Forest of Spirits

by S. J. Sanders

  How odd to feel such appreciation from a construct of stone, and yet she could feel it as if something deep within the foundations of the palace recognized her and loved her. It sounded crazy, but it sparked a warmth of returning affection within her. It entreated her, spoke to her in soft creaks, and the groans she hadn’t heard before that were so low in pitch she was certain they were below the normal human range of hearing. The palace crooned to her, welcoming her home. Even the trees themselves bent toward her as if bowing their leafy heads, a soft thrum of adoration pulsating through her soul.

  Diana frowned, her heart clenching painfully.

  She had caught hints of feeling such adoration from Silvas, enough to shake her determination to return home, and instead explore further the bond between them. She wanted to sink into their bond and take him within her, and it hurt that he had cut her off. It was a gaping wound in her soul, bleeding out her life in a slow trickle of sorrow.

  Glancing up at the moon, she shook her head. The hour was late, and it was just shy of a week since she’d last seen her mate. Where was Silvas?

  Every time she had asked the burly males guarding her door, they had turned away with little response other than that they were ordered to keep her safely confined to the royal chambers. It didn’t make any sense! Unfortunately, she hadn’t fared any better with the naiads who tended to her.

  Turning from the beauty of the garden, she paced back through the room until she arrived at the door. Placing her hand upon the handle, she pulled it open, the quiet creek announcing her presence. On the other side, the door was filled with the familiar sight of the backsides of two large males. One was plainly a troll but the other was a male she didn’t recognize. Taller, with thicker features, his skin a deep moss green with prominent tusks pushing up from his mouth, and a fall of dark hair braided down his back. His lack of tail also made him distinct from the troll at his side. Both males turned simultaneously at the sound of the door opening, their scowling faces bending down toward her.

  Smiling up at them, Diana knitted her fingers together in front of her as she returned their regard. “Hi boys, I was just going to slip out and see if I can find Silvas. It seems that, as usual, you’ve made yourself into a second barrier, though. If you could just scoot a bit so I can get out, I will be on my way and won’t disturb you further.”

  The unfamiliar male scowled, his eyes narrowing on her as the troll gave her an apologetic look and shook his head.

  “We can’t allow that, ati,” he muttered reluctantly. “We have our orders.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Orders to keep me locked in this room day after day?”

  The male shifted uncomfortably but nodded his head. “Yes, mistress.”

  “It’s been days though!” she shouted. “I understand that Silvas is worried, but this is ridiculous.”

  The troll shrugged. “Be that as it may, we can’t let you out. He said to keep you here, confined within the walls of this room. You’re not to be allowed loose in the palace. We are not to allow you out nor anyone inside without express orders to do so. The command comes from the lucomo. He will see to you when he returns.”

  A blinding pain of betrayal struck her, locking her fingers tightly together with the tension that snapped through every muscle.

  She couldn’t believe it. He left, and was actually keeping her imprisoned within the room while he pursued Cacus without her. Her hand dropped from the door. So much for the bullshit about needing her. She had swallowed that and had not only allowed herself to be put in danger, but to lay with him… and she mated with him believing that they were destined for each other. How much of all of that was due to his influence? It had felt so right, but now everything had the distinct smell of bullshit. Her throat tightened as her stomach rebelled with a wave of sickness that seemed rush up from that void within her.

  “Oh. I see,” she murmured, ignoring the concern on the troll’s face. Even the other male raised an eyebrow at her as if weighing her reaction. Pulling a stiff smile to her lips she stepped back. “Well, thank you,” she said as she pulled the door shut.

  Diana stared at the door for some time, her emotions running through her in a confusing riot. What reason would Silvas have for locking her in the room? She had no doubt that it had something to do with his absence from the bond. He blocked her out and locked her in, obviously quite intentionally. Any thought she had that his absence was unintentional, that perhaps he went somewhere in attending his duties that disrupted the flow between them, vaporized beneath the piercing light of truth. It just left more questions in her mind.

  Why would he do this to her?

