Bloodthorn

by Tamara Grantham

  I moved aside to let Kull and Heidel enter the room. They both stared with apprehension at the web-covered surfaces.

  “I don’t like this,” Heidel said. “Where is everyone?”

  “And what’s with the spiderwebs?” I asked. “These are unlike any natural webs I’ve seen. Could it be the work of the seranic spiders?” I asked Kull.

  “I don’t believe so. While they are quite lethal, they are extremely reclusive. Most of them only spin small webs close to the ground. I would not imagine they would be capable of spinning such large webs so far off the ground.

  “Still, it is odd that the sprites used seranic spider’s venom, and now we have encountered the same poison in the trees. I am not sure what to make of it, and we are no closer to discovering who created the poison or the webs.”

  “To be honest,” I said, “I’m not even sure I want to know.”

  “Nor do I,” Heidel said. “I cannot wait to be free of this forest.”

  “What’s this?” Kull said behind me.

  I rounded to find him near the wall. At his feet, under a thick layer of webbing, I spotted what appeared to be a skeletal hand peeking from the layers. I paced carefully to the corner, holding the knife with a firm grasp as Kull knelt by the cocoon. He used his blade to slice through the webbing.

  Inside, a humanoid skeleton lay curled in the web, its mouth slacked open in a soundless scream.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “What happened?” I asked as I stood over the skeleton.

  “There’s no way to say for sure,” Kull answered. “Although, whatever killed this person is likely still in this forest.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “The webbing,” he said. “It appears a dark gray closest to the skeleton. However, on the outer layer and on surfaces throughout the room, it seems to have a greenish tint. At first, I thought it was merely a coincidence. However, if this webbing is anything like a seranic spider’s—which I suspect it is—then the older webbing will lose its coloring. Thus, this web,” he explained and held up a piece of light green filament stuck to his knife tip, “would not be more than a few weeks old.”

  “But what of the skeleton? It looks to have been here for quite some time.”

  “Yes. Whatever killed this person has most likely returned here several times. For what purpose, I do not know.”

  “There’s magic in it,” I said, stretching my hand over the skeleton, “but I’m not sure what type. It’s very faint. Elven, maybe?”

  “I do not like this,” Heidel said. “We’re not prepared to face a magical foe with Olive’s powers acting erratically. We have no other defense against magic.”

  “It’s too late to leave now,” I said. “We knew there were dark creatures here. Let’s just hope we don’t end up like that.” I nodded toward the remains. “I don’t understand—something murdered this person years ago and then recently returned again… but why?”

  Kull sheathed his knife. “We won’t find our answers by remaining here. We must seek out the starstone’s final resting place.”

  “I agree.”

  We made our way out of the structure, down the steps, and into the forest once again, although I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d gotten while inside the elven home.

  The wood sprites had tipped their arrows in spider venom, and the elven homes had been covered in their webs. There was most likely a connection between the two. What was out there? What did the spiders have to do with it? I didn’t like not knowing what we were up against.

  Deeper in the forest, following the trail of decay became easier as more and more trees wept the dark sap. Our path took us to a small open area shadowed by hulking trees that stood with their limbs outstretched. Leaves blanketed the ground in a carpet of orange and gold foliage. In the center of the glen was a small, perfectly circular pond filled with inky greenish liquid.

  “This is it,” I said, my heart beginning to race. “This is the place I saw in the vision with the sky king. The starstone was floating over that pond.”

  “You are sure?” Heidel asked.

  “Yes. I’m positive.”

  We walked the perimeter of the area, but it was hard to tell if anyone had been here with so many leaves covering the ground.

  “Honestly,” I said, “I’m not sure what we’re looking for. If we wish to determine who took the stone, I think we’re a year or two too late. Any trace of their presence has to be gone by now.”

  “Not necessarily,” Kull answered as he stood at the edge of the pond. “We all leave traces wherever we go, whether we realize it or not. A strand of hair, or—” he knelt near the pond and carefully removed the topmost layer of leaves, then picked up a leaf that rested on the bottom, “the oil from our fingertips. Or the residue from a web.”

