“Well?” Jacob asked her.
Jane pulled back and looked at him. “I don’t know. It seemed like the Divide didn’t want me there for a second, but then everything returned to normal. I went close enough to spot the missing soldier. He was standing in the middle of a clearing looking confused.” She shrugged and rolled her map back up. “We can send someone over with an anchor for him later.”
“Why don’t you and Jackie return to Duluth?” Eriunia said to Carvin. “See if anything odd has happened there. We’ll return there when we’ve talked to Coronia.”
“I’m going to stay here a few days. Then I’ll meet you in Duluth,” Puck volunteered. He stomped his hooves on the stone floor and tapped his fingers on the table. “I feel like something bad is happening, but I can’t put my finger on it.” He jerked his thumb back toward the tree and continued. “That should not have happened. Only mortals can cross over the Divide, and then only with the help of a map maker and an anchor. A tree is a part of the ground, rooted in the earth. It cannot move through the Divide.”
A sense of unease settled over Jane and she shook with an involuntary shudder. Puck’s tone left her nervous, almost scared. The goblin leader had seen many things, that much she knew, and for him to claim he was uneasy made her even more apprehensive.
“Let’s get going,” Eriunia said finally. “I want to be in and out of the Outpost before the satyrs know we’re there. I have no doubt our forces vastly outnumber theirs, but I have no interest in starting a fight with them if we can avoid it.” She tried to suppress the nagging feeling that they would soon need every soldier they could muster.
There was a mushroom circle on shore, but it took Jane and the others almost three hours to reach it. The fisherman who finally offered them a ride was grumpy and refused to speak as he ferried them to shore. The moment their feet stepped off the boat, he gave a huge push and used his small steam engine to pull away. After five minutes, his boat was little more than a tiny speck on the horizon.
“The circle’s this way,” Bella said. She knew where most of the mushroom circles were located on the North Shore and pointed up the hill into the forest. The shore in this area was rocky, strewn with massive outcroppings of stone that cast sprays of water into the air each time a wave struck them. After twenty feet, a forest rose up from the land, blocking their view of the lake and muting the sounds of waves against stone.
They walked quickly through the pine forest, and Jane marvelled at the massive white pines that still grew across the North Shore on this side. Despite the general destruction to the south, the trees this far north had survived well enough.
After about twenty minutes of hiking, they entered a clearing sheltered by ancient spires, even by white pine standards. On the ground in the middle of the clearing was a circle of mushrooms. Eriunia looked at Bella, who would be their guide on this trip. Eriunia could find a few places on the mushroom trails, but she was terrible at navigating the lines.
“Shall we?” Bella asked. She focused on the circle and a circle of lights appeared, winking on and off. Then they began to flash faster and faster. The ancient trails opened to her calling, and they stepped inside.
7: Trouble in the Underpaths
Jane knew something was wrong the moment they entered the lines between the mushroom circles. She felt jerky, halting movements, as if Bella was having a hard time pushing them in the right direction. The ground flashed by, and the twinkling lights pulsed around them in a random pattern. Instead of a lightning-fast roller-coaster ride she remembered, streaks of darkness flew by them. She saw places of sheer and utter darkness that reminded her of the Divide. She noticed they circled the exit several times, as if they were blocked from leaving. Each time, Bella’s grip on them tightened. Finally she saw a circle of light, and Jane braced for the tumble out of the mushroom circle. Jacob was in the lead, and Jane saw a surprised look on his face.
“Ahhh,” Jacob shouted. He shot up into the air almost six feet before falling to the ground outside the circle. The impact blasted the air from his lungs, and he fought to replace the sudden air loss. Jacob struggled to regain his bearings when he saw Jane fly out of the circle in the same way, followed by Eriunia and Bella. Time seemed to slow as he saw Jane’s startled face falling toward him, and suddenly his breath vanished again as she slammed into him. Jacob felt like a lineman had struck him in the stomach without his pads on.
Jane rolled to the side. Eriunia flew over them both but managed to roll and absorb the impact. Landing on Jacob had kept the wind from being knocked out of Jane, but Jacob gasped for air. His eyes bulged as he groaned and moaned.
“I’m sorry,” Bella squeaked. She fluttered above them nervously. “I’ve never seen the pathways so violent before.”
“Or so dark,” Eriunia said thoughtfully. The assassin was up to something, but she could not lay her finger on what it was. They needed more information, and they needed it fast. Was this a personal vendetta the assassin was pursuing, revenge for the defeat he suffered at their last encounter, or something more sinister?
When Jacob finally regained his breath and composure, they gathered their small packs of supplies and tried to get their bearings.
“I know I brought us out just west of the ruined cities, but the pathways were so dark,” Bella said apologetically. She hovered on Jane’s shoulder and buried her face in her shirt collar. Her wings beat a nervous pattern, and she refused to be consoled. She fluttered from shoulder to shoulder and then hopped to the ground and buried her face in her hands. Only when Jane carefully hugged her and told her how much they all loved her was she able to stop crying and look at them again.
