Forest of Spirits

by S. J. Sanders

  Diana needed to find some sort of shelter where she could wait out the storm. The longer she walked on blindly, the more she risked falling off the mountain—or being found by something straight from her nightmares.

  Diana sighed, but couldn’t even see the faintest wisps of steam against the surrounding whiteout.

  “Fucking ridiculous,” she muttered to herself through chattering teeth.

  She stumbled, landing on her hands and knees in the snow, ice rushing into her protective gloves and soaking her knees and her calves where it seeped in around her armor. A hiss of shock escaped her, and she pushed herself back to her feet. Straightening, she squinted. She could have sworn that she saw something—

  A shadow broke through the snow, striding toward her, down the slope of rock and snow, wings stretching out and moving against the wind. Icy blue eyes were all she could see clearly as their glow pierced the storm. It loomed over her even at a distance, its eyes focused on her with a predatory stillness.

  Diana stumbled back, her feet sliding in the snow. Her heart hammered against her ribs as she pulled out the sword at her side. Her bow would be rendered nearly useless by the weather. The slide of metal was drowned out by the howl of the wind, which seemed to rise as the creature came nearer.

  Terror clogged her throat, but she raised her sword and swung it with all her strength in a less than graceful arc, praying she would get lucky again. Fencing club never covered sword fighting in a damn snowstorm.

  A hand shot out, snatching her wrist and stopping the forward momentum of her arm. The hand that gripped her wrist was masculine, sinewy with muscle. It squeezed, and the sharp pinch made her cry out as the hilt dropped from her hand. Her assailant pushed forward, forcing her arm against her chest as a behemoth among males leaned in close to her.

  Large blue eyes, rounder than a human’s, stared down at her. They were set deep in a wide face with a beak-like nose and a long beard. She thought that Silvas was pale, with his pure alabaster coloring that made him almost radiant, like some sort of heraldic white stag. This man was somehow paler, so much so that his white face bore an icy blue undertone. It made a strange contrast against the rosy stain of his cheeks and the crimson hue of his downturned lips.

  A long, dark cap of curling hair snapped around him. Nestled within his locks, a crystalline crown appeared, almost like ice erupting in jagged peaks from his brow. From the corner of her eye, she was aware of the dove-gray wings stretched out wide, the feathers rattling in the wind as they fanned the air.

  Relief rushed through that she was not in the clutches of a monstrous strix.

  It was short-lived, however. If not a strix, then what had her?

  “The living are not permitted beyond my peaks,” he rumbled, his deep voice carrying like the low moan of glacial ice. “Why do you trespass upon my domain?”

  His domain? She searched her memory, trying to recall those inhabitants of the Hyperborean Mountains that Silvas had mentioned.

  Silvas… Damn him!

  The male shifted closer, his head tilting to the side. “A human,” he muttered. “What would a human be doing here? It has been many ages since I’ve touched the warmth of a woman.” The words were so reverent that it was almost distracting as he lifted his other hand as if to touch her.

  Whoa!

  Diana twisted away to escape his touch. Unlike the touch of Silvas, she didn’t feel even a drop of the strange attraction that had simmered since the first time the silvanus touched her. Instead, her skin crawled.

  “Aquilo, halt,” Silvas’s voice rumbled, forcing the male to drop his hand and turn to face the silvanus.

  Silvas’s dark antlers cut through the veil of snow as he stepped forward. Even as close as he was, Diana had trouble seeing him. It reassured her though that, aside from his antlers, the brilliant glow of his white eyes was at least visible. Just being in his presence was enough to calm her a little.

  A grin split Aquilo’s face, and his body shook with his deep laughter.

  “Silvas, the great silvani lucomo of the Eternal Forest… To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  “I have come to retrieve something of mine,” Silvas replied coolly, his eyes locked on the male’s offending hand still gripping her wrist.

  “Did you lose this human, by any chance?” Aquilo asked, amusement still in his voice as he gave her arm a small shake as if to taunt him.

  “As it happens, I did.”

  Silvas appeared as unconcerned as usual, but his eyes narrowed on the hand.

