Hellsborough Exposed — wisewood

Out in the greater Wisewood, near the Loxley banks, is a stretch I have taken to calling the copse of mystic beasts, and it earns the name. Strung between half a dozen trees hung the largest web I have ever set eyes on, and at its centre sat an eightleg — a rarity in The Dark Peak, though common enough back in the off-world. This one was something else altogether: I could not tell where the creature ended and the branches began, as though it had melded with its hosts and become one with the wood, lying in patient wait for whatever wandered close. I did not wander close. Whatever venom a thing like that carries, I doubt Shad could shrug it off, and I know for certain I could not, so we left it to its trees and its terrible patience.

Tom had walked a footpath, and the footpath had assessed him.

Of all the creatures in the wisewood, the Lonik is the only one not attempting to kill you — which is less reassuring than it sounds. It is harmless, herbivorous, and hare-sized, and it has a reliable talent for leading the curious observer along unmarked paths until the path no longer exists. Van found a dead specimen between the second and third marker stones and examined it with the mild interest of a man who had found a moderately unusual stone. He didn't mention that the eyes had no whites. I wrote it down.

Path 12 passes through the deep Wisewood interior, which predates both the Registry and the Wardens and has no interest in either. It does not assess visitors — it reads them: constitution, axis exposure, the particular chemistry a person has accumulated since crossing into the district. Standing still is interpreted as residency. Sitting down is processed the same way. The path is the only document the deep Wisewood recognises, and the path recognises you only so long as you keep moving.

Wadsley Common has a hidden glade whose location shifts in time and space. Finding it requires the right moment — of the year, or of the day — and the correct position relative to the white obelisk atop Loxley Edge, which may be the fulcrum around which the common rotates. Pip found it twice. Both times the paths unfolded without warning and he was not entirely certain how he got back out.