“But be quick, please,” Diane called after him. “We are running out of time.”
Malfiess nodded and began to run. He rushed through the doorway after the two women and Diane let out a long breath as they all left the room.
“Let's just hope that I'm not leading the three of you to your deaths,” she murmured.
Chapter 19
The Gate spell that Diane cast to take the group from her home to whatever world Callius was trapped in took an extremely long time. Chase stared at the inky darkness around her as she was suspended in nothingness. A Gate normally took only seconds to teleport people from one place to another. But this one was different. The blackness was broken by weird flashes of color. Strange, eerie noises, barely audible, seemed to approach Chase and then quickly retreat again. She felt intensely hot and then shivered with bitter cold. It was terrifying.
When will this end, she thought frantically. I'm helpless here. If I am to die, Mother of All let me die fighting, not trapped in this place without a chance to defend myself.
It went on and on and Chase twisted futilely against the forces that held her in their grip. But just as she felt like she was about to lose her mind, the ranger was flung forward violently and landed on her hands and knees, gasping for breath and shaking from head to foot.
“By the Gods, what was that?” someone exclaimed.
Chase pushed herself to her knees and wiped her eyes as she tried to focus on her surroundings. Nauseating smells filled her nostrils as she squinted against the bright purple light around her.
The four of them had appeared on a knob of land covered in crisp, dead colorless grass. The stinking wind that flowed past the low hill made the sharp blades of grass rustle and whisper eerily. As Chase stood up slowly, she noticed that the others had been knocked to the ground as well. Even Diane was pushing herself to her feet using her glowing staff to support her weight.
“Is everyone all right?” the mage asked.
Malfiess was steadying himself with his staff. He pushed his hair from his face and blinked rapidly as he looked at Diane.
“Define 'all right',” he joked weakly. “I seem to be in one piece, more or less, but I may have lost part of my mind back inside that Gate you cast. What happened?”
She shook her head as she glanced at Ethmira and Chase. Both rangers nodded at her reassuringly and Diane sighed as she looked around slowly.
“Gating through the Void from one location to another isn't like traveling through the mortal realms. The stuff that it is made of is unpredictable, malleable, chaotic. I had to focus all of my strength on keeping the connection between my home and this place, whatever it is. Doing so allowed the forces of the Void to affect us, as you all experienced. But we seem to be in one piece, so at least it worked. Now the question is, where is Callius?”
They all scanned the area, searching for any sign of the young scryer. The world was as weird and twisted as it had appeared in the spell that Diane had cast back in her home. The writhing forest of vines covered almost every surface except for the tops of the many hills that rose above them. The sound of distant screaming was constantly assaulting their ears and Malfiess set his jaw against the noise, wincing as he tried to ignore it.
“What manner of creatures are those?” Ethmira asked as she looked up at the purple-tinged sky.
The winged, bat-like shapes swooped and glided high above their heads and the group realized that the monsters were larger than they had appeared to be when the elves had seen them in Diane's hall. Much larger.
“They are as big as dragons,” Ethmira exclaimed in amazement. “Do they present a danger to us?”
“No way to know,” Diane replied as she watched the creatures suspiciously. “I'm more worried that they will see us and report back to whatever being created this place. If that happens, we are probably going to die.”
“Then let's find Callius and get out of here,” Malfiess said nervously. “I thought that we would appear close to where he was.”
“We have,” Diane assured him. “But he seems to have left. I can only hope that he left voluntarily, not because he was captured or killed.”
“But how can we find him in all of this?” Chase asked, waving at the writhing vines that encircled the hilltop they were standing on. “Can we even get through those things?”
“Callius did,” Ethmira reminded her. “There is no evidence that he was attacked here, so I assume that he is still alive. And if he could get through those disgusting vines, then we can too. But we need some idea of where he went. Diane? Any chance that you can use your powers to sense him?”
The mage shook her head firmly.
“That would be most unwise,” she said as she stared at the blue gem on her staff. Its glow was muted in the purple light. “I might as well start beating a drum and yelling that I am here to whatever entity rules this place. It would sense me as soon as I cast a spell and that would be catastrophic. No, we'll have to find the young scryer the old-fashioned way. Can either of you find any tracks or signs to tell us where he went?”
Both Chase and Ethmira split up and began to carefully examine the dried grass that covered the hill. Unfortunately, the blades bounced back as they stepped on them, leaving no trace of their passing.
“This isn't true grass,” Chase complained. “It looks dead, but it isn't. It's more like...hair, as disgusting as that sounds.”
Malfiess made a face, while Diane simply continued to slowly turn in place, watching their surroundings carefully.
Ethmira was walking slowly along the edge of the hill, where the grasses thinned out and the ground sloped steeply down toward the growths below. Her eyes flicked intently over the surface and then she stopped moving and crouched down, running her fingertips over the rough ground.
“Here,” she said. “Callius went this way.”
Diane strode over to stand next to her and the others joined them.
“You're certain?” Malfiess asked.
“Absolutely. There are shallow scuff marks here, where he must have almost slipped as he left the hill and went down the slope.”