  “The Hyperborean Mountains are not a good place to vacation with a lover, Silvas. At least have some respect for the domain of the northern winds,” her captor protested jovially. His enormous barrel chest shook again with his deep laughter.

  Had she thought his wings were like that of a dove? She was wrong. As they folded in, she saw darker specks along the back of them like that of an owl. With his curved nose, pale wings, and large watchful eyes, he reminded her slightly of an owl. Her heart might have taken that opportunity to leap out of her chest if she hadn’t heard him more or less refer to himself as the north winds.

  The lucomo moved closer, his features coming into focus as his attention left her hand and shifted to Aquilo, to give him a bland look. Despite his expression, Diana felt a prickle of tension from him as the awareness that had been absent came flooding back. Although he gave nothing away, Silvas was sizing up a potential threat. Then it was gone again, leaving Diana confused and empty once more.

  “I would not consider your mountains to be a place that I would care to visit in leisure,” Silvas observed dryly “I seek the strix who recovered Nocis.”

  Aquilo’s face wrinkled in a grimace. “I should have suspected as much when I heard that there was a silvanus roaming my mountain. Especially given the disturbances that I have heard rumors of.” His lip curled in disgust. “The Tainted Ones. You will find what you seek easily enough. The strix, Mora, nests in the southeastern side of the next peak, in a small pocket of stone two-thirds the distance up the mountainside. I suspect you will smell the stench of death and magic long before you catch sight of her.”

  “I have no doubt. Many thanks, Aquilo. Now if you might call off your wind, we’ll be certain to arrive at our destination quicker, and without incident.”

  Aquilo nodded and stepped back a pace. Though his hand was still fixed on her arm, he turned at an angle away from her. With his opposite hand, he lifted an enormous horn to his lips from the belt that held a sapphire blue tunic strapped over woolen pants. His massive chest expanded as he sounded the horn.

  A deep echo crashed through the mountains that shattered the wall of snow around them. The wind died immediately, and the snowflakes disappeared from the air, leaving only powder in their wake.

  Silvas inclined his head in gratitude as he spoke and placed his hand on her elbow, just above Aquilo’s grip on her forearm. She watched as his eyes narrowed when the other male didn’t immediately release her. Instead, the spirit’s hand tightened, and Silvas’s face pinched with displeasure.

  Aquilo’s frowned and glanced toward the next peak, his dark head shaking.

  “Taking a human to a strix’s cave is foolish.”

  “Nonetheless, I shall,” Silvas replied.

  “Leave her with me. I will care for her, and you will be unhampered over the mountain passes,” Aquilo offered.

  Silvas fell silent, his gaze fastened on her captor. Diana thought he would agree to be rid of her unwanted presence. To her surprise, however, he shook his head, the ornaments from his antlers rattling with the strength of his objection, nostrils flaring as he bristled. Out of nowhere, his hostility rolled through her, taking her breath away.

  Diana squeezed her eyes shut as her stomach churned. The flashes of this strange shared awareness came and went in an instant, unsettling her to such a degree that her body was reacting to it physically.

  “I considered it only because I do not wish to risk her against the strix, but no. D
iana’s destiny is wound with mine, and too much hinges on our success. It has been foreseen. She is mine, and I will not be separated from her.”

  “I would like to point out that I came across the female alone, without any protector,” Aquilo retorted, smiling in amusement at the lucomo’s refusal.

  “A mistake, nothing more,” Silvas ground out.

  “Mistakes are dangerous in our world.”

  Silvas did not respond other than to peel his lip back from his sharp teeth in warning.

  Aquilo released Diana’s arm with a loud sigh. “How disappointing that you would take a fragile human to that monster’s cave. However, I cannot argue against those that the gods touch with the oracular sight.”

  Thrusting his hand into a pouch hanging from his belt, he removed a small silver pennywhistle and offered it to Diana.

  She glanced over at the silvanus uncertainly. Rather than appearing offended, he tilted his head toward her in encouragement. Swallowing, she managed a small smile at the towering spirit of the north wind and accepted the gift.

