by Martha Carr
Leira ran ahead and turned around and waited. “But not you, you go through here like it’s home to you.”
“Apparently not you either. You have this internal combustion that has to keep going forward.”
“That’s a nice way to say I act before I think. Not true you know. I’d make a piss poor detective if that was true. I make calculations. Hagan would have dropped my ass by now if that wasn’t the case. Keeping a rash partner is a death wish.”
Correk gave a half smile. “I would never say you do anything rashly.”
Leira ran past a row of large, leafy bushes, running her hand along the sides as a flock of colorful birds rose all at once, flapping their wings and letting out loud squawks. Leira laughed and looked back at Correk. “The forest is really alive today.”
“It’s like this all the time. It’s heaven on Oriceran, even if most don’t know it.”
“Why aren’t you afraid of coming so far into the forest?”
“I grew up knowing a lot of Wood Elves, Perrom in particular. We used to play in these woods. He knows every square inch and taught me. There’s nothing to be afraid of if you know your way around but part of its magic is how few beings cross into the forest.”
“I thought there were dangers in here.”
They came to where the floating castle was just visible above the tree line in the distance. “There are dangerous areas. Plenty of them and Perrom and I only went into those when we were younger and way too curious about them. I’ll have to tell you about some of those adventures sometime over pizza and beer.”
“At Home Slice and invite Mom and Don and Nana.”
“If you wish. Watch where you’re going, there’s a root…”
Correk stopped in mid-sentence as Leira floated over a tall root behind her, easily landing on the other side.
“You didn’t even see that coming,” he said, softly. He narrowed his eyes, wondering.
“Not sure what just happened.” Leira felt the light-headedness again but said nothing about it.
“The magic of Oriceran, I guess. This is as far as we need to go. If Perrom is around he’ll know we’re here. He always does. Something about being raised in the Dark Forest.”
“He was raised in the forest?”
“He lived in a cabin. He’s not feral. He had a roof over his head, but yes.”
“I’m sure there’s another good story in there, too. So much to learn. Earth is not nearly as interesting.”
“I’d disagree. I’ve seen a Texas sunset across an open prairie and Lake Michigan in the winter.”
“We have some places like this but not as many left anymore and there’s the lands underneath the kemanas. I’ve only seen one of those. You may be right but have you looked at this place?”
“We should take another road trip. A real one this time to your Grand Canyon.”
“Fill the trunk with Cheetos and red licorice and take off.” Leira saw trolls scampering over and under nearby tree roots and she instinctively pulled her hands in by her chest. One is enough for a lifetime. Correk noticed and let out a laugh.
“How long do we wait?” Leira made a face at him and looked around, sensing a presence nearby. Her arms lit up easily, the symbols burning brightly as her eyes glowed. It was so easy on Oriceran. “He’s here, isn’t he. Someone is.” Correk noticed something different about the symbols but before he could look closer they faded. The cosmos were sending Leira another message, effortlessly and without her bidding. What is happening to her?
Perrom stepped out from the shadows, his body a mosaic of the different plants behind him. The pupils of his eyes moved around in every direction taking in the territory. All at once, every pupil turned to focus on Leira, a curious look on Perrom’s face as the scales along his cheek flipped back and forth.
“What are you, Light Elf?” He wasn’t even looking at Correk.
“Nice greeting, Perrom. Not even a hello.” Correk noticed his friend’s concern but smiled anyway, wondering what he had noticed.
Perrom dropped the scowl and looked over at Correk. “You look well and you brought a friend.”
“This is Leira Berens, the woman I told you about and yes, she’s a Light Elf.”
Perrom hesitated like he wanted to say something but stopped himself. He put out his hand to Leira and she took it, feeling the scales of his skin twitching under her grasp. They were surprisingly soft and pliable, not at all what she expected.
“Feel like a cosmic road trip?” Leira gave him a crooked smile. “There’s something we could use your help with.”
