But with that dark creature still unaccounted for, it would be unwise to lower his defenses. That would leave his mind vulnerable to attack, putting them all at risk. No, his mind had to stay shuttered for now no matter how annoying it was to lose access to every stray thought.
The world suddenly went black when the glow of the crystal cluster lighting this gallery winked out.
What happened to the light? Crispin’s mind-voice was tinged with surprise. I think it was that dark creature’s doing. It feeds on magic. It must be nearby.
Keep your mental shields up in case it attacks again. Thing dropped down to hover by his son. Do you sense it? because Thing wasn’t getting anything at all. How strange that his son was. Still, that was better than nothing.
Yes. I recognize its magical signature. Do you see anything? Your eyes are better than mine in the dark. Crispin gathered himself.
Whether to run or fly Thing couldn’t tell. He hoped for the former. Flying would give them an edge.
Thing scanned the darkness with his mage sight and his physical eyes but nothing moved, not even the rats that lived down here. Though he was probably the reason they were hiding.
Well, Dad, do you—? Crispin started to repeat his question when Thing cut him off.
Shush. I see something. Thing squinted at a lumbering shape in the dark, but not even his eyes could resolve it, and that was wrong. Come, follow me, he sent to his son.
How? I can’t see you in the dark. Crispin waved both hands in the air.
Oh, for the love of our Creator. Kits today. They were helpless without light. Thing rolled his eyes and swooped down on his son. Be ready.
For what? Crispin froze with his hands extended. It was the perfect set-up for a pick-up if the kit didn’t bungle it.
For this. Thing swung his tail as he passed by and caught his son around the waist. Hold on.
As if I have a choice. Crispin shifted his weight, and Thing had to tighten his tail to keep ahold of his son.
Worries simmered in the back of Thing’s mind. The same ones he’d backburnered at the start of this mess, and they’d only multiplied. If he could only touch the mind of the man he followed, he might get the answers he needed. If he did, he’d leave his mind open to attack. If he didn’t, he risked flying into a trap. How did he keep ending up in situations like this? Thing fisted his hands and lowered his shields a little.
Crispin tapped the only part of Thing he could reach—his leg—to get his attention. Go right at the next turning.
I see him. Thing bristled as he dodged a stalactite. He could see just fine, thank you very much.
Just making sure. You were woolgathering again. Crispin shifted his weight again, throwing off their trajectory.
Thing corrected course. Stop trying to read my mind. It’s rude.
I’m not. I have no idea what you’re scheming. I’m just along for the ride, Crispin shot back.
Thing suppressed a sigh. I’d let you go, but you’d be flying blind, and there are obstacles in our flight path.
You could tell me where they are, Crispin suggested. But you’d have to stop woolgathering.
Ah, so that’s where his son was going with this. Thing glided between stalactites as he considered his son’s words. You don’t want me to read his mind.
No, it’s too dangerous if he has that creature. We’ll get answers another way. Crispin was right. Slow down, I sense something strange ahead.
Strange how? Explain. Thing back winged and scanned with his mage sight, but he didn’t sense anything amiss, and that was worrisome.
Not sure. I’ve never sensed anything like this. Go slowly and carefully while I figure out what I’m sensing. Crispin touched his temples presumably to focus his mind.
Will do. Thing extended his mind and shoved his way into his son’s head. They were now connected mind-to-mind, and it was beyond weird, but Thing ignored that. He was on a mission, and that took precedence.
“Dad!” Crispin squawked, indignant at the intrusion.
But he’d get over it. Thing wasn’t interested in his son’s secrets, just what his magic sight saw. Though, the fact that his son had secrets was troubling in and of itself.
Hush. I just want to see what you see. Thing peered out of his son’s eyes at darkness then engaged the kit’s mage sight and saw more darkness. Not helpful until he realized the darkness had texture and mass. Was it flowing? Thing landed on the first ledge his feet encountered and let go of his son.
