Shaking my head, I focused, and seconds later, the Abom appeared. The crossover would have shaken him up, though. That was one saving grace.
Queet?
I’m here.
Where’s his soul-hole?
I’m looking.
I raised my whip, backing away. Another moment and Thor landed to my right, looking startled. I didn’t have time to ask why, but kept my focus entirely on the Abomination, trying to circle around toward his back.
Soul-holes were usually found in the base of the neck, but I had a problem given the Abom was in a zombie vehicle—the soul-hole could close up and basically give him a bonus immunity to my attacks. I could just leave him on the Crossroads, but that wasn’t an option in my mind. He’d wander until he found a way back to our realm. Or another realm. Either way, I didn’t feel comfortable leaving a menace like him in-body.
Queet, I need you to divert his attention once you’ve found his soul-hole.
I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. Queet misted around behind the Abom and the creature turned. His soul-hole is shining clear, but it’s beginning to fade so you’d better hurry.
The Abom turned, looking for a free and easy snack—spirits provided a lot of sustenance, and while Aboms didn’t favor them over the living, if they were near and easy for the picking, an Abom wouldn’t turn down a ghost. I shifted, darting behind it as the Abom focused on Queet. I bought my whip up, raising it over my head, and circled it with a loud series of cracks. The sound buoyed me up as a surge of adrenaline raced through my veins. I moved in, grateful that the zombie had been a short man, so it wasn’t such a difficult target. Narrowing my focus, I forced all of my will into sending the Abom home, into disrupting his existence and splitting him asunder from the body he had taken over. The energy spun and soared, leaving me dizzy with both power and frenzy.
I brought the whip to bear and it crackled, flames soaring into the air, breaking the silence with snaps and sparks. The only thing I could see was the soul-hole now, every fiber of my being focused on disrupting the flow of energy that looped through the zombie’s body. I let the fall of the whip fly, the sound piercing the air as it landed true, lancing the soul-hole.
The Abom shrieked, whirling around and lunging for me, and I stumbled back as a brilliant green light began to pulse from the base of its neck, from where I had split open the soul-hole. The Abom was bleeding out, his energy oozing out of the zombie’s body as the force of my will and my attack sent him sailing home to Pandoriam whence he had first come. But as the Abom fled the body, the zombie kept coming.
My energy was quickly sliding off like a cloak falling to the ground. Attacking an Abom left me a shattered wreck—an occupational hazard of my duty for Hecate. But as I tried to dive out of its way, my mind was so scattered that I could barely see. I tripped, sprawling in front of the zombie that was lurching my way.
It was about to pounce on me when a shadow fell across my body and Thor stood there, Mjölnir in hand. With the hammer he landed a solid blow broadside of the zombie’s head and the head went flying, leaving the neck to spout all sorts of vile ichor.
With one hand, Thor reached down and pulled me out of the way. With the other, he broadsided the zombie’s torso, sending it sprawling toward the yew tree. I could barely comprehend what was going on, the effects of exiling the Abom had hit me so hard. I struggled to sit up.
Queet, are you there? It was all I could do to ask.
I’m here, Fury. Thor’s smashing the zombie. Hold on. Can you get off the Crossroads without help?
I don’t know. It’s been so long since I’ve had to do this that— I stopped, unable to compose the end of the thought. I moaned and leaned to one side, vomiting into the straw-like grass. My stomach was empty, so all that came up was clear bile, but the dry heaves had hit me and I retched over and over until a trickle of blood ran down the side of my chin. I tried to wipe it away but all I could manage was to turn over and fall on my back.
Queet, I need help.
Thor’s coming, Fury. Hold on.
The sky was beginning to waver in and out—or perhaps it was my consciousness wavering—but before I closed my eyes, I saw Thor’s smiling face, staring down at me.
“Fury? Can you speak? Come on, I’ll get you off the Crossroads.”
