CHAPTER 11

 

THE SURVIVING WYVERN had now disappeared from view, leaving Leesa and Rave alone at the edge of the forest once more. The attack was already beginning to feel unreal, but the lifeless carcass of the creature stretched out on the ground just a few feet away provided grim evidence that it had been very real indeed.

“The sooner we figure out a way to get out of this place and back to where we belong, the happier I’ll be,” Leesa said.

“I’ll second that,” Rave agreed.

Leesa stared at the virtual wall of plant growth beside them. She didn’t know why, but she had a feeling that the answers they sought lay somewhere inside this forest. She still didn’t see any way she and Rave could enter, however. She was growing more and more tempted to try to blast her way in, but she held herself back. She would save that drastic step as a last resort.

“I guess we may as well keep walking and hope we find a path into this forest. Or at least a place where the growth is less thick—maybe a stream we could follow or something.”

Before they could continue their trek, a loud rustling sounded in the underbrush, like a large animal passing through the bushes. Leesa braced herself for another attack, but none came. Instead, the branches and leaves in front of them slowly bent to either side, opening a path through the previously impenetrable growth. She peered into the woods—the path extended into the dimness as far as she could see.

“It looks like the forest is inviting us in.”

“Inviting us?” Rave replied. “Or luring us in?”

“I don’t know,” Leesa admitted. “But I have a feeling we need to go in there, and this is the only entrance we’ve seen.”

Rave nodded. “I think you’re probably right. Keep your shield up, please.”

Leesa grinned. “After what we’ve seen already in this place, you don’t need to remind me about that, believe me.”

Together, they stepped into the shadow of the woods. The pathway was wide enough for them to walk side by side, but just barely. Leesa never minded having to walk close to Rave, though. She took his hand, and he gave it a gentle squeeze.

The underbrush on either side of the path remained as thick and impenetrable as ever, blocking the view in any direction but straight ahead. Leesa hoped there was nothing behind the wall of plants except more plants, but there was no way to know. She listened closely for any sounds, but heard nothing. The forest was silent and still, without even the tiniest rustling of leaves.

The woods were dim, but not as dark as she had expected, given how thick the upper canopy of leaves had looked from the outside. She glanced up and was surprised to see the hazy gray sky through a latticework of branches and leaves. She couldn’t be certain, but it appeared as though the limbs directly above them had bent slightly to the side—just like they had down here below to form the trail—allowing the dim daylight to filter down onto the pathway.

She was glad for the light, which made it unnecessary for her to cast an illumination spell. Doing so would have called more attention to their presence than she was comfortable with. Someone or something already seemed to know she and Rave were here—how else to explain this unexpected path?—but she saw no need to broadcast their exact location.

They hadn’t gone far when Leesa happened to glance behind them.

“Uh, oh,” she said.

Rave spun around, alert for any danger. About twenty feet behind them, the pathway had closed up, blocking their way back out of the forest. He stared off into the dimness, listening intently, but his volkaane hearing picked up nothing. As far as he could tell, they were still alone.

“I don’t hear anything to worry about,” he said, “but it looks like we won’t be leaving the way we came.”

Leesa recovered from her surprise quickly. “Oh, well. We didn’t want to go in that direction anyhow. As long as this trail doesn’t close up in front of us, I don’t care.”

Rave glanced upward. “Let me see if I can see anything from up there. Remove your shield from me for a moment.”

Leesa did as he asked. Rave flexed his knees and sprang upward, grabbing onto a branch twenty feet above them with both hands. He swung his body up and around until he was standing on the limb. Turning his head in a slow circle, he tried to survey their surroundings. Leesa wondered what he might be seeing from his lofty perch. She considered using her levitation spell to join him, but Rave had already dropped down beside her, landing as lightly as if he had stepped off a three-foot high ledge. She immediately wrapped her shield back around him.

“Nothing,” he reported. “It looks the same as down here. There’s an opening in the canopy heading forward, with everything else blocked by incredibly thick foliage. I couldn’t see more than a couple of feet in any other direction.”

Leesa wasn’t really surprised, though she had been hoping Rave might see something, anything that could help them.

“I guess we don’t have much choice, then. Let’s just keep going and see where this path takes us.”

They continued onward, deeper into the forest, cautious and alert.

How long they walked through these strange woods was difficult to judge. The scenery on either side of the path was unchanging, and the pale sun was not visible in the narrow slit of sky above them, so they could not track its progress.

Now and then the trail brought them next to one of the trees, allowing Leesa unobstructed views of the trunks. The bark was smooth and silvery—almost metallic looking—though when she carefully touched one it felt more like bark than metal. It was just another reminder that they were in a strange and different world.

Leesa guessed they had been walking for nearly an hour when something happened to her shield. She pulled Rave to a halt.

“What is it?” he asked, listening closely for any sound of danger hidden in the brush. He heard nothing.

“My shield,” Leesa replied anxiously. “It’s gone.”

Rave’s senses instantly became hyper alert. “What do you mean, gone?” He reached forward, trying to touch the invisible barrier, but felt nothing.

“Hold on,” Leesa said. She tried to cast another shield, but nothing happened. The spell wasn’t working!

“My shield just winked out. And I can’t cast another one. I don’t know why.”

This was not good news. Leesa’s shield had already saved them twice during their brief time in this place. Without it, they were in grave danger. Rave suddenly had an even more sobering thought.

“Try another spell.”

Leesa immediately understood what Rave was getting at. She held out her hand, palm up, and called up an illumination orb, one of her oldest and easiest spells. The faint yellow globe that appeared above her hand was barely visible. She frowned. Her magic still worked, but something had weakened it so much that it was virtually useless. Just to be certain, she fired an energy beam up the path in front of them. Like the illumination orb, the pale yellow beam was barely visible. It traveled only eight or ten feet before disappearing in the dimness. Leesa guessed she could still kill a fly or maybe even a small bird with it, if they ever saw one, but that was about it. The beam would certainly be no use against any of the monsters they had encountered already.

She wondered if whatever was doing this was targeting her specifically, or dampening magic in general. It certainly didn’t affect whatever magic had formed this path in the first place. The trail still extended in front of them as far as she could see, and it had continued closing up behind them.

“Rave, check your fire.”

Rave looked surprised for a moment, then closed his eyes. His long practice with the ancient Rammugul technique for controlling the strength of his inner fire made him an excellent judge of its heat.

“It’s as strong as ever,” he said when he opened his eyes.

Leesa let out a sigh of relief. Even if her own magic was now virtually useless, at least they still had Rave’s volkaane fire to protect them. Her relief faded when a sudden thought struck her.

“Let some fire out through your fingers,” she said.

Rave extended his fingers in front of his waist and called up his fire. The flickering tongues of blue flame surrounding his fingertips were much smaller and dimmer than usual—Leesa had seen them enough times to realize that instantly. Whatever was doing this was not taking away their magic—it was simply making it almost impossible for them to use it.

She looked behind them, confirming there was no chance to return the way they had come. She and Rave were going to have to continue their journey with almost no magic to protect them, and she didn’t like that idea one bit.