The Nextworld Invasion and the Death of Magic - 3. Chapter 3 - The Cottage

Nuji led Tigath and Othri into the deep forest away from the ruins of Vuliburge. The journey to the Yellow City was going to take them more than a week, and they needed supplies.

“Where are we headed?” Othri asked. Tigath was helping him walk.

“To my home,” Nuji replied.

“You live way out here,” Tigath asked, and he added, “alone? That must be tough.”

Othri’s foot slipped on a loose stone, and Tigath caught him, but bracing caused Othri to hiss a harsh breath in pain. “Can I have a little more of your whisperoot tea?” he managed to ask Nuji through his teeth. He brought a hand to his side, and he focused on Nuji again as she handed him the flask. It was almost empty. Othri took a sip and asked her, “Do you have any friends or family way out here?”

“Yeah, Nuji,” Tigath agreed, “you seem so nice, and you’re obviously skilled with healing, so why are you all by yourself?”

In the presence of other people, Nuji’s past came flooding into her mind in a way that it had not in years, and she was overwhelmed with emotions. “I was banished from Vuliburge,” she choked out, “for killing my teacher. It was an accident,” she added quietly as she began to cry.

One of Othri’s arms was over Tigath’s shoulders, and he reached out to Nuji with the other. She looked at him, hesitated, and put her long-fingered hand in his. Othri pulled the small, limby woman closer to him and Tigath so that he was in between them both, and he put his arm over her narrow shoulders as well.

“I’m so sorry that happened,” Tigath said gently.

“And you mustn’t blame yourself for the accident,” Othri added. “The Rothian leaders shouldn’t have banished you.”

Nuji allowed herself to be hugged. She did not know how long it had been since someone last embraced her, and it made her cry all the harder. The men’s words were kinder than her own thoughts had ever been when remembering the death of her teacher, and she had not realized how badly she needed to hear them. Nuji occasionally made trips to a tiny village that was not far from her cottage, but she actively avoided making connections with the townsfolk. Helping Othri and Tigath had brought her into much closer contact with people than she had allowed in years.

As her tears began to subside, Tigath asked, “Nuji, how long have you been out here?”

She looked into his purple eyes and replied. “More than half my life.”

The trek through the forest to Nuji’s cottage took most of the morning, and when the trio was getting close, Tigath spotted something through the trees off to one side that seemed unnatural.

“What’s that?” he asked, pointing at a very large mound of plants.

“That’s one of my old houses,” Nuji informed the men. “I’ve made several over the years. For one reason or another, I’ve had to make myself new ones, and the old houses become part of the forest.”

“Why doesn’t it look like the buildings of Vuliburge?” Othri asked.

“I’ve had to make do out here on my own the best I could. I don’t have access to everything that the people in the cities do, so I’ve had to figure out my own ways of making things, even houses. Look,” she exclaimed, and she pointed out a second mound, “there’s another one.”

When they arrived at the current structure of living plants that Nuji was using as her house, all three of them were very hungry. Othri was exhausted and in pain, but he and Tigath had to pause and marvel at the beautiful intricacies of the structure. The two green men were in awe of Nuji’s home.

Similar to the covering of interwoven plants that she had magicked into existence above Othri as he rested in the woods, her house was constructed of green tree trunks pressing against each other, but her home was much more complex than what she had caused to grow during the night. The walls, roof, and even the flooring inside the little building were entirely made of living plants.

Nuji entered, and Tigath and Othri followed her inside. She handed Othri the flask of whisperoot tea. “Why don’t you finish this off so I can refill it for you? You can hold onto it and have a little whenever you need. And please, lay down on my bed,” Nuji insisted. “I’ll prepare some breakfast for us.”

Othri took the last sip and gave it back to her. Nuji’s straw-stuffed mattress was less than five feet long, and Othri was over six foot, but he laid himself onto her bed with his knees bent and his feet on the floor, and he let out a sigh. “Your tea is strong. I can feel it working.”

“Good,” she replied, “now, just relax.” She turned toward the abandoned food preparations from the evening before.

“Nuji, can I help you with the meal?” Tigath offered. He tied back his long purple hair.

