Oak & Thorns

by Yasmine Galenorn

  Finally, fifteen minutes later, the trail branched off toward the beach.

  “If we continue straight, the trail will loop around. It also leads directly to the beach, but this is a shorter, if steeper, route.” Viktor looked back at me. “Which would you rather take? The longer loop, or the quicker path?”

  “Let’s go for steep and quick.”

  Viktor hadn’t been kidding. The trail bent into an abrupt decline. While it wasn’t straight up and down, I found myself wondering if we had made a mistake. The slope was rough going, even for someone who was as in shape as I was.

  Viktor paused for a moment, bracing himself against a tree. He reached back for my hand, and steadied me over a five-foot drop from one part of the trail to the next. Another hundred yards and we broke through the tree line, finding ourselves at the edge of the beach.

  Scattered driftwood littered the shore, the massive logs coming in on the tides. They were big enough to be dangerous while floating in the water, and made incredibly comfortable benches once they were beached. Once again, the power of the tides around here amazed me. They could toss hundred-foot logs around like toothpicks. The sun was hovering a hand’s width above the horizon. We would see sunset before we left the beach.

  I looked around, watching the gulls that were hunting a last-minute meal before bedtime.

  “Where were the bodies found? Did Herne tell you?”

  Viktor nodded. He pointed over toward a large boulder that sat near the water. “There. They were all found by hikers.”

  “What a lovely way to get back to nature. Finding mutilated bodies.” I headed over toward the rock. I could sense the water elementals were playing, but several of them seemed agitated. As I neared the water’s edge, I found an area next to a small log. I could sit on the log and yet reach down to touch the water.

  “I’m going to see if I can find out anything from the water spirits.”

  Viktor was hunting around the boulder, searching through the sparse vegetation and dunes next to it. The beach wasn’t large, but it was big enough that we couldn’t just take it all in with one glance.

  I realized that my feet were starting to get wet, so I swung my legs over the log and knelt in the sand behind it, leaning over the driftwood to place my fingers in the water. The shock of the icy waves ran through me. No matter what time of year, the water was almost always cold, except during the middle of the day on hot summer days. As I closed my eyes, I reached out. The water elementals suddenly froze as they noticed me.

  I was pledged to Morgana, Herne’s mother. My own mother had been a member of the Water Fae, and her blood ran through me. I could work with some aspects of water magic, although I wasn’t terribly proficient, but my ability to contact the water spirits was growing. Now and then, they initiated the connection.

  I brought up the image of the boulder, and superimposed it with images of dead bodies near it, inserting a question into the image.

  Water elementals didn’t think in terms of words, not like we did. Instead, I received impressions and emotions from them. Sometimes I received warnings—either images or simply the feeling of danger.

  The elementals here were cautious, but one of them seemed braver than the others. Or perhaps, it was simply more curious. As it moved forward, rolling in on a wave that splashed over my hand, I could feel the edge of its thoughts touch my own.

  The image of Jona’s body sprang up in my mind, along with sorrow and a brief shudder. I waited, forming a question in my mind, seeking information.

  And then, it came tumbling in. Visions of a dark shadow, of someone carrying a dead body and dropping it near the boulder. The shadow emerged from the edge of the embankment, like a spider creeping out of a trapdoor. Only this was humanoid—a man, although I couldn’t get a good look at him. He felt gnarled and tangled, like yarn that had been knotted up so tightly that you couldn’t unwind it. I could feel tension surrounding him, a sick sense of satiety as though a void had been filled. It was dark and ugly, bloated with blood and pain and joy. The energy was dragging me down and I began to fight it.

  Abruptly, the elemental broke off the image, washing it away with a wave that splashed over me, breaking any cords that had formed. I almost fell backward on my butt, but I managed to hold onto the log, to keep my hand in the water.

  Almost immediately, a wave of remorse came out, a hesitant apology from the elemental for immersing me into that energy. I reached out with gratitude, reassuring it that I had needed to see what it had shown me. And then, slowly, the elemental began to withdraw, with one last splash against my hands that felt like a graceful good-bye.