“It is all right, Bella,” Eriunia said. She looked around and finally shrugged. “I guess we walk east and see what we can find.” Suddenly she was happy she had not tried to guide them here. Had she attempted the trip, they would probably have come out farther away.
The land around them was filled with ferns and trees whose bark and trunks were covered in layers of moss. All around them the forest smelled earthy, and Jane took a deep breath. She loved the smells of the forest that were such a stark contrast to the stink of exhaust of the city. The trees growing in this area were the great-grandfathers of their race and had never seen the woodcutter’s ax. This was what Minnesota had looked like when the first explorers had ventured into the state. The path through the forest had probably been made by deer. It wandered some but still kept them going in the right direction. Despite reassurances, Bella continued to flutter from shoulder to shoulder wringing her hands until Jane finally made her sit down and rest on her arm. She worried that the little fairy would give herself a heart attack if she kept flitting around.
“I think we’re getting closer,” Eriunia said after they had been walking for about an hour. The trees were getting smaller and large areas looked like they had once been fields. Broken-down buildings made of timber appeared, letting them know they were getting closer to the Outpost. Finally the elf motioned for a halt and pointed to a nearby structure.
“This is close enough,” Eriunia said. “We’ll make camp inside that building for the night and start out in the morning. I believe Coronia is being held in the old cathedral down by the river, but we’ll find out for sure in the morning.” She knew entering the city in daylight would be dangerous, but she needed to see what was coming for her.
“What makes you think this person will help us?” Jane asked. She let Jacob pull her pack from her back and then took it from him. “Thanks.” The pack was green and made from a supple leather, held shut with a wooden button. Inside she had a blanket and a other camping items they’d need. She pulled the blanket from the depths and began arranging it on the ground. It was warm enough that she knew she wouldn’t need to wrap it around her, and was thick enough to make a comfortable sleeping pad for the night. Eriunia quickly put together a cooking fire from sticks and bran
ches gathered from the old farmstead.
Jacob walked the perimeter, then went about gathering more firewood for the night just in case the temperature dropped. As he returned with a last armload of kindling, he noticed Bella had taken a high perch and was watching in every direction. She fluttered and bounced from ledge to ledge until Jacob was sure her wings would fall off.
“The last I heard, Coronia had been taken captive by the brothers,” Eriunia finally said, cryptically.
“Wait a minute!” Jane exclaimed. “Why haven’t we tried to free her? If there are people here being held against their will, we should have tried before now.”
“The prisoners here are few in number and, despite what Carvin thinks, those who control the city now have a substantial number of warriors, and they’re willing to die defending their outpost. Until recently, it wasn’t in our best interest to come here and show how strong we’ve become. Sometimes wars and rebellions are dirty things. The right choice for us isn’t always the best choice for those around us.”
Jane frowned. She didn’t like knowing that Eriunia had withheld this from them, but a part of her acknowledged what Eriunia had said and that they couldn’t be aware of everything happening at all times. This place would be a priority for them later.
They cooked a light supper in an old, battered frying pan Eriunia pulled out of her seemingly bottomless pack. A wrapped package she produced contained fruit and three potatoes. Another package held cooked chicken, and they took turns pulling pieces of meat off the bird and nibbling on them. It was flavored with a blend of spices Jane had not tasted before, but they made her mouth water.
“Are you going to eat that?” Jane asked Jacob. He was holding the last piece of his chicken in his hand but was taking big bites of a juicy red apple. The apple was the sweetest thing he had ever tasted, and he thought someone must have found a way to put sugar straight into it.
“Here,” Jacob offered. “I like the apple better anyway.” He handed her the chicken leg.
“That was perfect,” Bella commented. She daintily wiped the remains of grease from her fingers on a tiny bit of cloth, then wrapped herself in a soft piece of flannel. She was forced to fold her wings in close in order to get completely underneath the small blanket, but when she did, she sighed happily and fell asleep immediately.
They all retired soon after.
Close to midnight, Eriunia woke them each with a silent hand on their shoulders. Jane woke with a start, her eyes flashing around as her mind tried to catch up to where she was. The warning look in the elf’s eyes told her to keep silent. Jane sat up and looked around. The moon was shining through the remains of an old window, giving her just enough light to see what she was doing as she put her shoes on.
“Come,” Eriunia said quietly to them. She motioned with a single finger, and they stood and followed her to the ruined doorway. The planks above the doorframe had fallen in and lay at an angle across the opening. Eriunia watched the overgrown field for almost a minute before what had set off her cautions stepped out onto the open. Out across the field, a pair of figures emerged from the forest and started walking across the weedy field. One carried a gnarled bow over his shoulder, while the other had a pair of spiked cudgels swinging at his waist. The one with the bow was human, but the other looked to be a distant relative of Puck, though much bigger. He had a pair of horns sticking out of his head, and his body was covered with hair. His eyes were bigger then the human’s, and Eriunia knew his race had excellent night vision.
“A pair of scouts for the twins,” Eriunia whispered.
“What kind of creature is that one?” Jacob asked.
“Satyr,” Eriunia replied. “Strong and quick, most of them live in or near the Grecian city-states. A few made the voyage here.”
