Gwenyth stood, bemused at the whole display as Cantror guffawed loudly. He flew closer to her ear.
“Gwenyth, before you and your young friend Amilee arrived, these three...reprobates, caused me no end of trouble.” Cantror chuckled loudly so the others might hear. “I still have vivid memories of the day the three of them attempted to climb the Tree.”
Filumé acknowledged the Faer for the first time, with a lop sided grin. It was obvious from his demeanor he respected the Faer Folk greatly.
“Oh, but Cantror, we came so close. Kon and myself even made it to the upper boughs, before a certain person fell.” He glanced mockingly at Kore.
“Well, what do you expect?” Kore scowled at Filumé, Kon and Cantror, as if they resumed a conversation broken off the previous day, instead of over a century ago. “I’m a Dwelf, not a bloody bird man like you two believe yourselves to be. I belong beneath the earth, not a thousand feet above it.”
Kon laughed, shaking his head. “Kore, all you had to do was not look down. One simple thing and we would have reached the top.”
Filumé looked at Cantror enigmatically. “My old friend, would you like to explain to Kon how wrong he is?”
Cantror returned Filumé’s stare with a straight face for a few seconds, before a grin split his face.
“You knew!” he said. “You young imp, all along you knew you weren’t climbing the real Tree, but you said nothing.”
Filumé grinned at his friends’ bemused expressions. “I wasn’t certain, but I knew we’d reached the top with a lot less resistance than I’d expected. When Kore lost his grip and fell, I wondered how you were there to catch him. I certainly hadn’t seen any sign of you.”
The golden elf smiled ruefully at Kore and Kon, “Sorry, my friends. I didn’t realize at first myself, but I’ve had time to ponder during this last century of exile. Tell me, Cantror, did we even reach the base of the real Tree?”
Cantror smiled thinly. “Almost. You were within a few feet before we managed to beguile you. If it hadn’t been for the Dwelf you’d never have known. You’d have seen each other reach the top, and spend the next century congratulating yourself on putting one over on the Faer Folk.”
Kore and Kon looked at each other, both needing to know what was going on. The events they remembered were real to them. A century earlier they’d attempted the same ascent Filumé’s father had, thousands of years ago, before the Veil had fallen. They’d almost succeeded, except Kore had looked down, felt lightheaded and lost his grip. The resulting furor had caused a rift between the Faer Folk’s court and the council of the Eldar.
In the end, the Eldar Queen, Lynnaria agreed to take her son to the mountain Kingdom. At least, this is what they believed.
Kon’s brows furrowed, and he stood with his arms crossed looking at Filumé and Cantror.
“So you’re telling, me we went through all that pain and punishment, and we didn’t even reach the Tree at all?” He turned, looking skywards. “It hardly seems fair, does it, Kore?”
Kore shook his head. “No, it does not. What I want to know is, why the whole uproar when we didn’t actually carry out the deed?”
Cantror flared briefly to attract everyone’s attention. “I suggest we carry on the conversation in the sunlight. I am unsure how safe we are here from enemy ears.”
The group breathed a sigh of agreement, and they walked the short distance to the edge of the gloom. It was like entering a new world, as if a blindfold lifted, and their spirits instantly rose as the warmth of the noon day sun shone on their skin.
Kon signaled for them to follow him to a tent which stood close to the clear stream the army camped beside. Filumé and Kore gaped at the sight around them. Dozens of brightly colored tents stood in whatever clearings granted them space, and hundreds of warriors, Faer and Eldar, could be seen. Kore saw a strange look pass his friend’s face, but said nothing when Filumé shook his head to silence him.
They entered the tent, and sat around a table which grew from the forest floor. The smells in the tent were of earth and leaves, and made them wholly at ease as they made themselves comfortable.
Gwenyth stood at the head of the table, the youngest among them, but obviously the one in charge. She looked around at all of them before her eyes stopped on Filumé.
“I want to know what you meant when you first made your presence known,” she said. “We were discussing why Caron and the others might have camped within the eaves of darkness, when their orders stated they were not to. You said, ‘Perhaps they didn’t’. Please explain what you meant.”
