Martis

Beginning of Fantasy novel

{{/size}Martis

Graystalker

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It was the cat that convinced Martis.

Martis slid through the forest silently. Peering into the undergrowth for herbs and fungi which he could sell in Bramnol, the seat of the of the Baroness. He was very good at it and often spent a week or more into the depths of the woodland. It provided him with coins for a comfortable living.
The forest was called the Forest of Mists by the folk of its southern edge.
In its depths one could find areas of strange mists. Sometimes in areas as small as a few hundred yards and sometimes much larger.
His people told strange tales of the mists as magical place with queer properties. The lore master in Bramnol spoke of them as connections to Faery where the Fay folk lived in a land full of strange trees and creatures. They had extremely long lives and they were occupied in things much different from those in the normal world. Martis had been deep into the forest for years. He discounted the stories because he had crossed mists of a few hundred yards without seeing anything but the normal forest he had seen all his life.
That day he found an area with soft moss growing on the ground and the trunks of several trees...It had many useful mushrooms on the forest floor and fungi on the tree bark. He took many mushrooms and cut slices of several growths from the tree surface adding them to his bag of such things. The bluish Narest he had found was especially valuable because it was very useful with the fevers and chills of many diseases. It would fetch him a good sum in in Bramnol.
It was growing darker under the tree canopy. He made his camp on the soft moss on the south side of a large tree. After a frugal supper of hardtack and strips of cured meat. He did not light a fire as that always drew insects to trouble the traveler. He wrapped himself in his cloak and slept.
He woke abruptly in the morning. It was much lighter than it ought to be.
He saw around him a clearing that had not been there the night before. The sky was an odd shade of blue. Around him there were rocks of a strange blue color shot with veins of red about the open area.
He stung his bow nocking an arrow and cautiously slowly turned about. The trees around \the clearing had smooth trunks of a light brown, and their leaves were an odd bight green and in queer shapes.
When he completed his turn there was a large gray female cat sitting on a large stone. It looked like many kept by his folk that hunted the vermin that were after the grain and other products stored in their homes.
She was staring intently at him with her blue eyes. The cats he knew did not behave that way.
"I am Graystalker," said in a woman's voice that seemed to speak in his head, "Who are you?"
Martis stared back at the cat confused.
"i am Martis," he said glancing around for the speaker. He lowered his bow confused.
"Well, Martis," she went on as she rose from her haunches and hopped down from the stone and approached him. She went on as she slowly circled him.
"I have never met a human here before." she went on.
She stopped a few feet before him still looking up at him.
"You look a bit like a Fay," she continued, "but you aren't tall enough and you are broader in the chest and shoulders. Your hair is an odd color as well.
Very interesting.
:"Are all your people like you?" she finished sitting again on her haunches peering up at him.
"More or less," he answered, "women are usually smaller. Our hair varies black, brown, blond or red." he finished
"Very few of your people have come here," she said still staring up.
"There must be for a reason why you have come." she announced, looking him up and down. "\Why have you come here?"
"I have no idea
.I just slept in the forest and woke here. I was not trying to come here."
She seemed to consider that. After a long minute she stretched and walked back to her perch on the rock.
"Come and lay a hand on the stone for a moment."
He paused for a long minute before he approached. the stone warily.
"Close your eyes for a moment," she said.
He reached out. the stone was oddly warm as he touched it.
When he opened his eyes the light around him had changed., His hand was the tree under which he had slept.
Graystalker was staring up at him from the ground before him.
"I think I will have to see why you came to Faery," she said "Such things do not happen without a reason."
"How did you do that?" he asked staring around him.
" I did not. You did yourself."
"Why did I go there? he asked puzzled.
"As I said we need to find out." she answered.