by K. T. Webb
The young man laughed before looking nervously at his companion. “Uh, yes. My name is Evander. You will remember me soon; it takes a few moments.”
His deep brown eyes and muddy hair held no familiarity for Legacy. With her eyes full of the skepticism she failed to hide, she accepted the hand still being offered. Sparks. As soon as their hands touched, memories flooded back to Legacy. Of course, Evander! How could she have forgotten the man who had saved her, befriended her, and led her to wallow in a deep love she had no interest in escaping.
“Oh my, Evander! How could I forget you?” Legacy felt the fear creeping from her toes through the rest of her body as she plunged forward to hug him.
“What happened?” The man she now knew to be Justice asked as he rubbed his temples with a furrowed brow.
“We got separated. We each had to enter the forest alone and somehow ended up in completely different places. These woods are strange, the mist must change things here,” Evander ran a hand through his hair.
Legacy thought back to what brought her to this place. She remembered wandering the forest, trying to find the others. Legacy recalled the tree she sought shelter in and felt its spirit somewhere far away. Her mind was still foggy, but everything was beginning to fall into place.
“I saw Honor! Only, I doubt it was truly her,” Legacy looked around.
“I think you may be right. I, too, saw someone I love only to have her disappear into the fog,” Justice stared off into the distance. “It was Elysia. She came to help me find my way only I did not know what I was trying to find. I had no memory outside of my name.”
“I experienced the same!” Theon shared. “My wife, Daenera, was here. She was completely recovered from her time in the depths of the castle. I was being stalked by an unseen force when she arrived.”
Legacy wondered what her friends experienced in the woods. She felt a strange presence, too, but her mind tried to reconcile that with the appearance of her sister. She also recalled speaking to the Shadow Mages. Were they responsible for the encounters each of her friends had among the trees?
“I saw Emrys,” Evander whispered. “I wonder why you all saw someone you long to see again, but I found myself face to face with my traitorous brother.”
Legacy touched his arm. “Just because your brother was a traitor does not mean you do not love him. He was still your brother. What happened when you saw him?”
Evander stared off into space as though sifting through his own murky memories. After heaving a deep sigh, he shook his head and shrugged.
“It was strange. Now that I think about it, Emrys was just as I remembered him when we were children. He was mischievous. But he kept me calm when I was ready to give up. I was freezing and could not get a fire to start. Everything here is so wet. He sat with me until I fell asleep. I had no idea who he was, but we talked for a long time, and after a time, I no longer felt the cold.”
Legacy nodded. It seemed to her as though their loved ones appeared when they needed them most. There was no way she could accept that the Shadow Mages were behind those encounters. A thought returned to her mind that she had forgotten entirely. Legacy had not felt it was indeed Honor who appeared to her; the body did not seem to belong to the entity who spoke to her.
“I do not think we actually got to see any of those people. They did not come to see us in this strange forest only to disappear again. There is something, or someone, in this forest who can change shape at will.” Legacy could not help but feel they were reunited by someone they needed to meet.
“I sank into the ground and thought I was going to suffocate. I only ended up here when I finally remembered who Honor was. Evander likely would have frozen to death under normal circumstances. Emrys must have helped him through. What about you, guys?” Legacy asked.
“I fought off a bear to save the woman I encountered. Of course, I know who she was now, but then I had no idea. I was just trying to save her from the beast,” Theon explained.
“When I woke, I found Theon trying to pick a fight with a tree,” Evander gestured toward his companion.
The memories were clearing in Legacy’s mind. The longer she held Evander’s hand, the more she recalled of recent events. They were somewhere in the uncharted wilderness south of Pallisaide. She had no knowledge of how long they had been separated; it could have been hours or days. Strange things had been happening since they left the road to search the forest of her visions. From encounters with creatures none of them could identify to the peculiar mist that seemed to rearrange the woods around them. Legacy had not had many clear thoughts since they began this part of their journey, and it was starting to take a toll on her confidence.
“How will we ever find what we are looking for if we keep losing ourselves?” Legacy mused.
“I cannot help but feel as though the trees want to help, but the mist does not want us to complete our task. It seems to me as we begin to make progress, the fog works against us. Almost as though no one has left this forest with their sanity,” Justice whispered.
“There is something about this place that makes me feel like a kid. My mother had an old storybook with many illustrations, some resembled this very wood,” Evander said as he paced. “If only I could remember the rhyme that accompanied the illustration.”
Justice did not appear to have fully recovered from the fugue state he had been in when Legacy first noticed him in the woods. He knew who they were but seemed distracted by some unseen force.
Legacy felt as though something just outside of her own consciousness was calling to her within the woods. Some presence she could not identify was desperately clawing at her mind to make her take notice. Looking at Justice, she wondered if he was experiencing something similar.
Theon took note of his friend's state of mind and took hold of him by each shoulder. The two older men were talking in low voices; Legacy instinctively knew she was not meant to be part of that conversation. She returned her focus to Evander. As the memory loss began to fade, she questioned how she could have forgotten Evander. Beyond anything, Legacy felt connected to the man now scouring the depths of his own memory in search of the nursery rhyme his mother had taught him.