Crispin didn’t see it that way. He shot his father an acidic glare until Thing turned his son’s attention back to the scene in the—cave? No, it was too big to be a cave. It must be a gallery.
Water lapped nearby. Possibly a slow-moving river or stream? Might it be the same one flowing past the prison? Maybe but also not important. Thing focused on the man-shapes occupying this dark gallery. There were thirteen at his count. They were just barely discernible by a dim blue glow about their edges.
Are they warlocks like Nulthir? Crispin crept closer at his urging, but Thing left his body where it had landed. He’d collect it when he needed it. For now, it was fine where he’d left it.
Crispin had asked a good question. These fools didn’t feel like Nulthir, nor did their power. It was too dark, and there was a whiff of death about them. No, they’re not like Nulthir. They’re more like his family, Thing said.
Are they summoning a demon? Crispin asked in a small, frightened voice.
They might be. Thing squinted at the rune on the ground. It just barely gave off any light at all. Was that—? Oh, Creator Spirit no, it was the devil’s downward-pointing star. The man they’d followed crouched, holding a spiky glass vial that pulled what little light the thirteen summoners' magic gave off into it. The guy pulled the stopper.
We must go now. Thing threw himself out of his son’s mind and back into his own.
We will as soon as my head stops spinning. Crispin swayed and gripped his head.
No, now, before they start. Thing whipped around intent on catching his son with his tail and missed when the kit tottered in the wrong direction. He had to warn his mate. Amal? Warn Nulthir. A summoning's in progress.
The darkness pulled at his mind, stealing its power during the moment it took to send that message. Then Thing slammed his mental shields shut stopping the magic from hemorrhaging out of his now protected mind.
Shouldn’t we stay to see what they do next? Crispin lowered his hands and blinked at Thing.
No, it’s too dangerous. That darkness is an energy sink.
Crispin stared at him in horror as Thing made another pass. This time, his son was ready.
Chapter Ten
“Hurry, it’s gaining on us!” Sarn couldn’t believe it, but that shadow creature had dropped to all fours and it loped along as easily as a wolf, stalking them through the tunnels.
“What are we going to do?” Miren limped as fast as his bad leg allowed, which wasn’t fast enough. He kept turning his head to check their pursuer’s progress and wincing in pain.
“Stop. I’ll carry you.” Well, his magic would. Sarn stopped staggering long enough to crouch in front of his brother.
Miren wasted no time in climbing on and twining his arms and legs around Sarn. His brother might be younger than him, but Miren weighed three-quarters of what Sarn did. His knees knocked together from the strain until his magic took some of the load, more than halving his brother’s weight.
“Run.” Shade pulled Sarn to his feet and dragged him around the bend.
“If you find Thing, you’ll find his friend too.” Miren laid his head down on Sarn’s shoulder.
“You think so?” Sarn tripped as his magic curled more tightly around them, shoving Shade away. That was weird, but now wasn’t the time to question it, not when his magic was helping.
“I know so. They’re a package deal like us. Find them. I bet they’ll know what to do.” Miren squeezed his shoulder. But he was right.
Thing’s friend, Nulthir,
had known how to defeat that demon when they’d last crossed paths.
“Find them. We need help.” Miren turned his head and swallowed audibly at what he saw. “Can that creature get through your shields?”
“I don’t—” But Sarn never finished his sentence because the ground formed a giant stone hand. It pushed up under his feet, lifting them as the creature lunged. “Wait, you can’t just remodel the place. you’ll put stress on the levels its supporting.”
But his magic wasn’t doing this. It was busy carrying his brother and searching for Thing. There was something in the mountain that was responding to his magic, and it was helping them.
“How is it still moving?” Miren slid off his back and leaned over the side of the stone hand carrying them.
Sarn snaked an arm around his curious brother’s waist and pulled him away from the edge just as a black claw took a swipe at him. The hand sank back into the ground, pulling the creature down with it. But it was made of shadow and black magic, so the creature rose out of the earth and surged toward them.