The next moment, I felt him lift me up and, as every muscle in my body screamed against the movement, he started forward. It hurt so bad that I closed my eyes and tried to will myself to pass out. But that didn’t happen until we began to make the jump off the Crossroads. As everything shifted, I couldn’t hold it together any longer. I closed my eyes and gave into oblivion.
Chapter 9
“FURY? FURY, CAN you hear me?” The voice was one that I recognized as familiar, but that I couldn’t put a name to. But it sparked feelings of safety and comfort in me, and I let myself float in the sensation. “Fury? You need to wake up now.”
I slowly opened my eyes and found myself staring into the face of an old friend. His eyes were crimson, spinning as I watched, and then the crimson spun into orange into yellow into green, a kaleidoscope of beautiful colors.
“Jerako?”
“Yes, it’s me, Bonny Queen.” The man behind the eyes was ten feet tall, created entirely of woven foliage. His arms and legs were branches, thickly padded with moss. His face was formed from woven leaves and twigs, and he was like a living statue, emerging from the very essence of Gaia. His aura sparkled and crackled, the magic of his life force sourced directly from the heart of the world. He was ancient, Jerako was, as old as the hills and older. The original green man, Jack in the Green, the spirit of the wild, all of these things he was, and yet—so much more.
“Where am I?” I tried to sit up, but my head was spinning. Every time I made the jump to the Crossroads to take care of an Abomination, I was left with a massive energy hangover and a migraine from hell.
I looked around, grateful that the light was low. I was in a small chamber, settled on a pile of cushions and pillows. Fairy lights sparkled through the air, illuminating the room. Jason and Elan were with me, and Thor, and I spotted Zhan in the corner. Zhan was a hedgemite, and he reminded me of a satyr, only instead of horns on his head, he had branches, and he was slight of build and lithe. He gave me a wave and I forced a smile through the pounding pain in my head.
“You’re at the Arbortariam. You’re safe for the night. Drink this.” Jerako nodded to a cup full of steaming liquid that Elan was holding. “It will ease your headache and give you strength.”
I eagerly accepted the cup. Most of what the Greenlings had to offer tasted like dried fungus and dirt, but it worked miracles. I had been on the receiving end of their care before. I gulped down the earthy tea, closing my eyes as it flooded my system with warmth and strength. The pain in my head began to subside, and I finished the cup and leaned back on the pillows.
“Where are the others?”
“They’re safe, and eating dinner. The hedgemites are attending to them.”
The Greenlings—basically Gaia’s henchmen—had saved the hedgemite race from extinction, and now the hedgemites attended them, forever grateful for the favor.
After a moment, I felt strong enough to sit up. My body ached, my muscles were sore and tight. Even though I hadn’t been in a direct fight with the Abom, the massive surge of energy that had flowed through my body when I sent him home to Pandoriam had basically pummeled me. I stretched slowly, wincing as my back popped.
Thor seemed to have heard that. “Good pop or bad one?” he asked.
“Good…I hope.”
“One of the hedgemites will give you a back rub,” Jerako said.
It sounded wonderful. “Thank you, I could use it. So, have the others filled you in on what happened?”
Jerako frowned. “If you mean with the Abomination, yes. And the city of ghosts. You should not go there again, Fury. It becomes more dangerous with each passing day, and I don�
�t know how long it will be before simply entering the city becomes a death warrant.”
“I tend to agree,” I said. “Before long, all that will be left there will be the dead—both the walking dead and those in the spirit world. Although I have to say, I’m grateful that we managed to rescue the little girl. I wonder how many like her are left there, hiding in the shadows, doing what they can to scrounge out a living while avoiding the ghoul packs and the zombie hordes. I suppose there’s no way to rescue everybody who’s still hiding there.”
“There will always be those we can’t save,” Thor said. “We rejoice in the ones we can, and pray for the ones we can’t.”
“Jerako, I want to talk to you about something,” I said, grateful for the tea. My thoughts were starting to clear.
