by Shelley Cass
“As you say Raiden!” the two Nymphs saluted, and made to rush off.
“I’ll be coming too,” Kiana raised one eyebrow.
“But … last night …” They caught one look at her face as that eyebrow slowly, lethally lowered.
“Last night was invigorating. And I owe the Forest dwellers a debt.” Kiana’s voice was steely. “I would appreciate it if you could get a quick Elf to fetch our weapons from our towers.”
“Of course, One,” they backed away obediently.
“Those Krall warriors are still out there,” Dalin frowned. “Bad, or good,” he added grudgingly, “they may not treat an incapacitated Elf nicely.”
“I know,” Kiana sighed and led us towards the ascent out of the City. “We have to find the Elf before they do. Even then, who knows how we’ll revive him if he suffers such a great malady.”
As we reached the path leading out of the City, five blurring, dark forms hurtled towards us and then slowed to lope to a stop.
Vidar was at their forefront, with Asha clinging to his neck like a scarf billowing behind him. Alvar and Astor followed them closely with Quidel and an Elf I knew to be called Rond. Vidar had collected our weapons for us, and quickly passed them over.
“Well met,” Vidar greeted us sombrely.
“We appreciate your aid in this search.” Astor’s gravelly, deep voice was nearly a growl, and was heavily accented with Nylvish. “To lose such a wise member of our kin in such a manner would be devastating.”
“We are pleased to at last be able to help the Forest dwellers,” Dalin replied. “After all the kindness we’ve been shown we are ready to do what we can at a time when it is safer for the Elves to remain within the City.”
At that moment, a multi-coloured cloud broke out of the trees and shot towards us.
Violet, magenta, lemon, amethyst, amber, turquoise, emerald, tangerine – the flashes of colour quickly came to a halt and were identifiable as a group of nine Nymphs ready to join Asha and our search.
Flash and Rebel were at their head, looking determined.
“Right,” Dalin stepped forward then. “It has been decided that the likeliest place to search would be along the river and especially in favoured hunting spots, despite the risk that Bard may have abandoned logic and the hunt altogether. We will alter our search if we cannot first find him in obvious places.” He gestured to our group: “Kiana, Noal and I will go with Vidar, Asha and Rond. The other three teams will be made up of one Elf, who will be under the guidance of three Nymphs each.”
Dalin designated each team to different areas at different lengths of the river, warning the Nymphs that they would need to be in contact with us at regular intervals.
“Remember the men of Krall may still be close,” Kiana added, her hand on her hilt.
“We shall be cautious, One,” Quidel answered gravely.
“With a Nymph by your side, you hardly need caution,” Asha grinned, and the rainbow of Nymphs behind her snickered in agreement.
“Guide the Three well,” Alvar told Vidar and Rond, who inclined their heads.
Rond took my hand and Dalin’s hand, and at once I felt my body start to welcome in the erupting energy flowing from the Elf. It was as if my limbs held more vigour and as if my eyes, nose and ears had suddenly begun to pick up on the world so sharply that it wasn’t the same world I usually moved about in. There were more sounds, more life forms, more colours than I had ever realised.
I saw Kiana take Vidar’s hand before they both burst into the amazing sprint of the Elves, and with Rond’s energy, we followed easily behind.
Chapter Nineteen
Noal
“We haven’t found a single sign. Not even a crushed blade of grass that could signal he passed our way,” a little green haired Nymph sagged disappointedly in the air above us, though she still managed to keep level with us as we ran.
None of the other groups had reported any success either, though the afternoon sun was waning, and as we journeyed into the denser parts of the Forest it would soon become hard to search.
We were running at a phenomenal pace, but the magic of the Elves allowed our vision and thoughts to keep up with our legs and Dalin and Kiana now frowned at each other in helplessness as we ran.
We had long since abandoned the obvious searching places, and had branched out away from the river after filling our flasks. We had gone deeper into the Forest, spreading ourselves out further in a desperate hope to come across the lost Elf.
