IF A TREE FALLS
The ground heaved, there was a tremendous ripping sound and the earth beneath Anthofelia’s feet was torn apart—hurling her across the glen.
She sprawled there, dazed and in pain. All around her there were shouts and screams as the earth groaned and shook.
Voices, a myriad of whispering voices, buzzed in the air like angry bees, crying “Unauthorized lifeforms. Unauthorized lifeforms.”
She couldn’t see what was happening—her vision was obscured. For a panicky moment she thought she’d been stricken blind. She put a hand to her forehead and it came back wet and sticky. Was it her blood?
There were more tearing sounds. The ground bucked and rolled. Something cold and wet and hairy pushed up under her, once again throwing her to the side.
Nalene shouted “Princess! Princess!” And then someone grabbed her collar and dragged her across the ground. She could hear people running and shouting and clods of dirt rained down on her head and shoulders.
Desperately, Anthofelia scrubbed at her face with a sleeve and her vision cleared. The ground around her was a jungle of towering roots and as she watched, more roots punched up through the earth.
Then she saw Nalene’s frightened face and she was screaming for her to “Get up, get up.”
There was a Crack! and she looked up to see the tree leaning forward, the trunk splitting and the crown slowly descending.
Anthofelia scrambled away on hands and knees and then the tree came down with an enormous crash barely missing her.
The little creek twisted in its course, then jumped its banks and a wave of water came rushing toward her. She got to her feet and ran, only to stumble over a heaving root.
And then more roots were waving about, lashing the ground like whips. One of them hit her thigh and she shouted from the pain as blood oozed from the wound.
A dark shape shot out of the night and slammed into her head.
Intense pain.
Then darkness.
A long time seemed to pass. She saw flashing lights and odd shapes. Images floated up and then dissolved. And she hurt. Oh, how she hurt.
Then a voice was calling her and someone was shaking her by the shoulders.
“Princess! Princess! Speak to me, Princess.”
Anthofelia tried to open her eyes, but the lids were stuck together. She groaned and through swollen lips said, “I can’t see.”
A wet cloth was drawn across her face. Water splattered down and then the cloth came back and wiped away the stickiness. Finally, she got her eyes open.
Nalene was standing over her. Her face was smeared with dirt and her tunic was filthy with mud and debris.
Another form appeared, looking over Nalene’s shoulder.
It was Skink. Yellow eyes glaring her through a mask of bloody filth.
“Get up, bitch,” he snarled. “And see what you’ve done.”
With great difficulty, Anthofelia clambered to her feet. Nalene just stood there watching. Not helping. A flash of anger. How dare she? The anger broke off. Replaced by confusion.
She looked around at what had once been an idyllic meadow. Now it was pure disaster. The ground looked like it had been raked over by an enormous machine. Huge tree roots, covered in mud and hairy with tendrils, stood as stark witnesses to what had occurred. An immense tree, trunk broken and splintered, sprawled across the glen.
Bodies were strewn here and there. Some lay still, as if in death. Others squirmed and moaned. And they were all covered with so much muddy debris it was hard to make out if they were Skink’s people or her own.
As she watched, she saw Yatola and another woman lifting a groaning figure from beneath the branches of the tree. Here and there pirates were attending their own, while Anthofelia’s people were washing and bandaging their wounded.
She looked at Skink. “What happened?” she said.
Skink snorted. “What happened?” Incredulous. “Woman, you are what happened.” One claw swept around, taking in the scene. “This was your doing.”
Anthofelia was aghast. “Me? I had nothing to do with this.”
“Well, it all started when you ripped up that bush,” Skink growled. “We were all just sittin’ there watchin’ you go nuts and hack away with your knife.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Anthofelia said. “Obviously there was an earthquake of some sort. It happened at the same time that I was trying to get firewood.”
She looked over at Nalene, almost pleading. “It was a coincidence,” she said. “Surely you can see that.” As she spoke she pushed hard to increase her pheromonic powers
Nalene’s eyes clouded a moment and she took a step back. “Sure,” she said. “A coincidence. Had to be.”
“Well, where did all those ‘unauthorized lifeforms’ voices come from?” Skink demanded. “Last time that happened one of my people messed with things he shouldn’t have. This time it was you. And after fair warnin’ too. My guys had no idea what would happen if they messed about.”
Anthofelia was getting her nerve back. Her confidence.
“Nonsense,” she said. “It was an earthquake. Nothing more.” She looked at the chaos all about them. “Now, let’s do something sensible and useful,” she said, “and get some order restored.”
She glared at Skink. “You take care of your people and I’ll take care of mine. It’ll be morning soon. And we’ll have to get a move on before something else happens.”
Skink started to say something, but Nalene’s hand rose to rest on the butt of her sidearm.
He cursed, then turned on heels and walked away.
“I think you’re going to have to kill him, Majesty,” she said.
Anthofelia nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I was thinking the same thing.”
* * * *
Many kilometers away, Venatora was dropping off to sleep, when she felt a chill run up her spine. Voices were whispering in her ear, but she couldn’t make them out.
Her eyes snapped open. They seemed to be drawn to something happening north of her position. In the distance she saw a large black cloud forming low to the ground. There were flashes of light inside the cloud, but it didn’t seem to be lightning and there was no sound of thunder.
The atmosphere about her seemed out of sorts somehow. Angry. If it had a voice beyond whispering, she sensed that it would growl.
The many colored lights continued flashing for several minutes. Suddenly, the cloud dissipated and was gone. A moment later she realized the whispering had stopped as well. And everything seemed to return to normal.
I’m just tired, she thought. Overwrought. Her mouth was dry, tongue thick. She got out her canteen, sipped water. Then lay back on her ground cloth.
In a few minutes, she was asleep.
* * * *
Sten and Alex were double-checking the charts of Demeter, going over plans for the next day.
“Ideally,” Sten said, “we should probably stay out of sight as long as possible and let them fight it out. Then step in and deal with the winner.”
Kilgour nodded approvingly. “Fewer chances fur our wee bairns tae gie their pinkies burned,” Alex said.
Then he caught the dark look on his friend’s face.
“Ah can see yer troubled by this, mah puir mucker,” he said. “It’s aboot th’ lass, yes?”
Sten sighed. “She’s got to go,” he told his friend. “Those are our orders. And I can understand Mahoney’s reasons.”
“But it doe nae make it onie easier, does it?” Kilgour said. “When th’ time comes, best lit me dae it.”
“Won’t make it hurt any less,” Sten said.
He was about to say more, when he caught a whiff of something burning. It had an ozone smell to it, like an electrical fire.
Across from him, Alex sat up straighter. “Somethin’s afire,” he said.
“I smell it too,” Sten said.
They both looked about.
“Over there,” Alex said, pointing to the north.
Sten saw it. A burning object was arcing across the northern sky. Like a slow moving meteor.
As they watched it broke apart and fiery bits floated down, then vanished before they reached the forest below.
Suddenly, Alex slapped at his neck. He turned up his hand and reacted, surprised. He held his palm out for Sten to see in the lantern light. There was a bloody insect body lying there.
“Skeeters?” Alex said.
Sten frowned. “Why would any sensible being introduce mosquitoes in a manmade world?” he said. “It’s one of the reasons I’ve always been an atheist. I mean, only a very stupid God would make a mosquito.”
“Ah’m a religious chell, meself,” Alex said. “Ah loch a guid malevolent God. It’s more natural.”