Into the Forest Shadows

by J. A. Marlow

  Her eyes wanted to close. Even with Captain Straos out among the trees she could feel the spores winning. The anger dulled with her exhaustion.

  With only her eyes working she studied everything around her that she could easily see. Every tree, hoping for signs of movement. Searching for movement in the shadows. The giant birds nestled in one of the large trees of the barrier wall.

  "Where is it? It must be here!" Captain Straos shouted.

  "What do you want now?" Diasis barked back.

  Captain Straos stomped back, waving the device in the air. "The technology! I know what to look for, but all I'm getting are a few strange power readings. And they are coming from the bulb trees."

  "I know not of what you seek. Perhaps the girl has deceived you."

  "No, I know this is the place." He pushed his face up in Kate's face. "Where is it? Where are the Ancients hiding their technology? Underground? In a corner of the mesa? They allowed you in their city, you must know!"

  Kate felt the binding on her lungs and throat ease. So, she was allowed to talk? No way.

  "Give her an incentive to talk," Diasis said with a toothy grin.

  Kate eyed him. She might have a way to make sure she never talked to anyone again. She found her voice and taunted, "Perhaps the Ancients will show you what they think of traitors. The Shadow Creatures are supposed to be helpers, not usurpers."

  "You know nothing!" The edges of razored fur came up on his back.

  "I know more than you think. You are the true traitor. Oh, I'm sorry, you don't like what I'm saying? Yet, I'm right. Who did the forest protect? One who is supposed to be its protector, or a filthy human?"

  Diasis bounded towards her, then faltered. His ears came up and he laughed under his breath, "Nice try, female. I will not tear out your throat yet, not while you wear the cape."

  "There are other incentives," Captain Straos said. He turned an intense stare straight at Kate. "I have something you are very fond of and he is completely under my control."

  Kate couldn't help it. Her eyes flew towards Ayden where he stood next to her. His eyes were fully closed, his face devoid of all emotion. Her heart sunk. All this way, and Ayden had finally succumbed.

  "Time to use my new slave," Captain Straos said. He stepped back. "You, human, stand in front of the girl."

  Ayden's eyes popped open. He moved, jerky and uncertain, to stand in front of Kate. She searched his face for any sign of recognition or emotion. Instead she found blank eyes wide with the pupils dilated.

  Diasis licked his teeth. "Oh, this will be good. Go ahead. Remove the red cape from the female."

  Ayden's hands came up. Having lost her voice she beseeched him with her eyes, but he paid no attention. She felt the warmth of his hands against her throat.

  A shrill ring broke the silence. The surprise and shock of Captain Straos radiated through the spores, his control of Ayden and her subsiding for one moment. Ayden's hands faltered with her ties.

  Bunts from all sides accompanied the next ringing with shrill cries of their own. They dashed from one hole to the next with frenetic speed.

  With a start Kate realized the sound was coming from her own pocket. Her phone was ringing! One of the bulbed trunks shifted.

  "What is happening? Why are the trees moving?" Captain Straos demanded.

  "The trees are dormant," Diasis said. "Pay them no mind. They only shift in their sleep."

  Bunts ran across her feet. She felt one trying to climb up the inside of her pant leg.

  "It's time to move in," she heard Captain Straos say. "We'll rip up the area until we find the treasure."

  One of the knots give. With a surge of anger and fear she used the lapse in attention to regain control. She reached up and slapped Ayden's hands away from her throat, pushing him away. She frantically reached up to the ties, making sure they were still tight.

  He reached up again. She quickly tied the cords into a tight knot. Someone could still cut it with a knife, but at least a simple tug wouldn't untie them.

  Ayden's eyes remained glazed. The lapse in Captain Straos's attention hadn't allowed him to snap out of it. Grandma's tea obviously needed more time to work. There wasn't enough time to insult him, if she could find anything shocking enough to get through to him. She'd pretty much run out of material just getting here.

  His hands came up again as the bunts started another chorus of screams as her phone rang again. She grabbed his coat and yanked him towards her. The move knocked him off balance, causing him to fall against her.

