Chapter 2: The Nisse
Chapter Two
Kessa woke to see David standing over her, shaking her shoulders and shouting her name. Her arm felt like it had been immersed in dry ice, and a strange coldness was spreading from it into the rest of her body, making all her limbs feel heavy.
“Kessa, something bit you. I don’t know what. I could only see a shadow scurrying away. But we have to get out of here, away from these…whatever they are.” He pulled her to her feet, and she tried to follow him back to the path. For a while she succeeded, but each step felt heavier. By the time they’d reached the path, the effort of standing was making her tremble as if she had a bad flu. She tried to take another step, stumbled, and found herself falling towards David, who caught her. He scooped her up and started walking down the path.
“It’s ok, Kessa, I've got you. Just relax.” David was strong; a varsity level cross country runner and competitive swimmer. He carried her easily, but Kessa wondered how long he could keep it up. As he’d pointed out, they had no sense of how long the forest paths were.
At first, she worried over what would happen if David collapsed, but the creeping cold seeping into her body was also starting to affect her mind. Its influence seemed to pulse in a slow but relentless rhythm that pulled her into and out of awareness. Sometimes she was sharply conscious of everything around her; other times, the world felt distant and hazy, and she was aware only of how her head was spinning and her limbs shaking. At each end of the cycle, she blacked out completely, with no memory of what had passed once she returned to awareness, leaving her grasping at fragments of fear and confusion. Each time, the moments of awareness grew shorter and fainter, the periods of confusion and blackness longer and stronger.
As he carried his best friend, David felt a cold energy radiating from her, a disquieting force that seemed to unravel the innate peacefulness they had felt earlier. Under its influence, it almost felt like the forest was mocking him, the shadows twisting into unnatural shapes, and the wind blowing over the fallen leaves sounded like hollow, mirthless laughter.
It was probably about 3am, and they had just entered a small clearing, when David’s strength ran out. He hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since their lunch, nearly 15 hours ago, and his lips were cracked. His arms trembling, he carefully set Kessa down on the moss and bracken. He felt like he did that day in gym class when Mr. Peterson had made him do the mile run despite being unwell that day, and if he passed out now, like he had then, he didn’t want to drop Kessa and hurt her even worse.
Kneeling on the ground helped a little, with his physical condition at least, but not with the hopelessness of their situation. “Kessa” he said “I…I’m sorry. I did my best, but I can’t go any further.” Unable to speak, his best friend looked up at him and seemed to be mouthing the words “it’s ok”. David felt tears sting his eyes, though he didn’t know he had any moisture left in him, and his head swam.
Then, just as his lightheadedness started to overtake him, he saw a golden glimmer out of the corner of his eye. It flickered, appeared and disappeared a few times, and then a man holding a lantern and wearing a long cloak stepped out of a nearby clump of trees. He was tall, as tall as the captain of the UCSC basketball team, and had the same lithe strength. But he moved with a grace beyond anything David had ever seen, even among his most athletic friends.
The atmosphere around them shifted. David couldn’t see much by light of the lantern, which the stranger held away from his body – it was more what he felt. Somehow (and David had no idea how), the figure standing silhouetted against the stars imparted a calm steadiness to their surroundings. It was as if the ground beneath him, which a moment before had felt like quicksand, had solidified and was supporting him again. The half audible mocking laughter stilled and the wind retained only a natural rustling sound as it moved through the trees. David felt his breathing steady and heartbeat slow to a more normal rhythm.
The stranger approached and knelt beside them, his lantern showing his face. Like his body, his face was thin, almost angular, but open and kind, and his eyes sparkled in the lantern light.
“May I help?”
His voice was warm, yet resonant, like a reed flute. David looked down at Kessa, saw her manage a weak nod, then saw her go limp. A tendril of fear scratched at his heart again, then, for no reason he was aware of, it flickered out and calm returned. The stranger drew a pair of sheers from his belt, quickly cutting off the arm of Kessa's hoodie. One he had the bite exposed, he pulled a pendant from under his clothing and placed a hand just above Kessa’s wound. He closed his eyes and David could hear him speak again, softly, using words David couldn't understand.
“Lúmen ar’ithiel nárië, cael’thalas morin.”1
The pendant glowed, sparkled with a silvery light, and the same light twined around Kessa’s arm. David's eyes widened as he saw the ugly, livid tracks of the venom lighten in color, then fade away. The wound itself remained, but seemed smaller, as if it was filling in from underneath. Kessa’s ragged breathing stabilized, and in a few moments it was deep and regular, though her eyes remained closed and she did not wake. The stranger looked towards the trees and uttered a whistle like the call of a nightingale, then turned back to Kessa. He drew a length of white cloth from his pack and wrapped it around the remnants of the wound.