  She paced through the room, her eyes straining toward the garden, hoping to hear anything at all from him as she walked from one side of the room to the other. Over and over she retraced her steps, her turmoil increasing with every pass.

  Where exactly was Silvas and why had he so abruptly abandoned her without a word? They were supposed to be in this together!

  The thoughts kept circling her mind as she paced until her legs became weary and her energy waned. Desolation was slowly creeping into her as the night trickled by and the moon crept farther through the sky, where it was visible in the narrow break in branches until it sank out of sight. With tears of angry frustration, Diana finally allowed herself to drop across the bed, wet streaks flowing from the corner of her eyes and over her cheekbones to get lost in the hair beyond her temple.

  She didn’t know how long she lay there staring at the lines of the ceiling, drawing out pictures from them in her mind. Her breath left her in an unhappy sigh, her eyes drifting shut. She would sleep and hope that the next day brought her something better.

  Her eyes closed, darkness swam around her, cut off from the soft glow of the hearth. She allowed herself to settle deeper into the arms of Arx as she sought her rest. A quiet surrounded her, but only for a moment before it was broken. A low, pained groan that swept through the palace, jerking Diana from her sleep. Her skin crawled with the scurry of invisible insects bolting from crevices and hidden corners as Arx shuddered and groaned yet again. Bolting upright, she slipped from the bed, her body bracing as she cringed from the vibrations of pain that erupted from her. The roar of breaking stone and snapping vine filled her as Arx bellowed its fury, but it was not alone in the agony that threaded through her mind.

  There was a ripple of anger and fear that rose from all around her as a silent alert surged through the palace. It crested, gathering strength, a tsunami of despair and terror. Rising above it all, glimmering through her mind, the hamadryads screamed their fury, their fingers reaching to rend, impale and ensnare. Diana could sense the gore that dripped over the limbs of the trees as they fought the encroaching darkness.

  The darkness was as a slick smear of oil through her mind, cut through the forest, brutally destroying everything within its path. It roared viciously, breaking through her mind as it ripped its claws through the track it cut into the Eternal Forest, its sides heaving from thousands of wounds and broken limbs of trees that tore into it in an attempt to protect Arx.

  Wounded and angry, its poisonous touch clawed into the trees, severing the lifeforce of the hamadryads. Diana’s heart wept and bled as their cries of fury shifted to despair and pain, their lights pulsing before slowly blinking out, one by one. Whatever it was, it was tearing through the perimeter, leaving naught but devastation in its wake.

  Spurred by forest dying all around her, Diana ran out onto the balcony, drawn up short as she gripped the railing and stared out into the forest. She could see the path of attack as the trees blackened before her eyes, the hamadryad soul lights brightening and blinking out as their noble trees fell in twisted, rotting remains. She squinted, trying to catch sight of the source, fear rising as a hard knot in her throat. She caught sight of inky hooves slashing and clawed hands tearing…

  The door behind her burst open with such strength that it slammed against the stone wall. Diana spun around, her hand at her t
hroat as her heart attempted to leap from the confines of her chest. A relieved breath released on a ragged gasp. Raskyuil stood there with the guard assigned to her door, his tail flicking behind him anxiously as his eyes ran through the room, searching for her. The moment they fell on the balcony where she stood, the male grunted and strode over to her side.

  A heavy hand dropped down on her shoulder as he peered down at her. “Ati, are you okay?”

  Licking her lips, she nodded weakly, the cries of the dying overwhelming her. She paled, shaking beneath his grip as he glanced down at her with concern. If she looked as fractured and torn apart as she felt, bits and pieces of her dying with the forest, she had no doubt that she looked deathly herself.

  “All the death, I feel it screaming through me, and it just won’t stop. What’s going on? Where is Silvas?” she croaked against the scream building in her throat. She couldn’t stop the flow of agony from suffocating her.

  Raskyuil’s hand tightened on her as he looked sharply toward the males lingering by the door. “We need to get her out of here.”

  The green male shifted in spot, his heavy brow lowering. “That is not our orders.”

