Sleeper Of The Wildwood Fugue (Book 7)

by Charles E Yallowitz

  “Actually, I merely wanted to point out that griffin mating rituals are more simplistic than yours,” the spirit beast says with a laugh that slips from Luke’s mouth. “I do not understand the situation you are in. I know your heart is being torn and the longer you wait, the worse it will be.”

  “I know.”

  “I will let you get some sleep instead of the meditation.”

  The exhaustion hits Luke within seconds and he stumbles to the bed, yawning as wide as he can without dislocating his jaw. He slips into the bed and puts Kira’s arm over him before swiftly falling asleep. With his back to the heiress, he never notices that her eyes are open or picks up the weak stuttering of her crumbling heart.

  8

  “I have to admit something, Nyx,” Dariana says as she trudges up the dune. Sand is sticking to her sweaty face even with the protection of her hooded cloak. “This is the worst beginning adventure I’ve ever had since becoming a champion. Even being dragged into a swamp full of acidic leeches was more tolerable than this.”

  “It isn’t that bad,” the caster says from the top of the dune. She reaches down to help her exhausted friend, sending a cooling spell through Dariana’s body. “We made it through the night and we’ll be back in Bor’daruk before the sun is at its peak. I mean, we couldn’t have been thrown that far.”

  With a tired groan, the silver-haired woman falls to her knees and gasps for air. Dariana can no longer ignore her straining muscles that desperately want water. Fumbling with her magic pouch, she pulls a waterskin out and takes a few sips of the liquid that tastes like leather. She struggles to stand and offers it to Nyx, who takes a quick drink. Dariana notices that the half-elf’s lips are cracked and her skin is showing signs of being sunburnt. She can only imagine how terrible she looks considering it has been years since she was in such brutal conditions. Still, the tired woman knows she has survived worse and takes the cloak off to hand it to the suffering caster.

  “Take this back, Nyx. I can use something from my bag as an umbrella or a hat.”

  “You’re fairer skinned than me, so you need it more,” the caster states, pushing the cloak away. “I’m only tired from keeping us invisible all night. That kind of magic is still a challenge for me, especially when maintaining a waking sleep on myself.”

  “I don’t see how your skin reddening and your lower lip starting to bleed is caused by your magic,” Dariana calmly argues. She holds the cloak out and mentally coaxes her friend to put it on, masking the garment’s presence from her. “I’m sorry, but it has to be done.”

  Nyx wonders at the mysterious apology for a few minutes before she realizes what has happened. Unable to see or feel the cloak, she storms down the dune and swats at where she thinks the hood would be. Irrational from her thirst and the heat, the caster coats her body in fire and alters the spell to burn the cloak. A short trail of flames fans out behind her as she victoriously grins at Dariana, but she panics when her sweat-stained shirt ignites. By the time the fire is out, Nyx has lost most of the back of her favorite top and the front is covered in smoking holes.

  “Your rage is a problem when you’re under duress,” Dariana states while she approaches the muttering half-elf. “We should find a place to rest and wait out the sun. Luke bought me a tent, which will shield us from exposure. I’m not sure what it will do about the heat.”

  “My head feels funny,” Nyx says, rubbing her bloodshot eyes. A surge of frustration rolls through her mind and she hurls a fireball at a distant dune, turning it to glass. “It’s like there’s a needle in my brain that’s making my mind itch. Driving me nuts and making me want to lash out at everything that angers me. It took a lot of willpower to avoid attacking you when I realized what you did with the cloak.”

  “Does your temper cause you to overuse your magic?”

  “I might overreact when angry, but I’ve improved since I met Luke and the others.”

  “But it’s still your main emotional trigger.”

  “I’d like to think defiance is the root of my power.”

  “So it’s your negative emotional trigger.”

  “Sort of.”

