Eternal Forest

by Faith Naff

  Unable to control her emotions, Shimmer lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Snowflake’s body. “Thank you,” she said softly.

  Snowflake crossed her arms on Shimmer’s back. “Thank me by making sure you come back to us.”

  “Everything okay over here?” Cricket asked as he hovered over. He seemed a bit winded upon approach. Flying at these altitudes was hard enough without having to keep up with two massive dragons.

  “We’re okay,” Shimmer said confidently as she pulled away from Snowflake. “We’re just discussing the battle to come. Is everything alright over there?”

  “Mostly,” Cricket admitted as he looked back. “Our trotter friend is having some difficulty holding on.” The small faerie landed atop the point of a large scale on the dragon’s back. Taking a seat, he drew in a deep breath and rested his hands on his knees.

  “Are you going to be okay?” Shimmer asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “I’m fine,” Cricket replied. “I just really hope that old dwarf was right about how to raise the Lady’s army. There’s no hope of a second chance if she’s wrong.”

  “It’s going to work,” Valdin said with confidence. “We’ve come too far for anything to stand in our way now.”

  Snowflake leaned over and took a look down at the forest below. “Where are we now?” she asked. “We must be out of the Lands of Order by now.”

  “We passed Sky Lake a moment ago, so even faerie territory should be behind us at this point,” Cricket said. “How far into the Savage Lands is this place anyway?”

  “She never said,” Shimmer responded. The intense wind blew a lock of her red hair against her face. Brushing it back to the side, she looked up into the clear sky above. “We really don’t know anything about this place.”

  “Well, I hope these dragons do,” Snowflake said wearily. “Even if we do spot it from up here, I doubt these things will land just by us asking nicely.”

  “One problem at a time,” Valdin said. “We’ve seen the lake in a vision before. There was a waterfall coming off of a cliff.”

  “Um…guys,” Snowflake said with a shaky voice as her eyes fixated upon something to the south.

  “Hold on, Snowflake,” Valdin requested. “Like I was saying, keep an eye on the ridge lines and watch for changes in…”

  “Guys!” Snowflake said again, much louder and filled with terror. Instinctively she was rising up as high as she could.

  “What is it?” Shimmer asked as she turned around to look at her frightened friend. When she saw just how wide Snowflake’s eyes were and the look of panic in her face, she quickly spun around to look for what she was seeing. Shimmer gasped.

  Off on the southern horizon, a terrifying, large creature was approaching them. Soaring through the air, the mysterious beast looked almost like an enormous crow. However, this unnatural bird had a wingspan twice as large as that of the very dragon’s they rode upon. Like the shadow beasts of the blight, its body was shrouded in darkness with two large, glowing red eyes. A long beak protruded out from its head like a black sword and its neck was covered in quill-like spikes. Its massive wings were adorned with thousands of hard feathers like broken shards of jagged black glass.

  “What is that?!” Shimmer shouted in alarm.

  “Rosewood?!” Valdin yelled out across the air.

  “We see it!” Rosewood yelled back. With each passing moment, the terrifying new creature drew closer and closer to them. As the distance closed, its size seemed to get even larger. None of them had ever seen such a massive creature in all their lives. Its eyes burned brightly as its beak opened wide, letting out a caw that shook the air like an explosion. The force of wind from the dark monster’s call was nearly enough to knock them off of their perches atop the dragons.

  “What do we do?!” Snowflake asked in a panic.

  Valdin lowered his body against the dragon’s scales and gripped as tightly as he could. He knew there was no way for them to fight such a creature and the dragons would never defeat it even if their minds were completely their own again. He just hoped that Topaz had left them enough independence to fight for their own lives. “Everyone, hold on!” he shouted.

  Everyone hunkered down and braced for impact as the great black bird sailed just over their heads. The wind churning in its wake sent the dragons into a tumble. It was all they could do just to hold tightly to the scales on their backs and keep from being tossed over. As the two dragons finally regained their stability, Valdin poked his head up to find where their assailant had gone. His eyes scanned the sky, darting wildly from side to side. He couldn’t see the massive creature anymore.