Filumé chuckled and Gwenyth’s eyes narrowed.
“I fail to see anything funny about the situation, sir,” she said, coldly. “Six Magisters are missing, presumably murdered.”
Filumé’s face straightened, and he arose to bow deeply before her. “My lady, I am sorry for my flippancy. In my defense, I simply found it humorous that you completely glossed over the Tree climbing attempt, in order to drag us straight back to the here and now. It was...very well done.”
There was a ghost of a smile on his lips, but Gwenyth knew there was nothing mocking about it. She smiled back, a blush rising on her cheeks.
“Apology accepted, my Lord,” she said, her eyes downcast and unwilling to meet the intense gaze directed at her. “Now if I could again ‘drag us back to the here and now,’ would you mind explaining?”
Filumé inclined his head. “Of course, my lady.” He looked at the others. “All of you here agree that Caron and the other Magisters weren’t stupid, don’t you?”
There was a momentary surge of outrage, but Filumé raised his hands in supplication. “No offence was intended. I knew Caron as well as any here.” His face darkened.
Gwenyth sensed the hurt he felt at his friends’ deaths, and felt guilty for talking to him the way she had.
“I think it is safe to say that all of us here held Caron in the highest respect,” she said, staring at the elf prince.
Filumé returned the stare and nodded in acknowledgment. “So, if he was not stupid, and knew his orders were not to camp within the gloom, then there can be only one explanation. He didn’t.”
Kon looked across with an eyebrow raised, “But he...they, did. You can clearly see the fire stones, and the pit is still warm. Although they only camped a short distance within the gloom they were without a doubt inside its boundaries.”
Gwenyth stood up again, smiling grimly. “Perhaps they didn’t,” she said, chuckling as she looked at Filumé and then back at Kon.
“What Filumé is suggesting, and I find myself in agreement with, is that they camped outside the dark boundary, as orders stated, but that during the night, these very same boundaries moved.”
The faces around the table went white. Cantror summoned a guard. “Have the Magi erect a shield around the camp. It should be capable of repelling all natural forces, even trees.”
They could sense the horror in the guard as she turned to carry out her orders. The tree’s belonged to the Faer. They were their friends and servants, and for them to turn upon them was abhorrent and unbelievable. Unfortunately, Cantror knew this is what happened to Caron and the others.
He turned to Gwenyth. “It is long past noon now. There is no way we can reach the heart and that pit you saw before nightfall. We shall have to wait here tonight and hope the shield holds.”
“No.” Gwenyth stood with her feet planted on the forest floor, and her hands on the tree table before her. “If I go alone I can reach the pit in time. I fear no shield will withstand the trees in this part of the forest. Don’t you see where we are? The mightiest trees grow by the stream, Cantor, you know this. There are oaks and elms here which are thousands of years old, and hundreds of feet tall. Nothing you can erect would stand against them, if this darkness can indeed control them.”
Filumé stood up. “In that case, I shall accompany you, if you would allow me.” He smiled as he continued. “I promised my mother I’d assist you. Something to do with a p
rophecy, apparently. I can explain on the way.
“And I need to go as well,” said Kore in his thick burr, jumping up onto his stubby legs. He looked up at his friend with a stern gaze, hiding the compassion behind his eyes. “Someone has to look out for this one. He has a rather annoying habit of getting into trouble. And if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not have to explain his untimely demise to his mother...frankly, the woman terrifies me.”
Laughter interrupted the tension for a few moments before Gwenyth spoke.
“Thank you Filumé. And you, Kore,” she said. “We must go now, however, before we lose any more light. There are things I must tell you on the way which might make you regret your decision, but let’s not waste anymore time.”
With that she rushed out of the tent, grabbing her travel bundle on the way. Filumé turned to Kore, grinning like a child.
“Isn’t she wonderful, Kore?”
Kore grumped behind his beard. “Hmph, likely to get us both killed is what she is. But at least it’ll not be boring. Now come on, before she gets too far ahead of us. No sense in letting a slip of a girl grab all the glory.”
