On the edge of her senses, she recognized another shape. Not one of the usual forest creatures, this was something—someone—who did not belong.
Through the remaining tenuous connection she managed to maintain to the forest, she felt them moving through the trees, slipping past the barriers the trees and the undergrowth worked to maintain, climbing over towering roots and skirting skillfully away from the reaching sharp thorns and spikes. Eris felt the person pause every so often, as if searching for something, before moving on, steadily deeper into the forest as if tracking. She shivered.
Whoever it was making his way through the trees, was coming right toward them.
Chapter 23
Eris grabbed Jasi’s hand. “We should go.”
Jasi stood slowly and brushed the edge of her tattered dress free. “You didn’t answer.”
Eris shook her head, shaking away the annoyance she felt at her sister. “Like you, I fell asleep. I think the capture and everything with it simply exhausted me. I don’t know how long I slept.” She swallowed, trying to ignore the sense of the forest around her. “When I awoke, I started toward where I thought I’d heard you last. When I got here…I came across you.”
She took Jasi by the hand and pulled her to her feet. Then she dragged her through the trees, just as she had the night before. She needed to get her sister back to the palace, before the magi made it back, but it meant they would have to move through the forest as quickly as possible.
A path stretched in front of her, a narrow gap in the brush.
Eris pushed forward along the path. The sense of the forest continued to fade, but she felt the presence of whoever else was out there, still moving toward them.
What if it was one of the other creatures she sensed when standing in the heart of the forest?
Or worse—one of the magi?
She had thought Lira prevented the magi from entering the forest, but what if she was wrong? If Adrick chased them using some dark spell, Eris couldn’t do anything to get them to safety. After what she’d seen of their power, the protection of the trees would not be enough to keep them safe.
If the magi were capable of throwing lightning and thunder at the forest in continuous waves, what was she against that onslaught?
Jasi looked over at her, a strange light in her eyes. “What happened to you last night?”
Last night…at least it had only been one night and not any longer. That answered one of her concerns. “When we were separated, I kept shouting out for you,” Eris said. She remembered how she had called Jasi’s name, pushing through the forest but never quite able to reach her. “Many times I thought I found you, but each time you were gone. Eventually, I couldn’t go on any longer and fell asleep.”
“Good thing you found me as easily as you did.”
“Not easily,” she said.
The connection to the forest had been real enough to help her find Jasi. Farther from the heart of the forest, the sense faded, but the knowledge about trees and flowers and creatures that wasn’t her own had been real enough.
They rushed through the underbrush. Thorns which tore at Jasi’s dress turned away from Eris. The path was only wide enough to go single file, and Eris pushed her in front, letting Jasi go first.
“Why are you hurrying?” Jasi asked.
Eris realized she was moving as quickly as possible, practically running through the forest. The narrow path widened as they reached smaller trees, and Eris moved alongside Jasi again. Soon they’d reach the edge of the forest. She didn’t question how she knew. Then only the stretch of the plains separated them from the palace and their home.
If they were fast enough, they might even get there before the magi.
“I’m sorry. I told you Jacen was with me. I think he’s hurt somewhere. We need to get you home, tell Father to send his men after Jacen. Warn Lira.”
Jasi smiled bitterly. “Just me?”
Eris turned and looked at her sister. She wanted to get home as well. Mostly for the sense of safety, to be free of whatever the magi intended. Hopefully Lira could cast out the Conclave, but what if it was too late?
And now she had questions for Lira. After sleeping beneath the Svanth Forest, a night living dreams that seemed so real, a life not her own, she wanted answers. Did Lira know about the teary star? What did it mean that she viewed the dreams?
And why did she seem able to sense everything in the forest?
Then there was the growing desire to see Terran. Had he worried about her? Had he cared that she was gone? Returning home was the only way to know.
“I want to go home,” she said softly.
Jasi looked at her with an expression of concern she had never shown while they were in the palace. Once back, Eris wondered if the old Jasi would return or if this ordeal had changed her.
“Maybe Lira will let you join her lessons soon.”
Eris only shook her head. After everything, that was where Jasi’s mind went.
The path twisted and turned, guiding them through the forest. Something about the direction didn’t feel quite right. With most of the sun hidden by the dense canopy, Eris had no real sense of direction. The connection to the forest faded to nearly nothing. Even the earthy odor changed, that sense of ancient age dissipating the farther they went. Now the air carried with it an almost fruity scent mixed with the tart tang of cut greenery, either of grass or leaves. With each gust of wind, she could almost taste it.
Eris still felt someone behind them, twisting and turning with every movement they made. And gaining on them.
“Do you think the magi are still out there?” Jasi asked suddenly.
Eris almost jumped. The thought mirrored the fear she had, the quiet worry that whoever was out there was one of the magi. “I hope not.”
“They need to know,” Jasi said.
Eris looked over and arched a brow.
“They need to know what the Conclave intends. What they did to me…to us. And Lira needs to know about the magi attack.”
“I suspect Lira already knows about the attack.” How could she have not felt what happened last night?
