by K. A. M'Lady
“So that’s why you stuck Kieran as my personal prisoner?” I looked at Kieran, but his face showed nothing. Big surprise there. He apparently already knew all of this.
“Yes. Yes,” he said with a wave of his hand.
“So what exactly is it that you want, Drae? What is it that the Court expects of us?”
“We need the two of you to find out who is behind this.” He made it sound so simple, so reasonable as he sat in my rainbow throw-up chair like we owed him. Owed the Court our service. Our fealty.
“Why us? Why not have one of your Shadows scurry about for you?” I asked, wondering how I got stuck doing their dirty work. The Court didn’t need me; the Shadows could do it just as well. The Shadows were the condemned souls who had the unfortunate mistake of dying before they’d paid their debt to the Court. Until their debt to our society was repaid, their soul was stuck in servitude of the Court as a Shadow.
Drae looked at me blankly, his dark eyes filled with knowledge that I would never know or understand and stated simply, “Because you are chosen.”
“That’s it,” I said, fury rising from a pit deep inside my belly. “Get out!” I yelled, my voice echoing through the room. I’d had enough of this shit. First Flec, and now Xavier. Not bloody fucking likely. Chosen, my ass.
“What?” he said, his voice rising with panic and disbelief. “What do you mean? You can’t throw me out!”
“I can. And I am,” I said taking a step towards him.
“You must help us, Rihker. We are depending on you.” He stumbled from the chair and backpedaled towards the door. “Gimlit, speak to her. She must seek out the Wanderling. She must learn the truth. Tell her, Gimlit.” His voice was pitched high in his shock, anxious as he scrambled for the door.
I turned towards Gimlit, my anger boiling beneath my skin.
“I’m afraid, Xavier, that it is indeed time for you to depart,” Gimlit wisely advised.
“Fine, but this is not over, Rihker,” he said as I slammed the door in his face.
I turned and stared at the room in general, pissed beyond measure. I knew my eyes had bled to solid red, I could feel them burning as my anger pulsed like liquid fire in my veins. “What the fuck is a Wanderling?” I yelled.
The reveries of ruins asked: “Will no
One come?” The skeletons of trees inquired:
“And who are you, forever on the go?”
From In the fog by Giovanni Pascoli
Translated from the Italian by Geoffrey Brock
Chapter Sixteen
The night was alive with a million sounds and scents, each one coursing through my veins like tiny electrical currents. I could feel the moon riding the dark sky like a genie on its magic carpet of black, each star a dancing burst of light flickering at his passing.
The smell of the earth, rich and untouched, filled my senses. The musty aroma of peat moss, wild mushrooms and clover filled the night; the late summer breeze strolling through the arms of overhung birch and maples; stirring the heavy limbs and soft halo of green leaf with its gentle trailing wind.
We were traipsing through Rembley Forest in search of the missing link, Big Foot and the mysterious Wanderling. The brush was thick in the deepest part of the woods, the fallen leaves from last autumn still buried beneath the bramble and bracken of the unused paths.
We were following the Werewolves: me, Kieran, Mercy and Dragon. I was really thrilled that Mercy had shown up after Drae had left. Seeing her eat people’s hearts, despite everything that had happened to her, just did nothing for me. I tried to find the pity I felt for her briefly while I was trying to set her free. But seeing her restored to her perfect, beautiful self--well, it was a bit difficult, to say the least. I mean hello, she ate her victims.
Then again, so did the Weres, so why did I quibble? Maybe it was the exterior packaging. I just did not expect something so ethereal to do so much collateral damage.
I guess it was the same mistake that was often made with me. Just because the packaging is small, feminine and has a nice exterior doesn’t mean it won’t kill you.
Lucky for me, I recognized Mercy for what she was: a vindictive, merciless bitch. But I guess if it works, you might as well use the packaging the Prophets gave you.
