by Taylor Leigh
Victoria glowered down at him. ‘Why? What time is it? Why are you sneaking around?’
‘Well,’ Tollin sucked in his lower lip and let it out with a pop. ‘It would be good experience for you. You might have some good insight.’
Victoria leant out the window. ‘What kind of insight would I have? I’m just a spoiled palace brat! And it sounds like you’re fraternising with the enemy! Go away!’
Tollin caught the window before she could slam it shut. He brought his face alarmingly close to hers’. ‘Enemy? My, we’re choosing sides rather early, aren’t we? That’s not why you’re here, Victoria. Your purpose is bigger than that. You can’t get messed up in their little problems; you need to hear what this person has to say. It could hold the key to problems on your own world. Now come on!’
Victoria stared down at him, debating. His boyish face was serious. ‘No’ didn’t seem to be an answer he’d accept.
‘Fine. Wait here. I’m not tramping through the woods in my nightgown.’
Five minutes later, Victoria dropped to the ground out of her window and landed beside Tollin. She was too cold to want to pull her hand out of Tollin’s warm grasp once he’d helped her down and pulled closer to him in the sharp air. ‘This is completely insane, you know that? You even know where we’re going?’
‘Of course I do. Come on, let’s get beyond the village. Then we’ll talk.’
Tollin led Victoria past the lodge and through the centre of town. The buildings were black and closed for the night; save for the pub, which still had several late-night patrons. She was thankful it was a relatively dry evening. The sky was clouded but the rain had stopped.
They reached the edge of town and stopped on the road that they’d ridden in on. Victoria turned to look to the left. The sandy road was white in the darkness.
‘So where are we going?’ she asked again. She turned round; Tollin was walking the opposite way along the road. She huffed and marched after him.
‘We’re headed to the ocean. It’s about a kilometre this way. Come on, we’re going to have to hurry if we want to make the deadline for my meeting.’
Victoria groaned quietly. ‘You want me to walk for a kilometre there and back tonight? What time is it, anyway? And why are we meeting this person?’
‘You’re a talker, aren’t you?’ Tollin exhaled. He turned off the main road and started down a smaller trail, covered in brush. The faint light from the sky lit their way well enough to see—almost. ‘Three days ago, when we both landed here, I met up with one of the Druids before I went to find Andrew and his companions at the keep.’
‘Why?’
‘If you want to know what’s going on, you ask the locals. In my experience, the Druids have always been more in-tune with what’s going on than the Tartans have. Obviously something is amiss here, something under the surface.’ He ducked under a low hanging maple branch. ‘From what Story was able to tell me—’
‘Story?’
‘The Druid we’re going to meet. Something dark is going on here, there’s a deeper motivation behind all of this fighting and conflict. Something beyond Flynn simply breaking the treaty.’
‘I already know why,’ Victoria grumped.
Tollin cast her a long look in the darkness. ‘Oh?’
‘Yeah. The Tartans are after a spring. A magic healing spring.’
Tollin stopped. ‘A magic healing spring?’ His tone was thick with cynicism. ‘Don’t you sense there’s something wrong here, Victoria? Two close allies now at war, and all you think that is going on is some fight over a mythical healing spring?’
‘That’s why the Tartans are on the Druid’s land. I heard it straight from Molly.’
Tollin started walking again. ‘You’re not looking at the bigger picture, Victoria. You’re looking at the small little pieces. Their quest for that mythical healing spring has nothing to do with the underlying current of general badness I feel. There’s something incredibly wrong with this world; it’s off-kilter and you think it’s all about a spring?’
Victoria kicked a rock angrily. ‘If you’re so clever, what do you think it is, then?’
Tollin glanced back at her. ‘I don’t know, but I bet my boots it’s connected to those pods! That’s why we’re going to see Story! Get the story from Story, so to speak.’
