by Brindi Quinn
But then I understood.
One of the pairs of eyes blinked. And then it moved.
“It’s going to come out to get him?!” I cried.
“That is not all!”
Without elaborating or giving warning, Nyte sweepingly scooped me into his arms and made a wild flying leap off of the boulder and to the back of a tree that didn’t house a suckle. He held me in his arms and balanced himself at the back of its base. This didn’t allow much room for movement, but ultimately it did its job of keeping us from sliding farther down.
The reason for Nyte’s spastic action was that he could sense what was coming. The moment we landed was the moment that the entirety of the hill rolled. To be more exact, it was as though there was something enormous just below the ground’s surface ruffling the earth. Whatever it was jogged the boulder loose, and the whole thing started to tumble.
Nyte had predicted it just in time. So had Ardette. Ardette’s response wasn’t so nimble, though. He’d simply stabbed both steaks into the earth and was now holding himself up from sliding down the hill.
During all of this, the creeping suckle had advanced out onto the hill a ways. Its eyes were blindingly bright, so it was impossible to see past to the thing’s tiny body, but the beast must’ve had gripping claws for it to be able to walk along the down-sloping knoll like that.
Nyte shot a ball of red at the suckle. It hopped forward out of the way of blast, so he shot another. It dodged that one too.
“Enough with the magic, don’t you think?” cooed Ardette. “If you hadn’t noticed, it’s moving closer with each one you send at it!”
Frowning out of thought of a new solution, Nyte looked down at me. “Aura, you must remain here. Hold tightly to this trunk and do not let go.”
“Wha-”
“Darch, can you throw me the other set of pegs?” said Nyte.
“Nope!”
“Will you not even try?”
“My hands are stuck at my sides, Nyte! How am I supposed to get them loose?”
“I’ll take care of this.” Ardette started to peg his way over to Darch.
“Be careful, Ardetto!”
“Don’t you think it’s YOU that you should be worried about? Hmmm?”
“Ardette,” said Nyte. “You cannot do it alone. How will you cut him loose if your hands are not free?”
“Well, what would you suggest? If you hadn’t noticed, the little bloodsucker’s getting closer, and who knows when whatever that rolling was will happen again? Sometime soon, I’d expect.”
No sooner had Ardette mentioned it than the rolling did indeed start up again. Starting up at the first boulder I’d woken up on, it traveled downward in a wave, pushing the ground behind Ardette outward and knocking one of his pegs loose.
“Damn!” he shouted.
“Ardette!” I cried. “Nyte, what should I do?”
“You need not worry.” Nyte looked at the tree behind us. “I will also go.” Setting his sights on a thick branch high above us, he set me down, stretched out to full length, and broke the limb off. He snapped it in two – “It shall have to be adequate.” – then plunged both halves into the side of the hill and began climbing up in the same way Ardette had.
“Quick thinking, Elf, but they’re nowhere near as fancy as mine,” said Ardette. He’d regained his balance and was again sidling along the side of the hill.
The suckle was still inching toward Darch. I’d hold it off while the others made their way to him.
“Lusafael can’t hear me here, right?” I asked.
“This is a transitional field, so I think he can’t!”
“You think?” said Ardette.
I couldn’t not do something, so I did the only thing I could.
“Sword-like edge of matter deep,
Abound in me the mist to seep.
Splitting towers, cutting stone,
Shatter breaks of marrow bone.”
I sent the splice at the suckle, like an arrow, but it avoided it the same way it had done with Nyte’s spell, so I tried again, this time by forming the mist into a sickle and sending it swiping across the space between Darch and the suckle. The beast dodged that one too, but it did so by hopping backward.
Yes!
“Nicely done, my pit!” Ardette was almost to Darch now, and Nyte wasn’t far behind.
I sent another at the suckle, and it jumped back again. Before I could start celebrating, though, I noticed something that made me divert my attention from the suckle and to another threat entirely.
“Ardette, watch out!”
