by JL Terra
Ben glanced at his watch, and she saw a text flash on the display. Daire was twenty feet in front of her, on the gravel drive, already heading for the car.
Amelia touched her shoulder.
Ben tugged on her arm, gentle enough to get her attention. “Let him go.”
Amelia crowded behind Bryn’s back like she was her personal guard. “Why? Is he leaving again?”
Bryn didn’t need to echo the same questions. She just shot Ben a look, and then stepped out of reach. Of both of them.
“We can talk in the car.”
“Why is he leaving?” Amelia pressed. “He can’t go off on his own, not when Bryn is the only one who knows how to get to the All Tree.”
She was still clutching the book. Bryn knew the words now, but it would take time to work out what they meant.
“You okay?” Ben’s question cut through her swirling thoughts.
“I will be.” When, she didn’t know.
There wasn’t anywhere in the world the Druid couldn’t find her if he wanted to. And he was so powerful, how were they going to fight him if he did show up? So far he’d done what he wanted, then moved on with his agenda. Had Daire even managed to hurt him?
Even if she figured out the location of the All Tree, how would they stop the Druid from doing whatever he wanted to next time?
They needed a way to fight him. A way to survive.
Some power they didn’t yet have.
She looked again in the direction Daire had gone. Not toward a vehicle, but into the trees. Amelia cried out. She weaved into Bryn and then went down on her hands and knees. Ben spun back. Amelia lifted her palms, where blood traced tiny cuts on her hands.
She stood and Bryn saw the same on her knees. She caught Amelia’s gaze and saw determination in her eyes. She motioned after Daire with a tilt of her head.
“Don’t go after him, Bryn. He’ll be back.” Ben took a step forward.
Amelia moved so she was between them and held her hands up. “Oops. I seem to be bleeding.”
Ben stopped. Resigned. He knew exactly what they were doing. “Amelia.” He shook his head, pulled off his jacket and tossed it to her. “Wrap your hands.”
She turned to Bryn. “Go.”
Bryn didn’t wait for Ben to figure a way around Amelia. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be affected by whatever was in her blood before she managed to bring Daire back.
She picked up her pace and trotted between the first of the trees. “Daire!”
Wind whipped her hair. A storm was rolling in across this flat plain. Just a storm. The Druid was gone. Was there another vehicle close by she didn’t know about? Ben said he’d be back, but how did this detour help? She needed to get somewhere she could work on the book. She clutched it even more tightly in her arms as she ran.
A path wound to the north. The trees bent left, then right, assaulted by the wind. She dodged one and heard the sound of rushing water behind her. A river?
Bryn heard the diesel engine of a truck. She found the road half a mile later at the end of the path. A black van had been parked on the side of the road. Daire stood by the open door talking to a tall, slender Asian woman.
The woman smiled up at him and put her hand on his arm.
Bryn took a step back. This was his detour? Ben could have told her that Daire was meeting some woman.
A branch swung down. Bryn weaved as though it had been a punch. She must have made a sound because Daire turned.
Bryn spun back and started walking away. She didn’t need to see the look on his face. Guilt. Pity for her. All she’d wanted was to keep their focus on taking care of this situation.
“Bryn!”
If he wanted to digress for a personal matter, that was entirely his business. Nothing to do with her.
She dodged two more branch swings, then got clipped on the upper part of her arm.
The blow made her stumble. Ouch. That was going to leave a bruise.
“Bryn, stop!”
“It’s fine,” she called back. Should have waited with Amelia and Ben. Should have listened. Silly her, thinking he might actually want to find out where the Druid was going. She might have gotten the upper hand by keeping the information contained in the song to herself. Silly me. But this wasn’t a pity party. Life was way too short for her to be petty.
“Bryn.” His boot steps caught up to her. “Look, that was—”
She waved a hand. “Nope. You don’t owe me an explanation for a conversation. That would be ridiculous. And it’s kind of insulting that you think I can’t just leave you to your chat, without you needing to baby me.”
“O-kay.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.” She wasn’t overreacting, he was.
“Maybe you could stop walking, and we can talk.”
“We can talk about the All Tree and about how to take out the Druid. That’s it.” After that, she was going to go somewhere very far away. Maybe to a place where there were no trees. And no wind. And no…
The voices.
The mist.
The screaming mist.
Bryn stopped so fast that Daire’s boot clipped hers. She scanned the trees. Listened. There it was, faintly in the distance. That rushing of water.
Had she taken a wrong turn, gotten lost heading back to the parking lot at the Viking Experience? Cold fingers stroked the back of her neck. She stepped away from Daire, even though common sense would tell her to stay with him, and gripped the book tighter.
“I’m not doing this again.” He was gone. The Druid had left. They needed to find him.
Daire said, “Something is coming.”
“No, it isn’t. I don’t believe you.” She couldn’t do this again. She wasn’t strong enough.
“Bryn.”
She ignored the softness of his tone. “Is it the Druid?” She prayed it wasn’t, even as a sick feeling ran through her stomach. She wanted to hurl. “What is it?”
