“I will have my crown, but first I will destroy my rival,” she snarled. “There will be no ati, only me as the consort of the dark lord of the wood. My power will be absolute, and death will fall as I will it.”
“Madness!” Raskyuil shouted, shifting Diana’s weight in his arms to safely draw his enormous ax and heft it before them.
Alseida eyed it and smirked. “Do you think I shiver at the sight of your iron, troll? No ax will fell me. Cacus has made me more powerful than you know.”
Her arms raised, her lips widened once more to a grin as she turned her arms like a magician, showing one side and then the other. Before their eyes, the limbs lengthened and became as two great thorn-covered spikes that she held out threateningly from her sides. They bumped and scraped against the walls as she strode toward them. The inky veins slid over her like rapidly growing rivers, making her skin bulge as they crept up the rest of her body, streaming through her face until they finally hit her eyes. The two orbs blackened into dark pits.
The troll stiffened, raising his ax as he adjusted his stance. Diana leaned heavily against him in his arms, assailed continuously with the agony of the collapsing forest as her body spasmed intermittently. She stared at the dryad through half-closed eyes, a spirit of suffering stalking toward them. Alseida didn’t merely want her dead. She wanted her to suffer and bleed. She wanted to see her beg.
Hopelessness rolled over her. Within that darkness she felt familiar sparks flowing toward them, rolling hungry, angry energy, tearing through the creatures that slid over Arx and fell into their path. The crocotta!
Diana’s lips slowly parted, a grim smile tugging at them as she met the dryad’s empty eyes. “Fuck you, Alseida,” she croaked. “You won’t have the forest. The forest will have you… It will consume you and feast upon your bones.”
The dryad laughed. “And just how will you manage that, little human?”
“Not me,” Diana wheezed. “Them…”
A side tunnel ripped open through the walls from the outer courtyard as the massive bulk of the crocotta clan barreled through, their eyes glinting with a peculiar glow as Alseida met their gaze. Her body stiffened as she froze, unable to escape as they slammed into the dryad. They warbled and snarled as their teeth sank into her, tearing and goring as vines snapped out from the ground and walls.
The first vine speared her, leafy tendrils borrowing through her. Each tendril burst ragged open wounds from her body in dozens of places as the dryad shrieked and struggled. The crocotta backed away, their sides heaving as more vines sank into the nymph. They stabbed into her flesh, piercing through her body to hold her aloft before slamming her against the wall.
Vines slid down the wall, reaching for her as the remaining upraised vines wound around her, their thorns stabbing into her as they anchored her high against the wall, nestled into the hanging vines flowing all around her. Her cries were swallowed by the thick layers of Arx’s vines until all that remained uncovered was the head of the nymph that sagged forward, groaning with pain.
Raskyuil’s grip tightened around Diana as he stepped away from the gruesome sight. The solid sound of impact jerked his head around, staring down the dark hallway from which they’d come. Diana looked over his shoulder, her breath rattling in raspy pants as one heavy footfall was followed by another, the sound of hooves crunching over debris as their pursuer drew closer.
The crocotta whined and backed away as Raskyuil stumbled back. Diana’s mouth went dry as the beast stepped into the low light of the remaining glow pods that clung to the walls. Large, malformed hooves the size of dinner plates rang against the stone flooring as four giant legs met a torso resembling the shape of a horse.
Deep red in color, he appeared almost as an unnatural centaur warped with spikes. Curved horns erupted from the skin along his spine and flanks. His red cheeks bulged with tusks, licks of fire and smoke drifting from between his lips before a long, thick tongue swept out, tasting the air with small flicks before retracting into his gaping mouth.
His eyes turned toward Alseida, who strained against her bindings.
“Help me! Free me, my king, so we can destroy them—together as we are meant to,” she whispered.
The crocotta danced further away as Raskyuil backed quietly from the dryad, taking pains not to draw attention to them. Cacus’s heavy hoofs echoed as he took slow measured steps toward the nymph, his eyes narrowing on her thoughtfully.