  “Where did it go?” Shimmer asked. The dragons roared and quickly parted ways as the large bird shot up from beneath them like a firework. As they pitched, everyone had to quickly find their grip upon the scales again to keep from rolling off their backs. Shimmer quickly reached out for one of the scales but her hand slipped off before she was able to make a firm grasp. Panic gripped her as she began to slide down the side of the dragon and across its wing.

  “Help!” she shouted with her hands reached high above her. There were no scales on the wings and she was out of handholds to grasp. Soon she would slide off the tip of the wing and plummet to the forest below.

  “Shimmer!” Valdin shouted. Releasing his grip with one hand, he let his body slide towards her with his free arm outstretched. Just before his beloved was beyond his reach, he caught her extended hand and took a firm hold. Breathing a sigh of relief, he quickly pulled her back up onto the dragon’s back.

  “Thank you,” Shimmer said after a short gasp for air.

  The dragons changed their formation as they righted themselves. Abandoning their southward direction, they began circling the black bird like vultures. Topaz’s mental command to the dragons was not only to ferry them to the heart of the blight, but to do so ensuring their safety. With their voyage now under attack, the dragon’s natural instincts took over. They quickly moved to opposite sides of the bird. Not giving their prey time to react, they fired twin pillars of flame towards the blighted creature in an attempt to flank it.

  The flames struck its body and the creature yelled out in pain. Assuming the upper hand was theirs, the dragons moved in for the kill. They roared triumphantly as their hind legs extended downward, ready to thrust into the creature’s sides and pin it between them. Unfortunately, this creature was an enemy they had never seen before and its reactions were impossible to predict.

  Before the pinning blows could be dealt, the bird suddenly thrust its wings out to its side as if cracking two whips. The sudden and violent action caused thousands of the creature’s glass-shard feathers to snap free and sail off towards the dragons like a hail of arrows.

  “Look out!” Rosewood shouted. The razor-sharp feathers slammed into the underbellies of the dragons where their scales were far weaker. Shimmer and the others could feel the dragons convulsing underneath them as the projectiles pummeled them at point-blank range. An enormous shower of blood filled the air as the dragon’s wings suddenly fell to their sides. The periled passengers had only a fleeting moment to hold on for dear life before their flying mounts fell from the sky.

  Disoriented and exhausted, each of them clung tightly to the scales of their slain dragons. Their massive bodies fell in spirals, spinning them around and around as they descended towards the ground. Amidst the chaos, Shimmer felt Valdin’s hand take hold of hers upon the top of a large scale. They couldn’t see one another for the blinding wind and dizzying tumble, but they at least knew the other was there. Moments later, the loud cracks of splitting branches and trunks sounded their arrival upon the forest floor.

  Chapter XXIII

  Shimmer regained consciousness face down on the ground with a mouthful of dust on her tongue. She couldn’t remember much about the crash other than the feeling of terror that came with it. None of them had ever seen a creature of the blight like the one they had faced in the air. Clearly the Vehlrock’s
power was growing stronger as the blight reached farther and farther outward, granting him the ability to conjure more terrible foes for them to contend with.

  Wearily she hoisted herself up onto her arms and lifted her head. Her arms were covered in dirt and tiny lacerations. She coughed and gagged, trying to get the dust out of her mouth before it found its way down her throat. Her first thoughts were of Valdin. She wanted to look for him, call out his name and pray for a response, but she was still too weak to even take in a full breath. Rolling onto her side, she attempted to stretch her muscles, making sure she had broken no bones.

  “Sh… Shimmer,” Valdin called out weakly from beside her. “Are you… okay?”

  In her mind she thanked the Lady. He was alive. Finding more strength within her she pushed up to her knees. Her body ached horribly from the impact. Had the dragon not been beneath them as they broke through the trees, none of them would be alive.