  A loud growl sounded from Raskyuil as he pinned the male with a hard glare. “I’m the head of the guard and I say we are moving the ati out. I will answer to the lucomo. If I must do it without your cooperation, orc, then get out of my way.”

  The other troll edged forward, his face wrinkling with concern as Raskyuil shouldered some of her weight, helping her to remain upright as another torrent of agony swept through her.

  “What is wrong with the ati?” he whispered hesitantly.

  Raskyuil gave him an impatient look. “I don’t know,” he growled, nudging the other male aside as he hauled her out the door.

  Diana stumbled forward, nearly stepping on the goblin who waited there, hopping from foot to foot. Borbekel’s beady eyes peered at her expectantly, and she could feel their weight seeing through her. He let out a sound of exclamation and muttered to himself worriedly as he looked up and down the hall.

  “Move, rodent,” Raskyuil snarled as he swung his foot as to kick the goblin out of his path.

  The smaller male, knee-high compared to the troll, shrieked and dodged, his small tail whipping as he let out a high-pitched hiss.

  “You must hide her!” the goblin shrieked, his small arms waving through the air toward a long dark corridor.

  “I’m not stupid, goblin. I am well aware of that,” Raskyuil snarled as he hauled her up into his arms and strode quickly down the hallway.

  Borbekel’s head shook as he raced at their side. “You don’t understand at all. You have to hide her someplace where she will be surrounded by magic and deep within the ground. Goblins know these things. We see what you do not. As fate designed, the life of the Eternal Forest and its inhabitants are bonded to her. The very part of her nature that would feed vitality into the Eternal Forest and fertility in beasts and plant-life that dwell within it, the death of the forest is tearing her apart. Cacus is killing her. We need to get her someplace safe where the bond will be muted.”

  Raskyuil snarled loudly and leveled the goblin with a hard glare. “Are you certain of this?” At the male’s nod, he cursed and changed direction, moving quickly down another hall. “I know the place, then, that she’ll be guaranteed safe. May the lucomo forgive me for violating his secrets.”

  Chapter 34

  Diana panted through the pain swamping her, the halls blurring together as they turned down one and then another. Vines rose from the walls, guarding over their passage as they passed beneath them. The guards looked uneasily at the twisting plants, but Diana patted Raskyuil’s shoulder soothingly.

  “Don’t worry, Arx guards us,” she whispered hoarsely, her fingers digging into his shoulder weakly as she clung to his side. She gave a meaningful glance up to the plants.

  She felt his hesitation, but he nodded over the top of her head. “Arx protects. Move,” he snarled to the guards as they rushed down the hall.

  The stones of the hall behind them pushed out like jagged teeth as the vines coiled everywhere, waiting for their prey. The palace shook again as if something were climbing through it rapidly, breaking down walls rather than treading down winding halls.

  Cacus. She knew it was him. The taint of his presence was swamping through everywhere he stepped, every passage he carved out for himself, the sickness pervaded. She could feel it stealing into her bones even as it swamped through Arx.

  “The hidden courtyard is just this way,” he grunted, his eyes sliding down to her. “Not much further, ati.”

  Diana nodded, sweat pouring from her brow as a tremor swept through her. Just ahead, she could see the bend of the hall where it led to another corridor.

  Just a little further. She had to hold on just a little longer. She had to believe that her sanctuary was close. She could feel something, a secret below in the greatest depths.

  The orc bellowed as he jerked away, his weapons falling heavily on the stone flooring. Raskyuil half turned, shouting out to the male as Diana peered over his shoulder. The orc was pulled through the air by a blood-red, flexible appendage. From her vantage point, Diana studied it, and her stomach turned as she realized that a long tongue had wrapped around him and was drawing him back into the darkness. The orc fought, stabbing deep into the organ with a dagger in a frenzy as rivulets of inky ichor dripped from it. The creature never relaxed its hold, but drew him back until he disappeared into the shadows as Raskyuil put on another burst of speed. The orc’s furious roar turned into pained howls, and Diana ducked her head against the troll’s shoulder, sobs of horror shaking her as she desperately attempted to muffle the cries.

