by JA Andrews
It wasn’t long before Roan pulled up next to Sini, though. He’d been watching her as well, with a troubled expression.
“What’s bothering you, Lord Consort?”
His expression didn’t change. “How many people know you can heal like that?”
“All the Keepers. And now the Barons, Pest, and you.”
“Did your family when you were young?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t have any powers when I lived with them.”
“Do the Roven you lived with?”
“They know I can heal. Although I can do far more now than I could when I lived with them.”
He was quiet for a long time, staring ahead. “So Lukas knows?”
“Of course he does. I healed him of several bad cuts over the years.”
“But never his limp?”
“That’s not a natural injury.” She’d probed it more than once. There was no healing going on. There was a jagged rip deep in his hip, but his body did nothing to fight it, and so she could do nothing to help. “Why do you ask?”
“What you did for Goven…Have you done that sort of thing before?”
“No. The last time I saw a wound that bad was on the Sweep, and my powers were nowhere near strong enough do anything for the man.”
“Have you heard of other healers saving someone from an injury that extreme?”
“I didn’t save him yet, and there have been other healers who could do it.” Not many, and none as quickly as she had. She kept that part to herself. Most healers had to use normal amounts of vitalle, and so their work was slow and caused them pain. Chesavia was the only healer who could also feel the sunlight. But Sini had never been able to pinpoint how that old Keeper healed. Not like Sini did, not at the level of flesh and bone. Her healing involved something with the whole body.
“I can’t heal everything. Closing wounds is the easiest. The flesh just needs to be brought back together, and the body heals it. Illnesses, disease, burns—those are all more complex. All I can do is help the body do what it wants, so closing a cut is easy since once it’s drawn back together, there is such a little area to repair. Regrowing skin across a burn takes much longer and much more energy. Diseases and illness are spread too much throughout the body, though.” She told him briefly about the twins. “It may be in their heart, but it affects the blood flow and the lungs. Everything gets weak.” She sighed. “All I can heal is cuts.”
Roan shook his head. “I’ll tell the Barons and Pest not to mention your abilities. If the people were to find out that a Keeper could save them from death…”
“Didn’t you just hear what I said? That’s hardly what I can do.”
“That’s how they’d hear it.” He turned to look at her, worry in his face. “Be careful who you tell, Sini. People will want to control something like this. It’s valuable enough to be dangerous to you.” He fell silent again, but the troubled expression stayed on his face for a long time.
Sini rode next to him, her own mind uneasy.
Will and Alaric fell into a long discussion about how far Lukas had reached, but Sini hung back enough that they didn’t ask her opinion. A chaotic knot of emotion filled her. Lukas had been here. He’d used compulsion stones to control people and was teaching them Mallon’s words. Her last hope that he wasn’t really doing terrible things slipped away.
Balancing that bleakness was the memory of the sunfire. The sun had risen fully now, and whenever they rode out of the shadows and the sunfire touched her neck, she drew bits of it in. Every time she began to enjoy the feel of it though, worries over Goven, or Lukas, or Roan’s warning about her powers drove the enjoyment away.
It was midmorning before, from the top of one particularly tall rise, she caught sight of the Lumen Greenwood again. Despite the chill, the land around them was drenched with light.
“Does the forest look a little…” Sini asked Roan, peering at the Greenwood. “Dark?”
Roan looked at the trees with a slight crease in his brow. “Maybe the canopy is very thick.”
Sini made a noncommittal noise, and the forest disappeared from sight when they dropped into the next valley. By the time they stopped for lunch they could see the forest clearly.
Sini checked on Goven’s back while Will passed out a quick meal of bread and cheese. She pulled in some sunlight, the warmth of it filling her arms as she poured vitalle into him, to strengthen the healing. “How does it feel?”
“Not bad,” Goven answered, barely moving.
There was only so much she could do. Any more would seal the infection inside him. She ran out of things to heal long before she ran out of the desire to use the light. Alaric made a poultice out of herbs from his pack to help fight the infection and they wrapped the wound.