“Hey, maybe if you focus on something else, it will come to you,” Legacy offered.
“That may be, but I cannot help but feel that rhyme is going to change everything,” Evander heaved an irritated sigh. “This place is making me feel out of sorts.”
Legacy could not have agreed with him more. Theon and Justice had completed their hushed conversation. Now that their group stood together again, Legacy felt marginally better about their current situation. At least if they had each other, they were less likely to succumb to the eerie forest.
For the first time, Legacy took note of the change in the ground beneath her feet. She was not in danger of sinking into this terrain as she had before it swallowed her whole. Here, the land was firm despite the moss coverage and ever-present mist. The large trees were just as they had been both outside the woods and in the area she was in previously. The dryads within them must have been ancient, judging by the size and state of each gnarled tree. She believed the tree spirits were their allies. Whatever made their home a strange and forgotten place was not something they wanted. Legacy recalled the dream she shared with the tree spirit when she slept within its trunk. Something had come to this place, something foreign, and when it happened, everything changed. With a feeling of uneasiness, Legacy recognized that as the presence she felt all around her.
“Wait, I think I remember,” Evander cleared his throat then recited the verse.
“The Forest of Illusane was once a pretty sight.
It graced the Cliffs of Necronis in a deathly haze of white.
When shadows came and cast him out, the nature man came calling.
And when he found old Illusane, a magic curse was crawling.
No longer did there come a time when people would appear,
&
nbsp; for once they stepped in Illusane memories grew unclear.
And so, our beloved Illusane faded from all minds
Awaiting the day a legacy went seeking just to find
the answer to dear Illusane’s long-enduring grief
was eyes closed tight and one deep breath to summon Silverleaf!”
The forest quivered at his words. Legacy felt the change as she hung on each syllable Evander recited. It seemed as though something should be happening. Legacy looked at the others and knew they sensed it too. The trees felt his words, but they had no other reaction. It was disappointing.
Legacy thought over the rhyme Evander shared, trying to reconcile it with the dream she shared with the dryad. Some presence had infiltrated the forest before everything changed. In his nursery rhyme, Evander said the “nature man came calling”. Who could that be? Legacy was also intrigued by the appearance of her name in the centuries-old rhyme.
“I wonder what that means,” she said aloud. “‘Awaiting the day a legacy went seeking just to find’. Is it possible my name ended up in that story by coincidence?”
“This rhyme is older than we know. My grandmother was taught by her mother, and her mother taught it to her children before that. We know Alderwood often has a plan, but how could the person who created that rhyme know to use your name?” Evander seemed to be trying to talk himself out of believing the story referred to the Legacy he knew.
“Do you think this is the Forest of Illusane?” Justice placed a gentle hand against the nearest tree.
Immediately, a soft breeze swirled around them as though embracing each of their party. Legacy felt the unanimous response in that wind; the nature spirits that lived in the magical wood wanted them to know they had found a place long forgotten by Alderwood.
“I cannot say I have ever heard of the Forest of Illusane. I guess if we can believe the rhyme, that would make sense,” Theon glanced around as though he expected the trees to spring to life.
“But what of the Cliffs of Necronis? Do you think that is what we found when we saw our deaths before coming to this forest?” Legacy wondered out loud.
The pieces were beginning to fall into place in her mind; somehow, the story of Illusane survived in rhyming verse. If Alderwood erased it from all memory and veiled it from accidental discovery, there must be some reason. Were the Shadow Mages somehow exempt from that curse? How else would they have found this place and brought Noble here?
A fuzzy memory of reading a journal entry of her father’s resurfaced and became clear. Junius had called Noble the only connection between the Shadow Mages and the wild magic of Alderwood. Legacy herself was connected to the wild magic, perhaps that was how she was able to find the Forest of Illusane. Her travel companions had not mentioned traveling into the woods until she pointed out it was their only option. If the forest was masked from their minds, they might not have known it was there had she not been with them. Even as the trail of thought unfolded within her mind, Legacy knew it had to be true. They were standing in a forest that had not seen another human in the recent past. Legacy herself may hold the key for releasing them from the curse that kept them in the strange suspended place. The last line of the nursery rhyme replayed in her mind.
Legacy closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and called out, “Silverleaf!”
For a moment, time stood still. Every particle of moisture in the air hung suspended around them. Legacy’s eyes darted from tree to tree. Each time her eyes landed on one, she saw the true form of the dryad underneath. But each vanished as quickly as it appeared. A glimmer of movement in front of her revealed a magnificent sight, a broad-chested man with skin that shimmered in the pale light. A slow smile spread across his face as he looked at his own hands and arms before looking down at his body. Legacy and her friends stared at him as he threw his head back and released a peel of laughter that echoed through the utter silence around them.
“Thank you,” the strange being whispered.
“Who are you?” Theon found his voice first.
The stranger considered the question before offering a response, “I was once King Silverleaf of the Kingdom of Earth. Now, I fear I may have been forgotten by time and necessity.”
