The sign in the forest
A prayer to Sião leads Anastacia and Flor down a hidden path in the forest.
Flor was waiting by the door when Anastacia finished praying.
That morning, the princess had asked Sião for a sign. He was the god she had turned to since childhood. She wanted to understand what was happening to her father Alfred's kingdom. The nobles argued more and more, news arrived of missing soldiers, and inside the castle, certain conversations ended as soon as she entered the room.
Anastacia had been taught to care about the kingdom. Now she spent her days hearing about problems no one allowed her to do much about.
She stood by the window for a while, looking at the forest beyond the gardens. She often walked there when she needed to think. Among the trees, she could spend a few moments without hearing an argument or being reminded of her obligations.
Flor scratched lightly at the door.
“I want to get out of here too,” Anastacia said.
The baby dragon had soft white fur, large eyes, and a habit of following the princess wherever she went. Anastacia had found her years earlier, still a newborn, among the burned roots of a ruined part of the forest. She had never told anyone how that meeting had happened. Since then, the two had rarely been apart.
Anastacia took her cloak. She thought of finding her father before leaving, but imagined the conversation: with soldiers disappearing, Alfred would certainly insist that she stay in the castle or take an escort. She only wanted a walk with Flor along a familiar path, and meant to return soon.
She opened the door and followed the corridors to the stairs leading to the gardens. There, she could still have called someone to say where she was going. She looked at the castle windows, hesitated, and kept walking.
Flor ran ahead along the forest path. Anastacia followed, pulling her cloak close. She would leave the explanations for her return.
Under the trees, she could breathe more easily. Flor sniffed the fallen leaves and came back from time to time to check that the princess was still there.
There were clearings where only stumps remained. The royal family itself had ordered many of those trees cut down to expand the kingdom and strengthen its defenses. Anastacia preferred the stretches where she could still hear leaves above her head.
It was in one of those places that Flor stopped.
She raised her muzzle and made a low sound.
Anastacia noticed the birds had stopped singing. A branch snapped ahead.
Two bears emerged from behind the trees.
They were enormous. Their bodies were twisted, with irregular marks beneath their fur. Their eyes were so dark Anastacia could not make out the pupils. She had seen that look in dreams, though she had never understood why.
Flor backed up against her legs.
Anastacia bent down to pick her up. At that moment, the first bear charged.
The space between the trees seemed to fold. The princess pulled Flor against her chest and threw herself aside. The animal's paw struck the place where she had been, scattering dirt across her cloak.
Before Anastacia could stand, Flor slipped from her arms and placed herself in front of her.
“Flor, come!”
The baby dragon opened her mouth.
The flame was small and uneven, but it struck the bear in the chest. He recoiled sharply, stumbled, and fell onto his side.
Anastacia had never seen her breathe fire.
The second bear came right behind. Flor planted her paws and sent out another flame. The creature staggered and fell too.
For a few moments, the princess could hear only her own breathing. She knelt and gathered Flor up, trembling between her hands.
“I'm here,” she murmured, stroking the white fur.
The bears were still breathing. Their claws stayed buried in the earth, their bodies tense, as though something was still forcing them to fight.
Then two pink butterflies appeared.
They flew past Anastacia and landed on the animals' muzzles, one on each. Slowly, the claws released the ground. The bears' breathing calmed, and the darkness in their eyes began to fade.
When the first raised his head, he looked around in astonishment.
“What happened?”
“You attacked us,” Anastacia replied.
He examined the marks his paws had left on the path. Then he looked at Flor, curled up in the princess's lap.
“We did that?”
Anastacia nodded.
The bear lowered his head.
“My name is Satobear. This is Gili. We live in this forest.”
Gili struggled to her feet.
“I remember voices,” she said. “They were calling us.”
“We followed them to a cave,” Satobear added. “After that, I can't remember.”
“Everything went dark,” Gili murmured.
Anastacia introduced herself and told them what had happened, from their arrival to Flor's flames. The bears listened without interrupting.
“The fire stopped us,” Gili said, looking at the baby dragon. “But the butterflies brought us back.”
The two were now flying near a branch. Anastacia remembered the sign she had asked for before leaving the castle.
From what the bears said, something had controlled them. They themselves seemed frightened by what they had done.
“Can you find that cave again?” she asked.
Satobear nodded, but Gili took longer to answer.
“I'm afraid of hearing those voices again.”
Anastacia held Flor close to her chest.
“I'm afraid too. But if it happened to you, it may be happening to other creatures.”
The bears exchanged a look.
“We'll go together,” Satobear decided. “And carefully.”
They began walking, but soon the butterflies flew ahead of the group and entered an opening between the trees.
“The cave is the other way,” Gili warned.
The butterflies came back and hovered before them until Anastacia took a step in the indicated direction.
“I think they want to take us somewhere.”
Satobear studied the passage. He had known this forest since childhood and had never seen a path there. Even so, he pushed a low branch aside and let the princess pass.
The four followed the butterflies.
The trail was narrow, surrounded by trunks and roots. After a while, light began to filter through the treetops. They could hear birds again. Flowers grew along the path, and the air smelled of damp earth.
Gili stopped to look around.
“How have we never found this place?”
Before Satobear could answer, a small creature appeared in front of them and struck the ground with a staff.
