The beast of the forest

She was a good girl but her mother said she never should go alone into the wood.

Jacey had heard of the wild beast of the woods, every child heard the tale whenever they were naughty. The wild white beast will come and run you through with its terrible tusk, mums and dads told their offspring, if you are naughty, if you wander into the forest, if you answer back, if you don’t eat your vegetables then the beast would come and get you.

Jacey thought it was all a bit silly, a fairy story.

Not that she didn’t believe in fairies, well believe was a strong word, it’s hard to believe in something you know exists. Her garden was infested at the moment and the exterminator had been called by her dad to get rid of the pests. Fairies were a pain to get rid of if they build a nest in your garden shed or the thatch on your roof. Her poor grandmother had been plagued with them when they build a nest in her outhouse and every time she needed the loo a fairy would pop out of the hole and torment her.

But the great white beast of the forest was just a story to scare children into doing as they were told, a tale of an evil creature bigger than her father’s prize bull, ugly and deathly white. You didn’t call its name or even think it in case the beast heard and came to see who summoned it.

Older children teased the younger ones “I’ll say the beasts name, I’ll call the wild white thing to come and take you away, to mow you down, to flatten you.” And the little ones would scream and run away.

Jacey was usually a good girl and so she had not heard the story from her parents as much as her younger brothers, but today she was doing something she shouldn’t. She had overheard some of the older boys in the village saying that there was a patch of wild strawberries down in the circle of oaks, off the path and over the stream. Strawberries, even the thought made her mouth water, they didn’t grow in many places and she had only had a couple from a traveller’s cart once. They had cost her a beautiful scarf that her aunty had knitted her, but they had been worth every stitch and she had not complained that winter when her neck was cold. The circle of oaks called to her, the idea of strawberries tantalised her and made her feel dizzy with longing.

Normally she would stay away from circles of things. Circles meant trouble, mushrooms showed a coven met at that spot, daisies grew in swirly circles for mischievous elves and buttercups often grew in circular patterns near the places that naughty sprites danced in the moonlight. Oaks though were known for protecting humans, great oaks were almost worshipped in her village, so Jacey was sure that a circle of them could only be a good thing.

The path was marked with white stones on either side, it was large enough to get a cart pulled by four cows down it, at places it branched off towards other villages or secluded cottages. There was no path to the stream, it was forbidden to go there, water was drawn from the village well. Grownups said the land by the stream was traitorous and muddy. They said to stay away in case you got stuck in the muck and the great white beast came and you were done for, the stream was only for animals to drink out off not for little girls to explore.

Off of the path, stepping over the white stones and into the nettles she strode, her extra thick socks protecting her legs from the grasping thorns of the brambles. The thought of sweet strawberries racing through her mind, she could almost smell their ripeness and savour their juicy softness. The need for a taste of their red goodness filled her mind and made her faster in her pace as she headed down the sloping bank, over the rocks that jutted out from the grassy embankment and down to the verge of the little stream. She approached with caution as the stream often had foxes or even wolves drinking at its edge and once a passing hunter had said he had seen a small dragon down at the water’s edge but no one was sure if he was telling a tale to impress the young ladies of the village.

Jacey looked up and down the bank to check for movement, she could see nothing and so she took off her shoes and socks and began to step lightly on the muddy slope that led into the stream.

The mud was nowhere near as thick as her parents had said and she did not see any animals waiting to pounce. She was almost disappointed; her adventure was a little boring but still the prize would be just as sweet once she reached the strawberries. Jacey began to hum a happy little tune and as her feet grew wetter and the mud turned to water she felt like a great explorer. Maybe one day she would travel out of these woods and see the other villages nearby or even the towns, she had heard so many stories about the towns. They had mythical creatures that she had never seen, with names that sounded foreign to her ears, manticores, lions, sphinx’s and horses. She had never seen any of these animals and they all sounded amazing.

She day dreamed as she climbed the other side of the embankment, in her mind people cheered as she battled a ferocious horse and rode upon a lion, or was it the other way around? She had heard that lions were golden and manticores could eat a man whole. Horses were faster than the fastest dragon and sphinx’s knew if you were lying. She would see it all, eat strange foods, meet fascinating people and come home to tell her tales.

A crack of a branch somewhere ahead stopped her in her tracks and she felt her feet begin to sink into the mud around the stream. “Must keep moving.” She whispered to herself and heard it in her head as her mother’s voice. Unsticking first one foot and then the other she began to climb again and felt the ground firm up. Jacey listened carefully for any other sounds but she heard nothing except her heart beating loudly in her ears.

The water was behind her, she sat on a tree stump to brush off the slowly drying mud and put on her socks and shoes again. The forest seemed quiet, the trees were blowing gently in a light breeze and the sun shone down through the leaves and bathed everything in gold and green light. It was a peaceful moment, Jacey felt the woods were wrapped around her, comforting and warm.

Getting up she started off in the direction the boys had said the circle of oaks were. As she got further from the water the trees grew thicker and began to twist around each other. It became harder to squeeze between them and Jacey worried she might have to go back. As brambles caught at her hair and clothes she pushed on unsure of her direction or the way forward. Pulling herself over a rotting stump and avoiding a stickle bush she found herself thrust out into a long shaded clearing between the trees. It was almost a dirt path but looked like no one had used it in many years, the ground was covered in rotten leaves and squashed berries. But she was glad to see that the way ahead looked mostly clear with just a few fallen branches and it seemed to lead in the direction that she wanted to go.

