| |
I put out the fire as Mira checked to make sure we left nothing behind. I kept glancing nervously around, on the lookout for the thugs that had attacked in the night.
It was a very gloomy day, thanks to Mira’s cloud hanging above us. It cast an eerie light over the forest, and the wind rustled through the branches, adding to the spooky effect. The ground was still muddy, and sucked at our feet as we tried to walk.
The gash on my back from the wolf attack ached, there was a dark bruise over most of my stomach, I was sure more bruises would show up by the end of the day, and I was covered in cuts and scrapes. A long cut along my arm from one of their weapons stung. And my right wrist hurt. Of course, it couldn’t be my left one that I hurt.
Glancing at Mira, I could see she was favoring her left arm and was walking stiffly. At least she had been able to mostly defend herself. When the rain had started, I couldn’t do anything.
I didn’t know why those thugs had followed us. Wouldn’t it have been better for them to look for a new target? I saw Mira watching me from the corner of her eye as she pushed a branch out of the way. “What?”
“You’re thinking about something.”
“Oh, what, I’m not allowed to think?” I snapped. She flinched at my words and I instantly felt guilty. “I’m sorry.”
We walked in silence for another few minutes before I spoke again. “Why did they follow us?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed. “It doesn’t make sense. Why attack us when we’ve already fought back once? The first time was just the wrong place at the wrong time. Seeing them in that town, a coincidence, maybe, but now? We aren’t anywhere near their area, anymore.” She shook her head. “There has to be something more. And I don’t like how he showed up when they did.”
“Lightning,” I said with a huff. “We’re being followed by thugs, and someone who can throw lightning.”
I looked at Mira, who had gone quiet. She was looking ahead, purposely not meeting my eyes. “Mira?”
“I’m just worrying. He says he’s trying to help, and whenever he shows up, we’re in trouble.”
“That isn’t hard. We’ve been in constant trouble since we found this stupid scroll,” I reminded her.
“The thing is, I think he does want to help, but how does he know when we’re in danger? How does he keep finding us? And I’m worried about his power. He struck that thug because he couldn’t aim.”
“If he was telling the truth about not trying to hit him,” I said, stopping and crossing my arms.
“I believe he was.” I took her word for it. She had always been better at reading people. “But while he was talking, sparks were flying around his hands.” That was something I hadn’t noticed.
“You think he could really be dangerous?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, pushing through the trees again. “At this point, I don’t think we can trust him, but I’m not sure we can call him an enemy.”
“So you enjoy soaking people who aren’t your enemies?” I asked with a smile.
“I soak you, don’t I?” she replied, with a wicked grin.
“But you’re not going to now, right?”
“Not at this moment, no.” That didn’t exactly put me at ease about it.
We broke from the forest to an open field with rolling hills. Out of the shelter of the trees the wind picked up, pulling on my cloak and blowing my bangs into my eyes. I muttered a curse and tried to brush them out of the way.
I huffed and looked at Mira, who had already started walking again. I jogged to catch up, thankful for the easier terrain.
“What does an Oaklander tree look like anyways? How do we know someone hasn’t cut it down or something?” I asked.
“We don’t know, but they grow taller than anything else in the world.”
Looking around the wide-open space, I wished I had Penny. Cantering over a field like this would be amazing. If only we had thought far enough ahead to bring our horses.
We spent most of the day walking through open fields that, judging by the fences and the piles of poop, were for sheep and goat grazing. Another forest was just coming into view as the sun started to set. It was too far to reach before dark, so we set up camp in the field.
Out in the open with the wind and no sun, the temperature dropped fast. I naturally stayed pretty warm, and scooted closer to Mira, who kept shivering. We ate and tried to get comfortable for the night.
I slept, but only in short, restless bits. I don’t think Mira slept much better. We were up eating breakfast well before the sun rose.
The wind kept up an even pace, and it had blown Mira’s cloud far ahead of us. From the open field, we had an incredible view of the sunrise, turning the sky vibrant shades of red, purple, and orange. A thick layer of fog hung in the distance, making the forest look like a dark smudge.