The pupils of his eyes slid around, searching her face. Correk noticed her arms lighting up, spelling out something in symbols he had never seen before except in books from the royal library. Only to flip over again before fading away, only to light up again. Ancient runes. What? He looked at Leira but she seemed unconcerned as if she was unaware of the messages.
“Will you come back with us? A short trip to make a point and at least slow them down. Something strange is happening.” Leira pulled out of her pocket one of the engineered bugs they had seen in Iowa holding it out for Perrom to see.
His eyes widened and he took it from Leira, examining it closely. “I’ll come with you,” he said, suddenly, anger in his voice. “But I need to see someone first.”
“We don’t have a lot of time,” said Leira.
But Perrom was already moving deeper into the forest as he pulled a curved wooden horn out of his bag, blowing into it and sending out a call. Birds fluttered out of nearby trees and a monkey swung overhead, screeching.
“I knew somebody would eventually go all Lord of the Rings. Is the hobbit army going to come running?” Leira kept up, following him closely. The symbols lit up again, slowly fading back down.
Correk watched as he followed behind them. “He’s calling his father, the Gardener of the Dark Forest. He’s letting him know they need to meet.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Perrom came to a clearing in the woods and blew the horn again. There was a distant rustling in the trees and Leira was sure she heard a low growl as something heavy padded its way at a gallop in their direction. Out of the dense forest a lion burst through into the clearing. Antlers towered above his large head, spreading out in both directions. Atop the lion was a Wood Elf with long, dark dreadlocks and earrings decorated both ears all the way up the sides. Vines were woven into his hair that moved and writhed, with blooms that opened and shut. A silvery hamster poked its head out from one of its pockets and saw Leira, ducking back inside.
Leira’s eyes widened at the sight of the lion but she stayed her ground even though his head was at her eye level and his large yellow eyes looked toward her as he curled his lip. Not as bad as a dark mist but maybe worse than a felon with a gun. Nice kitty. Like Santa got his wires crossed trying to make a better flying reindeer.
The Gardener’s pupils darted around the deepening forest, looking for any other eyes that might be watching them, scanning the skies. A lone harpy flew overhead, crying out but kept flying looking for something easier to capture and eat.
“I have something to show you.” Perrom held out the altered insect for his father to see.
“No introductions? No, good to see you Dad?” Leira whispered to Correk, her eyebrows raised. Correk ignored her and watched the Gardener. He had only seen him a few times when he was younger and every time he was struck by his command of the forest.
The Gardener slid off the lion and put his hand firmly on the animal’s back. The lion huffed out a great breath and slowly lay down, letting out a low rumble. Leira could feel his hot breath where she stood and made herself stand firm.
The Gardener stepped forward and looked at the bug, turning it over in Perrom’s hand. He looked up in surprise. “Where did you get this?”
“The humans have them on Earth,” Perrom said, gravely. “It appears you were right.”
“Someone has betrayed us. One of our own kind.” The Gardener le
t out a loud banshee yell, throwing his arms in the air, his hands balled into fists. The lion suddenly stood, his ears back, and he let out a roar in sympathy with the Gardener. The Gardener beat his chest with his fist, the scales along his chest flipping over to match the honey brown of the lion and back again.
“He is losing his shit. This is over a bug?” Leira spoke softly, her jaw set.
The Wood Elf’s irises all rapidly moved toward Leira, focusing on her, scowling. “Who is this? She’s from Earth! You brought a stranger into my forest.” His voice echoed among the trees. Leira could hear things rustling in nearby bushes, moving further away from them. The lion’s enormous head peered around the Gardener at Leira.
Leira felt the same thread of anger pulsing inside of her whenever a bully tried to prove his strength. Not a gun but this will have to do. She let the magic enter her feet, easily coming up from the rich Oriceran soil, lighting up the symbols along her arms and flashing up her neck. Wanna play rough? Let’s go.