It was a dudurima, one of the creatures living hidden in that part of the forest. Others appeared among the trees, also holding staffs.
“You cannot pass,” the first said, looking at the bears. “You've done enough harm already.”
Satobear stopped at once.
“We've never been here.”
“You attacked our elder. I saw the state you left her in.”
Gili looked at him. Their missing memories, which had seemed merely frightening before, now concealed someone who had been hurt.
Anastacia stepped forward, keeping Flor in her arms.
“They attacked me too. But something was controlling them both.”
The dudurima tightened her grip on the staff.
“Then why are you with them?”
“Because I could see the difference when it passed.”
Anastacia told her about the dark eyes, the attack, and the butterflies. Satobear explained the little he remembered of the cave. Gili kept looking at the passage guarded by the dudurimas.
“How is the elder?” the she-bear asked.
The defender took a moment to answer.
“Very weak.”
The butterflies flew between them and continued ahead. The dudurima followed their flight, then looked back at the visitors.
“My name is Mili. I help protect this village.”
She lowered her staff.
“Come. But stay close to me.”
A few steps later, Anastacia saw the houses. Made from wood, leaves, and stone, they nestled among trees that had been preserved. Small walkways connected the homes, and the inhabitants stopped to watch the group.
This was the Hidden Village, the community Satobear and Gili had lived so close to without knowing it.
Mili led them to a house in the center of the village.
“Elyra is here,” she said. “She takes care of us all.”
The dudurimas' elder lay in bed. She struggled to breathe and seemed too tired even to keep her eyes open.
When she noticed the two bears by the entrance, she made a small movement with her hand.
Gili lowered her head.
“They said we hurt you.”
“I know what happened to you,” Elyra answered with difficulty. “This force is taking hold of the forest animals. If it keeps spreading, others will suffer.”
Mili knelt beside her.
“Rest a little,” Mili asked.
Elyra nodded and laid her head back. Mili remained beside her.
Anastacia set Flor down and knelt beside Elyra, close enough that the elder would not have to strain to hear her.
“The village still needs you,” she said. “Mili needs you. Let us try to help.”
The princess did not know how to treat those wounds. She held the elder's hand between her own, trying to offer some comfort while she thought about what she could do.
She remembered Sião. That morning, she had asked the god for an answer to her own doubts. Now, before Elyra, she had a more urgent request.
She closed her eyes and prayed silently for him to help the elder.
For a few moments, she could still hear Elyra's labored breathing and Mili moving beside her. Then the sounds began to seem distant.
Anastacia gently squeezed the hand she held, but could no longer feel it. She also stopped feeling the floor beneath her knees. She had not stood up; even so, it was as though the whole house were moving away from her.
The voices disappeared.
When she opened her eyes again, she was in a place full of light. There were no walls or trees. A presence approached, and Anastacia knew who it was before he spoke.
“Sião.”
The god she had addressed in so many prayers now stood before her.
“More than ever, we need you,” he said. “Your time has come.”
Anastacia tried to answer.
The light disappeared. For an instant, she heard Mili calling her. Then her strength gave out, and she fainted.
When she woke, Flor was resting against her arm.
Mili leaned over her.
“Can you hear me?”
Anastacia nodded and tried to sit up. Gili and Satobear watched from the entrance while a few dudurimas moved aside to give her room.
“What happened?”
A voice answered from behind Mili:
“That's what I'd like to know too.”
Elyra was standing.
Anastacia looked at the place where the elder had been lying. Then she looked back at her. Elyra's breathing was calm, and her hand no longer trembled.
Mili got up and embraced her. For a few moments, the elder only needed to stand there, stroking the little defender's back.
“It happened when you touched me,” Elyra explained to the princess. “The pain went away.”
Anastacia looked at her own fingers.
“I didn't know what I was doing.”
“I've never seen healing like that. Perhaps only the gods can explain it.”
Elyra asked the others to give them a moment. Mili was reluctant to let go, but finally left with the other dudurimas. The two bears moved away from the entrance.
Anastacia remained with Flor in her lap.
The elder sat down before them.
“I need to tell you something. About this baby dragon.”
The princess stroked the white fur.
“About Flor?”
“I found her before you did. She was alone in the forest, still very small. I brought her to the village because I didn't want to leave her unprotected.”
Anastacia looked up.
“You took care of her?”
Elyra nodded.
“That same night, Sião appeared to me. He asked me to leave her in the forest again.”
“Why?”
“At the time, I didn't understand. It was hard to obey. But today, when I saw you together, I began to understand.”
The elder looked at Flor, settled in the princess's arms.
“You were the one meant to find her.”
Anastacia fell silent. She remembered the burned roots and the small creature she had gathered up among them. For years, she had thought of that meeting as a stroke of luck in a place where almost everything had been destroyed.
“Sião appeared to me too,” she said. “When I touched your hand. He said he needed me.”
Elyra listened carefully.
Anastacia still did not know who was controlling the animals, or what she would find in that cave. But the elder sat before her, healed. Outside, Mili was telling the villagers that Elyra was well.
The princess brought Flor closer to Elyra. The baby dragon raised her muzzle to sniff the fingers the elder held out.
“Thank you for taking care of her,” Anastacia said.
Elyra stroked the white fur. Then she took the princess's hand between her own.
“Today you were the one who took care of me.”