My whole body ached. I kept a lookout for both our follower and the thugs and saw Mira doing the same.
The sun had risen and started to sink again by the time we got to the forest. Once more, we had to force our way through thick clumps of branches, climb over fallen logs, and find our way through the thick tangle of nature. Even though the branches tugged at our clothes and scratched any skin they could reach, at least they blocked out some of the wind.
A chill ran down my spine, making me shiver. The forest offered decent cover for us, but also for attackers. We kept walking until nightfall.
When I woke the next morning, everything seemed calm and normal. Birds were chirping, an animal scurried through the leaves, sunlight trickled through the trees, and smoke drifted up from the last embers of my fire.
I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and glanced around where we had made camp. It was just a small gap in the trees. And I was the only one in it.
“Mira!” I yelled, jumping to my feet and looking frantically around. My heart pounded in my chest like I had run all the way there from our house. “Mira!”
“Hey!” I heard her call. I spun around but I couldn’t see her.
“Mira?”
“Up here,” she said in an annoyed tone. I looked up and saw why. She had climbed high and gotten herself stuck near the top.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I thought I could climb up and take a look over the trees to see how big the forest is,” she replied, clinging tightly to the trunk.
“Mira, you are terrified of heights, what in the name of the gods made you think that was a good idea!” Sure, she was fine with balconies where there was a railing, but a tree – I was surprised she got past a few feet.
“Going up was easy. I just kept looking up. Going back down . . .” She grabbed the trunk tighter as a gust of wind blew past.
“Why didn’t you just use water to get yourself down?”
“I tried. Every time I move this stupid branch moves.” She shifted her feet and I saw the branch dip and sway as she squeezed her eyes shut.
I sighed and jumped up to grab the lowest branch, pulling myself up awkwardly. Tunnels I was good with. Trees? Not so much.
I climbed up to Mira’s level and, despite her screaming and latching onto branches, pushed and pulled her down bit by bit. Since the tree was not one that had branches at ground level, I ended up kicking Mira off the lowest one.
“Ow!” she called from where she lay sprawled out on the ground.
“You’re down, aren’t you?” I said with a smile before climbing up to the branch above me. “Now, time to do that you were trying to do, but better.”
I crouched and leapt to another branch, hanging on as it dipped and swayed. The cut on my arm threatened to open as I pulled myself up. The wind was stronger higher up, making balancing difficult, but I was almost to the top. I could feel Mira watching me and tried to stay focused.
I climbed up to where I could see over the treetops. The wind whipped my bangs in my face, but through them I could see a forest that was large.
“Anything?” Mira asked.
“Not much,” I called down. The treetops were incredible shades of orange, red, brown, and yellow. “That’s a bit weird . . .”
“What?” Mira sounded panicked.
“Well, all the trees are these nice colours, but there’s a tree over there that’s a lot taller and still green,” I explained.
“Fera!”
“What?”
“I bet that’s the Oaklander tree!”
It was as good an explanation as any, so I started my descent, dropping the last few feet to the ground. “It’s that way.” I pointed in the direction I had seen it.
“How far is it?” Mira asked, swinging on her backpack.
“Not too far, I mean, in comparison to how much we’ve been walking.” I swung my satchel over my head and put my cloak on.
“Good.”
We set off again, at least this time with a goal in sight. Some colour had returned to Mira’s face, although I could tell she was still pretty mad at my methods of getting her down.
As we traveled, the forest gradually changed. It seemed like the closer we got to the Oaklander, the summer-ier the forest got. The trees were still changing colour, but there was an energy even I could feel.
It was past noon when we arrived at the base of the Oaklander. The tree was massive, both in width and height. Its roots twisted around the ground in intricate patterns that could only be made by nature.
“What now?” I asked as Mira started rooting through her backpack.