Vidar drew Kiana to a stop then, and the abruptness of it would have shocked me if I had not had the benefit of feeling Rond’s lightning reflexes. In the blink of an eye we stood, quite untouched by our exertions, watching Vidar curiously.
Asha and the other Nymph had to fly back a distance, as they hadn’t expected our sudden halt.
“I may have an idea.” Vidar’s face showed worry. As though he wished he hadn’t had the idea at all. “Bard may have been drawn in the opposite direction to what we thought.”
“Toward Jenra?” Kiana frowned. “Why?”
Rond drew in a sharp breath and Asha scowled. The other Nymph gulped.
“What is it?” I asked in alarm.
“The Cursed Valley,” Vidar sighed.
“Explain, please,” Dalin requested firmly.
“The Cursed Valley is where the final standoff with Darziates occurred when the Elves and the Lady came to the rescue of the Nymphs.” Vidar grimaced sickly. “The clashes of magic that took place in that once beautiful valley were such that the magic snapped the atmosphere there, and never truly faded away. In fact, the trees and animals there even became confused and warped – controlled by wild magic that was neither pure nor dark anymore. It is the one marred spot within the serenity of this Forest haven.”
“I never heard tell of it, and never came across it when I was exploring or travelling to Jenra,” Kiana frowned.
“The warped atmosphere doesn’t just act upon the animals and trees,” Vidar explained. “Because of our heightened senses, we Forest dwellers can feel both the beauty and corruption of the place, and our minds can be ensnared by the sheer wilderness of it. We avoid the place. But all beings shy away from what their innate senses recoil from. Unconsciously, if you were close to that place, your sense of self-preservation would have saved you before you were drawn too close to the power to be lured in.”
“Bard would not have had his senses about him though,” Rond shut his eyes in dismay.
“Gods,” Kiana breathed.
Vidar straightened his back with a hard expression on his face, clearly believing that this was exactly what had befallen the Elf. “The old ones of our kind are prone to give in more heavily to introspection than the rest of us, even when surrounded by the City. They have lived long and known much, and immersing one’s mind in Nature is their greatest comfort. Bard may have been attracted to the scene in his state. Drawn in by the feel of the wild magic. It may have ensnared his mind.”
“A prisoner of the Cursed Valley!” Rond moaned.
“But, even with your speed, it would take days for us to cross that much of the Forest!” Asha cried, clawing at her cheeks in anguish.
“Perhaps not.” Vidar now appeared hopeful and terrified at the same time. He turned his attention to the green haired Nymph. “Find all of the search groups, and tell them to meet us at this location. We need them.” The Nymph disappeared in an instant.
“What notion do you have?” Rond questioned his friend.
“Only one being has the power to help us in this Forest,” Vidar said quietly. Asha floated down to put her hand on his shoulder in support.
“No, Vidar ...” Rond sounded shocked.
“Stop speaking in riddles!” Kiana exclaimed then.
“I apologise One,” Vidar inclined his head. “It is the Lady who devotes her life force toward keeping this Forest as our shielded haven. She also loves us all as her own children, and would sacrifice much to save even one.”
&n
bsp; “So you think her magic could get us to Bard?” I asked.
“She could transfer us through the natural world in a way such that we would barely tread through passing time,” Vidar confirmed.
“What is the problem that holds you back?” Dalin frowned.
Rond was shaking his head in sadness. “The world is failing under the spreading corruption of Sorcery. People are living shorter lives with shorter memories. Trees can no longer flourish to the great heights of these of the Forest. The seasons are changing. And Darziates gains strength in the spreading malice. But the Lady is as one with Nature, and she too is fading. The war decides the fate of all races and the very essence of the world itself. It will mean the life or death of Nature herself, our Lady.”
