where they wanted to go. We were now following a dense fog, which later became undone. A camp was forming as we walked. Me and the Archer stared at each other without understanding. We entered the camp and the people / things were stopped doing what they did to observe us. Several minotaurs looked at us with disdain. Others held logs, and others cut down trees. But there were not only beings of this kind. I was worried about Dill, where would she be now? He could also see squirrels, rabbits, and deer, carrying wheat on their backs and gray bears, which made holes in the ground, still did not know why, but soon discovered.
The mist had completely dissipated. When we got close to something that looked like an altar, another minotaur carried Dill. He carried her on the shoulder as the girl struggled and let out untold expletives and undercut his ribs. He threw her on the floor, she screamed like crazy saying he did not know who he was dealing with, a brave face that alone. When he turned around he saw us and was very happy. And we too. But there were no hugs. But at least we knew we were all well and together again. We passed the altar and went to something that resembled a hut. A small wooden hut. The minotaurs took us to a point, in front of this cabin. There was no door, no windows there. However we could discern a figure inside. And he was leaving.
- You?! shouted Archer, walking slowly toward the hut, moving away from us.
He could not understand what was going on in his mind at the moment, but he seemed happy and simultaneously afraid. Who was that figure who had just left the hut? By deduction I discovered that it was the wolf that Archer had seen one night. The same one that had smoldered in his face.
The one he loved.
"Welcome, my friends. he said looking at me and Dill. - Hello my dear. He said smiling, turning to Archer.
"Hello," I and Dill answered.
"My name is Flicsotera, I am the guardian of the Gray Forest."
The Archer's mind whirled. A typhoon of feelings, insane madness, if you can think of what would be crazy insanity, but I said just so you understood the redundancy. She was full of questions and she had the answers.
Meanwhile a multitude of animals and mythical beings gathered around. Wolves, deer, bears, penguins, horses, leopards, more minotaurs, cerberos, elves, dryads and nymphs. Many beings. Time seemed to have stopped, for it was not dark, nor was it too clear. It was not too hot or too cold. We left our city in the morning, and the weather was the same. My watch did not tick anything. I wondered, too, in the meantime, why those minotaurs were chasing after arrows? Under the prerogative that Flicsotera seemed to be a wolf of good, they too should be part of her group. But appearances deceive, perhaps not always. I had doubts.
Flicsotera was a large wolf, with large red eyes, with brownish hair, thick paws, very robust, self-aware, with strength and wisdom confirmed by the way she behaved, her way of walking and speaking. She was confident and always knew what she was doing. He wore a necklace with pieces more valuable than the ones that exist in the other world. Bright rhinestones that did not reflect light, for they had their own light. They looked like little stars.
At that moment the wolf climbed up the altar and told us an unbelievable story. She would tell a story that would change the vision of the journey.