In the Emerald Forest, Tiko the fox and his friends hear a strange sound from the forbidden old trees. What they find in the dark could change everything.
Autumn had just begun, and the Emerald Forest was on fire with colour. Gold leaves drifted through the air, red ones skittered across the ground, and the oldest trees stood in a hush so deep it felt as if they were keeping secrets.
Tiko knew every trail, stump, and rabbit burrow for miles around. His amber fur made him easy to spot, but his sharp eyes and restless nose missed almost nothing. He was never alone for long, though. Mania, the owl, could name almost any plant by its scent and read the stars like a map. Tymek, the hedgehog, could wriggle into places no one else could fit, and he was always the first to laugh when things went wrong.
That Saturday night, the mist had settled low between the trunks when Tiko heard it.
At first it was only a faint sound, drifting from the oldest part of the forest, where the animals avoided going and called it the Corner of Silence. Then it came again - a low, trembling note that seemed to rise from under the roots.
Tiko stiffened. He listened harder. The sound was not quite a call, not quite a song.
He sprang from his bed of dry leaves and hurried to wake his friends.
"Mania. Tymek. Listen," he whispered, tapping the owl’s tree with one paw.
Mania blinked awake, ruffling her feathers. "If this is another one of your midnight chases, I hope it’s worth it."
"It’s not the wind," Tiko said.
Tymek poked his nose out of the bracken, already alert. "That means it’s interesting."
The three of them moved into the dark together, Tiko leading, Mania gliding soundlessly overhead, Tymek padding close behind. The forest changed as they went. Crickets fell silent. No owl called back. Even the branches seemed to hold still.
The sound grew louder with every step.
Mania landed on a low branch and tilted her head. "That’s no wind."
"Then what is it?" Tymek whispered.
Before anyone could answer, a blue light flashed between the trunks ahead, bright as a dropped star. The friends stopped dead.
Something moved in the glow. Not a deer. Not a wolf. Not anything they had ever seen before.
And from the heart of the light came voices - clear, чужly close, and speaking in the dark.