What Really Happened in the Forest

Months later, they watched from the tree line; far enough that the green glow of the forest could not touch them.

In the deep clearing, the birch and yew had bent once more into a living cathedral. Duessa stood in her majestic true form; tall, luminous, hair the color of new copper leaves, the last of the battle damage already fading from her. Beside her waited Armando, the secret warrior stag, antlers catching what little sunlight reached the forest floor. All the wild spirits gathered around the arch: the clever fox, the patient owl, the fiercest wolves, the proudest hare. Smaller bright little forest creatures moved on about, like sparks between the roots.

A ceremony, older than any language ever spoken and every faith kept holy on these lands, was at last fulfilled. Sacred light passed from tree to stream. And when all was settled, Duessa the mage and Armando the sacred warrior stag were wed.

Agnes watched with solemn interest. A melancholy Ignatius stood rigid, as if something about the moment had deeply saddened him. Lorenzo, Cedric and Edgar kept their distance and said nothing.

Once the green light finally dimmed from the trees and the spirits dispersed, the five of them turned away and walked back toward The Raven’s Tavern.

The tavern’s new outdoor ale yard had never held so many. Tables and benches had been dragged into the yard for an autumn harvest celebration. Lanterns hung from the low branches, and torches were lit to form a jolly perimeter. Plague doctors from half a dozen neighboring towns filled the seats and tables, masks still on, if only out of habit. It had become the signature of the establishment, even as merchants, travelers, and wanderers joined in. Despite their sober attire, everyone’s hearts felt lighter. Jugs of ale moved freely, the smell of roasting meat and fresh bread cut through the crisp air, and music kept everyone singing or dancing.

Despite the noisy merriment, conversation rose and fell around the same news: fewer new cases, more households that had not lost anyone in the last fortnight, and market stalls preparing to open again. One of the physicians from the next valley raised his cup and announced his wife was with child.

“The festival at Fairburn opens tomorrow,” Randolph said to Lorenzo. “First time in months. You should come. Bring the little sister.“

Lorenzo gave a gentle nod. Cedric waited until the man had turned back to invite others sitting around neighboring tables before fixing Ignatius with a flat stare.

“Alright, you tin relic, you have been quiet long enough,” Cedric teased. “Speak. What actually happened in the forest with Lady Duessa? Every time we ask, you give half answers, then find somewhere you need to be.”

Ignatius turned the cup in his hand, but did not reply.

Edgar leaned in, more amiable.

“Come on. One proper pint, and a straight tale. You earned the drink, at least.”

“I… I think I see a very thirsty widow awaiting your brave company instead,” Ignatius said, raising his cup.

The men jeered playfully at his evasive stance.

“And she will still be thirsty once your tale is done,” Edgar said, giving Ignatius a playful pat on the shoulder. “Trust me.”

Agnes, meanwhile, kept her face buried in a chalice nearly wider than her head.

*Glug* *Glug*

“Easy there, sister. You no longer have Duessa’s presence…or her tolerance.” Cedric said, then he turned to Ignatius. “Come now, you won’t even tell us what happened?”

The knight lowered his helmeted head in defeat, but just as he drew breath, Agnes set down her cup with a decisive slap.

“I will tell you what truly happened!“ she said. The lantern light caught the gap in her smile where the tooth had been. Agnes drew breath, ready to begin.

”Oh, no,” Ignatius gasped. Then he braced himself.

✨✨✨

“The sleeping ritual… did not work quite the way she planned,” a very tipsy Agnes confessed. “The curse became tangled somewhere. Therefore the powerful, the mighty, Lady Duessa, became trapped and sealed… in my body! “

“What?!” Lorenzo gasped. “What are you saying?”

Agnes grinned.

”While I, in turn, woke up… trapped and sealed…in hers,” she revealed. “In the forest!”

“Nooo…!” Edgar uttered.

Cedric covered his mouth.

Ignatius looked down and shook his head.

”God…”

But Agnes continued her cheerful tale anyway.

”Duessa must have spent herself so much during those last days that the spell came out… wrong. She was the one stuck on the bed, taking your horrid elixirs. She was the one you were tending to in mournful desperation. Meanwhile, I woke up in her form in the forest. And, my good sirs, when I say her form, I do mean her…form…” Agnes said, gesturing to a large, round, imaginary chest.

But when the men appeared shocked, she stopped herself.

“No matter. I, *hic*, most heroically adapted to my new proportions, took the matter with the appropriate seriousness it merited, and readied myself for the battle of our lives. With everything at stake. And with brave Ignatius and, I’ve been told, delicious and exceptionally tender Armando by my side… There we were. Three champions eager to fight and risk life and limb against the dark forces of Hauroth and his mighty horde of the undead.”

Edgar turned to stare at Ignatius with an accusatory beak.

”You went to battle Hauroth… WITH A NINE-YEAR-OLD NUN?!” he exploded.

Ignatius shrugged and lifted his arms helplessly while Edgar clasped his neck.

“A recently-turned nine and very short-for-her age nun at that,” Agnes added, her voice muffled by the cup of ale.

”I… adapted,” Ignatius barely squeaked.

”I could still hear Duessa’s voice in my head: ‘No, Agnes! You cannot possibly fight Hauroth on your own, Agnes! Even if you possess all my powers and my mighty staff!’ Because, my God, was Duessa furious! Ha-ha! But then she took a breath, listened to reason, and talked me through it.”

”She… talked you through… a battle with the forest spirit of Hauroth?” Cedric asked incredulously.

Edgar increased his chokehold on Ignatius.

”And a fearsome battle it was! Lasted for three days and three nights!” Agnes said.

”You were a hazard with that staff,” Ignatius gasped through strangulation.

”I saved your life more than once. Ignatius and Armando were brutally beaten. I also felt I was going to lose myself. Hauroth was a fierce combatant, cunning and unthinkably strong. And he did not hold back. ‘I have unleashed my corruption upon the land,’ he’d say to me. But, ‘Nooooo!,’ said I. Once, twice, thrice, we clashed like thunder. His scythe, my staff, in a death grip for the fate of this forest. WHAM! BAM! THUD! WOOOSH! This is why I lost my tooth afterward! Look!”

She showed off the empty gap in her mouth.

”Still, when all seemed lost, I rose from the ashes, snatching victory from the jaws of a most tenebrous and formidable foe! And after all was said and all was done, my knight, my handy stag, and I prevailed!” she declared. “And I would have run right over to tell the tale straightaway, but certain lords here, present, took a VERY long time waking Duessa.”

Cedric was speechless.

Lorenzo’s hand remained at his beak.

Edgar was so bewildered that he lost his grip on Ignatius, who fell sideways.

”I…have…so many questions,” Lorenzo said.

“You have questions?” Ignatius asked from the floor.

But Agnes was back to eating greedily, nibbling on a goose leg.

”So is it safe to presume that Ignatius is back to being your knight then?” Cedric asked, offering him a hand so he could sit back down on their bench again.

Agnes turned slowly away from the greasy goose leg to regard Ignatius and offer up a full gap-toothed grin.

”Irrevocably. *Hic*”

”And that is quite enough for you,” Lorenzo said, distancing the ale cup from her greedy face.

”Long live champion Agnes and the brave Ignatius!” Alaric then called out.

The crowd loudly cheered.

“Hear, hear!”

”Long live the kind doctors who have freed us from this pestilence!” Agnes called out.

“Hear, hear!”

The music and the dancing resumed as the merry group cheered loudly into another brilliant autumn sunset.