“I’m working on it,” she muttered. “Here we go.” She pulled the scroll out of her bag and began to read. “Your noble quest is but at an end
Do you see the glyph upon the tree?
You’ll soon see why water is such a good friend
For one’s true power will soon be free
Turn north, and north again
From tree to arch, in direction of water
Now, east, paces of ten
Wait ‘til midnight, or you will falter
The keys you have gleamed will be needed soon
One can find the spot by the light of the moon.”
“What’s a glyph?” I asked.
“Something like a symbol probably. I’m guessing its carved in the tree.”
We ran our hands over the bark looking for the carving. The tree was so big we did several laps around it.
I looked up. “Think it could be up higher?”
“Or lower!” Mira called out triumphantly as she crouched next to a root. She brushed some dirt away to reveal a small carving of what looked to be the god Talamh on a root.
“It must have been carved when the tree was planted.”
“That means this is the right tree. So now we turn north, and north again,” Mira said, looking to the sun for direction. “This way.”
We started off quickly, excited at being so close to the end of the scroll. After a while, we came across a road that turned in the direction we were heading. It was only dirt, but was still easier than trekking through the forest.
The wind picked up to constant gusts. We pulled up our hoods to shield ourselves from its stinging bite, which carried the promise of a cold winter on it.
Mira paused on the path. “Look, up ahead, the branches form a tunnel over the road, like an arch!”
“So we’re almost to the end!”
“Hopefully,” she said. “We need to go east ten paces, but I don’t know from where. If the tunnel is the arch we’re looking for, then there should be some mark or something to show us where to go from.”
Once we were under the tunnel of trees, we were greeted by patterns of light that flickered through the branches. A rabbit scuttled across the road. It seemed like a scene out of a book, one where the main character stumbled on a cool magical weapon. I only hoped we would be that lucky.
I watched a bird dart out from a bush to fly up to the treetops. The tree branches almost looked braided together.
I traced the branches to a pair of trees, one on either side of the road. Looking closer at the tree on the left, I saw a small carving of the god Talamh. “It’s the same carving.”
“Great, so that means east from here.”
Mira counted out the ten paces while I looked at the bushes behind the trees. They were too thick to see through and too high to see over, with branches tightly woven and covered in small thorns. There was no way we were just going to shove our way through, and everything was so dry that I didn’t think setting it on fire was a good idea.
“Over here!” Mira called. As I got closer to her, I saw a small hole in the bush that was just large enough to crawl through. “This must have been a doorway when the clue was written.” There was a wooden frame in the bush, barely visible, that proved her point.
Mira went first, shoving her backpack ahead of her. I followed her lead. It was a tight fit, with thorns and branches pulling hair out of our braids with painful tugs. A thorn scraped along my cheek.
Mira climbed out of the bush, letting light into the cramped tunnel. I threw my satchel out before pulling myself the last bit.
In front of us was a lake, its surface a shimmering grey-blue.
“What now?” I asked. “Something about the light of the moon?”
“Wait ‘til midnight, or you will falter, the keys you have gleamed will be needed soon, one can find the spot by the light of the moon,” she read from the scroll. “So, wait ‘til midnight, and we should see something that shows us where to go from here.”
With nothing else to do, Mira stuffed the scroll back in her bag and pulled out some food. I took the hint and started clearing a spot for a fire. We sat and cooked our dinner in peaceful silence.
We passed the hours by talking. I brought up the time Mira over watered our mother’s garden and drowned almost all the flowers. Of course, that made her point out that I had lit the remaining flowers on fire in an attempt to save them. We talked about stupid things Ben had done and how much we missed our horses.
The sky gradually darkened until it was swirls of blacks and purples and blues, speckled with stars that sparkled and a crescent moon that glowed a pale white.
“So what do you think will happen at midnight?” Mira asked, moving a bit farther from the fire as I tossed some more branches on.
“Maybe an owl will show us where to go? I mean, they trained snakes.”
“Snakes that live for hundreds of years.”
“Well, what do you think will happen?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“Maybe something on the bottom will reflect in the moonlight.”
