A Girl Named Calamity by Danielle Lori

CHAPTER TWO

THE COLOR RED

Iwas on the outskirts of Alger, the city full of revelry even this late at night. Instead of riding on the hill out in the open, I rode close to town, the wooden buildings’ shadows covering me. We walked at a slow pace, in no hurry to get farther away from home.

As I passed the back of a tavern, the side door flew open, and I heard a feminine scream. My heart jumped, my pulse racing as I watched a woman run out the door and down the alley, her red curls flying untamed behind her like a cape.

A chill went down my spine as I watched the woman glance behind her, her blue dress fluttering in sync with her hair. I stopped my horse in horror as a dark-haired man reached her. He wrapped his sleeveless arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground.

She fought him and squealed until he pushed her against the wall, put his face in her neck and his hand up her skirts.

Then she giggled.

I let out a deep breath of relief and willed my heartbeat to slow down. She had only been playing a game. Thank Alyria, because I couldn’t handle watching a man rape a woman without even making it out of Alger. That would only be a bad omen for the rest of this blasted trip.

I made it past the city with no other distractions. No men followed me; no one even looked at the shadowed rider on the outskirts of town.

The breeze against my face helped to settle the nausea in my stomach. The forest trees creaked as fireflies the size of a fist buzzed by. The soft sounds of an owl hooting and the song of the cicadas served as peace to my inner turmoil; the moon’s light a guide in the dark night.

I decided right then, that I couldn’t afford not to trust my grandmother. If she was right, and I didn’t leave, Alyria’s people would be in danger. If she was wrong, then I was the only one in danger. She made me wear the cuffs my entire life. It was easy to latch onto the thought that she was losing her mind, but she had always believed this to be the truth. I didn’t see her making that kind of mistake.

The dull ache in my chest as I rode further away was not for missing Alger. But for my grandmother and Benji. The dog had followed me home from the city one day and chose to never leave. He was part of the family, and I hoped he and Grandmother would be safe, although I wasn’t so worried about Grandmother. She was the strongest woman I had ever met, even as her body became weaker from age. If there was anything I had learned from her, it was that you made the most of what you were given.

I was given a horse, a forest trail, and a destination. Many didn’t have those things, and that was what pushed me further and further from our cottage in the woods.

I allowed my thoughts to go rampant during the beginning of my journey. Thoughts of my mother overwhelmed me. If it weren’t for her, this wouldn’t be happening, and yet I couldn’t help but feel like the shackles holding me back were finally removed. Guilt sank like lead in my stomach because of it.

I had been ready to settle and get married. Just so I could find out what makes a woman run from a man only to get caught.

Most women would have been happy to settle down and have a couple of children. The thought of that monotonous life only left a bitter taste in my mouth. And it was another reason my horse kept carrying me further from Alger.

My mind kept traveling back to my grandmother’s insistence that I had magic.

So much magic, Calamity.

How could I have had magic and never noticed it? Grandmother had said the breeze talked to her, and to ask it to show me I had magic. When I became frustrated with my melancholy thoughts of my mother, I tried to listen to the land. I asked it to show me in my head but heard nothing. So, then I asked it out loud and felt ridiculous. But the only sounds I heard were the whistle through the trees and the rustle of leaves, which only had worry gnawing at me imagining the creatures crawling around the forest floor. I shook my head at my wild imagination. Wildlife was abundant in Alyria, of course there were animals out here.

I put all my fear and doubt about my journey into a little box and locked it up. I focused on the chirping of the crickets, the soft water noises of a nearby stream and the feel of the breeze on my skin.

A small hum thrummed through my body like a plucked fiddle, and I shook off the strange sensation.

Apprehension eased its way into my chest, and it felt as if I were dabbling in the dark arts, but I tried again. The hum was there, sending a shudder through my body and tickling my skin. I felt it coming from the ground, the trees, the air, as if everything was living beings. The feeling lifted my spirits. It was like finding out a secret I had always wanted to know.

Maybe what Grandmother had said was true, because I felt the humming of the land in my veins, as if it were a piece of me. All it took was asking the land to show me my magic? What a strange world I lived in.

My brow wrinkled in confusion when the steady hum was interrupted by a more erratic one. My heart jumped as a bunny hopped out of the bushes and onto the path before me, the moonlight just bright enough to make it out. My horse only sidestepped the rabbit as if to rub it in that I might have overreacted. The bunny took off, and the strange erratic hum disappeared. I soon realized that the more irregular hum was the bunny.

I closed my eyes and sensed many more soft, inconsistent hums, but when a hard hum rolled through me as though I were plucked instead of a fiddle, I froze. The hum didn’t have a harmless vibe to it; it was so rough it chattered my teeth and sent an icy chill down my spine.