Sini glanced at the Greenwood. A nagging sense of unease played along her neck.
“Does it usually look like that?” she asked Will and Alaric.
“I don’t remember it being that shadowed,” Alaric admitted.
“It looks darker than any forest I’ve ever seen,” Will said. “And I don’t need to remind the rest of you how stories go when people walk into dark forests.”
“There can’t be anything terribly wrong,” Sini said. “Douglon’s in there, and Rass.”
“Or they were two days ago,” Roan pointed out. At everyone’s glares, he added, “If things were going well, he wouldn’t have asked for ‘anyone else who has any semblance of power.’”
“He also told us not to dawdle,” Will said, tucking the rest of the bread back into this saddlebag and setting off at a trot toward the dark line of trees.
The Barrons took up the rear and Roan resumed his post at Sini’s side.
“You’re watching the forest as though you are assessing an approaching enemy,” Sini said. “Are you going to protect me from the trees?”
“I certainly hope I don’t have to.”
Before long they could see individual trees at the edge of the forest, and despite the bright sun shining down on the tops of the leaves, past the trunks of the first trees the deep gloom was just barely too green to be black. The last time she’d left the Greenwood she’d looked behind her over and over. The air beneath the trees had glowed with a rich green that almost made her turn back and stay with Rass and Douglon. She leaned forward in her saddle, anxious to get back into it.
Pest waited for them by a large, lonely oak tree, his weathered face pointed south, considering a glint of light down the tree line. A small figure waved something shiny.
“It’s Douglon,” Alaric said, peering in that direction. “I think.”
The person did resemble a dwarf, and Alaric turned toward him. Sini expected Douglon to come meet them, but instead he sat down against a tree.
The wind had picked up now, and the short ends of Sini’s hair snapped against her cheeks. They had to skirt a steep ravine, and it took much longer than it should have to reach the dwarf. When they did, they found him sleeping against a large trunk. He was dressed for battle in a thick leather breastplate, the silver edge of mail glinting at his shoulder. Leather bracers were fastened around his forearms and the greaves on his legs were scored with scratches.
“Douglon?” Alaric called as they got closer.
The branches creaked and cracked in the wind. The leaves rustled against each other so loudly they could barely hear each other. When they reached the dwarf, Alaric called for him again, louder.
Douglon groaned and rubbed at his face, pushing himself up from the tree. At their amused expressions, he scowled. “It’s so quiet here. Had to take advantage of it.”
He seemed perfectly serious. And grouchy.
Everyone dismounted, greeting the dwarf. In the face of Douglon’s scowl, Alaric and Will’s warm welcomes cooled to pats on his shoulder.
“It’s about time you got here,” Douglon grumbled. “I was about to leave and let you handle things on your own.” He raised an eyebrow at Sini when he saw her. “Still spending time with
these boring Keepers?”
Sini shrugged, “It’s better than slavery.”
“Is it? Every time I’m with them I get attacked by dragons or goblins or monsters.”
“Maybe it’s you,” Sini offered. “In the past four years, not a single dangerous thing has happened to me.”
Douglon stroked his beard. His shoulders sagged. “Maybe it is me. At least I can’t blame this”—he waved at the Greenwood—“on you people.” He cast an irritable look at Roan and the guards. “Who are you?”
Sini motioned to Roan. “The not-future-king and our guards.”
“What’s going on with the forest?” Will interrupted.
Even from this close, the path next to Douglon faded into gloom so quickly it looked like they’d be stepping from midday into dusk. Sini’s excitement about the forest lessened.
“C’mon.” Douglon tossed his head toward the path. “Let’s get in out of the wind. It’s not far to a clearing. I’ll explain it all there. Or I’ll try.” He paused. “None of you soldiers, though. You’ll be no help, and flashing swords are the last thing we need.”
