“I trust your decision,” Cullen replied.
The spring equinox celebration lasted hours longer until the last waxing moon of winter dropped below the tree line. After that, many wandered off to their beds in tree trunks, and the couple returned to their guest chamber with assurance from Ysmena that she would wake them in time to meet with the World Tree.
They snuggled between thick hides and stayed cozy despite the crisp late March night air. Lyra slept fitfully, in short snatches. She heard Cullen rouse many times. Sunrise couldn’t come soon enough.
Chapter Seventeen: The Sigil
Alerted by the whoosh of wings, Lyra snapped a glance back along the enchanted forest trail. A few yards behind, bushes and low-hanging tree limbs already closed the footpath. Beyond that, early morning mist blocked her vision. She strained but couldn’t see what flew toward them. The dense tree cover would block most dragons, so she ruled out the threat of a cimafa.
Birds in surrounding branches came to life, squawking and tweeting.
Seconds later, the silvery white striped feathers of Cullen’s tiger owl came into view. His light coloring contrasted with Noba’s burgundy shape behind him. “Lyra, wait for us!” Kenzo called as he slowed and narrowly dodged a thick branch that moved in front of him to close the path.
Without looking, Lyra reached a hand forward to touch Cullen. She only met twigs of a bush that rearranged its roots nearer the walkway. “Cullen, hold up,” she called. “It’s Kenzo and Noba.”
Cullen alerted Ysmena who was several paces ahead, and they fell back to welcome his assistants.
The plants cleared in the presence of the Lady of the Forest, and the owl darted straight for them. He made a smooth landing on the leather wristlet of Cullen’s outstretched forearm. “That ale they make here has a real punch. I always wake up at first dawn. The keeper where I roosted nudged me just a few minutes ago and said you’d been asking where we were. No one—”
“Those little people wouldn’t tell us where to find Master and Lady Lyra,” Noba blurted out, as he panted for air.
“Well, we’re sure glad you found us.” Lyra bent to the ground where he’d landed to give him a pat. “We tried for over an hour to find you.”
That didn’t seem to be enough for him, and he jumped up into her arms.
Kenzo ground his beak with agitation. “After wasting time with those keepers, I noticed the Gorse Goddess waking up and I asked her.”
“That big tree pointed us, but there was no trail,” Noba said, wriggling next to Lyra with a satisfied sigh.
Kenzo rotated his head a full one 180 degrees and glared at Ysmena. “Nasty kick to your ale here. The hangover fouled my usually exceptional navigation. I had to follow the sun rather than magnetics.”
She reached out to caress his head, and he whipped his face around, giving her his back. “I’m very sorry, Sire Kenzo. I didn’t realize its effects on outsiders since we have so few guests. It was an honor to have you and Noba join our celebration.”
The owl’s shoulders relaxed, and he glanced back at her.
His huge blue eyes rolled up to the Lady of the Forest and suckered her in to scratching his neck.
Lyra muffled a chuckle. A sour odor made her nose wrinkle, and she turned back to Noba. “You must have drunk a lot of that brew. Your breath reeks. Pshew!” She leaned down and let him hop to the ground. “We had such a nice bath in a hot spring. Too bad we couldn’t find you—you sure could have used one.”
The little dragon smelled one of his wings. “Noba smells like a dragon.”
“When they’re your houseguests, it’s different. Here they can smell wild,” Cullen replied to her while sniffing his owl. “However, you are a bit negligent in your preening.” He held his arm that served as a perch farther away from his body.
“As soon as I can, Master,” Kenzo snapped.
Ysmena turned from the owl and lifted the lantern on her staff. “Well, now that we’re all together, let’s make haste to arrive at the World Tree on time. Good thing we allowed additional travel time.” She increased the intensity of her light and glided down the path so quickly that several times she needed to wait for the limbs to clear.