  I opened my eyes, realizing that the sun had set while I was communing with the water. I turned around to find Viktor watching me, sitting on a nearby log.

  “Well,” I said, still trying to unwind the puzzle in my mind. “There’s an entrance along the embankment somewhere here. I got a brief look at it, but I can’t pinpoint where it is now that I’m looking at the actual bank. But whoever the murderer is, that’s how he’s getting the bodies down here. He doesn’t carry them through the forest.”

  “That would make sense,” Viktor said. He glanced up at the forest behind us. “I wish Herne would return. I don’t feel safe here.”

  “Neither do I,” I said. “There’s something tainted in the forest around this area, and my guess is that it’s Blackthorn.”

  “I think one thing we have to remember is that most of the great Fae—and I’m assuming this applies to the Ante-Fae as well—have courts surrounding them. It would behoove us not to assume we’re dealing with just a single individual.”

  Viktor paused when a figure appeared out in the water. He stood, slowly drawing his blade. I followed suit. As we watched, it churned up a wave around it. I shaded my eyes, following its movements. And then, in the middle of the waves, I saw the brilliant head of a horse emerge. It was frolicking with the waves, playing with them. Then, as the sun was creeping toward the horizon, it turned toward shore and made a beeline toward us.

  “A hippocampus,” I said softly.

  “They are beautiful,” Viktor said, his gaze fastened on the stallion that rode the waves toward our little area of the cove. Within minutes, the horse emerged from the water, racing ashore, a brilliant white stallion with mane and feathers the color of sea foam. It was a male—that we could see—and his eyes were the color of coals with diamonds inset where pupils would normally be. He reared, his hooves slashing at the air, then settled down, eyeing us with curiosity.

  “We’re not here to harm you,” I said, holding up my hands. “We’re investigators. We were hired by Rhiannon, the Matriarch of your encampment.”

  That seemed to do the trick. There was a blur as the horse moved faster than we could follow, and the next moment, a tall man stepped out of the swirl of mist, naked as the day he was born. I averted my eyes, trying to maintain some decorum, though he was as magnificent in human form as he was in horse form. My mind went to clichés, namely, being hung like a horse, but I wisely kept that to myself.

  “Well met, good people. What are your names?” He gave us a stately bow as though he didn’t even notice he was naked.

  I cleared my throat. “I’m Ember Kearney and this is Viktor. We’re with the Wild Hunt Agency.”

  “Ah yes. Rhiannon mentioned hiring you to look into Jona’s death. I’m Madrigal. I’m a music teacher at our encampment.” He positioned himself on the log, crossing his legs, which did nothing to hide his considerable assets.

  I glanced at Viktor, who was blushing like a lobster. “Tell me, do you come to this area of the beach often?”

  He tilted his head, looking around, then nodded. “I used to. I still do, on occasion, because it’s the easiest way to access the water around here. But…I’m cautious.” A wary look crept over his face. “You’d do well to watch yourselves in these woodlands. There are dangers here.”

  Hmm, so he was aware of a problem. “Wha
t kind of dangers?”

  “None that I know of by name. But…things…prowl the woods, and there have been unexplained deaths over the past years. I’m not blind. I know why Rhiannon called you in. She is thinking of Jona, of course, but there have been others. I’m strong. Very few would tangle with me and come out on the winning side. But others haven’t been so lucky. Just watch your footing in the forest. I’m not certain what lurks here, but whatever it is, it’s not conducive to good health.” Madrigal stood. “I’ve said more than I probably should, but I’m not one for keeping my mouth shut and watching others get hurt because I didn’t think to warn them. I must go now—it’s not safe to be here after dark. If you have any sense, you’ll follow me out.”

  “We’re waiting on a friend,” I murmured. “But we’ll take your warning to heart.” I wanted to ask him more questions, but I had the feeling that Madrigal had told us everything he was going to for the moment.

  “Then be safe, and may Poseidon watch over you.” With that, Madrigal darted into the forest, still naked, and vanished in the tangle of undergrowth.

