Murat’s satchel was bulging with forest spirit tendrils.  The sorrels and nettles that he collected before were now buried at the bottom.  He felt a bit uneasy carrying the remains of a creature that had attacked them earlier.  However, he was too mentally drained to take any further action beyond trailing after the Silver Sorcerer.  As they made their way through the labyrinth of trees, the sky turned into a soft blend of purple and orange as dusk settled in.  The Silver Sorcerer led him to a cave. Murat felt as if they were walking into a giant mouth.

“Is this where you live?” Murat asked.

“For the time being.  I don’t need to live anywhere in particular, but this place does offer good storage.”

“Storage?”

They stepped inside.  The air was cool and damp.  Murat could hear a faint dripping in the background.  Large rib bones stood upright before them, casting arched shadows against the wall.

“Dragon bones?” Murat asked.

“It came with the cave.”

There were more bones scattered on the cave floor.  Vertebrae lay half covered in dirt next to long femurs.  A lizard-like skull with gaping eye sockets and jagged teeth made Murat shudder.  He scanned the skeletal rubble and his eyes widened when he spotted a large glassy object.  

“Is that an entire dragon heart?” Murat asked.

“Indeed,” the Silver Sorcerer replied.  “It came with the cave as well.”

“A thing that size could burn for years.”

“It very well could.  That’s why I only use one small shard at a time.”

“My father said the soldiers from both empires were after the dragon heart stones.”

“Not surprising.  They are a good fuel source.”

“Where are the actual dragons though?  The living ones, I mean.”

“Centuries ago, there were thousands of them.  They dotted the sky during the day and slumbered in caves like this at night.”

“Have you seen them, since you’ve been around for so long?”

“I’ve seen some.”

“What were they like?”

“Majestic creatures, though formidable.  They had wingspans as wide as a tree is tall, and spat fire when provoked.  Their jaws had the strength to shatter boulders into gravel and sand.”

“Wow.  Sounds scary.  How did they disappear?”

“Humans decided that they were a threat and hunted them down.  You portray them like that in your stories, don’t you?  The dragons are the villains, always snatching away some maiden that needs to be rescued.”

Murat’s face flushed.  The Silver Sorcerer wasn’t wrong about that.

“A human alone is weak, but together, they proved to be worthy foes to the dragons.  They're a clever sort, and what they lack in innate strength and ability, they more than compensate for with their strategy and cunning.  They gained the upper hand when they allied with the mages.”

“Mages?  Like you?”

“Don’t lump me in with that lot!  I took no part in their alliance as I had no quarrel with the dragons.”

“So you were on the dragons’ side?”

“I was on neither side.”

“Oh.”

“Once the dragons started dying and decaying, it was discovered that their hearts hardened to stone and could be used to fuel fires.  It gave humans even more of a reason to want them dead, and the hunts intensified.  A foolish decision really, since eliminating the dragons meant that there would be no more new heart stones.  Everyone just ended up fighting over the scraps and many conflicts broke out because of this.”

“Are there truly no more dragons left?”

“There could be, but I haven’t spotted one in ages.”

“What about the mages?”

“Betrayed, of course.  Humans would never let anyone else get the upper hand.  Once their common enemy was gone, why would they need to remain allies?  Mages may be powerful in casting spells, but they were fewer in number and tended to be physically weak.  Too much magic usage also drained them.  Once they were exhausted and vulnerable, the humans did them in.”

“That’s terrible.”

“Indeed.”

“Do you also feel weakened after using magic?”

“Somewhat.  I’ve built up some endurance over the centuries but I prefer to conserve my energy if possible.”

“Are there any other mages still around or did they all perish?”

“They still exist, but are rare.  Some were spared if they promised to serve the humans’ cause and not challenge them.”

“How do you know all this?”

“The birds told me.”

Murat gave him a strange look.  His stomach then let out a very audible growl.  His face flushed pink.

“You should eat something,” the Silver Sorcerer said.  “You have a whole bag full of plants.”

“Are you sure the forest spirit’s tendrils are edible?  You’re not trying to poison me are you?”

“Why would I do that after I went through the effort to save you?”

“I don’t know.  I still don’t understand your motivations.  You seem to dislike humans very much, with the way you speak about us.  We’re not all bad.”

The Silver Sorcerer sighed.  “No, I suppose not.”  He took another dragon heart stone shard out of his robes.  “Well, regardless, you should eat something anyway.”  He laid the shard on the cave floor and ignited it with his intense stare.  “Fire for cooking, in case you wanted that.  The plants might taste better roasted.”

“Do you have anything to cook on?  Like a pan or a pot?  If I throw them in the fire, they’ll just burn up.”

The Silver Sorcerer held out his hands.  Glowing silver threads materialized from his fingers.  They looped around and around until they formed the bowl-like shape.  The glow wore off and he was left with a rudimentary cooking vessel.  Murat’s eyebrows lifted and his mouth was agape.

“Will this do?” the Silver Sorcerer asked.

