Cottagecore

There was another dead bunny on the back porch.

I wasn't alarmed, at first, but that was the third this week. While my friends appreciate the free meals, three in one week was a bit much. Sssydney, a rather large and imposing black snake, is quite sensitive to these things, and they and I exchanged glances while I quietly breathed the traditional thank-you to the bunny's spirit for the gift of its life.

Here, at the edge of the forest, you'd better be polite. Sure, you can be as rude as you'd like, but it will cost you in the long run. Ask Sssydney, they'll tell you.

Just to be safe, I muttered a quick-spell over the body, to check for disease. The aura flashed yellow, which was – concerning. Not rabies, thank all the goodness, that would have flashed a blood red or black. But yellow meant something was wrong, not disease wrong, but wrong all the same.

I sighed. “Looks like I'm the only one in a position to figure this one out. Better tell the others, and prepare for another adventure. I thought I was done with these.”

They hissed in sympathy. “You are ssstill alive, and you ssstill care, therefore the adventure is never over. Not really. It jussst takesss a new form.”

I sat back and just stared at them. “Wisdom, Sssydney? From you?”

“I can't help it sssometimes. You rub off on us, blassst you.”

“Well, that's a pleasant surprise.” I'd moved over to my butcher block, conveniently nearby. Sssydney had eaten the first rabbit and was good for at least a month, but many of my other friends needed fresh meat more often. I chopped it up appropriately, left them to their feed, and I scrubbed my hands well before making my own breakfast. I would need it sooner than I wanted.

Eyes watched me as I packed. Concerned eyes, sympathetic eyes.

My friends aren't dependent on me for their food. I just help a lot, being blessed with the thumbs I started off life with.

I have bannocks on hand for the beginning adventurers who come through regularly. Having good, hearty food on the road when you face the unknown is an amazing feeling, especially when the food you're given is baked with love. My old pack has long since gone to rags, but I've made myself a new sturdy one, just in case. Leather, since I had the time and luxury. And I filled it with the necessities that I learned through experience that I would need. I pulled it out often to show adventurers what their own packs should hold, and why.

The raven dropped out of a rafter. “Where, why, how long?” it quorked.

“The forest, something's killing the rabbits before their time, and I have no idea. Till it's resolved, I guess.”

The raccoon's eyes widened. “The f-f-f-forest? Nope, not going, I'm staying here!”

“I didn't ask, dear. Then you and the squirrel need to share the acorns, though I know you'll be grubbing some crayfish out of the creek as usual. You all have enough food within easy reach for at least a month, so there should be no fighting. And I expect you to keep this place reasonably clean! There will not be a repetition of the shenanigans like last time, or I'm going to reconsider refraining from wearing fur cloaks and blankets, understand?”

There were various gulping sounds from corners of the room. “Yes, we understand.”

The raven bobbled its head. “Wanna come.”

The cat, who till now had remained silent, hopped up on the table to stare at the raven's dark, black eye. Sssydney was already curled up on my pack, so I knew they were going as well. The cat gave a chuff. “That's rather ominous for a few dead rabbits. Two of the most oracular creatures here choosing to go with the magic-user. I don't feel called to go, so I'll keep this place safe.”

“Thank you, Cal. I don't think any adventurers will come by, but you never know.” I plucked a hair, dropped it in the scrying bowl. “At least you can keep an eye on me and what's going on. Be well, friends.” With dishes scrubbed and put away, there wasn't much left to do but get moving. I scooped up packs and Sssydney, settled all of them about my shoulders, and walked out the back door.

Just because I live within the very edge of it, doesn't mean I know much about it.

I don't know if it has a name. Everyone calls it The Forest.

I don't even know how big it is. I have a good map, but no one ever told The Forest how that's supposed to work. It's bigger inside than out, I'm sure.

The raven led the way. There are no paths, but somehow, wherever the raven landed, there was a way through the trees. Just enough room for me to wiggle through without crushing any undergrowth. I could feel the menace – I had to be very, very careful here, or I'd get squished. Something was definitely upsetting the balance.

Eventually, shockingly, there was a clearing.

Oh. Oh, no.

Some idiot woodcutter had decided that these hardwoods would be perfect to build a house. In the forest.

And the forest retaliated.

We could see the axe, with the bit buried in a cut that was weeping blood to the forest floor.

We could see the carcasses of dead rabbits, who likely had a warren nearby, and had tried the substance, thinking it was food.

We could see the vines that had crept up on the woodsman, grabbed a limb each, and pulled.

We could see the look of horror on his face, and the oak sapling growing out of his chest. His mouth was open, and we could almost hear him screaming in the breath of wind in the glade.

Sssydney slithered down a convenient pant leg, crossed the violet patch dominating the clearing. They gazed into the poor guy's sightless eyes, flicking their tongue in and out rapidly. “Never ssstood a chance,” they said regretfully. “You do wanton violence in the Foressst'sss boundary, expect ssswift retribution.”

I could feel pressure building, but I didn't know what we were doing wrong. I looked for a place to back up, a place to face a threat. Looked for anything out of place. Nothing. The raven hopped down to a hole I hadn't spotted and started talking with something within. I heard “danger” and “poison” in the discussion, and the pressure built-

WHAM.

“GOTCHA!”

I felt us lifted into the air – me, my friends, the trees, the... grotesquery in the center. Some bunnies came along for the ride, and they were screaming in terror.

The raven and Sssydney were looking up, and their expressions were of utter disgust.

I sat down, hard. The sensation of moving intensified.

