“What did you do?” Jerlo held up a hand to forestall Sarn. “The truth please and let’s skip all the evasions. You did something, and I need to know what and why.”
But Sarn ignored the commander and fixed anxious eyes on Nolo, the believer. “What comes after death? Where do we go when we die?” He had to know because Shade wasn’t coming back, not from Death’s dark company.
The question startled Nolo, and he sat back on his haunches blinking at the unexpected turn their discussion had taken.
“Never mind,” Jerlo leaned forward, enunciating each word as if he spoke to a simpleton. “What did you do? Give me the truth or God help me I’ll take it out of your hide.”
“I can only speak the truth.” Sarn glanced at his other master, but Nolo remained shocked and silent.
Jerlo waited, but the man could out wait a glacier. His eyes bored into Sarn, who fretted a fallen leaf to pieces.
“My friend got involved with some people, and they brought something into this world. I don't know what it was, but it was bad. And it caused the deaths. I had to draw circles. I don’t know why. I just knew I had to do it, and it fixed things.” Sarn looked from one perplexed master to the other. How could he explain what had happened when so much of it was inexplicable?
“And?” Nolo prompted.
“There is no ‘and.' I told you what happened.” Sarn closed his eyes, and the deaths of fourteen people replayed. Leave me alone, he told them, but they refused to go. The images looped around again until a white flame devoured them. She took away the images leaving only soft-edged dreams behind.
White light blossomed behind Nolo. He glanced over his shoulder then shot to his feet. The Queen of All Trees was processing toward him again. This time, he held his ground and threw up a hand to stop her.
“You can’t have him!”
“Get back!”
Nolo dodged the arm Jerlo threw out to grab him.
“No, she’s come to—”
“I don’t think she has.”
“How do you know that?”
Jerlo didn’t answer neither did the Queen of All Trees make any move toward Sarn. No emerald glow from under his hood meant the Kid had passed out again. Given his sorry state, rest was the best thing for him. All bandaged up, the Kid looked younger than his twenty winters and vulnerable.
Nolo’s gaze came to a stop at his boss whose vulpine features reflected only curiosity, not the worry chewing on Nolo’s heart. Why did a mythic creature who avoided interference with mortals keep showing up? Had she made an exception in Sarn's case? If so, she should drop it and leave the Kid alone. Sarn had enough problems without her added to the pile.
“You didn’t come to take him away, did you?” asked Jerlo.
The Queen of All Trees shook her crown in a clear negation raining coin-shaped leaves to drift on the predawn breeze. Some of them floated past Nolo, caressing his cheek and making it tingle from the kiss of her magic.
“Why is she here?”
“To help.” Jerlo’s assessing gaze drifted back to the Kid.
So did Nolo’s. He only hoped his boss was correct.
Chapter 32
“You come back now, Papa,” Ran said, his voice tinged with need.
The boy's demand echoed in his heart lifting Sarn to his feet. When his weight fell on his sprained ankle, it gave, and he teetered. A branch dripping silver light caught him around the waist, and he thanked the Queen of All Trees for catching him with his eyes.
Under his feet, the ground raced away, but his boots stayed planted. When the earth stilled, his head map appeared warning him he’d traveled four miles closer to the son who called to him.
Sarn searched for words to thank her. She was a candle burning in the ebbing darkness shrouding her enchanted forest.
Someone on one of Mount Eredren’s many balconies spotted the Queen of All Trees and broke into a complex polyphony of praise:
“The Queen of All Trees, heaven’s brightest star—
Fallen to Earth long ago to guard light.
Night has no hold o’er you, nor can it war
while you stand watch, glorious and e’er bright.
Queen of All Trees, your radiance lights paths
for lost travelers in your magicked wood.
Guide them to safe haven’s blessed, where all paths
tend evermore in your enchanted woods.
Queen of All Trees, take special care of young
ones in your midst. Look with a mother’s eye
at their faltering steps. Keep safe those young
hearts as they search for you beneath the sky.
Queen of All Trees come and bestow your grace
on all those who run life’s treacherous race.”