Nuji’s expressive face showed wondrous emotion. “I guess so. I’m so used to doing everything on my own that I’m not sure how you could help. I was going to make a pie with hare and dove, but that’ll take forever to cook. Let’s just grill the meat so it’s done quicker. Can you handle the meat while I take care of the animals?”

Tigath did not know what she meant. “What animals, the hare and doves we’re about to cook?”

She frowned at him. “No, the animals in the forest. I’ve got to feed them too.”

“You feed the animals in the forest,” Tigath questioned, “and then you eat them?”

“Some of them,” Nuji replied casually. “I feed a lot of different animals, and sometimes I need to eat them.”

Tigath was alarmed by her response. He enjoyed eating meat, but he enjoyed not knowing where it came from. “How do you go from feeding the animals one day, to killing them the next?”

Nuji laughed, and it surprised Tigath. “Do you honestly think the flock of birds that this dove was part of actually remembers her?” She held up the little plucked and headless bird that was ready for cooking. “No!” Nuji continued exuberantly. “We tend to put our emotions and personal experiences into animals, but their minds don’t operate in the same way that ours do. When I caught this bird, she was initially stressed out, but I calmed her down and rubbed her head. I gave her treats and comforted her, and when she was relaxed, I snapped her neck.”

Tigath was startled. “You did what?! Why be so kind when you’re about to be so cruel?”

Nuji was hurt by his words. “I’m not cruel! I want every animal to feel comfortable – even happy – before I end its life. I need to eat, and sometimes that requires me taking the life of an animal. I didn’t tell you this, but I also baby-talked to her.” Nuji held up the bird again. “And I baby-talked to her.” She nodded at the hare’s carcass. “I told them how special they were, how much I appreciated them and their existence. I told them I was sorry their lives would be cut short, but I let them know that their energies would become part of me, and I’ll be healthy because of them.” She repeated herself with a very exaggerated pout on her wide mouth, “I am not cruel.”

Tigath did not know what to think, and he apologized. “I didn’t mean what I said. I’m sorry.”

“Well, you said it,” Nuji stated flatly. “I’ve been alone since I was fifteen, and I’ve had to figure out how to survive since then. It hasn’t been easy, and I don’t need you or anyone telling me how to live my life.” She frowned, and her Rothian features made her look very pitiful.

“I’m sorry,” Tigath repeated. “I shouldn’t have said what I said.”

Othri spoke up from where he lay on the bed. “Nuji, it sounds like you have a very big heart.” She and Tigath looked over at him, and he added, “Thank you for bringing us to your home.”

“Please,” Tigath said to Nuji, “tell me how I can help with the meat.”

She let out a sigh, nodded, and turned to her counter. “Why don’t you chop the hare into four large pieces, and you can season them and the dove with salt and grated long-pepper.” Nuji headed outside.

Othri waited until she was out of earshot and whispered to Tigath, “Sugar, you’re so sensitive about animals. I knew what you meant about the ones she kills for food, but you chose the wrong words.” He let out a little laugh that turned into a painful cough, and he gingerly brought a hand to the bandage on his side.

“I didn’t mean to call her cruel!” Tigath hissed under his breath. “I was just alarmed by how cavalier she was when talking about killing the animals.”

Othri shot Tigath an incredulous look. “Where do you think your steak, or chops, or roast comes from?”

“I know, I know,” Tigath replied. “I’ve just never put any thought into it. I realize she’s right.”

Nuji reentered and grabbed a pitcher of water. The two green men were staring at her. She paused and focused on them. “What is it?”

“I was being an idiot,” Tigath admitted. “I shouldn’t have been judgmental, and I’m sorry, again.”

She eyed him up and down, grinned at them both with her wide mouth, and let out a little chuckle. “Alright, alright! I’ll be right back in.” She headed out the door with the water.

Tigath looked over at Othri with a relieved smile, and Othri winked at him.

A short while later, the three of them were outside seated around Nuji’s firepit, and the meat was suspended over the flames with lovely aromas filling the glen. The food was soon ready, and the trio began to eat. It was delicious.