“Poor little love,” he crooned in a deep, echoing voice. Despite his words, there was an edge of mockery to his voice as he stepped closer. His tongue slipped out of his wide mouth, sliding over her face to trail down her neck. Withdrawing it, he chuckled malevolently, the sound crawling over Diana’s skin as she silently counted each slow, sliding step that Raskyuil took, backing them toward the hidden courtyard.
Alseida’s eyes widened. “Cacus, please. Free me. I’m your mate. We joined beneath the dark of the moonless night.”
His head cocked as he studied the dryad. “Yes,” he hissed slowly. “An unworthy mate, so easily ensnared. I will swallow your essence and make you one with me. Better to try again with a more deserving female,” he growled. “You have served your purpose.”
Even at their distance, Diana could see the dryad’s empty eyes widen, her mouth gaping in terror as Cacus opened his mouth wide, his jaw dislocating like a python, and dropped his head down. He bit off Alseida’s head with one snap of his massive teeth. Throwing his head back, it dropped further into his powerful jaws. The corridor was filled with the sound of crunching as he chewed her skull, pausing only to sweep his long tongue to gather the fragments of the nymph’s residual being. A dark slime seeped from his mouth, and the dryad’s remains began to collapse around her neck, showing the bones of a destroyed immortal.
Diana whimpered. She lay limply in Raskyuil’s arms as he spun around, racing into the hidden courtyard, the sounds of the vine encasement cracking all around them. Each crack was accompanied by the meaty sound of immortal substance being torn away and consumed.
Clinging to the troll, her eyes trailed over the crocottas, lingering on Keena in the lead and the duskier Keech. With each breath she could feel the forest falling down around the palace as the pets of Cacus wreaked devastation, his very presence a blight seeping into the ground. Everything around her felt dark, a fog descending over her as she flopped in the troll’s arms. She was barely aware of him clutching her tightly to his chest as he bent down to whisper in her ear.
“To the belly of the Earth with you through the hidden door of the unseen. May Silvas’s secret stair deliver you to safety.”
A groan of pain left her as Raskyuil draped her over the furred back of a crocotta. Diana barely had the strength to lift her eyelids as she slipped into the cool darkness below the halls of Arx. As the door swung shut and latched behind her, she heard the challenging roar of a troll greeting battle.
Her eyes drifted closed and she sagged, sliding precariously on the beast. By some miracle, she didn’t fall from it onto the stairs. It was only when they reached level ground that, when the crocotta crouched, she dropped to the floor.
Chaos spun around her, and Diana’s back arched with the pain that swamped her where she lay on the hard, stone ground. The thousands of connections twisted within her, demanding her, calling to her—pleading. A spark lit within her, a white flame that grew with every supplication until it was an inferno twisting through her in a raging firestorm, compressing with her every breath until it was a crackling orb of power held within her.
Diana’s eyes flew open, her mouth gaping in a silent scream. Her body arched once more as the white fire erupted through the bonds tied to her soul, flooding them with strength and power. Arx rumbled overhead, and the pale silver light burst through her mind, accompanied by a piercing pain on her brow like two stakes driven deep. Her light flooded through the Eternal Forest. She was aware of it even as lost as she was in the darkness of the lower levels, her entire being crying out for her ma
te.
Spent, she lay in darkness, a warm body nestled next to her as Arx shook above and the sounds of battle faded, punctuated only with the pained roar of the monstrous Cacus before silence fell. Her eyelids fluttered, but at long last, she closed them and succumbed to the weariness that overwhelmed her. At least she no longer hurt… and she hoped that the brave guard found his peace as well.
Head lolling, Diana was lost to oblivion.
Chapter 35
The sound of dripping water echoed around Diana. Was she dead? If so, she was disappointed. She had assumed that if she were dead, her worries would be gone and the emptiness and pain running through her would have ceased. Instead, she hurt and felt out of sorts.
“No, you are not dead,” a soft, sibilant voice answered with an amused chuckle.
Had she said that aloud?