  Dariana rolls her eyes and gently touches the sides of Nyx’s head, her thumbs rubbing the other woman’s temples. When she tries to step into the half-elf’s mind, she is shoved away by a panicky force. The faint sound of gnashing teeth and hissing makes Nyx jump even though it is more of a sensation than actual noise. Dariana calms her by taking a vivid childhood memory and using it to give her friend a burst of happiness. Again, the telepath circles the caster’s thoughts and pokes at the strange barrier that is keeping her out. She sees a flicker of movement on the edge of her vision and follows the hazy, wiggling form until it disappears into the astral shadows. Confident that she knows what the problem is, Dariana breaks contact and tenderly holds Nyx by the shoulders.

  “The good news is that I found a way to get us out of the sun and heat,” she announces with a crooked smile. Licking her lips, she shifts her gaze to the distant dunes that seem to go on forever. “The bad news is that you have a worm.”

  “A worm!” Nyx yells, her hair blasting lightning into the sky. “Where is it? Can you get it out without opening me up? Where did it come from?”

  “Calm down. It’s an aura worm and it probably got into you while you were constantly casting last night,” Dariana says in a soft voice. She takes another drink of water and waits for the half-elf to stop hurling spells at the sky. “They infect anyone with magic and cause the host to overreact to their most sensitive trigger. For example, making your already short temper to become even shorter. When you cast a spell, the aura worm absorbs some of the energy you release. You’ll notice that your spells aren’t as shiny as they normally are. I’ll admit that having one inside a channeler is very dangerous. If you enter a city like this, you’ll probably destroy it before anyone can stop you.”

  Nyx backs away and sends force bolts in every direction, narrowly missing Dariana with three of them. “Get it out!”

  “Not just yet. We can use it to find an oasis or a city, Nyx,” she whispers, reaching her mind out and thinning it out to slip through the barrier. “If we make the environment hostile, it will jump to me and I can contain it. My mind and powers won’t give it as good a meal and it can’t get out without my permission. I can make it guide us in return for its freedom.”

  “Won’t it do something to your negative trigger?”

  “Yes, so you will have to carry me. The one time I got an aura worm, it made me very depressed and I ate an entire bakery. The goods, not the actual store and owners,” Dariana answers, steeling her nerves for what she has to do. “Now I need to unlock depressing memories in your mind. This will make your psyche sour and gloomy, which the aura worm will find suffocating. I apologize for this.”

  Nyx crosses her arms behind her back as her mind fills with dark memories. Visions of fellow apprentices attempting dangerous spells and exploding appear with vivid clarity. The sensation of dying goblins strikes her heart like a spear and it is quickly followed by the memory of being orphaned. Until today, she never knew her mind remembered the heat from her burning village or the sight of her mother charging at the shadowy demons. Nyx collapses to her knees and leans forward until her forehead is pressed to the hot sand. Tears stream down her face, the drops sparking with lightning when they hit the ground. With a loud snap, her mind is cleared of despair and the itching discomfort from the aura worm is gone.

  “I got you,” Nyx gasps, leaping to her feet and catching Dariana. “Which way do we go?”

  The silver-haired woman weeps and wails, emphatically pointing to the east. The caster pulls a blanket out of her satchel and drapes it over Dariana. Getting under the makeshift cloak, she gets her tall friend onto her back and magically increases her strength. She trudges through the sand, depending entirely on Dariana and the aura worm’s directions. The heat of the sun seeps through the lightweight blanket, which makes it a long and torturous jo
urney. By the end of the third hour, Nyx is thinking only of how much she misses Sari randomly dousing her with ice water.

  *****

  The midday sun and heat is unbearable, driving the pair to their knees when they crest another dune. Dariana twitches and groans as the aura worm thrashes inside her head, excited that it will soon be free. With stiff muscles, Nyx shakes the blanket off and stares at the sight before them. A rocky outcropping juts out of the bottom of the dune and hangs over a beautiful lake, the water a mesmerizing shade of blue. Several small trees sit at the edge of the water, their roots arching out of the shallows. The women can hear a gurgling stream, but it is hidden from view by the nearby rocks. A herd of red-horned antelope drink at the far end of the lake, but only the largest one watches as the adventurers stagger into the oasis. They collapse on the thick grass that grows around the lake and Nyx reaches out to take Dariana’s hand.

