Gauntlet

The muggy warm air and fragrant forest flowers didn’t seem to be affected by the changing season. Village elders had told stories about places protected by magic, but having never seen them, San hesitated to believe what she thought was just another fairy tale.

But as she stepped through the roots and vines of massive, overgrown, thirsty tree’s, it was clear something was protecting this place as many of the tree’s looked hundreds of years old. Peering over her shoulder as she struggled to recognize the exit, San decided to leave breadcrumbs, not worried about the men from the bar following her in as they barely looked like they could go fifty paces without a beverage.

She marked every other tree with a different roman numeral hoping that if she ever came across the same tree again, she could piece together which way was out by just following the numbers, but by XI, something seemed different.

She felt like eyes bigger than that of a monkey or bird were watching her, the gauntlet’s fingers tapped uncontrollably. As she was about to carve her twelfth tree, she noticed her knife not digging into the bark. It stuttered and snagged as if the bark was almost catching her blade, flexing to lock it in place instead of carving.

Confused, San tried not to think about it as she removed her dagger and continued for a few more steps. She was more eager to build her next campsite than spend another minute worrying over a rebellious rubber tree.

Looking for anywhere she could sleep that was already close to half finished, she spied a hopeful spot near a tall fruit tree. The lack of low hanging fruit left her stomach rumbling. When she found her strength, she would surely conquer the giant she thought as she inspected the space for poisonous creatures.

It wasn’t an option to return near the entrance of the forest where she’d slept the night before, it was mostly out of exhaustion but also not worth the risk if anyone more formidable than a bar rat did come looking for her. After not eating at all the day before, setting up a proper camp and relaxing the rest of the evening was the only thing on her mind. She began searching the surrounding ground for dry kindling as she knew a fire would not only help her cook the last of her rice but keep away pests. She approached her last tree of the day to leave her mark for camp.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a low rumbling voice called out, scaring the life out of San for the voice wasn’t strained as if it was coming from far away, she could tell whoever said it was standing inches from her face. Startled, she stood staring out into the noise of the forest, waiting for the voice to find its face. But amongst the screeching monkeys and cooing birds, a buzzing mosquito was the only one brave enough to try and challenge her, attempting to suck what little nutrients lay within the skinny girl.

She slapped it to cut the tension in the air, wiping its flattened body with a red smear off her neck, San tried to convince herself the forest had gotten the best of her and she must have imagined the voice. As she finished the second line down the middle of the tree’s bark, a violent stomp came down, shaking the ground with all the trees losing droplets of water that sat on their leaves, making watching animals escape in terror. The droplets left the leaves with such veracity, it might as well have been a typhoon for that moment as within a few seconds, she was drenched.

But that’s all the warning San needed, her fear and exhaustion taking hold, she sprinted into the woods not marking the trees, just leaping over the chasms each root created as the ancient trees were left to do as they pleased. The terrain was far from a comfortable walking trail.

She could taste her heart as it beat up her throat. Lightning had followed the shaking which left San convinced she had only missed the flash the first time as the water that fell on her was followed by actual droplets from the sky. The pitter-patter of every drop crashing on every leaf around her was defining.

But salvation lay ahead—a hollowed-out tree base. The tree still stood and was certainly alive, but it looked like some long-gone animal had dug into it leaving a hole big enough for San to curl up under and still feel safe with at least two feet of live wood wrapping around the whole.

Plucking three large leaves the size of San’s torso, she skewered a small stick between two of them to try and cover the entrance as she pinned the third between tall rocks to form a bowl to collect the falling rainwater for tomorrow.

She crawled inside to meet the dry dirt with her wet clothing, as the now mud clung to her exposed skin and clothes, she was left alone with her thoughts to hide. The acoustics of the forest were hardly white noise as the relentless rain and wind beat the growth of the flourishing forest down. San struggled to keep her eyes open, reaching into her pack to peel leaves off her cabbage, gnawing on the crunchy greens like a cow would chew cud, followed by sucking down the bad tasting bar water, puckering her face as it was heavy with metal and cleaners. She regrettably swallowed, but it left her craving real water, not just to drink but just to wash her mouth out.

At this rate, tomorrow might be the best day she’d had since she left the village as she knew her third leaf would be overflowing in the morning, and she was so hungry she would drink the bugs or whatever else ended up in her makeshift rain catcher.

♮

Silence took her by surprise as she rubbed her sleep filled eyes. Her hostile surroundings were much darker than when she went to bed. San was confused as the fear pure darkness brought welled up inside her. Breathing deeply to try and stay calm, she ran her hand along the entrance to where she believed the leaves that made her door were.

She knocked it with her knuckles, it felt empty, the sound absorbed by the object blocking the sun like a sledgehammer striking soil. This was weird. Taking her knife to it was just like before when she’d tried to carve in the tree along her path. Only pulling at the fibers that made up the rough bark, her blade could barely make a dent, and that dent itself didn’t last for more than a few moments as the object soon returned to its original form. Or that’s at least where her mind wandered when her hand couldn’t find the small dent she made.

San went through fits of bashing and stabbing, bruising herself and not making any impact, unable to use the gauntlet as she had before as it was simply too small of a space to build momentum, and the object blocking her path was a bit more rigid than common rope or a young boys flabby flesh. But still, as she tried, she could feel the animosity calm as the gauntlet knew its struggling was pointless.

San paused to think about carving her way through the wall behind her as she knew it to be wood, but that wouldn’t do her much good if there was someone outside who moved this impenetrable object here—they would still be out there, following her and tormenting her—on her empty stomach, she would be no match.

But then again, San thought maybe it wouldn’t be that bad if I dug out the other end, only a coward would try to starve me out instead of just slitting my throat in my sleep. If I stood my ground, maybe I could fight him and win. Of course her mind was signing a check her aching muscles couldn’t write, as she was barely in any form to fight, let alone lift her hand that wasn’t locked in iron.