We spent about an hour trudging through what seemed an uncharted wasteland of the deep, dark forest. I kept expecting Sasquach to jump out at me and say, “Ah ha! Gotcha!” But it never happened. This goose chase of the mysterious, all knowing Wanderling was getting on my nerves.
I mean, by the time I finally pried out of Gimlit what the hell it, she, whatever, the almighty omnipresent creature was, I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of wasting my entire night in search of some weirdo witch with the power to tell me my future. Because in a nutshell, that is what Gimlit said she would do.
Supposedly the Wanderlings were the Keepers of the Way. In the time beyond our Realm when our people were once united and the old gods had originally given out our Tells, the Wanderlings were the creatures that would account for every power and would keep the records in our great book--The Tablet of the Way. As time passed, so too did the belief in the Wanderlings. Eventually they fell into obscurity. But that isn’t to say that Others did not receive their Tells.
We still earned our powers. We just didn’t learn them as our ancestors did--in great magical academies under the close scrutiny of the Wanderlings. Nor did we receive their wise teachings and the guidance to hone them properly.
No, we were the unfortunate, the frazzled few of the forest, the leftover relics of a by-gone era. We poor saps got ours haphazardly. When the gods deemed it necessary to bequeath us with our gifts.
It felt more like a smack upside the head with a sledgehammer, as a huge amount of uncontrolled electricity flowed about the universe unchecked. Sometimes our powers turned on us in our inexperience. And sometimes innocents got hurt. Nice little present to receive when you least expected it.
It usually happened at the most inopportune moment. Imagine getting one while having sex. Although it’s never happened to me personally, I have heard some stories.
Gimlit said that it is written in the Tablet each creature’s one true Tell. To find it is to come into all of your powers. But you have to find the Tablet first. And Others have been searching for this ancient text throughout our long history.
Seemed like yet another wild goose chase to me, or just one more tale from fairyland. And we all know what good storytellers they are. But I couldn’t dissuade Gimlit from sending me on this fool’s errand. So, I was out in the middle of Butt-Fuck Elvin land with my troupe of misbegotten monsters tracking a creature as elusive as a leprechaun’s gold.
We were spread out pretty thin through the thick mass of maple and elm trees, ash and elders. Some of the trees were so old that they seemed to have an aura all their own; slightly glowing in the pale light of the moon.
The wolves took the lead in search of a hut or cave dwelling the creature could call home. Kieran kept pace with me and stayed within touching distance. Dragon wasn’t far from his heels. We had Mercy covering our ass. Let’s just hope she wasn’t hungry. I really didn’t want her taking a bite out of mine.
For once Kieran didn’t have a suit on, but I thought his attire was still a bit much for traipsing through the forest. It was about eighty degrees out despite the darkness, and the humidity was just as thick. I thought he had to be dying in his black leather pants and boots. But his black silk shirt didn’t even have a wrinkle or a drop of sweat anywhere. I guess if you’re a dead guy, the temperature has no affect on you. Must be nice to wake up and not have to worry about the weather screwing up your ensemble.
Me, I was roasting. I’d changed into a short black mini skirt, another tank top and my short-waisted leather jacket. Probably not the best ‘wander through the woods’ outfit either, but at least I didn’t have sweat pooling behind my knees.
We roamed around aimlessly for about twenty minutes more before I called a halt to thi
s fiasco. “This is ridiculous,” I told Kieran as the four of us stopped beneath the low overhanging boughs of an old ash tree.
“I agree with her, Kieran. What the hell are we doing out here?” Dragon asked.
“It is important to your Ogre that we find this creature. What is it you would have us do, Rihker?” Kieran asked, his eyes serious as he took in the night around us.
I sighed as I leaned against the rough bark of the tree. A voice, as deep as the darkest pit in the earth rolled through my mind saying, What is it you seek, young one?
I yipped and jumped away from the tree.
It was a total girl response and I hated that I had done it, but I wasn’t expecting to hear him speak to me. The tree, that is. Sometimes I forgot that they did that.
