by Eric Asher
“No. I offer only what is between us in trade.” Frank pulled a second block of fudge out of his bag and added it to the pile. And then a third.
“You offer more than you ask. In exchange, I offer you another piece of the tale of the basilisks, so no debt is owed. It is said there is a snake slayer and a cure that lives inside an animal from your realm. Find it, and it will protect you. But do not close its eyes, or the basilisk will take you.”
“You’re talking about a peacock.”
“A rare peacock, but that is indeed to what I refer. Should you wish to pull a basilisk fully into your realm, or step into another, the peacock may choose to lead you. Though I would suggest you leave that to the necromancer, as journeymen are far too rare a commodity.”
Frank extended his hand in what I assumed was an absolute affront to Fae bargaining tradition, but a slow smile lifted Oda’s lips. “We are agreed.”
Oda squeezed his hand. “We are agreed.” The pile between them vanished before Oda spoke again. “That is truly a glorious food.”
“Come visit us sometime,” Frank said. “They have a shop not far from us. I think I could talk them into making more for you.”
“A generous invitation. I did not expect to strike such a bargain this day, journeyman. I am impressed. You are not what you appear. Perhaps more Fae blood has survived in humanity than we realized.” Oda turned to look at me. “Necromancer, the realms are not what they once were. The Seals meant to block all passage have eroded over time. Now, if one can see the pathway, one could step into the ruins of Falias in Faerie, see those who were left behind, or walk the darkness of Murias itself.”
She paused for a time before reaching into a pocket. “A token. May it serve you well when you find yourself in a darkness you cannot escape.”
I looked to Nixie, not sure if I should take the small box, but she gave me a nod. I held out my hand, and Oda removed something from the box, setting a warm crystal vessel on my palm. A tiny chip of wood with a vibrant flame danced inside it.
“Consider this an early delivery for a piece of what is to come. That is a fragment of an eternal flame of Murias.”
I nodded to Oda, and she smiled.
“You all have been kind to welcome me into your camp. Good luck in your journeys, and perhaps I will meet some of you again in Atlantis.” Oda picked up her towering pack with little effort, and put her glamour in place once more, vanishing from sight even though I knew she was nearby.
We waited until she was gone before any of us spoke, the ley lines dimming as she went deeper into the wastes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Foster scouted the copse of trees while we waited. It was some time before he returned, gliding back down to land by Frank’s beef jerky. He hacked off a piece and started chewing on it.
“Anything?” Nixie asked.
Foster shook his head. “As best I can tell, we’re alone.”
I took a bottle of water when Frank offered, downing a third of it before closing the lid and dropping it into my own pack. “Did you know her?”
Nixie looked up from the small pack of trail mix Frank had brought. “Oda? No. I am familiar with the stories of the wandering Fae merchants, but I have known few of them in my time.”
I nodded and turned back to Frank. “That was a hell of a job you did. How is our inventory?”
Frank smiled and opened the duffel bag, revealing several more boxes and carefully packed parcels of tissue paper. “I didn’t have to use nearly as much as I thought I would.”
Nixie pulled back the edge of the bag and looked inside. “Did you feel her magic? The compulsion that follows the traders?”
“I didn’t feel anything,” Frank said. “It was like negotiating with anyone else. Most people seem to be happy if they get what they want, even if they have to give up a little extra for it.”
“It is a delicate balance. There are many who succeed in trading with the Fae merchants, only to offend them at some subtle level and lose the ability to trade with them again. I think Shamus will be happy with what you have established with Oda.”
“Do we need to find any more merchants?” Frank asked. “I still have enough left to trade.”
“I do not believe so. The rest can return to inventory, much to the relief of your accounts.”
“I thought there would be more stabbing,” Foster said as he finished the small strip of beef jerky. “I really like it when there’s more stabbing.”
“I really like it when there’s less stabbing,” I said, exchanging a grin with the fairy. “Of course, we don’t know what’s stalking us while we’re looking for Gaia. You might get to stab something yet.”
Foster shrugged. “All I know is I’m coming to fight the basilisk with you. Have never fought one, and I know Neil has, and that means I need to before the next family reunion. Or I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Family reunion?” Frank asked. “You have those in Faerie?”
“Obviously. Doesn’t everyone?”
“No,” Nixie said with a laugh. “Most assuredly not. You have some pretty good people in your family, Foster. Some of us don’t and have no interest in seeing them again.”
“I’m not saying I’m interested in seeing them all again. I’m just saying that’s what we do. But I suppose you’re right, and it will probably be a little more awkward now that Nudd is dead.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Some of them really liked that asshole.”
Frank barked out a laugh at that. “Now you’re talking a language I can relate to.”
We finished up our snacks and drinks before Frank closed his duffel bag and threw it over his shoulder again. We were silent for a time, but we rose together, all knowing it was time to continue on.
“Are we going to try to find Gaia on foot?” Nixie asked.
I rubbed my chin. “Good question. I was able to find the dam, so I’m wondering if we could find a landmark farther north and walk through the Abyss to save time.”