“I’m actually thankful that you showed up here,” Jerako said. “It saves us a trip to your village. We do have much to talk about. There is a growing danger that the trees are whispering about. One that will affect your entire world.”
I really didn’t want to hear that. The world had already been shaken up so much that it felt like we were still in a water globe, constantly being set into motion.
“If I could get some food, we can discuss matters.” I struggled to get up, and Elan helped me. As they guided me over to a long table in the corner, I saw that it was piled high with fruit and cheese and bread. Zhan brought me a cup of hot broth that tasted infinitely better than the tea had. As I ate, I began to tell Jerako about the village of the Frostlings.
JERAKO SAID NOTHING for a long time after I finished telling him what we had found. By now, I was used to the thoughtful nature of the Greenlings. They acted immediately when ordered by Gaia, but on all other things they took their time. Jerako had lived for tens of thousands of years, and that was a great many memories to sort through.
“We know there has been trouble throughout the woodland. The sentinels have sent reports about lycanthropes gathering under a banner. They are organizing, but we’re not yet sure why. There was a report of something coming off the World Tree, something massive and dangerous. That was about a month ago, but then it seemed to disappear and we heard no new reports.”
“An Abomination?” I asked, wondering why we hadn’t been informed of it.
“No, not an Abomination. And it wasn’t Lyon or any of the Elder Gods of Chaos either. The portal to that realm remains sealed shut, so firmly that I doubt that it will ever open again. But this was from somewhere high in the tree. The door flared to life with a brilliant blue light, and then faded. My sentinels sent word that whatever it was destroyed the zombies in the pit around the tree with the wave of one hand. A strange, cloaked figure, bathed in a nimbus of pale blue light, flanked by—”
“Four massive wolves,” I said.
“How did you know?” Jerako turned to look at me.
“I had a dream that I was out on the Tremble and Rasheya was calling for me. She wanted to tell me something. I was trying to find her when a man passed by, and I was absolutely petrified when I saw him. He was cloaked in a wraith of blue fire, flanked by four giant wolves. I was terrified he would see me when he passed by, but he looked neither right nor left, simply marched on toward the edge of the Tremble. I had hoped to stop there and seek her out—Rasheya, that is. But there’s no way we could have taken that route.”
Jerako nodded. “The Tremble has become even more unstable and will soon be uninhabitable. I fear the Mudarani will have to move eventually.”
“Why? They’re bred for the energy—it’s what makes them, them. And they live underground, where it doesn’t penetrate.” Jason looked confused.
Zhan fielded that one. “Because the energy of the Tremble now penetrates even into the soil itself, and below. Before long that will reach their underground caverns, and while they are definitely born and bred to handle the energy better than outsiders, they will not be able to stave off the effects of long-term permanent exposure.”
I stared at the table, thinking about the incredible society they had built up. The Mudarani were a product of the Tremble as much as I was a product of the Sandspit. To think of them losing their home weighed heavily on my heart, and I thought perhaps we should reach out and offer them a chance to come live with us at UnderBarrow. I’d have to talk to Tam, of course.
“Why has the Tremble become so unstable?” Elan asked.
Jerako let out a soft rumble. It sounded a lot like a cat purring, only so much louder.
“The second World Shift was brought about not only by Gaia’s wrath, but by the artifacts from the Weather Wars. Those ancient weapons were designed to destabilize weather patterns, and to interfere with the natural forces of the world. While the Tremble wasn’t originally considered a natural force, it became inherently woven into the very essence of the planet.
“So when the Thunderstrike and the Earth Shaker were used, they set into motion a series of destabilizations that are still going on. Think of it this way: the use of those artifacts have mutated the planet. Gaia can’t stop everything that’s happening, and so right now chaos is running rampant, especially around the magical places like the Tremble and the World Trees. This is happening all over the planet. There is no telling how far reaching this will be.”