“Run!” Shade shoved Sarn aside. “It wants your magic.”
“How do you know that?”
“No time, you have to go. This sin is not your doing. It’s mine.” Shade rushed the creature. “Be gone abomination!”
“Shade!”
Miren tugged Sarn away as the bells chimed the hour, shattering his shields.
“What day is it?” Sarn staggered as the bells rang again and again and again. Each peel pushed him to go, go, go. Fulfill his obligation, now, now, now.
“I think it’s Monday. Oh no.” Miren’s eyes widened in alarm as Sarn's magic spun him around to face the tunnel that would take him eventually to the mines.
A promise pulled at Sarn. “I have to go.” Magic massed behind him, propelling Sarn toward the right-hand fork and eventually to the sorting cave. He must light the lumir crystals that lit the oppressive darkness under Mount Eredren.
Yes, light up the dark, his magic urged, eager to be off. Eradicate it. We hate it.
“Yes, we do.” Magic snapped and sparked around Sarn’s fingers.
Make the crystals glow.
“Yes.” Sarn staggered on, but there was something he was forgetting. Something important, but the promise kept overriding everything else until Miren screamed.
“Sarn!”
“Miren?” Sarn glanced over his shoulder. He no longer controlled his legs. They were propelling him away from his brother and his friend.
Shade shoved Miren out of the way, and the shadow creature passed right through his friend, neither taking nor doing any harm. There was something wrong with that, but Sarn couldn't focus on it, not when the promise to power the crystals whose glow lit the subterranean city was pushing out all other thoughts including safety.
He must go light the crystals. He wouldn't be free to do anything else until he did.
“Move! Don’t just stand there,” Shade shouted, and the promise left just enough presence of mind to throw up a shield.
Magic shot out of Sarn and curved around him, encasing him in a green ball of blinding light. The shadow creature dug its claws into the shield and yanked, peeling his shield away in fist-sized ribbons as a discordant chant echoed softly in the tunnel. Somewhere nearby water lapped.
The creature threw back its horned head and howled, betraying a mouth full of broken glass. Then it ran, trailing ribbons of his magic, and Sarn fell to his knees, gutted by the loss. The tunnel dimmed as the demon took some of his light with it, but not all. Some remained burning in his eyes as his brother rushed to his side.
Light the dark—all the dark things. Eradicate them, it whispered as magic seeped out of the stones Sarn knelt on, wrapping him in the mountain’s power. It lifted him up, and he pulled his brother into a tight hug before it carried them away.
“Wait for me.” Shade hurried after them.
Chapter Eleven
Nulthir shielded his eyes from the intense white light while he waited for the Queen of All Trees to decide his fate. He had this nagging feeling something was wrong—no, not wrong, missing. His hand felt lighter too. Nulthir squinted at it and didn’t see a roly-poly kit.
Where the hell was Furball? Nulthir scanned the leaf-strewn ground, but there was no sign of the kit. Damn it. Furball must have teleported away. Nulthir sighed and added ‘find Furball’ to his ever-lengthening to-do list, assuming of course he survived this interview. If not, best he not think about that.
“Are you what your mother made you or are you your own man?” a sexless voice asked.
It was a smooth and unaccented alto that could belong to either a woman or a man. But it wasn’t her voice. Only women could hear the Queen of All Trees, though no legend ever said why.
It was probably a curse or something. Some idiot in the past had probably cursed all the generations of men to come with her silence. It would have been nice to hear what she had to say. But Nulthir didn’t have any mind magic, so he was stuck dealing with her representative. Maybe that was for the best.
Her light dimmed to a tolerable level, revealing a deeply tanned man in a simple white robe in her stead. He had a plain face that was a mishmash of all the races of man, but there was an otherworldly aura about him, marking him as not human and probably not mortal either.
“Who are you?” After all turnabout was fair play. Nulthir mirrored the man’s casual stance.
