Tree of Ages 1

by Sara C. Roethle

  “What if it knows the way out?” Kai whispered in response.

  “I do know the way out!” the creature called to them. Its voice was much deeper than Finn had expected, rumbling with a deep baritone.

  “Uh,” Kai began, speaking normally this time, “I don't suppose you'd like to tell us which way that is.”

  The creature hobbled up to them excitedly. Finn expected with the way the thing moved, it would fall over any moment, but it managed to reach them all the same.

  “For a price,” the creature answered, grinning. The few teeth in its mouth were cracked and broken. Given that, the creature wouldn't likely bite them....at least, Finn hoped that it would not bite them.

  “What price?” Finn asked.

  The creature hopped from foot to foot in excitement. “You could give me that woman in the saddle. She is obviously useless to you, and her parts could catch me something of real value in trade to the right Faie.”

  “I think we'll manage on our own, thank you,” Finn replied quickly, horrified at what the Faie had suggested.

  The creature hopped around even more frantically. “Now just you wait. I'll lead you out for a lock of your hair. Some would value a lock of hair from one of the Dair Leanbh very highly.”

  Kai looked at Finn as if she'd just sprouted a new head. “What does that mean?”

  “Nothing to you, outlander,” the creature replied with a glare, though Kai had asked the question of Finn. “Tuatha business is Tuatha business. Now give me a lock of your hair, and we can all be on our way.”

  “We'll find the path on our own,” Finn stated again, hoping to keep the creature from saying anything else. As far as she had gathered from the Traveler, she was not of the Faie. Of course, who really knew what was or wasn't Faie in origin?

  Finn attempted to walk past the creature, but each move she made was mirrored by the little purple man. “I'd like to be on my way,” she said firmly.

  The creature grinned, showing his few, jagged teeth once again. “I'm not to let you leave, dearie. Terribly sorry.”

  “Yer not to be stoppin' her either,” a voice called from behind them on the path.

  A moment later, Àed came stomping up beside them, followed by Anders with Àed's mule-horse. The Tuatha man looked between Àed's group and Finn's, and grinned again. “I see you've brought more bargaining tools, Dair Leanbh.”

  “I will not trade my friends,” she snapped at the little man. “Now remove yourself from our path, or I will remove you myself.”

  The little man's smile was sickening. “Not like any Dair child I've ever met,” the purple man whined. “Suit yourself. There will be other opportunities, to be sure.” With that, the man backed away into the trees and disappeared.

  As soon as the purple man was gone, Finn threw herself at Àed, engulfing him in a hug. He patted her back awkwardly, not sure what to do with the show of affection.

  “How did you find us?” Finn asked as she pulled away.

  Àed spat on the ground. “Dumb luck really. That fool redhead went runnin' off and we were trackin her. Tracked her to some mounds where I got a sense of ye. I'd thought it was a skill long since lost to me, yet here ye are. Them barrows were a good six furlongs from where we lost her. Don't know how she traveled that far so fast. Ye must have gotten to her not long before we came upon that place.”

  While Finn was greeting her friend, Anders had gone to greet Branwen. Only she did not seem to recognize her own brother. Anders pulled his sister from the horse and set her gently on her feet. She stood on her own in front of him, but made no move to do anything else.

  He placed his hands on his sister's shoulders and shook her gently. “What's happened to her?”

  Kai placed a hand on Anders' arm to get his attention as he stared at Branwen. “We found her by the mounds,” he explained when Anders finally turned toward him. “She was unconscious at first, and her state hasn't changed much. She hasn't spoken a single word.”

  Anders looked close to tears as Kai helped him put his sister back in the saddle. Branwen looked forward from her place on her mount, staring into oblivion.

  Anders stared up at his sister. “She was only lost to us for two hours at most. I don't understand how this could have happened.”

  “I do not know,” Kai replied, “but I'm beginning to realize that we are no match for the Faie of these woods.”

  “We should leave,” Anders stated solemnly. “We need to get out of this forest as soon as possible.”