The scouts watched the meadow as if sensing someone was close by, some inner alarm maybe telling them they were being watched.
Jacob and Jane carefully withdrew to the inner darkness of the ruined building. The fire was almost completely out. Only the small flickering of a few red coals provided any light beyond the bits of moonlight that penetrated the remains of the roof and windows.
Jane thought it would be almost impossible to sleep with the knowledge they were fifty feet from the scouts, who were perhaps working for those who meant them harm. But she knew Eriunia would be keeping watch, and she finally drifted off. In her dreams, she was running down a curtain of darkness desperately looking for a place to cross over, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t. In the distance, a satyr in brown armor chased her as she ran.
Jane awoke with a start and groggily lifted her right arm to look at her watch. Four thirty in the morning. All she wanted was to fall back to sleep. Bella lay nearby, and Jane edged a little further away, scared she would roll over and hurt the fairy. Something hard stuck in her back, and she shifted to a more comfortable position. She managed to doze another half hour, and then, as the sun began to rise, she slid off her blanket and started rolling it up. When she was done, she snuck back over to the door and watched. The scouts had moved on and the field was quiet.
As she watched, she saw a flash from the Divide—something that was becoming all too common. A figure appeared standing in the field. The problems with the Divide must be growing worse, Jane thought. She was too far away from her current map to use it, and she wondered if she could make another that would cover more of Minnesota. The figure out in the field appeared to be moving rocks, leaning over and picking them off the ground. After glancing at each, the figure tossed most off to the side, but now and again kept one. The being was so focused on this work, Jane thought it would continue forever.
“You all right?” Jacob asked quietly, looking toward where she was staring out at the overgrown field.
Jane jumped and yelped, completely startled. She slammed the back of her head against a piece of wood hanging loose above her. The piece of timber swung precariously a moment, then fell and clattered noisily.
“Uh oh, what’s that?” Jacob said out loud. Across the field, the apparition had stopped picking up rocks and looked toward the abandoned building. “I think we caught its attention.” He started to back up, looking for his shield.
“What happened?” Eriunia asked. She crossed to them in a single bound. The elf looked out the door and spotted the creature looking toward them. His eyes, at first a light blue, turned to an angry reddish color. “Where did that come from?”
“I don’t know,” Jane said. She rubbed the top of her head and checked the tips of her fingers for blood, but there was none. For that she was thankful. “I thought you’d know. There was a flash from the Divide, and suddenly it was there.”
“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Eriunia said. She watched the creature as it took a tentative step toward them. Her heart started to race. “I think we should run.”
“I bumped the edge of the door,” Jane said apologetically. She scrambled back to where her blanket and pack lay and slipped her shoulders into the arm straps. She turned and watched as Jacob grabbed his sword and shield and slung the sword from his waist. His backpack hung off one shoulder. They hurried to Eriunia.
“It’s coming,” Eriunia said. She pointed. The creature was now gliding across the ground toward them. Its eyes were fixed on the building, and its arms extended toward them.
“Get back,” Eriunia said. She led them through the back of the ruined building into the open field beyond. As she passed Bella, she scooped the fairy into her arms and cradled her to protect her wings as they bolted away.
Jane followed Eriunia. They slipped around the ruined remains of a wooden wall and through a broken-down fence that she assumed had once held livestock. She glanced behind them. The phantom was in the middle of the broken-down house, still headed toward them. They ran hard across the overgrown field. A couple stalks of corn had pushed through the
weeds and managed to grow to half their normal height. The ground was soft, and Jane figured it had rained recently because their feet slipped and sank into the ground with each step.
They reached the middle of the field when Eriunia stopped and turned toward the specter. The elf knew it was pointless to run further. The creature would have them within a minute anyway. Better to turn and face their attacker then die running like cowards.
“What are you doing?” Jane asked in a panic. She continued to stumble back from the advancing spirit.
“Wait,” Eriunia said. She pointed to the horizon, where the sun was just peeking out over the top of the trees. Eriunia stood her ground as the outstretched hands reached toward her. In an instant, the light struck the creature. It twinkled with a swirl of bluish lights that fluttered for a moment, then the being vanished as the full power of the sun struck its body.
“Did you know that would happen?” Jacob asked.
“I hoped it would,” Eriunia replied. “My people have collected much lore over the millennia on many subjects. Besides, we never would have outrun the creature. If it had caught us, we probably would have joined it in its eternal slumber.”
“A ghost? Why would a ghost rise up out of the ground?” Jacob asked. He leaned over and rested his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths. He was not used to going from asleep to running that quickly.
“Let’s move,” said Eriunia. “I don’t believe it was a ghost or anything like that. I think it was an image somehow reflecting something on the other side of the Divide.” She paused a moment to adjust her pack and make sure everything was secure, then motioned them onward. “I believe that whatever is happening with the Divide is affecting everything around us.”
Jane followed the elf and Jacob as they started jogging toward the remnants of the city. An overgrown road led them east, away from the farmstead and into the once-glorious Shining Cities. The forest came and went in clumps as Jane followed at a jog.
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