The old man's note unfolded in Teagan's hand, and she scanned it for her next set of instructions.
The forest of dead trees is rather small. Just keep traveling from the moment you reach it until the moment you emerge from its depths, and you should be fine. Try to leave by nightfall.
If you are unable to get out by night, sleep in the branches of a tree, and try to stay quiet. Do not attempt travel after nightfall unless you absolutely must. If you for some reason find yourself having to travel at night, be quiet and stick to the shadows. If you hear anything that isn't yourself, be alert.
Teagan wasn't reassured by this message at all. What was there to be afraid of that warranted sleeping in a tree? Tomkins could climb far better than most people, and most wild beasts wouldn't live in such and empty place.
Teagan shrugged, put note away, and doubled her pace. The sooner she was out of here, the better. Nothing could stop her from finding out the truth of Whitebreeze Keep, certainly not some small forest.
She looked at the sky. Judging by the sun, it wasn't even noon yet. She certainly had time to spare for a little bit of rest and relaxation, right? Teagan, exhausted and still in a bit of pain from her recent scuffles with the tomkins, sat down on the soft forest floor. She lowered Sihil to the ground, and opened her box. Inside, her terrified new captive dashed about, desperately seeking escape. Teagan grinned devilishly before her eyes flitted to Sihil... who was shuddering and averting her eyes. Teagan's grin faded, and she picked up Sihil, bringing the little tomkin to her face.
~
While language separated the two, Teagan's eyes told Sihil everything. The giantess wasn't going to let the man go not out of cruelty but out of fear. She placed Sihil back on the ground before turning back to the tomkin man in the box. He was short, even for a tomkin, and rather frail. He looked pleadingly at Teagan, his hands clasped in the universal symbol for surrender. Teagan wrapped her right hand around the man and brought him to her face. He begged and pleaded in his strange language, and Teagan's eyes hardened as her mouth twisted into an evil smile. She would show no clemency to the unfortunate man. Teagan looked back at Sihil for just a moment, seeing the girl's resignation. Teagan inhaled deeply, opened her mouth, and dropped the man inside. She swallowed quickly, despite her urge to savor the terror of the little man. Sihil shuddered, and Teagan resisted the impulse to place her hand to her stomach and try to feel the little man's struggles, as she so often did after eating the helpless little things. Teagan picked Sihil back up, guiding the tomkin into her hand and raising her to her face, and stared into her minuscule eyes. Sihil tried averting her sight, but Teagan's forceful gaze impelled Sihil to stare back.
Teagan had learned the little tomkin girl's name... perhaps she could learn a few bits and pieces of their language. Teagan wondered where she should start, looking around. She decided to start with nouns, and pointed at a nearby gnarled and leafless oak.
"Tree."
Sihil stared for a second as Teagan repeated herself, but apparently caught on rather quickly.
"Ventris."
Teagan couldn't help but chuckle, for to her, this was a victory. Teagan proceeded to learn the words for a plethora of other basic nouns, and felt accomplished at her mastery of the foreign language, an affair that surprisingly few others had managed to come close to accomplishing. She might be able to use this to her advantage in the future. Teagan, after having learned a few words and calmed Sihil down considerably, continued on her merry way. She didn't know exactly what way that was, but she knew it was the opposite direction of the valley, and that was assurance enough that it was most likely the right direction.
Teagan's jaunty step carried her forward quite quickly, and by sundown, the forest was starting to clear again, indicative that she was nearing the exit. However, her instructions stated explicitly not to travel after dusk, and she wasn't about to take any risks. Teagan, shouldering her satchel, looked around for a tree that appeared suitable to climb and rest in. Sihil, who had fallen asleep in the palm of her hand, awoke when she was lowered to Teagan's waist. Sihil uttered a disheartened moan as she was placed back in the wooden box that she had grown to loathe.
Teagan set her eyes upon a sturdy looking black tree with thick and gnarled branches, perfect footholds and easy to grip. She jumped up, grabbing the lowest branch and pulling herself up with her right arm while reaching for the next highest branch with her left. When she grasped this branch, she boosted herself up with her right hand and grabbed on to the higher branch with both hands, resting her feet on the lower branch. Teagan swung herself up to the higher branch, and found that it was quite large and sturdy, as well as being conveniently located next to another slightly less sturdy looking branch. Teagan reclined on this branch, and rested her legs on the other nearby limb, finding that it fit her well. She hooked the two straps of her satchel to the two branches, creating a sort of makeshift hammock. While the satchel couldn't support her weight alone, it allowed her lower body to not sag, and made things a bit more comfortable overall.