  “We made it,” the caster whispers, enjoying the touch of soft blades on her skin. The tickling on her belly reminds her of the badly damaged shirt she is wearing. “How are you feeling?”

  Dariana curls onto her side and wretches, startling the antelope enough that they bound into the desert. A glowing worm the length of her pinky finger squirms out of her mouth, dragging behind a line of prismatic ooze that evaporates in the heat. The orange parasite burrows into the ground as Dariana relaxes and clears her head of the despair she has been trapped in for most of the day. Feeling her strength return, she rolls onto her back and takes her shoes off. A sigh of bliss rises from her dry throat as her feet are caressed by the grass.

  “I feel weak and dirty,” Dariana says in a hoarse voice. “I’m hungry too.”

  Nyx sits up and peels her battered boots off, grimacing at the look of her sand-caked toes and heels. With her stomach rumbling, she pulls out a few hard biscuits and a handful of dried fruit from her bag. She gives half of the food to Dariana who devours the meal and washes it down with a deep drink from her waterskin. Aching muscles pop and sore joints creak as the pair turn around to watch sunlight dance on the water. Gentle breezes send ripples along the surface, making it appear as if the lake is calling to the exhausted pair.

  “How clean do you think that water is?” Dariana asks with a mouthful of biscuit. She struggles to swallow the bland meal, needing a drink to help wash it down. “I’d hate for us to get other parasites. That is if you want a bath as badly as I do.”

  “I’ve been thinking of it since I saw the water,” Nyx admits with an impish smirk. “I can try to cleanse the water with a purity spell. That’s more holy magic, but casters have variations that involve low level heat spells.”

  “All I sense are animals in the area, so we have privacy.”

  “Are we getting entirely naked?”

  “I assumed we would because we need to get clean.”

  “Together?”

  “Are you uncomfortable around another naked woman?”

  Nyx waves her hand to cast her purification spell while she thinks of how to explain her situation. “No . . . I have a feature I’m embarrassed about. It’s usually hidden by an illusion, but I let it drop last night and never put it back up. Only Sari knows about it and I’m not sure I want other people to know.”

  Dariana touches Nyx’s belly through one of the holes in her shirt. The woman’s fingers touch the exposed scar and she smiles warmly at the half-elf. She pulls her shirt collar down to reveal a scar in the center of her chest. The old injury is a shock of pink against her fair skin that runs for several inches. Desperately wanting that bath, Dariana strips her clothes off and wades into the lake. Her legs bump into small fish as her toes sink into the soft sand that sucks at her soles. She dives under the water to get her face and hair wet, allowing the coolness to energize her. Floating to the surface, she hears Nyx swimming nearby and turns to face the caster.

  “I got my scar from Stephen,” Dariana casually mentions, pouring more water over her dull hair. She scrubs at her tresses, using her reflection to check for her natural shine to return. “It was our first meeting and he didn’t know we were related. He slashed me from bellybutton to throat and I revealed my identity out of desperation. I’m alive because he used his magic to reverse my injury, but he left this scar as a reminder that he could have killed me.”

  “I have a matching one on my back from a through and through,” Nyx says while washing the sand off her face with a cloth. She uses her magic to keep her head above water after having followed the taller woman into the deeper part of the lake. “A Hellfire Elf was after Luke and used me as a message. The arrow ended up being a transformed vampire that we had to kill. That was my first adventure and everything went downhill around the time I got this.”

  “Most first adventures are disasters,” the silver-haired woman points out. She notices her friend blushing and floats closer, turning on her stomach as she nears. “I’m sorry if I make you uncomfortable. I thought you were okay with bathing together. Sari told me that you have shared basins with her in the past.”

  “When we were kids! For the love of Gar the Lore King, that girl seems to forget we’re adults,” the half-elf groans. She briefly dips under the water to scrub off the layer of sand on her legs, gasping for air when she surfaces. “I’m not a prude, but I’m a little self-conscious at times. Sari is so beautiful that it’s hard for me to avoid comparing myself to her. You’re pretty too with your perfect skin, unique hair, and . . . bigger parts.”

