by Martha Carr
“Nice to know you’d still charge me.”
Zyno had shrugged. “Keeps us honest. Well, our version of honest anyway. Be back on time. I run a tight business.”
Louie smiled at the memory. Damn asshole of a best friend. Best kind. He rolled over and looked again, counting the number of people moving about the opening to the dig. Miners from a local village digging for gold on their own had come across a cache of ancient artifacts when one of them fell through the bottom of a passage and into what they thought was an old burial site filled with artifacts and a few dead bodies. The miners knew the find was valuable to someone but they were more interested in the gold. Still, just selling the location of the artifacts might be worth something. Pictures of the artifacts appeared online in a bidding war. Somehow word spread… all the way to Louie.
He surveyed the local terrain, wondering if there was time to cross over to the northern side and cut back from behind, finding another way into the mine shaft. Might just make it.
He set out, sliding down a large dune, tracking his way west to make a curving arc back to the dig from behind. The sun beat down on his head, covered by a white cotton cloth, tied down by a thin rope around his forehead. He was a hundred yards from the dig, muttering to himself about the heat and the sand in his shoes when he heard a commotion and gunfire. He did his best to run through the sand, bogging down with each step, sand pouring into his boots. He finally gave up, pulling out his wand and casting a spell, hardening the sand temporarily as he took off at a run.
Louie crested the far end of the tall dune where he was hiding before and saw a flash of bright purple light, ducking in time as a fireball went flying by him, crashing in the sand far behind him. Warning shot. Not aimed at me or it would have found me.
He blinked his eyes, trying to get the sparkling flashes of light to go away so he could focus. “Come on, come one, come on.” He shook his head, getting down low and moving forward. No time to hang back now.
His eyes adjusted and he finally saw the locals scattering away from the dig, leaving only a handful to earn their measly paycheck and stand their ground to protect the artifacts. The corporate hired hands were lined up behind the locals, their fingers on triggers even as they were doing their best to duck down lower.
“Not guns for hire. Good to know. Fireball seems to have scared them. Hey, I know them!” Louie stood up straighter as he spotted Leira and Correk, their arms covered in fiery symbols as Leira unfurled another fireball sending it over the heads of the opposition, singeing the tops of their heads and leaving an acrid smell hanging in the air. Louie heard the whistle of the fireball as it sped off, further into the desert and landed in the sand. “Smart. No way those goons know fireballs magically seek out their intended target. She’s aiming to scare. I like it.”
The men weren’t completely backing down, holding their position in front of the dig. Louie saw his chance and half ran, half slid down the other side of the dune, coming around the far right side of the dig behind the humans. A few of the locals running away passed him as he got closer to the mine. He slid in next to the armed gunmen, smiling at a beefy man with a shaved head. “Hey, how you doing? Modern warfare. A bitch, am I right?”
The man stared at him, looking down at his gun as if he was wondering where to point it. Louie patted him on the back like they were old friends, and scrambled toward the entrance of the mine, throwing himself in, feet first. He grabbed onto a rope dangling down the center and shimmied down further, wielding his wand as he went, lighting his way. He glanced down at his watch. One hour to go. Move it!
He landed hard on the floor of the shaft, and felt the jar in the side of his ribs, still sore from his adventure capturing the sword. He moved his wand around the tight cavern and found three narrow tunnels all going in different directions. “Eeny meeny miney mo. That one it is.” He crawled head first into the tunnel, bent over and moving as fast as he could, his wand held out in front of him to illuminate the darkness.
He came to a larger opening and found abandoned pick axes and buckets. No artifacts.
“Fuck!” He turned around and scrambled, dirt falling on his head as he made his way back to the main entrance. He pressed his lips together to keep out as much dirt as possible, squinting his eyes as he fell out of the passageway, back into the larger room.
“I guess it was miney.”
He crouched down as he did his best to run, banging his head on a rock as he went, finally coming to a wider room. Nothing.
“Son of a bitch! What is with my luck today?” He felt the top of his head where a lump was already forming.
He made his way back, listening for anyone else coming down in the mine as the dirt clung to the sweat all over his body. “Last hole.”
It was even narrower and not shored up yet. In one place he had to get down on his belly and pull his way through for a few yards, snaking his way to the right. At last he got to the chamber and held the wand out, immediately getting a twinkle reflecting back at him. He smiled in the inky darkness, dirt covering his face as he looked at the crowded room.
“All of it interesting, not all of it magical.” Quickly, he ran his hand over each object searching for the one that would give him a jolt back. His finger caught on something sharp as he recoiled from the pain, licking his finger and getting a mouthful of dirt and sweat. “No time,” he muttered as he put his wand in the other hand and kept searching, flipping over embellished metal plates and carved wooden boxes. “You’re in here somewhere.”
He reached for a platter as his hand brushed against something in the shadows, jolting his hand up into the air with a loud sizzle.
“Aha! Come to Daddy.” He put out his hand cautiously and took a deep breath as he made contact with the object. His hand vibrated making a hollow thumping noise against something. He held on, gently pulling out the artifact and held it up, shining the light from the tip of his wand on it.
