by Candy Crum
The dark druid eyed him suspiciously when he saw the parchment wrapped around his leg. Jace, knowing he didn't have pure enough nature magic to communicate with animals, approached with caution.
The raptor twisted his head to the side as if waiting for him with impatience. Finally, Jace reached out and untied the string that held the parchment in place.
He knew it could have only come from the druids of the Dark Forest or from Aeris. Even Jenna lacked the ability to control animals any longer, at least not without using extreme force.
Unrolling it, his eyes wandered to the end and Aeris' signature.
Jace,
Ready the prisoner. Have him write a letter to his daughter that will get her attention. Make sure there's a sense of danger and urgency. We need to separate her from the rest. The falcon will wait for you to attach another note. Once you do, he will fly to the druids of the Dark Forest. Don't give him any further instructions. I've already compelled him.
—Aeris
Jace smiled as he looked at the cave. For ten years, he had been in charge of watching Christopher. Ten years he'd had the childish job of babysitting. Making sure the man was fed, making sure he was under control, and making sure he didn't run off.
Finally, he would be rid of that troublesome responsibility. Because of Christopher he’d had to stay behind while the others went to the Terres Forest. He had been forced to take him and their other prisoner into the cave and through the tunnels deep enough that no one would know they were there.
Twice, people had come looking for the dark druids, but they hadn’t been brave enough or stupid enough to travel that far into the darkness. He looked at the letter from Aeris, and then at his bowl of fruit. Some of the berries were only partially rotted, but he was quite excited about it. It was his best work yet.
Unlike those bastards in the Dark Forest, he didn't have the power to create healthy plants, but that wouldn't matter soon enough. The time was coming for them to take back the Dark Forest, and then they would have plenty of food to eat.
He groaned as his belly growled with the memory of what fresh berries tasted like.
He set the bowl down and stuffed a handful of gooey, partially rotted raspberries in his mouth. After wiping his hands off on his pants, he walked inside the cave, grabbed a bag, and removed a quill, ink, and parchment, placing them just in the light of the cave entrance.
After taking a torch that hung on the wall, he made his way through the tunnels to an open room that held two people. They looked up, shielding their eyes. Neither were in chains, because neither needed to be. Christopher was under the control of his teas and other things he concocted from various leaves or mushrooms that kept his mind cluttered.
The woman, Dana, had been at one time, but he weaned her off the teas out of loneliness. He knew she wouldn’t run or attack him because she worried too much about her uncle.
Dana knew he would be killed if she did any such thing, so it allowed him someone to talk to from time to time—though she was never particularly fond of their conversations, she still complied.
"Christopher," Jace said, his voice echoing off the walls. "I need you to come with me. I have work for you."
Dana, who sat across from him, became visibly worried. "What's going on? Where are you taking him?"
Jace sighed and rolled his eyes. "I have been very kind to you. I've noticed that you stay put whether on or off the tea, and I know it's for him. I'm not taking him to hurt him, but let me be clear: if you try to leave or try to get in my way, I will put you back under. Is that understood?"
If Aeris had known Jace had taken Dana off the tea, he wouldn't have been happy. But if she wasn’t in her right mind, who would he talk to?
Aeris hadn’t given him that position out of trust and kindness, but because he didn't respect him. Worse…the Chieftain had agreed to it, which meant he didn’t either. He'd been with Alaric from the beginning, and he believed he damned well deserved his respect.
Since he didn’t have that, he had no problem making up his own rules as he went along. And he saw no reason to poison the girl if she was determined to stay.
Dana nodded. "Please, just be kind to him. I won't go anywhere or try anything."
Jace crossed the room and grabbed Christopher by the arm, lifting him off the ground. Christopher looked wildly around the room, muttering something about bugs and the fall of man.
The herbs Jace had put in his tea that morning had been particularly strong. He just hoped they had worn off enough that he could at least keep his head straight to write a letter.
The dark druid led him to the edge of the cave, sitting him down next to a stone that was flat enough to write on. He pointed to the parchment and inkwell before handing him the quill.
"Christopher, I need you to write a letter to your daughter. Do you remember your daughter?" Jace asked.
Christopher continued to shake his head as he looked around with paranoia, jerking every so often and wiping his filthy face with his even filthier hand.
"Hey!" Jace said, thwapping him on the back of the head. "Do you remember your daughter? Your little girl?"
When the crazed man didn't respond, Jace got on his knees and grabbed the man by the face, his eyes boring into Christopher's. He repeated his question.
Christopher stared at him for several moments, eyes darting back and forth as they shifted focus from one of Jace’s eyes to the other. His mouth moved, and he muttered something, but Jace couldn't understand him.
"What?" Jace asked.
Christopher began to blink wildly as his eyes became unfocused. "Arryn." It was only a tiny bit louder, but enough for Jace to hear.
He remembered.
"Good! Yes, Arryn. Do you remember Arryn?"
Tears began to fill Christopher's eyes as his breathing increased. "Little girl. She's just little girl…"
"What if I told you I knew where she was?" Jace said with a smile. "I can get a letter to her."
