“I do not doubt for a moment she is grateful to you for all you’ve done for her.” Him smiled over at her again, and then squeezed her fingers. “You give without expectation and ignore the pain of the sacrifice because you love. That is what makes you amazing,” he said, “what makes you a heroine.”
Wanting nothing more to do with the swelling of her own head, she quickly changed the subject. “Do you miss your father? You said he died when you were young. Did you know him well?”
“Not so well, no,” he shrugged, and Meredith could tell that their conversation made him uncomfortable. “He fathered many sons, and though I was his last he had given so much of himself already that it was as if he had nothing left for me. I inherited the wild hunt, governance of the woods, but only because it was I who was born with the part of his soul meant to take his place when he was gone. I am grateful for Sylvanus. He has always been like a father to me, more than a brother, and it was he who taught me what it was to be The Hunter.”
“Your father worried about his caring nature,” she said, not realizing the words she had just spoken. “He always feared that when the time came that Sylvanus would govern with his emotions rather than his intellect, but he turned out to be a fine leader in the end. I suppose he had to, didn’t he? With my aunt and uncle passed, with me gone…”
“You remember my father?” Him balked in surprise, but she was just as taken aback by her revelation as he was.
“I did,” she cried. “I mean I do, though not fully. I just remember it was something Sylvanus said when we were young, that your father thought him too emotional to make rational decisions—that he would make a lousy soldier and even lousier ruler if it came down to him to oversee the city.”
She watched unspoken sorrow draw itself into the lines in his face.
“Sylvanus has kept the peace in ways so few others would have dared, and that’s more than I can say for our forebears.”
Meredith nodded. There were a thousand questions she wanted to ask, questions she should have asked Sylvanus, and would probably never be given the chance. The vague recollection of that life, that past, hummed around the edges of her awareness and consumed her mind so that they spoke no more.
She was grateful, however, when Him leaned inward and lowered his arm over her so that he might draw her nearer to him as they walked. They stumbled awkwardly at first until they fell into each other’s rhythm. When she felt the brush of his lips atop her forehead, she felt a mixture of comfort and safety, at least for the moment.
“That’s two hundred and seventy-three...two hundred and seventy-three... yes, seventy-three...” Gorigast mumbled to himself as they meandered slowly behind him.
It had felt as though they had walked that constant circle for several hours, and since there was no sunlight there was no way to determine just how much time had passed since they’d crossed the bridge and entered into the darkness.
“Make ready to turn left, Majesty.” Gorigast turned around and smiled up at her. It was a desperate grin filled with the relentless desire to please.
“Please, Gorigast, stop calling me Majesty. My name is Meredith.”
“Shall I call you Queen Meredith?”
“Just Meredith will be fine,” she withdrew from Him’s arm and studied their surroundings.
“Just Meredith it is then,” Gorigast nodded, but somehow Meredith didn’t believe it would be long before he was calling her Majesty again. “We turn left here.” Gorigast slipped through an opening in the landscape that seemed like a tear in the fabric of the Wald itself, and Meredith and Him stood transfixed on the other side.
“This place is an abomination,” Him muttered.
“You’re telling me.”
He reached for her hand, and together they crossed through eerie veil and into a new dimension of the Wald.
It was brighter than the land they’d left behind; that was the first thing Meredith noted. They had come out in the midst of a melancholy clearing lined by the gnarled corpses of trees. The landscape ahead was tinted silver, as though the sun’s light managed to claw through the thick atmosphere, and in the distance there lingered the lonely shadow of a mountain. There was certainly no sign of a castle, or any indication that they were even on the right path to the castle, but when Meredith moved to ask Gorigast where they were, she discovered he was nowhere in sight.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
When Gorigast stumbled through the veil, tripping over his own pant legs, he was quite surprised to have landed at the feet of the goblin king himself.
Kothar was not amused, as was obvious from his stern disposition and tightly pressed lips. The mud-flecked hem of his dark cloak seemed caught in some otherworldly breeze, and swayed perpetually against the backs of his calves. He pushed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, causing his cheeks to sink in just slightly, and then he released it with a harrowing tsk.
“My orders were simple, were they not, Gorigast?” He stepped forward so that the length of his shadow enshrouded the cowering elf at his feet. “Kill the hunter and bring me the girl. How complicated can that be?”
“S-s-s-sire, I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Obviously.” The soft leather soles of his boots made no sound as he approached. “Obviously you thought that this was all some kind of game.”
“No, no game, Sire,” he insisted with a furious shake of his head. “I was just bringing them into the glen and ...”
“Only just now bringing them to the glen?” Kothar reached down and plucked the elf up from the ground, his powerful grasp bruising the thin flesh around Gorigast’s arms as he raised him to eye level. “Do you realize how much time has been wasted already?” He lowered his face toward the squirming elf in his grasp whose dangling feet jerked as he twisted and writhed to free himself. “What is taking you so long?”
“N-n-nothing, Sire. It’s just that I...”
“Nothing? I find that very hard to believe. You’ve only now just come upon the glen.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Were you lost?” He already knew the answer. “I was sure that with my charm you’d have no trouble finding your way.”
