Terran Times 18 - Emerald Envisage by Viola Grace

left answered a growl on her right.
    She raised her hands toward the two large gray wolves, which approached on either side, their heads down, their lips drawn back , exposing dangerous looking teeth. “Let me help you.” She tried to coerce them to step back, but as they closed the distance, she shuddered. “Oh this isn’t good. Somebody? Anybody?”
     
    * * * *
     
    Arrden swept his gaze over the small redheaded waif of a child now backed against a large oak by the snarling animals. When humans entered his domain, few ever left since the forest absorbed them as a way of self-preservation. Something about her differed from the other intruders who invaded his realm. Not much more than a sprite, little bit. He eased from the shadows and knelt behind her. “And what will you give me if I grant your requests?”
    The terrified girl stared while the wolves inched closer with every beat of her heart. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “A-anything. Please, mister, I don’t want to die.”
    Her wild and woodsy scent washed over him as honeysuckle and lilac added softness, but even more so, her tears tugged at his heart. “And you won’t. Consider your offer accepted.” With a wave of his hand, the animals vanished.
    She gasped. “Where are they? Where did they go? Are they all right?”
    “Uninjured in safer place and as healthy as ever.” Arrden settled his hands on her shoulders and inhibited her ability to turn around. He pointed her a bit to the left and nudged her in the direction of the meadow. “Go home, little one. Your path will be clear.” He drifted back into the shadows, his presence soon camouflaged by the forest.
     
    * * * *
     
    The scent of earth filled her nose. Lysette tilted her head to see and expected a large hand on her shoulder, but discovered only a huge leaf. “Who are you?”
    “I haunt the woods, little one. Go home where you are safe.”
    She yanked away and scanned the trees until a low branch with a clump of leaves garnered her attention. Her gaze honed in on a particular spot. Two moss green eyes peered back. “You didn’t answer me.” Her tone was almost stern and the eyes disappeared.
    The voice circled and drifted from all directions at once. “Didn’t your mother warn you of the dangers lurking in the forest, little one?”
    Various trees shook their leaves. Lysette shivered. “S-she said there was something in it that d-didn’t belong.” A branch cracked and plummeted toward the ground safely across the small clearing from her. It landed with a thud and vibrated the ground beneath her feet. Prepared to run for the meadow, she stepped back. “Tell me who you are and I’ll leave.”
    “The living forest.”
    She swore the whisper caressed her cheek and shuddered. “I’ll remember you.” On her dash home, she marveled at the way the path before her seemed free of branches and roots, but any attempt to touch the sides turned into a tangled web of vine and brush.
     
    Twenty years later.
     
    Lysette bolted upright in her bed. Fire in her lower lungs ripped through her. Every gulp of air forced into her body created pain and teased with her life. Clutching at her chest, she prayed it would be over soon.
    Her difficulty breathing city air had coincided with the loss of her parents and gifted her with this old cabin several years ago. Forest eyes haunted her nightmares and weight on her lungs intensified with each passing monthas the disease ate away at her. She knew all things were inevitable and there was nothing to help slow the slip of time trickling through her fingers.
    Lysette yanked aside the covers, rose and, with the rise of the sun still almost an hour away, showered, donned a simple white cotton sundress and pulled on her slippers.
    “I need a walk , ” she said, walking through the cabin. The slam of the front door rattled the window, but it faded with her tromp across the meadow. “I never smoked or did drugs. I even avoided coffee and colas and swallowed