  “Valdin,” she managed to squeak out. Now upright she was able to survey the aftermath of the crash. The massive dragons both lay dead upon the ground in large pools of their own blood, blood that also covered her body and clothes. High above her, a gaping hole had been ripped in the canopy with entire trees snapped in half and the ground littered with branches. This was the only way they had survived the fall. The trees must have absorbed the impact of the dragons, slowing their descent just before they reached the ground.

  “I’m here,” Valdin said as he crawled out from behind the slain dragon’s head. He was bloodied and bruised, but alive nonetheless and without serious injury. “Are you alright?” he asked.

  Shimmer finally got to her feet. “I’m alright,” she responded. “What about everyone else? Snowflake? Rosewood?”

  “Over here,” Snowflake said from behind a splintered tree trunk to Shimmer’s left. The young elf hoisted herself up to her feet, showing that she was alright.

  “We’re okay, too,” Rosewood called out. She and Kadek emerged from behind the other dragon, largely unscathed.

  “About time you all woke up,” Cricket said as he hovered above them. The small faerie was still completely unharmed and from the smirk on his face, was arrogantly proud of it.

  “Lady, I’d like to pluck his wings off,” Rosewood muttered under her breath.

  “Is anyone injured?” Valdin asked as his eyes surveyed the team.

  “Nothing I can’t mend from,” Kadek joked.

  “I think we’re all fine,” Rosewood said. “Lady be praised.”

  “Does anyone know where we are?” Snowflake asked after a quick look around.

  “We must be deep in the Savage Lands by now,” Kadek said.

  “But how far are we from the grove?” Cricket asked. This was foreign territory to them all. Only Valdin had ever traveled into the Savage Lands at all and even he had never gone this far south. They were truly a long way from home with no bearing and no sense of distance to their destination.

  “We need to figure out what to do,” Rosewood said.

  “We could keep heading south,” Snowflake suggested.

  “No,” Valdin retorted. “We don’t even know if our destination is due south. Cricket, could you fly up and try to get us a bearing?”

  “Do I look like bird to you?” the faerie snapped. “Unless you have another dragon to bring me up to that altitude, I’m afraid you’re out of luck.”

  As the conversation at the crash site quickly escalated to bickering, something familiar caught Shimmer’s attention off to her right. From between the bare branches high above, she noticed a familiar mountain peak against the backdrop of clear blue sky. “Guys,” she said as her feet turned towards the peak almost instinctively. No one heard her over their own arguments. She took a few steps forward, moving farther and farther away from her squabbling companions.

  Through a larger opening in the trees, she could see more of the mountain peak. To the left of the highest point, a distinctive wide groove had been smoothed out in the stone. She smiled as her suspicions were confirmed. This was the top of an old waterfall, one long since dried up, but that she had seen flowing before. She knew exactly where they were. “Guys!” she said loudly as she continued to move away. The bickering did not cease.

  Finally, Valdin glanced over long enough to notice that Shimmer was deserting them. Quickly he raised his hands and quieted his squabbling companions. “Shimmer?” he questioned. “Where are you going?” When Shimmer gave him no response, he quickly hurried off after her. The others followed closely behind him.

  A couple more steps through the dead trees and Shimmer found herself at the edge of a large chasm. A barren lakebed stretched out in front of her and all the way to the base of the distant cliff. This was ground she knew she had walked upon on before. As the others rushed over to her side, they, too, began to recognize where they were. Though the forest was dead and the lake long dried up, this was indeed the grove at the heart of the blight.

  “We don’t need to keep looking,” Shimmer said confidently. “We’re here.” It felt so strange to be truly standing here. They had seen it in visions so many times now, both as a living, lush paradise, and as the burnt, dead carcass of a world that they beheld now. However, this was no vision, no hallucination. For the first time since their journey began, they had arrived in the flesh.

  “So, this is where the blight began?” Snowflake asked.

  Valdin nodded. His eyes slowly scanned the charred tree trunks that surrounded him. “It is the sight of the Great War, where five foolish tribes battled selfishly over this beautiful place, and thus turned it into nothing.” It truly was a battlefield from long ago, a land scarred forever by the selfishness of a bygone generation. This place was not destroyed by blight, but by the careless acts of mortals working only for their own selfishness.

