by Renee Travis
“The wings are not just for show.” I wanted him to touch more of me, something about his nearness made me forget myself. I wanted him and it was a new sensation, this feeling that burned through me.
As I watched, Ekur’s wings unfurled from his back, leathery and strong, but small, too small I imagined to hold his weight. Head down Ekur whispered a word I did not understand and in the time it took me to blink he was gone, in his place was a rather handsome, large gray bat with black stripes.
“Oh,” my voice sounded shocked, “you’re shape shifters.”
“Yes,” looking up into Nergal’s glowing green eyes my mouth went dry, I leaned in and my eyes fluttered closed, what was I doing? This was crazy. But my thoughts were cut off as his lips met mine. Hot and soft, they pressed against mine, his arms and wings flowing around us, hiding us from view. I opened my mouth to take in more of his kiss and he made a guttural sound, crushing me against him.
He took his lips from mine and I mourned them. I’d never been kissed before and if that was how it usually was I wanted more of it, immediately.
“Forgive me, my queen, I overstepped.” His tone was hushed and apologetic.
“Call me Eshie, everyone does.” Licking my lips I smiled as his eyes watched, “I really liked that, feel free to over step at any time.”
The joy on his face was hard to ignore, he kissed me again, fast and hard. The moment was ruined as I thought of Ishtar and how she could be in trouble. I pushed away from him, hating the expression on his face, lost and sad.
“We have to find Ishtar; afterwards there will be lots of time for that sort of thing.” A shadow passed over his face when I said that, but I ignored it.
Soon enough we were meeting Ekur, who’d flown off to give us some privacy I guess, and Namtar outside. Looking over into the hazy mid morning of Biri I wondered what it would be like to have the days change. The sun always shown in Nannaru and it was forever night or twilight in Adura, Biri people were lucky.
It was a nice “day” in Adura, which was a blessing, not too hot or too cold. Normal for being in the middle of spring, the month of Simanu. Hands on my hips I looked up into the heavens, at the dark that met the pale blue of Biri. Spinning around I could see in the distance where the sky changed to bright blue, what my people called Nannaru blue, the differences between the three plain, like lines were drawn in the sky.
The moon was fairly high in Adura, it was how Adurans could tell “day” and night apart and I knew we had about ten hours before it would set. I did not want to be at a P.O.T. when the only light would be the stars.
Namtar showed up with a bag on his back, filled with what I knew would be cooks finest traveling meals. Ekur and Nergal transformed and we started for the road. I took the Right Road and we were off. The walk was fairly boring, Adura is covered in thick lush dark green grass, fertile and alive, crops grow really well in Adura.
It did not take more than an hour to reach the outskirts of Tatidu Forest. Everything was still and hushed. The trees in Tatidu Forest always felt like they were watching you. Leaves dark orange and bark pitch black, hundreds of Dark Pines stretched up, towering over us.
Chapter 5
The forest was only about a mile long and the Right Road went straight through it. There was a P.O.T. at the beginning and then there was another as you left. The P.O.T.’s had long since tainted the forest. No animals lived there and neither did any but the bravest of Adura’s natives. One only chose to live in Tatidu Forest because there was nowhere else to go, or you were hiding from someone. I knew that a small band of gypsies tended to make camp in the middle during the summer months.
“I kind of think the trees are pretty,” Nam said from behind me.
“That’s why we’re friends.” But I wasn’t smiling, I could see the old rotted wooden fence of the first P.O.T. just a head. We kept walking until the large twisted black Iron Gate was upon us. The P.O.T. was a cemetery and one that hadn’t been used in decades. Not since my great grandparents found out that if you were buried here after the Big Disaster you were not allowed to rest.
The air was cold. I sucked it in through my lungs and I had that feeling on the back of my neck, like we were being watched. Nergal and Ekur shifted and stood at our backs, keeping watch. I couldn’t see them yet but I knew there were hundreds of trapped spirits just beyond the fence. Watching, and jealous of our living, breathing bodies the spirits haunted the cemetery floating in a perpetual state of agony, knowing they could never cross over.
