by Damien Lake
Once atop the root, Colbey directed them to run along it. The root became an odd sort of roadway, and strangely far smoother than many paths Marik had walked before. After a moment they reached a point where the root burrowed into a cluster under several others. Colbey pointed them to a new one which they scaled.
The odd terrain apparently confused the Taurs. They could hear the beasts falling behind the longer they ran along the massive roots.
At one point the ground leveled off. Earth had filled the spaces between so they could run without the balanced precision the exposed roots demanded. They continued to run deeper into the Euvea trees. Marik’s cold sweat increased the further they went.
Colbey abruptly halted without warning a few minutes later. They had reached a place where two massive trees grew in such close proximity that the space between was reduced to a narrow corridor. A slight break in the canopy allowed a single shaft of moonlight to illuminate the space.
Dietrik barked, “What is the trouble? I can hear the Taurs running up behind us!”
“You can go no further into the Euvea from this point. The trees will deny your passage.”
“This is it!” Marik groaned. “We’ve finally come too far in! It will kill us as surely as Xenos would have.”
“The Euvea groves will not attack you.”
“Then let’s get moving instead of having a lie-in!”
Dietrik ran into the corridor. Colbey made no move to follow.
“Hey! Dietrik!” Marik shouted. “Don’t go in there! You have no idea what might be waiting for you! Come back! Come—oh. Good. Don’t hare off like that!”
Dietrik came running back out of the corridor between the trees. He skidded to a stop in the dirt while blinking rapidly in confusion. “Barking mad! How did…”
He furrowed his eyebrows in determination, spun and ran back into the dark space.
“Where are you going? Dietrik?”
Colbey walked to the left Euvea trunk. “Be calm. He will return.”
True to his word, only moments later, Dietrik came running back out of the darker corridor. As before he slid across the loose earth while abruptly halting.
“What are you doing?”
Dietrik returned Marik’s questioning expression with puzzled anger. “That can’t be a winding path! I never turned off the straight and true!” He rounded on Colbey. “What sort of diseased prank is this?”
“It is a sealed area. Space on the edge is twisted. You will never be able to enter on your own. It will turn you back the way you came each time.”
“Why did you lead us here, then? A dead end? May as well throw out a picnic blanket in a box canyon, cover us with marinade and invite the bloody Taurs to lunch!”
A hint of the old Colbey broke through the surface; a single ember of smoldering annoyance. “I will take you through the seal! But mark me well, outlanders. This is a sealed area with second level dangers. It is, by far, not the worst, but it is dangerous enough for the unwary. Listen to every word I speak, follow every instruction I give you. Touch nothing at all without my say so! Otherwise it will cost you worse than your life. Death is an easy escape from many of the fates that lie within the seals.”
“What are you talking about?” Marik cried out. The nervous fear in his voice shamed him.
Colbey placed both hands on the trunk’s bark. The mercenaries huddled closer.
“What is he doing?” Dietrik whispered.
“I don’t know, but at this point there is no use in hiding.” He concentrated and formed his etheric orb. The light crackled. They could see the bark, leaves, pebbles, dirt, twigs which must actually be mere splinters shed by the enormous trees…
The far end of the corridor remained shrouded in blackness. Marik strained to see until an odd glow from the side made him jerk his attention back to Colbey. Between the scout’s palms, a green circular patch glowed within the wood.
“That…that’s an aura! Dietrik, can you see it?”
“Yes. Damnation, what is he up to?”
“I don’t know. But that’s what an aura looks like. Or rather, it usually covers the entire tree. I don’t understand this.”
“Mate! Look!”
Dietrik pointed at the corridor. In the space between the trunks, an unnatural rippling effect expanded. As if a child had tossed a pebble into a still pond. Except the surface of the water was actually the corridor’s mouth. The ground, vegetation…everything beyond the opening had been reduced to an artist’s canvas. A canvas being shook from all corners as concentric rings expanded from the center.
“The seal is open. Go in. Hurry!”
“Are you mad?” Marik could hardly credit Colbey’s calmness.
“That or the Taurs,” Dietrik decided. “Fry in the pan or be cast into the fire. What difference does it make in the end?”
Without farewell, Dietrik stepped into the rippling reality and vanished.
“I can’t believe you two! Haven’t you listened to anything I said?”
“Mage! Go in before it closes!”
“I’m not about to jump in there! We’ll go back the way we came! There must be another root we can climb and find a way—hey! Let go of me! Colbey!”
The scout dragged Marik to the corridor. With a mighty heave, he flung Marik into the ripples, then marched through after him only moments before the canvas solidified, becoming only a simple space between trees.
Which it was.
Chapter 22
“My reservations concerning this unnecessary venture remain unaltered.”
Adrian gazed upon the looming Euvea trees. Their menace was heightened under their starlit countenance. He kept his arms folded in steadfast resolution. “And my feelings remain unchanged as well. I will not return to my king without an admission from the deceiver’s own lips.”
“Proof beyond all that your laws require lay under the very feet of your monarch. The followers of the god of earth are your concern by the vow of your ancestors. The being who was once the man called Xenos is my concern, and the poison he carries.”