My heart beat fast as every horror story I had ever been told came to mind. Stories Grandmother should have never told me . . .

I was imagining something dragging me off into the woods when the sound of heavy hooves hitting the ground pulled me out of my thoughts.

A horse and rider appeared on the trail before me. I was on a well-ridden trail, so it wasn’t odd seeing another rider.

No, the strange thing was seeing him slow down when he spotted me. A dark hood covered his eyes, and the moonlight only accentuated the black void of his face. A chill had a cold sweat covering my skin as we both stared at each other, unmoving.

His dark cloak blew in the breeze around him, and I swore I could see the heavy breaths of his horse. Not an ordinary thing in the warm Alger air.

I realized that he might have seen me in the same obscure way; I’d stopped my horse just as he had. Maybe this was one big misunderstanding. Or maybe I’d just tell myself that.

I inched my horse forward. I couldn’t be at a standstill any longer, or my heart would beat out of my chest.

A stronger breeze than normal blew my hood around my face and like a soft caress, it ran down my cheek. A voice vibrated inside my mind. “Run . . .”

Even without a shudder from the whisper running through my body, I would have known this was not right, because as I urged my horse forward in bravery, my gut twisted as its only way of warning me.

With an alarm ringing in my mind and no warning, I raced directly to the right and off the path. My hood flew off with the momentum. We swerved around the tight-knit trees. They were so close I could reach out and touch one on both sides. I heard the sounds of hooves crunching leaves and sticks, alerting me the rider was following.

I tightened my knees around my horse as we hopped over a stream in one fluid motion. I wasn’t an experienced rider, but with the sound of the rider behind me, fear of falling off was the last thing on my mind.

The break in the trees ahead announced the end of the forest, and I urged my horse faster until we made it out of the woods and into a valley.

The Red Forest was an ominous presence on the other side. The sun hadn’t risen, but with the rider closing distance behind me and the adrenalin coursing through my veins, I pushed my horse faster in its direction. We flew across the valley, hooves kicking up grass as they hit the ground forcefully. I squeezed my knees around my horse’s flank to keep me seated, and that only pushed him faster.

By the time I saw the outline of the dark red trees against the silver moonlight and how eerie they were in their stillness, it was too late to change my mind.

The cold chill my body felt magnified as I was fully enveloped in the Red Forest. I whipped my head around and slowed down as I noticed that the rider had stopped before the forest entrance.

I could hear my heartbeat drumming in my ears as I stared at him. My blood ran cold when he tilted his head at an unnatural angle on his neck, his cloak blowing in the wind. He grabbed his horse’s reins and headed east; I assumed he planned to go around the forest. It would take days. I knew that because of all the talk from grumbling travelers in Alger. I wasn’t even going to let my thoughts wander in the direction of why he wouldn’t enter the forest. I could only handle so much.

I turned back around, and immediately focused on the forest’s sounds and searched the land. It hummed softly, and I relaxed until I felt many dark erratic hums roll down my spine. My heart beat harder if even possible as I spun my horse in a circle. A cold sweat covered my skin in a blanket of fear when I saw one set of eyes peer at me from the bushes. They were red with only a tiny slit of black in the middle.

The rest began to appear, in the trees, and in the bushes all around me. I believed this was where I would die. I could feel a rush in my ears while fear hit me like a bucket of icy water.

For too long, I continued to spin in a terrifying dance. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end with the knowledge that I couldn’t get away without having any creatures behind me.

The only movement in the forest was the occasional slow blink of their eyes. With fear crawling into my chest, I thought about going back the way I had come. But there was at least one inhuman rider back there, and I doubted he was the only one.

The creatures hadn’t made any moves, and I swallowed hard while I made the decision that I couldn’t go backward. The terror was almost paralyzing but with my heart’s erratic beating and the feeling that something would jump me from behind, I continued down the path.

The eyes lingered on my skin, but there was no rustling of leaves, no sound at all. The forest was deathly silent besides for the sounds of my pounding heart and my horse’s hooves hitting the ground. We walked down the trail, the eyes so focused that I had the feeling if I ran they wouldn’t be able to stop themselves from chasing me.

My hands shook, and I dug them into my horse’s mane to ground me.

When the sun began to rise, the light shined through the dark forest and slimy thin arms and legs dragged themselves away from the path. I saw a bony hunched-over spine as one creature turned to look at me before parting.

Its teeth were sharp little points, and I shuddered as I imagined the possibility of them biting me. Its gray skin was thin and spotted with red scabs and scars. It was on all fours and its claws were sharp and as long as my fingers. Though, there was a depth of knowledge behind the inhuman slanted eyes. And I knew that there was too much intelligence in them for it to have been a mindless man-eating creature.