In a few moments, another tall, lithe figure stepped out of the trees. The newcomer, who appeared to be female, though almost as tall as the first stranger, conversed with him in soft tones for a few moments, then turned to kneel beside Kessa, taking over bandaging her wound, while the male stranger turned to him. David heard water tinkle, and felt a cup being pressed into his hand. “Drink.” He did so, gratefully, and after a few seconds, felt some of his weakness leave him. He must have been more dehydrated than he thought. He turned to the stranger. “Th…thank you.”
The stranger smiled, his smile gentle and open, as reassuring as his presence. Saying a few words to his fellow, he reached down and lifted David in his arms, while the woman -if that’s what she even was- lifted Kessa, also wrapping a thick, warm cloak around her. Revived by the water, David was alert enough to marvel at the strength of his new friend. To see Kessa being carried easily was no shock- she was only 5’2” and maybe 110lbs soaking wet. But he was a head taller and had at least 60lbs on her. Yet the being who was carrying him bore his weight as if he was no heavier than a toddler.
Within about 15 minutes of walking, they entered a large glen, and David saw tents spread out under the moonlight, tents that seemed to be living extensions of the surrounding trees, not the clumsy structures of poles and fabric he and Kessa had set up in the redwood forest just that afternoon. The atmosphere of this place was similar to, but stronger than, the peacefulness they had felt when they first arrived. The aura was steady, serene yet powerful, as if nothing bad had ever happened here, and nothing bad ever would.
Their new friends carried them into one of the larger structures, and David felt himself being lowered onto a small but soft camp bed, then felt a light coverlet being pulled over him. David felt utterly spent, but he still had questions. “Who…who are…”
He was still weak, probably still dehydrated, and his tongue seemed to stick to the roof of his mouth. His new friend pulled a flask from a satchel which hung at his side. David expected more water, but what he actually tasted was thicker and slightly sweet with some nuttiness to it. A few swallows seemed to fill his stomach, and his weakness retreated, though he remained very tired.
The being spoke again. “My people are the Nisse,” he said softly, “and I am called Caelen of Fernwood. With me is my protégée, Lyara, also of Fernwood. I am a healer, one of the more skilled of my people. You are exhausted, and require rest, but I need to examine you, to ensure I have not missed any hurt. Have I your consent to do that?”
“Yeah, uh, okay.”
The stranger knelt beside him, his pendant slightly glowing, and, without touching David at all, simply looked over every inch of his body. David felt a gentle probing, as if the stranger was examining not only his physical form, but his inner being as well. It was as if an outer layer was being lifted, and the inner parts of his mind and heart were being gently explored. With a small start, David realized that this -he had called himself Nisse- must have perceptions beyond those of humans. David had always scoffed at mediums, psychics, people who claimed ESP. They invariably turned out to be charlatans. But he believed in the concept now.
David felt exposed, yet safe. He somehow knew that whatever Caelen was learning about him, he wouldn’t share with anyone, and that the healer's intention was only to help, not to embarrass or shame. As he felt this, the stranger’s gaze met his. His expression was warm, kind, unwavering, and despite Caelen’s youthful appearance -his face was unlined and he seemed to be not much older than David- his eyes had deep wisdom behind them, something he had only before seen in the faces of their oldest college professors.
David tried to raise himself, to look at Kessa, wanting to know how she was. “Rest,” Caelen said, voice low and steady. “You are safe. Your companion is safe. I will remain with her and ensure she continues recovering. You are uninjured, but you have worn your frame and your spirit thin. Rest now. We will speak in the morning.”
Even if he had wished to, David was too tired to argue. He had little choice other than to trust these strange beings, but the cautious, analytical young man thought that perhaps, trusting these particular strangers might be a better bet than trusting random humans. Caelen and Lyara had already shown themselves willing to assist those who needed it. That was a good sign, at least.
David closed his eyes, feeling himself relax into the gentle peace of the autumn forest and the subtle yet tangible presence of the healer beside him. Before long, he had fallen into a deep sleep. He woke only once, when the call of a screech owl sounded just over their tent. In the dim light, David could see Caelen still awake, seated near Kessa, watching over her with a skilled attentiveness he recognized. That was the look Dr Ashburne, Kessa’s father, had when he was watching over his older sister Muriel in the hospital, making sure she was recovering from that car crash. Assured Kessa was in good hands, he dozed off again.
1 "Light of the brightest stars, burn away the shadow."
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