Roan started to object, but Alaric stopped him. “They’ll be no use in here. And Goven needs rest.”
He frowned. “Pest, stay with Dalton and Goven. I’m going in.”
Douglon crossed his arms. “No.”
“I’m Queen Saren’s emissary—”
“Let him come, Douglon,” Alaric said tiredly. “Queen Saren sent him.”
“He’s your responsibility, then,” Douglon grumbled.
Alaric frowned at the words. “We didn’t expect you to come meet us. We could have found the Elder Grove ourselves.”
Douglon glanced into the forest, his expression wary. “It’ll be better if you have an escort. Not good, maybe. But better.”
Chapter Nineteen
The path into the forest was barely a game trail. Sini followed the others, walking her horse to avoid the branches hanging low across the path. They hadn’t been imagining it. It was dark under the trees. Sini glanced behind her at the sliver of light she could still see from beyond the forest. Above her the leaves were locked together, blocking out almost all the sunlight. It was a gloom as deep as the last moments of dusk.
Roan walked behind her, his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist, his eyes scanning the darkness. His hair was windblown, and he looked less sure of himself than Sini had ever seen.
The forest blocked the wind, but the branches above them swayed and creaked. Occasionally branches cracked together, and even amidst all the other noises, it made her jump. The path was so thin that twigs were constantly in her face and slapping at her arms. She pressed up tightly against her horse, spinning her ring nervously.
They reached a small clearing, and Douglon motioned everyone to come around him, rubbing his beard nervously. The sunshine landed warm on Sini’s head and she squinted against the light. The trees around them looked perfectly normal. Tall trunks, bright green leaves. Sunlight danced along the top of the canopy in a blinding green. The sky above was perfectly blue. The wind could only manage to slip a few gusty fingers into this small of a clearing, so it was relatively calm aside from the creaks and groans of the forest. But back under the branches, it was dark in every direction.
Sini cast out. Even here, so close to the edge, the forest blazed with unusual energy. Each trunk was a column of fire, the leaves fingers of flames thrashing in the wind. The ground beneath her pulsed with life.
But it was different than it had been. The last time Sini had walked through these woods, she hadn’t yet learned how to cast out, but it hadn’t mattered. The forest had called to her, drawing her in, fanning some longing she’d never known she’d had.
Today, the trees did not call to her. The forest was drawn up like soldiers in formation standing attention, ready for battle. “Nothing feels the same here.”
Will and Alaric nodded, each watching the trees warily.
“It’s not the same.” The sunlight etched deep, dark circles under Douglon’s eyes. His beard was disheveled, and his shoulders hung low in exhaustion. “Six days ago the first elf was…birthed, I suppose.”
“The first?” Will asked quickly, running his fingers down Talen’s back to keep him calm. “There have been more?”
Douglon shot him an unreadable look. “Since the last full moon, the roots in the Elder Grove began to grow knobs. They swelled larger until one cracked open and a tiny elf lay curled up inside it.”
“Fascinating,” Alaric said. “How big was it? Male or female?” He looked around. “Can we meet it?”
“Will you let me finish?” Douglon asked, irritably. “The elf only came up to Rass’s waist. A little girl.” He rubbed at his face. “She looked like Ayda. Or enough like her that for a moment I wondered…”
“If we’d somehow brought her back?” Alaric asked quietly.
Douglon didn’t answer.
“I think we all hoped we could do that,” Alaric said. “I gather that’s not what happened?”
Douglon let out a laugh that was more resigned than funny. He slid the bracer off one arm and pulled up his sleeve. Dark red scratches raked across the muscles of his forearm. “The little elf was calm for about three breaths until she saw me, screamed, and attacked.” Douglon shuddered. “She was terrifying.”
“Worse than a frost goblin?” Will asked.