Chapter Forty Two
Attack on the Island
Toshi closed the door, and walked across to fall backwards onto the bed.
‘Why me?’ he thought, although he knew the answer and agreed with the logic behind it. Chran might have been the ideal person to stay and bang out a treaty here on Dranis, but they needed someone to contact the Zhibalbans. Katheryne had been unable to find anywhere safe on the planet to create a portal, so Chran had volunteered to travel there the old fashioned way...if flight through the Never using dragon magic might ever be called old fashioned.
This meant Toshi had to stay, and frankly these people were really beginning to get on his nerves. He acknowledged himself that he was the right person for this assignment. Derren might have quit and left by now. Krista might have quit and left, but only after smashing a few heads together.
He chuckled wishfully at the image. He longed to have that option. The negotiations were approaching a farcical point, with the two main parties in government fighting over an insignificant piece of legislation, which in turn held the whole process up.
If all had gone to plan, Chran had arrived at his destination, and the Zhibalban fleet was already on its way to the rendezvous point. At the current rate of progress, they might run out of fuel or provisions before the Dranian fleet even left this system.
Toshi raised himself up onto the pillows and closed his eyes. ‘Perhaps a little time on the island might provide some inspiration?’
He relaxed his breathing and let his mind drift, as he felt his consciousness shift into the constructed reality within Katheryne’s mind; into a scene of chaos!
A storm threatened to sweep him off his feet and lightning boomed above, assaulting his ears with thunderous waves of sound. Sand whipped up to sting his face.
Dark shapes flashed through the air, like ghostly apparitions. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of them in an ever shifting cloud of destruction. It surrounded the Island, but as Toshi watched, a tendril of blackness, shot through with silver, stabbed inwards to sweep the small township away. There was no explosion or crash. Whatever it touched simply ceased to be. The palms disappeared to leave pristine sands.
Toshi saw several of the Powers gathered at the edge of the jungle, and as he ran toward them, it registered at the back of his mind they surrounded the space Katheryne and Derren found special. He looked around as he approached, watching the cloud probe the edges of the jungle, but never grow any closer than a few hundred feet from this spot.
This was their target, the core of the Island; the spot where Katheryne was strongest. One question came immediately to mind.
Where was she?
*
‘It’s just a dream, honey. Go back to sleep,’ said Perri.
Katheryne settled into her slumber as Perri caressed her cheek.‘This must be a dream,’ she thought. ‘Perri’s never appeared in the island before. She can’t, she’s not wired that way. No, this must be a bad dream. Maybe I need to go back to sleep like Perri says.’
She watched a figure which could have been Toshi run toward her, before she turned over and went back to sleep.
*
“Where is she?” Toshi shouted above the screams coming from the shadows, to the dozen or so Powers standing in a circle around the hollow. “What the..?” He stared as a ghostly apparition in the shape of Katheryne rolled over on the ground...and disappeared.
The girdle of darkness seemed to sense her departure and tightened the noose around the hollow. Whips lashed the nearby palms, and as Toshi looked out over the beach, the sea vanished in a dark froth, as the dark lightning moved up the sands. The mountain in the middle of the island likewise vanished in black fire.
Toshi reeled around from face to face. Besides a half dozen sitting cross legged around the hollow, most of them were white faced with fear or shock. Finally, he saw a familiar face, and rushed across to grab Jip by the arms and shake him out of his stupor.
“Jip...Jip!” he shouted. “What happened? You need to tell me how this happened.” For a second it appeared the small being might lapse back into shock, but he looked up, recognizing who spoke to him.
“Toshi? Toshi, it’s really you.” His face broke in a hopeful grin. “We thought you’d all gone. When she arrived, and then Katheryne didn’t help...” He embraced Toshi like he was their savior, but Toshi caught his words and a question formed.
“Jip...Who arrived?” He grabbed Jip by the upper arms, and forced him to look into his eyes. “Jip, you need to tell me. You said, ‘When she arrived.’ Who arrived?”
