Forest of Spirits

by S. J. Sanders

  “You cannot command me, Selvans, lucomo of all silvani. Our power is equal, though I am the one trapped within a cavernous prison.” A thoughtful look crossed her face before it was replaced by a hard smile. “I was tempted to ignore your summons, but I had to see for myself your desperation. You are desperate, are you not, brother?”

  Silvas narrowed his eyes on the oracle and grit his teeth. Now she acknowledged their relationship? The water-born daughter of Turan did not fool him. Due to their shared mother, he was familiar with the cunning wiles she would employ. Dorinda had felt nothing but anger toward him since he seeded Arx over her cavern. Though it had not been intentional on his part, once he became aware of it, he built his palace up further to protect the entrance into his sister’s abode from those who might stray into the Eternal Forest. He hid her well so that none would torment her. And this was how she thanked him!

  “Ungrateful,” he spat. “Your spring would have been subject to all without protections if not shielded by my abode. You are a vegoia, a sibylline nymph of the spring, and are as bound to it as I am the Eternal Forest. By my will, you are kept hidden and safe.”

  “To never feel a breath of air or warmth of the sun,” she returned bitterly. She glared at him for several long, tense minutes before letting out an irritated sigh. “Stubborn, still. Very well, brother,” she hissed, her eyes glowing as her lithe body began to sway.

  “Your ruin comes to you,” Dorinda continued in a gleeful whisper, “brought by your own wood. It shall change the expanse of the Eternal Forest forever, the very order of your domain… but the manner in which it changes is unfixed. It depends on you. Cacus, old Cacu, has awakened. Beware of him, brother. His sight is wide and his form monstrous, though he can appear to be quite fair. He hides himself away beneath the flesh of Earth Mother Cel, but he very much roams within these woods.”

  She tilted her head, listening. “I hear him at times, I think… or the echo of his passing.”

  Silvas closed his eyes as he attempted to gain control over his surge of annoyance, but he felt dread gathering in his gut. He had hoped that it was not true—that the human had been deceived or intentionally attempted to lead him astray. To have it confirmed sent a prickle of awareness through him as he instinctively reached for his forest.

  Though he could not see through the trees, he sensed the pulse of life of all things within the woods at that moment. The trees quivered beneath the force of his power, but there he could not find Cacus outside of a stench of foul, greasy ash on the air that seemed to have invaded his woods, and lingered. That the creature was hiding and traveling within the cavern systems sent a blistering wave of fury through him.

  Hissing through his teeth, he met the oracle’s cool gaze and inclined his head in thanks. “My gratitude, sister, for this information. I appreciate that you did not deliver it in yet another terrible rhyme for me to discern as you did last time.”

  The vegoia’s lip curved into a hard smile, and she raised one shoulder nonchalantly, her tail twisting along the rocks. “Times change,” she observed callously. “Or rather, this instance requires a change. As entertaining as it has been to lead you about, there is too much at stake.”

  “What do you mean ‘lead me about?’” he snarled.

  Her smile widened, revealing her long fangs. “I freely admit that many of the rules my kind must obey pertains only to humans when utilizing a sybil, not to greater spirits that inhabit the cosmos. Your arrogance did not deserve such a gift. I admit that watching you struggle like a hapless mortal has been… satisfying.”

  Clarity swept over him. Every time he had come to see her, she toyed with him through her elusive riddles. A growl built in his chest as some his fury redirected toward the oracle. “Venomous creature, your intentional deviance has cost me much. Your warning about Alseida I unraveled only after succumbing to her. Do you have any idea of the damage you did?” he shouted.

  Dorinda stiffened, loosing an angry hiss. “Do you expect me to feel sympathy? You locked me away! It is the only amusement I have had over centuries of isolation. You deserved every bit of your own personal suffering.”

  “And the others who were harmed?”