Checking the suns direction and finding her bearings she walked lightly down the path aware of the silence all around her. Sunbeams sliced through the overhanging branches and lit up areas of the ground, Jacey began to relax, she hopped from one patch of golden brightness to another. She made it a game as she leaped along the dirt path, she began to sing an old hopscotch song her mother had taught her.

“Throw the stick and hop along and now you’re ready to sing this song.

Hopscotch, hot broth, close your eyes and count to ten.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10”

 

On her third time singing it she counted to ten fast as she hopped from one bright spot to another but when she opened her eyes she almost screamed to see a figure standing ahead of her in the shade of a tree.

“Come for my strawberries lass?” Called out the shadowy mass.

Jacey didn’t know if she should answer. It was wrong to talk to strangers but if this was a witch or a leshy then they would take not answering to be an insult.

“I was hoping for a taste if you can spare a few.” Jacey wondered if she should have lied but her mother always said that honesty was the best policy.

The figure moved into the light and Jacey recognised it instantly, it was Hans, one of the older boys from her village.

“Hans” she called out relieved “I thought you were a leshy.”

Hans laughed merrily and put on a scary voice as he hunched himself up and swaggered towards her. “I’m a leshy come to get you and steal you away, you want my strawberries little girl you must pay.”

Jacey laughed “Hans those are not your strawberries and besides you can spare a few.”

Hans stood up straight and crossed his arms. “I found them so they are mine, if you want some then bring me something in return, if you were older I might ask for a kiss but you must have something I can use, maybe a hair ribbon I can give to my sweetheart or a day helping me muck out my father’s pigs.” Jacey wrinkled her nose, the pig sty always smelt bad and she often wondered if it was just Hans and his father’s lazy cleaning that kept it so smelly; she was sure pigs didn’t smell that bad all the time. She also only had one hair ribbon and it was only for Sunday best.

“Come on Hans, I came a long way, can I just have a few?”

Hans stuck his nose in the air, “No. Go home.”

Jacey decided to walk past Hans and head to the strawberry patch anyway so she put a determined look on her face and strode past him. As she came level with Hans he put out a large arm and pushed her back, she hadn’t expected him to shove her and she fell backwards on to her bottom. Hans started to laugh as she struggled up and tried to get the squashed berries off of her clothes, now her mother would be mad.

“That was nasty Hans.” She could feel tears starting to clog up her throat but did not want to cry or else Hans would tell everyone she was a cry baby. He opened his mouth to answer back but his words were lost as he looked behind her and his eyes grew wide with fear.

Jacey wasn’t sure if it was a ploy to make her turn around so he could push her again but she had to look.

 

Coming slowly up the path was a huge creature taller than the tallest man in her village and wider than a bull. It glowed white, its head bigger than a tree trunk. It had hard feet and they made a tapping noise as it walked towards them turning its head and staring at them both, it had a huge spike which looked like it was made from some kind of shell

.

Jacey felt her head swim with fear and her feet began to move without her even knowing where she was going, she ran towards Hans and past him up the path. Hans seemed to be frozen to the spot but Jacey didn’t waste her breath telling him to move. She just ran, looking over her shoulder she saw the great white beasts large nose blow out steam as it tapped a foot on the ground and then from hardly moving it rushed forward faster than she had ever seen a creature move.

 

Hans was still standing stock still, she couldn’t see his face but she saw the creature hit him full on and the spike went through his body and came out a little way from his back. Jacey stopped running, she couldn’t believe what she had just seen. Was Hans dead? It couldn’t be true, he was a bully and her mother called him a ruined boy after an incident with the local bread makers daughter that Jacey didn’t really understand but he couldn’t be dead, that was just… well, silly.

 

Jacey began to walk back towards the creature as it shook Hans off of its weapon and his body slumped to the ground. Jacey saw red stuff but it couldn’t be blood, she had seen blood when her brothers were born and it was mixed with lots of icky stuff, it didn’t just pool smoothly around someone, like it was pooling around Hans, Hans was on his back looking at the sky, his eyes were open.

“See he can’t be dead; his eyes are open.” Jacey said the words aloud to give them power but her words attracted the attention of the large white animal.

 

It began to paw the ground again and as it wasn’t far away Jacey could see sweat glistening on its white body, red lines covered the iridescent surface of its spike it would be upon her in seconds but she still couldn’t believe that any of this was happening.

It charged…

” Stop.” Said Jacey quietly and put up a hand.

The creature juddered to a halt a few centimetres from her hand, blood dripped and its wild eyes stared down its ghastly white face at the little girl.

“I’m going home now.” Jacey said almost in a whisper. “Go back to the forest and leave me alone.” Scraping ruts in the ground with its hard feet it reluctantly did as the maiden said, giving one last snort of anger as it moved between the trees.

Jacey walked back along the path in a daze. Hans had not moved, the red stuff had stopped flowing and somewhere inside her a voice said he really was dead.

She tried to stay calm and found that there was no panic waiting to overtake her, the creature was gone and she just wanted her mum, she would have to tell of her adventure now. Hans should have a proper burial and his dad would want to know where he was.

There was no hopping or singing this time as she walked down the path, she was still not sure what to do.

Although the shell like thing had not pierced her she felt a stabbing in her heart that made her mind numb.

She tried not to think of the past few moments and remembered long ago hearing a tale about the great beast and how it could only be tamed by a maiden. She had no idea what a maiden was but she felt that now having faced the creature she could use its name.

“Unicorn.” She spat and headed home.