Forest of Spirits

by S. J. Sanders

  “Better,” he said softly before continuing to a large locked case at the back of the armory.

  The case was set aside from the rest of the armory, as if whatever it held had a distinguished and special place within the palace. The lucomo approached it, staring at it silently, then pressed his hand against an ornate disc at the front that appeared to serve as an occult lock. There was a flare of light before the mechanism that locked the case tumbled to the floor.

  Diana’s eyes widened as they fell upon the luminous silver armor that lay in numerous pieces inside. The breastplate and shoulder guard braces were enormous, made for a male of his build. In some ways, the pieces appeared nearly identical to her own. There was even some sort of silvery head piece, resembling a helmet, that appeared to be designed to hook around his antlers. He stroked the breastplate thoughtfully, and Diana wondered what brought the morose look to his face.

  Chapter 10

  Silvas could feel the eyes of the female, Diana, upon him. Even lost in memories of the darkness that had consumed him as he had killed with relish, mowing down all that stood before him as if he were the arm of destruction, he could feel her warmth beckoning him.

  He could still hear the wild screams of the Tainted Ones. It had not been like the war of the gods that bound the titans to the new order of the cosmos. The monsters born into their midst, many sired by the monstrous Typhon—the bringer of calamities, lawless chaos, and the great weight of destruction—had ravaged the world until they threatened to very abodes of the gods by the lead of their sire.

  He fought those vile creatures as he followed the lead of Apollo, whose venomous arrows spewed death everywhere they touched. There were few among the gods as revered as Apollo, the god whose face and limbs were black as night among the wealth of golden locks that fell along his brow, shoulders unrestrained as he destroyed the monstrous son of the Earth, the Python. By his hands, the blood of the first among monsters flowed wet over the earth. It had been before the time of Cacus, before Alcmene bore Hercules.

  If the Tainted Ones were returning, uncoiling from the hidden places beneath the Earth, then the world wasn’t ready for it.

  He bit back an ugly chuckle as he thought of how Diana had called trolls monsters and wondered if she could fathom what true monsters were. They weren’t people who bowed to order, even variations of it like those found among orcs and trolls and other beings who inhabited the worlds. They were true plagues, unholy nightmares possessing rapacious appetites.

  He had come close to being lost in that madness in his quest to destroy them and root them out from the Eternal Forest. Those gods who loved his woodlands worked for centuries to root out the terrible stain wherever they found it and enrich the world and the fledgling humankind in the process.

  Silvas dropped his hand away from the armor, his lip curling as he reflected on the history of the young race. Some days he considered them the gods’ greatest mistake. Yet when he looked upon Diana, he had to admit that not everything of the species could be so bad to have produced her.

  “What now?” she asked quietly as if loath to interrupt his introspection.

  He supposed that he must appear to be some sort of brute to her if she was so uneasy to speak freely.

  Letting out a long sigh, he gestured to weapons displayed on racks near his armor. “You bow serves you well, but arrows run out. You will need a good blade to keep you safe.”

  Diana looked at the offering skeptically. “I hate to tell you this, but I have never had to depend on a sword in my life. I was in fencing club for about five years and played around with a little bit of reenactment, but I don’t know if I would trust it in a real fight. I can make arrows on the go—I’ve become pretty good at it recently since the world went to hell, actually. Are you sure it will be necessary?”

  His lips tightened. She had no idea just how dangerous the first of the perils they were to face would be. Though he had been content to leave his sword with the strix when he received word that she had found it, confident that she would hoard the blade in her roost among her collection talismans and items of magic, he also knew she would not surrender it without a deadly-earnest fight. She would attack without remorse or any sense of loyalty. She would seek the weakest points to exploit. They would both need to be well protected and armed.

  “It is good to have a backup that will serve you well,” he stated as he began to strap on his armor.

  “I take it that we are heading out somewhere?”

  He nodded. “The Tainted Ones, true monsters of the world, cannot be killed by these weapons. They will slow them down given that, unlike the weapons of your world, they are crafted with magic. But the sword of Nocis was forged by the mighty god Vulcan himself in the furnaces of his metal-rich mountain. Few have such weapons. To possess such divine tools is a great weight, one that I could no longer bear the burden of after centuries of killing the creatures.”

  “You have a monster-killing sword made by a god?”

  “Had would be the correct word,” he said. “I flung it into the wild peaks of Hyperborean Mountains at the northwestern edge of the Eternal Forest.”

  “And that is a bad place?” she asked.

  His lips turned up at the question. “In and of itself, no. The Hyperborean mountains are the border between this realm and the blessed isles that rest between the world of spirits and fae, and that of the dead. Like the Eternal Forest, the mountain range is far vaster than one can imagine. It connects with many sacred boundary mountains over the world. Because of its nature, it is inhabited by unpleasant beings who protect their territory ferociously.”

  “And you threw it there?” Diana gaped adorably at him. She swallowed back her nerves and gamely met his eye. “Is this like a sword in the stone situation? Are we going to have to pull it free from stone or mountainside it imbedded in?”

