"The scouts have returned."
Captain Boaz turned to his lieutenant, a young man called Ehud. He had several scouts with him. They seemed pensive.
"What did you find?" asked the captain.
The lead scout stepped forward and said, "Nothing. Not a thing."
"No wolves or ravens?"
"No wolves or ravens. Also no squirrels, or rabbits, or birds of any kind. This forest should be teeming with creatures, but it’s silent as the grave."
Boaz chewed his lip. "Let’s move in."
"Where?"
"Did you find the place the woodcutters were attacked?"
"I think so."
"Let’s go there."
The soldiers moved in. Slowly. They moved in a line, weapons ready.
"See there?" asked the lead scout, pointing to a mighty oak. "That’s a whack from an axe. We found a couple of axes nearby that seem to have been dropped in haste."
"Hand me one," said the captain.
Boaz stood and listened. There was no sound. Even the wind was still.
He looked around. He saw no signs of life. His men watched him.
"They said the wolves attacked when they started on this tree?" asked Boaz.
"Right," said Ehud.
Boaz raised the axe high and took a swing, burying the head in the oak near the first gash. The sound of the impact echoed through the trees.
Boaz raised his head, looked around, and listened, holding his breath. Nothing but silence.
He let out his breath. "I guess the wolves are busy elsewhere," he said. Several of his men let our their breath as well.
"What now?" asked the lieutenant.
Boaz chewed his lip a moment before replying. "Further in."
They headed for higher ground. They moved toward the summit of the largest hill they could see, progressing in the best formation they could manage with the trees and undergrowth. Men cursed as they hacked through, menaced by thorns and nettles.
Halfway to the summit, a massive cloud of butterflies enveloped the company.
Captain Boaz heard some men chuckle. "So there’s life here after all!"
Boaz tensed. Their journey through the woods had been so silent that he imagined he could hear the beating of the butterfly wings and feel their tiny breezes against his skin.
Then the half-imagined sound was replaced by a faint buzzing.
The buzzing grew in intensity. The joking and chuckling stopped.
"Ah!"
"Ow!"
"What --"
His soldiers yelped and cursed. He felt something latch on to his right arm, biting and stinging. He crushed it with his left hand and looked; it was a paper wasp.
Something stung his left arm. He killed that as well; it was a red hornet.
He heard Ehud cry out, "Yellow jackets! Thousands!"
Someone else yelled, "Ugh! Fire ants! The hornets aren’t enough?"
The wasps and hornets went for the eyes. The fire ants went for the feet and genitals. The cursing turned to shouting and rolling. Only then did the wolves move in.
The captain heard growling and tearing and men screaming.
"They’re eating me!"
Through the cloud, he saw a shadow in front of him, moving toward Ehud. He thrust at it with his spear and connected with flesh. The shadow roared. Some force took him off both legs and sent him sprawling down the hill.
Boaz woke to the pain of a thousand stings and a great weight upon his chest. He opened his eyes to see a seven hundred pound black bear staring him in the face. It held him down with its massive paw. It growled low.
Someone clucked their tongue behind the bear. It looked back, looked at Boaz, and shuffled backwards. He looked up at a green-cloaked woman with olive skin and long black hair. Her face seemed young and old.
The bear sat next to her. She placed her hand on its shoulder. "You’re lucky to be alive," she said, "after stabbing Ursula here. She knocked you right off a cliff."
She looked at Boaz with eyes kind and sad. "Some of your men are dead," she said. "Others are lost and won’t be found. Most will make it out of the woods, though none of them unscathed."
Boaz stared at the mysterious woman in disbelief.
Her eyes turned from kindness to steel. "Tell the dragons you serve," she said, "that this forest does not belong to them. This forest is alive. She will defend herself."