Plus Ultimate

by Simon Archer

  Amaka bowed her head gratefully before continuing. “Thank you, that is my hope as well, princess, but I worry that those who have fled will be less amiable than your family and your council. They are fearful and potentially aggressive, as you have already experienced. Their mentality, I’m afraid, is that they must protect themselves by any means necessary.” She chewed her lip in concern. “I’m even more afraid that that is the worst possible reaction we could have in this situation. As you say, we must work together to get through this crisis.”

  “Indeed,” Marinka said, her brows furrowed together in concern. “You say you have enough for a few more weeks. What then?”

  “Then we starve.” Amaka sighed. “I fear that soon everyone will have left for the kingdom except myself and Akash.”

  She looked over at the other moose-like forest elf. He took her hand and squeezed it.

  “Why not leave now, then?” I suggested. It just made more sense to me. Best to save lives than stand your ground in a lifeless place. While it was entirely possible that I could use my magic to find a way to bring back life here, I didn’t want the forest elves risking their lives unnecessarily.

  “Indeed.” Nadeine nodded in agreement. “Would it not be more prudent to head for the kingdom together with your remaining resources, before it is too late?”

  “You may be correct,” Akash said, looking to Amaka to see her reaction.

  “You may be,” Amaka echoed. “Frankly, we have been waiting for you before making such a decision. We weren’t sure that you would come, but we were willing to wait as long as we could. Now that you are here, we want to hear your ideas and plans for the immediate future.” She looked between the members of my party before focusing on Marinka and me. “Should we all agree it to be the best course of action after this conversation, I may advise my people to leave soon. It pains me to leave this place, though. It’s been my home for many decades. It feels like giving up.” Her face fell on that last part, and her shoulders slumped downwards in defeat.

  “It would not be giving up,” Marinka said kindly as she reached out to squeeze Amaka’s other hand, “but rather giving yourselves and your people the best chance to survive this.”

  “Precisely,” I agreed. Despite the grim situation, it felt good knowing that both Marinka and Nadeine were on my same wavelength.

  “Of course.” Amara sighed softly. “You’re right.” She sighed, nodding and shooting her a wan smile. “Thank you… but now, on to you. What do you see as the best course of action? Obviously, you haven’t turned back yet, and for that, we are eternally grateful.”

  “Well, we would like more information about what’s happening,” I said, leaning forward a bit. “What do you guys think happened to cause this blight? What’s going on?”

  “To begin with, we believe that this,” Amaka waved her hands around at the desecrated forest, “is not a natural occurrence.”

  13

  “One of the forest elves we traveled with described it as a wave,” I said as I thought back over the past week. “Like, the forest was hit by a wave of decay, and there was nothing your people could do to stop it. We weren’t inside the forest yet when it happened, I’m guessing. If we were still right outside in the prairielands, we wouldn’t have seen it.”

  “Yes, that is what it was like,” Amaka said, and the other forest elves all nodded in agreement next to her on the bench. “We could see it was coming, but couldn’t do anything to stop it. Here in the center, we couldn’t see it as much because of our wall, and by the time we realized it was happening, we couldn’t attempt to flee.”

  “I was out hunting, so I could see it coming,” Freyja interjected, her expression dark. “It was like a wave. All of a sudden, off in the distance, the trees started dying, and it came roaring in my direction fast, killing everything as it passed. It was so terrible that I froze for a minute, but then, instincts took over, and I just started running.” She let out a long sigh that tore at my heart. “But no matter how fast I ran, this... blight was faster. It caught up to me. I thought it was going to kill me… but it didn’t. It only killed all the plants.”

  “Only,” Ishida repeated, her tone as dark as Freyja’s expression.

  “Yeah, as if that’s nothing.” Freyja shook her head and threw up her hands. “The trees, the plants, the forest… they mean everything to us. Without the forest, we have nothing.” She was silent for a moment as she gathered herself. “Anyway, after that, I just came back to the center and haven’t left since.”

  “Everyone who didn’t flee to the kingdom fled to the center,” Amaka explained. “We are well beyond what our capacity was even before this happened, and now, as you probably noticed, we have very little shelter left.”

  “Have you struggled with exposure to the elements?” Marinka asked.

  “Yes,” Amaka said, nodding. “While everything in the forest is dead, there has been much rain, as I’m sure you experienced on your way here.”

  We all nodded. True to her words, it had rained nearly every night we had been in the forest, though at least we had our tents to protect us. That started me thinking of possible solutions.

  “Do you have tents?” I asked. “Or even tarps? Large sections of cloth? Anything that can be rigged up to make improvised housing?”

  “We have some number of all those things,” Amaka said with a hint of sadness, “but, as with most things, not nearly enough. Many forest elves don’t carry tents, opting instead to take shelter in hollowed out trees or low branches. You must understand, as Freyja said, that we have always been able to rely on the bounty of the forest, and that goes beyond simply food.” Again, despair and defeat edged into the elder forest elf’s voice. “That is obviously no longer an option. To magnify the problem, here in the center, we rely on our treehouses more than anything else. We didn’t think to stock enough tents for everything, to begin with, let alone our much higher population now that everyone’s poured in here.”