Vidar winced. “She is still the most powerful being in the Forest. But it is becoming harder for her to stay separate from Nature, which makes up her spirit. It is becoming hard for her to return to her physical body upon calling on the magic. After playing Gloria to Kiana, the Lady was in her own form of seriousness for months. Her skin became translucent, as though she wasn’t really there. Even healing Kiana was a great feat for her, when once she could call upon the health and vitality of the world to heal any hurt.”
Kiana looked stricken and my heart pounded at the implications of the Lady’s condition.
Races may perish in these battles, or be enslaved. But this truly was a War for the World as we knew it. What was a world without Nature? What life could exist?
“So if we ask this of her?” Dalin’s voice was coarse with apprehension.
“She may sever yet another link to her physical form, and be one step closer to leaving our realm,” Rond answered.
“But she would be using our own power as well,” Vidar said then. “She would be enhancing it.”
“What do you mean?” Kiana asked.
“We would have to let her enter our hearts and minds,” Rond explained. “So that we could share power and understanding. Only when there is a link within, can anyone truly control the physical body.”
Kiana nodded thoughtfully as if sharing bodies with a being of far greater power and foreign intellect hardly bothered her.
I cringed at the thought. I was happy in my simple little mind and restricted awareness.
“Would we even survive having such an enormous entity and mind within our own?” Dalin sounded as hesitant as I was.
“The trauma of the contact may mean that your minds reject the memory of it afterwards,” Vidar told him seriously. “Though that would be the only side effect.”
“And our bodies?” I asked nervously.
“We would continue to share our power with you,” Rond reassured nobly. “Nothing would harm you.”
An Elf and a swarm of Nymphs burst out of the trees to join our group then, and the idea was quickly discussed. By the time the Elves had decided that an attempt to contact the Lady for aid would be made, all of the searches had re-joined us, and we were spread out into a circle.
I glanced about myself nervously as I took my place.
The Elves were silent and looming over us, taking deep breaths and lowering their heads in readiness.
“Keep hold of each other,” Vidar warned, and I took the warm, powerful hands that reached for mine. We were all linked now and already tension and energy rippled in the air between us.
“Breathe the Forest in,” Vidar instructed when we were quiet and in place. “Feel its wholesome, unbounded life force inside you.”
I tried to do as he said, and was surprised when I found it much easier than I’d thought, with the radiating, pulsing energy of the Elves and Nymphs sinking into my bones.
It seemed I could sense the Forest’s pulse as we breathed. It was willing us to feel its life, swirling about us in the air, in the water, the rustling leaves, pouring into me.
“Reach out to the Lady with your thoughts!” Vidar whispered intently, the focus evident in his voice.
With my own eyes closed, somewhere beyond us I knew a glimmering droplet of water was rolling slowly down the cool green skin of a nodding leaf. A lithe fox with twitching nose and clever eyes was stepping through the ferns. The wind was whispering through the blue feathered wings of a darting bird. The rich soil beneath me was drinking deeply from the moisture gathered by the plants above. The Forest was rippling with life. I could taste it. Smell it. Understand it.
My thoughts reached out, seeking for the Queen of this Kingdom – for the pure heartbeat at the core of the Forest, and the moment she heard us, I knew.
A collective shiver ran through the circle and rustled through the towering trees surrounding us. Everything seemed to be surging wildly around our group. The Forest had exploded with sound at the touch of the Lady’s magic.
I could feel her – not as the woman that she appeared to be, but as the entity that would live so long as the sun should rise and fall, as the entity that swept across the seas, that danced upon the earth at rainfall, that kissed the petals of every flower open each morning, and that loved all things thriving with life.
I wanted to share my love with her, and so it was very easy to succumb when she settled her magic upon me. It was easy to want to share my own anchor to the world with her. My body almost didn’t matter anymore as my mind was touched by hers, and I seemed to melt away beneath the weight of our embracing thoughts until I was vaguely aware that my physical body was now being carried by an Elf while the rest of me was encased in ecstasy, floating in and out of mindfulness.
