Song: Fear no darkness by Adrian Von Ziegler

Silver:

She was right it was only the beginning. I have never heard a plant make that kind of sound in my life. No sooner that we pass the field of creepy reddish- purple flowers we are in a deeper part of the forest and I hear footsteps all around us. I stop and search the area waiting on something to jump out at us. "Did you hear that?" I ask her. I keep looking in every direction waiting on the attack.

She stops and looks around. "It's the woods playing with your head. We should keep going; the faster we are the better."

"I feel like something is watching us." I look to the left, then to the right. I hear something behind me and I quickly turn around to see nothing there. When I turn back around we are greeted by these smaller beings. They are rounded out but shorter than Azurite. Their clothes are made from animal skins and they look rather rough looking. Each has a large limb in their hand and it is wrapped in thorns. I hope they do not plan on fighting with those.

They start talking and I have no idea what they are saying however Azurite talks to them and looks back at me and then she tells them something else. I have to wait on her to translate for me."What are they saying?" I ask her.

"This is Turmeric, he is their leader. He was asking why we were here. I told him that we are simply passing through and you are only here to help me get home."

"And what did he say?"

"He says that we should stay and eat with them. Wait till it gets dark before going."

"Did you tell them we need to get going; we are wasting time here?"

She scrunches up her nose and snarls at me, "That would be very rude and disrespectful?"

I back up as they come closer to me, observing me. One sniffs my clothes and then another. They touch me and run their hands down my arm. "What are they doing?" I say as I start to panic.

She rolls her eyes at me and then says softly, "They are just curious...they have never seen anyone like you."

I swipe them away from me. "Get off of me dude." Which might have been a mistake; the one she says is the leader holds his limb out in front of me like a warning if I do that again he will wack me with it. I dare him to try.

Azurite holds out both of her hands. She starts to yell, "Stop...they are not going to hurt you."

"Yeah...well tell them to back off," I say standing my ground, because if one tries to touch me again so help me.

She flies over and talks to him and he starts to laugh. Then all of them laugh and back away from me. I watch as she walks off with them. "What did you tell them?" But she doesn't reply. I watch as she sits down and starts eating with them like she somehow belongs. They pass around a large leaf and everyone takes a handful of whatever it is and when it reaches me I look in and start to pass it on.

She nudges me and hands it back. "You have to take a bite...don't be disrespectful."

"But it's..."

"I know what they are, if you can't do it at least act like you did." She glares back at me daring me not to do it.

I look back down inside the leaf. My stomach twists up in knots and I'm not sure I can do this. There are a few berries and that is not the problem...the problem is that they are covered in these tiny worms. I reach in and pretend to grab some and place in my mouth and then pass it to her. She gets a handful and places it right in her mouth like it is nothing and she chews and swallows. I feel sick.

They then pass around this flower and everyone takes a sip. The flower almost looks like a candy cane it white with crisp red lines that swirl downward the cylndar type flower. I look at her and whisper only for her to hear, "What is it?"

"I assume just water but you never know."

I grab it from the guy sitting beside me and look inside. I take a sniff and it looks pretty clear like water so I take a small sip and hand it to Azurite. She takes a sip and passes it along. By the time everyone is done eating I am seeing doubles and start to feel really dizzy." I think I need to lay down." And I lean back against the tree and I am out.

When I wake back up there is odd music playing and everyone is dancing around in a circle, including Azurite. I watch as she prances around, grabbing one's hand and then another. They are enjoying her company. I grunt and she looks over at me."Would you like to dance with us?" she asks when she flies over towards me.

I set up and look between my feet towards the ground. I close my eyes and shake my head before looking back up at her. "What the hell did they give me; there was something in the drink wasn't there?"

"It had liquid from the flower in it. Sometimes it will make you sleepy or make you feel awkward. Your body is not use to it therefore you fell asleep."

"Yeah...well I don't like it; I remember feeling dizzy and sick to my stomach and then I was out."

"And you are awake now so come one dance with us." She smiles like nothing even happened.

"We really should be going." I walk over to the leader, Turmeric and hold my hand out for him but he looks at me like I am crazy. "Just wanted to thank you for letting us stay but we should be going now."

He looks at Azurite and she translates what I just said and he nods his head in return. I grab her hand. "Come on let's go."

"No...it's rude...first we dance and then we can leave. Silver you have no idea what they are capable of, please just one dance alright."

"Whatever, one and then we are gone understand." I let her lead me to the opening area where everyone is dancing. I watch all around me trying to keep an eye out on everyone. There is no way they are going to make me pass out like that again. I let her show me what to do and I try to follow along.

Of course I look like a fool out there trying to dance with her however she is like a swan, a graceful dancer and I see how they all look at her in awe. She moves around dancing to the music and when I swing her back into me she brushes up against me just right and I have to hold back from kissing her. I stop dancing and pull her to the side.

Once out of sight she stops me. "Why do you have to be so...so...urr...," she screams. "Can't you just for once have fun. They were only being friendly to you."

"Friendly...that is why they had me drink that poison and I see the way they keep staring at me...at you."

"It wasn't poison...it was..."

I see her eyes grow wide as she looks behind me. I quickly turn around and these weird looking things are slithering on the ground and then they sway upward almost like a snake but this is no snake. I back up as one snaps at me. They have two huge eyes and the mouth on them is shaped like a pointy beak and they are all snapping at me. Their bodies look almost like a stem from a plant.

"RUN!" She yells and takes off. I start running and I can feel them on my heels snapping and I know if I stop they will attack me for sure. We get about fifty yards out and I no longer hear them. I stop to look back and they are gone. "Ok, so what in the heck was that?"

"They are meat eater plants. They can only reach so far because their stems hold them back."

"Meat eater plants! You got to be kidding me." I roll my eyes, what else is in this freaking land of hers.

"Well I'm not. Look we are almost there I should warn you my family is not like yours. While yours is very open to others mine is not. They don't accept the unknown." Of course I have never encountered the unknown but I just know they will not accept him.

"When they find out that I brought you back home safe and sound they will be fine." I reach out to touch her hand.

She looks up at me with that smile and I feel that I want to touch her lips but the moment I lean in she lets go and backs up."That's just it, maybe you should head back home. Now that I'm thinking about it; it's probably best this way. I can have Turmeric take you back if you want."

"I came this far didn't I? I'm not letting you do this on your own." And I won't, no way in hell. I came this far I be damned if I am turning back now.