He then spotted White Leaves, and terror washed over him like he’d never felt. His heart cracked.
“Shannon!” He howled.
She would be sucked into the depths and crushed by the sheer weight of it unless he did something, but Deh Leccend was fast as thought. He gathered himself and vaulted towards the sea -a tiny speck of darkness alone in the vastness of all that he’d survived. He didn’t want to survive alone. He had to save her, but not only for himself. He must for everyone’s sake.
He knew she would be sucked directly to the meeting of Lleviathan and Kraqen. In being so she might well end them both. However, she would be useless if she died in the process.
Down the Black Leaf plunged against the sea, and he parted it in a violent swirl of his own. It was not but a strike of desperation, and in a moment it would already be over.
Chapter 27
Shannon woke, body broken. Or, at least that’s how it felt. She groaned as though she’d been run over by a very large truck. One with lots of wheels. Stirring, she was struck by the funny sense she’d felt this way a few times before. Once had been after she’d been shot by the federal agent, Connelly. The other had been in the wake of Miqael’s sword and Enfaeri’s unleashing. It all could have been ages ago by the way she felt, disconnected from the entire world.
She sat bolt upright with a gasp as memories caught up to her in the moment and promptly cursed, gripping her head as a wave of disorientation washed over her. Her right hand found the delicate little tree and long feather shaped leaves that had taken up root there on her dome, and she took in her surroundings in a flash.
Surrounded by ancient twilit trees in the misty half-light of the Veil of the Leaf’s Edge, she knew it was no dream. Nor was it heaven. She was alive. She was in the Veil, and the Powers were very real. The terror of Enfaeri, Lleviathan, and the blur of others came rushing back in a wave of dread.
She couldn’t have survived. She remembered falling. Somehow, she feared, sh wasn’t really here. She was dead. She had to be, and here she lay in heaven’s bed. This time it had to be real.
Panting a panic, she scanned, but there was nothing. Only silence greeted her in the aged, dispassionate faces of undying trees. She couldn’t quite remember what had happened, but a flash of imagery struggled up from her hazy mind. She remembered falling, and seeing Lleviathan rising up, locked with Kraqen in furious combat. And now saw the fall of Onix and Fafnir coming upon her as she clung to Deh. But beyond that, she didn’t recall what had caused her to fall or where Deh Leccend had disappeared to.
Reminded of her dear protector, whom had come to be her great friend, Shannon suddenly worried for him.
“Deh?!” She whispered a cry under her breath, confused that he should not be here with her, as he’d been with her every step of the way. She turned about, scanning for him, but still there was nothing more than trees staring back. Alone, and feeling as though all the tranquility of the Veil was no more than a curse of desolation, Shannon could have wept for the Black Leaf.
She knew it. He’d been lost. But if that was true, then how she’d ended up in the Veil was an utter mystery. She didn’t have the skill necessary to travel there without him, much less end up there whilst unconscious.
“Deh!?” She called out for him, but her voice just echoed away. Silence permeated her flesh and even seemed to leave her heart quiet beneath the slow coming of sorrow and tears. It couldn’t be. He couldn’t have died like that. Could he? He had to have brought her here, but if he had, then where was he? Deh Leccend would be at her side, waiting for her to wake. Or at least, he should have been.
Shannon was near the verge of sobbing uncontrollably when something called out to her senses. However, it was not the Black Leaf, nor was it even a voice. Or at least it wasn’t a human voice, nor even an Elvine tongue. The land vibrated lightly under her touch, just a single thrumming from somewhere distant, and a cry rose up from the ever-lasting twilight.
An echoing cry of fading life, it came and went in soft echoes. It reminded her of a bugling elk, and yet, was even further from recognition until it died.
Amidst the faintest end of echoes, she could have sworn she’d heard that cry before.