  “It is good you are already prepared for this,” Akash said with a slow nod. “You will have to continue to use your tents while you’re here, I’m afraid. We’re sorry we can’t offer you better shelter, given the circumstances.”

  “Don’t worry about,” I assured him, waving away the apology. “So you think this was the mountain elf, then? I mean, the person behind this thing.”

  “I don’t see how it could be anyone or anything else.” Amaka’s eyes narrowed her eyes. “We can think of no one else who would want to harm us in this way, and we certainly can’t think of anyone else with these capabilities.”

  “Did you see anything to indicate that it was our enemy?” Nadeine asked. “I understand and agree with your suspicions, but it would be better if we had something else from which to draw these conclusions.”

  “Indeed,” Marinka agreed and nodded. “When we were sent on this quest, the council informed us that your people had been witnessing activity emanating from the mountains. Can you clarify and describe that for us? And has anything else like that taken place in the weeks since that message reached the council?”

  “That is correct,” Amaka said. “Several weeks ago, we began to hear reports from people passing through the center that the mountains near the edge of the forest, near where the mad kingdom elf’s fortress was located, were becoming shrouded in flashes of bright light, almost like lightning. Upon hearing numerous reports of this nature, I took it upon myself to investigate it personally.” She paused for a moment to let us all absorb that before continuing. “So, I traveled to that area of the forest and watched the nearby mountains for several days. The reports were true. Every evening for a few hours, flashes of light would appear, emanating from the nearest mountain. In truth, they resembled large lightning storms, unlike anything I had ever seen before. After that, I returned home to the center of the forest and sent a messenger to inform your council of this activity.”

  “And has this continued since the destruction of the forest?” I asked. My companions
and I were all listening intently now, hanging to Amaka’s every word.

  Akash answered for her. “It has not.”

  “I have been needed here since the blight occurred,” Amaka explained. “So, I sent Akash to watch the mountains for me a few days after the original surge of migrants to the center had passed.”

  “During my time observing, I saw nothing like what had been described to me, though,” Akash said, shaking his head.

  “But… there is something else,” Amaka said hesitantly. “I do not know how to describe it. Perhaps you will come with me.” She rose and indicated for the rest of us to follow her.

  We did so and followed her back to the wooden palisade surrounding the center of the forest and out onto the beaten path. She slipped into what was once the underbrush, once full of life, and now full of dead flora and fauna, and we followed her through the decay until we reached the edge of a small clearing. True to Amaka’s words, it was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and should I have been asked to describe it, I would have found it difficult to select the right words.

  A huge cylinder of lightning-colored light enveloped the clearing, from the grass high up into the sky. It crackled, sparked, and danced… but it never ended, like lightning in a bottle. There was no end in sight to it as it soared ever upward. I raised a hand to cover my eyes since it was so bright, it was almost painful to look at it.

  “Stay back,” Amaka warned us, holding out her arms to signal that we shouldn’t try to walk out into the clearing. “We don’t know what it would do to us if we touched it.”

  “What is it?” I asked incredulously.

  “We don’t know.” The elder forest elf shook her head as she obscured her own eyes, anything so as not to look straight at the bright light.

  “Perhaps we can stop it,” Bernsten ventured before turning to me. “Leo Hayden, is there a spell for this?”

  “I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head and looking back up at the cylinder through my hands. Its brightness permeated every corner of the area. “It’s like all of the forest’s light and energy is concentrated in this one spot.”

  “That is exactly what we thought,” Amaka agreed as she gestured back in the direction of the underbrush. “Come, let us discuss this in a safer environment.”

  We followed her back through the dead flora and fauna, across the beaten path, and through the wall to the center of the forest. Once we were relatively safe, standing on the safer side of the wall, we resumed our conversation.

  “We believe that, perhaps, whoever this enemy in the mountains is has been taking our forest’s life force,” Amaka explained. “We don’t know how or why, but it seems this is the most reasonable explanation. We were wondering if you thought the same, and then you indicated as much, Leo.”

  Everyone turned to look at me then.

  “It just makes sense,” I reasoned. “Why else would all that light be there when everything else is dark? And think about it, all of the magic we know about has some kind of light attached to it. The mountain elves’ magic isn’t musical like ours, sure, but it’s still got something to do with light. We saw that much when Viktor tried to use it.” I mean, it did make sense for a fantasy world like Eviorah. I took a moment to think about that. If anyone had asked me anything about this a few months ago, I would have called the police and had them committed or something.

  “But why there? What is so special about that clearing? Why not at the great tree here in the center?” Nadeine asked as she gestured at that very tree, still starkly majestic even as it lay dying. “That would make more sense.”

  “That is true, at first glance,” Amaka began, but then she raised a finger with a faint smile. “But remember, the center of the forest is not actually at the dead center. So while the great tree may mark the center of what we call the center, it is not the true center. Does that make sense?”

  We all looked around at each other and nodded back at Amaka, though I was starting to think the word ‘center’ was losing its meaning.