“And Father?” Jasi said. “Will he know? Would Lira tell him about the attack? What it means? Would he believe his advisor would betray him?” Her voice had regained some of her usual strength, almost as if leaving the denser part of the forest brought Jasi out of whatever shell she had been in.
Strangely, Eris felt the opposite. Leaving the deeper part of the forest left her with a strange longing to return. Within the heart of the forest, she knew there were more stories for her to delve and read, more lessons the roots of the great trees could share, had she only the time.
“I don’t know.” Eris looked back over her shoulders, eyes searching through the trees, almost able to see through the shadows to the deeper part of the forest.
“Mother knows?”
Eris turned back. “Knows what?”
Jasi sniffed, annoyed. “Knows that Lira is a flower mage,” she said. “Honestly, Eris, even out here you seem so distracted. It’s almost as if you don’t want to return.”
“Mother knows about Lira.” She thought of the way they shared a look when Lira had fallen during the attack on the garden. But if her mother knew, then why had their father not banished Adrick? “So does Father, I think. Neither of them know about what the Conclave plans. Had the attack last night been successful, I don’t know what would have happened at home.”
“You don’t think it was successful?”
Eris frowned. The forest had seemed unharmed when she’d sensed it earlier. Would she not have felt more had there been some sort of injury? The magi thought to destroy Lira’s hidden garden, the one she’d started within the forest. Had they?
As she considered, she felt where the garden was located, could turn and walk straight to it were she to want to, and knew it was not damaged. The garden was massive, larger even than the one growing within the confines of the palace walls. Flowers of such varieti
es grew within Lira’s garden, flowers whose names suddenly flashed into her mind before fading. It was a garden of great power.
That was what the magi had been after. And had failed.
“No. It wasn’t successful.” Whatever else had happened last night, at least the magi failed.
She thought about why the Conclave had abducted them. What purpose could they have in bringing them to the forest? What could Eris and Jasi have done that the magi had been unable to accomplish?
But she knew that as well. Lira had planted her garden with a particular arrangement, one that conferred great power and kept everyone else away. Even the usual forest life left the garden alone.
Only…it would not keep out everyone. The keepers, much like they could enter the forest, could enter the garden easily. And then, whatever magic Lira’s garden lent would be able to be broken.
Could she and Jasi have managed to break the enchantments? Would their time working with Lira really have made a difference? That was what Adrick had counted on, Eris was certain.
Her fading connection to the forest didn’t provide the answer.
“Eris!”
She turned, startled, and looked at Jasi with a concerned expression.
“Have you not heard anything I’ve said?” Jasi asked.
Eris shook her head. Focused as she had been on trying to understand the forest, she hadn’t paid any attention to Jasi as she hurried forward.
“I’m sorry, Jasi. I’m focused on getting us out of the forest.”
“Do you even know where you’re going? I can’t see anything through the trees—how do you know we’re going in the right direction? For all you know, we’re winding in circles.”
Eris glanced back at Jasi and saw the worry etched into the lines of her cheeks. There was a determined set of her jaw and she walked with a little more confidence in her step. “I can tell.”
She didn’t elaborate. How to explain that she simply knew where she was going? How to explain that the glimpse given to her by the heart of the forest had been enough for her to know which paths would be easiest to travel, which would take them on the most direct route back toward the city and their home? Jasi would not understand.
Jasi stopped, obviously deciding she’d had enough of Eris telling her where they were going. “Well, I don’t recognize any of these flowers,” she said. “And Lira made it clear the first thing to do when exploring new areas was to examine the flowers for ones you know.” She turned toward a clump of yellow thistlesprites and leaned in as she inhaled. “I have never seen these before. Some sort of daisy…or possibly a lily?” she went on, speaking mostly to herself. “Their stems are too long to be calyips or anosems. Both have yellow varietals,” she said without looking up, using a voice that seemed to try to mimic Lira.
“They are thistlesprites,” Eris said.
Her sense of the person behind her had faded to little more than a gentle awareness. How much longer did they have before they were caught? Could they reach the borders of the forest? The needlegrass would slow them there, perhaps provide enough cover to keep them safe. And they weren’t far from the edge of the forest. The faster they moved, she hoped they would be able to outrun whoever was behind them. That hope faded along with her awareness and connection to the forest.
“An unusual shape to the petals,” Jasi went on. “Long and narrow. Some flecks of blue or black along them. They would look lovely when paired with perisals,” she decided.
Eris shook her head. Perisals were all wrong for thistlesprites; the combination would deprive the potential held within both of the flowers. Even the colors together would not complement, the perisals overpowering the softer thistlesprites. “They are thistlesprites,” she said again as she grabbed Jasi’s arm and pulled.
Jasi pulled back. “Thistlesprites?” Her mouth seemed to struggle to say the name, almost as if the word was distasteful to her. “What are you talking about, Eris?”
“The flower,” she said, reaching toward Jasi again.
Her sister pulled away and leaned again toward the flower. “Honestly, if you don’t know what they are, you should not make up a name,” she admonished. “Lira taught us you should describe what you see, compare it to what you know, and then use that to look for its possible origin.”