  Finn hated to draw attention away from Branwen's predicament, but others could still be in danger. “What about Iseult?” she asked softly. “Has no one seen him? I had hoped he would be with you,” she finished, forcing herself to meet Anders' gaze.

  His face contorted with anger, and Finn knew immediately she should have just waited and asked Àed instead. “What about my sister!” Anders shouted. “I'm not going to risk her by going back to find some hired sword.”

  Finn calmly put her hands on her hips and stared down each of her companions in turn, not allowing Anders' outburst to faze her. “Then I will go back myself,” she announced.

  Àed moved to closer to Finn. “No ye won't.”

  Anders gave Finn an I told you so kind of look. Finn turned to argue with the old man, but he interrupted her. “Because I'll be goin with ye.”

  Finn's jaw dropped as she tried to think of an argument to not risk her friend any further, though in all reality, Àed was much better off in the forest than she. Before Finn could argue, Kai moved to stand on her other side. “I had been planning on going back for Liaden regardless of the dangers. I will accompany you as well.”

  “Well what are the rest of us supposed to do!” Anders exclaimed.

  “We've reached the outskirts ye fool,” Àed replied gruffly. “I wouldn't bring ye two Faierie blighters back in with us even if ye begged.”

  Anders' face went rigid. “Finn was caught up just as much as I.”

  Àed waved him off. “And she'll have the only two of us not taken by fancies to watch over her. If ye have a mind to, ye can make camp and wait for us farther out. Perhaps we can even return yer precious Gray Lady to ye.”

  “What about my sister?” Anders asked more pleadingly this time.

  Àed did not appear sympathetic, so Finn stepped forward. “If we find the Travelers, we will ask them how to cure her. I want her well again too. She may even come out of it on her own once she's completely away from the forest.”

  Anders nodded and managed the barest of smiles. “Thank you. You are a small beacon of light in this hell. I apologize for yelling at you before.”

  Finn nodded, unsure of what else to say. She handed Anders her mule's reins. Kai had already set to retrieving his things from his horse, leaving Finn to hand Anders the reins to the second horse as well.

  “Branwen needs the horse, and two horses will not do three riders as much good as they'll do you, so you shall take mine as well,” Finn explained as Anders looked down at the reins in his hands skeptically.

  Anders gripped the reins tightly. “We will wait for you on the outskirts,” he assured.

  Finn nodded as Anders turned and led the horses away with his sister sitting rigidly in Kai's saddle. With a deep, settling breath, Finn turned to go back into the forest with her two companions following close behind her. Àed's poor mount was led back into the forest with them to carry the few supplies they kept for themselves. They had enough provisions for that day only, and none for the day ahead. They could perhaps have left with Anders to re-provision, but at any time their missing companions could cross the point of being lost forever. Perhaps they already were.

  Chapter Twelve

  Iseult rubbed at his aching skull as he sat up in the grass. His limbs were stiff and cold, which was no wonder since the ground he laid upon was covered in frost. He got to his feet, but his knees buckled, tossing him back to the ground.

  Suddenly memories stabbed through his brain so fiercely that he tur
ned to the side and expelled pure bile, as there was no food left in his stomach. As his dizziness subsided, he looked around for his horse, but the animal was gone.

  The lights. That was when he had lost his horse. As the lights closed in his horse panicked, and he was too stunned to fight as he was bucked from the saddle. It was not the lights themselves that put him in such a state, but the sound of his mother's voice. His mother had spoken to him through the lights.

  He shook his head. His mother was dead, and had been dead for over twenty years. The lights had used a voice they knew he would listen to . . . but how had they known?

  As he sat on the ground shaking with cold, he remembered asking his mother to help him, but his pleas had been ignored. Instead the lights spoke of Finn. She was important to them, and would need to be saved. Chaotic images of battle flashed through his mind of the Travelers fighting with other Faie. Iseult was shocked more by the different shapes and colors of the Faie than he was by the bloodshed. Once beautiful white canopies framed the scene, their edges now covered in blood. In the middle of the bloodshed was Finn, central to the action, but somehow not a part of it.

