“Safe. Ha. She would have been better with a soldier from her own house. But my House, Towering Oaks, is known to be the best. We have the best soldiers, the craftiest scouts, the most cunning strategists. So why would Florian not request someone from there to guard his most precious thing in the world?
“Jediah, the Head of my House, loved Florian like a brother. He said that he wanted Celia guarded by the best, and so he chose me. I’m not a very humble person at times, I guess, or at least I wasn’t then. I agreed with Jediah, I was the best. I would keep her safe, and at the same time, maybe be able to tone down some of her adventures.
“That didn’t happen. Celia was indeed head-strong. And reckless. I don’t think she was willfully so. She was one of those people that don’t believe anything bad could ever happen to her. Maybe it came from being raised in luxury as the only daughter of the Head of a House. Or maybe she was born that way. I don’t know. But she was right about one thing, she really was safe most of the time.
“That ‘element’ that Florian was worried about? Typical kids, who maybe got into a little too much wine, or laughed when their elders thought they should be solemn. Like I say, typical kids. And here I was, much older, and with a reputation. I tried to stay out of the way, blend in to the background. I wanted to give her space.”
He paused and stared out the window again.
“But that’s not what she wanted, was it?” Lacy said, her voice low and gentle.
“No. As it turned out, it wasn’t. Celia was beautiful, a fact that I tried very hard to ignore. She was a kid. Or at least that’s what I kept telling myself. For you, she would have been older than anyone alive here on this earth. Much older. But for us, she was still young.
“She was also smart, and funny, and full of life. We grew closer, which I guess is no surprise. How many stories have been told about that? She begged me to teach her how to fight, to use a sword, and to track a foe through the Greenweald. I didn’t want to at first. She was the daughter of a Head of House, and her lot in life would be to take on that role herself one day. She more needed to be taught how to dance, and finances, and…well, all the things that it takes to run a House. Don’t ask me about that stuff.”
“None of that for you, huh?” Lacy said.
“No, that wasn’t my role. I was there to support Jediah and Towering Oaks, but never to run it. It wasn’t my place.”
“Your world seems almost feudal.”
“I guess in some ways, it is. We’ve lived like that for so long that I wouldn’t know any other way. But, one can work their way up. You can start as a simple field worker and through hard work, become almost anything else.”
“But not a Head of House,” Lacy said.
“No, probably not. It’s not unheard of, but very rare. That position has pretty much become hereditary.”
“Got it. So, back to Celia. She got her hooks into you pretty good, huh?”
“She did,” Solomon laughed. “She did, indeed. I taught her to fight and anything else she asked of me. The day came when she stumbled as we sparred, fell into my arms, and then, well…”
“I get it,” Lacy interrupted. “I don’t need details, thanks. But I’m also willing to bet that ‘stumble’ was no accident.”
“No, probably not. As I said, Celia was both smart and headstrong. We tried to hide this new facet of our relationship, of course, but that never works, and it wasn’t long before Florian found out. He was furious, as I would have expected him to be. He demanded that Celia and I refrain from seeing each other, and that Jediah assign someone else to watch over her, which he did.
“It didn’t matter. We found ways to be with each other. Her new bodyguard was good, but, I was me. I knew how to slip away from him, avoid being seen, and steal moments with Celia. It was exciting, and dangerous, and we loved every minute of it.”
He stopped again, his face turned toward the window. They were getting close to Lacy’s home.
“Solomon,” she said. “It’s okay if you don’t want to say anymore. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pried.”
“No, it’s fine. It feels good to talk about it somehow. It’s just that now that I remember, I realize that this all happened such a short time ago.
“We went swimming. Such a simple, innocent activity, right? I had gotten us away from Whispering Pines, and took us deep into the Greenweald, to a place that I knew. I used every trick that I had to keep her bodyguard from following, and I expected that we would be alone for hours. The pool we came to was deep and clear, and looked so cool and inviting. We stripped off our clothes, and dove in.
