Through the Forest and Down the Road, To Duwamish Bay We Go

Acapella and I soared through the night- this time the sky was crystal clear and sparkling with stars. The air was crisp and chill and as refreshing as a long draught of ice cold water on a hot day. We laughed as he raced along the starry trails, heading as straight as we could towards Duwamish Bay. This night was just made for riding the night sky.
All too soon, I could see streaks of red and orange on the horizon, and I knew we wouldn’t quite make it to Duwamish Bay in this one night. We were close, I knew, but Acapella said we would be about an hour’s gallop short of town. That being the case, we decided to land and find a nice spot to take a little rest before we went the rest of the way on foot.

Acapella trotted down to the ground in a clearing just as the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon, and we were quickly enveloped in the trees of the forest, where the sun had not yet penetrated and the light was still grey. Dew had formed and the forest was dripping with it, damp and chill. A few birds chirped sleepily, and some sort of small animal rustled in the branches above us. Acapella’s hooves crunched quietly on the leafy carpet as we wound in between the big old trees.

“I saw the road a little ways off when we were still in the air,” he told me, “But I thought we’d find a better place for a little nap here in the woods.”

I agreed with him, and we wandered a little farther before I saw the perfect spot. It was a very small clearing underneath a big fir tree - like a little tent with a smooth carpet of fir needles. It smelled nice and fresh, and it was fairly dry. I dismounted and took all the gear off Acapella and then gave him a good grooming. He whickered with pleasure, which made me happy, too. Then I grabbed a snack out of the stash the Gypsies had given us, and lay down under the tree. As I stared up into the branches and watched the sky grow lighter behind them, I relaxed and fell into a deep sleep.

Much, much later I roused to Acapella calling me, “She Wolf! She Wolf! Wake up now! Hurry, before it’s too late!”
I was very groggy and this did not make any sense at all. I struggled to drag myself up from the bottom of the well of sleep I was in. Finally, I was able to open my eyes.  Looking up through the branches, I could tell it was probably around noon, with clear weather. Acapella was still calling me. I sat up and answered, “What? Too late for what?” I may have sounded just a little bit cranky - I don’t wake up too well.

“Get out of there NOW!” my equine friend shouted.

I got up and pushed through the low hanging branches, only to find my way barred by a huge toadstool. I looked to the side and there was another one. On the other side was still another. I tried to go out the other side of my tree-tent and found that way blocked, too. I was completely ringed in by fungi taller than I was, set so close together I couldn’t squeeze through them. “What the hell?!” I exclaimed.

I could hear Acapella on the other side. He was clearly agitated. “They were almost grown by the time I woke up!” he shouted. “Then I tried to wake you up, but you wouldn’t! I don’t know what they are or why they’re here, but this doesn’t look good!”

He was right. This didn’t look good. In fact, it looked very bad. The words Fairy Ring popped into my mind. I knew that if this was, indeed, a Fairy Ring, I was in for some trouble.

I heard a thumping on the other side of the wall of toadstools and some of them shook. Acapella’s voice came to me, a little distant and jarred. “I’m trying to kick them down, but they’re just absorbing the blows. I’ve dented them a little, that’s all!”

“Don’t hurt yourself, Acapella,” I answered. “Hang on a minute. I want to try something.”

I pushed back inside the canopy and reached up for a branch. They were low enough down and close enough together that I had no trouble grabbing hold and pulling myself up into the tree. I quickly clambered up above the level of the fungi and pushed aside some of the branches above me to get a clear view. I could see Acapella below me and the ring - made of the classic red and white polka-dotted toadstools -all around the tree. Beneath me something was happening - I could hear strange noises and a crystalline ringing sound. There were some far-off voices, too.

Now I was sure this was a Fairy Ring, and the inviting tree-tent was actually a portal for some of the fair folk. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t be happy to find a mortal inhabiting their doorway and I had no desire to be taken Underhill for goodness knows how long. I figured that le Enchanteur would rescue me, but I also knew that time runs differently in the fairy realms and didn’t want to risk becoming an elderly She Wolf there while waiting for a rescue that only took a few days here.

I whispered loudly at Acapella, “Up here!”

He looked up and moved over by the toadstools closest to me. I wiggled out on a branch above the fungi and as it dipped down with my weight, I slid down it until I was on the red and white cap of the fungus. I slipped down that, too, and onto Acapella’s back. He stepped away, and I slid off of him and grabbed our gear. There was no sense in leaving anything they could trace us with if they were annoyed that we had been here.

As the voices - beautiful, silvery voices, like so many magical flutes - came closer, we slipped quietly away into the forest. Ten minutes later we were on the road and galloping towards Duwamish Bay.

The rest of our trip was not exciting at all, and I for one was glad. When we trotted into the familiarity of Duwamish Bay and up to the Inn, I was just plain relieved. This had been one memorable trip.

- She Wolf (c) June 2007