  “If you require the winds, calls us with that.” He positioned her fingers so that they covered all the openings. “Play D to summon the northern wind.” He lifted two fingers. “Play F sharp to summon the eastern winds. Play B for the southern winds, and G for the western winds.”

  He showed her the placement of her fingers for each note and repeated it until she remembered them. Only then did he step back with a nod of his burly head. “May the great gods favor your efforts.”

  Pale wings flashed, and with a blast of frigid air he was gone.

  “Come,” Silvas growled as he stalked away, once again completely closed off to her.

  Diana crossed her arms over her chest and glared at his back. “Mistake, my ass,” she mumbled. She plodded through the snow after him, trying to ignore the disconcerting pull she felt toward him.

  Chapter 18

  Silvas clenched his jaw as he walked among the rocks. He was not deaf to the mutterings behind him, but tried to ignore their sting. Her opinion shouldn’t have mattered to him. When had he ever concerned himself about what others thought of him? Yet it did matter, even more since her anger and disappointment pricked him like needles and tasted like ash on his tongue.

  He knew the cause of it, although he had ignored all the signs. The strong pull to her, the sensitivity toward her that developed after they touched… it had been a portent to the bond. He had found his uxorem, his mate.

  It was undeniable, and it, in turn, had triggered instinct—that which drove the species of the Eternal Forest to join with their mates. Not only was he aware of her existing within him, but he was also tormented by the fires in his blood, the ceaseless hunger that worsened as the days passed.

  There was only one way to slake the need, and that was by finishing the bonding process and claiming her for his own. His uxorem.

  The need to claim her tore through him, gnawing at him, and he stepped faster to provide himself with some relief. Not too far this time—he couldn’t risk losing her again. It had been among the most terrifying moments of his life when he turned around to pull her closer to him within the rising storm and discovered her missing.

  At first, he had been unable to comprehend that she was gone. She had been right behind him! Her sorrow had eaten at him, and it had not become any better when that sorrow had shifted into confusion, then frustration, until finally anger and resentment joined the turmoil. The chaotic flavor of her emotions had overwhelmed him, sensitive as he was to them through their bond. He could not shut off the flow from her and so had suffered in silence. Yet it was nothing compared to the terror that sprung to life in him as he imagined horrific possibilities. Of a predator or the strix herself finding his female vulnerable and alone on the mountain.

  Flying into a panic, he had followed her scent the best that he could in the storm as he shouted her name, his voice drowned out by the wind. Finding her with Aquilo had instinctively made him want to exert his claim and bind her to him.

  But he couldn’t do that.

  To his shame, he had ignored her as much as possible, selfishly absorbed in his own discomfort and an undeniable fear of a vulnerability that he had never before experienced. Dagani was gone, but he had punished her for making him feel it even after he delivered the final peace to the crocotta by returning it to the forest.

  He ran from it.

  He ran so hard from everything he felt that, although he had known she was struggling, he hadn’t so much as looked behind him to make sure she was keeping up.

  He had to live with that guilt. Just as he had to live with the oath he had made in haste when he thought it a small thing to offer her to soothe her. Because she was human, he had considered her inconsequential despite the warning from the vegoia. Now, however, he had greater insight into what Dorinda meant. He had understood the moment he felt Diana’s grief as if it were his own. As his uxorem, he would despair if separated from her. Even with her near, but their bond unsolidified, he felt like he was slowly fracturing.

  He had been foolish, and because of that, Silvas was restrained by his promise, just as all spirits and gods were bound by their oaths.

  He had not wanted her to suffer similarly, so he had blocked her out so she wouldn’t feel swayed by the hunger consuming him. It wasn’t flawless, and he felt the response in her rising to meet him every time he reconnected. Yet in the end, he had hurt her, and he didn’t know how to correct the error.

  What a mess.

  Raskyuil was not wrong when he predicted that Silvas would suffer more than most other males. As the son of Turan, he was born to be more susceptible to the domain of his mother, just as he had once reveled in her lifegiving power.