“No trouble, Sire,” he shook his head in a furious denial. “No trouble. Please, I can explain...”
“And the Hunter,” Kothar went on, “curiously still alive.” He paused and lifted his ear toward the sound of Meredith and Him approaching. Returning his sharp gaze to Gorigast, he shook his head and sighed. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. I was so sure I’d chosen well with you, but you disappoint me. Perhaps I misjudged you and should find another to carry out this simplest of tasks.”
“Please, Sire, I won’t let you down, please.”
“You are running out of time.” Before Kothar loosened his fingers and dropped the elf into a shuddering puddle at his feet, he tightened his grip. “Now listen to me very carefully, Gorigast, for if you do not do exactly as I tell you, I will bring down such suffering upon you that you will beg for death, do we understand each other?”
Gorigast peered up through the thinning strands of his hair, his large eyes blurred by his own fear. He trembled so fiercely that when he nodded it was almost indiscernible.
“You are going to lead them through the glen and into the hedgerows, and directly to the Nether Lake. That is where you will lose the Hunter.” Kothar leaned back and crossed his arms as he studied the cowering creature before him. “Are we clear?”
“Y-yes, Sire.” His nod was over-eager, desperate. “The Nether Lake.”
“See that she comes to no harm.” The voices beyond the veil were just inches away when Kothar turned and began to walk away. “And remember,” he turned over his shoulder so quickly that wisps of his black hair clung to the sides of his face. “If you fail me, Gorigast, I’ll make you regret that you were ever born.”
Before Gorigast could pick himself up from the ground, Kothar disappeared between the trees, and Meredith and Him crossed through the veil. He could hear her calling his name, and while the coward ins
ide of him longed to run as far from the sound of her voice as he could, that very same coward knew that Kothar’s wrath would be far greater than any scorn that might come from the gentle lady he was leading straight toward doom.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Despite the fact that it was brighter than the thick copse they’d left behind, Meredith was not the least bit surprised when a fat droplet of rain fell from the overcast sky and landed on her forehead. Typical, yes, but after crossing the bridge into that dark new world, complaint now carried with it a sense of uselessness. It seemed a waste of breath to moan about it, but she did wish she had a cloak to shelter her from the rain, which began falling in earnest as if purposely thwarting their quest.
As though he had read her mind, Him maneuvered around in his pack and pulled out the blanket that sheltered them the night before. He laid it over her shoulders and drew the back up over her head in a makeshift hood.
She drew it tighter around her, breathing in the musty odor. It reminded her of the forest, of Him, who grinned as though pleased with himself and then closed his pack.
He surveyed the clearing, noting their missing guide with a sigh. “He’s obviously run off."
"Maybe the Wald took him?" she wondered aloud.
“Or maybe his conscience got the best of him.”
“Perhaps,” she studied the horizon herself. Sickly woods drew up to tower in on them from both sides, and she had no idea which way to go from there. Without a guide to lead them, she guessed it really didn’t matter. They would have to find their own way.
"We should keep to the clearing," Him said, "as long as it lasts, anyway. Maybe we can catch a glimpse of the castle and determine which way to go from there."
Just as they picked up their feet, a heavy rustling in the brush they'd emerged from signaled their attention. Him reached instinctively toward his sword and had it half-drawn by the time Gorigast stumbled into the clearing covered in black seeds.
He muttered under his breath and glowered, only stopping when he realized he had come out right before them. “Majesty, there you are.”
Meredith narrowed her eyes over their guide, feeling Him's caution and doubt weighing heavily on her mind. “We thought maybe you had run off without us.”
“Me? Run off without you?” Gorigast straightened himself and tried to push the guilt of his meeting with Kothar into the back of his mind. “I would never run off without you, my queen.”
Gorigast’s attention was then drawn to the portal closing over their entrance into the field. His breath caught in his throat like a ragged cloth at the amazing site unfolding behind them.
The darkness of the Wald was slowly lifting away, the smallest hint of blue tinting the sky beyond the portal as though the heavily burdened land had breathed a sigh of relief. Green tendrils snaked up from the sulking earth and reached toward the opening sky above, and Gorigast nearly dropped to his knees in reverence as the shadow of a small bird flittered across the threshold just moments before it closed.
Life. The Wald was alive again, and it was all because of her.
Hints of prophecy clawed at his memory, and he shifted his reverent stare toward Meredith. She stood just feet away, wrapped in that woven blanket like some strange pilgrim from another world. The damp tendrils of her honey hair clung to her cheeks and forehead, her blue eyes like the glimpse of sky he'd seen just moments before.
She was the one; the light in the darkness.
The guilt perished from his heart, as he realized there was no doubt what must be done. He must lead her home.
“Majesty,” he bowed before her. “Follow me this way to the castle.”
Him's gaze arced in exasperation, but he said nothing, simply picked up and followed where Meredith went. And while he had not looked backward, or noticed that the very world behind them was changing, another did notice.
Kothar watched them journey through the Wald from the looking glass in his castle, and a strangling breathlessness caught in his throat as he glimpsed the changes unraveling his darkness.