  The vegoia frowned and turned her head away. “Your failures are your own,” she muttered, a flick of her tail sending a spray of water to splash on the nearest wall of the cavern. “I may have been more enigmatic than necessary, but I could not foresee the exact consequences or provide you names then just as I cannot now. That knowledge is hidden even from me. The Fates only let me see a portion of what they devise. You must ask your questions wisely,” she insisted earnestly, her red eyes glowing in the gloom of the cave.

  Silvas was ready to spin on his heel and leave his viperous sister but paused at the note of desperation in her voice. “Why do you care?”

  “I am concerned,” she whispered, her narrow pupils expanding as she leaned forward over her rock. “I did not utter a falsehood when I said that these events will change the nature of the Eternal Forest. Though I want to be free, I do not wish any harm to my home, or even true harm to you, brother.”

  He barked out a hard, ugly laugh. “Seems unlikely as you allowed me to be preyed upon by that dryad for centuries.”

  “Believe as you like,” she hissed, her tail striking at the water again. “I speak the truth when I say that as soon as I had a vision of what had befallen you, I alerted a silvanus traveling through the wood from the northern aelven kingdoms. He had a sorceress in his company as they headed for a portal that would take them to another part of the mortal world. I lured him through the cave systems until he arrived at my cavern, and told him what had befallen you. I wanted you to suffer humiliation, not harm,” she snarled. “As I said, this is different.”

  He watched the oracle carefully. Her words answered questions that had gone unanswered for centuries as to his rescue from Alseida. He had been in no condition to be aware of much of anything. Cacus was a vicious creature that had taken the strength of Jove’s son to subdue. If Dorinda was worried enough to actually help him and go against centuries of redirection and confusion by her various riddles to vex him, he could not ignore the danger that he was facing.

  “The huntress I discovered in the woods—is she part of this?”

  His sister’s face became inscrutable, her pupils disappearing among the red irises as she began to sway once more. Water surged around her, her lips moving soundlessly as her scales took on a luminous cast. Her pupils expanded, engulfing her eyes in blackness as she stared at him, her body twining in an unending motion. The voice that came from her was raspy and multi-tonal as she connected to the weave of the Fates once more.

  “She is, and she is not. She is caught in the web and has become a part of it. She can no longer be separated from the events that unfold.”

  “Is she dangerous to me?” he growled as he attempted to control his patience. She had warned him that he had to be wise with his questions… or more accurately, he had to be precise.

  “She is a danger to who you have become. She will threaten the order you have established since breaking free of Alseida. You will be vulnerable and weakened, or you will be strengthened. Be wise in the decisions that you make, brother. The weave is tangled and does not show me a clear path in either direction.”

  Silvas’s jaw tightened. That was not the information he wanted to hear. He wanted to enjoy the human and return her to her world. But if she were a possible threat, it was just as likely that he would end up being forced to destroy her. If there were any possibility at all of her being a threat, he couldn’t risk letting her out of his sight.

  “Is she a danger to Cacus?” he queried as he moved closer.

  Dorinda cocked her head. “It is… uncertain. There are too many threads intersecting, too many possibilities. One thing is known: you will have to make whole your power to defeat him and retrieve that which you have cast aside.”

  He recognized the undeniable weight of dread as he posed his ques
tion. “Do I retrieve the sword Nocis?”

  The blade was a terrible creation. A gift from Artume, the lady of the night, it was created to be able to cut through anything and fragment light. He had wielded it during the battle of the gods and swore never to touch the blade again for the destruction that it brought to all things in its path in the effort to subdue a divine being. With each swipe, he had watched life wither and fall around him. The king of the forest, king of the eternal realm of light and life, even when thickened with shadow, was turned too easily to a king of death and sorrows.

  The vegoia lasa looked at him knowingly, her red eyes staring through him. “There is no other to come to your aide,” she hissed softly. “Hercules long ago ascended, and no heroes remain. The safety of the Eternal Forest and the human world in the face of Cacu rests on you. You will have to retrieve Nocis from the pit where you left her. Above all, keep the huntress at your side. She is the key.”