Kieran grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. Mercy literally growled and hunched and went into goblin mode--I really hated when she did that. It just fucking creeped me out.
“What the hell was that, lass?” Kieran asked, clutching me against him as he looked out into the night, scanning the darkness with his senses.
“You heard that?” I asked skeptically. There was no way he heard that. No one had ever heard the trees but me.
“Aye, I heard it. Like a dark whisper through your mind.”
“It was the tree,” I said. He stared at me hard, his brow creasing in disbelief.
“It spoke to you?”
“The trees always speak to me when I touch them. I just wasn’t expecting it.”
“And what do they say to you?” he asked, cocking his head.
“Whatever I ask,” I shrugged. “It’s one of my Tells,” I said, as if that explained everything.
“And can the trees tell us where to find this Wanderling?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. But whatever I ask of them, there is always a boon to be repaid.”
“What sort of boon does a tree request?” he asked, truly interested.
No one had ever really believed me before about my conversations with the trees. But the trees really did know so many things. They were always present, ever-watchful creatures; beautiful and majestic; colorful, strong and pure. Their beauty lingered throughout time. Yet so many people took them for granted.
“Well, that depends on the tree.”
“Then let us see what this one seeks,” he said as he nodded towards the ash.
It was a very large tree: as wide around as Kieran was tall. Its bark was gray with age and worn from the elements. It had a crown full of leaves and a galley of winding branches; each one a twisted path into the darkness of the green land above.
Hesitantly, I stepped back towards the dark bark and gingerly laid my palms flat against its coat. Closing my eyes, I could almost feel the tree sigh against my hands.
So, young one, I have not scared you off, then? it asked, its deep voice gentle through my mind like a windless summer eve.
No, old one. Not as yet, I said, intrigued by the richness of his voice.
And does the young one have a name that I might address her so?
I am Rihker Tennai--of the Ivy Tenna-ai, I replied, keeping my voice pleasant, respectful.
Ah, a child of the forest, he said, and I could hear the smile reflected in his response. Tell me, Rihker Tennai, child of the forest--What is it you seek of Ashlan?
I seek the Wanderling.
I could hear him grunt and some other unintelligible words were muttered, possibly to other trees, but I wasn’t certain. The great crown of leaves overhead shook as if by the force of the wind, sending birds scattering from deep within his branches.
You seek a great sum of Ashlan, he finally replied after the wind settled and stray leaves drifted to the ground around us.
Kieran watched me closely and I could tell he was picking up every word that our new friend was transmitting to me. He made no move to have me withdraw from the conversation, so I figured everything was fine.
That is, until two of Ashlan’s great limbs swept downward and scooped me up from the ground. One second my feet were planted on terra-firma, my hands resting on the bark of the tree, and the next I’ve got branches wrapped around me and I’m hurtling towards the tree top, nothing but leaves and sky whooshing by my face.
What the hell are you doing? I yelled the words in my mind, making certain my anger was coming across to my tree friend. The night whooshed by me in a swirl of black with a haze of green surrounding it as the ground was flung away from me. All I could see as I was propelled heavenward like a swatted fly was the thickness of fauna as I was thrust into the center of the tree.
You are bound to the Death Stalker, and what I seek in a boon he may not freely wish for you to give, he said as my motion suddenly halted.
What the hell are you blathering about? I asked, clenching my teeth as I jerked to a sudden stop. I was at least a hundred and fifty feet off the ground, sequestered somewhere deep in the middle of the tree. To say I was pissed off didn’t even begin to sum it up as my stomach finally heaved and lurched back into its rightful place in my midsection.
My arms and legs were quickly stretched out and away from my body as branches and leaves were wrapped around my wrists and ankles. Tiny threadlike branches twisted and spun like barbed wire, weaving to and fro as I watched in astonishment; each movement wrapping green rope around my limbs to keep me in place like a prisoner, like a moth in this web of green despair.
