Darkness & Light (War of the Fae: Book 3) (47 page)

I tapped into its energy without even thinking twice.
 
The feelings and images I got back sent me reeling.

 
Power.
 
Majesty.
 
History.
 
All of it wrapped up in this being – this living thing that was connected to the forest, the elves,
me.
 
Everything.
 
Flashes of things – awakenings, death and violence, storms, the cries of babies and of angry men.
 
All of it was mixed up in the waves of energy that battered away at my brain.
 

Why?
 
Why were these images coming to me like this?
 
I reached out to this old tree, this Ancient One who the elves spoke of with such reverence.
 
What did it want from me and what could I possibly do for it?

The hum of our connection increased in both tenor and volume.
 
It tried to consume me and carry me away, but I resisted.
 
I didn’t want to be pulled under.
 
I wanted to stand here as equals and communicate.
 
I sensed through my resistance that the tree had never encountered this type of rebellion before.
 
The humming built up even more, and I had to resist the urge to put my hands over
my hears
.
 
I know it wouldn’t have helped anyway because the sound wasn’t coming to my senses through my ears; plus, I didn’t want to show any signs of weakness.
 
I reached out to the ley line under my feet and tapped in.
 
Two could play this game.

I pulled The Green into
me,
more than I’d ever pulled before, and felt the welcoming coolness and love it always brought.
 
My heart soared with an experience that I was never able to feel in my regular human life.
 
No friendship, no mother’s hug, no soft purring kitten had ever inspired this kind of connection with the world before.
 
But now was no time to wallow in the wonderfulness.
 
I had to show this tree
who
it was messing with.

I sent my message to the Ancient One, my message being the power of ...
what?
 
I didn’t know what it was.
 
I felt a hand gently take mine and I cracked open an eye to see Falco standing there, looking at me in a panic – worry written all over his face.
 
It made me smile.
 
I had friends here in the Green Forest.
 
Fae who cared about me.
 
An idea formed in my mind then – perhaps I knew what my message could be.
 
The power of love, maybe?
 
But how could it be possible that love was more powerful than any of the things it had showed me, or any of the things I had so far experienced that had scared me or hurt me?
 
I didn’t know the answer to those questions, but I was pretty sure that this pureness that rushed through me and around me from The Green
was
love – the power that connected everything to everything.

With the first awareness of my message, I knew the tree wanted to resist.
 
Its branches shuddered and stiffened.
 
I opened my eyes fully and witnessed this reaction take place while my ears heard the ominous cracks that rang out and bounced off the neighboring trees.
 
The ground undulated beneath our feet as the tree’s roots fought the incoming power threads amplified by the ley line energy conduit.

The elves standing nearby all had looks of panic on their faces, including Robin who is usually pretty hard to intimidate.
 
I released Falco’s hand and held up my own in a message of reassurance, telling my friends to wait and see what would happen.
 
I felt
confident
that my plan was going to work and that they were in no danger.

The Ancient One pushed against me with its will – insisting that it keep this veil of darkness over itself and everything around it.
 
We were in the Dark Forest and I could tell from the tree’s reticence that there had been no light here for a very long time.
 
I knew, better than any of these elves
who
had been lucky enough to be born to the Light Fae of the Green Forest, how someone can just learn to live with unhappy circumstances and stop noticing how much it sucked.
 
This tree was a lot like me in that way – it had adapted itself to its circumstances and just accepted them ... allowed them to become a part of it.
 
But I’d found another way to look at my life, and so could the Ancient One – assuming someone bothered to show it an alternative and that it would have the strength to resist the pull towards complacency and darkness.
 

I pushed back, sure now that the veil must be lifted and the light be let in.
 
Heat and strain and anger and might – all of it bombarded my soul through the connection we shared.
 
And still I held firm to The Green that surrounded and protected me.
 
Still I held firm to the idea that it was time for the Darkness to cleave to the Light.

The giant tree gave one more groan of resistance, the earth bucked one more time – so hard it sent several elves to the ground – and then the Ancient One capitulated, finally, willingly, accepting the message I was sending.
 

I received a responding stream of images and sounds – warm sunshine on leaves, babies smiling and responding to smiles and gales of laugher from mothers, the whistling rush of birds suddenly on the wing, and the vision of lazy pollen motes floating through a glorious, flowered meadow.
 
The joy of it lit my face and set it to burning.
 
I looked out at my friends, the elves, and saw them staring at me, their faces at first registering shock and then tentative pleasure.
 
Leaves began to rain down on our heads and a gigantic lower branch of the tree moved slowly towards me.

The elves and witch quickly gathered together, suddenly afraid again.
 
I reached up to take Tim off my shoulder, holding my hand out towards Falco.
 
“Tim, hang out here for a second, ‘
kay
?”

Tim said nothing, just hopping into the outstretched hand of Falco.
 

I gestured with my chin for them to leave me.
 
“Go.
 
I’ll be right back.”

The giant branch reached my feet and I knew exactly what to do.
 