When they arrived at the World Tree, he was awake and alert. This time, forest wildlife played in his boughs as he stretched. “Hello, Scribe Lyra and Sire Drake. I was beginning to worry whether you’d arrive on time, but you have met that requirement. I see you have brought friends.”
Cullen gave a formal, low bow, expecting a difficult time to gain approval from the World Tree for Noba and Kenzo to pass. “Good day, Blessed World Tree. We wish for you to grant passage to our helpers as well. This owl is my assistant, Sire Kenzo, and the pseudodragon is my wizard’s familiar, Noba.”
“Master, are we going back to Terza?” The familiar tugged on Cullen’s trouser leg. “Noba was scared there. Didn’t know what to do.”
Cullen looked down and shook his head. He rested a hand gently on the little dragon’s back.
“Very well, since you’ve already proved yourselves, they may also pass, provided you answer my riddle correctly,” the World Tree proclaimed. “It is now time for you to supply the three answers I require. I shall address the Scribe.” He extended a twig in her direction. “Are you prepared, my dear?”
“Yes, I am,” Lyra replied, her head high.
He straightened his limbs, and the birds quieted on their perches. “Under the comingled beams of the bright sun and the pale full spring moon, if you answer correctly, I shall be permitted to open the portal into the sky world of Aria. The first question: what is the name of the previous Scribe who I gave passage into that world?”
Lyra looked squarely at the mighty ash. “That would be Nareene.”
“And the second part—what was the magical benefit of her Book of Dragonspeir?”
She scanned the countenance of his facial features set deep in furrows of bark, but he remained stoic. His limbs only continued to sway gently in response to the breeze. She hoped his calmness meant he accepted her answer. She glanced at Cullen to read his expression. Learning no more, she continued. “Nareene’s book provided energy to bolster Aria. In turn, that world could continue to supply Silva Caliga with energy to keep it as a primary neutral haven during the take-over of most of Dragonspeir by the Dark Realm.”
Without even a blink, the World Tree spoke again. “And the final question: who helped that Scribe return from Aria to her homeland?”
“It was a sycamore tree who helped Nareene exit into the human world.”
“Now that you have stated your answers, please explain how these runes correspond.”
Lyra stepped to the rock where he had drawn the symbols the day before. She bent low and pointed to the first. “This spiral shows the energy transfer. The second shows the mutual exchange of power from Aria to Silva Caliga.” Glancing up at the World Tree, he still gave no indications of his evaluation. She turned back to the rock. “The last figure is a tree raising its branches high, but its roots are near a river, like a sycamore grows.” She stood and stepped closer to the ash, took a deep breath, and clamped her hands together.
Cullen wrapped an arm around her waist.
The stillness pressed in on her, and seconds hung like hours.
Finally, the World Tree lifted one corner of his angular mouth, then the other. “Scribe Adalyra, you would be correct on all three.” His eyes opened wide and dripped with a clear fluid. “It will be my pleasure to help you and your associates pass into Aria. May you find that lost volume in order to bring peace to the Alliance and all the good folk of Dragonspeir.” His tears trickled down the length of his tall trunk and gathered into a rivulet that wound to Lyra’s feet.
Instinctively, she and Cullen each dropped to their knees and scooped from the narrow waterfall at the base of his trunk. They drank from each other’s hands, then joined those hands and stood.
Ysmena planted her staff and clasped their joined hands. “How did you know to do
that?”
“I don’t know. My aura led me,” Lyra replied.
“I have opened the portal, the first time I have done so since Nareene sought passage. My tears are of joy, being able to help you benefit so many. These tears contain some of my aura and called to you, Adalyra. And to you, Sire Drake, through her. Indeed, you both are bound by a deep love that allows your auras to communicate. Drinking from my power, you will now be identified as friends among the Arials.”
Lyra waved Kenzo and Noba to join them at the base of the trunk. “Lord Ash, may they also drink your tears?”
“Your concern and compassion wells more into my eyes. Of course, they may.”
The pair took turns lapping at the liquid as it trickled down.
