ARWIN

  They set off in the direction of the Dark Enchantress’s castle side-by-side. They went south, for a while, towards the next village. But before reaching it, they turned off the enchanted path and took a lesser, non-magical trail off into the forest, one that was rough and seemed infrequently travelled.

  Yaz explained, “The main road back there heads to a village called Tradition and the North-Western Artery. The Dark Enchantress lives in the heart of Spider Swamp, to the East. There’s no main road to her castle, probably because there aren’t enough travellers dimwitted enough to go there. This trail takes us to the peninsula where Magicist Beers lives, which is on the edge of the swamps. When the trail turns south to his place, we need to keep going east, which should bring us into the swamps. It’s been a while since I’ve come this way. I usually visit the good magicist by boat, but I think there’s a trail of some kind that we can take. I seem to remember a sign.”

  The walk was peaceful. The forest rose tall on both sides, broken here and there by a bubbling stream or scrub brush. The sun warmed them from above, a bright, cheery ball of yellow high above in a mostly clear, blue sky. Every now and then, huge, fluffy cloud giants drifted by at play. From the ground, they seemed to move in slow motion. The day was pleasant, and birds sang happily in the boughs above. The more adept ones even managed rudimentary lyrics.

  As they walked, Yaz patiently pointed out interesting things about the scenery as they passed and generously answered Arwin's endless questions about it. Being very old and very well-travelled, Yaz was a font of knowledge about all things Heartstone. Arwin soon counted himself incredibly fortunate to have met him.

  Pointing to a bush covered in red berries, Yaz indicated, “That is a mulberry bush. Eating the berries causes you to mull over things and really focus. Excellent when you need to think about something really hard. Some parents give them to their children as study aids, though there’s some controversy about such things.”

  Arwin sampled one. It tasted a bit dusty to him. “There was a blueberry bush near where I came into Heartstone.”

  "Nutritious, but causes depression in large amounts."

  "So I gathered. Or rather, I didn't, for that very reason."

  Yaz counted off types of berries on the points of his fingerbones. “Strawberries are delicious but have no nutritional value, just like straw. Raspberries will make your voice raspy. Elderberries make you older. Doesn't bother me any, I'm immortal, but you should take care. You may prefer the rarer youngerberries, which make you younger. Currants have an electrifying spark when you bite into them. Nothing painful; kids love them. Chokeberries—“

  Arwin’s eyes widened in alarm. "I'll stay away from those!”

  Yaz firmly agreed, “Quite. Blackberries turn your skin darker, even black for a short while if you eat enough of them. Ninjas are said to use them before missions. Also popular with cosplayers, performers, and makeup artists. White berries for the same, but in reverse. Cloudberries get you high."

  "Like you're walking on clouds?"

  "They make you feel very happy but also slightly above everyone else as if you’re better than them. People get addicted to them for both reasons. Oh! These are fun." He stopped by a bush and plucked a couple of dark purple berries. "Try them." He handed them to Arwin.

  Arwin popped one into his mouth and bit down. "Ow!" It felt as if Yaz had just poked him in the chest. He frowned at his companion. "Did you—?”

  "No." Yaz smiled.

  Arwin eyed him crossly and ate another berry. Again, a hard poke hit him, this time in the stomach. He looked at the berries in consternation; then realization dawned on him. "Ah! Pokeberries!"

  Yaz laughed. "Yes."

  Arwin tossed the rest in his mouth all at once and winced as his body was bombarded from several directions at once. "Delicious but painful. A berry interesting lesson."

  They continued walking along the path. A little further along, they came across a small hut made of wooden slats and grasses.

  Arwin asked, “What's that?"

  "A cloakroom. A room that makes cloaks. There’s another variety, cloak and dagger rooms, but they’re much harder to find, their locations often mysteries.”

  True enough, when they poked their heads in, a wide variety of cloaks hung from the walls. When Arwin experimentally took one off of a peg-like branch growing from a strut in the wall, another cloak slowly spun into being to take its place, threads growing right out of the branch.

  They continued on and stopped at another odd site.

  "And that?" Arwin pointed to a rectangular structure that looked as if it was made from sheets of chocolate-coloured satin.

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  "An enrober. It provides robes.”

  As they stood in front of the enrober, Arwin asked, “Is stuff like this common around Heartstone?”

  Yaz nodded. “In Heartstone, you can physically craft the things you need by hand, without magic. But we're also lucky in that magic naturally affects evolution, and this creates a good many useful plants and animals for us as well. Things like the cloakroom and the enrober, on the other hand, are man-made. Over the millennia, inventors and cultivators have used magic to create useful and not-so-useful things: machines, plants, and items. Many of these have been scattered all around Heartstone, even in the wild. And some, especially living creations, have replicated on their own and become part of the natural flora and fauna of the continent. In this case, the cloakroom and enrober were probably assembled by good-natured folk as a way to help out passing travellers, such as ourselves. At some point, both will age and fall apart and become part of the soil just like a dead tree, so there’s no worry about pollution.”

  Arwin mischievously smiled. "Wait here. I've got a great idea." He went over to the enrober, rummaged inside for a few minutes until finding what he wanted, then returned. He held out a black bundle. "Here. Try it on."

  Yaz looked confused. “Why? I'm a skeleton. I don't need clothes. The rain and wind aren't a bother."