Correk looked over at Leira and back at the Gardener.
“Do something about your guest.” Perrom stepped between his father and Leira.
Correk bristled and stood beside Leira, his fists clenched. “I’m not her handler. She makes her own decisions.”
Perrom looked from his friend to Leira and his expression softened. “We are all on the same side,” he said in a low voice, still standing in the middle. He turned to his father. “They don’t know the whole story. How bad this has gotten. We need them as allies if we’re going to stop this, you know that.” Don’t dig in your heels. Don’t insist on doing things your way. Don’t drive me away.
His father was still breathing hard but he held up his hand, calming the lion who lay back down, turning his head, rustling the leaves overhead with his antlers. “Why do you trust them?”
“Them?” Correk bristled, spitting out the word.
The Gardener took a step forward, holding himself up straighter.
“This is why they’ve gotten away with so much already! You trust no one!” Perrom shook with anger.
The Gardener eyed Correk. “Light Elves have been known to take what they want, trampling through these woods.”
“You’re stuck in another time. The treaty ended all that.” Correk said the words in a low, even tone out of respect for his friend but he was tense. Leira let the energy continue to flow through her making a perfect, endless loop, back into the ground as she waited for someone to make the first move toward friendship or foe. The symbols along her arms were turning over at a measured pace as if they were watching as well. The options were all open and Leira was willing to be patient.
“This is bigger than we realized, isn’t it? Not just a few bugs or a few seeds. Something bigger is going on here.” Leira looked at him more carefully and saw the pain in his face. “Someone is threatening your kingdom.” She let the magic seep out of her veins and back into the ground. The symbols stopped turning and Correk looked over to read their last message. He looked up at Leira and put his hand on her shoulder.
“We are here to help, Gardener,” he said, calmly. “Tell us what’s been happening and we’ll listen.”
The Gardener’s breathing had slowed and he tilted his head, narrowing his eyes as he raised his hand again and whistled a long, bending note. There was the sound of saplings breaking as a large beast moved through the brush. Leira’s eyes grew wider as a black rhino appeared from the north, coming to stand next to the Gardener.
“Dear Lord…” Leira tried to hold in a gasp as she looked at the moving parts that made up the midsection of the rhino.
“Someone is stealing the animals of the Dark Forest and experimenting on them. They’re trying to combine magic and engineering to create something new.”
Correk shook his head. “Experimenting here on Oriceran?” The shock registered on his face as he watched the beast move and the computerized parts of the animal respond. “Not Rhazdon, surely…”
“No, not Rhazdon. Technology was never of interest to her. Someone with a more modern way of looking at things. Someone who we think is looking to the future and wants to get ready…”
“For the gates opening.” The words spilled out of Leira’s mouth and she knew it was true. “Are those parts made from artifacts?”
Perrom’s eyebrows went up in surprise and he looked at Leira and Correk but nodded his head.
Leira kept looking at the rhinoceros doing her best not to imagine the future. “To what end?”
“Humans want to push the limits of technology mixed with magic to see what kind of life is sustainable and for how long. They’re willing to pay almost any price and share the most interesting new inventions.” The Gardener was spitting out the words.
Leira’s old training as a detective kicked in and she saw the pieces starting to fit together. “Human beings want in on the benefits of magic but they don’t have the right DNA. But they do have technology and are hunting artifacts…”
Correk interrupted, filling in the other pieces. “Oricerans want the technology to use after the magic is drained from our planet to Earth.”
“Is that what happened the last time? That can’t be true.” I’m missing something. Leira put her hands on her hips, still keeping an eye on the two large animals only a few yards from her. “This is one of my weirder days lately and that’s saying something. I’ve become Alice and I’m trying to fight an unseen Queen of Hearts.” Leira looked up, the answers coming to her. “That’s it. This is about control, even now. Where are these experiments happening? It’s on Earth, isn’t it? Or you’d hunt them down yourself.”
