“Go to Sedahar! Fetch my brother and lead him to the site of the dying tree!” he commanded. “I will be waiting there for you when you arrive.”
Her body now floated before him, perpendicular to the earth once again, but still not in control of itself, though her wide open eyes stared at him adoringly.
“He shall retrieve the shard and it will be mine at last!” he hissed. “Take this…” he said, and a small orb of black stone appeared in the air before her. “Use it to unlock his chains and to hold him captive while you bring him there.”
Margot’s arm rose involuntarily and her stiffened fingers plucked the ebon object from where it floated. She concealed it within the folds of her cloak. Her eyes were locked upon his face and her breath came to her in gasps and spurts. The sheer ecstasy of being chosen for this was almost too much for her to bear, and she struggled to breathe and not swoon in response to this honor. Though the sharpened talons of fear gripped what remained of her human soul, even this unmitigated terror now felt like a privilege bestowed upon her, and she rejoiced in it as well.
“Go! Go now, my beauty,” he said while he nodded his head slowly up and down. “But be wary of him! He is conniving and manipulative!” he warned. “He will not go willingly.” The hatred flared in his black eyes, and they burned red with passion. “I want you to succeed where you have failed before. I want you to rejoice in my satisfaction as if it was your own,” he said sweetly once again.
She was now in control of her own movements, and she bowed deeply before him, though she never took her eyes off of him for even a moment. She wished only to breathe in his scent, to inhale what he exhaled and to retain whatever of him she was able to. Her rapture had no boundaries now and she nearly burst from the empowerment of it. The thought of pleasing him in this way was overwhelming.
“Do not be fooled by his captivity. He is still strong. Pay no heed to his words. The orb will bind him to you through me, and he will not dare to touch it. None dare touch it without touching me! If he tries to break free, it will kill him, so do not provoke him. I need him to remain alive,” Colton said. “He must remove the shard. He has no choice. It is his destiny to do so. The tree cannot depart until the shard has been taken from its heart, and he could not suffer it to remain in between, neither here nor there. He is too soft, too compassionate,” he mocked. “Once he has it in his possession, lead him from the empty space and I will be waiting.”
Colton bent over, raised his hand and caressed her head. She could barely breathe. The sensation was so intense that it touched every part of her body, and she could not tell the difference between the pleasure of it and the pain. She was afraid that she would be consumed by his power, it was so vast and all encompassing. As he removed his fingers from her hair she settled down upon the earth beneath her. A coal-black stallion with hooves of chiseled stone and a tail and mane of crimson fire ascended from the ashes and settled upon the ground next to her.
“Ride, Margot. Ride!” he commanded, and she floated up and onto the beast’s broad back.
The flames framed her body in a hellish shroud as the horse rose off of the surface in total silence. At a nod from its master, it bolted off toward the south and left behind it a festering trail of fiery death that slowly burned itself out in the torrid midday sky.
Chapter Forty
“The medallion glows beneath your shirt, Dalloway. It must be a sign,” Caroline said. “Take it out so we can see,” she suggested.
Dalloway grabbed the necklace and let it hang freely upon his shirt.
“Where in the world are we?” he asked, as he looked around at the earthen chamber that they had climbed down into. “And what was that pursuing us before?”
“We are in a place that is dying; a place that once was something and will soon be no longer,” Caroline replied dreamily. “Can you not feel it?” she asked.
“I feel only emptiness, daughter,” Conrad said.
“Emptiness and sadness and loss,” Caroline said. “Yes, father. That is how we all feel. There is no hope left here. It has been lost with the tree that will shortly be no more.”
“What kind of a horse was that chasing us?” Dalloway asked again. “Was it even a horse?”
“‘Twas no horse borne of this earth,” Conrad said.
“It frightened everything that lives upon the plain. I had never felt such fear in a living thing before,” Caroline said, and a shudder ran over her body. “Even this place seems a relief in comparison.”
“I wonder where it was headed,” Dalloway said.
“I would not wish to be the object of its pursuit!” Conrad said. “You said it was searching for the source of the power? That it was one of the Possessed?”
“That is what the animals feared. Let us just be thankful that we have eluded it. If we were not its prey though, I too feel sorry for whomever it seeks,” Caroline said.
“A Lalas lived here once?” Dalloway asked, anxious to change the subject.
“It lives still, though barely,” she said regretfully. “These spaces will be all that will remain of it,” she said regretfully. “But take heart! It has sheltered us from the monsters above who pursue us. They will not enter here.”
“How can you be sure, Caroline?” her father asked.
“Because the animals told me so. Even they will not come near this place any longer. We must be careful not to lose ourselves to despair. Keep Sidra’s token in sight. Its warmth will aid us in many ways,” she explained.
They followed Caroline as she walked down the twisting path.
“Where are we going?” Dalloway asked.
“To the heart,” she said and she continued to descend into the gloom.
“Why?” Dalloway asked. “What good can we do for this tree?”
