Art by James Fenner (@JMFenner91 on Twitter)

The boy was swinging his knife dangerously close to my neck. I winced and shut my eyes tight, waiting for the hit, but instead of pain, I felt the release of pressure on my wrists and my hands were suddenly free while the rope binding me fell at my feet.

"With that fixed, you can all start chopping!" The boss barked out the order, but no one made any attempt to move, they all just shifted uncomfortably on their spot and diverted their eyes, looking everywhere but at the man in charge.

"What. Is. It?" The boss growled, barely containing his anger this time.

"Hum, is just that... well, you see... the thing is... we don't have any axes, boss." The old man confessed. "We thought them tools was getting in the way there at the back, with all the boxes and crates crowding over us and, well, we tossed it all out of the wagon when we're leaving the village."

The boss groaned quietly under his breath and rubbed his forehead for a whole minute, before turning to me again. "Well, it seems we don't have any axes. What else you've got to suggest to get us the fuck outta here?"

I looked at them and then shrugged. "I dunno. You all grab as much stuff you can carry in your hands and run out of here as fast as you can?" I said and everyone made an assortment of displeased grunts all at the same time.

"Ooor..." I risked one last option. "Or you leave it all behind and walk away without the risk of being caught red-handed with stolen goods," I told them and that earned me many shouts of indignation and heated cursing.

"We ain't leaving all our stuff behind!" Second-in-command protested. "All our hard work going to waste like that? Fuck no! We ain't doing that! No way in hell!"

Muscles had turned red on the face as he yelled. "What a load of bull crap! Leave it all here?! Leave it all to you, is what you mean, you shitty-ass road expert!" He grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and shook me while he raged on. "You ain't getting a damn thing, you hear? It's ours! I'll kill ya first before I let you get your greedy hands on our stuff!"

"This ain't right, boss!" Second-in-command said, "That damned tree was put here to force us to stop. This whole thing's staged! They want us to leave our stuff here, free for grabs."

"Yeah!!" Muscles angrily agreed. "It's a damn trap!"

"It ain't people that are doing this, you idiots!" The old man argued. "It's the forest's demons who's setting us this trap. There's nothing natural about that tree falling on this road, can't you see?"

"The wind's been blowing pretty hard on us, it's bound to take down a tree or two, old man. There's nothing unnatural about it." The boss countered, trying to be the voice of reason in the group. "It's just a storm that's coming for us, that's all. No need to put demons and silly superstitions in this."

"NO!!" The old man shouted, stomping his foot on the ground. "I know normal weather and this ain't it! We're falling into the demon's play, I'm telling ya! Why won't you listen to me?! This wind ain't normal!"

"Stop with the nonsense, old fool!" The kid snapped at the old man, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "You're always seeing demons everywhere we go. We ain't scared of any of your stupid old tales, okay? Stop with these shenanigans already!"

"You don't have the years I have on my back, boy! You know nothing about these matters! You can't read the wind like I do." The old man clamored, waving his clenched fist in the air. "This unnatural gale was set upon us, like the cold hands of unmerciful vengeance, to sweep away our damned souls! And this tree that won't move a goddam inch here, it won't move because it has roots deep in hell! 'Tis the devil's doing, this is, I know it in me bones! This is a cursed road leading us to damnation, it kills everyone who trespasses. You've heard them tales at that tavern, it has killed many before us." His wrinkled old face contorted like a mask of madness as he pointed a bony accusing finger at me. "The only one who's managed to escape is that wee boy over there! He's been through here many times and survived! He's the only one who's lived to tell the tale. He'll know how to get out of here. Ask him how! Go and ask him! He's the only one who can save us now!"

"Stop with the crazy ramblings, the lot of ya!" Second-in-command cut in sharply, losing all of his patience. "I am telling you, bandits are lurking in this forest, and they are setting up a trap as we speak! We need to stop with this occult mambo-jambo shit and get our priorities straight! We need a plan! They have the upper hand, but we can still turn things around. The old man got one thing right though, the boy knows what they're planning, he probably has a deal with them. Ask him about their ambush. If he tells us, we can learn their plan and outsmart them."

They all turned to me and Muscles, who had been the closest to me, grabbed me by the back of the neck again. "Time to fess up, boy!" He growled, squeezing my neck hard. "He's right, isn't he? It's bandits that are doing this, isn't it? You tell us what they're planning to do. Tell us or I'll keep squeezing until your twig of a neck snaps in two!"

His viciously tight grip was choking me, but I still managed to spit out a few words. "I know... nothing... about... any... bandits." I wheezed out, clawing at his hand while fighting for air.

"He's lying! He's made a deal with them! I know he has, it's written all over his damn face!" Muscles shouted back, shaking me like a rag doll. "You tell us now! Tell us about your deal, you traitorous rat!"

I struggled against him and somehow managed to wriggle out of his grasp, falling hard on the grass, coughing and gasping for air.

"I can still kick you 'til you spill all the beans. Or spill all your teeth. I'll be happy either way." Muscles warned, taking a threatening step towards me while I crawled on my back trying to get away from him. He seemed dead serious about his threats and I started to fear that this was going to end very badly for me after all.

