“We have arrived,” she started as she struck her staff onto the grass-covered ground. “The heart of the forest.”
I stepped forward, my mouth hung from my face as I couldn’t believe what my eyes were saying. A faint light from the sun was shining through the leaves from the towering trees. All kinds of flowers are spread around us. And to our right, a small kind of waterfall with a narrow river cascading passed us. All kinds of birds can be heard singing up in the air. I was about to walk further when the lady immediately stopped me.
“Is there something wrong?” I asked as I was brought back from my sense of wonder.
“Have you ever been in this kind of environment?” she enquired. “The kind of surrounding where everything is too beautiful, it’s unbelievable?”
“As a matter of fact, no. Why?”
She stuck her staff deep into the ground and walked towards me. She grabbed my right hand, put her hand on it and said a strange incantation. “Ledoras Flirante Lin. Ledoras Flirante Lin. Ledoras Flirante Lin.” As she kept her eyes closed and her hand on mine, the wind began to blow to my direction, almost sweeping me away. I could the enchantment within the wind as it twirled around me. After a few moments, the wind stopped and the lady let go of my hand.
“What did you do to me?” I asked as I looked into my hand.
“A stranger like you is highly unprotected in this kind of environment. Like I mentioned before, this place can play a lot of different tricks on your mind,” she replied as she walked back to her staff. “Everybody has their own wants, their own needs. This forest can put your wants, your desires right in front of you in order to trick you,” she continued as she turned around to my direction. “This is the reason why not everyone who has entered here has returned to their families.”
She added, “The incantation that I put in your hands will help you find what you’re looking for a lot faster. It will also protect you from any tricks that this forest can do to you.”
I looked back onto my hand and saw nothing different with it. I don’t know if I even should believe this woman with her words. She is, after all, the keeper of the forest. She could be doing this to get rid of me. She must’ve done that to everyone who has been here in the forest.
She suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled into a wide-open space where there are different kinds of plants, ranging from the smallest kinds of flowers to absolutely big ones. “This is where the ledoras plant is usually found. However, the forest will create a way to deceive you so you have to keep your eyes peeled. Trust your instincts on what you think is the correct plant.”
I knelt down and began to crawl on the ground, carefully scanning every plant that I came across. Then, a plant that resembles the description of a ledoras has appeared right in front of me. I was about to reach out for it but for some reason, I stopped. The more I thought about it, the more that I can see that it’s all too convenient for a legendary plant to simply show itself to me.
I looked up and started scanning the other areas. Then, my eyes landed on a small waterfall to my right. I squinted my eyes and there, I saw another plant that fits the description of the ledoras given to me by the Medicine King.
I took another look at the ledoras plant right in front of me. But I proceeded to stand and head for the plant that I saw by the waterfall. I began making my way to the little waterfall, crossing a bridge made out of two trunks, covered with algae.
The plant was right at the bottom pool of the waterfall. It has grown into a very simple shrub on a wall made of rocks. I reached out my hand to touch it, only to be stopped by the lady, grabbing me by the wrist. I turned to look at her.
“Allow me,” she said with a smile. As I put my arm down, she got a piece of the plant and walked over to the cascading water. She dipped the plant into the water for a few seconds and then gently wrapped it with a very odd-looking leaf.
She stepped down from the waterfall and handed it over to me. “You did great, young prince. Not even this forest can deceive you. Do be careful with handling the plant for it’s very delicate,” she explained, impressed. “One careless move, the plant will be of no use for you. When you arrive home, have your mother eat it.”
“Eat this?!” I asked, my eyes widened and my brows met in the middle of my forehead. “Have you lost your mind?!”
“If you wish your mother to be healed, you will do what I told you to do.”
“How am I supposed to trust you? I don’t even know who you are,” I answered, expressing my doubt on her identity.
“I led you to the place where the plant can be found, am I right?” she reminded me. “And I haven’t led you nor your horse to any harm, correct?”
I stayed silent as I started thinking about what she said. She does have a point. For the whole time that I’ve been inside this forest, she hasn’t done anything to harm me or Lady. “But that doesn’t mean I have to give you my full trust.”
She nodded and replied, “I understand. Well, we must go. You have to leave this place before dark. I will lead the way for you.” She grabbed her staff and started walking in front of me.