  Iseult forced himself back to his feet. His body screamed with every step, but still he moved forward. Finn would soon be in danger. Time was running out.

  Finn, Àed, and Kai had been walking for several hours, and were yet to see any sign of Faie trickery since leaving the purple man. The three companions stuck to the path, searching for the Travelers rather than their individual quarries. The camps would be large, as the Ceàrdaman were one of the few semi-faie races still great in number. The camps would also be deep enough into the forest to not be happened upon by random humans, but close enough to the edge to allow for easy travel into the outside world.

  Finn had many voices in her head that asked how on earth she thought they would be successful, when their first attempt was such an utter disaster. She argued that the forest had taken them unawares the first time, and now they knew what they were doing. The voices argued that she had been the first to succumb to Tuatha tricks, and likely would be again. Finn told the voices to shut up.

  The companions walked on as morning turned to afternoon. The going was easy on the paths, and the terrain seemed smooth enough, yet tired and hungry, Finn stumbled constantly. They walked on regardless, not wanting to take the time to rest when time for their companions could be running short. Instead they ate the remainder of their meager rations while they walked.

  Finn felt as if she were walking in a dream, and worried that she was being influenced by the Faie once again. The path around her seemed blurry, and she could not keep her eye on single focal point as she stumbled along. Soon her vision blurred completely, and the utter silence of the forest was pervaded with song. Finn could pick out several common instruments accompanied by unearthly voices, rising and falling in mournful harmony.

  “Please tell me you both hear that,” Finn groaned as her vision slowly returned, frustrated that she was so susceptible to Faie magic.

  “Aye lass,” Àed answered without glancing back at her.

  Finn shakily caught up to Àed as hope sprang up in her chest. “Is it the camp? I had not thought to find it so soon.”

  Àed nodded, but did not seem to share Finn's hopefulness. “I reckon that this time, the Travelers wanted to be found. Though what the problem was before, I am not sure.”

  Kai stopped walking. “Did anyone's vision just blur?” he asked nervously.

  Finn nodded almost excitedly, glad that she was not the only one.

  “We've passed through the Traveler's protective glamours,” Àed explained.

  Kai rested his hand on the pommel of his sword and looked to Àed for instruction. Àed shook his head. “Weapons will do ye no good here, lad.”

  “The Mountebank is correct,” said a voice to their right. Where just a moment before was empty space, stood a woman draped in white robes. She looked startlingly like the Traveler they had met on the road, right down to the bald head and translucent skin. Her overly long, knobby limbs were most evident in the arm she held outstretched toward the party. The palm of her thin hand was empty, as if she was waiting for them to give her something.

  Kai stepped in front of Finn with his hand still on his pommel. Affronted, Finn stepped forward to stand at Kai's side. Àed remained where he stood, grumbling to himself about dratted moon-faced whelplings.

  “I will require your weapons,” the Traveler said in a sing-song voice, still holding out her hand.

  “I don't think so,” Kai replied just as Finn was unsheathing her dagger to hand to the woman.

  “If the Gray Lady is to go unharmed,” the Traveler replied calmly. “I will have your weapons.”

  “We don't want some blighted Gray Lady,” Kai growled. “We're looking for the woman you kidnapped from us.”

  “I am aware,” the Traveler answered as the shadow of a smirk crossed her lips.

  Kai looked to Finn, who shrugged. She had no doubt that physical force was not the way they would retrieve Liaden. Even with their weapons, they would be at the mercy of the Travelers. She only hoped that one of them would have a “secret” that would quench the Travelers' thirst.

  Kai reluctantly undid his leather sword-belt, and handed the sheathed weapon to the female Traveler. An impatient look from the woman prompted Kai to reveal and hand over several other small blades from various areas of his person. Finn relinquished the dagger from her waist, and the party began to move forward.