Victoria fumed. She considered going back. Tollin’s flippant attitude was enough to set her teeth on edge. She had hardly been with him seventy-two hours and the entirety of their relationship had revolved around him ordering her about. He knew who she was, which was what made his insolence all the more aggravating. She was quite sure she would have gone back—if she’d known the way. Still, her curiosity was stirred. She wanted to know what Tollin was about, as much as she didn’t want to admit it.
‘It won’t work, by the way,’ Tollin said after a bit.
Victoria, still angry, glowered at him. ‘What won’t?’
‘The spring. It really is nothing more than a myth. Sure, there may be a hot water spring that can heal a few ailments, most likely mineral water and heat, used to help aching joints. Steam can clear out the sinuses and what not, but it won’t heal Andrew.’
Victoria felt ill. She didn’t want to believe Tollin, but he spoke with such confidence she somehow knew he was right. ‘But it’s magic. How do you know it won’t?’
‘It’s not magic. There’s no such thing, not really. Well, that’s not entirely true. A few people are lucky and born with it, but not here, and not water. Andrew’s problem is a genetic one. He’s got an exceedingly impressive mind, brilliant, and unfortunately that’s taking its toll on the rest of him. His condition is worsened by his mental powers; it takes it out on him, making his symptoms worse than others with the disease. Breakdown, I believe they call it here.’
Victoria was surprised that she felt tears welling up. ‘You mean you knew this and you didn’t tell them?’
Tollin turned back to look at her, face dark. ‘I just did.’ His eyes darted to the surrounding forest. ‘Molly’s been following us since we left.’
The trees stirred and Molly came out, still in her nightgown, looking sheepish. ‘How did you know I was there? I’m good at moving through the forest.’
‘I’ve good hearing,’ Tollin said seriously.
‘Is it true what you said, about Andrew not having any hope?’
‘No hope? Never would I say such a thing! But as for a magic spring? I’m afraid not. Cure won’t be discovered in this Realm for a few centuries, I shouldn’t wonder.’
Molly’s giant blue eyes wavered. ‘But that was his last chance!’
‘Well,’ Tollin said gently. ‘There’s always hope. Now what are you doing here?’
Molly wiped a tear from her eye. ‘I’ve been having weird dreams lately so it’s been hard for me to sleep. I couldn’t shake the feeling something is supposed to happen and then I heard you leaving. I was curious. I wondered where you two would be off to so late. Now I see you’re going to go meet with the Druids. Are you turning on us?’
‘No. We’re going to piece together a bit more information. Sorry if I don’t believe your side of the story completely. There’s something else at work here and I’d like to try to get to the bottom of it. Oh, and tell me about your dreams sometime, I’m intrigued.’
‘Fine. But I’m coming with you.’
‘No,’ Tollin barked. ‘You go back home. The last thing I need is for the Druids to think I’m betraying them by having a Tartan with me. They already will be unhappy when they learn I’m staying in your village. Go home, Molly.’
Molly stood firm. ‘You said you were going to see Story. I know her. She was a friend of mine. She’s one who’s never turned on me, well, until Andrew’s ambush. I still somewhat trust her. Look, I can’t let you go on alone. If you get caught Victoria will be in a lot of trouble.’
‘So will you,’ Tollin pointed out.
‘It will look better if I go with you, and I’m not going home so you might a
s well just drop it and start moving. We’ll miss our meeting if we don’t leg it!’
Tollin raised his eyebrows in silent amusement, then shook his head, starting off again.
The journey through the dark went quicker than Victoria thought. She was glad Molly had come along. She knew the path well, much better than Tollin, and their pace was rapid. They didn’t speak much. The dark forest was still and tense and all of them seemed to sense a need to keep quiet. As if something were watching them from the trees.
Molly led them up a hill through the trees and they stopped abruptly at the edge of the water. Being out in the open, with the sky once again above them, was a greater relief than Victoria had imagined. She decided she’d never like the forest.
Victoria realised they were still looking at Elk Lake, but she couldn’t see the lodge or the village anymore as she craned her neck to the right, just dark trees and reeds. She was completely turned around. All she knew was where home was. Up.