Shannon rose to her feet as swiftly as she was able and stood staring, gaping into the silence. It was the wail of a dying tree. It was like she had heard back when she was just a girl, just a little child making the typical adventure into the lumber yard of her father’s company. There was no mistaking it. The sound was nigh exactly the same, though without the shrill grinding of the mammoth saw-blades used to cleave the victims. She hated the sound, where once she’d almost loved it. She also hated her father, where once he’d been a source of strength as a hero who was a constant source of adventure. But now, in the wake of her present situation, she dismally felt as though she would never see him again.
She missed him terribly, and found love for him still dwelling in the depths of her heart. But as suddenly as that, she thought of the glory of the Addl’laen, and grew angry with him again. At last, she remembered the coming of the Reclaimers. Shannon panicked. She was too late. The Powers, Traemin and Gane had found the heart of the Veil, and the great tree was the one who had cried out.
Shannon began running. She didn’t know why, or to where she was going, or what she was going to do when she got there, but she just had to know the truth. She didn’t even know where she was in relation to the great tree, nor even how far away she could possibly be, but she knew she wouldn’t go hungry searching for it. She would find it, even if it was dead. She would find it. She would will it back to life.
However, the earth vibrated again as she ran, and this time the whole of the Veil shuddered. It was still light, just a subtle tremor beneath a distant booming, but it was stronger somehow. Another cry rolled echoing and distant through the trees, drawing her to a halt in ruin and tears.
She panted out her exertion and wept then. She wept for her isolation. She wept for Deh, and her father, and all of the people. The sound was so awful she just broke down and cried. She cried for a lot longer than she had time for, until she was struck a sensation that what she was hearing was not the cry of Addl’laen, but rather that of her children.
She glanced about at the trees, and noticed they weren’t as she’d remembered seeing them. They no longer looked so tall and proud. Gone was the liveliness and beauty. Now, they looked frail and weak, cold and dwindling, diminishing and growing widely with rot.
They were dying!
Shannon’s tears double-folded, as she moved for the nearest of them, needing to touch them, to console them and weep upon them -to offer them her strength, for they were helpless in the face of the doom that awaited.
As she cried there for so many things lost to the whole of both worlds, Shannon let loose of all of her frustrations. Any lingering shred of doubt and disbelief and fear came pouring out of her through her sobs. She was powerless to stop it, even if she’d wanted to, but rather than struggle to choke down the tears and emotions, Shannon embraced the crying. She wept upon that tree’s once mighty trunk, and said goodbye to it and all of its brothers and sisters. She bid farewell to their great mother, Addl’laen, and poor Deh Leccend.
Streaked by tears, her cheeks flushed fully, and she sobbed for her father and her mother, and all of mankind. There was nothing left to do, but cry it out and wait for the end. She could do nothing but wait to die, and didn’t even fear whatever sensation utter disintegration would feel like. She simply laid there, resolved and dying inside, until the earth thrummed again and a new cry rose and fell through the woods.
“Milady?!” Came a gentle, soft voice, a faint cry, as if someone searching for a lost pet some great distance away. Shannon sniffled, almost believing she was hearing things in her sorrow for Deh Leccend, but then it came again. “Milady White Leaves?!” The call was not so distant all of a sudden, and she wheeled about, looking into the twilit gloom to see a shadow, stalking along the trail she’d run.
“Deh?” She sniffled, biting back her soft lips as she bit her way through the tears. She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was the Black Leaf!
“Deh!!” She cried in recognition, bounding to her feet, and racing towards him. Deh Leccend merely stopped and let her come dashing, catapulting herself upon him and all but sending him sprawling.
“Deh! I can’t believe it’s you! You’re alive!” She was suddenly ecstatic, and she clung to him, hugging onto him for his dear life. Shannon kissed his cheek in her abrupt joy and relief, several times, leaving him stunned and voiceless for a moment as she ranted on about his wellness, so unexpected.
“Firea’csweise!” He finally cut her off with his soft voice, pulling her away from himself just enough to look her evenly in her whitened, silver-line eyes.