“A friend. You can call me J.C. But we’re not here to talk about me. You’re the one who’s in trouble.” J.C. leveled kind eyes on Nulthir as the light gathered itself into two perpendicular rays behind him.
Nulthir recognized that symbol from the possession. “You were in my head during that demon incident.”
J.C. spread his hands. “When life’s at its darkest, we could all use a little light.”
“And a little hope?” Nulthir suggested. Since he didn’t need to shield his eyes anymore, he let his arms fall back to his sides in case he needed to fend off any more murderous branches. He was still surrounded by enchanted trees supersized by magic, but they’d relaxed their branches. That was a good sign, right?
Their eyeless stares fixed on him. And why did this seem familiar? Probably because it was. You do live in a country overrun by magic and myths, Nulthir reminded himself. Usually, those myths didn’t kidnap people for a chat.
The Queen of All Trees towered over all. She inclined her rounded crown of glowing heart-shaped leaves. Light chased itself along her silver trunk, and Nulthir drank it in, all of it, every sight and sound and smell of the forest he’d missed so much. How he hated living inside a mountain. It was a damp tomb compared to the vibrancy all around him.
“Well, are you what your mother tried to make you, or would you be someone else? Who are you?” J.C. asked again.
“Anything else but that. I want nothing to do with her ilk.” Nulthir shuddered at the thought of his mother. But he did feel a pang of longing for the blissful state of ignorance he’d lived the first twenty-one years of his life. Had his mother been evil then too, or had she only become evil later? Was he just the innocent lamb she’d raised for slaughter? None of that bore thinking about especially now when his life hung in the balance.
J.C. squeezed his shoulder. “Good done in the name of evil is still good. Don’t split hairs over it. Your mother was misguided, but she does love you in her own way. Forgive her and move on with your life. None of it was your doing.”
“Would you mind telling them that? They still look ready to skewer me.” Nulthir gestured to the needle-sharp branches poised to strike him down.
“Don’t mind them. They won’t strike you down unless she commands it.” J.C. nodded to the Queen of All Trees.
“Will she give that command?” Nulthir hoped for a no on that. He rather liked living, even if his life was profoundly screwed up at the moment. Tomorrow, it might not be, but he had to survive today first.
“That depends on you. There’s a lot of evil written on your ski
n, and that leaves you vulnerable to a lot of bad things.”
“Can one of you fix that?” Nulthir looked between them. He didn’t know what powers J.C. had, but it was clear He had some. And myths abounded about the Queen of All Trees, ascribing all manner of skills to her.
“Maybe, but that would be a boon.”
And Nulthir knew where this was headed. There was only one way to earn a boon. “She needs me to do something for her. I think I have an inkling about what. If I’m right, she wants the same thing I do.”
“Do tell.” J.C. sat on a root as wide as his thigh.
“To find out who or what attacked me and why and to stop to whatever their plans are, preferably before they summon another demon or worse.” Because there was always a worse fate. Life had taught Nulthir that much since leaving home.
“Got it in one. Do that then we’ll see what can be done about your situation. Though, I have a feeling that will sort itself out on its own. There are more forces at play here than you know and not all are evil. Some are good and true. Sorry, I got cryptic again. It’s an occupational hazard.” J.C. rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Can you tell me if my friends are safe? Did—?” Nulthir paused unable to ask what he needed to know. Had he hurt them while he was possessed?
“You’re a good man, Nulthir. There is much darkness in your future but also light, laughter, and love. Keep your friends close. No one can take what you won’t give. Gah, okay I’m going now before I sound any more like an oracle. Take my peace with you as you go.” J.C. leaned forward and clasped his hand then he vanished, leaving Nulthir staring at the Queen of All Trees.
She waved a single branch, then the world went white.
Send me back to my friends. Nulthir didn't have the mind gift like Thing did, but he didn't think he needed it. The Queen of All Trees knew his heart now. She must know he needed to return to his friends. Thing must be frantic with worry for him.
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