They left the treeline and walked down a sandy, grassy slope towards the sound of sloshing water. It was dark, but there was light enough for Victoria to make out shapes in the gloom. The grass turned to heavy boulders, which met abruptly with the black water. To her left, Victoria could hear a great, heavy sound, water magnified tenfold from the little splashes she was hearing now. A steady, rhythmic pull. She could barely see, but the white capped waves were just visible. It must be the ocean.
Great hewn white stone blocks were randomly scattered about everywhere, as if a building project had been set in motion and then halted. Even in the darkness, there was so much that Victoria wanted to see she didn’t know where to turn. She was still trying to take everything in when Tollin pushed past her, down towards the shoreline. She and Molly followed, stumbling over rocks in the dark.
‘Where are we?’ Victoria whispered, listening to the lapping waves against the stones.
‘We’re at the channel, where the lake opens up to the ocean. It’s where the ships travel out from the village,’ Molly said, when Tollin made no reply. ‘The question is: why are we here?’
Tollin crouched down on a rock by the edge of the water, gazing across the channel into the darkness of the other side. ‘Because,’ his eyes scanned the water and he slowly raised a hand to point at something, ‘the lake is at its narrowest here. It was the easiest place for us to rendezvous.’
Victoria and Molly both followed the direction Tollin was pointing. At first, Victoria saw nothing, just blackness. Then slowly, a pale shape began to morph out of the gloom. Victoria was not entirely sure she was looking at anything and perhaps her eyes were playing tricks on her in the darkness. But sure enough, the shape moved closer, cutting through the water like a white knife. And in a moment a boat bumped into the rocky edge. It was a small flat craft that sat close in the water and had no inside except for a small hole swallowing the waist of a young woman. The woman, who Victoria realised must have been Story, pulled herself out of the boat and tied it quickly to a snag. She then eyed the three people before her warily.
‘I did not realise I was meeting with more than just you, Traveller. I see now you have tricked me.’
‘No, not tricked you,’ Tollin said quietly. ‘You don’t have to worry about these two. They’re on my side.’
Victoria blinked in surprise. She wasn’t sure she liked being considered on Tollin’s side, especially because she didn’t know what Tollin’s side was. The woman was one of Andrew’s attackers from his ambush in the forest. She gazed at Tollin in shock. Surely, he had to know!
Story’s eyes narrowed in the darkness. ‘And who’s side are you on, Traveller?’
Tollin smiled. ‘The right side. Whatever side the truth is on. Which is why you’re here as well.’
Story did not seem happy with his answer. ‘I see you’ve brought one of the Tartans with you.’
Molly swallowed and took a step forward. ‘Story, it’s been a long time. I’m saddened to see how badly things have turned since we were friends.’
‘Friends, never. I knew you only in passing.’
Molly started to say something but Tollin broke in. ‘Okay, this isn’t a reunion. We can all catch up later, preferably when it’s not three in the morning at the lake channel.’
Story glowered, but turned her attention back to Tollin with seemingly no other thought of Molly.
‘I know something is going on here,’ Tollin said. ‘And I have a feeling you have something to do with it. What’s going on in the forest, Story? What’s the news?’
Story crossed her arms, looking uncomfortable. ‘Nothing. I do not know what you mean.’
Tollin gave her a hard look. ‘Oh, come now! I did not come all the way out here to play games! It really was a long way, really. When I met you a few days ago you led me to believe that something was amiss. Why so shy all of a sudden?’
Victoria turned round in a small circle, tuning out their words. A slight rustle in the trees, perhaps the wind. She could have sworn something was there, silently watching.
Story swallowed. ‘Things have gotten more complicated since then.’
‘Well, let me help you. Tell me what is going on.’
Story walked a distance away and glanced back at them. ‘The Blaiden have made a deal with Flynn.’
Tollin trailed after Story. ‘The tribe from the south. The Red Wolves. Why? Why would Flynn join with them? They’re barbarians compared to you, aren’t they?’
Story grew angry. ‘It was not my decision. Flynn is uncertain. He does not know what to do. The Blaiden have promised him many things, in turn, Flynn has given them free run of our land. They now hunt on our soil and invade our camps. All in the name of partnership.’