"Brutt, come on, don't do this." The boss protested weakly, but Muscles was beyond any reasoning. "Nah. Playtime is over. I'll make him sing, don't you worry. He'll tell us all he knows and he'll tell us now." He said and then he kicked me hard on the guts. The blow was so strong, it took all the air from my lungs and made me choke with pain, but I didn't have time to recover before another kick hit me in the face.

My head whipped to the side and my vision blurred for a moment. The taste of iron filled my mouth and the world moved, shifting its axes, the sky tilting to the side, making the ground move underneath me. I sputtered out blood, fighting to get air back into my lungs, but the blood was in the way, suffocating me.

I felt a hand on my head, fingers digging and grabbing chunks of locks before he pulled me upright by the hair. "Spit it out, punk!" Muscles ordered with a menacing growl.

I coughed and gasped for air. It took me a quick few seconds to catch my breath and when I managed to utter something, I said, "Fine." and then I spat blood on his face.

He made an enraged sound and threw me hard on the ground, making me slide on the grass, stopping a few feet away from him. I groaned and turned to face him. I thought about trying to make a run for it, but he was already advancing towards me, eyes ablaze with hate and murderous fire, so I raised a hand in surrender. "Alright! I'll talk" I said before he could continue with his assault. I seriously could not take any more punches from that guy.

He stopped advancing and turned his head to the others with a smug grin on his lips. I sat up on the grass and winced as pain burned my insides, it felt as if I was breathing literal fire. Multiple ribs were probably broken and my lips were definitely busted.

"I won't say it again, punk. Spill!" Muscles barked and this time there was no sarcastic quip coming out of my mouth. "Old man is right," I said between coughs. "I made a deal with a demon in this forest."

"HA!!" The old man yelled, clapping his hands in victory.

"Yeah, that's right. I bring people for the demon to eat and he lets me pass through. Never brought a catering this big before, though. What a feast this will be, he'll be full to the brim tonight with all of you in his belly." I wiped the blood on my mouth with the back of my hand before I continued. "You've heard the stories, many were lost in this forest. And they ain't coming back. That's probably who you're seeing popping in and out behind those trees. Their souls are damned and can't leave this place. But don't you worry about it, 'cos soon you'll be joining them." I provoked, trying to get them scared for once because I was getting tired of being beaten up all night long.

It looked like I achieved my goal because they sure looked scared with their wide eyes unblinking and filled with fear staring back at me. I thought that this was going to make them stop coming after me, but it only made things worse. When dangerous men get scared, they also get violent.

And they were all as scared as they could be now.

The only one who didn't seem to be buying into my story was the second-in-command. "Oh please, that's nonsensical," he said, rolling his eyes at me. "He's just messing with you, folks. He's trying to scare ya, and by the looks of all your stupid faces, he's getting the job done. You're all such a joke!"

Muscles snapped out of his frightened stance and feeling embarrassed to have been so gullible, he was quick to turn his shame to anger. He grabbed me by the throat and started squeezing agonizingly slowly. "He's right." He growled through clenched teeth. "He's just taking the piss out of us. It ain't no demons or monsters waiting to get us, it's just some vagabonds trying to pull a fast one on us. Isn't that right, punk?" He squeezed even harder until I was purple in the face.

I shook my head up and down in agreement since I couldn't say anything with his wrench-of-a-hand squeezing so tight that no air could ever pass through.

"See? Fellah just needed the right 'incentive' to start telling us the truth." Muscles gloated before releasing some of the pressure from his grip on my throat, so I could talk, but still not letting me go entirely. "You tell us now what's this scam you're running, rat."

I wheezed for air for a quick moment and managed to crook something out. "Yeah, it's just this one guy waiting in the forest. I had to get you scared so it'll be easy for him to jump on you from behind the trees." I said what I thought they wanted to hear. "But you can take him out easy, now that you know."

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Muscles barked out a big laugh and let go of my neck but not before throwing one last punch to my stomach.

I heaved and coughed up, kneeling on the grass in agony. At this rate, I was going to have all of my ribs cracked and a lot of teeth missing before this night was over.

Thankfully, his boss intervened before the vicious henchman could come back to finish me for good. "That's enough, Brutt. We have our answer, you can stop with the beating." He ordered and Brutt finally stepped away from me.

"Listen, everyone!" The boss shouted over the howling wind. "You've heard the guy, he was only trying to scare us. What we need to do now is get on our way before this storm catches up with us, alright? We don't want to be stuck out here in this rain, it looks like it's going to be a real downpour."

"I'm telling ya, something unnatural is afoot..." the old man grumbled under his breath. "Tis the devil's storm, this is... it ain't normal and it ain't right."

The wind slashed relentlessly at the trees, making their branches bend and groan with strain as it swept up their leaves with fury. Small red petals flew in the air around us, joining the leaves that were already dancing madly in the air.

At first, I thought it was the wind howling as it blew past our ears, but the sound of a faded scream began to gradually rise over the howling wind until it was unmistakably heard by us all.

A scream. Loud, shrill, and anguished, coming from the woods.

...