"It's just a song. It's just a tune, it won't kill me, it can't." She mumbled breathlessly, rocking her body back and forth, whilst hiding underneath a shallow mossy cave.

A distant hum of song that sounded neither like a flute nor like a whistle, intensified the very moment the baby in her lap cooed.

"Shh...shh..." She caressed and tried to pacify it.

The pitter-patter of rain drops against the stony roof suddenly seemed to roar, her staring eyes drifted impassively to a stream of trickling water at the edge of a stone, so clear and so beautiful to invoke the thirst in her parched throat that she wasn't even aware of. So she leaned in and let the cool water drench her warm and sweaty face.

A far away birdsong imitating the baby's coo sent her shivering. She knew she couldn't shush the mocking bird like she did to the baby, nature never listened to her, it never listened to anyone, even the king who earned the golden quill. She rather prayed...Prayed in silence to the mother nature, to never let the rain stop, hoping it would make 'his' job difficult, even if it meant she'd have to stay there hungry, cold, scared to death till the next dawn.

She drew a mental map for her escape. Another day of reckless running through the woods, a small halt near the river and once she crossed it, she'd join the villagers. It was a fool proof plan, a day had already passed, the baby was alive as promised, the dusk was singing the lullaby and her tired eyes slowly gave in.

A string of wet, silvery hair bounced out of her hooded veil. The baby's hand grasped it, but it didn't wake her up, it never used to. What woke her up was the same haunting song again, it never left her dreams ever since she started running from him. She gasped and leaned back, her ears wanting it to be nothing more than a jump-start dream. But it wasn't. The more she heard it, the more it grew louder.

The moment she opened her eyes, the ambience of rich forest, the ever pattering rain drops, bird songs were all she heard, just like she wanted. A thorn prick in her sole felt painful now, she couldn't remember walking over a thorn. But she didn't remember how pain felt to her calloused heels either. She caught a fist full of water and poured some over the wound, it felt soothing if not healing to her almost numb foot.

Nature was never perfect, it was always flawed. No matter what people said, she knew the nature could go awful lot wrong. Even in the chaotic serenity, there was always a pattern - the creak of old barks and whooshing of leaves, followed by a bird song, all against the backdrop of rain.

But something seemed missing, it took more time than it was supposed to, to figure out. Even at the sunset, a faint yellow light slithered through the canopy to tinker the ground. A flock of birds chirped loudly, circling above the cave again and again until they took off to the sky. It only meant one thing, they were here.

It was more than apparent when a steady rhythm of ponies galloping filled the silence. The thick humid air inside the cave threatened to smother her alive, her wrinkled fingers snaked around the baby's mouth, but she knew she needed those fingers on her very own mouth. Because, her breathing was more than laboured, almost echoing the cave. Her ears seemed to have a heart of their own.

A blurred silhouette hopped from the cave roof on to the mossy rock floor ahead of her. His leather strapped metal boots clunked and chinked until he stilled. Her heart skipped a beat.
Did he find out I am here?

A burly hand breaking out of the streaming water answered her lingering question. An inescapable scream went rogue from her trained larynx. "Aaaagh!"

"Such a fool you are, Maya." A familiar voice sounded as she was pulled out of the cave. "You guys always underestimate me."

Defined jaw-line, a cleft chin and a pair of same brown eyes. That was all she needed to chew insides of her cheek and spit on his face. "Everybody hates you! I loathe you."

He wiped the spit away, his another hand lashed forward to grab the baby by its clothes. "You'll pay for that."

"No! Not her. Take me." She fell to her knees, pleading,"it's me who did the mistake, she's just a child. Don't hurt her."

"Aww." He covered the baby cradling it in his arms. "Just a child." He repeated her words, staring nowhere, in a tone she didn't quite understand. "Just a child? Just a child?!"

"No, please."

The armoured guard yanked her arm and shoved her face down into the dirt. A black pony in the background​, lifted off his front hooves and nickered loudly, disturbing the other guards and ponies.

Although nature was flawed, it never failed to surprise her. The distinct creaking of the barks had muddled the ambience again. A thick branch grew out from an old tree behind the guards, it grew and grew until it slapped one of them off a horse, setting it free into the wilderness. Thick roots of the same old tree uprooted from the wet sliding soil.

His shapely eyebrows narrowed at the ent, he withdrew a small golden pipe with evenly spaced holes from his waist belt. The ancient dwarffin goldsmith's creativity was etched on it in intricate floral radiance. The grace of the new flute-master, was pouring out of it in waves of calming yet disturbing tune.

The woman knew what was going to come next. She broke herself free from the guard's grip and snatched the baby out of his hands and ran for her life, for the nature knew no mercy. It would kill all of them, unbiased -her, the baby and Vittya. Although, she didn't despise the latter.

The song of Saalika haunted her once again, from within and all around, so much so she lost her ground and tumbled down a mound. Tree to tree, from a bark to another she crawled, she cried. Her own eyes betrayed her, faltered her as the surroundings started to warp. Green, blue, yellow blending into one. Flashes of her own face just a day ago, her queen, the king and the golden quill - all blurred and blotted.

The power of Saalika could take a life and give one, on its master's will. And the master who owned and honed it had the power to summon the gods. A drop of blood oozed from her nose, and that was when she knew she had no time. She got on her feet and pushed herself beyond what she always could. She had to save the baby from Krodhas, she had to.

She glanced back over her shoulders, the elder ent who had decided to help her out earlier, was now standing lifeless, black and barren. Leaves on his mighty shoulders had withered into ash and dust. The black rot plaguing him coursed through his roots, to the soil consuming the moss and grass covering the ground. Flowers wilted, fruits rotted within a fraction of second. The black rot spread like a wildfire throughout the forest eating away everything.

"I'll always find you, Maya." Vittya's voice reverberated inside her ears, through the same old song of Saalika. But she cared less, as she strode farther and farther away from him.

A pair of thick green vines took her by arms and lifted her off in the air. Green leaves gently formed a feminine silhouette in front of her whispering, "hurry. There's no time!" A blink and the silhouette was gone with the wind.

Another pair of vines wrapped around her ankles and passed her to a next pair. Her stomach churned and flipped everytime she was ragged and thrown in the air. Her heart wrenched at the sight of all the wise ents blackening and turning life less behind her in godspeed.

"I'm soo sorry!" She sobbed, "this is not your fault."

"Off you go, child. Never return," said an ent, his voice crackling like an old root gritting against the soil. She was thrown out into the grassland at the fringe of the forest.

The feminine figure of leaves watched her, from in between the spaces of the tree branches walling off the plague inside the woods.

"No!" She stretched her hand.

The timber creaking from the new branches overtook the faint hum of Saalika. The woods now appeared thicker, denser than ever, new baby twigs entwining and weaving into each other like a nest to contain the black rot.

She recovered from the dread, wiped her tears and set off to find a new life with a new dawn.

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Thank you very much for being here!