  “So, you think that clearing is the true center?” I asked, following her logic.

  “We do.” Amaka nodded, clearly pleased that I was catching on so quickly. “That clearing, by our calculations and the few maps we have of our forest, is very close to its true center. Of course, this is all speculation. We can’t know for sure that this is the true meaning behind the light we just saw or that our unseen enemy in the mountains is behind this. It simply seems to make more sense than anything else we can think of at this time.”

  “What do you think?” Akash asked, looking around at myself, the kingdom elves, and Freyja and Ishida.

  “I think it’s as good an explanation as any,” I said. “And like I said, there seems to be something about light and magic. They’re tied somehow.”

  “Indeed,” Nadeine said, looking over at me and nodding in agreement. “I believe it is in our best interest to operate under the assumption that this theory is correct. In that case, it is very dire, and I think it is the best policy to prepare for the worst.”

  “Agreed,” Marinka chimed in. “If this is true, our enemy must be preparing for something even greater in the near future. We must stop him.”

  “Then you will continue with your quest?” Amaka asked, unable to keep the eagerness out of her tone and expression.

  Marinka looked at me, and sensing my agreement, she nodded. I could help that Godfried looked wary, though, and was hugging himself again, his eyes darting around wildly.

  “Of course,” she said. “We will not abandon our allies, and beyond that, this will undoubtedly impact our kingdom, eventually. There is no world in which our enemy is not planning to strike against us next.”

  Amaka sighed in relief. “Thank you.” Her shoulders slumped as the built-up tension was released. “We are grateful for your continued support and sacrifice.”

  “Yes, thank you,” Akash said, smiling at us warmly.

  “Of course,” Marinka repeated, bowing her head to them as was the kingdom elves’ custom.

  “Do you have enough food and water to last you the journey?” Amaka asked.

  We considered the question a moment, and it was Bernsten that answered. “I’m fairly certain that we do. Servants in our royal castle packed us much preserved food and water as a precaution.”

  “Though, of course, we do not know how long our journey will take given its nature,” Marinka added to hedge our bets. “Still, we should have enough to last us quite some time. We regret that, given this uncertainty, we are unable to share our supplies with your people.”

  That seemed to relax Amaka even more. It was clear that while they would have shared what they could, the forest elves’ situation was even more strained than it already appeared.

  “It is excellent news that your council demonstrated such forethought. We appreciate your concern for our people’s welfare and completely understand why you can’t share with us. You have done so much for us already, between helping that young family and venturing on this journey at all.”

  “We should leave soon,” I said, looking around at my companions. “There’s no time to waste here.”

  “Agreed,” Marinka said. “We should stay a day or two to rest, regroup, and help out where we can. Then we should leave, and we suggest that you do the same.” She looked at the forest elves pointedly. “Flee to the kingdom with what supplies you have left. Our people will welcome you there.”

  “We’ll follow your advice, of course, though it pains me to leave.” Amaka sighed. “Of course, we will not leave you to fend for yourselves in the dangerous and uncharted territory that is the mountains. Freyja and Ishida will accompany you if you will have them.”

  “You will?” My gaze snapped to Freyja, and my spirits began to lift.

  “Of course!” She shot me a characteristically mischievous grin. “You didn’t think we’d let you screw this up all on your own?”

  “Of course not.” I chuckled and grinned back.

>   “Only if you are comfortable joining us, of course,” Marinka interjected. “We would love for you to join us, but I would completely understand if you would prefer to accompany your people back to the kingdom. This will be an excessively dangerous journey, and there will be obstacles that we have no way to anticipate or even confront.”

  “We understand that,” Ishida said, “but we want to come.”

  “Yes.” Freyja nodded. “This is our fight, too. Our people are just as at risk, if not more.”

  Marinka’s lips cracked into a smile. “Very good. We are very glad to have you.”

  “Excellent,” Amaka said. “I can assure you that Freyja and Ishida are well aware of the dangers they are to face. We made sure of that. But they wish to go anyway, and there are no better-prepared forest elves to accompany you.”

  “Oh, we know that,” I said, thinking back to how the two forest elves, and Freyja in particular, had been invaluable to our efforts on our last quest. “We never would have stopped Viktor without them.” Freyja met my eyes and smiled at me warmly. I returned the gesture.

  “Very good,” Amaka said. “If that is all, Akash and I will leave you now. We should congregate with our people.”

  “We advise you to make camp somewhere over here,” Akash said, gesturing around at the area by the wall. “It is far from the crowds, and will provide you with privacy and safety from potential looting efforts.”

  “Do you think that is a danger?” Marinka asked, rather alarmed.

  “I am afraid it may be,” Amaka said, nodding gravely. “Though, of course, we will do our best to prevent such an occurrence. I left your belongings and your horses in the care of a trusted ally. Akash will return them to you shortly.” We exchanged goodbyes, and Amaka and Akash left. True to their word, Akash returned with Bill and the other horses not long after. Bernsten quickly ran over to his horse and rifled through his packs.