  "Trust me,” Arwin insisted, pushing the bundle into the skeleton's hands.

  Yaz shrugged and threw the garment on. It was a black, hooded robe with sleeves. His bone-white face peered out from under the cowl.

  "Excellent!" Arwin grinned. "You look ten times more menacing like this. On Earth, the personification of death is often a skeleton in just this kind of black robe. Now we just need to get you a scythe for reaping the souls of the dying. Figuratively, of course. Please don’t do that in real life.”

  Yaz stretched out his arms and tried to get a look at himself. He pushed the hood away from his eyes. He complained, “I can hardly see with this thing in front of my face. And it feels so bulky. I rarely wear clothes.”

  "But I'll bet you're a lot more intimidating this way. Much less likely to be the victim of bad troll humour. Just glower and wiggle your fingers menacingly and watch what happens."

  Yaz reluctantly looked around for someone to experiment on. He found a toadstool on the side of the road and walked over. It was a few moments before the toad stopped hopping around and noticed him, graciously offering the skeleton its stool-shaped head as a seat. The skeleton stepped forward and did his best to look dangerous. His fingers waggled with menace, and the permanent white grin of his undead skull loomed from the shadows of the hood.

  The toad croaked a shriek and leaped away as fast as it could ponderously hop.

  Yaz returned to Arwin. He happily decided, “I like it. This might come in handy.” So as not to go around scaring people unnecessarily, however, he removed the robe and tucked it into his rib cage, which he apparently used for carrying things. Straps underneath the cage kept the clothing from falling out.

  They walked on. A short while later, Arwin thought he heard voices coming from the trees. He paused to listen and was certain that he heard women giggling and laughing.

  Arwin asked his new friend, “Are we near a village?”

  Yaz shook his head. “Not to my knowledge.” He cocked his head and listened. “Fellow travellers, perhaps?”

  Arwin was eager to experience anything and everything that was Heartstone. Moving towards the side of the path, he asked, “Shall we investigate?”

  “Sure.”

  They pushed their way past bushes lining the path and entered the forest. The trees around them were tall and majestic, with wide trunks that must have taken many centuries to grow.

  Soon, Yaz noticed something in the distance. He grabbed Arwin and hauled him behind one of the tree trunks, out of view.

  Now even more curious, Arwin asked, “What is it?”

  Yaz urged, “Look. But stay hidden.”

  Arwin craned his head around the tree trunk.

  Before them, the forest opened into a beautiful glade. On one side, a spring fountained up from some rocks, filling a small, clear pool. There was an orchard with fruit trees, including a breadfruit tree whose fruit was loaves of fresh bread that gave off steam; you could smell them baking as they grew. There was a carnival-style booth made out of branches, vines, and flowers. It had a crude sign that said Meat Market and, on the table below, several sexy cuts of cooked meat paraded around like they were on a fashion show catwalk. On another side of the glade was a tent-like structure.

  And there was more. Something — miraculous.

  “Duuuude…”

  Not quite keeping the smile out of his voice, Yaz replied, “Ah. I could see how that would be interesting to those still of the flesh. The hut is a disrober. It makes you want to take your clothes off." It was very similar to the enrober but made of white satin. Discarded clothes had been cast around the exit.

  Arwin replied, eyes glued to the glory before him, “It's amazing.” He pointed. “Who are they?“

  Outside the hut cavorted a collection of fantastic women. They danced naked outside, all laughs and fits of pleasantly jiggling giggles.

  “Those are nymphs?"

  Gazing at these wild forest nymphs was like gazing at a splendid and varied garden. No two women were alike. Some nymphs were completely naked, while others had artfully draped garlands of colourful flowers and deep green leaves growing about their bodies, hiding only enough to excite the imagination while remaining essentially still nude. Butterflies and hummingbirds danced amidst the nymphs, feeding from their flowers before darting away.

  The females were mostly human in overall appearance but for a few exceptions. Some appeared to look like any normal woman Arwin was familiar with from his world. Others had bodies that were as vibrant as flowers, their skin pink, blue, green, red, purple, or other colours, like petals.

  The hair on their heads was seemingly littered with leaves and flowers, though it was unclear from a distance if these were decorations or actually growing there.

  Bright eyes came in all colours: joyfully sparkling gold, mysterious green, icy-cool blue, playful pink, and more. Some had short, plain nails, while others had long nails as green as a tree’s leaves or as brown as bark.

  Yaz smiled at Arwin’s interest. “There's a variety of nymphs all over Heartstone. These here are forest nymphs. Their role is to care for the local forest and the living things within it. There are also water nymphs, cloud nymphs, fruit nymphs, vegetable nymphs, book nymphs, and many other kinds. Many have physical characteristics reflective of their nature. You can see the way these ones feature flowers and leaves.”

  “All nymphs are female, right?”

  “There are also male equivalents called satyrs and a related species called fauns. Satyrs look mostly human and are usually tall and muscled. Fauns are a smaller goat type and usually have goat-like legs and feet. They’re more playful and carefree.”

  The creatures in front of Arwin were mind-blowing visions. Staggered, he quietly exclaimed, “They're gorgeous!"

  “We’re not in a rush.” Yaz waved Arwin towards the glade. “Why don’t you go introduce yourself?”

  Arwin looked wide-eyed at Yaz. “Really?”