“That’s what she was like. All of a sudden she had these pointy teeth and her hands were like claws. It was like fighting off a crazed animal. She was tearing my arms up when Rass came to help. Instead of attacking Rass too, the little elf cried and reached out for her. Must have recognized that she was an elf. The moment Rass took her the little thing calmed and smiled and was sweet again.”
“That’s an ungrateful way to greet the dwarf who cared for the grove for four years,” Sini said.
“Yes, it was. But soon Lyara—the baby elf—started pulling something out of Rass.”
“Pulling what?” Alaric asked
Douglon threw his hands out in exasperation. “Life? From the grass? I don’t know. This is Rass we’re talking about. Even after all this time in the forest, she’s still obsessed with the grass.”
“Did Lyara ever warm up to you?” Will asked.
Douglon nodded. “I have this gem thing that Ayda froze,”—he glanced at Alaric—“from the time with the dragon.” He pulled a leather thong out from behind his beard with a small crystal hanging on it. It was the shape of a small tongue of fire, but it was a brilliant blue color. “Lyara pulled it out of my shirt—I was afraid she was trying to get to my neck to kill me—she just stared at it for a bit. I have no idea what she saw there, but from that moment, she was fine with me.”
“Are all baby elves violent toward outsiders?” Roan asked.
“I don’t know anyone who’s ever met a baby elf,” Alaric said.
Sini looked down at the scratched leather on Douglon’s shins. “You said she was the first.”
“There are two aren’t there?” Will asked eagerly. “The hunters from Lorrendale didn’t see children in the forest. They saw two small elves.”
“Yeah, another was born,” Douglon said, “just as violently as the first. Then another. And another. And a dozen more.”
“A dozen?” Will asked.
“That was just the first afternoon.”
“How many are there?” Alaric asked, casting a worried look into the trees.
“Forty-six.”
The group stood in stunned silence.
Sini glanced at Will and Alaric. “Did you expect that many?” From their dumbfounded expressions, they did not.
“You mean to say there are almost four dozen crazed creatures who hate outsiders running around this forest?” Roan asked.
“That’s why I came to escort you,” Douglon said. “I’m hoping if they see me with you, they won’t attack. At least not right away.” He pulled a handful of frozen blue flames out of a pocket. “You might each want
to take one of these and keep it visible.”
Sini took one, holding it in the palm of her hand. One end was rounded and the other spread out into a trident of flames. In the sunlight it glowed like a deep blue sapphire. “These are from Ayda? From when you faced the dragon?”
Douglon nodded. “There were so many frozen flames just lying on the ground, I grabbed a couple handfuls.”
“I wish I had, too,” Alaric said. “I’ve considered going back several times to get some.”
“And don’t draw your sword,” Douglon said to Roan. “You would not believe how hostile they get at the sight of a drawn weapon.” He looked at Roan more closely. “How valuable are you?”
Roan looked uncertain at the question.
“Not too valuable,” Sini answered. “Betrothed to the future queen. But he’ll have no real power”
“Well then protect that pretty face of yours. The future queen might not want her trophy husband scarred.” Douglon turned back to Alaric. “I called for your help because the elves are growing more agitated. At first they were fine, a little moody and unpredictable, but like normal babies. With magical abilities and retractable pointy teeth.”
“Magical ability?” Alaric asked.
“They’ve inherited Ayda’s affinity for fire. I swear they’re going to burn down the Greenwood.” Douglon rubbed his hand across his face again. “But they won’t eat anything. Rass has tried everything she can think of, but they just won’t eat.”
“What has she tried?” Alaric asked.
“Leaves, grass, sap, and every acorn or nut we could find. I tried hunting a squirrel and offering some of that.” Douglon shuddered. “Don’t do that. The only thing they’ll eat is avak—a bush grew from that pit we planted when we buried Ayda—and they stripped the plant of fruit in a matter of hours.”
“What do grass elves eat as babies?” Will asked.
“Rass says the pratorii get life from the grass, of course. What else would she possibly answer?”
“Then do these silvii get life from the trees?” Sini asked.