“What happened here, do you know?” Nergal asked me. “I only know the history of the other three.”
“A really nasty Kassaptu about a century back performed some horrible rites here. Necromancy mainly,” I whispered, feeling if I talked any louder they’d notice us. But it was a fight or flight reaction, they could hear me, their attention had been on us since we entered the forest.
“He performed bizarre rituals on the dead, the ground, the spirits, everything that made up this cemetery. It finally became slightly conscious and rebelled. The ground opened and ate him and his followers.” I shivered, smelling the scents of old marble and dirt and something less pleasant, I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
“The King and Queen at the time had the place cleansed and kept burying people here. Until a family coming to visit a departed one was slaughtered.” Namtar finished the story for me, I was breathing shallow, taking in everything. The large headstones and mausoleums that seemed to go on for miles and intermingled spindly miniatures of the Dark Pines placed sporadically for decoration.
Angels wept and benches were over grown with plants, other ornaments for the dead were covered in spots of Goddess knows what. The evening light seemed even more sinister and we were standing at the threshold, not inside.
“My great grandmother found out that anyone buried after the Big Disaster was kept, locked in the cemetery forever, feeding it, being used as bait for the living.” I placed a hand on the gate and the cold almost burned me. It didn’t want me to come in for some reason and I was afraid that reason was because it had my sister.
“Does it speak?” Ekur wondered.
“Thank the Dark it does not.” Namtar responded, seeing my hesitation he pushed open the gate. “Come on Eshie, we only need to be a few feet inside for you to tell if Ishtar is here.”
The ground beneath our feet was soft and inviting, just another lie. The graveyard seemed to go on forever; I could just make out the ruins of the old caretakers house in the middle, its windows looked like giant black eyes, watching our every move. Then the whispers started, voices of the lifeless, cruel, and not meant to be heard by the living, they almost hurt my ears.
“What is that, it sounds amazing?” Ekur was looking around, eyes darting to the shadows between the graves and back to me.
“It sounds like evil, what are you talking about?” Nam sounded disgusted.
“You are hearing the call it gives to prey… All I hear is what it really sounds like.” I took a few more steps in. “If you think it sounds so amazing you should go back, I can’t risk you being a liability.”
Ekur looked to Nergal who nodded, Ekur backed up and was outside the gate in just a few seconds, he looked relieved. At least he was powerful enough not to be tempted unless he was inside.
I closed my eyes, reaching for my power and for the link to my sister, threads of destruction leaked from my being touching everything it came in contact with. I opened my eyes hearing echoing shrieks around me. The cemetery looked different with power flooding my cells. I could see the hazy distorted shapes of the apparitions, all with their mouths opened screaming at me. Bright hideous orange veins pulsed in the ground beneath us and the earth writhed, like it was alive.
My skin felt like hundreds of insects were crawling over me and it was hard to concentrate as the P.O.T.’s defense system kicked in and tried to rid itself of me. Looming deep purple shadows began to advance and I brought up my sister’s image. Turning I saw her image wa
lk by the cemetery, she stopped and shook herself, took a few motions towards the gate, but it was if something else pulled her. She smiled and muttering to herself went past, I could feel the graveyard’s disappointment.
My eyes went back to the specters floating, connected to the horror for all eternity and I reached out, but a hand on my arm stopped me. Nergal’s’ pale green skin against my own made my heart flutter. Cutting myself off from the delicious magic coursing through me I gazed at him, questions in my eyes.
“I know it’s awful, but if you release the ones it has already trapped it will pull in new ones at a stronger pace. This place is evil and it will take more time and effort if you truly want to destroy it.” Reasonable words, even if I didn’t like them.
“Let’s get out of here.”
“Please, I feel like we don’t have much time before something even more horrible comes crawling out of the darkness.” Nam was trembling; I could tell he wouldn’t last much longer against the pull of this overly shadowed place.
