Solomon's Exile

by James Maxstadt

  Horribly, she almost found herself giggling like a school girl when she realized that it was sexless as well.

  “I guess we know they don’t walk now,” Orlando said. “But what does that tell us?”

  “Not to aim for their knees,” Solomon replied. “But here’s the real question. Do we take it with us?”

  They all stood, but stayed gathered, looking down at it. Daisy pushed her way past Solomon’s leg and sniffed at the body. She growled, but then licked her lips as if she had tasted something rotten and backed away. Shireen thought that she had the right idea.

  She wanted to say, “No! We’re not travelling with that thing!” but knew it was the wrong answer. Jediah should see this. Everyone should. Everyone should know what they were truly up against. “Yes,” she said, her own voice sounding far away in her ears. “We have to take it.”

  She looked up, away from the dead Soul Gaunt to see Solomon nodding. “Yep, I think you’re right.”

  Shireen was looking forward to getting back to the Greenweald, and to having Solomon back where he belonged, but the journey had suddenly become much less pleasant.

  CHAPTER 36

  The trees were changing as they walked. Slowly and subtly, they were getting larger. Daisy walked at a sedate pace, sniffing as she went in seemingly random wanderings through the forest. Solomon wondered if that was how the Hunting Hounds always moved between the worlds, but doubted it. Normally, the dogs were sent after something, a specific target being their prey. In those cases, he thought they probably moved more purposefully.

  But for now, Daisy seemed to be in no hurry, and neither was he. While he ached to be back in the Greenweald, he was also dreading it. He was thrilled to be reunited with Shireen and Orlando, and looked forward to seeing Jediah, but he knew that he had to see Florian as well.

  His friends had told him that all was, if not forgiven, at least smoothed over. Florian had seen the need for his return and had admitted that while he would never love Solomon for his role in Celia’s death, he also recognized that it was a force beyond his control that truly took her.

  Still, Solomon felt that he was responsible. He had allowed his love for her to overrule his good sense, and his duty. He would help the Greenweald in any way that he could during this crisis, but after that, he would again throw himself on the mercy of Florian.

  But he would be back in the Greenweald, at least for a while, and that was something. And what was more, he was bringing Lacy with him. Hopefully, the healers would be able to do something about her arm. She never said much, but from the way she held it, and favored the other one, he knew that it still bothered her. And who knew what effects lingered for Luke? The Soul Gaunt had hurt him time and time again, and those wounds, even the ones that couldn’t be seen, had to be lingering as well.

  He knew first hand now. His arms and shoulder ached where the Soul Gaunt had cut him up when they fought. They had stopped bleeding, and the bandages that Lacy rewrapped around them, under the watchful eye of Shireen, stayed clean, but they still felt like claws were shredding them anew with each step.

  To say nothing of the wound on his face. It was strange looking at the world out of one eye. His depth perception was off and it was disturbing to not have peripheral vision on that side. Speaking of which…he turned and glanced at Luke, who was fighting the same thing. Only Luke had been dealing with it longer, and seemed to have made peace with it.

  Solomon doubted that even the healers of the Greenweald would be able to do much for either of their eyes, but they should be able to ease the constant pain at least.

  “Enough of this,” he thought to himself. “You’re going home. Be thankful for that.”

  They were all marching in a bunch, trailing slightly behind Daisy as she made her way through the woods. This was how Shireen and Orlando had crossed into the other world, although he didn’t believe it was how he had ended up there. He thought that his own arrival was likely much more abrupt and violent.

  Orlando had insisted on carrying the body of the Soul Gaunt, wrapped up in an old sheet that Lacy had, which was tied at the corners into a crude bag. The thing was light, but Orlando wouldn’t hear of Solomon carrying it himself, and the other three had backed him up. Solomon had held his hands up in surrender and laughingly indicated that the honor was all his.