In the end, she wasn’t that far off.
The moon reached its highest point, and the water’s surface became as smooth as glass. The wind, which had been blowing constantly, died out. A glow from the lake illuminated everything almost like day.
There was a perfect image of the moon on the water, but instead of white, it reflected blue. A pillar of light stretched beneath it, cutting through the inky black water.
The pale light made Mira’s skin look like fresh snow. She stared in awe at the sight that even I would admit was beautiful.
“So, the crystal should be down there?” I asked, breaking whatever trance Mira was in.
“I guess. But there’s no way anyone could see anything down there at night, and if we wait, we won’t be able to see this.” She thought for a moment before kneeling by the water’s edge. With some water from her Relic, she made a pane of ice and carefully etched the image of the moon on the water from her perspective.
She gestured toward the ice. “Now we can see where to go in the morning. It’s important and made of ice, so do not go near it, light fire near it, look at it – don’t even think about it.”
“Fine,” I said with a huff, drawing my eyes away from the lake to look at the fire. It’s not like me just thinking about that thing would make it melt.
“You thought about, didn’t you?” Mira asked.
“Why?” I replied, not looking away from the fire.
“Because it’s melted already.” I looked over to see that it was melted. Oops.
“Well, as soon as someone tells you not to do something, it only makes you want to do it more.”
“I’m making another one,” she sighed. “Do not. Melt. It.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose. I’m going to sleep,” I said, curling up under my cloak next to the fire. Mira finished the new ice sculpture and sat down looking at the lake.
“I think I’ll watch the lake for a while,” she said, pulling he knees up to her chest.
“Don’t stay up too late,” I told her. “We’ve got work to do tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
I watched her for a few moments more, silhouetted almost like a ghost, before pulling the hood of my cloak over my head to block out the moonlight.
I woke to Mira shaking my shoulders. “It’s time to get going,” she said.
“What about breakfast? Shouldn’t we eat before we go down there?” I asked, looking toward the lake. Mira shook her head and took a deep breath.
“No, I’m going down there. Alone.”
“But –”
“Honestly Fera, think it through. You can’t swim, you’re practically terrified of water.”
“I can’t let you go down there alone. What if something happens?”
“It’ll be easier if I don’t have to worry about you. This is something I have to do alone, and you have to accept that.”
“Mira –” I stopped, not sure how to tell her she was wrong when even I knew she was right. I knew I couldn’t help underwater. “Be careful,” I said finally, giving her a hug, whether she liked it or not.
“I will. Stay out of trouble up here, will you?” I forced a smile. “At least try,” she added with a dry smile.
“No promises,” I replied. She turned toward the lake with her backpack.
She walked to the edge of the lake, hesitating for a moment before parting the water around her and stepping in. I kept watching her until she disappeared under the water. I kicked a rock, sending it into the bushes.
“Shame. She was pretty,” a voice right behind me said.
Honestly, my first thought was that Mira and I had the same face. My first thought should have been, get the knife, or how did they find us.
I spun around. My wrist was seized by the thug with the rattail. His three friends spread out behind him. I swung with my other arm. He caught it easily. “You’re not very good at this, are you?” he asked with a smile.
I smiled back, but not a sweet smile. No, it was more a smile that Mira had come to know as the watch this smile. I flicked my wrists, ringing them in fire.
The thug looked at the flames, amused. “Wrong target.” My legs were knocked out from under me.
I landed hard on my back. Pain spread along my chest, making my breath catch. I barely rolled to the side in time to avoid a foot to the stomach. My shoulder hit something.
I screamed as a hand grabbed my hair and I was pulled roughly off the ground. Flames raced down my arms, onto clothing, but the fire elementalist snuffed them out. My feet vanished from the ground.
I crashed into the lake.
Sputtering, I tried to crawl out, only for one of them to grab my arm and twist it, pinning me down, my head just out of the water. I spat out lake water.
“Do we have your attention?” he asked.