“I do not know, Dalloway,” Caroline replied. “I do not know why we are here at all. I only know that had we remained above ground, we would not have survived. Colton’s hounds are near and he cannot be far behind himself. Besides, my friends above told me we must seek the heart. What else can we do but heed their suggestions. They led us here just in time, did they not?”
“Yes, certainly they did! But, can we travel down here safely, daughter?” her father asked. “Have your animal friends told you any more about this place?”
“There was little time, father. I learned what I could. Besides, none of them have ever been down here themselves, though some of the burrowing ones had come close at times. I felt what they felt, but it was often unclear, and it was always filled with desperation,” she explained. “All the caverns are connected in some way. They exist everywhere!” she said. “The Lalas’ roots cover the earth.”
“We can walk all the way to Odelot then?” Dalloway asked.
“It is conceivable,” Caroline replied. “Remarkable as that may sound.”
“Why do others not use these places?” Dalloway questioned.
“Because it causes great suffering and anguish to pass through them,” she said. “For all living things, to be in the Forbidden Places is stultifying. It is like stepping into the void; into the blackness of nothingness. And it is hard to bear. For most, they can never recover from even a glimpse of this,” she said.
“And for us? Why would it be different for us?” Conrad was uneasy.
“Sidra has made it different. She guides and protects us,” Caroline replied. “Her mark is upon us.”
“Yet she would never come here herself. She avoids the places of the trees,” Conrad said.
“How is it Sidra knows so much about the Lalas, father?” Caroline asked as they continued to walk down the winding tunnel.
“It is a long story, and one that has never been recounted to me fully. There is much animosity, so to speak, between Sidra and the trees. That much I know, though ‘animosity’ may be too harsh a word. Perhaps ambivalence better describes her attitude toward the Lalas. Yet, I also know that they fight upon the same side, despite the fact that they can not always do that side by
side,” he replied. “There are things she knows about them that she will not speak of to me or to anyone. And she has always retained her independence, never willing to accede completely to their authority. Sidra is a strong willed woman!” he said with clear and tangible admiration. “And we can trust her totally. We may not understand all that she does, but she would not send us into harm’s way unless it was necessary.”
“Or the better of two evils?” Caroline asked.
“Perhaps,” he replied, and he contemplated his daughter’s words. “Though, I suspect we are here for another purpose altogether.”
“Maybe we will learn more when we reach our destination,” Caroline said.
“Our destination, daughter? What exactly is our destination? Odelot? The Lalas’ heart? Do we even know?” her father asked.
“You tell me we can trust her, and I am willing to do so. Have you really the faith in this woman that you claim to have?” she asked.
“I do, Caroline. I am just not accustomed to tasks with no obvious goals. I am a practical man,” he replied as they wandered down the twisted path.
Dalloway’s head was hanging particularly low and his pace was slackening even as they spoke, and neither of them had noticed that he had not said anything for a while.
“Hurry! Do not fall behind,” Caroline called back to him, realizing now that he must be lagging as the light that he carried was growing dimmer because it was further away.
When the elf lifted his head to gaze at her, she immediately realized that something was very wrong. He had been slowly succumbing to the overbearing depression that was settling down so heavily upon him, and she and her father were too preoccupied with their conversation to have noticed. She quickly walked over to him and put her arm around his shoulder and under his own in order to assist him. He smiled gratefully at her, but the look in his eyes was faraway and weak.
“Father! Help me please. I fear we may be losing him to the tragedy of this place,” she implored.
Conrad stood on the other side of Dalloway, and together they all walked on. Dalloway could soon barely move his legs, and he was stumbling and falling as they progressed. Had it not been for Caroline and Conrad, he would have crumbled in a heap upon the ground.
“I must help him. He seems so much more susceptible than we,” she said, and her eyes were wide with concern. “He must still be weak from before we found him.”
“Be careful, Caroline. We cannot afford to lose the both of you now,” Conrad warned.
“I will be. He needs me now,” she replied. “He succumbed so quickly. I had thought he would have been as strong as we down here. I had forgotten just how seriously he had been wounded afore, and it was stupid of me to imagine he could have recovered fully in such a short period of time. No one should have been expected to bounce back so fast from such an experience,” she said, and she was angry at herself for being so foolish as to assume otherwise.
Before another word was said, Caroline had taken Dalloway’s hands in her own and she was staring deeply into his half-closed eyes. They both fell to their knees facing one another. Shortly, the two of them had gone into in a trance-like state, and Conrad could do nothing more than stand there and prop the elf up so that he would not collapse totally upon the ground. Fortunately, it was only moments before both pairs of eyes opened, and it was obvious that Dalloway was much stronger. His eyes were once again clear and bright, and Caroline, though fatigued, had a look of satisfaction upon her delicate features that required no words to explain.
“He will be fine, father. Thank you,” she said, and she sighed audibly with relief.
“Thank you,” Dalloway whispered to Caroline, and he squeezed her fingers. “I had not realized how to protect myself before. Now that I know, I will not succumb again. It was inadvisable of me not to ask earlier, but for an elf from Seramour not to understand how to abide with the trees seemed so unlikely to me. My arrogance…”
“It was not arrogance that made you vulnerable, but innocence. I have spent a lifetime learning how to protect myself from the invasion of outside emotions,” Caroline said.
