The unknown man raised himself to his feet, Shelley was struck by the size of him, he seemed to be even bigger than she had thought at first. The better that she took him in the more she realised that his appearance was that of something she had never seen before. The only men she had ever known wore large clothes that covered them entirely, so they would be able to withstand freezing temperatures, but his fur skins seems quite ill fitting, too tight across him and too short down him. As Shelley was about to question this she was stopped by the man’s peculiar expression, he was looking down on himself as though he did not recognize what he was looking at.

“Have your clothes shrunk?” Shelley asked him.

“No the other way I think, it would appear that I’ve stretched,” he responded sounding utterly perplexed. As soon as he said it, it was instantly clear to Shelley that he was right, as big as he had appeared before he now seemed almost huge, Shelley was sure she had never in her life seen anybody so massive, he was more like bear than a man. He stretched out his arms and moved them around as if he was practicing with a new sword, at first he seemed slightly ungainly and out of control but then he seemed to master his new bulk and turned to Shelley. As he turned, his vast frame cast Shelley in shadow and she became rapidly aware of how dangerous this man could be to her, he had been faster and stronger than she were when he was regular sized but now he looked like he could crush her with a single swipe of one of his enormous hands. She looked around to try to find some place to run and hide, but she still did not have a clue where in the forest that she was, and she was sure that she would be able to get far before the man caught her anyway.

Silencing her fear Shelley brazenly started to ask the newly gigantic stranger, “Who are-?” when she was interrupted mid sentence by the same strange noises that had startled her earlier.

“Get behind me” he said in a hushed voice. Shelley instantly obeyed him moved behind his massive bulk. Her fears of him had disappeared; he seemed to want to protect her. Then as had happened before the whispering noise came from a different direction. And out of the mist came walking towards her the witch Yellshe.

Yellshe was looking at the huge man with a peculiar expression on her face, it was not fear, she was defiantly not afraid of the colossus but perhaps curious. Her gaze then turned to Shelley, and the look she gave her made Shelley acutely aware she was angry with her, Shelley had seen that look before in her mother and had on occasion given it too to.

“Who are you?” The man asked, in a much bolder voice than Shelley could have managed. Yellshe ignored him and kept looking at Shelley. “What do you want?” He continued, this time with a little less force and more curiosity.

“How did you get down?” Yellshe questioned, her gaze still fixed upon Shelley.

“Do you two know each other?” the man asked sounding utterly perplexed.

“Answer me please Shelley, how did you get down?”

“I don’t really know,” Shelley replied, “It just kind of happened by accident.”

“In the name of the Suns would somebody tell me what is going on here?” demanded the man, positioning himself in front of Shelley, obscuring her from Yellshe’s view.

Yellshe did not answer him right away, instead stared at him for a moment fully taking him in. “Did she do this to you?” she asked regarding his vast size.

“Yes,” said Shelley making her way back around the man to see Yellshe. “But I didn’t mean to do that either, I bit his hand and...” Shelley grabbed the man’s hand and tried to encourage him to show Yellshe his palm. “Look”.

Yellshe nodded to the man and he extended his arm to her to show the palm of his hand. She examined it for a few seconds, the whole time she had a calculating expression on her face. Finally she said, “I think we had better be off the forest floor right now, might I suggest that you both come into my house.  I think we need to talk.”

“What, I mean who are you?” asked the man, and for the first time since Yellshe’s reappearance he sounded concerned, like he had only realised that she might be more than meets the eye.

“My name is Yellshe and I am a witch.” She said in such a mater of fact manner that he would never scoff of disbelieve her. Anxiously she glanced around as though she had heard something approaching. “I think it would be best for us to continue this conversation somewhere safe.”

“How do we get back into your house?” Shelley asked. “I couldn’t find the door”.

“Well how did you get out then?” responded Yellshe sounding utterly confused.

Shelley pointed up at the hole in the tree which she had climbed out of, “I found a window and climbed out of it”; she said timidly, “sorry”.

Shelley caught a flicker of something like a mixture of irritation and interest in Yellshe’s eyes, but before she could question it, it was replaced with a very short, almost uncharacteristic smirk as though she were suppressing a chuckle as she appeared to notice the silver threads glimmering in the golden sunlight. “Never mind,” said Yellshe, “follow me,” she turned to the man “please, it would be unwise to tarry”.

Although undoubtedly apprehensive he did not question her but consented to follow the witch towards the tree with Shelley at his side. As they approached the base of the tree the whispering winds started again this time followed by a cold wind. Yellshe immediately started to look around as though expecting something.

“Please hurry and stand as close to me as you can”, said the witch. Shelley thought that she sounded faintly anxious. As they grouped together Yellshe raise her arms up into the air and at the same time all three of them began sinking into the forest floor, but it did not feel to Shelley like they were going down, it was more like the forest was moving up around them, starting to feel slightly panicked Shelley reached out and grabbed hold of the man’s hand, which resolutely gave hers a little squeeze. Everything kept moving until they were completely encompassed in darkness, as soon as it all stopped a blinding light appeared in front of them and Yellshe walked off into it, shaking slightly and squeezing the man’s hand even harder Shelley forced herself to follow.