  Silvas growled, his hand rubbing at the base of his antler, the rattle of the ornaments hanging from it loud in the cavern. “Retrieving her from the ancient strix, Mora, is going to be difficult.”

  “It shall,” Dorinda agreed solemnly.

  That did not bode well.

  Chapter 8

  Diana lay in the bed, her mouth dry as she heard the heavy steps in the room beside her own. The strange sentience of the room had dimmed the lights to a faint glow as soon as she settled down into the bed. Unfortunately, she had been lying there unable to sleep for the last few hours, listening for any sign of the strange male returning.

  If she concentrated, she was sure that she could hear his harsh breaths as he stalked back and forth. She was certain that it was him and not one of the others. His footsteps, while heavy, echoed in precise steps across the floor rather than the scuffing, rambling walk of the males who had brought in her furnishings. It sounded like he was prowling back and forth in front of her door, every pass making her skin tighten and shiver with awareness.

  The tension that rolled over her was terrible. She wanted to shout out her frustration. Anything to end the twisting dance of uncertainty. The fire in her room had died down long ago, shrouding her in darkness. At the time, she hadn’t minded, hoping that being sightless would settle her nerves instead of staring out at her strange surroundings.

  At last, the door swung open, banging against the wall. In the gloom of the room, she could only just barely make out the dark shadow filling the doorway, his antlers breaching her room. Diana saw little more than the brilliant white glow of his eyes.

  Pulling her blanket tighter around her, she edged toward the head of her bed as he approached, his steps ending at the footboard. His eyes moved, and she had the sense that he was raking them over her. She stared right back at him, her body curling in on itself as she drew her knees up to her chest beneath the bedding. His eyes narrowed in response, and Diana had no doubt that he could clearly see her every movement. He wasn’t impeded by the low light like she was.

  “You are a puzzle to me,” he whispered, his voice caressing her like velvet. Without being able to see him, the words seemed to surround her. His eyes slanted at angle as if he cocked his head curiously at her. “Why would such a small, insignificant thing such as you be transported to the heart of the Eternal Forest? Your kind normally end up among the aelves or one of the courts that have closer connection to your world along the edges of the forest. I do not understand how this came to be, or this fascination I have,” he purred.

  The sound skated over her nerves, sending a tingling sensation shooting through her.

  Nervously, she licked her lips. “Unlucky break? Look, I just want to go home… Please.”

  The jingle of small bells sounded in the room, and she knew that he shook his head. “Even if I could, I would not. Our destinies are entwined, it seems. The vegoia has seen it, and I feel it in my blood. Do you not?” he hissed the words seductively in her ear.

  “I don’t know,” she choked out. “I feel so many different things that I cannot unwind one from the other. It’s like I have this huge knot inside of me of many different feelings. What I feel is… confusing, to say the least. When it comes right down to it… I’m scared.”

  “It is instinct,” he replied with a satisfied note in his voice. “You fight it and yourself, trying to dance out of the way from that which calls you. You try to escape. And now you are confused and lost. You fear this.”

  “Yes,” she breathed. “I am lost.”

  “Then allow me to lend some clarity to the situation,” he growled abruptly, and she felt the bed shake as his foot made contact audibly with the footboard as he climbed over the edge. “Together we will discover the purpose of your presence here, this strange connection between us and the events that shall come. We will unravel the mystery of you as the events unfold. When we are finished, and there is no purpose for you here any longer, I will personally drop you back into your simple human existence.”

  He prowled closer, dropping to hands and knees, his tail a dark blur of movement behind him as it swished through the air. Diana froze in place, her eyes fixed on the faint outline of his body and the white glow of his eyes as he came closer. Her heart jumped in her chest despite his odd assurance that sounded far from any real comfort.