Christopher's eyes all but lit up as tears spilled onto his cheeks. "Little Arryn? You know where she is? No." He began shaking his head violently. "No one can know. She must be safe. I have to keep her safe."
Jace grabbed Christopher's wrists, doing his best to keep his patience. "Arryn is safe. In fact, she’s safer now than she ever has been, but that might change soon."
Christopher's eyes widened. "What? Is it Adrien? Has he found her? You must keep me safe. You have to keep Arryn safe!"
Jace nodded. "Bad people are coming for her, Christopher. She’s not safe. I'll do my best, but if they can't find you they might find Arryn. Then she won't be safe. You need to write her a letter and tell her the danger she is in. Tell her so she’ll come here to be with you."
Christopher shook his head. "No, she can’t be harmed! Please help me. I have to get her here with us, where she can be safe."
It appeared the man’s love for his daughter was sobering him faster than he had anticipated. "Telling her that you're the one in danger will get her to come here as quickly as possible. If you tell her that she’s the one in danger, it might cause her to run in a different direction to try to save you both. We can't risk that, now can we? She has to come here."
Christopher mouthed the word “Oh” as he nodded. "That makes sense."
Jace nearly laughed, knowing that it in fact did not make sense, but that was for him to know.
"What should I put in the letter?" Christopher asked.
Jace smiled and said, "Just write exactly what I tell you. When she sees your handwriting and your signature, she'll come running."
12
Arryn had just finished sparring with Celine when she saw the Chieftain making his way toward the pit. Unless there was significant reason for it, he usually didn't visit there. His duties were magical training and being the class clown.
There must be something wrong or something that couldn’t wait, especially given the look on his face. He stared down, and the bad feeling in her belly grew.
She looked at Celine for a moment, then handed her staff to her aunt and went to the Chieftain. "What's wrong?"
There was something in his hand, and he stared at it for several moments before extending it to her. She looked at it suspiciously before reaching for it.
"Before you unroll that, you should know that I'm relatively certain it's real. I wouldn't hand that over to you without being absolutely certain its authenticity was possible. It was delivered by a falcon. It bears your father’s signature—or at least has been signed by someone claiming to be your father."
Arryn’s eyes widened, and she began quickly to unroll the scroll. The Chieftain reached out, stilling her hand.
"The bird allowed me to see his memories. Aeris sent him to a dark druid down south. He read it, and retrieved a man from deep inside the cave. The bird watched the man write this. Before you read it, you should know I don’t believe anything is going to happen to your father—if that was him. They need him alive, so please don't rush off and do anything that would put you in danger."
Arryn stood there for some time, thinking about his words as she shook. Her entire body was vibrating. She finally took a deep breath and finished unrolling the small piece of parchment. The moment her eyes landed on the writing, she gasped and nodded, tears coming to her eyes.
"It's real. That's his handwriting. I used to sit on his desk and watch him write for hours."
Arryn,
You have no idea how I've missed you every day. All I’ve ever wanted was your safety, which is why I write to you now. You must come to me as quickly as you can. I’m in danger here, and I don't know how much longer I'll be around. I have to see you one last time. I have to see that you're okay. I know it’ll be hard, but please come to me. I'm in the southernmost part of the Dark Forest.
-- Love always, Dad
Arryn’s worry turned to pure hatred and anger as she read the last line, just under her father’s, in different handwriting. "Make it fast, because I've been waiting to end this for ten years."
She nearly growled. "How could you possibly believe he's safe there?"
The Chieftain sighed, obviously having predicted her behavior. "He looked healthy, but there's something wrong with his mind. He's young, so I'm assuming it's induced by toxins. The dark druids are far more versed in poisons and hallucinogens than we are. They have kept him alive for ten years, so there's no way they're just going to kill him now."
Arryn laughed sarcastically. "Aeris has been waiting for the day my father could be used against me, and now is the perfect time. You know it as well as I do. Only now, it's not just me who will be affected by this. We are all at war. This affects everyone."
"Exactly. They're trying to use him to turn us against each other. They know I would choose logic above all else. They know I won’t evacuate the Dark Forest to go on a rescue mission without a strategy, and that fact alone would drive a wedge between us."
There was a tug on her hand, and Arryn looked down, her scowl fading as she looked into the eyes of young Corrine. "Remember what you said?" the little girl asked. "You said he taught you to put the lives of others before yourself."
Arryn gave a heavy sigh as her eyes closed, more tears falling.
"Arryn, I know this is hard. You’ve said before that you were convinced he was there, so I know you've been thinking about this for a while. You’ve known this whole time that rushing in would be a bad idea. That was what kept you here. They sent this letter to make sure we would come. They wanted to make sure we would abandon our home, because they know we believe family is everything."
Arryn nodded. "Family is everything. That's why I have to find a way to save him."
"And we will. But just remember, your family is bigger now than just you and him. It is all of us. Think of Celine and young Corrine. Think of Cathillian and Elysia. Of me. You have more than one person in your family. We will save him, but please—just trust me. Please let me help you do this right," the Chieftain pleaded.
