A Threat of Shadows (36 page)

When Alaric reached the other side, Ayda was frozen in her saddle, her head cocked slightly. The others huddled silently a short distance away from her. Ayda’s hair blew slightly in a breeze that Alaric couldn’t feel. She reached out slowly, hesitantly, and touched the nearest tree.

She began to breathe heavily. Then, terrifyingly, she darkened. Her hair, her skin against the tree trunk, the very air around her darkened. Beast and the other horses shied nervously. Alaric leaned forward to catch a glimpse of her face. It was drawn in fury. She closed her eyes for a moment, then her eyes flashed open. They burned a fiery red.

A cry ripped from the elf, and she spurred her horse forward, tearing into the woods.

Alaric tried to chase her, but drew up, having no idea where she had gone. The others piled up around him and looked around the woods.

“Where did she—” Milly began before she was cut off by a scream of rage.

The trees around them shuddered. The horses and riders all froze and looked in the direction of the sound. Alaric swallowed hard and pointed Beast toward it. He had to prod the animal twice before he would move.

Before long, he came to the edge of a clearing. Ayda was standing in a circle of destruction, her hands at her side and her head hanging forward. Her hair fell down around her face, covering it.

The ground was scarred with deep gashes of dragon claws between tufts of grass. A few flowers bravely stood amidst the destruction. Around Ayda, a ring of seven colossal trees lay torn down and flung outward. Their roots twisted up into the air like gnarled fingers grabbing at the sky.

The Elder Grove had been destroyed.

And there was no Mallon. Gustav had taken him already and was probably on his way back to Sidion by now.

Beast had taken a step into the clearing before drawing back under the trees. Alaric pulled him back a step farther. He dismounted, but kept a firm rein on Beast, who was nickering nervously.

“Oh no,” Milly breathed.

Ayda looked up at them, her eyes burning red. They all drew back an extra step.

Ayda walked slowly to each huge trunk and put her hand on it for a long moment.

“The dragon destroyed them,” Douglon said quietly, his eyes wide. “It ripped them up by the roots.” He looked warily at the trees around him. “They’re so angry.” He closed his eyes as though concentrating. “It was beautiful here.” He opened his eyes again and they glinted with wrath. “Gustav made the dragon rip them up by the roots.”

Ayda walked by each tree again, splintering off a piece of each. Stalking in a wide circle, she stabbed them into the ground, like an upright circle of miniature spears.

Stepping into the middle, she held her arms out and closed her eyes again. The ground began to rumble and the sticks swelled. Before Alaric understood that they were growing, the sticks were up to Ayda’s knees. Then her shoulders, then she was hidden from view by the hedge of trees that surrounded her.

But these trees weren’t like the fallen ones. The trees that lay on the ground were green and gentle. The new trees, which were now nearing the height of the rest of the forest, had a vicious look to them. Their leaves, a malevolent dark green, had serrated edges and between them shot out thick crimson thorns.

The trees expanded, digging up the earth with roots stretching out toward the edges of the grove. The horses tucked themselves farther back into the forest. When the trees reached a height well over that of the rest of the forest, they stopped.

“I’ve never been afraid of trees before,” Douglon said quietly.

Alaric craned to see between the trunks, hoping Ayda would come out. He certainly didn’t want to go in after her.

A moment later, the thorns nearest them parted and Ayda strode out. She walked toward Alaric, and he fought to keep Beast from bolting.

Everything about her was dark. Too dark for an elf.

Her eyes still burned red and her face was terrifying. Alaric stood his ground, but everything in him wanted to run. She walked right up to him until her face was inches from his chest. It was like looking down at a fire demon.

“Yes, it is too dark for an elf,” she said. “But I think it’s time you stopped expecting me to be an elf.”

She reached up and lifted the pouch at his neck gently with her fingers. Alaric’s gut clenched as she tapped it, causing the ruby to bounce against her fingers.

“After all, I’ve stopped expecting you to be a Keeper.” She let the pouch drop. And looked into his face again. “Take me to the wizard,” she hissed.

Chapter 44

Take her to the wizard. Douglon led the way through the forests heading north. No one spoke much and Alaric found his mind wandering.

Gustav had a dragon. He would reach the Shade Seekers’ valley in a matter of hours. Crossing the hills and valleys like they would have to do was going to take more than a day. By the time they reached him, it would be too late. And even with Ayda, Alaric didn’t think they stood much of a chance against Mallon once he was raised.

All of them were drooping in their saddles when Alaric finally called a halt. Ayda looked at him stonily and dismounted.

As the camp lay quiet, Alaric stared at the sky. The stars above him twinkled peacefully. The stars always seemed more unattainable when he was unsettled. He took a deep breath trying to draw in their serenity. He waited for the soothing sense he got from the night sky to settle in, but it refused.

There was no way they were going to reach Sidion before Gustav revived Mallon. No way. He was probably preparing right now. Tonight might be the last night of peace that Queensland would know.

He let his gaze wander through the sky. If only he could look at the stars long enough, his mind would calm. Their light was so constant, so emotionless. No, not emotionless, serene. They burned with a serene hope because they burned so purely. And if there could be that much purity in the universe, maybe it outweighed all the mess down here.

Alaric’s eyes scanned west and his chest tightened. The starred sky outlined a deep V in the mountains to their west. Kollman Pass.

Through that pass, a half-day’s journey would take him to her. She was lying there, only hours away from him.

He wanted to go, to gather his things and slip off to the west. To stop this futile hunt for a wizard who kept beating him.

His eyes lingered on Kollman Pass.

He could go to her. He could see her again. If he followed Gustav, if he found the Rivor awake, there was no way they would survive it. Not even with Ayda.