“I know what it is. It’s a thistlesprite.”
Jasi turned to look at her. Her usual sense of arrogance had returned, any hint of compassion and tenderness toward her sister now as faded as the sense Eris had of the forest. “How would you know that?”
Eris didn’t explain the forest told her. Even to her, the idea seemed unbelievable, more like a dream than anything real. So instead, she answered, “I read about them. I came across them when I was looking through one of the books Master Billiken gave me to research my flower.”
Jasi stood and huffed. “You could have said so sooner.”
“I tried,” Eris said. “We should keep moving. I fear there might be someone else out in the forest after us.” It was time Jasi at least knew that. Let her feel the same sense of urgency Eris felt.
“Is that something else you read about in one of the books?”
“No. I have sensed someone tracking us for a while. They grow closer.” She didn’t tell Jasi how she felt it, deciding to hold that back. Besides, it wasn’t as if Jasi would believe her anyway.
Her words had the wrong effect. Jasi lost some of her composure, practically wilting in front of her. “It’s the magi, isn’t it? We aren’t going to make it back to the palace. They will catch us out here in the forest and drag me back with them!” She looked at Eris with haunted eyes.
What had happened to her?
Eris slapped her sister across the face. She had meant to be gentle, but the force came off more than intended. Jasi’s head jerked back from the strength of the blow. “Not one of the magi,” she said. “At least, I don’t think so. But we shouldn’t dawdle here looking at flowers. We should be moving forward and trying to reach the boundaries of the forest.”
Jasi had a lost expression for a moment before she steadied herself and glared at Eris. “We will not be any safer on the edge of the forest than we are within the trees. If someone tracks us, they’ll simply follow us out.”
Jasi was right. There was only one way to ensure that one of them made it back to the palace to report to Lira and their parents.
“I’ll draw them off. You need to hurry back toward the Kingsroad. Stay low and hidden and get back to the city. Tell Lira what happened first and then go to Father. He needs to know about Jacen. We were about a half-day’s ride west of the city.”
Jasi was shaking her head. “No…we stay together. We’ll both make it back to the palace.”
How was it Jasi suddenly seemed to care about her? Had she always or was it simply from the effect of their capture? “If it’s one of the magi—”
“You said it was not!”
“If it is,” Eris repeated, “then we need to separate. If they catch us together, there’s not much we can do. Last night you saw what they were capable of doing just as much as I did. Do you think we would have a chance against that?”
Jasi shook her head.
“And it has to be me,” Eris continued. She hated saying it aloud, fearing it might be true. “After Jacen, you’re next in line. If any should stay behind and risk capture—” she took a deep breath and swallowed “—and death, it has to be me.”
Jasi took her hand and squeezed. “Promise me you will stay safe!”
Eris nodded. “Just get to the palace. Then we will both have a chance to be safe. Go that way,” she said, pointing toward a long straight path. “It will lead you toward the Verilain Plains. Continue west, and you will reach the Kingsroad.”
It was a measure of Jasi’s agitation that she didn’t even question how Eris knew.
Jasi squeezed again. “Eris—”
Eris swallowed. “I know. Just make it back to Eliara. Whatever else happens, you need to inform Father.
”
Jasi nodded and started to turn before hesitating and spinning back and pulling Eris into a strong embrace. When she turned away, tears stained her cheeks.
Chapter 24
Eris waited after Jasi disappeared, determined to draw the attention of whoever tracked them. Making a point to disturb the branches of the underbrush, she turned back toward the center of the forest. Whatever else was there, it was her best way of avoiding capture, especially if the trees would cooperate with her as they seemed to have done earlier.
Darkness quickly enveloped her as she moved away from the smaller elm and spruce ringing the outer edge of the forest. When a few oaks appeared sprinkled within, she knew she was getting closer. The air took on more of an earthen scent, that of decaying leaves and dirt and less of the lightly perfumed fragrance of the flowers along the perimeter. Strangely, she welcomed the change.
There was another subtler change as she moved. The awareness of the forest around her began to return.
She began sensing when the next towering oak would appear, where the small streams cut through the forest for her to take a drink, where she might find edible berries. Fatigue still had not set in; she moved easily through the forest, no sense of tiredness taking her as it should, almost as if the forest itself lent her energy.
Eris was aware of when the person following her paused at the point where Jasi had gone off on her own. She waited with her breath held as the person seemed to consider, recognizing the two of them split off. The forest itself seemed to hold its breath, everything silent around her. Eris hoped they turned back into the trees to follow her. If it was the magi after them, they still needed one of them to work whatever spell they intended.
Then the person started forward, as if out of the forest.
Eris felt her heart skip. Jasi would not be safe.
She slumped against a nearby tree, wishing there was something she could do, some way she could draw the person tracking them back into the forest and after her rather than Jasi.
A few moments passed, and then she realized that the tracker had turned back. Had they paused at the few bushes she had intentionally brushed against, hoping they would see her charging through the forest?
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