Between bites, Nuji recommended, “Why don’t you stay here the rest of today and spend the night? You can leave first thing tomorrow.”

“That’s very generous,” Tigath replied, “and we can’t thank you enough for your hospitality. But are you not coming with us to the Yellow City?”

“No, I have to stay here.” Nuji looked at Othri. “The medicine is working, and it’s going to take time for you to heal, but you’ll be strong enough in the morning to start out.”

She took another bite of food and continued speaking from one side of her wide mouth. “Tigath, you and I will prepare enough supplies for your journey, while Othri, you rest. Have either of you been to the Yellow City?”

Both men shook their heads that they had not.

“Neither have I,” Nuji continued. “The city lies to the east, and it should be easy enough for you to find. Where this forest ends, grasslands continue on that stretch all the way to the sea. The Yellow City is on the coast.”

“It’s supposed to be a ten-day journey from Vuliburge,” Othri managed to say out of the corner of his mouth, while chewing and trying not to dribble.

“My cottage is north of Vuliburge, and the journey from here to the Yellow City should take about the same amount of time, but I think with your injury, you two ought to anticipate traveling for a full fortnight.” Nuji took a large bite of the roast hare, but then she thought of something. She jumped up, ran back inside, and reemerged holding an old book that was falling apart. “There’s a map in here,” she declared, trying to swallow her improperly chewed food. A few pages slipped from the book’s binding and fluttered down to the ground. Nuji paused to make sure the page with the map was not among them, and she joined the men again.

Nuji was less than four feet tall, but with her exaggerated features and long limbs, she almost seemed to take up more space than her actual size. Her skinny fingers flipped through the loose papers like spider legs, and she squinted down her oversized nose at the information on each. “Ah-ha! Here it is!” Nuji snatched the page and laid it in front of Tigath and Othri. It contained a drawing of the entire region, stretching from the sea to several cities that lay far inland, even beyond where Vuliburge used to stand. “We’re somewhere around here,” Nuji stated, bringing her fingertip to the forested area above the star labeled Vuliburge. Another star sat at the bottom of the page, far to the south, with the word Delkland printed beside it. There was only one other star, for the Yellow City. It was on the extreme right edge of the map where a strip of blue indicated the ocean, but the city was listed by another name.

“Kardiblath?” Tigath read aloud, frowning at the awkward pronunciation. “I can see why folks refer to it as the Yellow City instead. Nuji, do you know anything about these other villages?” He pointed at a few tiny dots on the map, smaller towns that did not warrant stars like Vuliburge, Kardiblath, and Delkland.

“And are we sure we shouldn’t go to Delkland instead of the Yellow City?” Othri added. “It’s at least a few days closer.”

Nuji looked from the map to the two green-skinned men. She finished chewing her bite and swallowed. “I don’t know much about the smaller towns, but the great Grimoire Library is located in the Yellow City, and you’ll have a good chance of finding an expert there.”

Tigath repeated Nuji’s words. “An expert?”

“Someone who knows the old magicks,” Nuji explained. “If it’s really like you told me, and the trees attacked the Humans, then it sounds like magic from the forest itself was fighting back.”

Othri raised his eyebrows “Listen, I realize that I’m the one who actually witnessed it, but what I saw is still a little hard to believe. Did plants really used to do magic? Is that really a thing?”

“That’s something an expert in old spellcraft might know,” Nuji replied, “and that’s why you need to go to the Grimoire Library in the Yellow City. If you two lads want more information, and you want to help stop the Humans, you need to find others who know more than I do, others who can help. You can take the map with you when you leave tomorrow.”

“Well I don’t know anything about stopping the Humans,” Tigath stated, and he turned to Othri. “But Nuji’s right. We can’t just stay here, and there’s nothing to go back to in Vuliburge. It was either going to be Delkland or the Yellow City when you and I were discussing it last night.” He shrugged and concluded with a little uncertainty in his voice, “The Yellow City it is!”

Othri looked at Nuji. “Why don’t you come with us?”

Tigath liked the prospect. “Yeah Nuji, Othri’s wound is going to need care that I can’t give. I really don’t think we’ll be able to make the journey without you.”