Another root, as sneaky as the first, was slithering along the grass, its path set for the sidling Daem. I shot another sickle-mist blast in its direction, slicing it in half. The cut portion hissed and retreated into the ground, much in the same way the branches of Wanzyr had behaved, but there was another response too. The thing below the surface of the hill gave a wild jump, sending both of Nyte’s pegs out from their rooted positions. Nyte slid down a few feet before being able to stab them in again.
“Hurry guys!” I yelled. A second suckle had left its treed position with the onslaught of the second vine. I threw a sickle swipe its way before diverting my attention back to the first suckle, which had gained another few steps.
Ardette was at Darch now. “My pit, cut him loose, would you?”
But there was a third root making its way for Nyte. The forest of transition was becoming more and more aggressive with each passing moment. I sliced that root in half, too, and the ground responded by kicking against the base of my tree. I grabbed on to the trunk, but the kick made me slip around its barked side.
I was holding on, and my feet were dangling.
“AURA!” Darch yelled.
“Ah!” Nyte instantly changed his course.
“No!” I said. “I’m fine! Help Darch!”
Using all of the strength in my arms, I clung to the tree and used my legs to run myself up the slope. But it was no use. My feet just kept slipping.
Shoot! “Really!” I insisted. “I’m fine!”
Come on, Aura!
Attempting a new approach, I dug the toes of my boots into the ground. The left one fell out, but the right one stuck, at least enough for me to gain footing. I used it to push myself back around to the safe side of the trunk.
“See! I’m all right!” But to be honest, I was surprised I’d managed something like that.
In my absence, both suckles had gained distance. The first was nearly upon them.
“Ardetto!” yelled Darch.
“Argh! I’m trying, all right? It’s not like it’s easy to see anything with that glare!” Ardette was holding himself up by his slipping feet and left hand peg while using his right peg to stab at the root around Darch’s waist.
I’d take care of the glare. In the chaos of the kicking hill, I’d dropped the mist splice song, but I sang a new one into existence and immediately used it to send both suckles reeling back. I shot a few into the stationary suckles too, for good measure. Then I focused my efforts on the others.
“Okay! I can slice the root holding him!”
“Just be certain you don’t miss, would you?” said Ardette. “We wouldn’t want old Darchy to get sliced in half, now would we?”
Nyte was now directly positioned under Darch. He removed his left hand branch and opened his arm. “I will catch him!”
Ardette frowned. “Are you certain you can? I’m not. Certain, that is. Therefore, I’ll be assisting.” Ardette positioned himself next to Nyte.
“Okay, pit. Go for it!”
Focusing the remaining energy in the song, I did as they said, shooting a double sickle swipe at the root. The first one was to cut the coil loose from the rest. The second was in case the coil didn’t freely release Darch on its own. Only the first was necessary, however, because as soon as the coil was separated from the rest, it hissed as the others had, released Darch, and burrowed into the hill. Darch fell, but Nyte and Ardette caught hi
m.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” asked Ardette. “Oh, I’m sorry. My mistake. It’s not like we’re in a hurry or anything, is it?”
“Right!” Darch shuffled around on his person, but before he could retrieve them, the hill, furious over our interference, gave out its largest roll yet. It knocked all three of them loose, and they fell, tumbling.
“Yaaah!” Darch bounced to the side and the hill sent another roll at him that sent him flying toward me. I reached out to grab his arm and was heaved from my safety tree.
“Aura!” Nyte clawed at the hill to gain footing, but it was no use.
All together, we tumbled down into the purple ravine.
~
We landed with a splash. I fell deep into a swampy water. This was something I hadn’t been expecting, so I drew in a large breath of the murkish liquid. It was a mistake. A bad one. I wanted to cough it out, but I was still under, and I wasn’t sure which way was up.
This is bad.
I was kicking, trying to find a way out, but it was hopeless. I couldn’t see light through the muck.
This is so, so bad!
I was panicked, using the last of my oxygen. I was going to lose to whatever this was. I’d never find a way.