Foster hovered between Nixie and Frank. “What about Gaia? She’s a landmark in herself, isn’t she? Or, at the very least, your power is intertwined with hers. Maybe you can follow that through the Abyss.”
Nixie pursed her lips. “I’m not sure about that. Gaia gifted him a portion of her power to free him. I don’t know that they are truly tied together with that kind of bond.”
“It’s worth a try,” I said. “At worst, we’ll end up in the wrong place, and we can jump back to the dam.”
Foster settled onto Frank’s collar. “I think it could work. It’s like when we know a Fae is nearby with glamour. We might not be able to see through it, but we know it’s there.”
Nixie looked away into the wastelands for a time before returning her gaze to Foster. “You could be right. It is still a dangerous gamble. There are things in the wastelands it would be best to avoid.”
Frank let out a nervous laugh. “Let’s be honest. Gaia is probably one of those things.”
“A fair point.”
“Gather around, kids. Seatbelts fastened and hold on tight.”
“Are you saying this is going to be like a roller coaster or something?” Frank just finished his question as I pulled on my powers, and we stepped back into the Abyss.
* * *
It took all of two seconds to realize using Gaia as a landmark would not be the same as a fixed location. The gentle tug I’d felt on my entire being when aiming for the shop, or even the bridge, was lost in a bizarre fluctuation pulling me in ten directions at once.
I kept a tight grip on Nixie and Frank as the golden stars of the Abyss slowly brightened. But more had changed than the pull on my being. The path wasn’t as wide, and I pulled our group tighter as the edge of those golden bricks grew far too close.
But each step brought a different sensation, as if some of that wild pull had been refracted in the darkness. And while it might have been a fight for every step forward, the pull grew stronger in fewer dir
ections.
“Damian, are you okay?”
Nixie’s voice sounded distant, like it was deep inside a cave and had echoed up to me. I offered her a nod, as I couldn’t unclench my jaw, instead trudging forward as best I could.
Golden motes flickered around us and fled to the right of the path before the pull on my being solidified, and I followed it without hesitation. I told myself it would either get us closer to Gaia, or we’d have to backtrack, and I tried not to think of what could go horribly wrong as we shot out over the path and passed the writhing mass of a lamprey creature.
Before I could so much as cringe at the sudden quickness of the Eldritch thing, darkness took us.
This wasn’t the slow dimming of the stars, replaced by the sun. This was a violent shift, as if some great power had picked us up and hurled us through the void. But then the darkness did split, the sun blinded us, but the sensation of falling didn’t stop, and I realized we were some twenty feet above the ground.
“Shit!” It was all I could think to yell as the ground rushed up toward us.
Thankfully, Nixie and Foster were quicker on their feet. Foster exploded into his full-size form, wrapping his arms around Frank, and gliding to the earth. Nixie summoned a whirlpool of water from the mud below us, and I splashed into it before it threw me out the side and I crashed through the mud, finally coming to a stop face down in a rather large puddle.
“Shit.”
“Are you broken?” a deep voice boomed.
I blinked the mud out of my eyes before wiping the rest on my shirt. Nixie took mercy on me and blasted my face with water. Of course, a little warning would have been nice. I spluttered and coughed and looked with clear vision at the towering form beside me.
“Stump?”
“Young necromancer. It is good to see that you do not appear to be broken in any significant way. What brings you to the wastelands outside of Falias? Have you also come seeking knowledge of the changes upon the earth?”
I squinted at the green man. “Not in so many words. I’m actually looking for Gaia. Have you seen her recently?”
The vines and bark that formed the green man’s face twisted up in a smile. “Of course!” He gestured to a wide field of saplings not far from where we’d landed. I cringed at the thought of what would’ve happened had we crashed into those instead.
“Gaia raised those?” Nixie asked, stepping up beside me and helping pull me to my feet.
“Not long before you arrived. She is still skilled in the raising of the forests, but it will take many years to undo the damage Nudd inflicted on these lands.”
“Is Gaia here?” I asked.
“Not in our exact location, as I am sure you have become aware. You are quite observant in my experience, but she is not far. Walk with me through this young forest and I will take you to the goddess. We will find her where the trees grow higher, and the wastelands are not so empty.”
I wasn’t sure what Stump meant by all of that, but if he thought it was within walking distance, I could certainly follow the green man for a while.
I turned back to Frank, and he was somehow clear of mud and dirt where Foster had dropped him, but with an obvious wetness about his person. I grinned when I realized Nixie must have cleaned him off, and as I went to ask her to do the same, I was met with a whirlwind of water that quickly became mud, and left me damp, if not much cleaner.
With that, the group followed Stump into the field of saplings. It wasn’t only the trees that had returned to the earth. Dense grass had taken root along what would be the forest floor, and I could hear the quiet chirrup of distant crickets.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
For a brief moment, I thought Stump was being unusually quiet. But as we made our way through the new forest, carefully avoiding the saplings, the green man started to fill us in on what he’d been doing away from Rivercene.
