I've just be awoken earlier than I wanted to be by the oddest dream! I'm not surprised after the bracing adventure we've just had.
I should start near the beginning as I jot this all down so as to better collect my thoughts.
Maddoct and I arrived in Buckland a few days ago with Mister Kveldun and Mister Erlingur. After a good night's sleep we awoke the day after and met up again with Mister Lexand, who would be our guide as we entered the Old Forest to get the maple for Miss Addie and Doc to make pipes out of.
From the safe side of the hedge - I've heard the Bucklanders call it the High Hay - the forest merely looked ominous to me at best. But once we passed through the tunnel and gate and entered it, everything became sort of heavy-like. I felt odd and unnerved the entire time we were in there. I felt like the forest itself had eyes and they were watching us wherever we went. Poor Doc looked quite spooked as well. I felt my heart pounding for sure when he got his foot stuck in a root along the path. Mister Lexand was right calm about it but I wonder if the root was just merely in the way or if it was put in the way by something or some power of the forest. I shan't ask myself this anymore lest I give myself more odd dreams.
The worst bit was when we heard crying off the path. I could have sworn it sounded like a child crying but upon further investigation it was just a fawn stuck in a tree. How it got up there is anyone's guess. Seeing as I was the tallest of us all, I volunteered to be the one to climb up there and rescue the poor thing. Luckily, the rescue was rather uneventful and the fawn ran off once it was freed. All the screaming it was doing while caught made me think the worst but it looked relatively unharmed afterwards. We ended up seeing it again - or at least I think it was the same fawn - with its mother later on the path. Alls well that ends well!
In quick time we found the maple tree up on top of a rather bald looking hill where one could see the sky and, thankfully, gathering the wood was rather uneventful as well, though Maddoct looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there. But he endured bravely despite all that. I always say that bravery isn't really lack of fear but pressing on despite it.
On our way back it seemed that the path had changed a little like Mister Lexand had warned but he seemed to navigate our way out well enough. He was a fantastic guide and never lost his head when a few odd things happened here and there. He's a calm sort of fellow, though its hard to tell what he's thinking or feeling sometimes. But I've heard him laugh a little and I think he's a courageous and smart fellow for one who's gone in the Old Forest many times and has come out each time. He even said he's seen that dancing man that's in some of the tales about the forest once himself! The tales are true, I suppose, though if I were to say that to the folks in Bree, I'm sure they wouldn't believe me.
I don't know if I'll ever come back to this forest. If I do, it will be in winter again, when the trees are dormant and sleeping and the forest is calmer like Mister Lexand said it would be. And perhaps I'd take a guide with me again so I don't get lost. Despite the fearful bits, I found the forest interesting and perhaps even a little pretty as far as forests go. There's a certain wild and untouched quality about it that makes it a bit of a feast for the eyes.
Well, we've got the maple and soon Maddoct and I will be making for Bree again ahead of the others who will follow behind at a slower pace with Mister Lexand. I Maurr will be happy to see him again. I know this trip was short but I've been missing everyone something fierce. I think there might be fresh worries to think about once we reach town but, as I do with everything, I'll take them as they come and do my best.
I might as well stay awake until dawn. I don't think I could sleep again and be up in time! Strangely, I don't feel tired at all.
[At the bottom of this entry is a pressed leaf with 'A trophy from the Old Forest. But isn't it a little late in the season for such a thing to fall on my head?' inscribed next to it.]