  Dariana pauses to compare their bodies, unsure what the half-elf is referring to or why she is upset. “And yet Delvin is smitten by you instead of Sari or myself. You are a channeler, which means there’s something about you that will be seen as enchanting. There’s the scent that attracts potential mates, but it’s also the pedigree. A presence that’s impossible to ignore when you’re within your element, which is magic. Whenever you cast a spell, you are one of the most beautiful creatures in Windemere.”

  “I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I feel beautiful when I’m using my magic. How much do you know about Delvin’s feelings? I know you two aren’t very close.”

  Dariana goes back to floating on her back and closes her eyes, the sloshing water muffling every sound. She lets her mind drift in search of the traces of Delvin’s emotions, hoping to find the perfect words to answer Nyx’s question. It takes a few minutes to battle through the residual passion left by Luke and Sari. She promptly purges the uncomfortable sensations by injecting them into a nearby lizard, which scurries off in search of a mate.

  “I know enough to tell you that your suitor’s calm façade will not be in place while you are away,” she carefully explains. Opening her eyes, she finds Nyx is swimming next to her, their heads bumping. “This is a situation that I shouldn’t get involved in. Delvin doesn’t trust me and will be angry if I overstep my bounds. Besides, he has never hidden his intentions and feelings from you. I believe it’s time for you to focus on your own emotions and make a decision.”

  “I know, but-” Nyx starts to say, stopping when she hears a loud shuffling. The caster stops floating to get a look at the shore, her heart leaping into her throat when she sees the creatures surrounding the lake. “Where did all of those spadix come from? I thought you were keeping an eye or thought out for monsters.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  The shoreline teems with screeching spadix, the scorpion men waving their rusty weapons and pincers. Below their waists, they have eight-legged carapaces with natural armor that is on par with platemail. Deadly tails arch over the muscular creatures and bob in the breeze, a few of the projections being long enough to tap their owners on their hairless heads. A barb-covered spadix picks up Dariana’s clothes and sniffs at the filthy garments. Turning its head toward the figures bobbing in the water, the beast bares its teeth and hisses. Several of its brethren try to enter the water, but scramble back in fear while they stab at the lake.

  “They can’t swim,” Dariana whispers, getting closer to her ally. “You can
pick them off from here until they run away.”

  “Can’t you use your powers to force them away?” Nyx asks, her eyes never leaving the spadix. She fires an acidic arrow from her palm, but she misses due to having to keep herself afloat. “I think I’m too exhausted from the heat and aura worm to fight at full strength. I’m not going to have a lot of luck unless I take my time aiming. Fire spells will heat the water and boil you. Lightning would do the same. Ice would do the opposite. If there are any archers out there, we’re sitting ducks.”

  “They’re too primal for me to do anything. They know what they see and I can’t convince them otherwise,” Dariana says, her head pounding from the attempt. “You’d be surprised how stubborn a beast can be. A creature that thinks about their world is easier to manipulate. I could kill all of them by turning their minds off, but that’s rather . . . I really don’t like doing things like that.”

  “In other words, you’re defenseless.”

  “I could leap out of the lake and fight them with my fists.”

  “Too dangerous.”

  A spadix screeches from behind the women and raises a longbow that it clumsily fires. The arrow plunks into the water several feet away from its targets, but others attempt to shoot a variety of projectiles. Nyx hugs Dariana and puts up a barrier that deflects three well-aimed crossbow bolts. The barrage stops when the spadix run out of ammunition and crouch at the shoreline. They stretch their tails back as far as they can and swing over their heads to send jets of venom into the lake.

  “Spadix can throw their venom!?” Nyx exclaims, strengthening the barrier. Putrid liquid splashes against the shield as the water turns black. “I can’t drop my spell to fight back! It’s the only thing preventing us from getting poisoned.”

  “They do this if they are surrounding a difficult target. The attack will rupture their stingers, which is why they don’t do it often,” Dariana answers, kicking her legs to keep them afloat. “If you propel us into the air, you can throw spells at them from above. Just forget that we’re naked and go.”