Quiet cursing punctuated the song as it faded out. Damn, she'd also transported Nolo and Jerlo. Why hadn’t she ditched them? They would no doubt insist on a visit to the infirmary. Sarn shivered at the thought of the cold, draining touch of the healers and revulsion twisted his empty stomach. Visits to the infirmary never made him better, but his superiors believed the lies the healer told. The bandages swathing a third of his body would prove a strong argument, one he needed powerful aid to counter.
The Queen of All Trees lashed the ground with her roots until the earth fell away revealing a hatch. She extended a root, coiled it around a handle and swung the trapdoor open. Her light dove into the shaft lighting the tunnel.
Triggering his head map as he knelt, Sarn touched the ground, connecting to it. Emerald light cascaded into the hole. A counter added itself to the blind spot in his left eye, and it ticked over as the magic descended.
“What are you doing?” Nolo’s hand landed on Sarn’s shoulder. Squeezing it, Nolo anchored Sarn as information threatened to wash him away.
Sarn shook his head. He’d never told them he could map the area around him by magic. Admitting he owned such an ability now seemed like a bad idea.
“You know where this goes?” Jerlo crouched next to him.
Sarn nodded. His awareness rode the magic washing over his son’s sock clad feet. For a moment, Ran’s smiling face blocked everything else out. Then arms wrapped around the boy’s waist carrying him away from the magic’s eyes. Miren set his nephew down and admonished Ran likely about venturing out without permission. The door closed, but Sarn had confirmed his son was all right. No shadow-wrought monster had collected his bold little boy in his absence. Zail’s threats had been empty ones. Relaxing, Sarn allowed the magic to recede and return his consciousness back to his body.
On the return trip, he took note of where in the Lower Quarters the hole let out—nowhere near his cave. The Queen of All Trees had accessed a tunnel near the subterranean farm, and nearby, a thirteen-pointed star in a circle icon blinked red on his map.
Unclean, the magic complained as it rushed to exit the hole.
And Sarn agreed with it. Things still had to come full circle. But he could put off visiting the cavern where this all started until tomorrow when his hurting heart could better handle what he’d uncover. Besides, the place was a mile from his cave. Since he’d dealt with the immediate threats, it could stay a mystery until he’d caught up on some sleep.
Yes, we’ll cleanse it later. We must, urged the magic as Sarn straightened and lifted his hand away from the ground.
To cover his startlement, Sarn scrubbed both hands over his face. His magic was now talking to him in full sentences? Was he losing his mind? Auditory hallucinations were a symptom of madness, weren’t they? How long before he lost his mind to the magic's mutterings?
“Where does the hole go?” Jerlo asked in a tone allowing no evasions.
“To the Lower Quarters.”
“Near where you live?”
“Near enough, it touches down 1.11 miles from my door.” The mileage popped out of Sarn’s mouth on reflex. A little over a mile would be easier to limp than the three miles the usual way took. But i
t would leave him steps from a problem he didn’t have the wherewithal to solve right now.
“You and I still need to talk.” Jerlo’s flat tone gave away nothing. When Sarn glanced at him, the commander had his card shark face on, and it offered no tells.
“I told you everything I can. There are things I still don’t understand.”
Jerlo nodded. “And you’re going to tell me about those things.”
“And see a healer,” Nolo put in as he moved to stand beside his boss.
“I don’t need a healer.” Sarn glared at Nolo.
His bruised ankle would heal up on its own or not. Hurrying the process along was unnecessary. His body repaired itself. Now if only it would plug up the holes in his sanity.
Sarn took another step toward the hole dividing him from the Rangers and his ankle held this time. Maybe proximity to the Queen of All Trees had reinforced the joint. Or maybe Nolo’s skill at bandaging had done the trick.
Last time such a hole had swallowed the dead, and now it meant to swallow the living. The thought raised doubts about his decision. Was he making the right choice?