Quickly we left the burial ground, once outside the fence I felt better, not much with the terrors it contained only inches from me, but better. Our Alu companions transformed and Nam and I began our trek farther into the woods.
When we got about half way I smelled something cooking, looking deeper into the forest I saw a small fire twenty feet or so off the road.
“Hello!” I called, who could possibly be camping in Tatidu Forest? Hope flickered within me, maybe it was Ishtar? The sensible part in me knew it wasn’t.
“Another Princess in the Dark Pines? How strange.” The voice was female and had the same ethereal sound as ghosts did. But I could tell it was very much alive.
As a group of women came to stand before us, Nergal and Ekur took their normal forms next to Nam and I.
“Another princess you said?” Nam asked.
I observed the women, they all looked the same. Dressed in tattered gowns of silver, white, gray, pale blue and deep purple, their hair all long, windblown and not brushed, the same shades as their dresses, skin tones matched as well. They were lithe and beautiful, uncanny with eyes that glowed.
“Yes,” said the one standing in front, “we offered her food and shelter but she did not seem to hear us and kept going.” The ten or so standing behind her all pointed at once down the road.
“Death Nymphs?” Nergal seemed very curious and I couldn’t blame him. They were uncommon to come across, but I wasn’t surprised to find them, especially this close to a P.O.T... I gave him a confirming nod.
“Did she say anything?” I asked.
“Just muttered about how close she was,” their leader said. The nymphs behind her chorused:
“Must get there, I’m almost there.”
“Weird, aren’t they?” Ekur mused.
“They’re Death Nymphs, what do you expect?” Nam sounded annoyed.
“Lampades to be correct and I am Ibbi.” The one in front said, she was smiling and her teeth looked very white and very sharp.
“Thank you for the information.” I gave a tiny bow to be polite; having Lampades pissed at you was never a good thing.
“We are happy to give it, but two things Princess Ereshkigal,” Ibbi said.
“And those would be?”
“First, she was being pulled by the Place of Taint outside the forest. She passed us not two hours ago. Second, all information comes with a price.” Ibbi’s face turned feral-looking at her words. The Lampades behind her all snarled at the same time.
“I figured as much. What is the cost?” This was not unexpected, all I could hope was she understood her information had not been worth much.
“You are a Princess. You do not owe them anything!” Ekur exclaimed.
“It is how Death Nymphs work,” Nam explained. He had made his way so he was standing very close to me, leaving the Alus behind us again, where I thought they’d be better help in case Ibbi’s band was larger than she was letting us see.
“Our sister, we require your assistance.” Ibbi’s eyes reflected sadness for a moment. The rest of her troupe parted and in the middle crouched a nymph I had not noticed before. Her hair was sparkling blue, skin sea green but dried out looking. Her eyes were like pools of water, and she wore the same dress as the nymphs surrounding her.
“What is a water nymph doing in Adura?” Nam asked the question we had all been thinking.
“She strayed too far and touched the boundary of Adura and Biri.”
“Oh crap,” I muttered, stepping closer to her and the poor little water nymph just stared at me, in pain. Nymphs were purely magic; where they lived reflected what shape they took. Death (Lampades), Insanity (Maenads) and Star Nymphs (Astariaes) lived in Adura. Water, Sky and Earth Nymphs lived in Biri. Nymphs of plants, healing and the Arts came from Nannaru.
“Can you change her back?” Ibbi wanted to know.
I touched the Nymph, “why didn’t you just stay in Biri and go live in Ahit Tanti Lake? It is the closest body of water to here.”
“I do not want to leave my sisters and be a bubbly flowing water creature,” came her soft voice.
“Ok, this might hurt.” The other Lampades looked thrilled at my words. I could change her but she’d always have a touch of Biri with her. From the knowing look on Ibbi’s face she understood the unspoken.