Her eyes focused on the Chieftain’s, and she saw just how worried about her he was. More than that, she saw his love for her. He was right that it was unfair for her to ask them to run in and save her father. It would put their lives in danger, because it would be a spur-of-the-moment decision.
Still, it didn’t make her feel any better about leaving him in a terrible situation. The difference between now and all that time before was that she hadn’t been sure he was alive, much less that he was truly with the dark druids. Now, she knew without any doubt, and it was eating her alive.
Finally, Arryn nodded. "Fine, but I want to see that falcon. I need to see my father."
As the dark druids returned to their familiar territory, Aeris and Jenna fanned out, giving orders for everyone to re-establish camp. The people moved about quickly, not wanting to disappoint their Chieftain, Jerick, or Aeris.
After Jenna had wrapped up her orders to those under her direct command, she located her brother. "Have you checked in with Jace?"
Aeris briefly looked around, making sure no prying eyes or ears were near while pretending to scrutinize his subordinates. "Yes, and so far, everything has gone according to plan. He told me what he wrote in the letter, and that the falcon did as he was asked. Now, we just have to wait and see how effective it will be."
She nodded. "What did the Chieftain say when you told him about the plan? You did say that you were going to, yes?"
"I had to. While we have ulterior motives for all this, we still needed him to give the order to head north in case she didn’t take the bait. As far as he knows, we sent the falcon north for the sole purpose of separating Arryn from the herd. If it works, Arryn will come our way soon. If not, we’ll need the Chieftain to back me up in going north."
"And he's not concerned with rushing this? He doesn't want to sit and create an elaborate plan to go north?" Jenna asked as she unrolled a bear's hide on the ground. It was what Alexander would do, so it seemed strange Alaric wouldn’t want to do it, too.
"He's arrogant. He believes we’re invincible now that we have Jerick, but I don't believe that at all. He wanted to kill all of them when we get there, but I convinced him not to. I reminded him just how strong Alexander was when he left, and how much more powerful he has become. I also reminded him of what you said about Arryn, and now he’s satisfied with my plan. Separate Arryn from the rest and bring her here."
Jenna looked around, watching their people scurry about as they set camp back up as it had been before they left. "When are we leaving?"
"In a few hours. Just before sunset. I'm going to go help the Chieftains grow the plants we need to make this possible. Everyone needs to wear leather gloves. According to them, if it gets on the skin, they will immediately become very sick, and they may even die." Aeris reached high into the sky and leaned back, stretching his tall body from the tension of a long day.
Jenna nodded, then paused. "I'll make sure everyone's ready. And, Aeris? I know Arryn. We won't have to go all the way to the villages. She'll come. I have no doubt about that."
Bast awoke to the sound of her sister stirring. They had agreed to stay in Arcadia long enough to make sure the infection wouldn't return. They needed Cleo strong enough to make it to the Dark Forest.
"Hey, could I trouble you for some water?" Cleo asked.
Without answering, Bast climbed out of bed and poured her another glass. She set the pitcher back down on the nightstand and helped her sister into a sitting position.
"Thank you," Cleo muttered as she took the glass and began sipping from it.
"Are you sure you're strong enough to make the trip?" Bast asked. "You’re healing—I can see that—but you're still weak. You can hardly sit up on your own."
Cleo waved a hand as she finished the last bit of water in the cup. "Don't worry about me. I'll be just fine, especially if we can get to those druid people. If they can heal me, everything wi
ll have been worth it."
"And what if we meet more bandits on the road? From what Sven has said, he and his brother, Ren, have run into several groups like the one we dealt with. They're quite common at this point. No one knows what they're doing with the crystals, but they assume they're selling them to people with far more money than Arcadia has."
Cleo snorted. "Sounds about right. There's always someone bigger and stronger, or in this case fatter and richer, to take advantage of everyone else. It's probably someone who doesn’t have any interest in taking Arcadia, but wants to build their own city."
There was a knock on the door and both girls looked at it, saying, "Come in" in unison.
The door opened, and Amelia stepped inside. "I thought I heard voices. You guys going back to sleep, or are you up for the day?"
Amelia had invited the girls to stay with her, so she could keep an eye on them, make sure they were safe. They had found her to be very kind, so they accepted, not having the ability to pay for anything else.
Cleo shook her head. "Nope. I need to get up and start moving around. I can't lay in this bed anymore. My entire body aches from resting too long."
"Yeah, but rest was what you needed," Bast said.
Cleo rolled her eyes as she sat up farther, then twisted around slowly and placed her feet on the floor. "Yeah, yeah. I heard you the last few days. I'll be fine."
Amelia smiled. "Bast, would you mind coming with me for a moment? Let's give her some space so she can get up without an audience. I get a little pissy when I'm trying to do things for myself when healing, and other people stand around and watch me like I’m some kind of wounded bird. We can make breakfast."
"Thank you!" Cleo said, looking at her sister with a sarcastic expression. "At least someone around here respects me."
Bast rolled her eyes as she stood and made her way out the door, following Amelia to the kitchen.
I'm going to work in this kitchen and pretend it’s all about cooking, but it's not. I need to talk to you, and I don't want Cleo to know because she isn't in any condition to help—though we both know she would try.
