As the sounds of the robins and crows drifted through the early morning air that hung cooly around the great river Yaag, not a soul was stirring; well maybe two, but that was all I could tell. "Feather"! The harsh whisper pulled me from my wondering thoughts. What?! I whisper mockingly back. "Stop stepping on the twigs, the spirits are still resting" I looked at my company, her ice blue grey eyes, half shelided by her hair, blue black... like a raven's wing. I caught myself staring at her again, and now worst of all, mid back and forth. This is uncomfortable. "Sorry I'm being a little loud, but we aren't even in the Dark Wood yet." I say, calmer now. "No problem" She whisperes back. We start moving again. This morning me (Feather) and my best friend Stone were trying to get to the woods outside our village to see the forest spirits. two days in and we were almost there. Of course EVERYONE had claimed to see one, but no description is ever the same and the stories always change, and in my opinion this means that most of these people are telling plain old lies. Stone and I had a little debate on whether they were real or not, and now that had become a journey that was probably going to get us both in trouble, but here we were. "Last night when you called be "cute but gullible" that was a bit rude!" Stone says a little louder, cutting though my thoughts of doom; speculating on what kind of trouble we'd get in when our parents found out we were seaking around the Dark Wood, when we were supposed to be trading fruit for money with the south village. " I was just joking!", I say as my toe snags a root and almost trips me. I hear a little giggle behind me as we get on all fours to climb under the matting of bush and vines that had intertwined and created a tunnel system over thousands of years. " I may be gullible but I don't trip on roots the size of a cat's tail" Stone retorts. I smile quietly, I appreciate the humor, as it calms my nerves. We grow quiet and begin the climb. The river Yagg runs from the kingdom, and through many moutains and valleys, through our village and into the Dark Wood. What we were climbing now was known as Dead Man's Hill. It was hardly a hill and more of a stone wall of rock and clay with scraggly bushes on it that went West to East as far as the eye could see. Maybe about 40 feet high and with a climbable slope, although in our current condition, It didn't seem so climbable. I...