“And I have known Sidra too well and too long to have wandered into the Forbidden Places without preparing myself for the experience,” Conrad recounted. “Are you both alright? Can we go on. I think it ill advised to linger here much longer.”
“Tired is all,” Dalloway replied. “It will pass.”
“I am ready. But where are we headed, father?” Caroline asked, staring at a multi-pronged fork in the pathway.
“You are asking me? Are you not the one who communed with the animals? Did they not instruct you?”
“They merely told me where the entrance was and warned me of the danger above. They said to seek the heart. That is all. They have not entered this place before.”
“So we have our answer, daughter. Why are you worried?” Conrad asked with a smile.
“Yes, I suppose. But it was such a vague directive. How are we to decide which path to take?” she asked, as she pointed to the three different choices that loomed before them even at that moment.
“The medallion will lead us. Look! When I turn it over, it is almost like a compass, is it not?” Dalloway said. He was examining the back of it.
“By the First, I believe the boy is right!” Conrad replied, and he slapped Dalloway sharply on his back. “Just look at that! Sidra has not failed us after all!”
Sure enough, what had been smooth and polished before with no obvious markings upon it, in the glow of its own internal light, now appeared to be guiding them. A small dot of intense illumination remained steadily pointing in one direction even as Dalloway moved the amulet from the left to the right.
“If we follow the light, I bet it will lead us to where we need to go!” he said.
“I am certain that it will!” Conrad concurred.
They hastened down the path, and at each new fork in the road, they held the amulet aloft and went in the direction that it indicated, winding deeper and deeper into the earth.
Chapter Forty-one
“The path grows narrow and it is much steeper than previously. We have been heading upward for some time now. Do you think we are nearing its end?” Alemar asked, while first staring at the map and then ahead into the darkness.
“It appears to from the drawing,” Teetoo said.
“Will we then be in Sedahar?” Giles asked from somewhere behind them.
“That is the plan, is it not?” Clovis quipped.
“What I meant was will there be no transition betwixt the two?” Giles explained himself.
“The point where they meet must be concealed in some way or someone would have found it before this,” Alemar said.
“My thoughts exactly,” Teetoo concurred. “When we reach the termination we will see. It seems as if we are nearly there.”
They walked further on, though it was now difficult to stand erect. The ceiling had become lower and lower with each step. Alemar allowed the light to dangle upon her chest and she kept both of her hands out in front of her to avoid walking into anything. Vines hung down from above and broken branches protruded from the walls in many spots, and they had to walk carefully in order to keep from becoming entangled in them or tripping over them. The pathway turned abruptly to the left just ahead, and she could not see anything beyond it.
“We are changing direction,” she observed.
As she rounded the bend, she rubbed her eyes with her fingers and shook her head. Everything was blurry, and she could not distinguish the wall from the ceiling or the floor.
“Stop!” she announced as the others rounded the bend and began to walk right into each other. “This must be the end.”
“That does not sound good to me!” Giles said.
“I meant nothing by it, Giles,” Alemar sought to reassure him. “But the path we have been on definitely terminates here.”
Teetoo joined Alemar, and together they stared at the blurred space in front of them. It was imp
ossible to determine if what they were looking at was a doorway or not. Alemar raised the light before it and withdrew it abruptly, startled.
“Did you see that?” she asked, unsettled.
“Yes. Illuminate it once more so I can get a better look,” Teetoo instructed.
She raised her hand again and held it aloft this time. Within the obscurity of the space before them hovered the image of man’s face. It appeared to be three dimensional, though it was clearly a chimera or a replica only, suspended in the blurred portal, and not a living person.
“Do you recognize him?” Alemar asked.
“No. The features are unfamiliar. But look at the diadem upon his head. Is that not the symbol of Gwendolen etched upon it?” Teetoo said.
“Clovis? You know the ancient signs. Look at this,” Alemar instructed.
Clovis stepped forward and scrutinized the image that hovered before them.
“Yes, Princess. Without a doubt that is the sign of the royal house of Gwendolen,” Clovis concurred.
“The heir’s house,” Teetoo said.
“What could it mean here under Sedahar?” Giles asked, confused. “Is it a warning, do you think? Did not the King and his entire family die by Caeltin’s hand?”
“All but one died that fateful day,” Teetoo said.
“All but two, I believe!” Alemar corrected him.
“Yes, you are right, Princess. All but two. Nonetheless, I do not perceive it as an admonition, nor as a harbinger, but rather as a reminder,” Teetoo said, as he continued to contemplate the image. “There is more here than meets the eye. Look closely there,” he said, and he pointed to the space beneath the chin of the figure. Does it appear particularly blurred to you,” he asked the others.
“Yes. More so than the areas around it,” Alemar agreed. “But it is hard to tell what we are really looking at.”
“There is something behind there that I cannot see clearly at all. Bring the light closer,” Teetoo said, and Alemar leaned in and pressed the necklace against the opaque surface.
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