When I passed into brief periods of clarity, I saw that trees rushed past so fast that it seemed we were passing through a tunnel of green. Even the Elves could not have made us so light and fleet footed. Though I also saw that white mist clouded everything, as if we were not moving through a world that was entirely our own. Surreal, unbelievable, and yet the most vivid and real experience of my life.
I at one point caught a glimpse of the normally brown eyes of the Elf carrying me. They were a spectacular green, glowing with the presence of the Lady’s spirit.
I wasn’t conscious of when it ended, only that we were all lying upon the grass, and we were all weeping with the joy of what we had felt, and with the sorrow that she had had to withdraw from us.
It was night time by that point and we slept fitfully, mourning what we had lost and knowing that her vivid power had left its mark on each of us.
Chapter Twenty
Dalin
The Lady’s magic had faded from us like receding whispers, until the feel of it was just a hazy flash that flickered on the edge of memory, like a dream upon waking.
When I woke I just sat with my head in my hands for a time while most members of our group stirred sluggishly or sat as I did after such a jarring loss.
Kiana came to lean against my shoulder and I inclined my own head against hers, feeling absurdly flat, but otherwise returned to my normal self.
The Nymphs and Elves had proven to be even less immune to the devastation of losing the wondrous lustre of the Lady’s magic, as their minds had been open while mingling with the vast consciousness of the Lady. We were the ones to rouse them to prepare to leave once more, and not even the Nymphs managed more than sombre expressions.
Although our stomachs rumbled for having gone a day and a night without food, Vidar warned against hunting in the contaminated area, so we all ignored our inner rumblings as we continued the last part of the hike toward the Cursed Valley, stepping through trees that grew in increasingly twisted, grotesque forms.
“The trees here look so ...” Kiana searched for the word, reaching toward the gnarled, blackened wood of a trunk but hesitating to touch it. “Unhealthy.”
“They are all like that. For the entire diameter of the area where the magic of the battle reached,” Asha replied, glaring at the place her kind had been chased to for their stand-off with Darziates.
“I both hope that my feelings to come here for Bard were correct, and also dread that they were,” Vidar said grimly as
he walked in the lead with Kiana, Noal and I. The other Elves had drawn their spear-like weapons and were fanned out behind, while the Nymphs flew grimly above.
“We must be careful, and yet we must not tarry. We cannot risk being exposed to the magic for too long, when our minds are so susceptible to becoming drawn in,” Vidar went on.
At that moment a strange, broken yowl echoed out of the trees before a similar shriek rose further away. My heart raced and my hand automatically sought the comfort of the hilt of my sword.
“Condensed in this one area, the magic has had an impact on the life here,” Vidar warned again. “The deformed beasts that have been the result are generally content to stay within these bounds, where they feel strongest, and are rarely large or crazed enough to leave or challenge the might of the Forest dwellers. But we also rarely provoke them.”
“Perhaps they do not like us being here. Or perhaps our presence has awakened them and they have found Bard.” Quidel’s hands were tight on his weapon.
“I can feel the magic both repelling and calling me in,” Alvar grimaced with distaste. “This is a dangerous venture for us. This place plays on our one great weakness.”
“That is why you brought a hunting party with you,” Kiana answered supportively.
“Yes. The Nymphs have long kept guard over you in your seriousness,” Rebel said.
“We are by your sides now,” Flash affirmed, and the other Nymphs bared their pointed teeth in confirmation, ready for battle.
“Come,” I said then. “We have journeyed this far, and will step into this danger together.”
“We thank you friends,” Astor answered solemnly.
It was the first time I had seen the Elves uncertain, and yet they were as steadfast as ever in their honourable courage while we moved further into the odd, looming trees.
A strange tang of bitter sweetness hung heavily in the atmosphere, but there was also a pervading undercurrent of something rotten. Alike to a fruit that seems lush and fragrant on the outside, and yet that is foul on the inside.