“What are you doing wandering about in the twilight!?” He asked her, dark brows arching highly in his confusion.
“I though you lost!” Shannon admitted, realizing now that she’d been presumptuous and impatient.
“Why did you leave me?!” She then asked, suddenly reversing her joyous tones to a sense of betrayal and abandonment.
“I’m sorry.” He apologized sincerely.
“I’d gone to monitor the progress of Traemin and Gane, for you have slept long, milady.” He admitted.
“I thought you’d be safe here in the Veil where the trees would give of themselves to ensure your health and wellness. And so they have.” He said, gesturing to the tree she’d wept upon. Shannon looked, and now it was all but on the verge of collapse. It was suffering the grips of death, but not for any mystical reason she couldn’t define.
“You mean, they’re dying because of me?!” She was almost voiceless as her jaw hung slack and aghast.
“Yes.” He smiled, but Shannon couldn’t see how it could be a smiling matter.
“They would so love the world, and all of the Addl’laen’s many other children that they would give their lives happily to see to your wellness. It is the most noble sacrifice of all the world’s creatures.” He explained for her, reaching out to touch the great tree’s withering bark. It crackled beneath his touch.
“It’s dying.” Shannon said sadly to confirm the sound of dried out, crispy skin crumbling away to dust.
“No.” Deh Leccend spoke.
“She is already long gone.” He revealed it softly. “A tree merely takes time to fade away when the creature she is gives her spirit away. That is why the forests of your world wither and die, Firea’csweise. They do not fail slowly, but rather, swiftly. When a tree makes the choice of such a sacrifice, the exchange is instantaneous. Salvation is granted to the one it wishes to save, and slowly her carcass rots away.”
“Are you telling me that the forests are dying, not because of pollution, or global warming, but because they choose to?” She asked, features riddled with a failure to fully understand.
“Yes, Milady. That is exactly what I’m telling you.” He smiled softly. “They love your kind, just like the Otherkin Faeri do, just as the mother does, and as the Elvine no longer have the ability to do.”
“Why, Deh?! Why would they do that!? We’re the ones who are killing them in record numbers! How could they do that?! It’s not fair!” Shannon argued the presence of mankind and the justification of cutting down the forests for the sake of industry.
“Because they are selfless! Life, is life, is life. Even the murder of their kin will not prevent them from beholding you all with love! They regard you and love you, even if your kin does not see it!” He was speaking fully with a smile, leaving her gaping.
It was incomprehensible. It was absurd, and appalling. And yet, it was as Deh Leccend had told, and where before she thought she’d come to know unconditional platonic love as she loved the great Addl’laen, Shannon now knew she had no idea what such love actually meant. The trees, considered by most of mankind to be amongst the lowest of life-forms on the whole of the earth’s face, had the highest understanding of love of life than anything else she could possibly imagine, short of the greatest tree of them all.
“So, dry your tears for her, Milady. She would have you rejoice in her sacrifice.” Deh Leccend then left the tree behind, putting his touch upon Shannon the White Leaves to wipe away the drying tears on her cheeks.
A new boom rumbled subtly through the softness of the earth, vibrating a soft tremor through the halls of endless trees, and another sylvan wail called out distantly in echoes.
“What is that sound, Deh?” She asked, alerted to it anew.
“That is the Reclaimer, milady.” The Black Leaf answered simply, though his tongue was hard edged. “They are probing the barrier of the Veil of the Leaf’s Edge as they draw nearer to the Addl’laen and the Heart.”
“Where is the Heart?” Shannon asked, unable to stop herself.
“Who, is the heart?” He corrected with a knowing look.
“Who? What do you mean, who?” She asked again, brow shriveling in misunderstanding.
“Yes, who.” He smiled half-heartedly. “Dunesil Llaerth, is where the heart lies. Therefore, Dunesil is who the heart of the Veil is.”