“A drum, okay. I suppose that makes sense.” He could feel the hum of the energy, recognizing light from dark. “Not dark magic. First good win today. I’ll take it! Now, how do I get this mother out of here. He turned around, holding on to the vibrating drum, his teeth shaking and pushed it into the hole, climbing in after it. It barely fit. He gently shoved as he crawled, still listening for anyone coming in to join him. As he got to the main room, finally holding the drum to his chest, feeling the vibration go straight through him, he saw faces of the humans appearing at the top of the hole.
“Hey there! How’s it going?”
A gun appeared over the edge as Louie stepped back into the shadows, dousing the wand. “Fuck me,” he said through clenched teeth. “One thing I don’t like doing…” There was no time left to meet Zyno and no easy way out of the hole. He could tell from the vibration the artifact was a valuable one. He wasn’t giving it up. “Probably kill me anyway out of spite, sons of bitches.”
He put the drum down in front of him and formed a light ball, whispering a spell into it as it slowly grew larger, opening a portal. Louie’s face was strained as he wiped the sweat from his face, leaving a streak of dirt. He looked through the portal at the sandy beach near the ocean and could see the floating city of Rodania far off in the sky. “Zyno is gonna be pissed he didn’t get the second half of his money.”
He looked around at the edges of the portal, making sure as he cautiously stepped through, just as Leira and Correk lowered themselves into the chamber.
“Louie!” Leira jumped the rest of the way, rolling toward the portal. There wasn’t enough time to draw up magic and be sure she could keep it to low levels. Should go with good old-fashioned police training.
Louie looked up as he leaned over and grabbed the drum, dragging it into Oriceran. “Our side won? Good for you! Nice to see you again, Leira. What’s his name, nice to see you too,” he said, waving at Correk, as the portal started to close. Correk lunged at the opening to grab the drum just as the portal closed, completely filling the room with sparks, temporari
ly lighting the chamber throwing shadows on the walls.
Leira shook her head. “He’s starting to get on my nerves.”
“Starting?” Correk looked around. “This must be thousands of years old. I’ll bet someone put the artifact here just as the gates closed the last time.”
“Did you recognize where he exited?”
“That was seaside near the Land of Terran. I’m guessing he didn’t mean to go that far north but was grateful for the port in the storm.”
“I’ll break the news to the general once we’re back in Austin. We don’t follow Lucky Louie just yet. That could take days and we have another problem to deal with.”
“The hybrid bugs.”
“That’s one way of describing them. Come on, can you get us out of this place before the people above regroup and just shoot down into this place? This place is rank.”
“Way ahead of you.” Correk formed a ball of light, letting it grow as he sang into it and a portal opened into the forests of Oriceran. Leira and Correk stepped through as they heard the rumble of heavy machinery overhead.
“They brought a lot of back up. Boy, are they going to be disappointed.” Leira breathed in the cooler air and stood still for a moment as the breeze rifled her hair. “Much better.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“I want to make a stop before we head back to Earth. I think we need more information and while we’re here…” A trail of tiny grey mice skittered by Correk’s foot, sliding down into a hole.
“You want to see Perrom? Nana told me all about him when I was laid up with a broken leg. It’s a good idea.”
Correk brushed aside large leaves stretching three feet across, holding them back for Leira as they made their way to the edge of the forest. “I haven’t asked you about what it was like for you.” He looked back at Leira who gave him her dead fish look. “So, not a talk about our feelings day.”
“I’m kind of full up on that for now. It was alright. The cast itched and I didn’t like laying still. Mom may say I was more of a pain in the ass than I think I was. Estelle was great.” Leira ran a few steps ahead of Correk, wanting to stretch her legs. Just the memory of being broken… “She brought me food and beer and played cards with me. Mom tried to shoo her away a few times because of the cigarette smoke. You know, I’ve never seen her without one in her mouth. I’m not sure I’ve even seen her light one. You wonder how she sleeps at night.”
“I wonder how she breathes.”
“Her super power. It didn’t work anyway. Estelle doesn’t really take orders from anyone and there were a few years there where she was the only kind of mom I knew. Estelle doesn’t really share well either.” Leira slowed down to watch a large elephant move through the forest followed by a small baby. The elephant lifted his trunk and let out a blare.
“You don’t see that every day,” she whispered.
“The Gardener of the Dark Forest must be rescuing more animals these days. He has herds of different kinds of animals safely tucked away in this vast forest.”
“And no one hunts them?”
“Some have tried, all have failed. Some never returned. There’s stories of magical beings turning to stone statues, I don’t know.”
“That’s intense.” Leira watched the tall grasses sway toward them as they talked, gently rolling in the other direction as a high-pitched trumpet from the baby elephant sounded in the distance.
“There are stories about the Gardener but most believe he doesn’t really exist. Of course, most would never set foot too far inside the Dark Forest. There are plenty of creatures born on Oriceran that can tear you apart or poison you in a hundred different ways or turn you inside out even.”