Not even if Ayda would go back to being Ayda and stop growing darker and darker. He didn’t need the Wellstone to see the darkness in her, and the thought of bringing her closer to Mallon was terrifying.

They were on a hopeless journey. Five eclectic travelers stood no chance against Mallon. This journey would be their death.

But he could be with Evangeline by dawn. He could hold her again.

The familiar ache flared up inside of him. That could not last, either. She had been in so much pain, how could he wake her again without the antidote? Could he sit with her and let her die?

Not that it mattered any longer. Even if he could cure her, he would bring her back to a world enslaved to Mallon.

Alaric sighed and closed his eyes against the Pass. No, he would see this to its inevitable finish. Perhaps between himself and Ayda, they could… wound Mallon. Slow him down. Give the world time for…

What?

Still he would go. He would try.

A humorless smile twisted his face. How Keeper-ish of him. Perhaps there was more Keeper left in him than he thought. Reading Kordan’s journal had reminded Alaric of what true Keepers valued. Their ideas had regained that ring of truth.

Alaric rolled onto his side, turning his back on Kollman Pass. He was going to need some sleep. This journey to his death was bound to be exhausting.

Before dawn, Ayda was up again, commanding the others into their saddles.

Alaric called for everyone’s attention. “This evening, we’ll be nearing Sidion, and we’re going to meet some trouble.” They were all looking at him: Brandson and Milly attentively, Douglon nodding, and Ayda looking scornful. “The Shade Seekers have a particular way of dealing with their enemies. They capture them, almost kill them, then revive them by putting them into an animal. It creates something new. Something monstrous.”

Milly’s eyes were wide.

“I’ve encountered some of them,” Alaric said, “and they are dangerous. Some of them look human, some of them look like animals, but most are some sort of combination. The Shade Seekers use them to protect their valley. I’m not positive that there will be any other Shade Seekers there, but Gustav will be, and I think it’s safe to say that whatever creatures are there will be doing what he wants. We may encounter them as early as this afternoon, so we should be cautious.”

“We’re not going to catch up with Gustav, are we?” Brandson asked.

Alaric shook his head. “I don’t think so. It wouldn’t take very long to get to Sidion on a dragon.”

“Then we’ll be too late?” Milly asked.

“Possibly.”

She looked uncertainly around the group. “But… if we’re too late, won’t he have raised the Rivor by the time we get there?”

Douglon looked grim. Ayda glared toward the north.

“That’s possible, too.” Alaric looked around the group. “We’re not far from the road back to the capital. Anyone who’s not interested in going to what’s most likely a death trap is free to leave.” He looked at Milly closely. “In fact, we should let the queen know what’s going on. You and Brandson could get there by tomorrow morning and—”

“Are you ever going to stop trying to send me home?” Milly demanded.

“I’ve only tried it once before. And it’s an even better idea now than it was then.”

“Don’t make her get a frying pan,” Douglon said with a grin. Then he prodded his horse forward, and the others followed.

Alaric held Beast back. His eyes found Kollman Pass again. It stood clear against the pale morning sky. In the dawn light, it looked close enough to touch.

He cast out, trying to feel her life. But it was too far. He felt vibrant sparks of birds and creatures, but even if he could reach all the way to her, he wouldn’t find that. He would find only the dimmest flicker, barely surviving.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

For what? For not being able to save her? For putting her near the poison in the first place? For the fact that he was about to follow the others into the trees instead of going back to her?

He closed his eyes and sighed and released Beast to follow the group, bringing them back into view.

It was only hours after lunch when the first creature attacked. Douglon, who had been riding in the lead, was bowled off his horse by a shaggy creature approximately the size of a wolf. Brandson was there in a moment, his knife out and through the creature almost before they were on the ground.

Brandson heaved it off the dwarf revealing a vaguely wolf-like face over a misshapen body. Ayda came up and knelt down beside the creature. She set her hand on its head and closed her eyes for a moment.

“This was a man once. Long ago. So long ago, the memory of it has almost left him.”

She looked at the rest of them. “We can’t kill any more of these.”

“Can’t kill them?” Douglon said. “Wait until one jumps on you.”

“No,” she said firmly. “These aren’t evil. We can’t kill any more unless they are too far gone to save.”

“If we can’t kill them, what exactly would you like us to do?” Douglon demanded.

“I’ll take care of them,” Ayda said. “You just make sure you don’t kill them. But keep Milly and the others safe.”

“Sure,” Douglon grunted. “We’ll just play with them ‘til you take care of it.”

She ignored him and remounted her horse.

It was several hours before they encountered the next monster. They turned a corner, and there in the path was a lion. A lion with wickedly intelligent eyes. It hunched before them, growling slightly. The group froze, the horses shifting in fear. Ayda walked forward. As she got close, the lion crouched lower.

“It’s going to attack,” Douglon warned, his voice low. He slid to the ground and pulled out his axe as he moved over as far to the side as the trail would allow.

“It’s fine,” Ayda said.

She took one more step, and the lion lunged toward her. She flicked her hand, and a shimmery blue net appeared in front of the lion. It roared once and the net flickered out. Then the lion hit Ayda and drove her to the ground. Douglon cried out and rushed forward.

Milly screamed from the back of the group. Alaric whipped around to see a huge ape hanging down out of the tree, pulling Milly up out of her saddle. Brandson was racing toward her, his knife out.

Alaric dropped to the ground and grabbed a moss-covered rock. He thrust some energy into it, igniting the moss, and threw it at the ape. The rock hit the creature in the shoulder, and it dropped Milly back into her saddle. She spurred her horse away as the ape dropped to the ground to face Brandson. Alaric gathered energy, looking from Brandson to Ayda, who was pinned beneath the lion, holding it back with one hand.