As an inducement, the Queen of All Trees let down her branches and wove them into a make-shift ladder. Except that hole led to a problem likely requiring magical attention. The people who had summoned Zail remained at large, and so did its three creations. How many other people wandered around Mount Eredren with such wicked passengers?
Unclean, commented the magic.
Should he entrust his life to a hole in the ground’s promise and an entity who appeared benevolent? Or should he stick with the known?
Sarn regarded Mount Eredren’s bent cone. “I want to go—” he swallowed unable to say the word, to name a place he’d never had before. His eyes begged them to let him go, reducing him to the kid they called him. Let his youth work in his favor. He’d seen too much. Tomorrow he would find the people responsible for what had happened to Shade and turn them over to the commander. Tomorrow night was soon enough for questions and soul searching.
Jerlo’s shrewd gaze took all this in, and he nodded. No doubt the commander wanted an end to this spectacle before it drew a crowd. “You’ll let Su look at you, and we’ll talk. I’ll keep it short. I have meetings to attend.”
Su was the Rangers’ medic. Silent and imposing, the big teddy bear of a man was the utter opposite of Gregori in temperament. He possessed no magic, healing or otherwise to mend bodies.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Gregori shouted from halfway across the meadow.
The Queen of All Trees vibrated at the cursing. Her roots clenched, crumbling the ground under her.
“For the love of God, shut up and watch.” Nolo stepped toward his inbound friend and subordinate intent on intercepting him. Instead, he turned back to face Sarn and held out his hand. “Come on Kid you’re not in trouble. Jerlo’s not going to whip you. He’s just angry. You frustrate the hell out of him sometimes.”
“Too true number two, too true,” Jerlo said around a sigh.
Nolo’s eyes urged Sarn to take the hand offered and walk away from all this magical weirdness.
“You didn’t answer my question. Where do we go after we die?”
“To the Gray Between where a ship waits to take you to a far green country. What comes after that is a matter of faith.” Nolo’s outstretched hand shook.
“Thank you for telling me.” Sarn grasped Nolo's hand and its offer of the normalcy he craved. He took Jerlo’s hand too, wincing as the move put pressure on his bruised arm. One large step set his boot on the opposite side of the chasm, and his ankle chose that moment to scream at him.
A radiant branch snaked around his waist, and her light surrounded him, soothing the pain away. Perhaps the Queen of All Trees had known what he’d decide. When her light backed off, she vanished, taking the chasm with her. Only undisturbed grass remained.
“Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” Gregori glanced from Jerlo to Nolo for answers.
Sarn sagged, relieved to be a nonentity again.
“Later, let’s get inside before something else happens.” Jerlo gestured to the lone mountain in the center of the meadow. Lumir globes glowed on its balconies as if stars had fallen to adorn them.
Sarn probed his shoulder. Angry red had changed to healing yellow, and his ankle felt sturdy and pain-free when he put weight on it though that could be due to Nolo’s expert strapping. He sent the Queen of All Trees a wordless thank you for her gift.
Sarn felt Nolo’s eyes on him again. Fighting back waves of self-consciousness, he displayed the bruise.
“You’re okay?”
Sarn maintained his silence as he unraveled the gauze. No one could fix what was wrong with him. But he knew not to utter such things within Nolo’s hearing.
“I didn’t know she could heal.” Nolo pocketed the wad of bandages Sarn handed him as they walked through the twin menhir rings, following Jerlo’s lead.
Questions buzzed around Sarn waiting to bite, but he avoided them by staring at the lightening sky. Why him? Why did all this weird shit have to happen to him? If the sky heard, it gave no reply. Neither did the grass crunching under four sets of boots or the River Nirthal lapping the shore.
As they neared one of the mountain’s many trails, Sarn closed his eyes. He kept his map minimized and ignored the information it sent as grass gave way to gravel and flat land to an incline. They were ascending the north face of Mount Eredren, no surprise there since it was the closest entrance.
His minders stopped on a bluff screened by bushes. Stone grated as a hidden door slid aside to reveal a stairway. Downwards led to his cave, his son, and unfinished business. Upwards led to Jerlo’s office and all the questions he wanted to avoid.
