Page 25 of The Poison Season

He wasn’t sure he liked being called sillyorpretty, but he was curious despite himself. “What exactly is a Wandering Forest?”

“It’s what it sounds like. A wooded area that appears where it wants, when it wants. In the old days, a traveler who happened upon one would likely never find it again, no matter how many times they returned to the spot.”

“And what would they find there?”

“An ordinary forest. One that doesn’t interfere in the natural order of things. A normal forest is a neutral party in the affairs of its inhabitants. It stands impassively by while life and death play out the way they always have. But not a Wandering Forest. Or at least, not this one. It is a bloodthirsty thing, killing so many of its own creatures that it needs the Endlans’ songs to draw in more and their sacrifices to sate it.”

Jaren shuddered. “And the Endlans? What do they get in return?”

“Ask any Endlan, and they’ll tell you the Wandering Forest is there to protect them. As long as they sing, as long as they lure in prey and make their offerings, the Forest is happy enough.”

“Happy?” Jaren asked, trying to sound genuinely interested and not condescending. “I don’t understand.”

Lupin tapped him playfully on the nose. “You don’t have to. The Forest doesn’t rely on the likes of you. It lives in a kind of symbiosis with the Endlans, and as long as no one disturbs the order of things, it works out well enough.” A shadow passed over her face. “Except for the incantu, of course.”

“But who do the Endlans need protection from?”

“From us, the mainlanders. Or outsiders, as they think of us. It was outsiders who drove the Endlans there and killed all but the last remaining Wandering Forest.”

Jaren was trying desperately to follow Lupin’s logic, but it still didn’t make sense to him. “Why do the ‘outsiders’ hate the Endlans? Because of what happened to Maggie’s father?”

“Him, and others like him. Whether they go by accident or by choice, outsiders are killed by the Forest, if the poison of the lake doesn’t get to them first. But they were hated long before they went to the island, simply for being different. I imagine a few people were lured to their deaths by Endlans, and it was convenient to make them the scapegoats every time a child went missing or a husband didn’t return to his family. Theyaresafer on Endla, just so long as the Forest doesn’t turn on them.”

Jaren considered her words for a moment. “What aboutthisforest?” He waved vaguely at the trees around them.

“Hmm? Oh, it’s just a forest. But the animals here seem to be aware of what happens on Endla. I think they’re always watching and waiting, to see what the Wandering Forest will do.”

Jaren had never even considered that a forest could be watching him. He looked up into the branches that swayed slightly in the breeze, imagining that the trees were listening. He had always found this forest to be oddly quiet, and now he realized why: there was no birdsong or rustling in the underbrush. The only sound was the wind. “What about the poison in the lake? Is that part of the Forest’s magic?”

“Perhaps. I don’t know all of Endla’s secrets. They’re kept especially well from incantu, lest we leave and tell them to the outsiders. They say they send us away to protect us, but the truth is, we’re dangerous to Endlans.”

“How?”

“Because we don’t need the Forest like they do. And if we knew Endla’s vulnerabilities, we could share them with outsiders. Perhaps they think we have a vendetta against them.”

“Sounds like you’d have good reason to.”

“Some, maybe. I’ve made my peace.”

“Have any Endlans left by choice?” he asked, thinking of her parents.

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “I heard of a woman who tried to cross the ice one winter, when I was just a baby. But the ice was too thin, or the island didn’t want her to go, and she fell through a crack and disappeared.”

“So the Endlans are prisoners, in a way.”

“I suppose so. I know I’m glad to be clear of the place, even if I do miss my parents. I thought of trying to go back in the winter, but I don’t trust the island or the other Endlans. They have people who guard the shoreline, just in case. Watchers, they’re called. After they complete a year of duty, they attend a secret ceremony and become true citizens of Endla. And whatever happens to them there must be powerful, because after that, they don’t question the way of things again.”

Jaren had a final question, but it felt almost too personal.

Lupin arched an eyebrow. “You’re wondering why they don’t kill us outright.”

Jaren flushed. He didn’t like the way this girl seemed to read his thoughts. “It doesn’t sound out of the realm of possibility, given what I’ve heard about Endlans.”

“I’m sure some would like to, but our parents wouldn’t allow it. And I’ve heard not all children are so lucky. Stray too far from the safety of home, and an elder might give you to the Forest. If it’s hungry enough, the Forest might take you itself.” She glanced at him and burst out laughing.

“What?”

“Your face. You look terrified.”

---