Groaning, Diana cracked open her eyes, turning her head to face the stranger at her side. She gasped at the sight of the grinning female beside her. As colorless and pearly as Silvas, the female had startling blood red eyes, and instead of legs possessed a serpentine tail that coiled in a relaxed fashion on the rocks of the cave.
A low whine sounded behind her seconds before a dark snout shoved into her face, blocking the sight of the snake woman. Diana blinked up and smiled at the crocotta that stepped carefully over her to nuzzle her.
“Keena, you saved me,” she whispered, her fingers digging into the thick fur as she pushed herself to a seated position and hugged the wide head against her chest.
“Strictly speaking, the troll saved you… but I do suppose that the crocotta deserves some credit for getting you down the staircase to my lair without dropping you on your head,” the female at her side observed in a wry voice.
Peering around Keena’s bulk, Diana eyed her, her fingers clutching at the fur as she remembered Raskyuil shoving her into the darkness as that thing—Cacus—devoured Alseida. In the darkness, she had heard Raskyuil’s roar of fury and pain.
Glancing toward the staircase illuminated by only a few strategically placed torches, she didn’t see any sign of him. Diana couldn’t hold back a hoarse sob. “Please tell me he’s okay,” she choked out.
The red eyes studied her. “He lives yet. I feel him digging himself out from the rubble of the wall that collapsed on him, though Cacus has fled.”
“How do you know all this?” Diana whispered.
The female smiled. “I know because I am Dorinda, the vegoia trapped beneath Arx. I see and know many things, just as I know that you are the uxorem of my brother Selvans. You know him better as Silvas, the irritating god playacting as a king.”
“God…? How can that be?” Diana asked as a shiver betrayed just how much she was unnerved.
Silvas couldn’t be a god. Despite everything, even if she was deceived on the nature and depth of their relationship, she did carry his vinculum marcam. He was hers… wasn’t he? How could a woman be married to a god?
Dorinda made a disgusted hiss as she rose and shifted away, moving toward a crevice in the wall of the cavern. “My brother is a fool, that’s how. He wanted to escape from himself and hide away, living with the casual freedom of a simple spirit instead of the role for which he was born. We share one mother, he and I, but his destiny was far greater than what he made of it—and the pitiful condition of the Eternal Forest shows it. I recall the way the forest looked when it was young. Did you know that during the day the trees would part to allow the glorious light of Usil, the king of the sun, shine down and nourish us all? It wasn’t this dark pit of despair. All manner of beings called this place home as they traveled between the worlds. I loved the monokerata most.”
“What’s a monokerata?”
Dorinda smiled, the expression making the female’s face seem younger, erasing the lines of bitterness. “Amazing creatures. Large horses, white as snow except for their necks and heads, which are red. From their brow sprouts a single horn that is white, black in the middle and then red at the tip. The horn provides all manner of wellness, for which men once coveted the magical creature.” Her smile slipped. “They were nearly wiped out from the Eternal Forest when my brother took Alseida to his bed. Her greed weakened the borders that hid the entrance from mortals.”
She peered at Diana as her smile turned smug. “You wouldn’t have found your way into our world without help. Mother brought you here even as Cacus hunted down and chased his victims into the woods where he could consume them at his leisure.” She sighed and brought forth a jug and two cups. “But at that time, it was not the case. The monokerata were nearly hunted to extinction for their horns.”
Diana gaped at her. “Are you talking about unicorns? They’re real?”
“They are, but they stay hidden in the few parts of the forest that still see the sun. I miss seeing them, but that was before I was enclosed within the earth,” Dorinda said, her face hardening.
“Boy does that sound familiar,” Diana muttered. Shaking her head, she looked askance at the serpentine woman. “I don’t understand. If Silvas… er, Selvans… is your brother, why has he locked you away all this time?”
Dorinda snorted as she set down the cups on a flat rock that almost seemed to be fashioned like a table. From the jug, she poured a rich red liquid.
