I held onto my resolve for as long as possible, but as the night lightened, not even those were enough to keep me awake. Dangerous animals could be stalking the trees. I could die at any moment, by any hand. I had to stay alert, but the bliss of slumber was a strong lure. Exhaustion imprisoned my anxiety, allowing the blackness to envelop me.
TEN
Drowning in the layers of my dreams, I waded through darkness in search of a way back. I was trapped in a court of lies, holding a treaty where the words bled off the page and surrounded by unfamiliar faces.
With each scene as foreign as the one before, I swirled into the next. A girl hung from old gallows, surrounded by snow. Her hair was over her face, concealing her identity. The rope creaked in the wind as it struggled to hold her weight.
My staff was broken in half by monsters.
A crown crashed to the ground.
In my final dream, the forest that had protected us and held the bones of my people for centuries turned deadly.
I snapped my eyes open and looked around. A steady patter of rain gave way to the early rays of sunshine. I looked around, then rubbed my throbbing head. The forest was a completely different place in light.
Next to me, a forest nymph the size of my hand jumped away, jolted by my consciousness. It hurried away quickly, then disappeared into the underbrush. The skilled divinators were native to both Magaelor’s and Berovia’s forests but were extremely rare. Had it been manipulating my dreams? My father had searched for them for the longest time, wanting to see his future, to know if his battle plans against Berovia would work. They never did find one alive. The nymphs were as adept at hiding and excellent at camouflaging themselves as they were at foresight.
I wanted to know more, to ask about the dreams and if they were my future, but the nymph was long gone.
I stood and exhaled slowly.
Gray smudged across the sky, fading into pastel blue. The forest was breathtaking in every way. The canopy thickened the farther in I ventured. Light poured through the cracks, shimmering on the green. Leaves crackled as squirrels played around the branches. Animals rustled in the low vines, birds sang their sweet songs, and in the distance, I could hear the babbling of a stream.
I breathed in the earthy air and smiled. It was alive, a beating heart filled with creatures of all sizes. It was unlike any back in Magaelor. As far as the division of our world, the solises had struck gold with the beauty of their land, while we were left with a cold, dark kingdom. Although, we did have our ancestral roots that tied into the trees of our woods, giving it soul.
The area around me was illuminated by a yellow glow. I cracked my neck from side to side, enjoying the heat on my aching body. I walked toward the trickling sounds, hoping to find clean water. Bees buzzed in and out of wildflowers. A spiderweb glistened between twigs. The clear waters of a stream sparkled under the sunlight. I hurried toward it, my mouth growing dryer as I neared.
I stumbled over a hollowed-out log full of insects, catching my fall with my hands on the moss. I inhaled sharply, then looked up.
“Who are you?”
I jolted backward, scrambling my feet until I hit the log again. A woman sat among the shrubbery and pink blossoms on the mossy floor. Her skin was the color of the branches reaching down from the trees above, and pink-and-white flowers decorated her dark hair. Her eyes were a bright leafy green, framed with long brown eyelashes. She looked as much a part of nature as the bluebells close to where I stood.
Green silk settled against the curves of her body, and her pointed ears poked out among the crinkled strands. She was obviously a faery, but I couldn’t see her wings. They must’ve been folded away. Her straight nose and strong jawline made her look regal. Her thick lips were shaped like the bow she carried, along with a quiver of arrows.
Her eyebrows were set downward.
I gave her a half smile. “Sorry,” I said, unsure of what I was apologizing for.
She tilted her head. “What brings you to the Forest of Tranquillium, luna?”
Words spoken in truth had never cut so hard. My heart raced in my chest. “How—”
“I recognize magic in all beings, and I sense death on yours.”
Her voice carried in the breeze, soft and hazy. Her hair was so long, it ran in waves down to past her waist, then stopped around her hips. It was wild but beautiful. She must have sensed my fear because the shape of her eyes changed. They softened.
“I am Birch.” She enunciated when she spoke. Her voice was as clear as the water from the stream.
“I’m Winter.” I knew, looking into her eyes, there was little point in lying. “Why could you see my magic while another fae could not?”
“Elves see all strains of magic and the beauty in each. I will not get in your way.”
I had caught rumors about the elves in Berovia, but I didn’t know a lot about them. Honestly, I had forgotten about them completely when wondering who I could come across while here. Their history was easily buried between that of the fae and sorcerers. Peace seldom enticed the pages of a story like conflict did. I had speculated, when reading the tidbits of information about them from the royal library, on how they would look. Not much was on paper about their appearance, only on their innate ability to wield and use weapons.
“We haven’t heard much about your kind,” I confessed, hoping she wouldn’t take offense. “Sorry for staring.”
A smile unfurled on her lips. Her cheeks bunched up, and she leaned forward to reach into the stream. The current rippled around her delicate fingers. “I wouldn’t imagine you would have.”
“Is it only you here?” I asked.
“Yes. I have been searching for something, but it is just me here. When you venture deeper into our forest and out to the surrounding villages and towns, you will see many more of us. We will not harm you or get in your way as you journey, if that is what concerns you. My people are some miles west of here.”