  Even in death, the horrible thing seemed to exude menace and danger. It was dead, there was no doubt about that, but the wrongness of it was still there, just not as strong as when it was alive. As such, it had the effect of making the party walk quietly, talking little.

  Except for Solomon. This was the second one that he had killed, and while he still had a healthy respect for them, any fear that he would have felt in the past was gone. They could be beaten. Not easily, that was certain, but they could be.

  “Want me to take a turn?” he asked Orlando.

  His friend grimaced at him, and Solomon laughed. “Suit yourself, but I feel fine. I can take a turn.”

  “You’ve done enough,” Shireen said. “We’ve got this.”

  Solomon laughed again. Shireen may have said “we”, but she made no move to take the burden from Orlando. She was one of the bravest people Solomon had ever met, but she had reached her limit with the Soul Gaunt. For now, anyway. He had no doubt that if push came to shove, Shireen would be right there, in the thick of it, guarding his and Orlando’s backs.

  He dropped back to walk next to Lacy. “Feel anything different?”

  “I’m not sure. It seems like the trees are getting bigger or something, and there’s a different feel in the air. Like…it’s cleaner? Is that it?”

  “Could be. Listen.”

  Lacy cocked her head. “What? I don’t hear anything out of the ordinary.”

  “You sure? Here we are, the middle of the day, and all I hear is birds and rustling in the bushes.”

  “So?”

  “So when’s the last time that if you really listened, you didn’t hear cars, or planes, or some other noise of civilization? It was one of the first things I noticed when I came to your world. All the noise.”

  Lacy cocked her head again, a funny expression on her face. “You’re right. It’s like being in the deep, deep woods. Way up in the mountains or something. But the woods around here aren’t that remote.”

  “Around there, you mean. You’re not there anymore. And the trees are getting bigger.”

  She looked around her, shading her eyes with her hand as she followed the trunks up into the sky. “Are we in the Greenweald?”

  “Not yet,” Solomon said. “But soon.”

  He smiled at Lacy, and then quickened his pace to leave her to experience the change of worlds for herself. He had never done this either, and knew how she felt.

  For the next couple of hours, they continued to walk among an increasing number of trees which grew taller and taller. What sun made its way through the leaves warmed them, and the unease generated by the Soul Gaunt’s body faded. Soon, they were all talking quietly as if they were taking a friendly afternoon hike.

  Solomon was glad for it. Although his wounds still ached, and the sense of foreboding about facing Florian again never really left him, he was more relaxed than he had been in days. He had liked the little town of Martinsburg, and was glad that he had met Ed, and Lacy, and even Luke. He was only sorry that such sorrow and tragedy had come into their lives, and he was sure that some of it, at least, had to do with him.

  He was no fool. What were the chances that for the first time ever, a Soul Gaunt had crossed from his world to theirs, and it just happened to do it in the same small, out of the way place that he found himself? It wasn’t likely, which meant it was sent.

  Yet, Luke had first encountered, and been taken by, the thing a few weeks ago. Long before Solomon had found Martinsburg, or even been exiled. Before Celia was killed even. If it had been sent there after him, the timeline was all messed up.

  “Hey,” he said to Orlando, “how long have I been gone?�
�

  Orlando looked thoughtful, then, “About five days or so. Why?”

  “Hmm. Yeah, that matches up. I was just curious. The thought had suddenly popped into my head that maybe time didn’t match up between the two worlds, but I guess it does.”

  “Never occurred to me either. What made you think of that?”

  Solomon told him what he had been thinking. If there was anyone he was close to who would have the wits to figure this out, it was Orlando.

  “Huh. Yeah, I see what you mean,” his friend said. “It is an awfully big coincidence that the Gaunt would be here at the same time as you.” He lowered his voice. “Are you sure that the human is telling you the truth?”

  Solomon kept his voice quiet as well. “Lacy backs up how long he was gone for. And I don’t know why he’d lie.”