“Mmm. Tastes sweet like candy canes at Lady Lyra’s house last winter,” Noba said, licking his snout with a long tongue.
The warmth of his simple response broke the tension. Smiles and chuckles all around signaled hundreds of songbirds to warble and flit about.
“Now, you must take passage in a specific way.” The World Tree nodded to Ysmena and rested his gaze on each of the travelers.
She handed out small cloth pouches and draped scarves of white cloth around their necks. “These bags contain charms that will aid your passage during divination—sycamore seed balls.” Approaching Lyra, Ysmena’s eyes widened. “I sense you come prepared with your own. Your destiny must be so defined that it called on one of our sycamores to supply that gift. Amazing.” She shook her head and took up her staff. With its thick base, she dug a line around them and the World Tree in the shape of a large circle.
The mighty ash cleared his throat. “If you have a wand or staff, be certain to take it along, secured to your person. Please ascend, climbing on my widest branches. Be patient. They will move to help you mount, but I’m old and stiff. Move up only so high that the mist blocks your view of the wildflowers at my feet but that you can still see the Lady of the Forest’s lovely face.”
Kenzo flapped his wings as if he wanted to fly upward, but Cullen directed him and Noba to take perches on a low limb next to Lyra and then seated himself.
Like the oak tree that transported Lyra and Cullen to its tree house, the boughs of the ash raised to their full extent. There, the guests transferred to sit on another that took them higher. When the fog drifted at his base, they ceased climbing.
“While you are all still close together, collectively create an intention for your journey into Aria. Let one sentence represent your answer,” the ash directed.
“That’s not hard—find the lost volume of Nareene’s Book of Dragonspeir and return it to the Alliance,” Lyra said.
“Good. Break that sentence into parts you can visualize as symbols similar to those in the runes you analyzed. All that you create will be fitted into one figure like a puzzle.”
“A rectangle for a book.” Kenzo suggested, folding his wings against his body.
“A letter ‘A’ for Alliance, with the crossbar being the top edge of the book,” Lyra added.
“We need some indication of direction or motion, taking the book to the Alliance. Maybe with an arrow pointing from that top edge of the book to the apex of the letter?” Cullen asked.
“I like that,” Lyra said, tilting her head as she envisioned the combination. “The apex would represent the four Guardians of the Alliance. That works. We have our one symbol,” she announced to the ash.
“Before you set out on your journey, your intention must be declared for the energy of divination to flow properly from one world to the other. Lyra, this is where your friends with talons can help. That symbol, called a sigil, must be carved into my bark on the branch where you are seated. Do that now, and be sure to concentrate on your quest while you make the sigil.”
“That’s no problem for me.” Kenzo puffed out his chest feathers and set to work gouging out a large letter ‘A’ with a sharp talon.
Cullen directed him with proportions for the rectangle and arrow.
With Noba’s help, the two made quick work, finishing in only a couple of minutes.
“To activate the magic of the sigil, chant the sentence in unison three times while staring at the symbol you just created.”
Cullen led their chant. “Find the lost volume of Nareene’s Book of Dragonspeir and return it to the Alliance.”
Noba struggled with the wording, but by the third repetition, they all recited together.
“I sense the sigil’s energy coursing through that branch to my trunk.” The World Tree flexed and extended the bough as he sent limbs to accept each member into a separate seat. “Please arrange yourselves as comfortable as possible, and listen carefully. You must follow these directions exactly. Each of the four of you possesses a magical aura. Close your eyes and become more aware of that force inside you. Feel your energy move down to where you connect with my body. Follow threads of your energy coursing down through me and feel the earth of Silva Caliga ground you.” The ash paused, and Lyra felt her grounded aura coil around his roots.
“Maintain that downward thread in place while you send another up through the crown of your head. Now, feel the rush of energy from the forest floor to your ears and nose. Smell the rich soil and fragrant blossoms that herald spring. Hear the rustle of leaves as wind, insects, birds, and squirrels stir the ground. Once you feel that rising energy, take the scarf from your neck and hold it in your beak or between your palms in front of your chest. Let all the burdens of your heart flow into this cloth, then fasten it to one of my branches.”