I climbed onto it, grabbing a small but sturdy limb to steady myself.
 
As soon as I stopped moving, the branch began its upward climb, extending until it reached the next branch up.
 
One by one, the tree’s arms elevated me higher and higher – to the top of the forest canopy, until I could see out above everything.
 

I felt the breeze now and saw two large hawks, circling above the nearby meadow, drifting on the currents that rose high above it pushing against their wings and keeping them aloft.
 
I could smell the flowers and grasses and the wood of the trees, the soft loam of the forest floor and the fungi and mosses on the fallen and rotting tree parts.
 
I pulled energy up from the ley line and shared it with this tree, and watched in delight as small, baby leaves on its nearby branches unfurled to welcome the fading sunlight.
 

We stayed that way, the tree and I, for a while.
 
I watched a blazingly beautiful sunset begin in the distance as the Earth turned towards night.
 
A piece of me wanted to stay
there
forever – it was so peaceful and I was so connected to the beauty.
 
None of the ugliness of the real world could intrude up here.
 

But I knew that there was beauty and love waiting for me down below too.
 
And I couldn’t abandon those who would never abandon me.
 
I’d had my time out, but now it was time to get down and back to the business of living and learning and caring and fighting and maybe even dying.
 
Hopefully, though, the dying part was a lot further out in my distant future.

I thanked the tree for sharing with me and asked it to bring me to my friends.
 
It obliged and I soon found myself on the ground again.
 
Everything was the same as I’d left it, and at the same time, it was totally different.
 

The witch was pretty much stunned, staring up into the tree with his mouth hanging open.
 
The elves were all smiling and
Falco was getting nudged by his friend, who he turned and punched in the chest
.
 
The friend just rubbed the spot, frowning but not retaliating.
 
I was happy to see that the pecking order had maybe seen some adjustments today.
 
The sense of unity and peace that I had gained by communing with the Ancient One began to fade a bit, but its essence remained in my heart.
 
I was going to guard that beauty with everything I had.

Robin walked up and nodded at me, waiting for me to speak.

Time for me to get my head out of the clouds and come back to the real world.
 
I took a big breath, letting it all out in one big sigh.
 
I smiled at my elven friend.
 
“So, what’s the deal with the arrow then?
 
It was Falco’s right?”

“Yes.
 
I will have to discuss this with the gray elves, but if my guess is right, this means that in some cases, maybe with all green elves or maybe with just some,” he spared a glance for Falco and then looked back at me, doubt in his eyes, “our aim has become something more than just line of sight.
 
It has become connected to our inner eye.”

“Wow.
 
Inner eye.
 
Freaky.”

He smiled absently as his brain considered what he had just said.
 
“Yes.
 
You could say that.”

Falco walked up with Tim standing on his shoulder, hanging onto a lock of hair near Falco’s ear.

“Next time I’m going with you,” said Tim, firmly.
 
“No fair leaving me with gnome-head here.
 
I think we’ve got another one of those ‘I don’t believe in shampoo’ fae here.
 
Ew-yuck.
”

I smiled.
 
“Deal.”
 
I held out my hand for him to jump into, glad no one but me could hear him now.

I saw the look of shock on his face at the same time I heard the noise coming from the front of the tree.

“What’s going on out there?
 
Is that you, pixie?
 
I can hear you, you know.
 
I was trying to sleep!”

Maggie’s voice.

“Oh,
fuckbuckets
.
 
It’s her!”
I said in a panic.
 
“I didn’t know she was here.
 
Damn, after all that and she’s just now waking up?
 
She must sleep like the dead.”

“Who?” asked Robin, momentarily
confused.

The witch in our group finally spoke up.
 
“Maggie ...
”
 
He
appeared to be steeling himself for an encounter, his legs spread apart and his staff held up in front of him with both hands.

“Oh, shit.
 
This is not good.”
 
My mind raced.
 
Whattodowhattodowhattodo
??

“Do something, Jayne,” hissed Tim in my ear.
 
“If she comes out here, she’s going to spell us all!
 
She’s going to know you messed with her tree! ... And she
hates
it when fae mess with her tree ... worse than she hates lying!”

“Shut up!
 
I’m trying to think!”
 
I could see the front door opening, a loud creaking signaling the angry witch’s imminent arrival – and the panic Tim was creating in me made it impossible for me to concentrate.

And then the idea came to me.
 
With no time for inner debate or worry of regret, I sent a message to the huge tree, whose legs were her house.
 
Please let this work!

The door ceased its forward motion and abruptly reversed direction, slamming shut with a loud bang.

“Hey!” came the cranky, haggy voice from behind it.
 
“Who’s touching my door
?!
 
Step away, before I make you sorry you were ever born!”

I turned to the Light Fae witch and elves
who
were now staring at me in horror and yelled, “
RUN!!”

The group of us ran through the Dark Forest back to our compound as fast as our legs could carry us.
 
Tim held onto my hair for dear life, shouting in my ear the entire way.