“It was an ideal moment, like one of those that poets write about. Did you ever have one of those? We swam, and laughed, splashed, and made love. I had never been so happy in my life.”
He stopped again. Lacy glanced over and saw him swallow hard, but this time, she stayed quiet.
“Then, I felt it. Something grabbed my ankle, like a cold hand, and yanked me under. I yelped, swallowed water, and came up sputtering. Whatever it was, it had let me go. Celia looked at me, a laugh beginning, and then she was gone. One moment, I was looking at her, and the next, she was pulled under the water.
“I dove, deep. Deeper than that pool had any business being. I saw her, struggling against something that was pulling her down. I reached her, grabbed her arms and pulled as hard as I could. Whatever it was, it pulled against me, and I was afraid that I’d pull her arms right off, but I held on. The thing dragged her down anyway, and me with her.”
He stopped, sighed and continued with a hitch in his voice.
“I saw it. When her air ran out. The bubbles came out of her mouth, rising through the dark water. Her eyes closed, it looked like she tried to scream. But I still held on, being dragged down too. I was going with her, wherever it was. Then, I couldn’t hold on any longer. My chest ached and against my will, I opened my mouth to draw a breath. The water rushed in, and it hurt, so badly. I’m sure I tried to scream too.
“The next thing I knew, I was lying at the side of the pool. My throat hurt like it was on fire, and I could hardly catch my breath. But I dove back into that pool, determined to be with her. I found the bottom only a couple of feet below where I could stand. Muck and mud, the occasional fish swimming past. I dove over and over, searching every inch for some deeper section, some passage that led further down. But there was nothing. Whatever it was, whatever water spirit had taken Celia, it had closed the door behind it.”
“Why did it let you go?” Lacy asked.
“I have no idea. Maybe it was cruel. Maybe I didn’t taste good. Who knows?”
“And for that, they banished you? But it wasn’t your fault!”
“It was. I failed her, when she needed me the most. And, had I obeyed orders, she never would have been at that pool in the first place.”
Lacy fell silent. She didn’t want to admit it, but Solomon had a point. She turned into her driveway, the lights picking out the trees as she drove up the hill toward her house.
Daisy was sitting in the driveway, tongue lolling out of her mouth, waiting patiently for them. She stood and barked once, as they pulled in.
“Hey,” Solomon said, all trace of sadness gone from his voice. “There she is! Told you she’d be okay.”
“Yeah, you did,” Lacy said, as Solomon climbed out of the car. She watched as he and Daisy ran to each other. The dog jumped up, tackling him, and they fell to the ground, roughhousing, and Solomon laughing.
CHAPTER 16
Thaddeus rode silently behind Shireen and Orlando. He knew what they thought of him, but that was fine. Let them think that he was a sneak and a serpent. He served his house, and Florian, with honor, and did the things that were asked of him. Just because he wasn’t a soldier, didn’t make him any less.
Still, he had to admit to a certain degree of envy when he regarded the two of them. They held themselves straight and alert in the saddle, ready for action at a moment’s notice, even here in the heart of the
Greenweald, where they should be perfectly safe. Considering where they were headed and why, Thaddeus was glad of that. It wasn’t that he was any slouch himself, and had a fair amount of magical aptitude, but he preferred to know what he was up against first. Better to be able to prepare. If that somehow made him a snake, then so be it, but he saw no difference between what he did, and what the scouts of Towering Oaks did. Information was information, no matter how it was collected.
“What do you think we’ll find?” he asked, more to see what the two would say than out of any expectation that they would know.
“Death,” Shireen answered immediately. She didn’t so much as glance back at Thaddeus.
“What? The whole House? Come now. Rustling Elms is a minor house, but still, they’re not helpless.”
He saw Shireen glance at Orlando, who sighed, and slowed his horse’s pace so that he dropped back next to Thaddeus.
“Were you listening to us at all? Back at Florian’s? We told you both what we had encountered. Did you think we were making it up?”