The Gardener grimaced. “Yes, whoever is helping them from our own kind has guided them well. They are on Earth, where it’s harder to search for them.”
“The artifacts race, some of it is to power these experiments.” The rhino snorted and pawed the ground. “Is he in pain?”
The Gardener ran his hand along the rhino’s back, stopping just short of the cold mechanics. “No, I’ve made sure of that. Magic keeps him sustained but there have been others that I’ve had to put down out of compassion. They have been using animals from Earth but I’ve managed to stop some of their raids on their planet and this one. Still, they get through and steal mostly seed pods from Oriceran.”
The vines curled up around his dreadlocks pulling them back and working them into a loose braid. “I’ve rescued what I can but it’s not much. This all started with the insects. I’m afraid it was Wood Elves who came up with that idea. They saw it as harmless equipping cicadas with small bits of electronics they got at the Dark Market. They infused the parts with magic but in such small amounts. That was nearly impossible to put a stop to but I tried in vain.”
“My mother was sick and took up most of his attention and time.” Perrom’s voice caught and his eyes glistened.
“But then they made the deals for the seeds and let me guess, some of the insects got mixed up with the trade. A human being saw them and wanted to know more.” Leira made herself look up at the rhino as he turned his large head, looking directly at her with deep grey eyes and long eyelashes.
“We need to shut this down.”
“That is easier said than done. We haven’t been able to figure out who’s doing it or where their labs are or we would have destroyed them already.”
“Not destroy, bring to justice.” Leira held up her hand to stop the Gardener. “It has to be that way. Our planets are growing closer to the day when the gates start to open and we will all be mingling like one big dysfunctional magical family. If we don’t figure out a system of law, of checks and balances then this turns into mayhem pretty fast. It doesn’t take long for dystopia to show up when revenge is on the table.”
“There aren’t laws to cover this,” said Correk.
“Then we create them. We set a precedent. Bottom line is we figure it out instead of blowing up shit. It’s not the only response. Granted, it’s sometimes a favorite of mine but not a first choice. B
ut first things first.”
Perrom looked at Correk.
“She grows on you, trust me.”
Leira ignored them and looked directly at the Gardener. “We still don’t have the whole picture. It would be far too easy to step wrong without all the facts. You need our help, surely you can see that. You’ve tried to do this on your own and it’s only grown worse and more entrenched. But together we can build a bridge between these two worlds and see if it’s possible to do the right thing instead of slash and burn.”
The Gardener of the Dark Forest rubbed the soft ear of the rhinoceros as the animal twitched. Against the backdrop of the hum of life within the forest there was another, steadier hum of the computer parts at work inside of the rhino. The Gardener was tired and he knew it, drained from the effort of trying to protect his sanctuary. Mythology was no longer enough to keep out intruders. “Where do we start?”
“Wait, what?” Perrom whipped his head around. “I’ve been asking you the same thing for months!”
The Gardener looked wearily at his son. “You want revenge and that has no ending to it. As long as there were two sides, someone would have been willing to pick up the sword or a wand and carry on the fight. If this Eden is to be protected, we need peace. But I don’t know how to do that on such a large scale.”
“First, we cut off their supplies as much as possible. Tends to bring the rats to the surface. That means rounding up the damn artifacts and cutting off the chain of seeds to Earth. Then we see what surfaces. The harder we choke them the more desperate their moves will become and then they’ll finally make a mistake.” Leira pounded her fist into her palm.
“That will take an army,” said Perrom.
“Fortunately, I’ve got one already. I work for them. And if the other world finds out about what they’re doing, maybe, just maybe they’ll rally behind us. That one can be kind of tricky with humans sometimes. But sometimes, at just the right moment they surprise you and then anything is possible. You’ll see.” Leira took Perrom’s arm feeling the silky scales beneath her fingers rippling at her touch. “Will you come with us? We need your help on Earth.”