“Flash flood.”
Chapter 29
The wall of water rushed toward them, a dark gray mass that moved like a wave. Daire shoved aside everything he’d wanted to say about his conversation with Mei. A log slammed against a tree and splintered. Bryn screamed, still holding the book to her chest. The one that would lead them to the Druid. Daire had to keep both of them safe. If the book got wet, the answers could be lost forever.
He hauled her up around the waist and took three running steps before the water hit them. His legs gave out and the icy cold liquid sucked them both under. Daire kicked off the ground and surfaced, Bryn still in his arms.
His shoulder glanced off a tree and he winced. Bryn whimpered and clutched him tight with one arm as they were swept along by the water through the trees, heading south toward the lake. Daire let go of her with one hand. His other arm tightened, and he felt her breath hitch as he squeezed her. But there was no time to apologize. He grabbed a tree with his arm. The rough bark sliced along his forearm, testing his grip. His shoulder wrenched as he jerked with the movement of the water.
He cried out because there was zero point trying to pretend it didn’t hurt. They swung around, and he tried to keep hold while the bark continued to bite into his skin. A log came out of nowhere and slammed into his hand. Daire lost his grip and they spun in the water, shoved against another tree. Bryn cried out.
And then they were swept away again.
Daire kicked with his legs and tried to angle them away from every obstacle. Twice he pushed against trees at the last second, so that he took the brunt of the force. No matter that Providence was trying to get him to give up his control of the people around him and their safety. It would have been so much easier to just walk away.
Until Bryn had called his bluff by keeping the information to herself.
So long as he could get the book from Bryn, Daire figured he could have Remy do the translation. She had access to any information she wanted. There was no way Remy wouldn’t be able to figure out the answer to the riddle—the lo
cation of the All Tree.
Daire didn’t understand how a mythical tree could actually exist. Unless it was a creation of Providence. Something called “good” that had been twisted through the millennia since the fall, until it represented something quite different. Appropriated by another culture to mean something integral to their belief system.
They slammed into another tree and then they were out in the open with stars above them. It was almost peaceful to allow the river to sweep them downstream. Almost. The sound of screams and panic filled the night air. Were people being hurt? Bryn shifted in his arms to look toward the Viking Experience village.
She whimpered again, and her teeth began to chatter. Her lips were blue. Not good. She would never admit to still feeling the effects of having all of the blood drained from her body. But the already-fragile physical state she was in made her more susceptible to the effects of the icy water.
This was exactly what Daire had been trying to avoid. He’d never wanted to be shoved into a corner where he needed her help to accomplish his mission. And while she would hate it when he sidelined her in order to take care of the Druid by himself, it was exactly what he’d have to do. That way his focus wouldn’t be split between the fight with his nature to protect those around him, and his need to finish this.
Which was exactly why he’d met up with Mei. To ask her to look after Amelia and Bryn.
If anyone could take care of them, it was his teammate.
“It’s washing away the whole village.” Bryn gripped his shoulder, her other arm curled around the soggy book.
He pulled her closer even while they moved through the water. “We can’t—”
His hip slammed into something solid and unmoving. Daire cried out and his lower body swept over the submerged obstacle. A car. Were they in the parking lot? Thinking it through logically kept at least part of his brain from dwelling on the extent to which it hurt. His entire leg had gone numb. To distract him further, he thought through all of his friends and what might have happened to them.
“I hope Mei didn’t get swept away.”
Bryn looked over his shoulder.
“Were Ben and Amelia in the parking lot?”
“Amelia cut herself.” She looked up at him.
“If she’s in the water, then the water will be contaminated and everyone will be in danger. It could spread to hundreds of people with no way to contain the problem.”
“They’re all going to turn into obsessed-with-her zombies?” Her voice was high, a shrill tone that made him wince.
“Is there anything we can do about it?” Daire said through gritted teeth. “The Druid did this—he’s the one who cursed Amelia’s bloodline.”
“So you’re absolving yourself of all responsibility?” Her teeth chattered together despite the tension in her jaw.
“What I’m doing is trying to take care of the things I can control, instead of worrying about every problem in the world that I can’t. If I manage to defeat the Druid, and the world is still in one piece, then I’ll get to the next problem on the list.” Daire spied the roof of a building rapidly approaching. “Eventually, if I live long enough, I’ll get to all of them.”
He grabbed the roof and managed to slow them down. Water slammed into them and then parted, attempting to push at the obstacle their bodies made. Daire put his back to the current and made a space for Bryn to move in front of him.
“Grab the roof.” He waited for her to let go of his shoulder and grab it, then he boosted her up. With no strength to scramble, she hung there with her legs in the water. Daire hauled himself over and sat on the edge of the roof, then pulled her up.
A cold breeze whipped at them. “The water level is going down already. When it does, we can get out of here.”
Bryn lay down on the roof, legs curled underneath her, clutching the book to her chest. Daire pulled off his leather jacket and covered her from shoulders to knees. The jacket wasn’t warm but it might protect her from the bite of the wind—at least the parts of the jacket the beings in the mist hadn’t cut up.