He waited until each followed that direction before he continued. “Lift your face up and resist any temptation to look back at the scarf you tied.”
Before Lyra directed her gaze upward, Kenzo’s white cloth fell past her. She reached to catch it, but it was beyond her fingers. Since there was no warning not to look down until proceeding, she noticed the direction it fell and where it came to rest on the ground. Thinking that he wouldn’t be able to join them on the quest, her breath caught. After all they’d been through, she didn’t want to go without the brave owl.
“Lyra! Gather your energy thread,” the ash barked at her.
The Lady of the Forest floated up and helped Kenzo retie his scarf. Once she resettled below, Lyra quickly arranged her energy back into the connector between the ground and the top of her head.
It took considerably more effort for Lyra to release her concerns to the cloth. She had so many, all jumbled and whipping among spirals of her aura inside her mind. In desperation, she tried some meditative breathing. With her eyes closed, she kept a single focus on the task of emptying her thoughts onto the scarf. Slowly, her breathing calmed and so did her mind.
“You are all ready now.” The voice of the World Tree sounded different, like low distant rumbles. “Say to yourself, ‘And so I enter.’ Feel the energy move from your crown and reach your body to the next higher limb.”
“And so I enter,” Lyra recited, pouring her aura into the words. She raised her arms to meet a higher limb that bent to pick her up. Like whispers in the back of her mind, she heard the voices of her friends say the same words. Cullen’s masculine tone reassured her since her mind was so focused she couldn’t feel for his energy. In the distance, she heard water, rushing rapids. Surely her mind played tricks on her.
“Rising higher, you will hear new sounds.” The rumble from the World Tree became more distant. “Listen for the musical sound of rippling water. Soon, you shall hear that melody mixed with bird songs. The mist of the forest will condense into clouds, and you will see my topmost branches covered with aerial plants, thick mosses, and lichens.”
Lyra eagerly looked in all directions. Still connected to a tip-top branch of the ash, with a speedy retreat an easy thing, she didn’t fear being attacked. Nothing seemed hostile, only masses of matted low plants as the cloud covering briefly separated. Cullen appeared a few yards away when a wisp of white cleared away.
Barely audible, the mighty ash still
spoke to them. “When you reach a parting in the cloud, push the fronds of the aerial ferns aside and crawl through. Rest among those plants for a while since the transfer is tiring.”
Lyra found a hole where the plants seemed easy to separate. She stuck one arm through and then the other, pushing them apart to widen the hole so her shoulders fit. Inching her way, like pulling a fitted dress over her head, she finally got the width of her hips through the opening and sat on the edge. Her legs still dangled in Silva Caliga. She panted, out of breath, but waved to each of her friends as they poked through.
“You should see a flock of common snipe birds, my messengers. After you leave my branches, you will no longer hear me, and I will not feel your energy. They will alert me whether you have made safe passage.” The voice of the World Tree drifted away as Lyra pulled her legs onto the bed of ferns and mosses.
Chapter Eighteen: The Dragon Sampan
Lyra patted the fluffy cloud material beyond the clump of mosses where she sat. She expected her hand to pass through easily. Surprisingly it felt like a bath sponge. She pressed against more areas close by and put more weight into her hand. It sank about a foot but was supported. She wondered if the cloud would hold her weight and looked up to see if Cullen knew.
On his hands and knees, he crawled toward her over the lichens, herding his assistants ahead of him. It was such an unwizardly position, she gave up her investigation and leaned back to watch, covering her laugh with a hand.
Once he sat beside her on the moss patch, he asked, “Stuck up here in a land of clouds and lichens, what could you find so comical?”
“Master, can we fly out and see what’s here?” Kenzo extended his wings and leaned forward.
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