Legacy gasped. There had not been a king seated on the throne for the Kingdom of Earth in centuries. The people of Alderwood did not remember a time when there were three rulers. In fact, the only person she knew who had seen Alderwood as it was meant to be was Renata. Her heart ached, thinking about the Oracle; she missed Renata almost more than she missed Honor. She raised her head and offered a small bow to Silverleaf. Her gut told her this ancient spirit was the last piece she needed to reunite the three kingdoms of Alderwood.
“I am Queen Legacy of the Kingdom of Man. It is so good to meet you.”
Silverleaf eyed her warily, “The last ruler for your kingdom caused the downfall of the world as we knew it.”
“My sister, Honor, resurrected the Gildi with the assistance of the Canthion, Harcos. It is our desire to restore Alderwood to the world you once knew,” Legacy explained.
“And your father was the last ruler? It was his doing that cursed me to walk these woods unseen.”
“Legacy and Honor are nothing like their father or grandfather. They stand for the future of Alderwood,” Evander defended with an edge to his voice.
Legacy offered him a reassuring and appreciative smile before returning her focus to Silverleaf. He had every right to be skeptical of her intentions. She descended from the very people who destroyed the balance in Alderwood. Had the Shadow Mages not managed to sway man, so many things would be different now. Silverleaf was stuck in time thinking about those responsible for his imprisonment, he had no idea how hard they had fought for change. If she was to convince him to give her a chance, she needed him to understand why they were there and what they were trying to do. Justice had remained stoic through the exchange; Legacy wondered if he knew more about the history of the fall than he was letting on. He was staring at Silverleaf as though he could not believe his eyes. If he knew about Silverleaf, he certainly did not expect to find him alive and well.
“I know you all, I can see inside your hearts. None of you know me, but you will. I have not been able to take my own physical form for many lifetimes. You have given me shape, each of you felt my presence and gave me a corporeal form. I owe each of you a debt,” Silverleaf made direct eye contact with each of their party.
“King Silverleaf, I believe you are the one I have been in search of. Your throne is still vacant,” Legacy explained.
“That cannot be what brought you here. The wild magic removed me to protect me. What has brought you here?”
“The Shadow Mages have taken the youngest child of the late King Junius. Our Queen has had visions of this forest for years and caught a glimpse of where the dark ones brought the prince,” Justice explained. “The Shadow Mages are already here.”
Silverleaf narrowed his eyes at them. “If the Shadow Mages have one of the chosen members of the kingdom of man, they would easily find this place. If what you say is true, and they are already here, we are all in grave danger.”
Legacy felt the fear in his voice pierce her heart. Despite the humid air, she shivered at the thought of facing the Shadow Mages without Honor. Her sister was a fierce warrior. Legacy was neither skilled in battle nor experienced in facing off with their evil foes. Her experience with the Shadow Mages was limited at best due to Renata shielding Legacy from their sight. Although she knew they were not likely to face off in a physical fight, the alternatives were almost more terrifying. They would use Noble to get to her, and they would take advantage of her new alliance with Silverleaf to destroy everything Legacy had worked toward. Beyond that, the move she feared most was the possibility they would decide Noble was no longer useful to their cause. What if they only needed him until they found the Forest of Illusane and destroyed Silverleaf?
“You say you have been here
since the Shadow Mages first corrupted the ruler of the Kingdom of Men, where have you been living?” Evander asked.
Silverleaf scoffed in response, “I do not think you understand. I have not been living. I have been suspended in time, only able to interact with others through their own thoughts and memories. The form you see has not been visible in more years than you can count.”
Legacy had been fighting the question in her mind, but there was no other option, she had to ask. In order to be a member of the Kingdom of Earth, Silverleaf had to be a nature spirit. He looked nothing like any dryad or naiad she had ever encountered. She was certain Silverleaf was not one of the fair folk she had heard of but never seen; they could be made up for all she knew. No, Silverleaf seemed to be made of something else entirely. His skin reminded Legacy of the liquid silver the smith crafted into crowns for her and her siblings; it caught the fragments of light in a liquid-like fashion. The hair on his head was iridescent blue with evidence of his age appearing in the form of white wisps scattered in the wavy strands. Legacy did her best not to stare at his bare chest and muscular arms and legs. As for clothing, the only areas he cared to cover were his groin and hindquarters, much to Legacy’s relief. Beyond the things she noticed from a cursory glance, her favorite feature was by far his eyes. They blazed a royal blue with a ring of black separating the brilliant color from the white area.
“Do you know how to get out of here?” Theon queried.
Silverleaf blinked in response as though that was the most ridiculous question they could ask. At first, Legacy wondered why he would seem so offended by something so simple; then it dawned on her. Silverleaf had been trapped in the Forest of Illusane for his own protection, but he was stuck there against his will. If he knew how to leave, Legacy had no doubt in her mind that he would have done so long ago.
“Silverleaf, now that we have found you, I believe you are meant to return to Pallisaide with me. The only ruler I have yet to discover is that of the Kingdom of Earth. The throne once belonged to you, and I believe it is still yours. Will you help us rescue my brother and return to Pallisaide?” Legacy tried not to let the hope become too evident in her voice.