I pushed death into the nymph. She screamed as water was sucked from her being and vomited upon the path. Her immortal heart stopped beating and time froze as I killed and reanimated the poor thing. As time sped back up I restarted her heart and watched as all the healthy blue trickled out of her and was replaced by gray tinged skin, and deep purple hair. Within moments a beautiful Death Nymph lay at my feet.
Her sisters all cried out, unnatural sounds of pleasure and encircled the nymph, pushing me out of the way.
“Thank you. If you ever need anything again just whisper my name and I will try and come.” Ibbi seemed very grateful.
“For a price?” I snickered.
“No. I did not think you would be able to save her, you have given us much more than we gave you.”
“She will still crave water’s touch, take her occasionally to Siddi River, it is near here, only a few miles.”
“We will,” and with those words they disappeared back into the forest, back to where they were camping.
“That was interesting at least,” Nam said.
“Yes but a waste of time. We’ve lost about twenty minutes,” Ekur grumbled and then he was a bat, flying above us.
“Watching you do magic makes me desperate to touch you,” Nergal had come up behind me; he kissed the back of my neck, sending shivers all over me.
“It does?”
“Yes,” he kissed the sensitive skin of my neck again; when I turned to take him in my arms for some serious lip locking he had already joined Ekur in the sky.
It did not take us much longer to reach the second P.O.T. It was really very deceiving. Off the Right Road was a well-kept gravel driveway, lined by Dark Pines, not as big as the ones in Tatidu Forest, but still beautifully disturbing. I could hear bird songs and crickets, but it was fake, almost like something had recorded what normal should sound like and played it back.
“Is the driveway safe, you think?” Nam asked me.
“Yes, it’s just another lure, the P.O.T. is the house.”
I linked my arm in his as we strode down the path, gravel crunching loudly beneath our feet. I wasn’t surprised by what awaited us at the end. I’d seen the house before. You’d think it would have been a crumbling haunted looking place, but it was not. It was a huge plantation and the forces that made it a P.O.T. kept up the maintenance.
The paint was perfect white and green, every window intact, every bush and blade of grass perfectly trimmed and shaped. I knew from looking inside the clean windows that every piece of furniture was immaculate. The house kept the fires stoked and if you looked in the dining room windows during meal time it set out a huge spread three times a day. It was i
n constant readiness for guests. And woe if you were the guest that showed up.
“It should have been burned to the ground after the Horrible Thing.” Nergal spoke up behind me, he placed a hand in mine and all four of us just stared for a few moments.
“By the time anyone realized the Horrible Thing had left an imprint it was too late.” I countered. Silently I agreed with him, rulers who lived primarily in Biri tended to overlook the Big Bad things that happened anywhere else, hence only one P.O.T. in Biri.
“I cannot believe what happened here, even if it was centuries before we were born.” Nam said.
“I know.” Six hundred years ago a prominent Adura noble lived in the house with his wife, four daughters, one son and daughter-in-law. No one knows why but one night he freaked, raped every woman, stabbing the adults and drowning the children and then tortured his son to death in the basement. He finally hung himself in the attic. It was seven days before anyone found them.
“Is it true that by the time the bodies were found there wasn’t one drop of blood left?” Nergal wondered.
“Yes, and the bodies were all piled up neatly in the living room, but there wasn’t a sign anyone else had been in the house before the guardsmen.” Guardsmen were Kassaptu who kept the peace and solved crimes in Salas.
“Ishtar!” I called out, no need to be quiet, the house knew we were there and either already had my sister or knew where she was.
If you entered the house it locked you in and forced you to relive the last moments of the family, depending on your age and gender. At Ishtar’s age she’d suffer the fate of the daughters.
Like a button being pushed all noise stopped, and then we heard it, my sister’s startling scream from the second floor.
“Shit!” Nam started and we all ran towards the house, the door refused to budge, solid oak against our onslaught. He put his hands against it and I watched as sickly green magic poured out of him, weakening the door, causing illness to spread through the wood. When the door gave I was the first one up the stairs. The house smelled of lavender and fresh cotton, one more trick to make you feel safe and at home.