“Then lead the way,” Diane told her. “We must find him before something else does.”
Ethmira nodded, tapped her sword hilt and glanced at Chase.
“Bring up the rear and watch our backs,” she told her.
“Understood,” Chase replied.
The older ranger nodded again and began to descend the slope, keeping her eyes on the ground beneath her.
“Be careful,” she said to the others. “If you slip, you may tumble all the way to the bottom and I have no idea what is waiting for us down there.”
It took the group several minutes to reach the base of the hill. As they entered the shadows beneath the thick vines, a vile acrid smell engulfed them and pinched their noses with its fetid stench.
“It smells like sewage in here,” Malfiess said, gagging and wheezing.
“Get used to it,” Diane told him as she swallowed in revulsion. “I doubt that it will get any better. And try not to cough too loudly. We have no idea what horrors live in this place.”
The air was sticky and humid underneath the vines and it was hard for the group to catch their breaths.
The ground leveled out and Ethmira stopped to get her bearings. The bases of the vine-like growths grew out of the loose gray soil and began twisting and entwining with each other a few feet over the heads of the group. The trunks of the vines were very large and covered with razor-sharp thorns. Strangely, the ground was surprisingly clear of debris and that allowed even Diane and Malfiess to see a set of footprints leading off into the bizarre forest.
“That's him,” Ethmira told them. “Unless there's another elf in this place, Callius set off from here.”
“Going where?” Malfiess wondered. “What did he think he was doing? Surely he must have realized that he wasn't on Trillfarness. Why go anywhere?”
“It's quite possible, given his state of mind and the
nightmarish surroundings, that Callius thought he was still dreaming,” Diane mused. “And I can't blame him for that. But he is incredibly vulnerable in this place and if there are predators here, they will be drawn to him like moths to a flame. Ethmira, we have to quicken our pace. You have a clear path, so let's move.”
“Agreed,” the ranger replied. “This way.”
She set off quickly and Diane followed at once. Malfiess stayed close to the mage and Chase brought up the rear, watching their surroundings. She listened intently for any suspicious sounds and kept her hand on her sword hilt.
The ground might have been free of branches and leaves, unlike a regular forest, but it was slippery and covered with small pools of slime. Callius' footprints showed the places where he had slipped and fallen repeatedly and Ethmira shook her head and muttered to herself as she followed them.
“What's wrong?” Diane asked her as she watched the ranger.
Ethmira continued to move forward and follow the tracks as she answered.
“The youngster was struggling to make his way across the ground here. He fell over and over again. Why? Why was it so important for him to move from where he was to wherever he wanted to go? Was he lured away? Summoned by something? He wasn't carried or dragged, which tells me that he went of his own volition. I just cannot understand that. Even if Callius believed that he was having a nightmare, why leave the spot where he was fairly free of threats to enter this perverse forest where he would be in danger?”
“All good questions,” Diane replied. “Let's ask him when we find him, shall we?”
Ethmira glanced over her shoulder at the mage and smiled briefly.
“Yes, of course. I'll stay focused on the task at hand.”
They continued to follow Callius' trail, watching their footing on the slippery ground. A few minutes later, the slime began to thicken in spots, creating deep puddles and pools of semi-liquid green sludge.
“Be careful not to fall into any of those,” Ethmira told the group with a nod at the pools. “It may be caustic or poisonous, or possibly both. Best not to find out.”
Malfiess dug the end of his staff into the ground a little deeper with each step, using it to keep himself steady. His face was twisted with revulsion and he slogged on stoically behind Diane, saying nothing.
Chase was still scanning the vines intertwined a dozen feet overhead. Occasionally gobs of slime dripped on to her head or shoulders, but she ignored them and concentrated on using all of her senses to detect any threats.
Diane used her staff as Malfiess used his, steadying herself on the slippery ground. The blue gem on its tip glinted clearly as she moved, a stark contrast to the gloomy, suffocating atmosphere around them.
“Hold,” Chase barked suddenly.
Everyone froze immediately and Ethmira turned to look back at her.
“What is it?” she asked softly.
“I don't know,” Chase answered as she looked up at the mass of vines over their heads. “Something is moving up there. It's being stealthy, but not stealthy enough.”
“Are you certain?” Malfiess whispered nervously as he and the others looked up at the twisted, oozing canopy.
“Yes. I waited a bit just to be sure. I heard the sounds a few moments ago, but wanted to be certain that it wasn't just random noise. It isn't.”
“We are exposed here,” Ethmira said as she looked around for a more defensible position. “Look, the ground rises in that direction. Follow me and walk at the same pace that we have been. Whatever is stalking us may think that we are still unaware of it.”
“But that's not where Callius' trail leads,” Malfiess objected.
“I know, but we won't be able to help him if we are all killed in an ambush, will we?” the ranger told him. “We have to deal with this threat first. Let's go.”
Diane said nothing, relying on Ethmira's experience. She simply nodded and began following the ranger again. Malfiess and Chase did the same.