I shook my head. “I’m not concerned.”
She pulled her hand away from the stream and shook drops of water onto the flower petals.
I kneeled on the small bank and leaned forward. “May I?”
“I do not own the stream or anything else in this forest. Please, drink.”
I cupped my hands together, filled them with water, and drank. It was cold, refreshing, and soothing to my throat. “It tastes perfect.”
“This water is pure,” she explained. “Touched by a unicorn, the rarest of beasts.”
“They purify waters?”
“Yes.”
Tempted by my thirst for knowledge, I wanted to know more about the creatures that inhabited the forest and about her and the other elves, but my curiosity could not get in the way of my goals.
“Thank you,” I said as I got up and stepped backward. “Could you possibly point me in the direction of a province or a way out where there is a port? I’m trying to get home.” I asked. “Without being detected.”
She nodded. “On the outskirts of the forest, you will find Woodbarrow. It is elf territory; you will be safe there. There is a coast. Do you have your staff?” She looked me up and down. I was impressed by her knowledge.
“No,” I replied. “It is back on Inferis, an island governed by Magaelor.”
She looked lost in thought for a minute. I detected conflict in her eyes as she looked around, at nothing, before focusing back on me.
“I will take you. You will get lost in here without your magic, and creatures will make a meal of you.”
“I’d rather avoid that.”
She smirked. “Yes. Let us go, before it gets too late.”
Light streaked through the branches, casting shadowy beams onto the uneven path. Tangled roots from time-chiseled trees had weaved in and out of the ground. They were tall and dense.
The humidity did not lessen as afternoon turned into the early evening. It was boiling and sticky, and the farther we walked south, the more I craved the icy cold of Inferis.
T
he ferns, plants, and trees teemed with insects and small animals. I scratched my neck. Something had bitten me, leaving a tiny bump on the surface of my skin. The thick air was filled with humming, buzzing, and chirping. Rain pattered elsewhere in the distance. Everything looked glossy. The pungent smell of rotting leaves and vegetation hit my nostrils. My bare legs were open meal tickets for the thousands of bugs swarming the area. I scratched below my knee and groaned.
“We are not far,” Birch stated. I enjoyed how she could sense my discomfort without my having to show it. She was observant.
I admired that.
“How long have you lived here?” I asked, then dodged a low branch when I spotted the tail of a snake disappear into the thick canopy.
“Twenty-five years I have called this forest home,” she explained. “I was born in a village north from here. There, they live near to fae and sorcerers. I chose to migrate south, to live among my people in the forest.”
My eyebrows knitted together. “Why?”
Her shoulders tensed.
“Some people are plagued with sin, with a darkness we cannot heal. The northern territory holds more material and superficial worth to people than my beliefs can align with.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “You mean the sorcerers and fae, not the land itself?”
She looked uncomfortable. “Not all people are, but your kind does hold onto the attachments of this world, and while I understand the lure of it, I cannot live among that.”
I scratched the back of my hand. Tiny white bumps had erupted over my pinkish skin.
“Solises are awful,” I said in agreement. “They take, they are close-minded, and unlike us lunas, they do not see the beauty in magic.”
She pursed her lips. Her eyebrows furrowed. “I cannot agree with that.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “You said yourself that they held material worth or whatever to people.”
“Let us not disrupt this peace,” she said, infuriating me further.
“You haven’t met many of us. You can’t have, living here.” I gestured around at the wild she called home. “Us lunas are different from the solises you would have met in the village you were born in. As you knew what I was, and sensed my magic, you should see our magic is true. We practice the true ways of magic, drawing it from our ancestors and the spirit realm. We are linked to them.”
“The solises draw their magic from the elements, pure and natural,” she explained as if I didn’t already know.
“My father said−”
“Your father would be a luna, no?”
I nodded.
She pressed her fingernail against the dimple on her chin, understanding glistening in her eyes. “Then, is it not possible, you have been fed lies?”
“I’m not sure… Anything is possible, but Berovians came to Magaelor and killed people, just because they hate our magic.” My shoulders ached, perhaps from the tension I’d been carrying around. I reached back and pushed my fingers into the muscle at the top of my back, just below my neck. Some relief came with it. “There’s no other explanation.”
“I’m not entirely sure that’s correct. Magaelor has been known to send attacks to our kingdom, to the solises and King Xenos. It could have been a retaliation. We hear things, Star, our tribe leader, he ventures out often and returns with news.”
I hesitated on my next words. “I’d have known if that was true.”
“From newspapers?”
An innocent question, but one which made me think. Our newspapers were governed by the king. Everything printed had to go through royal advisories, which, when I thought about it, would stop news getting out if my father had in fact aggravated the attack. “Perhaps not. I guess we won’t know for sure.” The possibility I’d been lied to was bitter to swallow. I didn’t say anything more, instead looking straight ahead, tight-lipped. The tension around us was thick enough to cut with a dagger. “It’s a nice day,” I said, at a pathetic attempt to change topics.