  A bit of movement upon the distant shore caught Shimmer’s attention. The vast chasm between them and the dead trees beyond was at least 300 yards across, but there was definitely movement there amongst the blackened trunks. “What is that?” she questioned. Her eyes squinted as she leaned her head forward. As the mystery slowly came into focus, her eyes shot open and she reached out to grasp Valdin’s arm.

  Across the empty wasteland between them, the black shadow beasts emerged from the trees. Their numbers grew exponentially with each passing moment, soon becoming more numerous than the trees themselves. Before their very eyes, the entire bank of the dried lake was lined from end to end with the sinister creatures. The horrible sounds they made rose as one, echoing across the empty chasm and rushing past their ears.

  “Lady’s grace,” Rosewood said softly.

  “There are thousands of them,” Snowflake mentioned in awe.

  “We’d need an army to contend with that size of a force,” Valdin stated.

  Shimmer quickly untied the bag of seeds from her waist and held it out in front of her. With the top opened wide, the glow emitted from the thousands of tiny seeds within shone like a sunbeam up into the dreary world of the blight’s heart. “We have one.”

  Everyone’s attention was diverted away from the dark soldiers in the distance by the bag of glowing seeds. The blood of their old dwarven friend still stained the top layer. Could this be the army the Lady had mentioned to them?

  “Do you think it will work?” Snowflake asked.

  Valdin drew a dagger from his hip. His grip upon the hilt was tight, but his hand shook nervously. “There’s only one way to find out,” he said. Holding up his empty palm, he drew the edge of the dagger across his skin, releasing a thin trickle of blood that ran down his wrist. Holding his hand out at arm’s length, he let a few drops of blood fall into the bag of seeds.

  Cricket hovered over and followed Valdin’s example. “This had better work,” he said. “Otherwise this was a wasted trip.”

  Slicing his palm on the edge of his ax, Kadek held out his hand and let his blood drip into the bag. As the last few drops struck the seeds, Valdin took the bag from Shimmer’s hand and passed her
his dagger.

  “That just leaves you,” he said.

  Shimmer took a deep breath as she grasped the blade from him. Holding her free hand over the bag she pressed the blade against her palm. Both her hands trembled, both from fear and uncertainty. “Blessed Lady of the Forest,” she said in a shaky voice. “For the sins of our ancestors and the harm they have done to your forest…” She quickly drew the blade across her palm, letting a stream of blood trickle down her wrist and into the bag. “We hereby atone.”

  As soon as the blood droplets struck the seeds, the once steady glow began to pulsate like the rhythm of a beating heart. Everyone gasped as the light became brighter and brighter with each pulse. Shimmer took the bag from Valdin’s hand and pinched it tightly on the bottom. With the glowing bag in her hands she moved towards the edge of the old lake. The hordes of shadow creatures were descending down into the dry lakebed, filling the empty ground with wave upon wave of soldiers.

  Shimmer watched from the shore as the army of dark creatures charged towards them. Their black bodies filled the empty ground until bare dust was covered entirely in black. It was now or never. Gripping tightly to the bottom of the bag, Shimmer slung her hand outward over the empty chasm. The glowing seeds were hurled through the air, scattering far and wide. For a brief moment they sparkled against the empty sky like the stars themselves before littering the ground of the lakebed.

  A low rumble began to shake the ground beneath them, slightly at first, but quickly escalating to a violent quake. Down below them, the dried soil of the lakebed began to split apart, letting burst forth a brilliant shine. Shimmer and the others were forced to shield their eyes as the ground split and cracked, giving way to the blinding light. Soon, as the fissures widened further, a large, branch-like hand reached forth and grasped hold of the dusty ground.

  From the blighted depths below crawled a creature that all of them saw but only Shimmer recognized. It was shaped like a human woman but with a body that seemed to be made from a living tree. Leafy branches sprouted forth from her body and a mane of hair composed of ivy vines, straw, twigs, and colorful flowers came down from her head. Her eyes were like two rubies and she carried with her a long sword made as naturally and elegantly as her own body.