I stared at the others, unsure of what to say. None of us had suspected that the world was still reeling and changing from what had gone down. I thought that perhaps Gaia had gone a little far with the last World Shift, but it wasn’t for me to question. Now, I realized that the changes weren’t over yet, and there was no telling what life would be like in another twenty years.
“What can we do about the Frostlings? Do you know what happened to them?” I decided the best question was the easiest one.
Jerako motioned to Zhan, and the hedgemite darted out of the room.
“That is something we can help you with. We got notification this morning about the village. They have been frozen in stasis, and that is something that I can abate. I will give you a scroll which, when read in the Frostlings’ village, will break the paralysis and bring them back to life. They are in essence being held by the force found in Limbo. Someone siphoned energy off the realm of Limbo and used it in a spell against them. Whoever did this has to be an extremely powerful sorcerer, that much I can tell you. Either that, or he has power over the elements of winter and ice.”
I caught my breath. “If the latter is true, then is UnderBarrow in danger? We are the Fae Court of Winter.”
“If whoever did this does indeed have power over the frost and snow, UnderBarrow might well be a target. The Frostlings might be able to tell you who cast the spell on their village. I would ask that once you rouse them, you ask them to send word to us through the sentinels. Gaia will want to know.”
As Zhan returned with a long ivory-colored tube, a sense of dread swept over me. We had thought we were starting to get things under control, that we were making headway on rebuilding our corner of civilization. Now, to learn everything was still shifting and changing? It all seemed too much.
“Of course,” was all I said. I took the scroll. “How do we use this?”
“When you reach the borders of their village, remove the scroll from the tube. Then stand just inside the borders and read the words. At first they will look like a bunch of strange glyphs, but as you hold the scroll, the words that you need to know will appear. Don’t worry about forcing any energy into it or trying to direct the energy. This scroll should break the curse, whatever the cause.” Jerako paused, then added, “I don’t want to rush you, but you should go. We need to find out what’s going on, and I have a feeling the Frostlings can tell us. The sooner we can get this information to Gaia, the better.”
I was still tired, but the headache had backed off and I could rest in the chariot on our way to Wyfair. Jerako’s sense of urgency seemed to seep into me, and I felt the urge to depart.
“I think you’re right. I can sense it. There’s something going on that we n
eed to know about, and its roots are deeper than any of us realize.” I had no clue why I added the latter, but it rung true.
Jerako stood, towering over us. I looked up into those wisdom-filled eyes, holding his gaze, trying to absorb as much strength from his wisdom that I could.
When I looked at him, truly looked at him, the cares of the world seemed to drift away, swept into the stream of time that flowed behind him. He had seen so many wars come and go, lived through change after change after change as the world evolved. When I thought of the time that he had been on this planet, I understood how he could sit back and observe, how he could take his time even when things seemed urgent. In a way, Jerako represented the peace of mind and heart that I had always longed for, and for a moment I wished I could stay here in the Arbortariam with him, live my life in a quiet contemplation.
He seemed to understand what I was thinking, because he reached across the table, placing one of his leaf-covered hands on my shoulder. His touch was alive and vibrant, and I felt his energy blend with mine.
“The world marches on, even for the Greenlings, Queen Fury. Everything moves and advances. Everything evolves, whether it be from forced circumstance or natural progression. There is no use fighting it, we just learn to adapt and move with it. If the world were to remain in stasis, everything would stagnate and life would wither and die. Great upheavals bring great leaps in the metamorphosis of this world.
“Fear not, and weep not for the changes. While they may seem catastrophic to mortals, in the great scheme of things, they are mere blips on the timeline. Life will survive, and you should know more than most that the spirit resides long after the body is faded away. So be of good cheer, and face the future with a bright heart.”
As he pulled away, I realized I was breathing easier. The Greenlings’ magic was strong, and their words were even more powerful. I smiled up at him, my shoulders relaxing.
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