  With his lips right on hers.

  She reached up to snake her arms around his neck, holding him in place. His lips were cold and stiff, but she kept her own lips pressed up to his.

  His breath played softly on one of her cheeks. His lips warmed. Then they moved. She found her own lips getting nibbled gently by his, his head tilting slightly for a better angle. Kate leaned towards him, liking how it had turned into a proper kiss.

  His eyes popped open and he put her away from him in one sudden movement, "What are you doing? Did you just kiss me?"

  And Ayden was back. Kate felt a thrill right down to her toes. "It worked, didn't it? Can we get out of here now?"

  He sucked in his breath, looking around him as if suddenly awake in a strange place. Which wasn't far from the truth.

  The loud thump of the bough of a tree hitting the ground gave Kate the diversion she needed. Diasis and Captain Straos jumped out of the way. She headed in the opposite direction, yanking Ayden after her.

  But even towards the core of the city trees moved where they had only been stillness before. One of the larger trees twisted itself, reaching high up into the sky. Ayden jerked her behind one of the few trees not moving.

  Kate grabbed her still ringing phone, looking down at the identity of the caller. Her eyes widened.

  "Mom!" She flipped open the phone, demanding, "Mom? Is that you? What are you doing here?"

  The trunk of a nearby twisting tree shimmered with light. From the top of it a bright laser-like beam shot out across the tops of the trees into the center of the mesa forest.

  "Kate?" she heard her mom say through the sound of other trees firing bolts of light towards the center of the forest.

  A brilliant glow from the center of the mesa eclipsed the strength of the sun. A bright red bolt shot out over their heads and the barrier trees. Kate instinctively ducked.

  In the distance she heard an explosion.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  The phone went dead. Kate stared at it in horror. "The forest just shot down Mom!"

  Kate saw Bunbun pop his head out from Ayden's jacket near the neck. She shut the phone and shoved it into her pocket. She grabbed him, putting him right up against her forehead.

  She thought of Grandma and all the things she could remember. She remembered what she'd overheard from the Shadow Creatures as well as all she knew about the spores. The catch phrase Grandma used to trigger the hidden memories. She murmured it to herself, hoping it might do something to release anything else that might be swirling around her head.

  Taking Bunbun away from her forehead, she turned him so his forehead touched the tree right below the red mark.

  "We shouldn't touch these trees, remember?" Ayden whispered at her.

  Her knuckles brushing against the soft bark, "I don't know what else to do! Maybe he can transfer whatever is in my head."

  Bunbun squirmed in her hand, twisting his head around to look at her. She could almost see it in his eyes; the poor little bunt wondering what she was trying to do.

  Kate pulled him away, nuzzling him. "Now what?"

  A loud whistling noise cut through the air.

  Dirt, trees and rocks exploded into the sky. Ayden pushed Kate back against the tree. They heard objects hitting the other side of the trunk. The ground rumbled under their feet.

  The silence afterwards was deafening. Kate pushed Ayden away, crawling around to look past the tree.

  A human shuttl
e sat at the end of a long ditch, the nose buried in soil and forest debris. One of the rear engines had been completely blown away. The city might have successfully shot it down, but the crashing shuttle had taken out a wide path through the barrier trees. Which meant the protective wall would not be able to protect the trees in the city.

  Bunbun squealed, kicking his way out of her hands. He disappeared down a hole before either of them could catch him.

  "Let him go. He's in a safer place than we are. We should move further into the forest. Maybe we can find a tree that is more awake," Ayden whispered to her. "Maybe one of the trees that fired those shots? Something had to have been awake enough to do that!"

  Kate nodded, pulling back. The door of the shuttle pop open and a familiar brown head come out.

  She froze. Her mother was alive!

  A large man with red hair and a light brown rimmed hat on his head followed her.

  "Uncle Henry!" Ayden whispered fiercely.

  "That's the uncle who rescued you?" Kate asked. The man looked so different from Ayden.