Sarn opened his eyes as the first rays of the new day stretched over Mount Crael and stabbed gold spears into the retreating shadows. Sarn stared at the taloned hands reaching out of those wine-dark waves.
I saw a shadow monster, Ran said in his memory, his eyes wide and fearful.
“No,” Sarn stared unable to do anything to stop the horrors climbing out of the river. Hands grasped his upper arms and shook Sarn.
“What do you see?” Jerlo asked. The commander stood on a rock eye level with Sarn. “Tell me.”
Sarn shook his head. His eyes stayed glued to the multi-headed thing ambling up the rocky beach, as his son’s claim echoed in his ears.
“Look at me. Not out there, at me.” Command laced Jerlo’s voice weaving chains out of his words.
They pulled Sarn’s gaze to meet his master’s. Everything outside of the commander’s black eyes blurred until the whole of his perception narrowed down to the mote in Jerlo’s eye. It pulsed in an entrancing pattern sucking his consciousness down into it.
“What did you see?”
The compulsion pulled tight. He must do as Master asks. Sarn’s mouth opened, and the truth fell out. “Monsters in the dark, they're coming for me.”
Jerlo risked a glance over his shoulder, freeing Sarn. Then Jerlo regarded him, his puzzlement evident. The commander had not seen any monsters.
Was there something out there invisible to those without magic? Or had he hallucinated the whole thing?
“There’s nothing there,” Gregori reported. “You’re imagining things.”
Nolo looked at him with concern. “Are you alright?”
“It’s dawn, can I go now?” Sarn looked to his superiors for confirmation. His gaze settled on Jerlo, who was the most likely to give consent.
“First tell us what happened out there. Give me a summary then you can go.” Jerlo crossed his arms over his chest and remained on the boulder creeping Sarn out by looking him in the eye.
Sarn averted his gaze and leaning against the mountain, he told them about a friend he’d lost to drugs. “I don’t know who helped Shade pick up a passenger. Or what the creature was or how they summoned it.”
But he
’d figure it out. The Queen of All Trees had shown him where to look, near the subterranean farm. Then he recalled the book.
“Did you find a book when you found me?”
Jerlo and Nolo exchanged glances, then the commander shook his head. “What book?”
“I think the summoner used it.” And Sarn had last seen it resting on Rat Woman’s discarded cloak. After that, he’d been too busy to keep track of it. Likely it was in the hands of one of Shade’s creations. He’d have to do something about that tomorrow. His eyes felt sandblasted. Sleep would help, but he needed a dismissal first.
“Go on Kid. There are a couple of things I need to check out. We’ll talk some more tomorrow.” Jerlo nodded to the stairs twisting as they descended into the gloom. “Go rest. Be at my office tomorrow at twentieth bell, sharp.”
Sarn nodded, but he paused on the threshold as he recalled the storeroom and the crate containing aliel powder. If he reported Dirk and his posse, they’d be arrested and maybe even jailed. Would doing so safeguard his son? Or would those fools report the boy to his masters? Sarn chewed the inside of his lip.
Jerlo’s eyes narrowed on him. “What’s on your mind?” The commander left off ‘Kid,’ but the unsaid word floated between them.
He was still a kid in their eyes even after all this, and for some reason, Sarn found the situation hilarious, but he didn’t laugh.
“If you received a tip about where to find some contraband, would you pass it on to the Guards or investigate it yourselves?”
“It depends on where this contraband is located,” Nolo said answering for his boss.
“What are you saying? If you know something, you’d better tell me right now.” Jerlo looked ready to bite someone.
“What if it’s inside the mountain? Will you tell the Guards?”
“Of course, we have no jurisdiction inside Mount Eredren.” Nolo gestured to the stairwell.
Sarn relaxed as he heard the answer he’d been waiting for. “Then I know where you can find some aliel powder. I stumbled across it yesterday by accident.” And he told them about the storeroom on the level above the Lower Quarters. A weight lifted off his shoulders. In a few hours, Dirk and his cronies would no longer be a threat to his son.
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