  In the space of minutes, the creature informed her that she would be used and then discarded, in who knew what sort of condition once she outlived her usefulness. At least it did not sound like he had any intention to kill her yet, but she didn’t trust that not to change. In truth, even at that moment, Diana felt hunted as he drew closer.

  “You could let me go now,” she argued, uncomfortable with his approach. “I have no skills that would be useful to you, and you say yourself that I do not belong here.”

  A humming purr answered her. “I could,” he agreed. “But I will not. Whether either of us likes this situation, our fates are entwined. Even if I wished it, I do not think the forest will allow you to leave so easily after snatching you into its embrace. The Eternal Forest brought you here, but its purpose is known only to the highest among the gods.”

  She felt the blunt end of his nose brush her cheek as he inhaled deeply. A shiver of awareness skated down her spine as she tensed. “Are you telling me that I would never have found my way out if you had not?”

  “I was destined to find you,” he purred. “But you would not have. Humans rarely find their way out of the border territories without a benevolent spirit taking pity on them. You do not comprehend just how far from your reality you are. The Eternal Forest is a dangerous place for humans, especially in the wild depths of my realm. Be grateful that the gods brought me to you instead of another.”

  “You mean like those creatures who were here earlier?” she whispered.

  “Creatures?” he murmured, his tone scathing.

  Diana cringed at the wealth of condemnation that came through in that one word. As the minutes dragged by, she further felt the critical weight of his scrutiny as he regarded her in silence. She was about to say never mind when his voice cut through the darkness.

  “Those creatures as you call them are trolls. They are strong, reliable guards not only of my palace but also of the forest itself. They keep watch along the borders of the Eternal Forest against intruders who may come in from your world, guarding such bridges carefully.”

  “Trolls?” she whispered, an unmistakable shrill note entering her voice. They had been larger than most men and thicker of build, but trolls? “As in man-eating, pillaging monsters?”

  “No species is perfect,” he said. “They perhaps aren’t seen in the best light when they are in the mortal world. Although I understand that they tend to keep to themselves now, in the past bands of them formed crude kingdoms. The thing about trolls is that they only respect strength. In your world, there is little to respect.”

  Diana blanched. “You are telling me that they’re already in my world?”

  He scoffed. “Of course. The barriers dropped allowin
g crossings to many creatures, though few can find their way home, should they desire it, once they leave the Eternal Forest and other realms from which they might come. I know for certain that from the forest there are elves, orcs, trolls, centaurs, and all manner of creatures in your world once more.”

  “But they eat humans!”

  “Seldom,” he corrected as he shifted over her in the dark. “It is not an unknown occurrence, however. Most dead beings are considered meat in the mind of a troll.”

  Diana felt her jaw drop. “Are you saying that they would eat anyone dead—even one of their own?”

  “That is difficult to say for sure,” he admitted.

  “And you trusted them in here with me?” Diana squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the grip of the panic. One of those monsters could have grabbed her, killed her, and dragged her off for a feast with her captor being no more the wiser.

  The male above her snarled loudly in offense. The sound pierced right through her, pinning her place with the terror that surged through her. Eyes widening, she watched him the best she could through the thick gloom of the room.

  He leaned in close, his hot breath fanning her face. Notes of a spicy scent, not unlike frankincense, clove, and apples, teased her nose. He dragged his lips against the sensitive skin at the corner of her mouth.

  “They would not dare to offer any harm to you,” he murmured in a husky tone. “All within the palace know that you are mine, and mine alone. They will protect you fiercely, even more so if you earn a place of honor among them. If you wish for such an outcome, I suggest that you refrain from calling them creatures or monsters.”

  “I am not yours,” she protested, rebelling against the claim as she ignored his advice regarding the trolls. She had no intention of being there long enough to require such loyalty. Instead, she focused on the anxious way her body tightened at everything promised in his claim.

  She couldn’t be his. She wouldn’t surrender herself into anyone’s keeping. She refused to do so for any of the men who came to her door promising to take care of her, and she wouldn’t allow this… being to make such a claim over her.