Into the Forest Shadows (23 page)

"That's a Watcher?" Ayden asked.

"For the region on this side of the
mountains, yes. Did you expect them to all be of the same species?"
The spider asked.

The beetle clicked, the two pincers around
its mouth moving back and forth. It looked up at the spider and
clicked more. The spider clicked back at it.

The spider gestured past the grotto into the
tangle of Memory trees, "I've told it you will take him out of this
grove and to his kind. You will have to carry him, he is unable to
fly or crawl on his own."

Ayden sighed, retracting his staff and
hooking it on his belt. "I guess that means me."

He stepped forward. The beetle went crazy
with the clicks. Ayden took a quick step back.

"It would help if we could understand him."
Kate reached for her shirt. "I'll get out BunBun. Maybe then we can
understand him."

"There aren't any bunts around here for
Bunbun to use to learn the language," Ayden said.

Kate stopped in the process of pulling Bunbun
out, who didn't want to move. "What do you mean? Bunbun let us
understand the Shadow Creatures."

"A group of bunts will learn what is local to
them. Bunbun has no way of automatically knowing a language," Ayden
said. "For us, right now, the clicks are going to remain
clicks."

"Great. What do we do now?"

The spider swung back to the web and it's
dinner. "Only one marked with the red of a Helper will it allow
near."

Kate shuddered. "I guess that means me."

She managed to pull Bunbun out and hand him
over to Ayden. Bunbun Squeaked and complained the entire way,
quieting only after he ducked down into Ayden's coat.

She took a few cautious steps forward. The
beetle clicked twice and then went silent and still, but she could
see it watching her.

She stopped next to it, looking down at the
shell. The creature measured easily as long as one of her arms, if
not a little longer. How was she supposed to pick it up without
hurting it? Maybe the edges of the shell?

She knelt down and extended her arms. The
beetle clicked and shivered as she made contact with it. She shook
her head and let go.

She looked up at Ayden, "That's not going to
work. I can't get a good enough grip. It's too awkward."

"Maybe it has an idea. It's moving," Ayden
said.

Kate looked back down. Oh yeah, it was
moving. It had just taken hold of a corner of the cape fabric.
Despite the injuries, it climbed up onto her back. She reached up
and flipped up the hood onto her head. A thin protection for her
vulnerable neck, but it was the best she could do.

The legs worked to settle themselves on each
side of her back. The two front legs grasped tightly the fabric on
her shoulders. The cape shifted backwards with the added weight,
the ties cutting into her neck.

She forced down a shiver of revulsion. An
ugly insect was on her back! She grabbed at the ties, pulling them
forward with one hand to ease the pressure on her throat.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

She hoped Grandma was right about the cape.
She definitely needed a little protection now. If the beetle wanted
to, it could kill her with one bite of its jaws and there would be
no way she could stop it.

She took a deep breath, using the staff to
help her stand up.

Ayden shook his head, "Wow. I've never seen a
beetle do that. Are you okay?"

"Yes, fine. Can we now get out of here?"

Ayden surveyed the forest. "Our spider friend
pointed this way. If we see a clearing, look to see if you can find
that mountain you said you saw in your vision."

Kate didn't turn to look, but she called out,
"Thank you for your help, Mr. Spider."

"Take good care of the Watcher," the spider
called out. "Be careful of the Shadow Creatures!"

"I hope none are around. I can't run like
this," she said as Ayden helped her over a clump of large
roots.

"No guarantees." He led her through the trees
onto a faint animal trail. "The good news is that we're heading
away from the camp. Hopefully the Shadow Creatures in the area are
busy with whatever is going on there."

She hoped it stayed that way. With the weight
on her back she had to lean forward. Only the staff kept her from
falling over. Running through the woods would be impossible.

The spores and trees took turns torturing her
mind. Faces kept appearing in the barks of the trees, faces that
took turns silently screaming or mocking her. She wondered if the
forest knew that it only made her more angry, and the more angry
she became the easier it was to hold the forest at bay?