The ground sloped sharply upward and the group struggled to climb the slope, slipping on the slick ooze under their feet. They dug the toes of their boots into the soft dirt and Diane and Malfiess used their staves to push themselves along.
A few moments later the four of them emerged from the vine forest to find themselves standing on yet another hilltop that jutted out of the mass of tendrils. This one was a long ridge, like the edge of a valley, and they all stopped to get their bearings and catch their breaths.
“Any sign of pursuit?” Diane asked the rangers as she wiped her forehead on her sleeve.
Ethmira and Chase scanned their surroundings, listening and looking for any hint of a threat.
“Nothing,” Chase told the mage. “Whatever I heard apparently didn't want to attack us as we left the forest. That's a relief.”
“Is it?” Ethmira replied dubiously. “Let's hope so. If something reports back to the ruler of this place, we will be in trouble.”
“Let's just assume that it was some sort of animal and move on,” Diane told them. “We have to find Callius regardless. Ethmira, where should we go now?”
The ranger followed the twisted path of the ridge they were standing on with her eyes.
“That way,” she said, pointing toward the distant horizon. “If I'm right, this ridge intersects the path that Callius' trail was headed in. He may have had to climb it to continue on to wherever he was going. So that's our best bet.”
“Lead on then,” Diane told her. “Time is not on our side here.”
Ethmira nodded and began walking along the hill. The ridge was no more than a dozen feet across, but that was wide enough to allow the group to move more quickly than they had on the floor of the forest. And unlike the ground below, the surface of the exposed ridge was dry and free of slippery ooze.
A few minutes passed when Ethmira stopped abruptly and got down on one knee, scanning the ground. She ran her fingertips over the smooth dirt, glanced down the slope and then looked back at the others.
“Get down!” she hissed at them.
Everyone immediately crouched down and watched her anxiously.
“What is it?” Diane asked softly.
“Callius crossed this hilltop and descended that way,” Ethmira told her with a nod to the right side of the ridge. “And I think I know where he was going. Look.”
All of them scrabbled forward so that they could see down the slope. Malfiess gasped in surprise while Diane and Chase stared in bemused silence.
Below the slope of the ridge was a valley. There were no vines or pools of slime down there. Instead, the vale was dotted with beautiful leafy trees. Ripe red fruit hung from their branches and long green grass waved languidly in a breeze that seemed to come from nowhere.
In the center of the sheltered little valley stood a small house. It was constructed of weathered logs and exuded an air of peace and welcome that was totally alien to the rest of the world that they were in. A wisp of smoke rose from the house's chimney and several windows were open, bright checkered curtains waving in the breeze.
“What in the world?” Diane muttered.
“I don't get it,” Malfiess said, obviously stunned by what he was seeing. “How can that place even exist here? And why?”
“It's bait, obviously,” Chase said harshly. “Callius was lured here by that place. Perhaps a vision of it was sent to him while he was in the midst of his fever dream. Can you imagine his sense of relief after crawling through the slime and horror of that twisted forest of vines and finding this valley? He would have been drawn to it like a bee to honey.”
Diane stood up slowly and glanced at the others.
“There's no need to hide anymore,” she told them. “Whatever being made this place either knows that we are here or it doesn't. That aberration down there makes it obvious to me that its creator controls this world completely. It made a haven for Callius and then drew him here. How it accomplished that when he was safely sequestered in my home is something that I'll have to figure out l
ater. For now though, we have to get down there and see if he is still alive.”
“But Diane, it is obviously a trap,” Malfiess objected as he and the rangers got to their feet. “You just want to walk into it openly?”
“Of course I don't. So if you have another option, I would love to hear it.”
The three women watched the councilor as he stared down at the incongruous little house below. He frowned and then sighed in defeat.
“No, I don't,” he admitted. “But if we are about to die, then I'd just like to say, for the record, that this is a terrible idea.”
Diane smiled at him.
“Noted,” she said. “Ethmira, let's go. Waiting won't make this any easier.”
The ranger led the way down the slope into the little valley. The slope was gentle and they descended easily. Once they had reached the bottom of the hill, Ethmira drew her sword and Chase followed suit. Then the pair stalked toward the tidy little house, both of them alert for any dangers.
Diane and Malfiess followed the women. The councilor noticed that the gem on the mage's staff had begun to pulse with light, a blue flame flickering at its heart. Diane was staring intently at the house as they approached it and she was whispering to herself, perhaps readying her spells.
The heady scent of sweet fruit filled the air as a gentle breeze wafted past the group. Malfiess looked around in confusion and shook his head.
“How can this be?” he said softly. “I know that this place was created by someone or something, but to control a world so completely is very hard for me to understand.”
“Just accept it for what it is,” Diane replied softly, keeping her eyes on the silent house. “A display of power that could not be matched by a mortal. We are in the presence of something beyond our understanding and we have to react accordingly.”
“How?”
She glanced at Malfiess and gave him a wry grin.
“I have no idea. I'm playing this by ear. Just be ready for anything, I suppose.”
The Fall of the Elves Page 25