Tales from the Treeline
Market day in Oakhaven was usually happy and busy.
There were colorful clothes, the smell of fresh potatoes, and lots of loud talking as people bought and sold things.
But today, everyone felt a little tense, like the happy feeling was being held back.
Even the sunlight didn't seem to shine as brightly near the edge of the crowd, like the worry in their words.
I walked through the people, carrying my basket.
I was pretending to look for berries for Mom's pies.
But I was really listening to the quiet talks going around.
Every little bit I heard was about how scary the Blackwood Forest was.
"...old Widow Elmsworth said before she died that it was the Shadow Taker," Mrs. Higgins, the baker's wife, whispered to some women near the cheese.
Her eyes were big and she kept looking nervously at the trees far away.
"Said it moved like smoke, but had eyes like hot coals.
Took her grandson right out of his bed, years ago."
The women all shivered. "Poor little Thomas,"
Martha whispered softly. "They never found him."
Fear was like the money of Oakhaven, everyone had it and shared it with every worried look at the Blackwood.
My own heart beat a little faster, but not because I was scared.
I didn't really believe in the Shadow Taker.
It sounded like an old story to scare kids.
But the real fear in Mrs. Higgins' voice was hard to ignore.
It showed how strong those old stories were.
Inside me, I was always trying not to just laugh at their fears.
I knew that even if people's fears weren't based on real things, they could still make them do things.
Near the blacksmith's place, where you usually just heard the loud banging of metal, there was a different kind of quiet worry.
Some men were talking quietly and fast. Sheriff Brody looked worried as he stood with them.
"...found more footprints this morning, further west, near Farmer Giles' field," Jedediah, who took care of the horses, said in a rough voice.
"Bigger than any wolf I've ever seen. And the way they were… not normal."
Sheriff Brody sighed and rubbed his head. "Not normal how, Jedediah?"
"Almost… standing up, Sheriff.
Like something walking on two legs, but still… like an animal." Jedediah's words made everyone feel even more worried.
The forest was making the land dark, but it was also making the people of Oakhaven feel dark inside.
I held my basket handle tighter.
The footprints.
That same strange feeling I got when I saw that creature.
My doubt started to go away a little.
Maybe there was more to these old stories than just people being scared?
A man put a hand on Sheriff Brody's shoulder.
It was Gareth, the best hunter in the village.
His face looked serious. "We need to do something, Sheriff.
These aren't just stories anymore.
Something's out there, and it's getting braver."
"Be patient, Gareth," Sheriff Brody said, even though he looked worried too.
"We don't know what it is.
We can't just run into the Blackwood because of… footprints and whispers."
"Whispers?" Gareth sounded angry.
"My dog almost went crazy last night, Sheriff, howling at something he couldn't see at the edge of the trees!
That's not just a whisper!"
The fear was getting stronger, from quiet worries to angry demands to do something.
Inside me, the fight got worse.
The villagers' fear, even if it didn't always make sense, now felt like it was based on something real, something scary.
The quick look I had in the forest had made me doubt what I thought.
The creature I saw… it sounded like Jedediah's footprints and the thing Gareth's dog was scared of.
I moved closer to the edge of the crowd, pretending to look at apples.
I tried to hear every word.
Their fear was like a wall, making it harder to learn about the forest's secrets, or maybe even to protect them.
"Remember young Elara Orie, years ago?" a woman's voice cut through the quiet talking.
It was Maeve. Her little sister had disappeared near the forest a long time ago, and she was still sad about it.
"They said it was a wild animal then too. We never found her. This… this could be the same thing!"
Everyone felt sad and scared again.
Maeve's pain reminded everyone that there could be real danger in the Blackwood, which was different from my ideas about finding beautiful secrets there.
Inside me, I wondered if I was being silly.
Was I so curious that I couldn't see real danger?
The forest didn't just have secrets; it also had the sadness of things no one talked about.
As everyone in the market felt more and more worried, a small person I knew came up to me.
It was Thomas, the baker's little boy.
His eyes were big and looked scared and excited at the same time.
"Elara," he whispered, pulling on my skirt.
"I saw something near the old well, by the path to the Blackwood."
My heart beat faster. "What did you see, Thomas?" I asked quietly.
He looked around nervously at his mom, who looked worried.
"Big footprints… like Jedediah said.
But… there was something else."
He leaned closer and whispered, "Scratches on the well stones… really high up.
Like something with claws… tried to climb out."
I felt cold all over. Claws. High up. Not a wolf.
The forest's mystery was leaving marks not just in stories, but on the stones of our village.
Before I could ask him more, Mrs. Higgins called out loudly, "Thomas! Get back here right now!"
He ran back to her, his eyes still wide with what he had seen.
The picture of those claw marks, high on the well, stayed in my head.
It made the strange puzzle even stranger.
A creature that stood up, left huge footprints, and had claws strong enough to scratch stone.
It wasn't any animal I knew about.
Inside me, the fight was at its strongest.
The villagers' fear, which had seemed silly before, now felt like it was based on something real, something that could hurt people.
I was still curious, like a small fire that wouldn't go out, but now I was also feeling more and more worried, a real fear.
As people started to leave the market, the heavy feeling of their worry seemed to cover Oakhaven like a dark cloud.
The Blackwood, quiet and watching far away, didn't feel like a place of hidden beauty anymore.
It felt like something scary that was waiting.
I held the smooth stone I found on my windowsill last night.
It felt cool and a little bit safe in my suddenly worried hand.
Had the creature that made those tracks, the creature I had seen in the dark, also left this? Was it a warning? Or… something else?
As I walked home, the sad howl from last night came back to my mind.
But this time, I also heard a new sound, quiet but clear, carried by the evening wind from the Blackwood: the loud, steady thump-thump-thump of something big and heavy moving fast through the plants, coming… towards the village.
And this time, I wasn't the only one who heard it. Everyone left in the square gasped.
Their faces looked white in the light of the lamps, their eyes wide with new fear.
Whatever was in the Blackwood wasn't going to stay hidden anymore.