Jide stepped forward. “Like it or not, whatever you are, we don’t share that opinion. An obsidian fragment is the blacker evil than a bunch of damned fools playing dress-up in a long forgotten cave.”
The Red Man’s brow furrowed in consternation. Rail laughed mightily and offered Jide an approving nod. In heavily accented Arronathian, he said, “Humans are never content to miss out on the best action, Red! You should know us by now.”
“Indeed, it is a lesson mankind insists on repeating endlessly across each successive generation.”
“So swallow the bitter truth, then. I, for one, am amazed any political type anywhere is willing to pull his head from his ass and actually do something useful. And it’s getting cursed cold. You spent too much time arguing and let them pull ahead of us again.”
Rail slung his large blade into a resting position on his right shoulder. Jide paused long enough for the mercenary to pass without the protruding weapon striking him before he followed.
Last of the four, the Red Man waited and gazed at their backs dispassionately before entering the massive Euvea grove.
* * * * *
Colbey raised his left hand to shield his eyes. Midmorning sun warmed his skin. Dew sparkled their last moist refractions off the new day’s treasure hoard. Soon the final moondrop pearls would evaporate in the morning’s rising temperature. They stood in shadows cast by the twin Euvea trees.
Dietrik stood foolishly staring into the streaming sun rays painting golden shafts through several thousand dust motes hovering between the open trees beyond their corridor. Colbey let the man continue to fill his eyes with tears. He instead chose the wiser course of staring unblinkingly at the shadowed earth between his boots. His eyes would adjust to the change far quicker than forcing raw sunlight through the retinas.
The mage tottered backward after only a moment. He landed hard on his backside and hands. Colbey watched him peripherally to ensur
e he made no thoughtless moves. Until the mage accepted the reality of the sealed area, he would have to manage the man as a mother looking after the welfare of her toddler outside the home.
“This…can’t be possible,” the mage muttered in a chanting litany. “No possible way…we are being fooled…”
“I can think of any number of illusionists who would pay dearly to know how it was done, in that case,” Dietrik answered in the quietest tone Colbey had heard him use since rescuing them. “Sight and sensation? I can feel the light on my skin. The illusionists would take in a king’s ransom during Summerdawn if they could manage this. It is even better than bardsong.”
“Trust the truth your eyes reveal to you,” Colbey said, addressing them both. “What you see is nothing more nor less than that.”
“Men can’t walk from night to day in a single step.” Dietrik spun to face Colbey. The scout did not miss the fact that the mercenary was forced to squint equally as narrow to see him in the shadows as he’d had to peer into the sunlit forest.
“Nor can men run south, and find their heading carrying them north, can they? Silence. Do you hear?”
The mage’s heels scrambled through the loose earth before he rose quickly to his feet. “Gods damn it! They’re right behind us!”
“Then let’s be off,” Dietrik suggested while the Taurs’ hunting cry trailed away. “That could not have been from half a minute behind us!”
“Easy, you two.” Colbey crossed his arms. He stood with his waist twisted so he could peer back between the Euveas. “Look at the entrance you passed through. It is as black and depthless as when you attempted to enter without the seal’s permission.”
“So what?”
“They will fair no better. Listen carefully.”
The roars were deafening. Only when face-to-face with the beasts in combat had they ever heard the predatory voices this clearly, felt the power inherent to the vocalizations hammering at their ribcages.
Yet is soon became apparent that the cries were subtly different. Rage imbued the furious cries, including a higher pitch that struck the men as base confusion. Dietrik shared his conclusion before the mage could.
“They tracked our scent to just outside. But they can’t follow. They do not know what is happening.”
“We don’t know what’s happening!” the mage exclaimed. “What strange hell have you brought us to?”
Colbey felt a bitter smile play across his lips. “A hell that is nothing except life itself. Can you name a single trial which tortures men worse than that relentless journey?”
Neither offered a reply, which he had expected. He stepped into the light to break their dumbfounded fixation.
“If we can hear them, won’t they eventually budge on through?” Dietrik posed the question while the mage leapt after his friend. The mage disliked being left behind in such a strange environment.
“Sound is insubstantial,” Colbey returned. He watched the pathway carefully, speaking ahead to the men behind him. “Therefore the seal offers no barrier to it. I was not far from this place when I first heard the commotion. The invaders must have chosen to camp where they did because they knew tomorrow would be spent finding their way through the sealed areas.”
“You claimed they were unable to enter!”
“Around them, I should have said.” Colbey flung out one arm to gesture left and right. “As they cannot breach the seal, they must work their way around the fringes until they circle the entire area.”
“They did camp earlier than usual,” the mage ventured to comment. His voice contained enough strength to avoid a quaver. Barely.
Colbey nodded. “They prepared for a day of blind searching.”
“Tackling a difficult job with their full strength,” Dietrik agreed. “We should consider doing no less. Where is a good place to rest until morning?”
“It is morning, as you can see.” Colbey gestured anew, this time at the broken, sun-filled canopy. “And we have a lengthy march before us. Few of this area’s inhabitants are nocturnal. It would be unwise to sleep during the day, for that is this place’s most dangerous time. Once evening falls, we will find shelter.”