That’s when a hand on the collar of my cloak gave a strong yank and drew me up and out of the water.
I sputtered and coughed and searched for my savior, but when my eyes found him, I let out the largest cough of all because I’d inhaled way too quickly.
“SCARDO?!”
“Miss Heart! Please don’t attempt anything so dangerous again!”
“Where are-?”
“Aar-ta-ta-ta-ta.” That was the creaking cry of a distant ferothew.
Chapter 18: The Light
The marsh was lit only by dusk’s fading light.
“Scardo?” I said again. I was slightly more subdued the second time around.
“Yes, Miss Heart.”
He was really, truly, actually there, and it wasn’t just him, either.
“AURAAAA!” Before I was even fully above the water, Kantú came flying at me with a tackling hug.
“Kan . . . tú?” I was more shocked than anything.
We’d made it? We’d actually found our way back to the others? But we’d just been on that hill with the suckles, and . . . and now . . .
I just stared at the bouncing Squirrelean with my hands loosely dangling at my sides.
“Aura! Aura! Aura!” she repeated over and over again, burying her face in my murk-stained shirt. “You’re alive! You did it! Aaaalright!”
“But how-”
I was interrupted by a gruff throat clear. Still stricken by the blow of it all, I slowly lifted my eyes to the bank of the marsh, where stood a brawny man bearing a full-bodied, chip-toothed grin.
“Grotts!”
“Er, hello, Miss Aura.”
He was waiting there, on what looked to be solid ground. Solid ground? That meant that we must’ve been on the outskirts of the swampy place. From previous experience, I knew that once deeper in, there was nothing sturdy on which to stand – with the exception of those full, stubby trees, of course.
“Glad ta see yer in one piece. Thought these two idiots woulda torn ya in half by now.” Grotts tipped his head at Nyte and Ardette, who were strewn hodgepodgedly on the ground next to him. Like me, they were wet with dirty water.
“Are they . . . ?” I started, but then, faltering at the dastardly thought that had just crossed my mind, I changed my approach. “They’re okay, right?” They had to be.
As though to answer the question, Nyte began to stir just then.
“What has . . . what has happened?” He appeared as confused and disoriented as I felt, but when his eyes fell on me, he put a firm palm to the ground with the intent to push himself to his feet. “Aura?! Are you-?!”
Scardo answered in my place, “She is quite well, Nyte. Catch your breath.”
Nyte waited for me to nod before settling back down. The murk was a little hard to wade through, so I let Scardo help me to the bank. Once there, Kantú and I ran to Nyte’s side.
“You’re okay?” I asked, falling to my knees next to him.
He wiped a piece of mangrove residue from my cheek and smiled. “I am fine. Only damp.”
Nonetheless, I searched his eyes for hidden pain.
“Damp?” asked Kantú. “Uh? More like soggy!”
But even ‘soggy’ was kind of an understatement.
“What has happened? How have we come to be here?” Nyte looked over at Ardette. “Has he expired?” Nyte poked him in the neck.
Ardette slapped his hand away.
“Don’t sound so hopeful, Elf.” Heaving a sigh, the Daem sat up, cracked his jaw, and surveyed the area with a raised brow. He gave himself a few moments to let everything settle; then he said, “Well? On with it. How did we come to arrive in this charming place? Did we just appear, or . . . ?”
“You guys fell from the sky!” exclaimed Kantú, eyes bright and with a tone that cued me in that this was a prelude to one of her rambles. “Here’s how it went: You and Nytie fell first, Ardetto. And we were all SO surprised! You landed in the water over there, and Grottsy rushed over and pulled you both out all by himself! Next came Aura!” She wrapped her arm around my soaked shoulders. “You fell in deeper, but Scardo came crashing in after you. I was so worried about you, but you know, it was really okay in the end because Scardo’s such a great swimmer! I never would have expected that since he grew up in such a dry place, but sometimes people can be surprising! Isn’t that great?”
