James had to hustle to stay beside Mrs. Copperpot despite the dwarf’s short legs.  She did not ignore him, exactly, but she did not talk much, and she loved the brisk stroll through the old growth forest. James did not worry too much as long as he kept to the path, and as long as he could keep up, he would not complain. The trouble, of course, is dwarfs can walk at a spritely pace all day and all night without a stop, and James soon found his legs were not used to so much rapid walking.

He paused at one point to catch his breath and give his legs a breather as well. “Hey. Just a minute,” he said, but between his soft voice and Mrs. Copperpot’s elderly ears, they did not make contact. James bent down to tie his shoe and thought that the woman stopped, but when he looked up he did not see her.

He ran a little to catch her, but just around the corner, he came to a crossroads of a sort and felt stumped. He could neither see her nor hear her, and he felt afraid for a minute that he might be lost. Then he felt the urge and sniffed. Without hesitation, he knew exactly which way she went. James could never explain how that worked. He said, much later, that it seemed like a sixth sense, something Angel had given him, but in this case, since it was the first time he tried it, his mind filled with doubts. He started down that path, but then backed up to the crossroads, and thought that surely Mrs. Copperpot would notice his absence in a minute, and she would come back to that place to find him. He did not want to be wandering down the wrong path and miss her. His father always said if he got lost, he should stay where he was and wait for the others to find him.

James looked around and decided that apart from being a place where two paths through the forest crossed, nothing special stuck out about his location. There were trees, piles of old leaves, bushes, vines, and a few flowers all around him, but the paths seemed clear of debris and so he sat at the very cross of the crossroads and waited. He heard a rustling in the leaves and started; but it turned out to be a squirrel, as he guessed. The birds came out as well. He began to hum and then mouthed a few words. He moved his arms and elbows sharply back and forth as he sat.

“Now we’re not complaining, but there is still one thing remaining. For bread is quite boring if that’s all you eat.” He screamed. A vine came up from behind him and wrapped twice around his middle. James leaned forward to grab what he could, but the path was just dirt without even a protruding rock to hold on to, and the vine pulled him back among the trees.

“Help! Help!” James cried out, and he flipped around to see where he headed. He spied a fly trap type plant big enough to swallow him, but also a tree root that stuck up out of the ground. He grabbed the root and held on, and his motion toward that plant trap stopped while he shouted at the top of his lungs. “Help! Help!”

A man stepped out of the tree, or at least it looked like that to James. The man raised a staff of oak and spoke to the fly trap in some ancient language. The plant immediately burst into flames and withdrew the vine from James’ chest. The man spoke again, and the wind came and put the fire out lest the whole area of dead and dry leaves go up in flames. Then he grabbed James by the hand, without looking at the boy, and pulled him away.

“Come along you nuisance. Are you the imp or one of the twins?” James kept his mouth shut, but apparently, the man thought he was someone else. At last, they came to an area that could not be seen from the paths. Nothing grew in that spot other than sweet grass all the way around in a circle, and in the center of the circle of grass, a tremendous, thick, gnarled old oak grew in primeval splendor, taller than any of the other trees around. It looked like a hand reaching for the sun. “Now let’s see.” The man said, and he spun James around rather rudely; but paused when he got a good look. “Why, you’re neither imp nor dwarf,” he said. “If I did not know better, I would guess you were a mortal human, though I don’t suppose the creature in the castle would be daft enough to allow that to happen.”

“I’m James,” James said hopefully. He did not want to be cross with his savior despite the rough handling. The man turned James around for a thorough look, while James also examined the man close enough to realize that it was not a man. For one, the hair looked too thick, and the face and hands too scraggly, with warts that looked almost like tree knots, and skin that seemed a bit rough and brittle as well, like bark. Most of all, when the man finally stood upright, he apparently stood about ten feet tall, and that made James, who was short for his age, feel especially short.

“I am Tekos the Seventh, Lord of the Oak Wood,” the man said, and with hardly a breath, he added. “And you are mortal, human, aren’t you?”

James shrugged. He could not be sure what the Lord of the Oak was asking. “My father is the Kairos,” he said. He thought that meant something in this world, even if he did not exactly understand what it meant.

Tekos’ eyebrows lifted slowly, and James heard the sound of crackling wood. “I’ll bet the-should-be-gone goddess in the castle did not plan on this.” He smiled.

“No, sir,” James said, politely.

Suddenly, the man-creature softened and plopped down on the ground to speak to James more eye to eye. “You know my sire, the first Tekos by name, did your father a great favor in ancient times. He was rooted in Greece, not far from Athens, and he opened a way for some friends of your father so some of the little spirits could travel instantly from Greece back to their homes at the top of the Black Sea. Of course, your father was a god himself in those days, the Nameless god, but the story says he was very young and did not yet know how to do the work on his own.” James shook his head. He did not follow the story.

“James!” The call came from the path.

“Over here!” James shouted, in case this Tekos turned out to be not so nice as he seemed and tried to stop him from speaking. Then he explained. “Mrs. Copperpot. My, er, friend,” he concluded. He realized that he did not know what else to call her. She was not his babysitter or any such thing; certainly not his cook, though he would not have minded if she was. He supposed guide would have been a reasonable choice, but friend just seemed friendlier.

“I see,” Lord Tekos said, and crinkled those eyebrows up once again. He called out himself. “James is here, and safe!”

A moment of crunching through the bushes followed. James thought that surely Mrs. Copperpot would not make all that noise, when he saw her holding a youngster by the ear and followed by two other boys of some sort that had their heads down like they had just survived a good scolding. He heard the one in her grip.

“Ow! I tell you, ow!”

 “Quiet, Grubby,” Mrs. Copperpot said, in a voice not to be argued with. “You behave or I’ll twist the ear right off. And you two, Picker and Poker, I expect better from you than to hang around with wayward imps!”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The two boys in Mrs. Copperpot’s train spoke in unison, but neither raised his head.

“James!” Suddenly the imp got dropped and forgotten as Mrs. Copperpot raced forward to embrace the boy. James did not mind the hug, but he felt a bit uncomfortable as well. He decided it would be all right provided she did not start slobbering over him like a seldom seen grandmother. Besides, the hug felt brief as Mrs. Copperpot turned quickly to Tekos who had stood to his full height and towered over them all. “Lord Dryad.” The dwarf curtsied.

“Lady. Have I the honor of addressing the great Lady Copperpot of the golden cauldron?”

“I wouldn’t say great, your worship.” Mrs. Copperpot turned her head, shyly, and curtsied a little once more. Tekos merely smiled before he turned on the three youngsters.

“And you, you rascals.” Tekos eyes creaked down to slits as he peered at the three boys that James suddenly realized were not boys at all, though they appeared to be about his age. “Did you hear this fine lady? Your behavior is in need of repair, lest you call attention to yourselves and the creepy thing in the castle grab you.” The way Tekos said creepy thing sent chills down James’ spine, and he saw it affected the others in a similar way.