  “Cripes. If he’s braving the forest naked, then he must have a tough hide,” I said, watching the bushes shake in his wake.

  “The hippocampi are a hardy people. They don’t injure easily. I think it would take one of the Ante-Fae to take down Jona,” Viktor said. He froze, his hand going to his weapon. “Shush.”

  I drew my own dagger, waiting. A brilliant silver light flashed in the bushes, and then, a beautiful silver stag leapt down onto the sand. In another flash, Herne was standing there. I let out a sigh of relief.

  “Dude, you scared the hell out of us.” I sheathed my dagger. “You just missed meeting one of the hippocampi—he came out of the water.”

  “I found something in the forest,” he said. “I think it has to do with Blackthorn.” He paused, glancing over at the boulder. “One of the hippocampi was here? Who?”

  “His name is Madrigal,” Viktor said.

  I told Herne what the water elemental had shown me, and then about Madrigal’s visit. “I can’t figure out exactly where against the embankment the trapdoor is. But it’s somewhere around here. I think that’s what Madrigal was feeling.”

  “Well, I think I found the touchstone leading to Blackthorn’s lair. I took a picture of it, and charted the location so we can come back to it. I don’t think it’s a good idea to infiltrate at this time of night.” Herne glanced around at the forest. “We’d better get back to the car. Madrigal was right. The forest isn’t safe after dark. Or in the daylight, I imagine.”

  “Viktor and I were just talking about that. There’s a lot of unsettled energy here, and it feels like it’s growing as we close in on night.”

  With Herne in the lead, and Viktor behind me, we headed back up the trail, Viktor giving me a boost up over the steepest areas. Oddly enough, the route back to the car felt much quicker than the way down to the beach. Perhaps it was that we had already traversed this route, but somehow it felt like time had shifted. I suspected Herne had some ability in that, but I decided to save my questions.

  Once we were back at the car, we slid inside, and I locked my door, finally feeling more secure. I didn’t like feeling uneasy, especially when I didn’t know what was causing the sensation. But I had a feeling that it was because of Blackthorn.

  “Yutani should be able to figure out the markings on the touchstone,” Herne started to say as his phone rang. He pulled it out, frowning as he looked at the Caller ID. “It’s Rhiannon,” he said as he answered. “Hey, Rhiannon—what’s up?” He paused, a somber look crossing his face. “Are you all right?” Another pause. And then, “We’ll see you at the hospital. Yes, we are going to come to the hospital. I don’t care, we’ll see you in a little while.”

  As he pocketed his phone and started the car, Viktor and I waited. Edging out of the parking lot, we returned to Park Road, and then to Smugglers Cove Road before Herne spoke again.

  “Rhiannon’s in the hospital. Someone ran her off the road.”

  “Is she all right?” Viktor leaned forward.

  “No, she’s pretty bruised up and has a broken leg. If someone hadn’t been coming in the opposite direction and stopped, I’m not sure what would have happened. Whoever it was that ran her off the road took off as soon as the other car slowed down. She told us not to come, but I think we should head out there right now. She’ll be in the hospital till at least tomorrow, that’s for sure.” He glanced at me. “Can you let the others know?”

  “Sure,” I said. “Do you want them to meet us there?”

  “That might be overwhelming.” He paused as his phone rang again. “Can you answer that?”

  I reached over and slipped the phone out of his jacket pocket. The Caller ID read “Talia.”

  “This is Ember. We’re on the road headed back to the hotel.”

  “Well, turn around and get your asses up to the hospital.”

  “Oh, did Rhiannon call you, too?” I asked.

  “What are you talking about?” Talia said.

  “Rhiannon—she got run off the road and she’s in the hospital right now.”

  “Well, hell. I guess we’ll have a nice big reunion when we get there. No, she didn’t call. Yutani is hurt. He went out for a run, and damned if he didn’t land in a trap. Luckily it was his front paw, not one of his back ones. But he’s hurting pretty bad and I suspect there may be a broken bone, as well as some nasty cuts and gashes. We haven’t been able to get the trap off, and I’m afraid to wait for the paramedics, given the situation with Astrana. We have no clue if she has her fingers in the emergency services around here. Yutani had to shift back into his human form so he could dig out the peg holding the trap in the ground.”