  Then her eyes caught sight of a moving shadow along the still intact barrier trees.

  Diasis. And he was silently padding his way towards the shuttle, his form hugging the ground.

  And neither her mother or Uncle Henry had a clue they were being hunted down by a Shadow Creature. She burst out from behind the tree, grabbing one of the small rocks that had rained down from the crash.

  She threw it at Diasis as hard as she could, shouting, "Get away from them, Shadow Creature!"

  Her mother and Uncle Henry turned towards her, startled. Diasis snarled at her. He turned back towards the shuttle, breaking out in a full run.

  With one swift movement Uncle Henry reached for his belt. A staff like Ayden's extended, the cutting edge glowing bright. Uncle Henry stepped in front of her mother and swung the axe.

  Diasis turned in mid leap, barely dodging the cutting blade in time. Her mother stumbled back towards the door of the shuttle while Uncle Henry stood his ground, placing himself between Diasis and her mother.

  Kate heard him yell, "Get inside and seal the door!"

  "It's damaged! It won't even close!" her mother shouted back.

  "You will leave this place! How dare you bring violence here," the Watcher screamed from above.

  Diasis glanced up, snapping at the air. "Look, a Watcher has joined us. Come down, I am anxious for a meal."

  The Watcher took off from his perch, diving at Diasis. The two flying Shadow Creatures also took off, pursuing the Watcher.

  Kate stood in the open, unable to stop watching. Not only the shuttle but also the sight of additional shadows moving through the the break in the barrier trees.

  "They will be mine, Kate," Diasis shouted at her. "Watch those you love die!"

  She felt Ayden come up behind her. Uncle Henry turned and yelled at them, "Get out of here! We'll hold them off!"

  Captain Straos shouted from the middle of a clearing where no tree could reach him, "Diasis, you will not kill them. Not until I find my technology!"

  Diasis bared his teeth at Captain Straos. "You will not order me about as one of your slaves. This family pack has defied me for the last time. They will now die!"

  "Do you forget I already have one of them at my command? The second will soon be mine," Captain Straos said with a gesture to Kate. "A small exposure and these two newly arrived ones will be mine. I wish to know what knowledge they have first. Then you may have them."

  Kate didn't like that dismissal one little bit, but she hated the implied threat against her mother. And Mother never had any of the tea! She retreated around the tree, studying the forest leading deeper into the city.

  She heard Diasis say, "I want them all."

  "And you shall have them. Just as soon as we find the secrets of this city. Speaking of family."

  Kate turned back. Captain Straos was still where she'd last seen him. He hadn't tried to extended his control of the spores inside her again, either. But through the spores inside her she could feel his emotions. He was content.

  And that made her suspicious.

  Among the break in the trees, Kate spotted something with bright colors coming towards them. A tall form surrounded by the lower bodies. Dark bodies. Slinking along from shadow to shadow.

  A mass of Shadow Creatures, and in the midst of them walked a woman wearing a bright purple top with a prim white apron around her middle.

  Grandma.

  She walked like the Gatherers in the spore camps. Her movements stiff and jerky, her face showing no emotions. Captain Straos watched the progression with a satisfied look on his face that fueled Kate's rage.

  Grandma came to a stop next to him. Captain Straos pointed at Kate. "You sent Kate here. I want you to take me to what you sent her here to retrieve. Lead me to the Ancients."

  Grandma walked forward, stumbling on a root. Her face revealed nothing. Kate shook her head, but Grandma didn't even glance at her.

  She paused near a group of trees, spinning in a full circle. She stopped, facing Captain Straos.

  "The Ancients, Ms. Blackstone. Find their technology," Captain Straos shouted.

  Grandma spun around with a series of small steps.

  "You are asking the wrong member of the family." Diasis said, slinking towards Grandma. "The spores have addled her head. Kate if you wish the old woman to live you will give Captain Straos what he desires."

  "I'm not stupid," Kate shouted. "We are dead no matter what we do. Grandma knows that, even thought she's filled with spores. That's why she won't help."