  He eyed the leaf closely, and I knelt beside him. A grayish, sticky substance covered the leaf.

  “Is it the same material as the spiderwebs in the woodland village?”

  He ran his finger over the leaf. “I can’t say for certain. There are many types of spiders, and they all create different webs. But at a first glance, I would say it is.”

  I turned to the pool. “And this looks to be the same liquid we found in the venom and leaking from the trees.”

  Heidel stood over us. “It does not look natural. What would cause the water to transform like this?”

  “I wish I knew.”

  Something moved in the trees behind me. Kull had his sword out so fast I barely saw him move. I grabbed the knife from my pack and spun to find a young girl standing in the trees’ shadows.

  She was a little taller than me, with skin so pale it almost looked translucent, and her lips were so bloodless they were almost indistinguishable from her skin. She wore a dingy white gown that matched her long, stringy hair. With bare feet, she stepped into the glen. Her eyes caught my attention—they shone with a dark crimson glow.

  “Who are you?” Heidel demanded.

  “I am Cyren of the woodland elves. I am the guardian of the pool. Like those who came before me, I have taken an oath to protect it.”

  “Why must you protect it?” I asked.

  “Because this pool is sacred to my people and to the unicorns—we work together to safeguard it. More importantly, I stand watch over it now because this liquid is deadly. Any creature who touches it will perish.”

  “Where does it come from?” I asked.

  “I cannot say, but it once was meant to keep the stone safe.”

  “We have come here to find the missing stone. Do you know where it is?”

  She shook her head. “I do not know. But it has been gone for quite some time.”

  “Cyren,” Heidel spoke up. “What happened to the others like you?”

  “Others?”

  “Yes. We came across the elven village. Was it yours?”

  She paused before speaking. “Yes. There are none left like me. I am the last.”

  “What happened to the others?” I asked.

  A haunted look crossed her face. “He came at night, after the watch had retired. He knew when to come, for he slipped into our homes unnoticed, when we slept. He slaughtered us in our beds, working his way from house to house.

  “I awoke and heard something moving up the ladder, so I hid beneath my bed.” She closed her eyes. “I will not repeat what I saw that night. But after he left, I was alone. He had killed everyone and taken the starstone.

  “I knew I should not have used my magic, but it was the only thing left to do. I cast a spell that should have destroyed the creature, but instead,” she lifted her hands, “the spell transformed me.”

  “You are lucky the spell did not kill you,” Heidel said. “You are lucky to be alive.”

  “No,” she said, “I am not, for now I am cursed and alone. But it is my punishment to be this way, for I was the starstone’s guardian, and I allowed the creature to take it. Now, I guard this pool with my life, for it is the only purpose I have left.”
/>
  “Cyren,” I said, “what is the creature called?”

  She swallowed, the fear evident in her eyes. “Some call it bloodthorn.”

  An uneasy silence settled in the forest.

  “Cyren, we are here because we are trying to stop this creature—the bloodthorn—from killing more people. Anything you can tell us about him will help us to find and stop him. Isn’t that what you want?”

  She only stared at me with those haunting red eyes. “Just as I was, so it was. I was elf. It was unicorn.”

  Unicorn?

  “But why?” I asked. “Why would it have stolen its own starstone?”

  She nodded toward the pool. “Before I became the pool’s guardian, he was its protector. I do not know how long he guarded it—hundreds of years, perhaps. During that time, images appeared in the water. At first, the visions were beautiful, but they grew increasingly more alarming, until he was convinced that he must create a portal in the pool to escape our lands. One day, we came to visit him, only to find him gone. We searched but never found him, until years later, he returned to our forest. But he was different. He was tainted and dark. Evil. He no longer walked as a unicorn, but as a man. After his return, he stole our stone and took it to the unknown land.”

  “How do you know this?” I asked.

