"Dipak," he said slowly, stepping away when the man drew entirely too close."Who are you?Do you live here?"
"I do!My name is Euclid."
"Yew-klid?What kind of name is that?"
The man laughed."My kind of name."He spelled it out, which just made it stranger.It wasn't a name Dipak had ever heard before, but then again, he was hardly a fucking scholar."What brings you to this forest?Don't they call it forbidden or something?"
"Yes, they do… I'm here on…business, you could say.I'm looking for something."
"What are you looking for?I know the forest well.Maybe I can help you find it."
"I don't need help, least of all from some stranger who looks like he dresses in the dark and pretends to live in a forest where everything wants to kill you," Dipak snapped.Something about this man wasstrange.He didn't trust strange people in the city, and trusted them even less in dangerous forests."Go about your day, stranger, and I'll go about mine."He didn't bother to wait for a reply, just turned sharply and strode off.
There must be some trick, some mischief afoot.He hadn't thought there were creatures in these woods capable of illusory magic, but it also wasn't like people had explored the Forbidden Forest in great detail.
As he passed by an enormous, half-rotted goblin oak choked by blood ivy, Euclid appeared from behind another tree, making Dipak rear back in nasty surprise.His boot caught a root, and he went flying back, landing on his knapsack.
The pheasant!Frantically slipping free of the straps, he turned around and yanked the bag up—and slumped in relief to see his future dinner was nothing more than a bit ruffled up.He hadn't crushed it.
"Are you all right?"Euclid asked, peering down intently at him.This close, his eyes almost seemed to swirl with blues and greens, the oddest trick of the light that Dipak had ever seen.He offered a hand, but Dipak ignored it, pushing to his feet on his own.
And swore as pain jolted up his leg.He looked down to see that he'd caught his shin on a rock or something in the fall, leaving a nasty gash—and ruining his perfectly good pants, damn it.He could patch it with a piece of his cloak, but that was just one more damned thing to do—
"Here, let me help," Euclid said, and knelt in front of him.
"Stop—" Dipak froze, words forgotten, as the familiar tingling heat of healing magic rushed through him, and as Euclid withdrew, he saw the wound was completely healed, scarred over even."That— How did you do that?"
Euclid blinked slowly at him."What do you mean?Do what?"
"Heal my wound that quickly and thoroughly?"
"Did I— Is that weird?That's how it's done.Why would I take a long time and not finish the job?Is that how hu—other healers do it?"
Dipak stared at him, flummoxed."Thank you for the help, but I really just want to be left alone."
The man pouted.Poutedfor the love of the gods."New people rarely come here, and I've never seen a person like you."
"Like me?"Dipak asked.He was one in hundreds of thousands.A face easily forgotten, just another body honed for war, used up, and then discarded to be replaced by younger, fresher victims.No one would be able to pick him out of a crowd if they were paid in precious jewels to do it.Well, except for his eyes."Never mind.I don't care.Leave me alone.How many times do I have to say it?"
Of all things, Euclid shrugged before stooping to retrieve Dipak's bag and hand it over."You shouldn't keep going this way.You'll run into a nest of red-claws."
Dipak took the bag and shrugged it back on with a stiff, "Thank you."Bemused, not remotely sure what to do with this strange man, he brushed by him and continued on his way.
And heaved a sigh when, a moment later, Euclid was right back at his side.He remained stubbornly silent, and at every opportunity tried to veer away to lose him in the dense forest, but every single time Euclid would pop up again—from behind a tree, or a boulder, or a large bush.
His movements were always quiet.His mouth was always moving.Always smiling.He chattered on about everything, from spots to avoid to places to seek out to how much he liked eating berries and fish, on and on and on, until Dipak had a throbbing headache.How could one person talk so much?And be so fuckinghappythe entire time?It was like somebody had breathed life into a lump of sugar.
The sound of running water drew his attention from a rambling dissertation on what kinds of fish were the tastiest, and he veered away again to follow it.Loud running water, like a waterfall.He pushed by trees, through some dense scrub—
And came to a little clearing.
It…it wasperfect.A small pond fed by a waterfall about the height of two people stacked.Clear space for working, a small hollow, not quite a cave, just to the left of it that would be perfect for storing foodstuffs…
Strangest of all, there was an actual cabin.It was run down, covered in ivy and other plants, but sturdy-seeming beneath the mess, made of heavy logs that would have taken significant effort to haul here.
How was there a cabin in the middle of the Forbidden Forest?And what were the odds that he'd just come across it like this?"Who lived—"
Euclid was gone.