She nodded several times to prod my agreement.
“Yeah, it is.” I said. “But . . . we fell? All I remember is tumbling down and then . . . Ardette, what happened?”
“Well, don’t ask me. How should I know?”
“You are right,” said Nyte. “Why should we expect you to possess that knowledge? After all, it is not as though you have been in correspondence with the MOON or anything.”
Ardette smiled a maniacal smile. “Is that sarcasm, Elf? Cute.” He crossed an arm lazily across his stomach and turned his other hand palm-up and flouncy. “You’ll be taking a page from my book, then? Adding a little spice to your personality, are you? Think it’ll make her impressed?”
“Why would I seize a page from you? It is not as though such an approach has led to your success . . . .”
Grotts chortled. “Heh.”
Ardette dropped both arms. “You’d best watch your tone, boy. Until the moon’s return, you’re at half your strength.”
“Gaze above you. The moon’s return is close.”
“Was that a challenge? Why, how bold of-”
“Ugh, stop,” I said. “If neither of you know how we ended up here, then how about Darch? Darch, what do you think?”
I waited for his answer, but Darch said nothing. That was weird.
Come to think of it . . .
I hadn’t heard him speak at all since our arrival!
I scanned the marsh, hoping to see him happily bobbing his head and humming, but I couldn’t find him among the rest of us. “DARCH?! Ardette, where’s-”
“Darch!” interrupted Ardette. Using Nyte’s shoulder as a crutch, he rose to his feet in an anxious stumble. It was uncharacteristic to see him that way, but he was clearly ruffled over the absence of his friend. “Where’s the meddlesome idiot gone?! Don’t tell me he’s been left behind!”
“No! He fell with me!” I said. “I’m sure of it!”
“Please relax, Miss Heart,” said Scardo calmly. “He hit his head on that branch on the way down. He’s just over there.” The Yes’lechian gestured to the other side of one of the mangrove’s trees. “We failed to wake him, but I’m certain he’ll be fine. His breathing is steady. No need to worry.”
Whether or not there was a need to worry, Ardette ignored Scardo’s attempts at reassurance and hurried to Darch’s side. Once there, he immediately thrust a hand of shadow into the unc
onscious Magir’s chest.
He allowed a moment of examination and then, “Hmph. He’s fine.” He managed to hide only a little bit of his relief.
“Should I heal him?” I asked.
“No. It’s not a wound worthy of something like that. He’ll wake up soon enough on his own.” He pulled his hand out before turning to me with a look of reproach. “My, my, awfully quick to resort to healing, aren’t we? When you were so anxious to give up your Song to the moon? Hmm, that’s interesting.”
“Ehh.”
He was right, of course.
“This is that marsh, though, right?” I said, changing the subject and looking away rather obviously. “The marsh we were at before? On the way to Druelca?”
“Yes, my pit. That’s right.”
I turned to Kantú. “How is it that you knew where we’d be? Was there some warning that we’d arrive in this exact spot?”
“Nope! And we didn’t know you were going to get here today, either. Rend told us to come, but we only reached the marsh this morning, and we were just starting to explore when we saw Nytie and Ardetto fall. We’re still right in the fringes of the place.”
So it’d been . . . luck?
“I do no think so, Miss Havoc,” said Nyte quietly.
“Huh?”
I realized that he’d been staring at me. Studying me or something.
He grinned. “You were thinking that we were blessed with good fortune. Is this correct?”
“Yeah . . . but how did you know that?”
“I have spent much time around you. I am beginning to know your thoughts.”
“Ahh, yes,” said Ardette, leaving Darch to return to the rest of us. “Imagine spending two lifetimes around her. Imagine how predictable she’d be then.”
“Are you ever going to explain that?” I said. I folded my arms out of frustration. “Can’t you just tell me what exactly happened between us instead of being so cryptic all the time? I mean, I know that you like being cryptic and all, but . . .”
“I can’t tell you,” he said. “But I can show you.”