  “Oh, if only it were that simple.” He laughed, smile hardening as he crowded closer to the little human and his voice dropped low. “None but I know where it fell,” he murmured so quietly that he knew that she was forced to strain herself to hear him. Yet even after so many ages had passed, he didn’t trust anyone, not even his subjects, with the secret. “And one other.”

  Her breath rushed out in a hard gasp as she sighed one word. “Who?”

  His gaze dropped to the line of her throat where her pulse raced. Her scent was rich, a complex barrage of conflicting notes that demonstrated the emotions that were rolling chaotically through her. Fear, anger, and the slightest flavor of… yes… excitement. He licked his lips, stroking his tongue to capture the flavors from the air and draw them over the more sensitive receptors in his mouth. He longed to stroke his tongue down her throat as well, but this was conversation, not seduction. Not yet, anyway.

  Dropping his lips against her ear, he felt her shiver in reaction as he imparted the secret to her. The only one, due to the manipulation of the Fates, who was destined to witness the recovery of Nocis.

  “Among the dwellings of the horse-devouring griffins, and great wyrms and dragons, along the lower elevations there lives a strix, one of many scattered throughout the worlds. She is a sorceress, a monstrous owl-like being who dines on the flesh of the mortal races—preferably the very young. In her caverns, she jealously keeps all her treasures, tokens of magic and power. I saw the sweep of her enormous feathered wings as she snatched the sword out of the air. At that very moment, I knew that it would be her greatest of possessions.”

  Diana jerked back as she met his eyes. “And you just let her have it?”

  He shrugged and straightened. “Why not? Did I not just say that she guards her possessions? A strix is no easy conquest. They are not typically among the Tainted Ones, preferring solitude.”

  “Are you kidding me? You just said she eats children,” Diana retorted. “How is that not bad enough?”

  “She has stolen far more from the clans of trolls and orcs than from men. You are offended on their behalf? They would be touched to hear it,
” he commented with no little disbelief.

  Her face flushed guiltily but she met his eye, lips pinching with disapproval. “I admit I was thinking more about humans at that moment, but that said, I don’t approval of any child being eaten.”

  He lifted his eyebrows. “You certainly honor your namesake on this day. In any case, you do not need to fear. From what I understand, much of her diet is fawns and bear cubs and other creatures that she can easily snatch in her flight. Most figured out long ago how to ward against her. They know that, with the right protections over their home during the night, their little ones are safe from her hunt.” He touched his first knuckle to his chin thoughtfully. “Well, it is well known among most species. With the human world being closed off for so long by the gods, it is hard to say how they will fair against any strix that have crossed over.”

  Diana paled. “Do you think they have?”

  “Without a doubt. I imagine that, being a race of sorceresses themselves, they felt the magic of the barrier breaking far more intensely than many beings of this world. I have no doubt they were among the first to invade your world to glut themselves in the wake of destruction.”

  Silvas watched the human shudder, her eyes wide and lost in the suddenly sickly pallor of her complexion. At that moment, she looked painfully young to him, as her species tended to do even when aged and fading into the last days of their lifespans. Young, fragile, and short-lived. No wonder the gods loved the childlike races as much as they did. Even the many mortal races who possessed only slightly longer lifespans found favor above the immortal and long-lived races.

  He scowled, uncertain of how he should be responding. Should he attempt to comfort her? He was not good at such things. Awkwardly, he stretched one arm around her back and gave her a few light pats before pulling away.

  It seemed to have done some good because her coloring normalized and the expression on her face was one of confusion, though her lip quivered with amusement. “What was that?”

  “An attempt to offer comfort?” he replied uncertainly. Should she have to ask? The gesture was an obvious one.

  She chuckled, a small smile blooming on her lips. He was grateful that she spared him any commentary on his effort, though that smile not only failed to endear her to him but was also successful at rousing his ire at the same time. Diana looked at him as if he was the one seemingly helpless and awkward. He was a god in his own right, though not among the high gods. Still, his power and the eons he had witnessed were far beyond her imagination. There was no cause for a human to look at him with pitying amusement.

  His scowl deepened as he began to strap belts of weapons to his frame.

  “Are you offended?” Diana asked.

  He scoffed. “What makes you think that you have the power to rouse so strong a feeling as offense from me?”

  She fell silent, and for one blissful moment, he thought that just maybe she would cease speaking of it.

  “Have you ever held a baby?”

  “No,” he muttered.

  “A small child?”

  “No,” he growled with increasing impatience.

  “Ever have anyone hug you?”

  He attempted to think back. His furthest memories were dulled by time, far removed from him where he only caught echoes if he opened himself to them. He recalled his mother’s fingers threading affectionately through his hair and caressing the nubs of his antlers. He was certain that she had hugged him to her breast when he had been young. He had been eager to please her then and ran among the woodlands, spreading lust and desire to renew life as if it were as effortless as breathing. The return of spring had become much more tiring over the ages. Even now, it sapped his strength. Yet in his memories, he didn’t recall being embraced.