They made not a sound as they left, and I thought it defied all logic. But I was learning logic didn’t exist in this forest. As I saw the last one ramble away, I let out all my dread in one big breath.

I patted my horse’s neck, mainly to steady my trembling hands, and then I realized I hadn’t named him yet. I settled on ‘Gallant’ because he was the bravest horse I had ever met.

The sun shining over the horizon was a beautiful sight. I saw the forest in the light for the first time. Something I’d thought would never happen. I’d been sound asleep just hours ago, and now I was on the run for my life. It was almost unbelievable. Except this was too terrifying to be anything but real.

Rays of light shined onto the crimson leaves, making them appear covered with red dew. I watched the sunrise open the flowers on the vines clinging to the red trunks of the trees. The blooms were a darker shade than the vines; they were such a dark red they almost appeared black. Red leaves of every shade fell around me. I held my hand out to catch one and noted the stickiness left when I let it go. I rubbed my fingers against the thick liquid on my palm and grimaced when I realized it was blood.

I’d heard stories about the forest, but I thought that was just what they were—stories. When the Battle of Tjank took place after the sealing of the magic, there had been so many casualties of war in this forest that the ground imbibed on the blood like wine. The soldiers’ blood had mixed with the magic land and seeped into the plants, slithered up the trees, and took over the forest.

The ground had opened up, and the dead soldiers fell in. It was said that the creatures were the fallen dead soldiers, but nobody could be certain. After what I had seen, I didn’t doubt that they were. I wondered why they had let me go and if anyone else had ever been so close to them and lived to tell about it.

I wiped my hand on my cloak as we stepped around a large red puddle I imagined was probably blood. As we progressed further into the forest, clouds began to block out the sun and a strong metallic smell hit my nose. I heard the sound of running water and stopped to dismount Gallant, my feet sinking into the ground, red liquid seeping onto my boots.

The trees creaked eerily as I walked him through the brush to the sound. A breeze picked up, and I shivered, not from the chill but from the strange way it brushed my skin. I walked into the clearing and stared blankly at the creek. The red liquid could be nothing other than blood. I should have known . . .

I sighed. “Sorry, Gallant.” I rubbed his nose. “We’ll have to find you some water when we get out of the forest.” My voice sounded gritty here, and I shivered. We were walking back to the path when a loud thunder clap hit my ears. I looked heavenward as streaks of red flew across the sky, and rain began to fall.

Even after seeing the forest, I was still astonished it was raining blood.

* * *

The thick liquid seeped through my cloak. A drop rolled down my cheek, and I pulled my hood further over my head. I was itchy everywhere as the blood dried on my skin. Gallant was no longer chestnut but red. Nausea rolled in my stomach at the sight of so much blood.

We had walked the trail for so long that I watched the sun crawl across the sky. I had trudged beside Gallant for as long as I could handle, slugging through puddles of blood, until I rode the rest of the way.

The rain had been a persistent skin-crawling annoyance the entire time. I hadn’t seen any travelers, but I could imagine why. If I had the choice, I would have gone around as well. The scent of metal was the only thing I could smell since the rain had begun, and my lungs were begging for some fresh air. When I determined I would never get out, I saw a break in the trees. I sped us into a trot, and we broke out of the Red Forest.

The blood rain stopped.

An empty valley stretched before us, the only things decorating it green hills and rocky areas. The sun warmed my skin, and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. I shuddered as I peered behind me and saw the menacing clouds above the Red Forest. Red was a color I never wanted to see again.

“Come on, Gallant. Let’s go find you some water and get far away from this place.”

We rode for a short time until we came across a lake. Woods surrounded the opposite side, and I walked Gallant into the trees for cover. As the lake water turned red from washing the blood off my body, I thought about the ugly truth.

Grandmother was right. It was undeniable now.

It was still hard for me to swallow, but even if I refused to believe it, that rider seemed to think I was the one who could find the seal, and that was all that mattered.

I had to get to Undaley.

After I rubbed Gallant down and changed my clothes, I looked at my map and tried to figure out where I was. I let my hair dry and munched on some jerky. I’d refused to eat in the forest as I would have been ingesting more blood than I preferred. My stomach was still a little unsettled.

If I was right, the map said I was a short ride from Cameron City.

Gallant and I lagged the last few miles. The threat of that rider hounded my mind, but my body was too fatigued to care. The sky was darkening when we reached the boisterous town. Wooden buildings and houses sat packed together in the small green valley. The glow of torches shone throughout, in anticipation of the night while soldiers in chainmail patrolled the streets.

The large wooden sign had words scrawled on it in red paint:

YOU CAN FIND ANYTHING IN CAMERON CITY!

I wasn’t sure if that was reassuring or not.