Leira ran ahead and turned around and waited. “But not you, you go through here like it’s home to you.”
“Apparently not you either. You have this internal combustion that has to keep going forward.”
“That’s a nice way to say I act before I think. Not true you know. I’d make a piss poor detective if that was true. I make calculations. Hagan would have dropped my ass by now if that wasn’t the case. Keeping a rash partner is a death wish.”
Correk gave a half smile. “I would never say you do anything rashly.”
Leira ran past a row of large, leafy bushes, running her hand along the sides as a flock of colorful birds rose all at once, flapping their wings and letting out loud squawks. Leira laughed and looked back at Correk. “The forest is really alive today.”
“It’s like this all the time. It’s heaven on Oriceran, even if most don’t know it.”
“Why aren’t you afraid of coming so far into the forest?”
“I grew up knowing a lot of Wood Elves, Perrom in particular. We used to play in these woods. He knows every square inch and taught me. There’s nothing to be afraid of if you know your way around but part of its magic is how few beings cross into the forest.”
“I thought there were dangers in here.”
They came to where the floating castle was just visible above the tree line in the distance. “There are dangerous areas. Plenty of them and Perrom and I only went into those when we were younger and way too curious about them. I’ll have to tell you about some of those adventures sometime over pizza and beer.”
“At Home Slice and invite Mom and Don and Nana.”
“If you wish. Watch where you’re going, there’s a root…”
Correk stopped in mid-sentence as Leira floated over a tall root behind her, easily landing on the other side.
“You didn’t even see that coming,” he said, softly. He narrowed his eyes, wondering.
“Not sure what just happened.” Leira felt the light-headedness again but said nothing about it.
“The magic of Oriceran, I guess. This is as far as we need to go. If Perrom is around he’ll know we’re here. He always does. Something about being raised in the Dark Forest.”
“He was raised in the forest?”
“He lived in a cabin. He’s not feral. He had a roof over his head, but yes.”
“I’m sure there’s another good story in there, too. So much to learn. Earth is not nearly as interesting.”
“I’d disagree. I’ve seen a Texas sunset across an open prairie and Lake Michigan in the winter.”
“We have some places like this but not as many left anymore and there’s the lands underneath the kemanas. I’ve only seen one of those. You may be right but have you looked at this place?”
“We should take another road trip. A real one this time to your Grand Canyon.”
“Fill the trunk with Cheetos and red licorice and take off.” Leira saw trolls scampering over and under nearby tree roots and she instinctively pulled her hands in by her chest. One is enough for a lifetime. Correk noticed and let out a laugh.
“How long do we wait?” Leira made a face at him and looked around, sensing a presence nearby. Her arms lit up easily, the symbols burning brightly as her eyes glowed. It was so easy on Oriceran. “He’s here, isn’t he. Someone is.” Correk noticed something different about the symbols but before he could look closer they faded. The cosmos were sending Leira another message, effortlessly and without her bidding. What is happening to her?
Perrom stepped out from the shadows, his body a mosaic of the different plants behind him. The pupils of his eyes moved around in every direction taking in the territory. All at once, every pupil turned to focus on Leira, a curious look on Perrom’s face as the scales along his cheek flipped back and forth.
“What are you, Light Elf?” He wasn’t even looking at Correk.
“Nice greeting, Perrom. Not even a hello.” Correk noticed his friend’s concern but smiled anyway, wondering what he had noticed.
Perrom dropped the scowl and looked over at Correk. “You look well and you brought a friend.”
“This is Leira Berens, the woman I told you about and yes, she’s a Light Elf.”
Perrom hesitated like he wanted to say something but stopped himself. He put o
ut his hand to Leira and she took it, feeling the scales of his skin twitching under her grasp. They were surprisingly soft and pliable, not at all what she expected.
“Feel like a cosmic road trip?” Leira gave him a crooked smile. “There’s something we could use your help with.”
The pupils of his eyes slid around, searching her face. Correk noticed her arms lighting up, spelling out something in symbols he had never seen before except in books from the royal library. Only to flip over again before fading away, only to light up again. Ancient runes. What? He looked at Leira but she seemed unconcerned as if she was unaware of the messages.
“Will you come back with us? A short trip to make a point and at least slow them down. Something strange is happening.” Leira pulled out of her pocket one of the engineered bugs they had seen in Iowa holding it out for Perrom to see.
His eyes widened and he took it from Leira, examining it closely. “I’ll come with you,” he said, suddenly, anger in his voice. “But I need to see someone first.”
“We don’t have a lot of time,” said Leira.
But Perrom was already moving deeper into the forest as he pulled a curved wooden horn out of his bag, blowing into it and sending out a call. Birds fluttered out of nearby trees and a monkey swung overhead, screeching.
“I knew somebody would eventually go all Lord of the Rings. Is the hobbit army going to come running?” Leira kept up, following him closely. The symbols lit up again, slowly fading back down.
Correk watched as he followed behind them. “He’s calling his father, the Gardener of the Dark Forest. He’s letting him know they need to meet.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