  The Traveler did not move. “Not the Mountebank,” she ordered. “He is a weapon in and of himself. He may not enter.”

  Àed laughed bitterly. “I'm not what I used to be, lassy.”

  The Traveler cocked her head as if listening to something only she could here. “Still,” she replied finally, “you are not without your tricks. You will wait here.”

  Àed's face reddened, and Finn could tell he was about to launch into one of his tongue-lashings. The Traveler cut him off before he began. “You have come this far unharmed on the word of the Ceàrdaman alone. It would not be wise to test your luck.”

  “Unharmed?” Finn questioned. “I would not call the current state of my party unharmed.”

  The Traveler cocked her head to the other side. “You yet live. That is enough.”

  “What about Iseult?” Finn countered. “Does he live?”

  The Traveler listened again. “He lives, but he is not our concern. He will be a part of things soon enough. Now come, if you would see the lady of Clan Liath alive. Time is running out for us all.” She turned to Àed and dumped the weapons into his waiting arms as if offended by them.

  Finn was unsure of what the Traveler meant by running out of time, but had no time to question her as she turned to lead them into the camp. As they had little choice, Finn and Kai followed a safe distance behind the Traveler. Finn glanced back at Àed, who stood in place looking torn with his arms full of weapons and his mule-horse snuffling at his fraying hat.

  “What is Clan Liath?” Kai whispered as they walked.

  Finn shrugged, unsure if it was her place to tell Kai of Liaden's lineage. “I don't see as that's of much importance at the moment. I'm more worried about this time is running out business.”

  The scale of the camp alluded to the fact that it was a fixed meeting place, though Finn could have sworn they'd gone this deep into the forest on their first trek. Large poles were hammered into the ground to support sheer white canopies, their ends gently trailing over the earth. The canopies were large enough to cover a gathering of thirty people apiece, though the wooden chairs and tables below them were mostly vacant. Small wooden hovels were also built into the upper branches of trees, with no visible way to reach the structures other than shimmying up the tree trunks, though Finn doubted the Ceàrdaman were much for shimmying. The hovels appeared vacant, in fact, the entire camp seemed empty as they approached, but as they walked Travelers began to appear seated around the various fire pits underneath the
canopies. Finn could never quite see the Ceàrdaman as they appeared, they were just suddenly there.

  The music grew louder, but Finn could still not determine its source. As they walked, it began to seem as if the music was coming from above them. She looked up, and realized with horror that the music was coming from dozens of small cages. Tiny, winged Faie were trapped in the cages, singing and playing tiny instruments as if their lives depended on it. Most had wings too tattered for flight, so that if they did by chance manage to escape their cages, they would likely just plummet to their deaths. Finn glared at the back of the female Traveler, willing the woman to turn around so she could see just what Finn thought of her and her people.

  When the Traveler did not turn around, Finn glanced over at Kai. He looked around worriedly as they walked. She was not used to him showing his nerves, but she supposed the situation warranted it. The Traveler had acted as if Liaden was alive, but there was no saying how close to death she might be. Finn met the passive eyes of many Travelers as they passed. Perhaps there were worse fates to be had in these woods than death.

  Their guide came to a stop in front of a large white tent made of a fabric less sheer than the others. Also, unlike the canopies, this tent had four sides that were staked at each corner into the ground. The front flap was split in two and hung loose at the inner corners, forming a door. The female Traveler stood to the side and motioned for Finn and Kai to enter the tent.

  “I'll go,” Kai said softly. “There's no need for both of us to enter. If I do not return, run. Don't wait even a moment to see if I am alright.”

  The female Traveler clucked her tongue at them. “You must both go. Both or none. I assure you, it is not a trap. At least, not the type of trap your mind has conjured.”

  “Why is it so important for both of us to go?” Kai questioned suspiciously.

  “Would you leave her out here alone then?” the Traveler asked in reply.

  Finn's eyes widened at the idea. “We'll go together,” she said quickly, not wanting to ever be left alone with one of the Ceàrdaman again.