“All night?” The mage sounded indignant, closer to his usual self. “We walked through the damned forest all day! We need to rest!”
“You are in a dangerous world, mage. Remember that I am your guide through it. The pathway is safe for the moment, but soon enough we will encounter threats of which you have rarely imagined. Keep these words in the forefront of your attention. Attack nothing! No matter the appearance, if a danger need be fought, it shall be I doing it. Many things within the seals are harmless unless you become an aggressor. Many others are far from harmless, yet must be dealt with in specific fashions. With luck, we shall avoid most and reach the southern exit from this area without misfortune.”
“And touch nothing,” Dietrik added, remembering his earlier admonishment. “I have trouble accepting any of this. If such fantastic creatures exist here, how can no one outside the forest know of them?”
“I’ve been telling you about them since last winter!” The mage punched his fist into his palm. “Did you think I was going mad? I told everyone to be on the lookout for exactly this!”
“For night turning to day? I must have missed that warning.”
“Don’t make light of me!”
Colbey interrupted them. “Keep your voices low! The creatures are a danger, yes, but not they alone. We must hurry if we are to catch up with the invaders once we leave the seal.”
“We will be well shot of them if we cut straight through,” Dietrik argued. “If they must grope like blind men around the edges the whole way. How large is this…area?”
“From the northern entrance where we crossed through, the exterior of the seal extends three miles west, and as much east. To the south it is four miles.”
“That’s simple enough,” the mage responded. “If the path is easy like this the whole way, we can be out the other end in two candlemarks. We’ll be far ahead of them.”
“No, mage. It will take the better part of a day for us to reach the nearest southern entrance. With half the morning gone already, we will be forced to make camp. Few creatures in this area are nocturnal, yes. But they are skillful hunters. It will be safest not to move through the night.”
“How can that be?” Dietrik demanded. “We have trained in Kingshome to handle the roughest terrains faster than that!”
“Did you hear my words? Yes? I said ‘the exterior’. Distance within this seal is unequal to distance outside it. In many of the seals, space and time have been unnaturally bent. Look there.” He pointed to several sizable gaps in the forest ceiling. “And notice that the Euvea trees grow much further apart. The space within the seal is far larger than the area it actually encloses.”
Colbey stopped in the path several paces later after noticing they were frozen where they stood. His eyes quickly studied the foliage closest to the path but found nothing alarming.
Dietrik spoke first. “And right when I was so bloody certain the world could not plunge any deeper into insanity…”
The mage found his voice next. This time the quaver found purchase in his words. “It must be some sort of magic…but, gods! That isn’t possible! Making a larger object fit inside a smaller one? A hundred mages could never do that!” His gaze darted nervously from leaf to leaf, startled as a bird.
“Are you certain that is true, mate? That bracelet you uprooted in Thoenar could shrink objects and the like.”
“No!” The mage ran his fingers through his hair. “Do we look shrunken to you?”
Casting a spurious look at the massive Euvea trees, Dietrik replied, “In point of fact, I would have to say we do.”
“You have not changed,” Colbey assured them. “It is only one of the many distortions the seals contain.”
“What is all this?” the mage fired heatedly. “What in the hells is going on? And how do you know about it? What is
this place?”
Colbey sighed. This day had turned on him so unpredictably. “That is a long tale, mage. It will have to wai—”
“We are hardly in the mood for waiting!” Dietrik allied with his friend, standing beside the mage in the path, facing Colbey with a stern expression. “We’ve had enough of this madness! Ever since last winter our lot has grown worse by the day!”
“I am not putting you off,” Colbey insisted. “As uncomfortable as it will be for me, there is much I must say. My instructor has made that clear to me. Too many things are clear to me now…”
A heavy silence fell until the mage asked, “Yeah? I’m listening.”
Colbey shook his shame from his mind. “Not here, where we spend time we can ill afford. You asked me questions long ago that I refused to answer. Tonight you will hear them from my own mouth. Until then, we move.”
They followed with a peculiar expression between them that Colbey dismissed. He dismissed it because he understood what it meant. After all, they would be fools to trust him blindly after the betrayals he had inflicted upon them.
“Tell us about this place, then,” the mage said to his back. “Your story can wait, but what is this forest? Why would anyone create a place where so many physical laws are twisted?”
“My coin is on magical experiments,” Dietrik pronounced. “Mages testing new spells or practices the crown has outlawed. They practice in secret and never clean up after their tests, successful or no.”
“That is wrong,” Colbey said. “The seals were crafted to contain the distortions. Not to create them.”
“Explain that.”
“In due course. It is part of my tale. Count yourself lucky to have been closest to Sealed Area Fifty-Three. Within this seal, night and day are reversed. Time distortions can be the most brutal. This one is relatively minor. Had you entered Sealed Area Fifty-Two, you would have been forced to enter a winter so cold that it rivals the worst the northern kingdoms are known for.”
“Given our clothing, we would have survived a short time only.”
“Yeah,” the mage echoed. “We left our heavy cloaks behind.”