When we stopped, I found the bunnies and the raven pressed up against me. The first group for comfort, which I gave gladly, but the raven had its wings spread, as if to protect me.

And Sssydney was wrapped around the oak sapling, still staring upward, but now in open defiance.

The trees were moving in a wind we didn't feel, and creaking ominously.

Sssydney was trembling with rage, which didn't look good, seeing as they were coiled around a shaking tree. “Parental Figure, ssstop it immediately! Did you forget, in your eagernesss to capture me, that you've overssstepped your authority? GREATLY?”

I felt like my eyesight doubled. It was dizzying, so I was rather glad to be sitting down. Overlaid on where I knew I was, was a strange narrowed view of a clear glass ball, holding some trees, and some bunnies, and a human, and a corpse, and a sapling... and a very, very angry snake, who was furious, and shouting some hissy words.

Sssydney exploded.

I head glass crashing, and we were falling.

The bunnies piled into my lap, crying. If you've ever heard bunnies scream in pain, think about the same sound, but fear. It will shatter your heart. I didn't even have time to be afraid for myself, before we hit the ground with an earth-shattering CRASH.

I was on my back, staring up at the sky.

There were two black dragons fighting in the air.

I blinked.

I spent some time staring, then tried to gather my wits. The dragons were making enough noise, hissing and snarling and striking each other with an iron-nail-on-glass screeching. I had a headache, and things were blurry. The trees were shaking.

The trees were moving.

Did I hit my head?

I heard the raven call, and the bunnies bolted for its direction. I tried to sit up, but it was hard with the ground shaking, and the dragons fighting, and those dratted trees were still moving! I saw roots shake off soil like a bobcat shakes snow off its paws, and rearrange themselves to their satisfaction. Even the herbs in the clearing were shuffling away.

The raven was calling again, but I couldn't seem to move. There was a black blur of wings, and it was flapping above me, calling. Then it croak-snarled, and shifted.

Now, I know my friends aren't what they seem. Some are under spells, some of them under spells I placed on them. We can talk, that's usually a giveaway there's magic going on. But a raven, blurring above me into something resembling a mountain troll, and scooping me up, and carrying me away from the clearing, well, that was unexpected.

Even more so was the crashing and harsh THUD of a body slamming into the ground that used to be a clearing.

Vines whipped out of nowhere, lashing and binding. Soon whatever-it-was was completely covered with writhing masses of ropy green.

The used-to-be-a-raven leaned me up against a tree, and shrank back to raven size. Something just as black, and whirring, dropped down to join it.

I knew it was Sssydney. But they were a dragon.

The raven said, “Head smack,” and Sssydney nodded, and dove for my pack. Where had that been? Out came my healing potion bottle, and it was uncorked, and put to my lips. I managed to swallow and not spray it about.

Sssydney waited till my world stopped spinning before lighting on my knee. They were a beautiful, shiny-black, perfectly-formed dragon. Their head dipped apologetically. “I am sssorry, Friend, I did not expect my parent to be ssso foolisssh, not in the foressst. It is alive, you know, and it doesss not like interference within itsss boundariesss. Of any sssort. My parent usssed that poor human to draw me out, to re-capture me, but did not believe they themssself could be in danger – from me, or the foressst.”

I lost track of my tongue. “I... That... Sssydney, you were magnificent.”

They purred, pleased. “I have had to learn wisssdom, living with you. I fled my home, hid my ssshape, where they could not find me. For good reasssons. Now that I've been forced to change back, I mussst return. But my parent will have to ssstay. They have much to atone for, and the foressst will take itsss due for sssuch violation. Like it did to the misssguided human.”

Sssydney nodded out of my line of vision. I turned, and saw the body and sapling had been relocated to a small clearing that didn't exist before. I wobbled to my feet, and Sssydney grew a bit so I could lean on them. We left the raven watching the bunnies dig a new home, and I took careful steps towards the sapling.

It was growing out of the woodsman's heart.

Sssydney sighed. “The foressst recycles. That includes sssouls.”

“Oh.” Good to know. I put a careful palm on the sapling, and could feel it weeping. I caught flashes of images, a woman, and babies. A dark-haired stranger approaching, a toothy dragon grin in their face, gestures towards the forest. Sending them on a quest doomed to fail, for their own ends.

“He had a family. I must find them, and tell them. They should know what happened.”

There was rustling, like wind, but there was no breeze. A path appeared where none had been, leading the way out.

“Oh.”

“I think you will dissscover that thisss path leads you to them, sssince the forest knows where the woodsssman came from. I mussst return home ssspeedily to prevent more foolissshnessss, but Raven, will you go with our friend? Potion or not, I am worried for their health.”

The raven nodded, and hopped to a branch. I heard a crack, and a small thud, and Sssydney was picking up something, and handing it to me.

A walking stick.

“I think the foressst is trying to help you, in return for helping itsss bunniesss.”

I felt something thrum under the wood's bark. Definitely magic. I would investigate that later. It was always nice to get help from a good neighbor, I guess. The raven quorked, and I was surrounded by a blast of air that smelled of ash and cinder, like I was at a forge. Sssydney launched themself into the sky, growing to their proper size when they cleared the trees. A goodbye, of sorts. Sssydney was never one for drawn-out partings. Neither was I, for that matter.

I felt better with the staff supporting me, and I took a few steps to see how well I was. Eh, things worked. Time to go.

The raven grumbled encouragement, and we followed the path.

Adventuring #1 can be found at https://vocal.media/chapters/adventuring-1