  I close my eyes, trying to calm myself. This was the last thing we needed. I glanced over at Herne.

  “What the hell’s going on?” he asked. “I can feel something’s wrong—it’s emanating off you like garlic off of spaghetti.”

  “Yutani’s hurt. He went for a run and got caught in a trap. It’s on his arm.”

  “Fucking hell. And he wouldn’t listen to Coyote… Where are they?”

  “On the way to the hospital. I guess Angel’s driving because Talia is on the phone. What should I tell her?”

  “We’re headed there now. Tell them we’ll meet them there.”

  “Herne says we’re on the way, we’ll meet you there. Be careful, the night feels dangerous and it would be really good if we could avoid any more accidents.”

  As I hung up, putting Herne’s phone in the cubbyhole by the gearshift, I realized I was craving caffeine. But now was not the time to stop at a coffee shop. I’d get a cup of coffee when we got to the hospital.

  “This is not shaping up to be an ideal day, is it?” He paused, then punched the button on the dashboard. “How far to the nearest hospital?”

  The GPS answered. “The Whidbey Island Medical Center is approximately fourteen miles away.”

  “Lovely. At least it’s not on a different island.” Herne glanced over at me. “I need some coffee. There’s a drive-thru right up ahead.”

  I nodded, grateful. We took our place in line at the drive-thru to get triple-shot mochas. We were back on the road in under five minutes. We didn’t speak much on the way to the hospital, mostly so that Herne could focus on driving. He sped along, going as fast as he dared. The road wound along, and while it was well paved, it was still a two-lane highway and we were traveling in the dark. Most of the way, the road was forested on both sides until we reached Coupeville.

  Coupeville was a small town that had once been a farming community and was now an artist’s retreat. While there were still farms on Whidbey Island, the town had turned into something of a tourist town, and here the ferry traveled across the sound to Port Townsend. Unfortunately, it was one of the few runs where reservations were necessary as a matter of course. To the north lay another state park and Oak Harbor. And far
ther north, at the end of the island, was Deception Pass, with the bridge that led over to Anacortes.

  As we pulled into Coupeville, it was obvious that most of the town had rolled up for the night and gone to sleep. Although, to be fair, we weren’t near the waterfront. Maybe downtown Coupeville was more active. We pulled into the parking lot of the medical center and headed for the ER. While fairly small compared to big-city hospitals, it was a full-scale health care unit.

  I wondered whether Talia and the others had already made it here. Herne had driven like a bat out of hell, but I knew Angel could give him a run for his money. I paused, seeing my car parked in the unloading zone.

  “They made it.” I made a beeline for the car, where I saw Angel starting to pull away from the curb. She paused, unrolling the window.

  “Talia and Yutani are inside. I was just about to go park.”

  Viktor glanced around at the darkened lot. “I’ll walk you back to the building. There have been too many things going on tonight to take any chances.” He slid inside the passenger side of the car and, relieved, I slapped the hood and rejoined Herne. As they headed over toward the main parking lot, we hurried into the building.

  There, filling out forms, was Talia. Yutani was nowhere in sight. We hustled over to her side and she looked up as we approached.

  “They took him right back. The trap is a nasty one. He’s lucky he had the forethought to pry it open enough to take a little of the pressure off, though he couldn’t get it all the way open. He’s going to be hurting like a son of a bitch.”

  “Fucking hell.” Herne sat down beside her, and I sat next to him.

  “What happened?” I asked, leaning around him so that I could see her.

  “Yutani decided he needed a run in his coyote form. I was worried, given we aren’t near the Shifter-Run, but he was pretty jarred up by that vision. I guess he needed some time alone. About twenty-five minutes later, he dragged himself back into the hotel, that damned trap caught on his arm. He was almost passing out from the pain. All he could tell me that he had landed in the trap somewhere in a nearby patch of woods.”