Kai slumped against the dirt walls of the mysterious old man's dwelling, awoke to unfamiliar sounds of happy chatter. He wiped away the crust that formed on his eyes from last night's crying. His body was in a now somewhat familiar disarray with aches and pains covering his muscles, deep pain of hunger forming in the depths of his stomach, and mental fogginess. He took a few moments with his eyes still shut to reacquaint himself with his new conscious life in all of its uncertainty, he opened his eye to find the bed of leaves empty, and Guen missing.
This startled him into full alertness, he whirled his head around checking the hole, but there was no sign of her, he sprung up and looked out of the uncovered entrance. There he took a sigh of relief to see Guen and the old man sitting under one of the many trees playing with glowing blue flowers.
He couldn't help himself and he ran out to Guen and jumped to the ground where she was sitting and gave her a tackling hug. This clattered them both to the ground, and the old man let out a long crackle. On the ground, Guen and Kai began to laugh as well.
" I'm so glad you're okay! When did you wake up..and why didn't you wake me up!" Kai said.
" I woke up a few hours ago, just before the sun rose" Guen let out with a gleeful smirk.
" I already tried to find something for her to eat, it isn't much but it's all we got if you want some." and then the old man brought out of his satchel a strange-looking piece of light brown bark. Without hesitation, Kai grabbed it and tried to bite it only to find it was not only leathery but hard. He tried again to gnaw at it, mostly failing. "You also didn't tell me, boy, that this lady was from the Gamogreen! I almost lost it hearing that she was from one of the border towns, and one of the good ones!"
"Oh yeah, I remember hearing that, I guess it slipped my mind," Kai said through the bark in his mouth as he plopped himself on the ground along with Guen and the Old man. " I should also ask, what is your name, sir? I'm sure how to address you."
The old man stared into space either trying to think of a name or remember one. "I'm afraid I haven't been very open with you too, but Guen says you both need to stay here for a while until things calm down back at your home-"
"What why?! Why do we have to stay here, we don't even know what's going on back at the capital!" Kai protested at Guen.
" A group of your fathers military tried to arrest me… I'm not claiming to know everything that's going on, but if the military is arresting judges and their families it's not safe there for either of us." To this crossed his arms upset and the old man continued.
" As I was saying, I haven't been very open. I'm not some random old shaman living in these ancient almost uninhabitable woods" The old man stood up and began to flicker in and out of view changing with each incursion into Kai and Guen's sight. Guen sat there wide-eyed, and Kai looked scared to death with his eyes fixed open paralyzed by fear. Now the old man persisted in their sight, but was now a towering beast, unlike anything Kai had ever seen.
His claws dragged around the ground. His brown fur shining like armor in the sun. His face, like a bear, furry and vengeful, with giant teeth. He stood several feet above Kai's height and was about 4 Kais wide. He was a hulking beast.
"I am one of the many spirits of this forest, although not as many live here as they used to. They used to call me Glimherod, but that name has not seen use for so long, so you can call me as you please." His voice changed to a gruesome low sound that was something out of nightmares. Kai sat there still paralyzed by fear.
"My town used to talk about you! You were one of the few defenders of humans when the spirits expelled them from the forest!" Guen excitedly blurted.
The beast morphed back into the form of the old man. "Ha! Not really, but it's good to know some people still remember me!"
" Do you mind sir if we call you Herod?" Guen asked.
" Sure I like it!" Herod replied with his ego at a new high.