“No, I’m sure you weren’t. But a few dead Hairy Men doesn’t equal a whole House of the Folk being wiped out.”
“It wasn’t only the Hairy Men. It was what we felt on the way back, also.”
“Yes, but don’t you think…”
“What?” Orlando’s voice had grown cold.
“I mean no offense. Seeing what you did, I mean, it would have upset me too. But isn’t it possible that what you felt was somewhat…magnified, maybe...by what you had seen?”
Orlando turned his attention back to the path that led through the trees. “Possibly,” he said after a moment. “Don’t think that I hadn’t considered the possibility. You haven’t fought them, so you wouldn’t know, but the Hairy Men aren’t push overs. They’re fierce fighters, and they seem to have no fear. The ones we saw? They were terrified before they died. So yes, it was possible that seeing that played into how we felt those nights.”
“No,” Shireen said from in front of them. She still hadn’t turned to look at him, but Thaddeus knew that she had been listening. “It didn’t. It was disturbing seeing those Hairy Men like that, sure. But what we felt those nights was real. Don’t downplay it, Orlando.”
“I’m not,” Orlando replied. “You didn’t let me finish. The thing is, Thaddeus, that I have thought about that, quite a bit. That dread that we felt was real, and finding out that it was probably a Soul Gaunt confirms it, doesn’t it?”
“Well, finding out that it was a Soul Gaunt is still up in the air if you ask me. I know you feel that it was, and I’m not disparaging that, but I have a hard time believing that a child’s tale has come to life.”
“I can understand that. It never even occurred to either of us that that’s what we were facing. But there is one thing to consider.”
“And what’s that?” Thaddeus asked.
“Florian’s reaction. He didn’t seem overly surprised to hear that one was real, only that it had come into the Greenweald.”
Thaddeus had to pause. Orlando was right. Florian hadn’t seemed at all surprised, and had even mocked Thaddeus's own reaction to the news. He knew that Florian was privy to information, as Head of House, that he himself wasn’t, but still, he would have thought that his cousin would have told him of something like that.
“Yeah,” Orlando said. “It’s something to think about. Steel yourself, Thaddeus. We’ll be there shortly.”
He clucked at his horse and moved ahead to ride next to Shireen again, leaving Thaddeus alone with his thoughts. Suddenly, the Greenweald seemed a little darker and less safe than it had only a few moments before.
An hour later, they came to House Rustling Elms. It was more closely laid out to Thaddeus’s own House, then to Towering Oaks. Rustling Elms wasn’t known for anything in particular. Merchants, who made smart trades and had more contact with those outside of the Greenweald than most, they were also one of the younger Houses. Or at least they had been.
The first body they found lay outside of the compound. A young man, who had obviously been fleeing, and been cut down from behind. Orlando and Shireen dismounted, leading their horses slowly over to the dead man. Thaddeus told himself to climb down from his horse also, but found that his body didn’t want to obey.
Shamed by his own lack of nerve, he called out. “What do you think? Sword or knife?” It was an inane question, and his voice came out much louder than he had intended.
“Quiet, you fool,” hissed Shireen. “If you want to see, climb down here and look for yourself. Otherwise, keep your mouth shut and let us work.”
Thaddeus saw Orlando gently place a hand on Shireen’s arm and shake his head. He stood and walked over to Thaddeus. “There’s no shame if you want to stay out here. This isn’t going to be pretty. Shireen and I, we’ve seen things before. Not like this, maybe, but enough. But that’s not your role.”
He knew that Orlando meant it kindly, but his words stirred up resentment in Thaddeus. He wasn’t some coward to be molly-coddled and pacified. His cousin, the Head of his House, had ordered him to accompany them so that he would have an account of what had happened that he could trust. Thaddeus wouldn’t let that trust be in vain.