She dozed off slowly, trying to calm herself and reassure her tired and anxious mind that there was nothing in the forest that could harm her. She slept uncomfortably, for her accommodations were rough and cold, but she slept nonetheless. Sihil, just as uncomfortable as her captor, dreamed of home, as she had nearly every night since her capture. She had lost track of the days, but her hope of return to her family lessened with every sunset.
~
Firkon's men dropped the formality of marching in formation. They were no longer a rear guard, for their garrison had long since left them. They were giant hunters now, and they had a target far more cunning, evasive, and cruel than many of the giants of the older days. Their numbers were nearly halved now, for many had chosen to return to their homes rather than fight on. Firkon didn't mind. If they wished to do so, he couldn't stop them. He would fight with the strength of ten of those cowards if he had to.
Laeron, a skilled tracker as well as an astute strategist, whistled gleefully. His slim form moved lithely across the ground, his red cuirass stained with grass from his work. He had a particularly easy time of locating the giantess' path, but doing so had not heartened him. Her footprints were visible to all but a blind man, which made her easy to track, but still caused Laeron to choke up a bit at first seeing them. An entire squadron of Orestion's finest legionnaires could fit under the giantess' feet, not to mention a handful of Telaphonis' ill-trained conscripts.
Laeron was naturally scared by this, having not actually seen one of the giants before, let alone the giantess in question. Firkon tramped on with fearlessness, something which both impressed and scared Laeron. While the Legate was certainly attached to his soldiers and wanted to see as few as possible perish, Laeron was afraid that Firkon was a bit too dedicated to seeing the giantess perish, and would sacrifice not only his life but the lives of the entire rear guard in order to see to it that the giantess dies.
Laeron shook his head and focused back on tracking the giantess. A light rain had begun to fall, and Laeron watched in a mixture of awe and horror as the mere footprints of the giantess became small ponds, making his job quite a bit easier.
Firkon had said that if they didn't slay the giantess by the time she exited the forest, he would seek help from the reclusive inhabitants of the mountains behind the forest, a small land called Q'thuman. While normally left to their own devices, the Q'thuman were sometimes called upon as master engineers, scientists, and practitioners of the arcane arts.
As they advanced deeper into the wood, some of the men became nervous. All had heard tales of the beast that dwelled within these woods. While the descriptions given by alleged sightings varied wildly, they all agreed upon three things. The Beast was monstrously large, larger than even the giants, unnaturally shadowy, and possessed an unspecified number of hateful violet eyes.
By nightfall, most of the soldiers yearned to rest, but Firkon knew better. They had a giantess to contend with as well as the possibility of some kind of monster lurking nearby.
He kept up, until he heard Laeron hush. The soldiers halted as the tracker's keen eyes followed some kinds of prints to the base of a tree. Laeron looked up and gasped. She was far bigger than he at first expected, although he couldn't make out details in the darkness. He wondered what her face looked like, and decided it must be ugly indeed, for nothing that large looked or could look like a person. 
Firkon wondered how he would go about this. His soldiers couldn't climb the tree with their spears, but their shortswords would do little against the tough clothing of the massive woman. He motioned to Laeron, beckoning him over.
"Sir... what are we to do?" inquired Laeron, nervousness straining his voice.
Firkon bit the inside of his cheek, right hand eagerly fondling the pommel of his sword. This was a bad position to fight in. While the giantess was asleep, she had been asleep at the start of both fights near Telaphonis. Taking her by surprise clearly wasn't a massive advantage. She had the high ground, she had branches she could snap off and use as makeshift projectiles, and she was probably out of range of their javelins. While the throwing spears certainly went far, they weren't good at aiming high, and throwing up often resulted in the javelin making little horizontal progress and killing one of the thrower's comrades on its descent.
Firkon let go of his sword and clapped Laeron on the shoulder.
"We can't win a fight like this. Let's keep moving forward. We know what direction she's traveling in, and that's enough to anticipate where she's headed. If we're ahead of her, perhaps we can stage an ambush with the help of a few allies. Let's just hope the Beast seizes her in her sleep."
Laeron exhaled with relief and disappointment, happy that he didn't have to fight the monstrous woman but a little let down that he didn't get to see her fight.
"Can do, but I don't know what the men will think about this. We can't really afford losing any more support than we already have."