Ayden's steps flagged and he nearly came to a
stop in the middle of the path. She poked him in the back with her
staff, "Tell me about your Uncle. No, wait, that isn't emotional
enough."

He turned his head to scowl at her. "Oh
great, are you trying to get me mad?"

She shrugged, "It seems to work."

He turned away from her after glaring at a
tree. "Lord, these trees can stop with the faces."

Well, at least he was angry, but she knew she
didn't do it. As she passed she found the bark of a wide flatish
trunk shifted displaying the moving face of a woman with hair piled
high on her head.

She stared at it for a moment. "She's your
mother."

"And he's still your father," Ayden said,
jabbing a hand towards a male face emerging from the creamy trunk
of a memory tree.

The male face scowled at her as it turned
towards her. Kate scowled back. "Okay, point made. We both have
crappy members in our family."

"At least yours is dead."

She should be angry about that. She knew she
should. People who told her they were sorry for her loss right
after he died expected her to be. "He should have been a real Dad.
At least you have your Uncle."

"And you have your Grandma." Ayden continued
down the path, keeping his attention straight ahead.

She didn't blame him on that. The faces
continued unabated along the path. Some she recognized, some she
didn't. The others must be from Ayden.

Wait, Ayden saw her face memories, and she'd
seen his. She smiled at the image of Uncle Travis silently yelling
at her. Great, she wasn't hallucinating. The faces really were
appearing.

The good mood enhanced by the disgust for the
memories carried her the rest of the way, helping to abate the
attacking emotions and memories from all sides. Oh yeah, the Forest
of Shadows and Memories had lost its hold. She knew how it worked
now.

The emergence from the forest happened all at
once. One moment they were still in the midst of the silent trees
playing games with them with the faces and the next they were in a
clearing on the other side.

A different tension gripped her as they left
the line of Memory trees behind them. Her attention turned from the
shapes in the tree trunks to the shadows near the ground. Kate
wasn't sure which one she liked better: dealing with the Forest of
Shadows and Memories, the spores, or waiting for a Shadow Creature
to find them.

Ayden moved through the woods with a silence
that drove her crazy. No matter how she moved or how careful she
stepped she made way too much noise.

He stopped, looking up through a wide break
in the canopy at the top edge of a hill, allowing them a clear view
of the mountains. "The fog is building."

Kate pointed to a mountain barely in sight,
"That one. That's where we need to go."

"Wow, that's far away. I'm not sure I'm going
to make it."

Kate turned to glare at him, "Don't say
that."

Ayden looked down at her sadly, "You came out
of it and helped us escape. For some reason you are able to resist
the spores more than I. If something happens, you leave me and keep
going. Go find the Ancients."

"Don't you dare say that! We're going to get
there together," Kate said, furiously. She also felt afraid. She
didn't know enough about the forest to survive in it alone and she
knew it. She punched him in the arm with her free arm, "Come on.
Start walking. We're getting there tonight!"

"Tonight? Are you crazy?"

She pushed him forward. The rage and fear of
traveling alone kept her going for a long time. Abandon Ayden? No,
she wouldn't leave him to the mercy of a forest that hated humans,
or the Shadow Creatures.

Perhaps not hated. The trees around her
showed no signs of attacking them. Instead, they urged her on,
pushing her forward, registering expectation and excitement.

Ayden yawned widely, "We should rest. Look
for a trailing willow."

"No, we aren't resting. The sun is still high
in the sky. Keep going," Kate said, pushing at his back.

"Just for a short time," Ayden insisted.

She might not get him going again if he
rested. Not with the strength of the spores. A parasite just
waiting to take them down.

Then she realized something literally was
tugging at her. A dark hairy leg pulled on the right side of her
cape. A glance in the direction showed nothing but a wall of trees.
A series of clicks joined the tugs.

Kate paused with a sigh. "Ayden, wait."