  “That doesn’t mean he was with the Soul Gaunt for that long, though. Maybe he’s saying that to cover something else. Maybe it really was only a few days.”

  “There’s nothing only about that, but I get your point. But still, I tend to believe him.”

  “That’s because you don’t think that way. I’ll keep an eye on him. Let’s not say anything to Shireen yet, though. She’s already on edge enough.”

  There was the sudden sound of an indrawn breath behind them, and Solomon turned to see Lacy, her hand over her mouth, staring past him. He turned to see what she was looking at.

  There, not far in front of them, was home. He had been so engrossed in his conversation that he hadn’t even noticed. But the Towering Oaks compound was there, a short distance away through the trees. The forest opened up, became less crowded in the compound, and the central tree, huge and majestic was plain to see.

  His eye misted over as he saw it. He was home. A place that he never thought to see again. A horn sounded, its note rising into the air, announcing their arrival to the world. It sounded like a heavenly choir to him.

  He turned back and smiled at Lacy, taking in Luke at the same time.

  “Welcome to the Greenweald.”

  CHAPTER 37

  It all felt so surreal. The trees were enormous, even bigger than the ones she had seen in California when she went there on vacation with her family as a young girl. Then, the sight of those towering trunks had fired her imagination, and gave her a life-long love of being in the forest, living closer to nature. It was why she and Luke had bought their house in the first place, and one of the things they had found they had in common when they first met.

  But now, here, for the first time, Lacy truly understood what it was to be in a primal wilderness, regardless of the orderly layout of the compound in front of her.

  The trees around her were truly majestic, rising to heights that she could barely comprehend. And yet, the ground around the trunks was almost neat, with little of the tangled undergrowth and piles of dead wood that were common in almost any other forest she had visited. And while the trees grew close together in some areas, there were clear aisles that wound through them, offering ease of passage.

  None of it looked as if it had been done by anyone human, or human like, though. There were no signs of stumps or fallen logs left to rot where they fell. She could hear the sounds of birds singing in the branches, some close at hand, others so far up that they were impossible for her to spot. It was as if the forest had grown in an ideal manner, like something out of a storybook.

  The thought made her glance over at Luke, who was gazing around in equal awe, turning his head to see from his one remaining eye, and she wondered how he must be feeling. While she loved nature and the woods, Luke did as well, plus he was so into those fantasy worlds that he read and created. He must feel that he had walked into one of his own stories.

  Reaching over, she took his hand and gave it a slight tug. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m just…wow. I mean, look at this, Lacy. It can’t be real, can it?”

  “It has to be. We’re here, and I can feel you and hear you. Unless I’m hallucinating badly, this is happening.”

  They didn’t have time for any more discussion as the compound in front of them had erupted into a hive of activity at the sound of the horn. In the near distance was a huge tree, bigger by far than any others around it. There were large double doors set into it, at the top of a broad, shallow set of steps. They opened and a tall man, dressed in armor, appeared, holding his hand up to shield his eyes as he peered at them. It was hard to tell from here, but Lacy thought she saw a smile crease the weathered face.

  “Jediah,” she heard Solomon say quietly, and then he was moving, his long legs eating the distance between himself and the other man. In moments, they had met and embraced like long lost brothers, suddenly reunited.

  “Come on,” a voice said at her side. She jumped in surprise. She had been so intent on what was happening with Solomon that she had almost forgotten the other two. Orlando was standing next to her, looking at her kindly. “I imagine this is all a little much. Hold on, both of you. It’s going to get a little more. You’re the first humans ever here in the Greenweald, that I know of, and definitely the first ones at Towering Oaks. So try to ignore the stares.”

  He took her arm and gently guided her forward. She pulled Luke with her, and they followed Shireen into the compound. Lacy tried to take it all in, but it was simply too much. The compound was orderly, laid out neatly, with plants that grew in defined beds, in almost perfect rows. The trees grew in straight lines, marching away into the distance, all spaced equally, with doors that opened in the same direction on each. Other trees, slightly larger, dotted the lines at equally spaced intervals, and she wondered what their purpose was.