He laid the back of his hand on her forehead. He wasn’t entirely sure why. Once again they were in the path of destruction the Druid was intent on wreaking. Bryn had been caught up in it. Was this the end? Would she not be able to fight off the after effects of an encounter this time?
The water was already halfway down the building. The flash flood had moved through the village quickly and washed away all evidence of what had happened, causing yet more destruction. And for what? The Druid didn’t care about the aftermath. Was his enemy cleaning house, trying to slow them down and keep them from chasing him? Of course, that meant he actually thought they were a threat. Even after he had bested them so many times. Maybe they were more like an annoyance at this point, but Daire was determined to fight back. And win.
He leaned close to Bryn’s face and put the back of his hand in front of her nose and mouth. A tickle of breath touched his skin. The relief was coupled with his arm giving out. His shoulder slammed into the roof and he slid down a couple of inches, the grit of the tiles snagging his jeans.
He stopped nearly nose to nose with her.
Her eyes flickered. “Am I going to die?”
That was what she thought? “Everything is going to be fine.”
“Liar.”
“The water is almost gone.” Still moving fast, it was probably only three feet deep. Once it completely dissipated, they would have to find a way to climb down from this roof. After that…
“You look like you’re thinking about leaving again.”
He said, “It beats sitting around.”
“We’re not sitting.” The corners of her lips curled up.
“I already know what it’s like to feel powerless. To watch the years roll by in slow motion. Millions of hours. Minutes, one after the other stretched into oblivion. Did I need to experience this as well?”
“Why me, God?” Her lips pressed together in a rueful smile, and then she said, “I always thought that was kind of cliché. You could go to a bookstore and find ten books with the answer to that question.”
He smiled back at her. “Do they have any books about what it’s like to live for thousands of years?”
“How about books about what it’s like to have everyone think you’re crazy, and then when you finally find your people, you get abducted again. Any of those books? Because I have to admit, this really is getting pretty old.”
“I never wanted you to be dragged into this. I’m sorry,” he said. “The Druid was my business. I thought I’d killed him, but I was wrong.”
Her face softened. “You’re allowed to be wrong. And you’re allowed to believe the good. Neither of those is ever going to be a bad thing.”
Fatigue settled on him like a blanket. Daire’s eyelids lowered as she continued talking. After a minute, he felt himself sucked into the oblivion of unconsciousness.
Darkness surrounded him. Daire swam through the thick black. He pushed against the soupy consistency. He panicked for a second before realizing there was no surface to swim to. He could breathe, though it tasted like smoke. His feet touched bottom. The earth gave way two inches so that his boots left impressions in the sandy dirt. Strands of hair traced along his forehead to tickle the skin there. He brushed them back.
The tang of smoke burned his lungs as he inhaled. The walls were smooth stone, as though something huge had rubbed the jagged edges down with every pass through. He ran his fingers along the tunnel while he walked, his boots splashing in the inch or so of water under his feet. Was it water? He didn’t bend down to feel, not wanting to know if it was something else.
A distant rumble echoed to him. It shook the walls. The floor. The tickle of air brushed his hair and whipped it to a frenzy that smelled like acrid breath.
The roar that followed was like nothing on earth he had seen or heard.
Except for one thing.
The beast.
Daire pulled the sword from his j
acket. The feel of the leather wrapped around the grip under his fingers soothed him like nothing else. He held the tip outstretched in front and ran forward. To the source of the air and the noise.
He emerged in a great cavern. Fire wrapped around the eaves and flicked up the walls. Shapes tangled and danced across the rock face.
“Why are we here?”
He spun to find Bryn right beside him.
She said, “Am I dreaming?”
“I thought I was.”
“Maybe we both are.” She smiled. “What is this place?”
“I don’t know.” He surveyed the dark corners where the firelight didn’t penetrate. “Something is coming.”
“Oh, I hope it’s good.” She looked around. “Will it be good? Because I don’t need more scary right now.”
Daire wanted to draw her to him again, to pull her close and comfort her.
The ground rumbled again. The walls. Thunder echoed, morphing into a roar.
She took a step back. “What…”
That rush of wind.
“It’s a dragon.”
“What?” She shrieked the word even while Daire pulled her behind him.
He held the tip of his sword pointed across the cavern. The ceiling arched like a medieval cathedral. The sound of the dragon’s roar echoed up. Up.
Bryn tugged on his sleeve. The back of his jacket. “Daire. We should… We need to…”
The final tug wrenched him backward. He spun around as Bryn’s scream echoed down the hall, dragged backward by some unseen force.
He woke to the sound of that scream. The night sky. The air clear of smoke. No rumble of thunder. Nothing but stars, and the sound of emergency sirens.
The dragon wasn’t here. It was just a dream.
Daire pushed off the roof to sit up. He stared down at her. Bryn’s eyelids flickered. He felt her forehead and found it hot to the touch. She was burning up. “I won’t let him do this to you.”