When she turned to the right the leg stopped
tugging. She turned her head towards Ayden, prompting the leg to
start tugging again. "I think we've been asked to change
direction."

Ayden's lips compressed. He turned in the
direction and found a small path, "This is leading away from the
mountain."

The ground dropped away sharply. Between the
staff and Ayden she managed to follow the trail without falling
flat on her face. Or tip over backwards on the Watcher.

"Maybe the Watcher knows of a better way to
get there?" Kate said.

"You better hope so. We have only today to
get there. Tonight is the twin full moons," Ayden mumbled.

Kate grinned, "Go ahead. Be resentful. It
should help."

Ayden turned his head towards her, his eyes
fiery. "It should be possible to keep the spores back without
anger."

"But it works so well! Have other
suggestions?"

"Flatter me. How about raving at how cute I
am! And you'll be glad to go out on a picnic with me when this is
all over?"

Kate felt herself blushing. "Picnic? We could
do that."

"You forgot the first part," Ayden said.

She blushed again. Then she saw the corner of
his wicked grin. "You don't need a swelled head. You've already
rescued me several times now."

"Well, you know, a guy likes to hear that his
date at least thinks he looks okay. But I guess I can't have
everything," he said with a shrug.

"Wait a second! Who said anything about a
date?" Kate demanded.

"What do you think a picnic is? And you can't
back out now, you already said yes." He glanced back at her, his
eyes sparkling.

Oh great, now he was keeping the spores back
by giving her a hard time. Shouldn't she be the one doing that?
When did it switch?

Kate's mind flew back to when she might have
said yes. Okay, maybe she implied it. She snorted, "I prefer you
mad."

"I don't like anger. It's too exhausting,"
Ayden said. He rolled his shoulders, "And I'm way too tired right
now for that energy expenditure. I don't know how you keep angry
all the time."

"Not all the time. For you survival has been
hiding from your mother. For me, it's keeping the idiot men around
me from destroying my life. Anger seems to do a real good job of
it."

"I don't want to talk about my mother."

Kate said with a shrug, "I still don't get
the selling part. The Alliance has laws to prevent slavery."

"There are loopholes, such as what my mother
found. A corporation liked what I was doing for science projects.
They wanted me to develop something for them. Mother got money for
a signed permission to allow me to go to a special school the
corporation owned, giving them full custody. In essence they would
have owned me and everything I did until I reached adulthood."

"That's horrible."

Ayden pushed his way through scrub. "I called
my Uncle. He'd just received permission to come here and has a
botany degree. He snuck me on the ship and I've been in the woods
with him ever since."

"Wow, what a change. From a lab to a
forest."

"The forest is a lab. It's given me lots of
ideas. I think there are a lot more tree byproducts than what we
produce now."

Kate laughed, "You sound like Grandma!"

"Your grandmother is a genius at things like
that. I hoped to work with her. Then all this happened," he said,
waving at the forest around them.

The Watcher tugged again, guiding them to a
smaller trail angling off to the right.

"We're heading further away from the
mountains," Ayden warned.

"You talk to the Watcher and tell him he's
wrong."

They broke out of the trees to find steep
cliffs dropping off into a deep gorge. Only the path they were on
continued to the gorge floor at an angle, a stream having cut away
the sharp drop of the cliff.

If they'd come out anywhere else...

"The Watcher did know of a way," Ayden said
quietly.

Above them the dense forest and brush grew
right up to the edge. Kate gripped the staff hard. "We could have
walked right off the cliff before seeing it."

"And I see a way up on the other side," Ayden
said, pointing across the gorge. "Time to descend."

She had to use both hands to climb down,
leaving the cape ties to bite into her throat. Her arms and legs
shook badly by the time they climbed half-way down the decline. By
the time they reached the bottom Kate was falling more than
climbing.

They paused at the river flowing down the
middle of the gorge long enough for a drink. Kate tried not to
worry about the dangers of drinking without a filter. First they
needed to survive.