At Diana’s questioning look, she smiled. “Wine to settle our nerves is called for, I believe. As for your question… To his credit, he did not intend to trap me in here, but he did not correct the situation either. He decided that it was what fate had decreed, that my oracular waters required protecting. Between us, the protection doesn’t bother me so much… but his arrogance gets irritating. He won’t permit me any access to the surface, keeping the entrance to the cavern completely sealed. Even if the forest has gone to Aites, I would still like to see it before it dies,” she murmured as she swallowed back a mouthful of red wine.
Lifting her own cup to her lips, Diana froze and glanced up. “Wait, what? What do you mean before the forest dies? What’s wrong with the forest?”
“You tell me you can’t feel it sickening, the decline? Granted, it is drowned out at the moment by the devastation Cacus caused in his attack.” She tilted her head and considered Diana for a moment before sighing. “No, of course you wouldn’t know. You have no point of reference for what the forest should feel like to know that what you feel is alarming. You are basing it on the seasons within your own world, which force the trees into slumber in so many places. Listen, human, the trees here do not sleep and do not decline unless they are withering and preparing to die. If that happens, there will be no more Eternal Forest and no more trees anywhere. Without the Eternal Forest, eventually everything dies,” she said in a low voice.
Diana faced the vegoia. “Sil… Selvans left me here. I don’t understand why you’re telling me all of this if there’s no way I can stop it.”
The female’s lips twisted as she poured more wine into their cups. Diana hadn’t even noticed that she drank of all of hers until she watched more ruby liquid splash into her empty cup.
“As I said, my brother is a fool. He let that female Alseida warp his trust in any female that may have influence over him. He thinks that you are a detriment, or possibly even a threat against the forest because of your bond. It is something all beings of the forest suffer from, that all-consuming hunger in the early days of the bonding when instinct rules, but my idiot brother does not consider this. If he feels that you will be used as a weapon against the forest, he will do anything to protect it. He doesn’t see just how much he needs you.”
Dorinda tapped her temple. “I have seen, ati. He may be destruction, but you are both queen and mother of life for the Eternal Forest. Those two words encompass the full meaning of ati. He needs your light to balance him. If he would have stuck around long enough to hear my entire prophecy, he would have known that,” she muttered.
Groaning stone echoed from above, and Dorinda looked up and smiled. “It seems that Arx survives even this. I wager it will take it longer t
o reconstruct all of its beautiful passages.”
“Yes, I’ve felt its presence within me,” Diana admitted.
The vegoia cocked an eyebrow. “Interesting. I would not have imagined that your bonds through the forest would have extended to include the palace.”
“It’s not through the forest. It’s through Silvas—I mean, Selvans. This name change is really going to be an adjustment,” Diana said. “I can’t feel him anymore. There’s just a gaping hole where he was in our bond, but it seems that because both Arx and I are bonded to him and carry a piece of him within us, I have this bond with the palace like it’s also a part of me.”
Dorinda set down her cup. “Now that I did not foresee. It means Arx will heed you, and why it tried to protect you without Selvans’ instruction. You shall be the heart of the forest even as Arx is the structure of the axis for our world. He will amplify you, I believe, once you are on the throne by my brother’s side.” Her lips curved. “Blessed changes,” she said with a small chuckle. “It really is a period of change.”
Another rumble sounded above them, followed by a loud scraping sound. Dorinda tensed before backing away toward a dark pool. “It seems that you have company. It is best that I make myself scarce. If Raskyuil is attending, I foresee Selvans following on his heels. Sometimes it is better if we are not in the same space together when it can be avoided. Just remember what I’ve told you. Selvans needs you, but the sword obscures everything except his need to destroy to protect the forest. Stay strong,” she hissed as she slipped gracefully in the water with a flick of her pearly tail.
Diana stared after her, mulling over the vegoia’s parting words as the door swung open with a groan. She didn’t move from her place until a large hand gripped her shoulder and turned her roughly. Raskyuil stared down at her, relief on his face.
“Thank the gods you survived and are well.”
“Indeed, the female is. Now I wonder why that is,” a dark voice purred from the staircase.
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