  His thoughts turned to the dove that had fluttered before his throne just days ago. He had been certain that it was a communication from Turan, and he been both right and wrong. There was no message for him except a warning of what was to come. He saw his mother’s hands all over their predicament, and he didn’t know whether to thank her for bringing him his uxorem or to curse her for upsetting his world at such a dangerous time.

  In truth, at any other time, he might have greeted the bonding with joy, but now it terrified him. Him! He who feasted on fear and was sustained by it!

  Now Diana erroneously believed that he desired to get away from her. If only she knew just how wrong she was. He wanted her more than he had ever wanted anything. He wanted to renew the life of the Eternal Woods with a celebration of their love.

  Tail flicking, he glanced back at her, unable to deny the thirst to lay his eyes on her. Her arms were crossed over her chest, holding her cloak close to her as she glowered at the ground. He shook his head and bit back an annoyed grimace at the jangle of the ornaments knotted around and imbedded in his antlers. He wanted to tear off the shining gold ornaments draped over him by nymphs who had once sought his favor. They felt as artificial as their affections had been.

  “Can you not glare at me?” Diana snapped. “I know you aren’t happy having me here. I’m not exactly thrilled either.”

  She picked up her pace, and just as she tried to pass him, he stretched out a hand and caught her arm. She froze under his touch and glared up at him. His thumb caressed her elbow through her tunic. As he pulled her in, her eyes widened at him in surprise, her soft lips parting. He yearned to taste them, and it was only with great resolve that he did not follow through.

  His eyelashes lowered as he gazed down at her, staring at eyes that were nearly blue with emotion. “You are wrong, you know.”

  “About what?”

  “Everything.” He sighed again, uncertain of how to explain. “You don’t understand the nature of my kind and what I need and require. I tried to spare you from it, to give you freedom, but have only succeeded in making things worse. I don’t wish there to be any separation between us.”

  She frowned up at him. “You don’t?” she asked. “Because you sure could have fooled me.”

>   “I do not.” He lifted a hand and let it skate down her arm. “I am overwhelmed by feelings that are alien to me which I cannot control. You make me feel things that I never expected to feel. I always thought when I bonded, it would be to another immortal.” The last he said softly, half to himself.

  Diana shook her head. “I don’t understand. What do you mean by bonded?”

  Silvas squinted as he looked at the mountainside. “This isn’t a good place to discuss it. Night will be falling soon. We’ll need to find shelter, and then I’ll endeavor to explain it to you.”

  Her lips pursed. “You promise?”

  He smiled as he leaned down and brushed his lips against her forehead, feeling the alarmingly cold flesh against his mouth. “I promise,” he whispered.

  “All right. I suppose I can wait,” she grumbled. “But let’s hurry because, between you and me, my tits are about to freeze off.”

  Caught by surprise by her bold statement, he laughed, earning him a small smile in return.

  “We can’t have that,” he said as he tucked her cape more snugly around her and added his own over it despite her objections. Although the air was cold, he knew that he didn’t feel it as intensely as she did. “If you allow me, I can believe I can get us somewhere to rest soon if I am permitted to carry you.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Now this is an interesting turn of events. You’re actually asking to haul me around now?”

  Leaning down further, he brushed his nose against her neck. “I won’t entirely reform my ways… but I can concede this much to get your permission before I misbehave.”

  Soft hands patted his breastplate as she choked out a laugh. “Fair enough. Let’s get to shelter and warm up.”

  He nodded and stretched out his arms. They would have the best chances of finding shelter if he risked exposure and sent one of his shadows out. The strix would sense it if it strayed too near her peak, but he was certain that he would find something nearby.

  The feeling of his essence stretching and becoming thinner was as disconcerting as always. He knew from her gasp what she was seeing as she watched him become a shadow. In his mind, the entire world was rendered in shadows, but he knew that to her eyes he would be the unrecognizable one as his shadow form broke free, all darkness except for the burning light of his soul like a star within it. Silvas felt his light divide in a system of stars as all his possible forms watched him with glowing eyes, waiting to be selected.