I will give you the information you seek for the Wanderling, he said. But the boon I require is the pleasure of your flesh.
I lay there in the lush bed of the tree for a good solid minute, blinking, while I tried to wrap my mind around that one.
Come again? I finally said when I still couldn’t quite grasp what it was Ashlan was requiring of me. For one thing, were we talking flesh, as in take it out of my hide? Or was he talking flesh? Because if he was talking the latter, I just didn’t see how that probability was even possible. I mean, just the logistics of it all…
It has been some time, this is true, but your kind has offered up their flesh to us for hundreds of years. It is not so great a boon. The way he off-handedly said it was quite surprising, since he’d just whisked me away from Kieran so that he could even request this of me--Kieran being a Death Stalker and all. And how did he know I was tied to him in the first place?
Only one way to find out, I guess.
Ashlan, how did you know I’m tied to the Death Stalker? I asked as I looked out at the glimmer of flashing stars through the opening in the canvas. The stillness of the night around me was soothing from this far above humanity. There was a tranquility to be found in such lofty heights. A kind of ‘see the world in a whole new perspective and breathe it into your pores’ sort of feeling. Or maybe it was just me.
I can hear him, like a whisper of a bee fleeing from the sun, in the corners of your mind. He is drawn to your Darkness and to your Light. You are an earthbound thing such as he, but the Light lives within you, and he wanders in your mind searching for it, yearning to warm his body by your Light’s soft glow.
Wow! See, the trees really do know things. I was amazed that he’d picked up that much information just from me touching him. Just from my two blood exchanges with Kieran. It made me wonder what that final link to Kieran would do to me.
And now my boon, he said, and his voice was almost excited at the prospect.
But you haven’t told me what I seek.
My boon first, he said and the limbs holding me began to shuffle, the leaves quaking in the darkness.
No, Ashlan, the information first. How am I to know you would not partake of my flesh and see me on my way? I’m sorry, but this Pixie is not that easy.
My tree grunted through my mind, clearly annoyed that I was not just giving in to his demands. Typical man--wanted it all and didn’t want to hold to his end of the bargain.
As you wish, then. You will find the Wanderling beyond the great stone near the reversed water’s edge.
What? What the fuck is
that? I agreed to your demand and offered you my flesh and you give me a riddle? He had to be kidding.
“You are of the earth, Pixie. Seek and you will find. You will find the Way,” he said with a chuckle.
I wanted to scream in annoyance just then, but it’s a little hard when your clothes are being removed by the gliding skin of green-leafed hands. My wrists were unwound so quickly that it didn’t even register until my arms were above my head and my jacket and shirt were just suddenly gone.
I was quickly pulled backwards into a soft bed of leaves and my wrists were once again recoiled with the tiny vines of wire, my breasts naked to the sky above. Then my ankles were released and thicker limbs of branches deftly pushed my skirt and panties down past my knees, over my boots and took them off somewhere into the trees.
I better get those back! I said none too gently as my legs were once again spread apart and wound at the ankles. I was completely naked: a willing prisoner.
I promise to make this well worth your sacrifice, Ashlan said as a heavy branch slowly moved up through the tree towards me.
Soft green leaves gently caressed the length of my legs, starting at my calf and slowly made their way up and around my knees. Each touch was like a warm kiss to the flesh. Other smaller vines moved in and spread their way along my arms and shoulders, brushing and stroking every delicate place that most leave untouched on their journey.
It was intriguing and arousing. I could hear Ashlan through my mind like a lover whispering, Ah, yes. So soft is the flesh. You are but mine for this time, Rihker. Mine.
Thin branches grazed the underside of my breasts and down along the sides of my waist, tickling me with the ease and lightness of their stroke. Two large leaves, like a man’s hands, cupped my breasts, now fully aroused, and brushed across my tightened nipples, causing things low and deep inside me to constrict.