“Y-yes…” Murat took the cooking vessel and set it over the flame.  He scooped up a pile of tendrils, sorrels, and nettles and tossed them into the vessel.  They sizzled and slowly browned.  The cave was filled with an earthy aroma and faint citrus notes.

“Can you put out the flame?” Murat asked.  “These look like they’re done.”

The Silver Sorcerer waved his hand and the flame extinguished.  The shard returned to its dark, glassy state.  After the smoke dissipated and a few minutes passed, Murat gingerly picked up a piece of roasted sorrel.  He bit into it and savored the thin crispy leaves that left a hint of lemon on his tongue.  Next, he sampled the roasted nettle.  It had a mild nutty flavor.  Finally, he slowly picked up the curled-up tendrils of the forest spirit and took a small nibble.  They were crunchy and a little bit sweet.  He looked up and saw the Silver Sorcerer chewing on a tendril of his own.

“I thought you didn’t have to eat,” Murat said.

“I don’t have to, but curiosity got the best of me.  No better way to honor my fallen colleague than to partake of it body and soul.”

Murat’s eyes widened and he turned away.

“I jest,” the Silver Sorcerer added.

Murat looked downward and sighed.  He continued to chew on the tendril but had a heavy feeling in his heart.

“Something wrong?” the Silver Sorcerer asked.

“How can I sit here enjoying a meal when everyone else is gone?”

The Silver Sorcerer looked at him solemnly.  “You can honor them by continuing to live.”

Murat’s mouth pulled downward into a frown.  He sniffled and blinked away tears.  He grabbed another fistful of plants and shoved them in his mouth.  As he chewed, the tears rolled down his face.  The Silver Sorcerer looked at him awkwardly and continued to eat.

“Do you…have a family?” Murat finally asked, wiping away his tears.  “You said that you’re a forest spirit, but you must have come from somewhere.”

“I…” the Silver Sorcerer hesitated.  “That is a good question, actually.  I’ve been around for so long that I cannot tell when my existence began.  I suppose the other forest spirits can be considered my family, but I am not close to them the way humans are to their loved ones.  In fact, I try to avoid contact with them.”

“I was going to get married and have a family,” Murat said.  “I had a fiancée named Nadya.  Our families have known each other for years, and we were betrothed when we were younger.  My older brother just got married, which meant I’d finally be able to get married too.  Actually, the first time I encountered you was the night before his wedding.”

“I see.”

“I always expected that I’d marry, have children, and live out a nice, quiet life in the village with my family.  My best friend Beslan was around the same age as me.  Once we both started families, we were going to be guardians for each other’s children.  That’s how it was supposed to turn out…well, if everything had gone according to plan.  But…even before the invasion, I was worried things might not work out with Nadya.”

“Oh?”

“I mean, she’s pretty and pleasant to be around, but I don’t really know her.  We grew up on the same street and I saw her all the time at family gatherings, but we hung out in different social circles since we weren’t supposed to interact that closely with each other until we married.  She seemed to like me, but I was afraid she’d eventually be disappointed.”

“Why?”

“In my village, they value bravery and courage, and I have neither of those.  I also worried about what would happen to her once we started having children.  My mother died giving birth to me.  I know these things happen, and no one has blamed me for her death, at least not to my face.  But if Nadya ended up dying while giving birth to our child, I’d be devastated and feel like it was my fault.  But…none of those worries matter anymore.  She’s already gone.

“Beslan also died because of me.  He died because he was brave and I was not.  You know, growing up, I spent more time around him than I did with my actual brother.  I was raised by a wet nurse after my mother died, and Beslan was friends with her children, so we hung out a lot.  Sometimes the other children would make fun of me since I was weak and got scared easily, but he never did.  We became sworn brothers and promised to always protect each other.”  

Murat’s vision blurred and his voice dampened to a shaky whisper.  “But who were we kidding?  I could never protect him the same way he did for me.”  He closed his eyes and let the tears fall.

***

The moon hung overhead in the sky amidst a spattering of stars.  The chilled night air seeped into the cave.  Murat curled up against the rocks in the corner, eyes heavy with fatigue.  He was dead tired from the events of the day.  Sleep beckoned to him like a ghostly whisper on the precipice of oblivion.  He drew his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them.  He felt the coldness of the cave floor through his clothes and shivered.  Although he staved off his hunger with the roasted plants from earlier, his belly still felt an aching emptiness, and he wondered how he would get food tomorrow.  Was the Silver Sorcerer going to help him or just leave him to his own devices?  

As his mind wandered into the darkness, he felt the light touch of a blanket landing on his shoulders.  He grabbed the edges and wrapped it around himself.  Although the blanket was thin, his shivering subsided and he buried his face in the cloud-like fabric.  He calmed down and drifted off to sleep.

The Silver Sorcerer sat nearby, silver threads extruding from his fingers.  The threads weaved themselves into that very blanket that was providing Murat warmth.  He gazed upon Murat’s face, the visage that he had borrowed.  He sighed.  Centuries of witnessing humanity’s petty squabbles and endless conflicts had made him jaded and cynical.  Yet here he was, weaving into the night to provide a cocoon of warmth for the one curled up sleeping before him.