There’s also a chance this is just the magic of the forest, and I’m only fighting myself, why else would a tree have such a perfect well cut out of it for me to crawl inside if the tree didn’t want to just eat me? she thought as tears started to well in her eyes.

“Are you just about done in there?” a voice asked, echoing in from beyond the exit as the object blocking her way out somehow split in two, not nearly big enough for San to fit through, but the fresh air and light were welcome.

This only made whatever was blocking her path that much stranger as it made San wonder what could be split so cleanly and easily? As San’s curiosity and need to breathe fresh air got the better of her, she couldn’t help trying to push the object even further apart. Bracing her feet against the walls of her tree, she put her free hand under her now metal-coated elbow and grabbed onto the opening with the gauntlet to try and force this new entryway open.

But her efforts earned her nothing but a chuckle from the other side of the exit as another object shifted down, and appeared to be… Smiling? Two large brown eyes seemed to be glued into the base of a tree as yellowed teeth and questionable breath asked if she was ready to come out and talk.

She nodded. As the entryway was cleared, she crawled out to the large limb of a tree reaching out to help her up. After further inspection, the tree had no leaves but instead appeared to be a very large man, or at least something that took the form of a man.

Pressing his fingers into his chest, he declared, “I am Hyde, protector of this magic grove.” His voice was so deep, it continued to shake the leaves without his trunk like legs even thinking about leaving the ground.

Lowering her hood, San introduced herself. Struggling to raise the gauntlet to her chest, she stated in a strained voice to try and appear threatening, “I am San, a warrior from Dowzen.” her eyes shifted down as she spoke, upset when reminded her home was only a shell of its former self.

“And it appears you’re cursed,” he said, examining the shreds of her arm visible through her moving cloak, the wind revealing more than she wanted as he reached down and pinched her metal arm between his thumb and forefinger. The gauntlet shining in the light looked uncomfortable as it was scrambling on its own, trying to escape his tight grip, but interestingly, it had now grown well past her wrist and was climbing over her elbow.

“It’s good to know the talking tree knows a curse when he sees one,” San muttered, giving in to the fight her arm was losing, but as soon as she did, he dropped the gauntlet and its weight caught her by surprise. Struggling to act like she had control, she tried not to wince as the iron dented her side.

“I’m not cursed if that’s what you’re implying,” He muttering large figure replied as he walked away, “Stay for as long as you want, just don’t carve the trees. They are not cattle for you to brand.”

“Wait,” San called out, “please, do you know how to get this off my arm? I’ve heard people call it an artifact, and I know its valuable, I’ll give it to you if you can get it off.”

The man’s bellowing laugh filled the green space as he held his sides “I have no use for gold, and even if I did, there’s no way I could get that off of you.”

“How do you know until you try?” she demanded out of fear that the first person who didn’t outright attack her once they saw the gauntlet was about to walk away.

Sighing, the giant stepped back toward her and lifted her high off the ground by the gauntlet. Dangling, San pouted as she was finally eye level with the giant.

“My dear, artifacts are magical objects long forgotten by this world, as I’m sure you know, wizards are fading from existence as magic has had enough of the cruelty of man and is returning to places like this,” he said, presenting the forest with open arms, “As I’m sure you’ve seen, the only way I can remove this is by severing your arm, which I doubt would do a warrior such as yourself much good. No. If you must be free from it, you need a wizard to help.”

Setting her down slowly, she continued to look at him with frustration burning in her eyes, soon to be extinguished by a rolling tear. “And where does one find a wizard?” she said, choking on her sorrows as her rough exterior was finally cracking in front of this stranger.

“I know of one in a village, but it’s a thirty-day walk from here,” he said, pointing vaguely in a grown over direction, “but that gauntlet of yours will have consumed a good chunk of you long before then, tell me you’ve already noticed it spread.”

San nodded, her tears now rolling down her face as she wiped them with her left hand.

Sitting down so he could continue to look her in the eye, he picked up her gauntlet again, examining the intricate way the metal fabricated itself on her.

“Believe it or not, I used to look like you.”

Astonished, San thought about pulling her arm away out of fear of catching whatever he had and making her situation even worse.

“I was eighteen years old, I had always had issues with my skin, not acne like other pubescent men my age, but the village doctor stated I had overactive skin as my body would grow scabs where there had been no cut. I’d always peel them off when I saw them, but that might have only made them worse as it spread to cover my whole body in this thick bark-like texture as I’m sure you’ve seen,” he said, looking down to examine his own hand, picturing it as it once was.

“It was within a year that I was covered, no one looked at me the same or accepted me, so I left and eventually found this place, a place where no man could call me monster,” he finished, struggling to say the last words, as clearly leaving his village was not his choice ether.

San tried to hold one of his massive fingers in her hand. “You’re not a monster,” she said, smiling through her drying tears.

“Thank you,” he said through a crack lipped smile, “no mirrors here so it’s hard to tell any more. The point of my story was this, I gained my armor at an uncontrollable rate, I needed to do rigorous physical exercises to make sure I wasn’t trapped in this tomb of a body. Exercises I could show you,” he teased as San’s face lit up.

“Really? You’ll train me?” she asked, ecstatic about something for the first time in a long time.

“Yes, but it won’t be easy.”

“Nothing ever is,” she said as the pair shook their massive hands, his still making her metal mitt look small in comparison.

Standing, he reached up, pulling a strange fruit from a tree and handing it to San. It was half the size of her body and a definite threat if it had fallen and hit her head.

“Breakfast,” he said, grinning at her as she carved into the sweet citric inside. She started to cry again but from joy as for once in her life, she was eating something that tasted so much better than rice and cabbage.