“We left the mansion under great protection. Whip and her most loyal are watching the grounds and tending the home. Gaia intends to return to Rivercene, you know. I believe her time as the innkeeper has made her fond of the building, be it made by commoner hands or not.
“And there is much she is unhappy with from the commoners, but she grew to know many as an innkeeper, and it has perhaps softened the fury she once held at the destruction they wrought upon our world.”
“Do we need to be worried about that?” I asked. “Is she going to attack any of the commoners?”
“The commoners themselves? Of course not. The constructs that poison our waters and seed the earth like a cancer? I suppose that remains to be seen as it is hard to predict the machinations of a Titan, much less one who has been so recently reborn. But she can feel poison, Damian, and it will not go unaddressed.”
“Maybe she’ll move a little faster than the commoners do,” Foster said from his perch on Frank’s shoulder.
“I believe she appreciates the efforts of many who aim to preserve what others take for nothing but supply for their factories.”
“What do you mean?” I asked as we entered a section of the woods that grew above our heads.
“The death of the great forests in the south. The green men have long wept for their loss, and more than one god has fallen before those machines. Once Camazotz stood with us against them, and the curse the commoners thought befell those woods kept them away for generations. It still protects some of the forests. But commoners grow bolder and more destructive, and it will only require time before all is lost.”
“Then why are you here?” Nixie asked. “Instead of doing something for the other forests?”
“Because there is poison here. A dark poison that will accelerate the fall of this realm if it is not contained.”
“That is enough, Stump,” an ethereal voice said, echoing around us. A tall shadow stepped between the narrow trunks, ducking beneath a branch some eight feet in the air. I couldn’t help but smile when Gaia appeared before us, dressed in a large cable-knit sweater that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the innkeeper.
“Nice sweater.”
Gaia glanced down at the sweater. “Ah, yes, Whip was able to knit this for me. I am quite fond of it. It is far more comfortable than a linen tunic. She made much of the innkeeper’s garb, did you know?”
“You used to wear a tunic?” I asked.
“I did, long ago. Before the dark days spent in the Abyss.” She paused. “And how does this new world find you, Damian Vesik?”
“Not dead, which is great. But it seems pretty much the same as before. Still have people trying to kill us. Well, Fae, anyhow. How are you?”
Gaia smiled, and instead of answering, gave us a demonstration. She knelt on the earth and splayed her fingers out, sending a pulse of golden light across the ground that dimmed and brightened like a heartbeat. It ran through the saplings, and they changed, shifting and twisting as they swayed in place as if a time-lapse camera had captured their sudden growth over a decade.
“I am glad to say bequeathing a fraction of my powers to save you has not dulled my own magicks. I am sure I will encounter the cost one day, but I stand strong enough to face healing this world. Walk with me, friends, as we once walked the Abyss together.”
We followed Gaia through the trees, some of them now looming ten feet over our heads. I remembered the utter drain on my powers raising the forest in Greenville had been. And that had been a tiny fraction of what we’d just witnessed from Gaia. I had to admit I hadn’t fully explored the idea of what it might mean for her to be a Titan.
The golden glow around her faded as we went deeper into the woods until she looked as average as any one of us outside of her extraordinary height. She slowed as the trees thinned, and in the distance, I could make out a wide stretch of the wastelands.
“What brings you here?” Gaia’s gaze swept across our party, lingering on each of us in turn. “Surely you did not come seeking me. You know I have a great task ahead if I am to clean the wastes.”
“We didn’t know
you were doing that,” Frank said. “We came here looking to trade with one of the wandering merchants.”
“I have encountered them many times in the past week. Were you successful?”
Frank reached into his pocket, holding up the eternal flame from Murias.
“May I?” Gaia asked.
When Frank nodded, she plucked the tiny crystal from his hand and held it up to her eye. She turned it over, smiling as the flame shifted, as if it had always been burning from the opposite side of the wood.
“A rare thing, the eternal flame. A light in the darkness that will burn until the stars die, and oblivion welcomes us all.”
“That got dark,” Foster muttered.
“No, Demon Sword. A new world begins in the night, and though we may not be witness to it, it brings me comfort to know the end of one is not the end of all.”
We continued on in silence after Gaia returned the crystal to Frank. I looked up at Stump, surprised at the green man’s quiet presence.
“Everything okay?”
The green man looked down at my question. “Yes, but we are not alone. You will see outside the trees. Others have come to witness the rebirth of our goddess.”
“Stop calling me that,” Gaia said.
I didn’t miss the small smile that twisted the vines of Stump’s face. “Of course, my goddess.”
We left the tallest of the trees behind, entering another field of saplings before they trailed away to nothing but grass and eventually mud. At the northern edge of the field stood a large gathering of Fae. They could be curious by nature, and I wouldn’t have thought much of it if I hadn’t caught the crystalline glint of sunlight on translucent wings.
“Unseelie,” Foster hissed. His sword came into his hand as he exploded into his Proelium state.
The fairy dust caught me off guard, and I couldn’t stave off a pair of sneezes. I was sure my sneezing was definitely imposing to the Unseelie Fae facing us now.