Jip’s eyes widened at the assault, before he raised a hand and pointed to the back of the hollow, where a figure lay in a scrunched up shape.
“She arrived, Toshi,” said Jip. “We know her from before, so we welcomed her, but moments afterwards, all this began.” He waved his arms to indicate the situation around them.
Toshi approached the figure carefully. It retreated into the shadow of one of the remaining palms, whimpering, while trying to hide its face...her face.
“Laren!” Toshi felt a rage alien to him, as he recognized the pitiful figure in front of him. “Laren, it’s me, Toshi.” His name had an unexpected effect. She screamed.
“NOO!! GO AWAYYY!!!” Sobs accompanied the shrill voice, a voice Toshi barely recognized as his lover’s. He recoiled, more to protect her than himself, and watched her curl again into a protective ball. He turned to Jip.
“All this happened when she arrived?”
Jip nodded, and Toshi stepped forward, grabbing the huddled figure and dragging her upright. Laren’s eyes were dark pits of torment as she stared back at him, but he grabbed her head and locked his gaze on her.
“Laren. What’s happening here?” He saw her begin to fade into feigned unconsciousness, so he slapped her hard across the mouth, drawing blood as her teeth cut her bottom lip. Her head snapped up as she spat red saliva onto the sand. Her glazed expression returned for the briefest instant before Toshi saw his soul mate fight to the surface.
“Toshi...forgive me.” She looked at him, and he saw the pain her soul endured to bring her to this point. She had something to say which wouldn’t wait.
“I did this...all of this is my fault.” Tears ran down her cheeks, “but I didn’t mean to. They did things to me.”
Toshi swept her up into his soft embrace. “No matter what they have done, my love, we can help you. You are alive, and we shall come for you.”
Laren’s eyes grew wide. “No, you can’t! That’s what they want, don’t you see?” She looked around. “All this is my fault. I let them in.”
Toshi’s brows furrowed, and he pushed Laren back, just enough to look into her eyes.
“What do you mean, Laren?” he asked. “We assumed when you didn’t return here that you were kept comatose, so you couldn’t dream. Are you saying
something else?”
Laren lowered her head in shame. “I was unconscious for a long time. I have no idea how long. But when I awoke the first thing I saw was a little girl.”
Toshi tuned the sounds of the chaos out. All he cared about was Laren.
“She was beautiful, Toshi. Blonde hair, green eyes.” She looked at him with tear filled eyes. “Like a young Katheryne. I watched them slit her throat in front of me as I lay recovering. They held her hair as she tried to scream and bled out. I tried to rise but the drugs were still too strong, and they brought another in. A boy, that might have been you as a child. What they did to him was unspeakable, but I couldn’t lift a finger.”
Laren rocked in his arms. “I recovered after a while. I killed everyone I could find, but it was no good. Before I knew what was happening, every vid screen in the place came on with dead kids everywhere. A voice told me that if I carried on fighting, every kid on the planet would die. And I believed them. Oh Toshi, if you’d only seen what they did.”
Toshi shook with a rage he’d never felt. But all he did was hang on to Laren and allow her to vent.
“They never let me sleep. When it was time, they drugged me into a coma. And when I awoke there was always a child in front of me. They always killed one as I awoke, letting me know there was nothing I could do, and there were always more, waiting to die if I didn’t do exactly what they wanted.”
Toshi released her ever so slightly, and allowed her to look out at the sky, or what was left of it.
“Is this what they wanted, Laren? Did they want to destroy the island? Prevent the Powers from meeting here?” The look he received confirmed his worst fears.
“Toshi, I told you I betrayed you. They got inside my head and I couldn’t hide it.” Laren swept her arm around. “They know this IS Katheryne. They know that if they destroy this, they destroy any threat she poses to them.”
A core of ice formed at Toshi’s core. “And she doesn’t even know this is happening. I saw her. She’s still asleep!”
Worlds of the Never: A book with Dragons, Faeries and Elves, mixed with Science Fiction and Time Travel, for Young Adults and Teens. (Tales of the Neverwar 2) Page 17