He leaned forward, chin rested atop his fingers as he watched his dying world draw breath again. Such wonders he had not seen in so long they almost seemed foreign. Budding flowers promised to fleck the landscape with rich hues of green, pale yellow, lavender, blue, soft pink and naked white.
But how?
What magic had she conjured to renew life in that which had been long dead?
A timid hare crept out from the brush and Kothar watched with unbridled curiosity. Inside of him lingered an unspoken softness, a core of longing for a world he had long ago left for the shadows.
As he breathed in, he could almost smell the sweet, fragrant clover, but before the longing inside could overwhelm him, he stiffened against it and strengthened the bitter wall he built around before it could crumble.
A snarl of appreciation curved the left corner of his mouth. She was a most dangerous adversary, most dangerous indeed, and though he dared not bring her to harm, she would have to be stopped, or at least startled.
The ragged expression he wore softened, for he had just the thing that would cut her down to size.
*****
At least the claustrophobia was gone, Meredith thought. She glanced toward the silver dome of sky above them. Clouds continued to spit down rain, but beyond them she was sure the silver essence was the sun trying desperately to tear through. The trees were narrowing again as well, and it looked as if they would be forced back into the thick of Wald once more.
Dreading it, she drew the damp blanket closer around herself and looked toward Him. He hadn’t said much since they’d reunited with Gorigast, which was probably for the best, but she had been enjoying their conversation a great deal.
She’d never known anyone quite like Him before, and she wasn’t thinking of his physical differences. Where most people she had known throughout the course of her life had been judgmental and unforgiving when it came to her independence, Him seemed to both thrive on and encourage it.
When he had called her a heroine before, she hadn’t known how to accept the praise. She had done amazing things, things beyond the sacrifice she was about to make for the sake of her sister, but they’d never felt all that outstanding to her before.
Sylvanus had spoken of the sacrifice she had made for the sake of their kingdom, and though it all seemed far too distant for her to recall, it gave her a greater sense of pride than any she had ever known before.
It made her uncomfortable to try and remember the past Sylvanus placed her in, but each time she met with Him’s gaze, or his hand grazed hers, she drew closer to believing it.
And the quest for her sister had turned into something beyond amazing. Had Christina not been the precocious troublemaker getting herself into yet another bind, Meredith would never have found the place her heart longed to call home.
She knew it was foolish to fantasize under such uncertain terms; she had promised to turn herself over to Kothar, but somewhere inside her heart was planning a future with Him even though she knew it could never come to pass. She could see it clearly. Once they’d returned Christina to her proper place in the world, Meredith was going to do whatever it took to remain behind with Him.
Of course, she hadn’t mentioned it yet, and there was a sickening feeling inside of her that if she did manage to find a way out of staying with Kothar, Him might tell her he didn’t want her to stay...
He was a free spirit before she came along, and he’d most certainly want to return to that freedom as quickly as possible.
“We should break for mid-day soon,” Him spoke up.
“Of course.”
“No breaking!” Gorigast didn’t pause to protest, but turned on them with wide, wary eyes while still walking. “We mustn’t stop.”
“Gorigast, we’ve been traveling for hours,” Meredith protested. “We need to replenish our strength with a little rest and some food.”
“Replenish strength while we move,” he said. “We m
ust keep going.”
“Don’t be a fool, elf,” Him said. “We were rushed from our camp this morning before we even had time to dress properly, much less break our fast. If the lady does not rest and eat, she will surely collapse.”
“I may not collapse, but I do agree that we need to rest. We’ll set up a small camp and rest briefly and have a bite.”
Gorigast was put out, but said nothing more aloud. He could be heard from time to time muttering under his breath about time being wasted, but he didn’t fully voice his objections once Meredith had put her foot down.
At last they set up a small camp just inside the copse on the other side of the glen, and Meredith spread the blanket she’d been shielding herself with on the ground. Peering out beyond the dark canopy as she settled in to sit down, she noticed that the rain had slowed to a lulling shower and it looked as though the sun followed them on their path.
“It looks like the sun may shine on us yet,” she noted.
Him followed her gaze, squinting toward the eerie silver light breaking through the heaviness above. “That is strange,” he noted. “They always said the sun did not shine in the Wald, something about the dark magic keeping its light at bay.”
“Sun does not shine on the Wald,” Gorigast interjected. “At least it did not, but some things, they are changing now.”
“Changing?” Him looked toward their guide. “How so?”
“I know not how, only that it changes.” Gorigast had distanced himself from them by sitting several feet away from the blanket and sulking.
“What kinds of changes?” Meredith tried.
He didn’t look away from her when she asked him with the same nervous presence Him seemed to inspire in the frail creature, but stared almost boldly, a strange twist of a smile lighting his face.
“Life,” he whispered. “Life returns.”
“How is that possible?” Him lifted his hand to the ever-growing stubble shadowing his chin. “Part of the original curse was the darkness, and Sylvanus says that every year Kothar is king the shades of the Wald draw closer to our world.”
The Goblin Market (Into the Green) Page 17