“Dunesil?!” She suddenly realized, and remembered their talk of the Veil and Dunesil once before.
“Yes,” Deh nodded.
“Now, come along, Firea’csweise.” The Black Leaf urged her, offering his hand. “We must go to the Addl’laen and speak to the Elvine before Traemin and Gane tear this whole world down about their ears. For if the Reclaimers tear it down, Dunesil Llaerth will die with it and then the Reclaimers will take the great tree.”
Slowly, Shannon took his hand, and let him lead her to the trunk of a nearby tree, where he once again created a portal in its face. Deh Leccend led his White leaves through without hesitation, and once again Shannon experienced the odd sensation of shifting through space and time before the grand light of the city of the Elvine abruptly came glaring into being.
* * *
She stood overlooking the low lay of the great city and the mammoth sprawl of towering Addl’laen, and as once before, silver horns called out to the tranquility of the everlasting forest twilight as their coming was known.
“Let me carry you. Time is dire!” Deh Leccend was quite insistent, offering her a piggy-back ride as he’d done before.
“Quickly milady!” He urged a second time, forcing her compliance, and in very little time, the great Black Leaf bore her down to the gates of the palace of Llaerth.
Even as he alighted, the locks were thrown free and the barriers were ripped open beneath the coming of Dunesil Llaerth, Lord of the Elvine. Behind him came his queen, but in his company came many other Elves, and they all looked full of spite and threats. They were armed to the teeth against the coming of the Black and White Leaves, but Shannon couldn’t take her eyes off of Qaiyi, for she was apparently stricken by sorrow. All of her previously jubilant looks and feelings were gone, and her ears drooped low in sadness Shannon couldn’t possibly come to grips with.
The queen looked ruined, and all of her brightness was replaced with dread and death. She was dimmed and fading fast. She looked ill, bordering on feverous delirium, and her hair had gone black, along with her lips. She looked gothic, or perhaps as though she lived a funeral every day of her life.
“You!!” Dunesil shouted, a voice full of powerful hate that shook the city to its core. Suddenly, Shannon was given to realize how much power the Elvine Lord could likely possess. He’d seemed so fairly harmless before, but now he looked and felt like a vengeful god all his own. He certainly felt more powerful than Deh Leccend had ever even proven himself to be, regardless of the Black Leaf’s many feats. His authoritative fist and a single solid finger were pointed upon Deh at her side. Shannon sensed it as a terrible threat, and Deh must have felt the same, for he stepped forward slightly, forcing the Elvine Lord’s strides to come to a halt before them.
“You murdering devil! You cannot be here! Foul Black Leaf! Be gone, or I shall kill you and
your wretched charge!!” Dunesil’s finger was proven as the threat it seemed by his very tongue, bitter and spiteful. He’d become a monster by comparison to his former glory. Shannon was left aghast once again.
“He is no such thing!” Shannon started to cry in Deh Leccend’s defense, prompting the Black Leaf to cover her with one arm, as if to hold her back where she drew the furious eyes of the Llaerthir.
“Silence sickening child!!” The Elvine Lord spat back at her. “You have no right to challenge my authority here!”
“Silence yourself, Dunesil!” Deh Leccend took his turn at defending her, returning the favor.
“You have grown into your spite! It is you who has no right!”
“Liar!” Dunesil spat back.
“Was it not her coming that wrought all this ruin!” He was so furious he was nearly slavering at the maw like a wild hound, and his figure was trembling beneath his rage.
“And it’s your fault! If you had killed her like you were supposed to according to My laws, then none of this would be happening! Traemin and Gane would not be knocking on the doorstep! Athaem would be alive! And we would be in harmony and peace, as always! You fool! You’ve allowed this all to happen! And you have the nerve to stand here in My home and tell me that I’m at fault!?” His hatred was only fueled by his incredulous tongue as it prattled swiftly through the reasons for this coming end.
E.L.F. - White Leaves Page 37