“No,” she replied defiantly, “it’s not safe for anyone to be near me for too long. I refuse to be the cause of another person’s death. You fellas have already been with me for too long as it is, and I took a major risk by performing those minor charms on your wound, Othri. We’re lucky the magic didn’t go haywire. I won’t cast any more spells while you two are in my presence.”

“Well, thank you for what you’ve already done,” Tigath said gently. “But please,” he added with a smile, “think about it. We could really use your help getting to the Yellow City.”

Their meal was almost finished, and Nuji insisted that Othri lie back down when they were done. She and Tigath remained outside, and they began collecting what the travelers would need for the journey.

“Nuji, I’m not afraid of your magic,” Tigath stated as she handed him a traveling bag. “I’ve never heard of Rothian magic hurting anyone. Do you know why the spell went wrong when you were a child?”

“No, no one was able to figure it out. My teacher was just dead. It was horrible.”

Tigath’s forehead crinkled with pity for her. “I’m so sorry you’ve gone through such terrible experiences. I think I understand a little why you’d want to be alone out here. I also wouldn’t want to be the cause of someone’s death.”

Nuji sighed. “Better to be lonely than a killer.”

“You’re not a killer,” Tigath implored in a gentle tone. “You told us it wasn’t your fault. No Rothian spell should have ever been able to do that, right?”

Nuji shook her head. “It shouldn’t have. The elders were shocked.”

“Has any other spell gone wrong again for you out here?”

“There hasn’t been anyone around me when I’ve cast a spell since that day, not until last night with you two.”

Tigath took Nuji’s long-fingered hands. “Come with us. Come to the Yellow City.” He smiled. “Be with us. Spend a little time with other people. Let yourself connect.” Tigath looked at the cottage where Othri was resting. “You’ve done so much for us. Please, let us be your friends.”

Nuji was surprised by his words. “Friends?”

Tigath chuckled. “I realize we didn’t meet under the happiest of circumstances, but I feel a kinship with you; you feel like a friend to me already.”

Nuji scrutinized the tall, green-skinned man, but her ability to read people was severely out of practice. Emotions were bubbling up in her that she could not understand. She was feeling things that felt familiar, but they were feelings she had not felt since her youth. Nuji wanted to be friends with these two… these two kindred spirits.

She looked off into the trees and replied. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should help you two get to the Yellow City.” Nuji’s wide mouth curved into a slight smile, and her eyes began to sparkle. “Yeah, I’ll go with you. I’ll get you there, but I’m not staying,” she added seriously. “I’m coming back here once you’re in good hands.”

Tigath let out a little laugh, and he reached up to his head, releasing his purple hair so it draped down on his shoulders. “That’s fine. Thank you, Nuji.” He gave her a sideways glance and smirked. “Are you really just going to make this long journey with us and then leave again?” There was a touch of disappointment in his voice.

“I don’t want to endanger people by being around them,” Nuji stated in a dejected tone. “And I won’t cast any spells around you two. I can’t stay for too long in a place with people who might become the next victims of a spell going ballistic. Besides, I’m used to my home here.”

Nuji began organizing important supplies to pack into two large travel bags. She set out several knives, some dried and preserved food, several jars of herbs, two medical kits, and a few books.

“Wait a second,” Tigath interrupted, “books, why are we bringing books? Won’t they add unnecessary weight? And aren’t we headed to a library?”

“Yes, and yes,” Nuji replied, “but we need them because they contain spells for everyday life. I won’t cast any of them near to either of you,” she added quickly, “but we need some of the information in them if we want to make this trip easier. One book has healing remedies. One is about gathering food in the wild. One contains everything from fire-starters to water-purifiers, and this fourth book,” she added, placing the largest volume onto the top of the small pile she was making, “never leaves my side. I even had it with me when I found you two in the forest.” She patted its cover. “It’s how I dealt with those nasty fairies.”

“What is it?” Tigath asked, tossing his head to shake his purple locks from his face.

Nuji looked down at the book beneath her long fingers. “It’s important,” she replied vaguely, and she stuffed it into one of the bags.