  “Ah.”

  The wealth of sympathy conveyed in that one word sparked his curiosity. He glanced over at her and directed the full force of his displeasure in her direction as he straightened the last of his belts around him.

  “What… do you mean by ah?” he bit out.

  Diana bit her lip, and he could tell that she was weighing her words.

  “I just meant that it is unlikely for someone who hasn’t received physical affection to know how to give even simple expressions of comfort.”

  “I assure you I have known many physical expressions. I did have a consort for centuries, and although it was ultimately a disaster, it was not lacking in that area.”

  She snorted and rolled her eyes. “We aren’t talking about fucking. We’re talking about touch without any sort of sexual intent behind it.”

  He paused, trying to come up with one instance to throw back in her face. To his dismay, he could think of not one. The nymphs touched him to arouse him to fulfill their mutual needs. Even Alseida, whom he had favored above all of them and eventually took as his consort, had not offered touch in such a fashion—and nor had he in return. The closest he got was in sparring with the other males of his kingdom, and even then, the good-natured tussles hadn’t been anything he would consider affection.

  Despite everything, he was set apart from everyone by who he was.

  Silvas grunted and glared down at his belts as he inspected them. He was taken completely off guard when Diana stepped forward.

  “This is going to be a bit awkward with all the leather,” she said, wrapping her arms completely around him.

  Laying her cheek against his chest, he felt his entire being flush against hers, the human warmth filling him at every point of contact. He could feel the steady beat of her heart thrum through him. He relaxed in her embrace until his chin dropped languidly against the top of her head. Distantly, he mused at how she had conquered him, but also found that he didn’t care. Peace and contentment swept through him as he felt accepted and cherished in the simple gesture.

  Just that easily, the eons seemed to melt away, and he cleaved to her until he finally forced himself away with a shake of his head. His antlers swung in his peripheral vision, and his tail whipped anxiously behind him. He didn’t know what had gotten into him, but it wasn’t something he could indulge in right now. There was too much at risk.

  Diana blinked up at him in confusion, but he turned away from her. He couldn’t bear to look at her right now.

  “Come on,” he snarled. “We have wasted enough time. We depart immediately.”

  Chapter 11

  Diana stepped out of the lucomo’s way as he stormed by her, her brow furrowed in confusion. For a moment there, something seemed to change between them, and she thought she saw something… Then it was gone, and he was like a stranger to her once more.

  She welcomed the silence that fell as she followed him out of the palace into the gloom of the forest. Even over the courtyard gardens, the trees were so thick that they only let stray sunbeams pierce through to the gardens below. She was honestly surprised that everything wasn’t dead, but apparently the blooms were shade-loving and, on several plants, their delicate tendrils were covered in dainty heart-shaped leaves. It was quite magical, made even more so by the pixies flitting among them.

  Despite the glimpses of beauty, the forest appeared gloomy and dark, though she wondered how much was impeded by her vision. It wasn’t quite menacing, but it was so alien from the woods near her home that it made the hairs on her arms prickle beneath the layers of clothing and armor. As they neared a cluster of trees nearest to the garden walls, a burst of pale lights floated around the trees as if released from the tall sentinels into the air.

  The lucomo glanced back at her and noticed the source of her distraction as she stared in awe at the lights, trying to work out what exactly they were.

  “It is the hamadryads, the souls of the trees. Those that live near the palace release small lights from their root bases as part of their symbiotic relationship with Arx itself, and as an expression of their ecstasy at being so close to it. Sometimes those near the villages of the Eternal Forest can be coaxed to do likewise.”

  “Arx?” she asked softly
.

  “The name of the palace. It is alive as much as the hamadryads are.”

  “They are beautiful,” she said. “As is Arx. I have never seen anything like it.”

  “Nor will you,” he agreed. “These things are of the Eternal Forest.”

  A tiny gasp left her as a luminous green woman seemed to step out of the heart of the tree and dance along the roots, playing in the light. There was something too sharp and inhuman about the structure of the spirit’s face, and her hair seemed to wave around her head in a way that appeared unnatural. Even her movements seemed to bend and sway in a way that defied nature.

  The green spirit stopped moving, and her head turned toward Diana. The movement was so slow that the eeriness made Diana’s heart pound and her mouth go dry as the glowing white eyes seemed to stare right into her. The stillness of the spirit was so absolute that Diana half-believed that it would spring into action.

  The hamadryad didn’t move. She watched Diana with her unblinking gaze, her head turning marginally to follow Diana’s movements. Another hamadryad stepped out and another. Soon the entire wood around the garden were filled with them, each one staring at Diana.

  “Interesting,” the lucomo muttered in passing but he gave them no more attention than a curious lingering glance as he stalked forward at an even pace without breaking stride.

  As the he neared the corner of the garden hedge that marked the border of the labyrinth of flower beds and ornamental bushes, a massive male, easiest the largest troll she had seen yet, stepped into view. The lucomo apparently expected to see him because his pace increased, leaving Diana to catch up.