Tollin’s expression grew dark. ‘To what end?’
Story glanced at Molly and shook her head. ‘I will say no more. The Blaiden are animals, Traveller. Their rituals and hunting are so…’ She took a deep breath. ‘I am not skilled in magic but I can sense something from them. They are slaves to a darkness unknown to the forest. Something foreign. There is a poison in these lands. It fell from the sky and it has continued to fall. It’s bleeding into the forest, twisting it…and the forest is drinking it up. The Blaiden worship it. They are evil, and I’m afraid they’re trying to make us like them.’
Tollin couldn’t hide his delight over her words. He moved towards her, interested. ‘Fallen from the sky? Did you see where?’
‘The pods,’ Victoria gasped in his ear.
Story turned her head slightly to look at Victoria. ‘Yes, the pods.’
Molly frowned. ‘Pods? What pods?’
‘Later,’ Tollin told her. ‘What can you tell me of them, Story?’
She shook her head. ‘Not much. The first time we spotted them falling was three years ago.’
Tollin jerked, surprised by the news.
‘We tried to send a party to investigate, but were intercepted by the Blaiden. There was a very violent struggle to claim them, both sides wanted them; we didn’t know what they were. The Blaiden obviously won. The year after that we saw more pods fall, again we attempted, but the Blaiden were already there and we didn’t dare try to take them. This year we did not attempt at all.’
‘I see,’ Tollin mused. ‘And do you have any idea what is in the pods?’
Story frowned. ‘No. All I can tell you is that the sickness in the forest started three years ago and it’s slowly been growing ever since.’
Tollin grew more contemplative. ‘I see! You’ve been of immense help to me, Story. I know you have risked much and I know you all feel helpless right now. Believe me; I will do what I can to stop the Tartans from encroaching on your land.’ He didn’t look at Molly. ‘Let Flynn know he does not have to resort to such drastic measures for protection. Whatever his end goal is, let him know that the Blaiden will not let things return to normal once Flynn’s goals are accomplished. If they have possession of your land, they will not stop there. Flynn’s life could be at risk.’
&nbs
p; Story turned her back to them. ‘I will ponder your words, Traveller. I do not know if I can trust them, especially speaking them with strangers here. But deep down, I feel you speak the truth. I will return to you if I see a need.’
Tollin nodded. ‘Stay safe, Story. You will make many enemies if you are discovered, but if anything else happens, please, find me. The more I’m informed, the better help I can be.’
‘I’ll see what I can do. It will not be easy. Safe journey, Traveller.’ Story picked up her wooden double-edged paddle. ‘The Tartans will not think kindly of you conversing with me.’
Without another word, Story slipped into her boat and was lost to the darkness. Tollin, Victoria and Molly stood, watching her go.
Finally, Molly spoke up. ‘So, what did all of that just mean?’
Tollin’s eyes were shadowy. ‘It means a chain of events has been set into motion on a scale far greater than I had anticipated.’ He brightened. ‘Come on, off we go! Can’t be seen, hanging round this spooky channel all night. Rumours say the ghosts of those who drowned still haunt here! Got to get you two back into bed before someone comes looking!’
Victoria trudged after Tollin, pondering why she’d been allowed to hear what she had, and wondering how exactly it was connected to her. As the forest closed in over her, it was impossible to ignore the prickling feeling of watchfulness again and wondered if there really were ghosts, or perhaps much worse, watching them hungrily.
Chapter Nineteen
Dragging herself out of bed was honestly one of the last things Victoria wanted to do that morning. She finally stumbled out from her room and into the main hall, where, to her surprise, Andrew was sitting. He was staring up at the ceiling, unmoving, with a face so slack one might mistake him for dead.
‘Exciting day?’ Victoria asked, yawning. Her late night last night was still lingering with her. She would have preferred to sleep till noon but the village bell had rung each hour, waking her, till she finally could no longer ignore it and get back to sleep as much as she tried.