18. recovery.

She was in a tree. Or at least it seemed like it to her. Maria could move around a little but the roundness of the space and the feel of the wall around her made her think that she was in the middle of a hollow tree

"This is definitely an odd situation." she said to herself.

"Not really that odd if you knew exactly where you were." replied a voice from the air.

Maria spun around on the spot looking for the voice.

"Hello?" she said tentatively.

"Hello." came the answer. "My name is Xenia, and welcome to my home."

"Thank you." said Maria. "But where exactly am I? I could swear I was inside..."

"a tree." finished the voice of Xenia. "Yes, that is exactly where you are. My tree to be precise. I am sure you have at least heard of my people. We are called the Dryad. We are spirits that inhabit the trees, and so long as the tree lives so do we. Many humans have heard of us, though many of them believe us to be a myth. Some of your friends did, and my sisters are setting them straight."

Upon the mention of her friends, Maria suddenly was brought back to the reality of the situation at hand.

"My friends, are they all right?" she asked.

"Of course." replied Xenia. "Each is being cared for by one of my sisters. They are safe now. Your aunt, or more precisely, the creature that shares her body, is stopped for now. She goes to chase down some deer nearby to satisfy her hunger. She is very angry right now, but you will be fine here."

Remembering the fight she just had, and the fact that she had almost had to kill her aunt, made Maria realise how tense she had been. She began to relax only to be reminded that she was injured as her side protested the fact that it had been cut.

"She did not..." Xenia began hesitantly.

"No." replied Maria. "She did not bite me. This was from her claws. Not much better but at least I have one less thing to worry about. May I see my friends now or is it still too dangerous?"

There was a small silence before the answer came.

"Yes. I think it will be ok for now. She is chasing the deer and as long as you stay in the grove, we can surround it with our branches to stop Tala should she return."

"Tala?’

"Yes. That is the name of the wolf spirit that endows your aunt with her powers. She is not a very nice. Stubborn and a little on the irritable side. Not a pleasant conversationalist, she only thinks of hunting and eating and killing. Not like your aunt who is much more personable and interesting to talk to. But let us get you outside and we can talk some more. I really think that wound should be looked at."

Maria had the sensation of being pushed through treacle as she moved through the bark of the tree. She emerged into a grove and saw that the others were all here. The grove was surrounded by what looked like a wall of branches, thick enough that Maria could not see through them, even though the moon was at its zenith and shining right down into where they were.

She stepped toward her friends and her leg collapsed under her. They where there to catch her before she hit the ground, and slowly she was lowered and her back was placed against the tree she had emerged from.

Warren checked the wound.

"It’s not too deep." he said. "But it is pretty nasty all the same. I only have a few bandages with me." he said reaching into his pouch. "and I have water to clean it, but I would have preferred some salves, but I wasn’t expecting to be this far from the manor or village. That will teach me to be lax. Next time I am bringing more no matter how far we are going."

"We may be able to help you." said Xenia near Maria’s head.

maria turned to her. Xenia was small. Maria estimated that if she stood next to Xenia, that the dryad would come up to her chest. And Maria was not the largest of her group. Her skin was the same colouring and knotted pattern as the tree Maria had just left and was now leaning against. She was naked but the colouring acted the same as if she were clothed. Her eyes were black pools with no white to be seen anywhere, and her hair was green and wild, tending to stick out in an almost comical way.

Maria looked around and saw that others were slowly coming out into the grove. Each one had a distinctive colour and pattern on their bodies, and some where taller or smaller then their fellow dryad. Xenia continued with what she was saying.

"We can get you some moss that may help in the healing process."

"That could be a big help." said Warren. "If you would be so kind."

Xenia motioned over another dryad and whispered into her ear. The other nodded and disappeared into the wall of branches.

"Zin will be back shortly with what you need." she told them.

Warren cut away the cloth that was matted with Maria’s blood. and poured water onto the wound, while at the same time running his fingers over it to loosen the dirt and grime.

Maria sucked in her breath.

"Sorry." said Warren, not sounding like he was. "But we have to make sue it is as clean as possible. We don’t know how long it will be before we get back."

As he was talking, the dryad called Zin came back and handed a small lump of green moss Warren. He looked at it and decided it was at the worst useless, and put it on the wound and bandaged it up.

"Felling better?" he asked when he was finished.

Maria stood up with his help. It was more bearable now. She nodded her thanks.

Harold stepped forward and spoke to Xenia.

"On behalf of my companions, I would like to express our gratitude for your help in rescuing us."

"You are very welcome. We could not really let this go by without doing something. After listening to your conversation you had before encountering Tala, we realised who you were." she said looking at Maria

"And so we all decided that we could not allow Tala to kill you. Eva has helped us and protected us throughout the centuries, which is why she hunts in this forest. We knew her feelings toward her niece and knew she could not live knowing she had a hand in her demise. So we sheltered you, even though it caused Tala to be angry with us. But we can handle her."

"But," she continued, "What we are wondering is what you are doing here at this time of month?"

"That is a bit of a long story." said Maria.

"Then let us sit and you can tell it." said Xenia.

They all sat down in a circle and Maria told them the circumstances that brought them here. When she mentioned the Unnameable the dryad shivered, and the one sitting near Paul held on to his arm. Though she clung to him, and looked up at him, in such a way that Maria suspected it was not only fear that made her do that.

Paul was totally unaware of what was happening as he patted her hand and whispered softly to her to calm her down. Maria shook her head.

When she finished her story, Maria saw that the dryad where exchanging looks and seemed to be having a conversation though no words were spoken. After a small silence Xenia turned to them.

"Some of my sisters have a suspicion about this man you talk of. But we must look into something first. But while we do that, you should rest for the rest of the night. Your aunt will be remembering what happened tonight, and will definitely want to see you in the morning. We will keep you safe."

All of them agreed, and lay down. As Maria lay against Xenia’s tree it moved and conformed to her, making for a more comfortable bed than she had ever had out in the wild.

"Goodnight." said Xenia.

"Goodnight and thank you." said Maria.

She closed her eyes. She was still worried about what was going on, and who their antagonist might be, but she concentrated on the fact that she would see her aunt alive in the morning, and fell asleep.