He swung out of the saddle, not replying to Orlando, and walked over to look at the body. He swallowed hard as he felt his gorge rise. The young man had been split open, and the bone of his spine showed clearly. Organs trailed out of the cavity, as if something had sliced him open, then reached in and pulled as the man tried to run. The sweat broke out on Thaddeus’s brow, but he forced himself to look, then turned his gaze to the compound.
There were more bodies. Lots of them, scattered around. The ground inside the compound was soaked with blood, and everywhere that he looked he saw nothing but death. Shireen’s prediction of what they would find had come true with a vengeance.
He wiped the sweat from his brow and followed the two scouts as they slowly walked deeper into the compound, leaving their horses tethered outside, away from the young man’s body. Everywhere that Thaddeus looked, there were dead Folk. Most looked as if they had been savagely attacked, although every so often, they would encounter a body with no marks on it at all, but still very much dead.
“Like we saw up north,” Shireen said, standing up after she had squatted next to a middle-aged woman, who was propped up against the low wall of a garden, her sightless eyes staring at nothing, and a terrible expression of fear frozen on her face. “It’s like she sat here and died of fright.”
“Or something took her,” Thaddeus said, his own voice sounding hollow in his ears.
“What do you mean?” Orlando asked.
“The stories, surely you remember. They’re called Soul Gaunts because that’s what they do, right? They take your soul. Like hers.” He indicated the woman in front of them with a quick nod, then turned away. But no matter where he looked, death waited.
“Why though?” Shireen said. “Why would it take one person’s soul, but cut down others? It doesn’t make sense.”
“It was hungry,” Thaddeus said, and was horrified to hear a slight giggle issue from his mouth. “I’m sorry. It’s not funny. I just don’t…I can’t…”
Orlando put a hand on his shoulder. “No one thinks you’re taking this lightly. What do you mean it was hungry, though?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Why else would one take a soul? It must be feeding on it. Maybe this one was the last victim, so it could take its time with her.”
He half turned his head so that he could see the woman, without looking fully at her. “There,” he said. “Look at the sides of her head. Her hair.”
Orlando squatted down near the body again, and gently touched the hair near her temples. The woman had been blonde, but there, and only there, her hair had turned white. “Ah, I missed that. Good eyes, Thaddeus. But what does it mean?”
“I have no idea,” he responded. “But I’m willing to bet you’ll find more marks like that if you look for them.”
/> The two scouts looked at each other and then started walking slowly again, spreading out, but staying within sight of each other. Their hands were never far from their sword hilts, and as much as he felt like running from the place, Thaddeus followed along.
“Here’s another,” Shireen said, after a few moments. “No wounds, but what almost looks like frozen spots on each side of his head.”
The continued to search, finding more of the same as they moved deeper into the compound. By the time they were approaching the central tree that held the main domicile of House Rustling Elms, they had found several more.
Thaddeus had found the most recent himself, and was examining the marks on the young boy’s head when a thought occurred to him. “Why would one Soul Gaunt need to feed this much? If that were so, then wouldn’t we have known about them well before this?”
There was no response from either Shireen or Orlando. He looked up, expecting that they had moved on and hadn’t heard his question. Instead, they were standing only a few paces away, their faces blank as they looked at the center of the Rustling Elms compound.
“What is it?” he said, standing and moving next to them.
Then, he followed their gaze, and saw what had stopped them so completely. The tree in front of them was a giant, as were all central trees in Greenweald compounds. It had been lovingly tended to and gently shaped over the course of years, if not centuries. While it didn’t have the size and sense of immense age of some of the trees from the older Houses, it still was a magnificent specimen.
Or at least it had been. Now, it was dying, and seemed to get worse as they watched. The bark, normally a gray color, was turning black, and peeling off. Fungus was growing on the trunk and mushrooms sprouted from the ground around it. The leaves were curling, and falling in great drifts that piled against the base.
The doors were firmly shut, and the windows had all been shuttered, so that there was no way to see to the inside. Thaddeus swore that he could see a shiver go through the tree, and his heart broke to see such a wonderful thing be so devastated.
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