  “Because I was his apprentice.”

  “You?” Heidel asked.

  She nodded. “After he stole our stone and disappeared into the unknown land, I kept watch for him. I waited many years, and when he returned to our world to steal the fairies’ stone, I knew it was my time to confront him. I left my wood in order to challenge the bloodthorn, and I found him as he escaped the fairies’ forest with the starstone. He tried to return to the unknown land, but I stopped him. I tried to kill the bloodthorn, but he created a portal and escaped to the human realm.”

  “Can you tell us where to find the land where he took your stone?”

  “The entrance is atop Dragon Spine Mountain. But it would do no good to go there now, for I sealed it shut with a ward, using his own blood against him. Now, he will never have enough power to activate the portal.”

  I mulled over her words as the clues began to piece together. “If you sealed it with his blood,” I said, “then the creature will be trying to create another entrance to the unknown land. If he’s now stuck on Earth, that may explain the murders. The bloodthorn is using dark energy to fuel the stone so he can open a portal into the unknown land. He’s trying to escape with the fairies’ stone just as he did with the unicorns’ stone.”

  “But why?” Kull asked. “What reason does he have for taking the stones?”

  “And why does he seem to target you?” Heidel asked. “Both victims in Earth Kingdom were related to your clients. It almost seems as if he were trying to send you a message.”

  “Perhaps,” Cyren said, “he needs her.”

  “For what purpose?” I asked.

  “Your powers, perhaps? Your magic is very powerful, for I have felt it in this wood since you entered. I am surprised you are able to control such a potent energy.”

  “I’m not sure that I can,” I muttered.

  “Then we must return to Earth Kingdom,” Kull said. “We must find him before he kills another victim, and we must stop him before he creates the portal.”

  “But we still have no idea who we’re looking for.” I turned to Cyren. “I know the creature is difficult for you to speak of, but can’t you tell us anything else about him?”

  “I can tell you that he no longer understands the difference between good and evil. What he once called light, he now sees only as darkness. He seeks to destroy the unicorns and fairies. He will not hesitate to kill them.”

  I turned to Kull. “The fairy prince and princess—they may be in more danger than we realized.”

  “I agree,” Kull said, “but we still do not know who to look for.”

  I turned back to Cyren. “Do you know if the creature is a shape-shifter?”

  She pressed her eyes closed, seeming much older. “The bloodthorn only has one true form, though he can manipulate his essence to take over another’s body.”

  The moon rose over the dale, lighting it with a bright bluish glow that illumined the elven girl’s milky skin. Something moved in the trees above us. I looked but saw nothing.

  “The bloodthorn is a beast conjured from nightmares,” Cyren said. “He and his companion from the unknown land have appearances meant to strike fear into those who see their true forms.”

  “Companion?” Kull asked. “You never mentioned a companion.”

  “Didn’t I?”

  The rustling leaves grew louder. Scanning the trees overhead, I found a dark shape blocking out the moonlight. Chills prickled my skin as its bulky body and long, spiny legs came into view.

  It had a spider’s body and a human head, like some kind of hack job spliced together in a freakish laboratory. Human arms in various stages of decomposition hung from its thorax. Its head had one bulging eye, and the other was sewn shut. Its gaping maw revealed rows of toothless gums interspersed with sharklike teeth that were too big for its mouth. Cancerous, busted lips dripped blood where teeth had cut into its own flesh. The spider’s legs ended in sharp, pointed tips that dripped greenish liquid.

  Gliding to the forest floor on a silky thread of greenish-gray webbing, the spider landed with a gentle thump behind the elven girl.

  “I am sorry it has to come to this,” the girl said. “But you should have never entered this dale, for I have sworn an oath to protect the pool, and I cannot allow any intruders—no matter their purpose—to leave here alive.”

  I backed away as the girl and the spider approached. “What?” I asked, shocked. “Cyren, why are you doing this? What’s going on?”

  “I cannot allow you to be here any longer.”