  Grandma's head came up, looking in her direction. For one brief moment Kate thought she saw a spark of recognition before the passive blank expression descended over her face.

  She heard a noise from Captain Straos. "I have given enough chances. Honor is fulfilled. Diasis, the old woman is yours."

  Grandma turned towards the trees and stepped in front of one with great bulbs along the trunk. She turned towards Kate as Diasis prepared to spring, saying with a loud clear voice, "Coconut chocolate cake is in the oven."

  Kate heard herself gasp from a long ways away. Her eyesight began to narrow even as she watched Grandma turn back to the tree. Turned, stepped forward, and absorbed by the tree. Diasis sprung, his claws only striking bark.

  Kate reached out to steady herself against the sacred tree as she lost all of her eyesight.

  She found herself sitting in Grandma's living room with a cup of vile tea in her hand. Grandma poured more into her cup. "Sorry about the new pass-phrase. This needs to be protected. It could be used to hurt them."

  "Hurt who?" Kate cringed. "Stop. I don't like this stuff!"

  "I'm not important now. None of us are. I have never met an Ancient, but through the trees I know a few things. They are currently asleep."

  "What if things go wrong, like what you talked about before?" Kate asked, purposely moving the teacup away from Grandma so she couldn't fill it up anymore.

  "Drink the tea. It might be the only thing to protect you in the future. Where was I? Oh yes, the sleeping Ancients. You might have to wake one."

  "How would I do that?"

  "How does the forest communicate?"

  "How should I know? What do you mean communicate? They're only trees."

  Grandma gave a knowing smile, the sort her mother sometimes used. Kate had never liked it, making her feel inferior, as if she didn't know something.

  "You will know. Soon. And that is how you can wake them if the time comes that you may need to. And whatever happens, put them first. Not me, not your mother, not the city or anyone in it. The Ancients."

  Kate snapped back to reality. Not one bit of Grandma remained. The tree ate her?

  She heard Captain Straos shout, "Diasis, you may have all except Kate! She is mine!"

  Diasis reared up and howled in pleasure. The other Shadow Creatures joined in. The shapes moved quickly to surround the shuttle. Her mother retreated inside while Uncle He
nry stood guard outside the door.

  A brave man, Kate had to give him that. But he wouldn't be able to stand up to them for very long. The Shadow Creatures severely outnumbered them far too much.

  Ayden bent down and took the staff from her belt. With a flick he extended it and activated the cutting blade. He handed it back to her, whispering in her ear, "We go down together."

  She took the staff, not liking the weight of it in her hand. Now that it was no longer the simple walking staff she didn't know what to do with it.

  Ayden whirled around, his staff whistling through the air. A dark body howled in pain and retreated. Other shapes moved forward. The loud roar of engines filled the air, shaking leaves out of the canopy.

  Kate backed against the tree, the hood of her cape falling to her shoulders. Some of the trees reacted to the violence, coming alive, but Kate quickly noticed that the Shadow Creatures knew which trees to stay away from. The fact Captain Straos almost got clobbered was a small victory.

  The roar in the air increased. The tree next to them shimmered in light, firing a bolt of energy towards the center of the forest.

  A cloud of white filtered down through the air. "Ayden?"

  "How much of the stuff do they have?"

  "They'll infect the entire forest with spores!" Her immunity wouldn't help anyone if she couldn't find an Ancient that could use it to help others.

  And she still didn't know what an Ancient looked like. Why did Grandma neglect to give her a few clues?

  A dark shape shadowed the forest. She identified it at once.

  So, they'd finished the repairs to the Newcomer ship.

  A bolt of light shot out from the ship, hitting the tree that had produced the bolts fired towards the center of the mesa. Kate and Ayden dove around the other side of the tree as it exploded in a deadly cloud of wood fragments.

  Shadow Creatures swarmed around Uncle Henry, but he stood firm, fighting with all his might. Shadows moved towards Kate and Ayden, precluding any chance of getting to the shuttle or further into the forest.