Her lips curved into a lighter smile. It was obviously forced, but I appreciated the effort.
“How did you end up here?” she inquired.
“I was run off a cliff by an anumi… A dark creature of the night,” I said, in case she didn’t know. I wasn’t sure what she had been educated on or not. She knew what I was, and other things like our staffs, but lunas were more commonly talked about, even in Berovia, than anumi were. She could have easily acquired that information from her tribe leader person. “Pirates pulled me from the waters, I believe,” I told her, reliving the memory of the pain I felt on the ship. “They saved my life. A mercreature bit my leg.” I pointed down at the ugly scar on my leg. My eyes welled with tears. I hadn’t placed much thought into what I had gone through. Instead, I had been so focused on surviving and getting home that I hadn’t quite let it all sink in.
She stopped walking, standing us under large leaves to shade us under the fading sun. “You have been through a lot.” She cupped my cheek. I felt relief with her embrace. In her touch was light magic. It pulsated through her and brought me comfort.
Her large, almond-shaped eyes softened at the corners. A million hues danced in the green. The eyes were windows to the soul, and hers were rich and true. Looking into them made me want to burst into tears. I was riding my emotions like waves.
“It was,” I said, hearing the vulnerability in my voice, but with her, I knew it was okay. “I want to go home.” I croaked, my voice changing with each beat. “I’ve had to hide who I am and then I met this guy, a light faery. He was nice, but he asked too many questions and I couldn’t lie, so I had to run away and…” I trailed off on the last words, that I was afraid I wouldn’t make it back. “In fact, everyone here so far has been far nicer than I’d imagined.”
She reached out, then pulled me, gently, into a hug. It was soft, thoughtful. She gave me space to breathe and let me rest my head on her shoulder. My breaths slowed, and her arms tightened a fraction of an inch.
She used one hand to stroke my hair. I had never had someone care like this. I wanted to ask why she did. I had done nothing to earn her friendship. I’d known her for mere hours, but I accepted the comfort without questioning her motives aloud. I needed the compassion she offered.
I pulled away, sniffed, then wiped my nose with the back of my hand. “Sorry.”
“Do not apologize for showing your sadness. We must all feel our emotions if we are to heal. We are here, after all, to feel, Winter.”
I relaxed. “Thank you.” Inhaling deeply, I waited for her to move. “Should we go?”
She looked up at the sky. “Yes.”
We walked side by side through the undergrowth. She pushed the leaves obstructing our path tenderly, while I pushed them aside with force. I liked watching her interact with nature as if she were a part of it, even if I didn’t understand her longing to be so gentle with things that couldn’t feel pain.
Through a clearing, I saw it. A hidden meadow in the middle of a rainforest. Houses of gray clay stood low but wide. The windows were open with no glass. Instead, fabric coverings kept away the outside. A well-trodden path led through the bursts of wildflowers that had sprouted up in groups through the lustrous grass. Behind the little houses were fires made from collected twigs. Handmade baskets hung from the trees. Weapons crafted from precious metals were displayed proudly by a house larger than the others. Metalworkers hammered away, creating swords and daggers. The most beautifully crafted bows and arrows were lined up on a stand nearby. They were made with polished wood.
The elves walked barefoot around the houses, some sitting and weaving fabrics to make blankets by the fires, some drinking at tables made from teak, others enjoying berries and meat.
I caught the occasional glimpse of green eyes and lighter hair, but mostly, the elves had not mixed with others. A few had smaller ears or mouths, showing they could be part sorcerer, but it was deep in their ancestral roots. Their genes were not watered down.
Some had l
ight-brown skin, while others like Birch were darker. I was nervous as we approached the camp. Would they accept me to stay the night? Or would they see me as the enemy everyone else in Berovia did?
I leaned in sideways. “Are you sure this will be okay?” I whispered when we neared the small collection of houses.
“Yes.”
The certainty in her tone settled my nerves.
We stopped in front of a man with long brown hair. His pale eyes looked back at her, then looked at me.
“Star.” Birch dipped her head.
“Who have you brought with you?” he asked, annoyance flashing across his features.
“This is Winter,” she said with a small smile. “I met her in the forest. She is not an enemy.”
His gaze trickled over me.
“She is a friend,” she stated.
I parted my lips.
Star nodded. His ears were pointed too, and his features were prominent. He was shirtless and wore brown shorts that hung to his knees.
She took me to an empty table. Star joined us.
I decided to speak up, pushing through the waves of anxiousness that coursed through me. “Thank you for allowing me to stay here. I’m trying to make my way to Woodbarrow.”
A woman wearing blue hurried over and poured three cups of water. I took the cup and drank it. It tasted as pure as the water from the stream.
Star’s eyes wandered from me to Birch. “Did you find them?” he asked, ignoring me completely.
She shook her head. “Regretfully, no.”
“The sorcerers are trying to force them out of the forest, pushing them into hiding.” He clenched his fist but loosened it when he met Birch’s stare.
The Fate of Crowns: The Complete Trilogy: A YA Epic Fantasy Boxset Page 8