  “Then we will leave,” Heidel said. “You have no reason to kill us.”

  Her eyes flashed bright red in the moonlight, and it was then I got the impression she wasn’t telling us everything.

  “Cyren, tell me again why the bloodthorn did not kill you?”

  She glided forward as the spider followed. “I have told you—I hid from him beneath my bed.”

  “That is odd, though, don’t you think? It killed all your people. It had more than one opportunity to kill you, but it didn’t. Why is that?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I have told you enough already.”

  “Who are you really?” I demanded. “Why did the bloodthorn let you live when it killed all the others?”

  She moved forward without answering.

  “What is this creature that follows you now?”

  A smirk caught her lips. “You will soon find out.”

  She moved aside, and the spider leapt at us. Curved, chitin-covered claws tipped each leg, and it thrust them outward. Kull struck at the legs as it darted up. Suspended on its web, it disappeared into the trees.

  I held tight to the knife, feeling my magic beg to be set free, but I didn’t dare use it. There was a chance we could all end up dead if I released my powers.

  A clicking sound came from the trees overhead. We stood, blades at the ready, when the monster dropped to the ground and swiped at Heidel. She jumped back, avoiding the full brunt of the attack, but the claw managed to gouge her wrist.

  She clutched at her wounded hand, dropping her knife, but she grabbed it up again quickly as she backed into the cover of the trees. Once again, Kull exploded with a powerful attack, driving his weapon at the beast’s legs.

  His blade severed a leg. The monster’s humanoid face contorted with pain as it let out a soundless scream. Instead of retreating, it barreled forward, its remaining legs swinging scythe-like at the Wult warrior.

  Kull lashed out, severing another leg before the creature once again returned to the trees.

  Cyren cried out in frustration. “Stop injuring it! You’ll only make it angrier.”

  Kull stood tall, smiling a leering grin
that looked almost animalistic. “Let it come!”

  Dark droplets fell from the tree canopy, landing in puddles on the leaf-strewn forest floor. Clicking sounds came from overhead, though it was difficult to tell where exactly the creature was located.

  Heidel found a handkerchief and tied it around her wounded wrist, keeping her blade clenched between her teeth. After tying a tight knot, she removed her blade from her mouth and held it tightly, then turned as the rustling leaves came from directly overhead.

  “There!” she said as the spider dropped fast.

  One of the spider’s humanlike arms grabbed me around my waist and lifted me up. The overpowering stench of decay came from the beast’s rotting flesh. I screamed as its grip tightened and made me drop my knife, so I kicked as hard as I could into the exoskeleton, but the creature didn’t flinch.

  A sword flashed in my vision as the world spun. The monster let out a high-pitched shriek, and I heard one of its limbs fall to the ground, yet it still held me tight.

  I kicked again, and suddenly the arm lurched, ripping free from the spider’s body. A loud rushing wind filled my ears right before I hit the ground hard, the ripped arm landing beside me. My breath left my body, leaving me panicked as I tried to inhale.

  Finally, my lungs recovered, and I took several deep breaths. Stinging buzzed through my body as I rose onto my hands and knees, trying to make sense of the chaos. The spider was on the ground, and I had to turn away as Kull stood over it and hacked the thing to pieces.

  Soon, the sounds of the spider’s screams stopped. Heidel stood beside me, and together we walked to the center of the clearing where Kull stood over the spider’s remains.

  There was no sign of Cyren.

  Bile rose in my throat as I glanced at the decimated creature, black fluid slowly pooling on the ground around it. I tried to pull my gaze away, but something out of the ordinary caught my attention. Surgical thread lay in ripped bits on the body and spread over the grass.

  I knelt to inspect it more closely, nudging a piece of thread with my knife. “This is odd.”

  Kull knelt beside me. “What do you make of it?”

  “It’s possible this creature was created in a lab of some sort. If it had been transformed by magic, then I see no purpose for the thread. This is surgical thread, meant to hold flesh together.”