Boy Blue (1)

A calm light shown through from the dark wood.
Silhouetted trees stood out in twigs and sticks,
black and towering against the hillside.

Boy Blue watched
as the Thicket Gores wound
their way up the steep slope
and over until they were out of view.

He could hear their calls in the night,
deep, resonating sounds that made his skin
tingle.

From the satchel at his side,
the one he had taken from grandfather's chest,
he retrieved a length of gold lace, and a piece
of root from a spruce. He tied the lace to the end
of the root and the root grew. The gold lace lengthened.
And of that, Boy Blue was holding a whip with a
fine handle that was sharpened at the base.

Crouching, Blue followed the creatures until he was
at the base of a bluff in the woods. He peaked over
and saw them in the clearing as they danced and sang
terrible tones to the night.

Their bodies were thick tangles of thicket
and thorn, grown in loops and twists where
skeletal joints formed in knots. Torn slats
of bark were fastened at their shoulders and the
knots in the wood were their eyes. The splintered
end of the slat formed a mouth with a root tongue
that darted out like a leech.

A post was placed in the center of the clearing
and a girl was tied to it with strips of bark. A fire
was lit in front of the post, and the girl wailed as the
flames licked up like demonic tongues reaching
for the food they so craved.

Blue reached into his satchel again and removed
a perfume bottle with a wick dangling from its top.
He said a few words and snapped his fingers,
and the wick lit with a pop.

He eyed the creatures in the night and held the bottle
above his shoulder. He pursed his lips and let out a loud
whistle.
The Thicket Gore turned and stared off into the dark.
There were six wavering at attention
as if they could not subdue their dance.

Blue stood tall
and threw the bottle at the feet of the Gore.
An electric light burst when the bottle hit
the damp earth, and the Gore threw up their thicket
arms to shield their slat faces from the light.
But it was too late, and the Thicket Gore began to burn
as the girl screamed from atop the pole.
Their thorn limbs began to unravel and glow like
embers in a fire.
They howled death from their splintery lips and crumbled
to the forest floor.

Blue reached into his satchel and gave a tug. Then another.
Finally, a hose wiggled free, and Blue turned the tip until
a steady rush of water came out. He pointed at the fire
that burned at the base of the pole. The flames coughed out
and there came a sizzle when the embers finally died.

The girl was crying.

Blue took out his army knife and picked a blade and cut the bark rope
that held the girl to the post. Tears stained her face through the
soot that had gathered.

Blue held the girl tight and let her cry.
"It'll be all right," he said.
"They can't hurt you anymore."

"I know," she said with a small nod.

Her face changed suddenly in a mess of running ink
and she was no longer the girl Blue thought he knew.
She wore the eyes of a witch and the deformed grin
of a devilish thing that made Blue step back in fear.

"You have come, Boy Blue," the witch spat.
She floated free from the post. Dirty rags of
a once white dress hung from the wretch, but no legs were
visible from within the gown. Her soot stained hands raised
and a fire caught in the witch's eyes. An electric burn
sparked from her fingertips like severed power lines
dangling from crooked branches. "And now you will die."

As the witch struck out, Blue held his satchel to protect his face,
and when the electric jolt hit, he was sure that he was done for.
Blue felt the impact, and it knocked him backward, but he never
felt the pain. When he finally gained enough courage, he peeked out
through one eye around the pack and saw the witch glare at him in anger.
Scorch marks marred the leather satchel, but nothing more.

Blue reared back the whip with a curl and let loose on the wretch.
With a loud snap, the witch's arm came free and hurled into the saplings
at the edge of the clearing. She let out a shrill scream.

"What have you done with Cindy?!" Blue shouted.

The witch grinned, toothy and fierce. "I ate her all up,"
she cackled.

Blue reared back again and the whip tangled about the witch's
throat. Her eyes bulged, and she let out a faint whimper before
Blue snapped the whip back. With a wet crack, the witch's head came
free. The momentum of the whip tossed the severed head deep into the woods.

And there came nothing more than still silence from the
darkened forest where
Blue stood.

The boy shed a tear for his friend and knelt down on one knee,
bowing his head in remembrance.

The sound of soft coughing, faint but apparent.

Blue tilted his head.

An arm poked out from the witch's neck. Small fingers uncurled
and grasped a wet earth.

Blue looked on in amazement, and opened his knife once more ...

He held Cindy in his arms.

"I couldn't breath in there," she said.

"It's all right now," Blue said softly. "You're safe."

Cindy looked up at him. Her face was covered in black slick.
"Can we go now?" she asked.

"We can go now," he agreed. "No more adventure today."

Blue opened the book from his pocket and read a few lines from between
the lines and the message became clear.

And with that, Blue fetched the brass knob from his satchel and pushed
it into the ground. A fine line appeared in the shape of a door, and Blue turned the knob.
With a faint hiss, the door opened, and dirt came free from the edge.

"You first," he said.

Cindy leaped into the opening.
And Blue followed shortly behind.