  Her tears fell, wetting paths of wide rivers streaking down her cheeks as they made the bend and raced down a sloping passage. She could feel every vine that snapped loose from the walls, every tree shuddering to whip deadly limbs. Rocks burst from the walls, stabbing jagged ends into the flesh of the beast and falling to crush him with their weight. It did little more than slow him down, but Diana could hear the angry, pained sounds of Cacus in the near distance as Arx rose up against the monster.

  “Iktan,” Raskyuil bellowed to the other troll as they approached a sharper bend, ornate walls crumbling in on themselves, “secure the next corridor.”

  The unburdened male nodded and pulled out ahead of them at a quicker speed, making it to the passage. He drew to a halt and glanced down it before turning sharply to them again and waving his hand forward.

  “Thank the gods,” Raskyuil growled. “We’re almost there, ati. Just a little farther. Hold on. Just around the corner is the hidden courtyard.”

  The goblin bounded beside them, glancing worriedly behind him with such frequency that Diana also watched the darkness behind, trembling with fear. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. She was supposed to be at Silvas’s side as they destroyed the monster. He would have been a force which Cacus would not have been able to contend with. Wiping her tears with one hand, she turned forward just as Raskyuil stumbled, her fingers biting into his shoulder as his arms bound tighter around so as not to drop her.

  A golden yellow woman, her body stained with inky veins running through her, her green hair laying limp around her face at broken, brittle lengths, stepped out of the shadows, unseen by Iktan. Her red lips parted in a wide grin as Raskyuil shouted a warning. The male turned, his eyes widening just as the dryad’s hand morphed into a thick branch. It struck him through the neck with such force that he was pinned briefly to the wall, his body trembling and tail swishing wildly as he gurgled and attempted to draw in his last gasps of breath. She giggled and pulled her arm free, her hand reforming as she stepped forward.

  “Alseida, you were banished from the palace… What…?” Raskyuil snarled.

  She laughed and stepped over the body of the troll. “And you thought I would just take it lying down? You threw me out to wander the depths of the forest alone, and he found me.
He showed me what delights he possessed and promised my place. I am the queen of the Eternal Forest. Me. Me!”

  “You are not the ati,” Borbekel hissed. “You are death, a plague on the forest. You always have been. Your greed has warped you. Your kind is meant to preserve the forest and yet for centuries you have been an infestation and rot that invades the trees of this woodland, dryad,” he sneered.

  The smile fell from Alseida’s lips, her face darkening with rage. Her hair lifted around her, the locks twining and thickening like layered vines, the tips tapered and lethal as they snaked through the air, growing longer, reaching out for them.

  Borbekel let out an ugly, hair-raising scream as he leaped forward, releasing from his pouch several bundles that flashed upon contact, their magic slicing over the dryad, burrowing in an attempt to dig deep within her with their colorful fiery tongues to infest her. Alseida shrieked angrily, her claws digging at her flesh, stripping chunks away as she attempted to root out the magic, more of the blackness from her skin flowing into the open wounds, burrowing into her with dark, surging tendrils that made her scream louder.

  The goblin pounced again, but Alseida snarled and snatched him out of the air. Diana cried out as the other hand gripped into him and the dryad smiled grimly at her. She knew by that smile that the goblin was about to suffer because of her. Diana sobbed in denial, silently begging the dryad not to follow through.

  Alseida’s smile hitched wider and a cruel laugh left her at Diana’s grief. Seconds later, Borbekel screamed as the long needle-like thorn claws dug in into his flesh, tearing through flesh, muscle, and bone. She laughed as he screamed, and even as he fainted when the pain became too great, she still laughed as his innards dripped from his body and splattered on the ground with one last rip, tearing the male nearly in half, held together only by his spine. She shook him in Diana’s direction, his eyes staring out sightlessly, before throwing him to the floor. Long, curving thorns protruded from her body as she stepped closer.