  The people that watched with interest as they came were all tall and thin, and many were wearing armor in various shades of gray. Others wore gray robes, or pants and shirts, always in some tone. Now that she noticed it, so did Shireen and Orlando. She, Luke, and Solomon were the only ones not dressed in the color.

  “Alright, stop gawking!” Shireen barked as she strode in front of them. “Haven’t you ever seen a human before? Get back to work!”

  A few turned away, pretending to go back to whatever task they had been doing, but they kept stopping and watching them as they walked toward where Solomon stood talking to the other man.

  “Ah!” he said, turning to them as they neared. “Jediah, allow me to introduce my friends from earth. This is Lacy Roberts, and her husband Luke. I owe them both my life.”

  Jediah regarded them in silence. “Be that as it may,” he finally said, “I’m not sure of the wisdom of bringing humans here. Especially now.”

  “Trust me. They’ve earned the right to see the Greenweald. Besides, they are both in need of healing. Both were wounded by the Soul Gaunt that made its way there.”

  “As were you, obviously. You’re hurt more than you’re letting on. Well. What’s done is done. Let’s get inside, and we’ll call for the Healers. Shireen, Orlando, come with us.”

  He turned away without once directly acknowledging either Lacy or Luke, or commenting on Orlando’s burden.

  She could feel the tension in her husband, the anger at being ignored, but she squeezed his hand.

  Solomon turned to them with a smile. “Don’t be offended. For Jediah, that was an outpouring of emotion.”

  Lacy had to smile at his simple attempt to soothe their feelings. They moved to the steps, and then up, through the doors and into the interior of the Towering Oaks central tree.

  They were led to a comfortable room, with chairs made from single pieces of wood, some freestanding, some that appeared to be grown out of the floor itself.

  “Sit,” Jediah said. “Rest. I’ll summon the Healers. For all of you.”

  He strode off, back ram-rod straight, and despite what Solomon had said, Lacy breathed a little easier with the forceful presence of Jediah gone. Absently, she rubbed at her arm as she looked about her.

  “Still hurt?” Solomon asked.

  She shrugged. “Some, I guess. I don�
��t really pay much attention to it, but every now and then it flares up. How about you?”

  She still couldn’t believe the amount of damage that Solomon had taken in killing the Soul Gaunt. If her arm hurt from the thing simply touching her, then how bad did his wounds have to ache? Especially the one across his face, the one that had taken his eye.

  “I’m good,” he replied, and smiled at her, his face twisting beneath the slash across it. “If anyone can help, it’s the Healers here.”

  “But how?” Luke said. “If the doctors on earth couldn’t find anything wrong with Lacy, with all the modern equipment, then how will these healers?”

  His voice sounded harsh suddenly, almost argumentative. He was hurting too, Lacy realized. She hadn’t had time to think that much about it, but what had the Soul Gaunt done to him in the time that it had him? There was the obvious injury, the loss of his own eye, although there was no accompanying scar down his face. That was bad enough, of course, but what else?

  “Luke,” she said, quietly. “Easy. Obviously, we’re in a different place. Given what we’ve seen the last several days…what you’ve seen…is it so hard to believe that maybe there’s more to this than we would know?”

  Luke dropped his gaze. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s been such a long few weeks, and now…I don’t know. I feel safe now, I guess, but it’s coming back. The horror. The pain. I was so scared, all the time…and the things I did…I can’t…I don’t know how to…”

  Solomon came over and gently put his hand on Luke's shoulder. “It’s okay, Luke. You’ve been through more than the rest of us. I don’t know why, but we’re going to try to find out. And the Healers can help with all of your pain. The pain of your flesh, and the pain of your mind. The Greenweald itself can help heal your soul, if you let it.”