Firkon nodded. The captain was right, and Firkon couldn't argue that the men were itching for a fight. The longer the men marched, the more their loyalty was tested.
He had to find Brother Volkhard.
Firkon silently moved to the front of his ranks, and gave the order to continue on. The soldiers complied without question, giving Firkon a little solace in this strange defeat. He hadn't lost any men, but he had lost a little dignity.
Laeron, seeing Firkon's troubled facial expression and clenched fists, approached him tentatively.
"It's alright. You've no doubt saved many of these men's lives. Even if he had won, it would be a Pyrrhic victory at best. Now we live on to fight another day, and win a decisive victory instead of a mournful one."
Firkon smiled and eased up a bit. Laeron, comforted by this, fell into the ranks of the soldiers, quickly jawing and jeering alongside them.
~
When Teagan awoke, it was to the sound of crackling underbrush. She looked around cautiously, but saw nothing in the darkness of the night. She was alert, however. Most would dismiss the noise as nothing, but Teagan knew that noises such as this weren't caused by the wind stirring. Something was lurking out there, and it was large enough to snap twigs. Teagan involuntarily flinched as she heard the noise again, closer to her this time. She looked around for the cause of the noise, trying to be as quiet as possible.
She saw it, and she screamed.
It was the size of a bear, if not larger, but Teagan couldn't quite tell. It was composed of twisting and writhing shadows, a coil of darkness tangled in a vaguely bipedal mess. Although it was mostly a blur, Teagan would make out two distinctly limb-like appendages that carried it forth and a third that protruded out from its upper body. A trio of violet dots swam about on the thing, seemingly focused on her. Teagan screamed louder, and saw the beast's eyes flash with malignant light. It circled her tree as lithely as a fox stalking a rabbit, observing and waiting for an opening. Teagan knew this, for only a few days before she had been doing the same to the tomkins. The beast slowly edged closer to the tree, until it circled around the base of the thing, purple dots fixedly pointed at Teagan.
Teagan stood up, flattening her back against the tree, and began to scramble upwards. She tried climbing as fast as she could, but she knew that a fall could prove lethal due to what lurked below. Teagan ascended to a slightly thinner and higher branch, just strong enough to support her weight. She watched in pure terror as one of the creature's limbs thinned out, becoming leaner and longer. It hung limply now, and Teagan thought that it looked alarmingly whip-like. Sure enough, the abomination coiled back its long arm, and Teagan yelped as it shot forward, snapping against a lower branch. Teagan sighed with relief as the appendage fell back to the ground, too short to reach her. Her relief was short-lived, however. The beast morphed form again, becoming much smaller, about Teagan's size, but pointedly more substantial. The once murky shadows were now crisply defined edges, and the foggy nature of the being was gone. Rather than appearing wraith-like and ghostly, the beast was now a hole in the fabric of reality, a pitch black tear in the canvas of the world. Although smaller, it was far more terrifying. The humanoid's three eyes merged into one, and Teagan felt a chill run down her spine. It was the guardian of this forest, and she was a trespasser.
Teagan watched as it stalked about the tree, still seemingly unable to reach her.
"Human... don't worry. I will not harm you."
Teagan felt her voice choke up in fear.
"Come down... and everything will be okay. I could reach you if I wanted to, human."
Teagan stayed in the tree, but part of her believed the creature.
"Human... don't fear me. I am a friend."
It reached an arm out to her, and she shrank back. Teagan felt the branch she was on creak.
"Come down now."
Teagan didn't move.
"Come down or I will drag you down."
Teagan still didn't move. She believed the old man. She told herself she was safe in the tree.
"...Human, you leave me no choice..."
The creature's arms dug into the base of the tree, and Teagan screamed again. It didn't start climbing, but black tendrils started creeping up the dead oak.
"Come..."
Teagan screamed as a tendril wrapped around her arm, followed by another latching onto her leg. She kicked and flailed, and her branch groaned. Teagan was overcome with fear when she realized that the tendrils weren't dragging her. She stopped flailing, and touched one with her finger. Her digit passed right through as if the tendril wasn't even there. The beast howled with rage, and its violet eye pulsed with rage.
"You have bested me, pitiful human. But soon, very soon, I see that one will do unto you as you have done unto others. I will remember you, human, for I never forget those that escape me once."
With those words, the creature was gone, melted into the shadows from which it emerged.
Teagan didn't leave the tree until dawn.