Shadow Hunted

by L. A. Johnson

  She needed some air, so she got out of the car. Just in case, though, she clutched her sword for protection. Then she sat in the dirt facing the trees. She wasn’t looking for another monster fight, she was looking for some clarity. If she were less nervous, she would have even closed her eyes, but that wasn’t an option. She focused on the midday sun and the gentle breeze. In fact, she was still lost in a whirl of her own conflicting thoughts about everything when somebody sat down next to her.

  Lydia started and turned, expecting Drat. She was wrong. It was Kaylee, the friendly neighborhood forest sprite.

  “Hello,” Lydia said.

  “Too close,” Kaylee said.

  That was more or less the last thing she expected Kaylee to say. Confused, she turned to face her. “What?”

  Kaylee stood up quickly and pulled on Lydia’s arm. “You’re sitting too close, they’re stirring. You have to back up.”

  Lydia let herself be pulled along backward into the parking lot until Kaylee stopped and pointed at the ground.

  “Here,” Kaylee said. “Look. The line.”

  Lydia stared at the ground in disbelief. There was actually a glowing blue line in the dirt. It extended as far as she could see in any direction. “Has that always been there?”

  “Yes,” Kaylee said. “But you couldn’t see it until now.”

  “What is it and why can I see it now?”

  “Magic. And it’s the tree goblin boundary. They can’t reach you here.” She hopped high, using her wings, to the tree side of the line, just for a second. “Here, we are in danger.” Then she came back. “Here we are safe. Well, safe from the tree goblins anyway. That’s why my cabin is over there.” She pointed at the ruins of the log cabin that magically masked the presence of her home. “Close enough to use my forest powers without being in danger.”

  “Okay,” Lydia said. “That is probably the most useful information anybody has given me in the last few days.” She smiled. “Thanks.”

  “Lydia, what happened to you? You positively reek of dark magic.” Kaylee physically recoiled as she said the words ‘dark magic,’ and her eyes got wide.

  “It’s a long story,” Lydia said. “Look, I’m only trying to help. And maybe, if possible, do it without turning into a monster.”

  Kaylee fell over onto the ground and howled with laughter until she looked up and saw that Lydia wasn’t in on the joke. “I’m sorry. I was just kidding. Who really cares about dark magic? Why would you think you’re turning into a monster?” Her face turned serious. “I assure you I do not hang out with monsters.”

  “Well, you might want to stand back then. I’m pretty sure I’m a Shadow Slayer.”

  “Of course you’re a Shadow Slayer. Didn’t you know? How else do you think you survived a tree goblin attack?”

  “You knew? And you helped me? Even though I have dark magic?”

  “Dark magic, light magic, what’s the difference?” Kaylee asked, without a hint of sarcasm.

  Lydia thought about it. In a weird metaphysical way, this insane conversation was helping her work out her issues. She decided she’d just lay it out there and see what the little sprite had to say about it. “Kade said the dark magic would change me.”

  “Is that the guy in charge of the local loser mages?”

  “The same,” Lydia said. She was liking Kaylee more and more.

  “Listen,” the little sprite said. “Dark magic doesn’t change you. Power changes you. And dark magic is power. I see that your mage leader didn’t turn down his own magic, did he?”

  “No,” Lydia answered. “That’s a great point.”

  “No. That’s what I thought. Just like knowledge, magic is power. You are the one who will decide what to do with that power. You alone decide what you become.”

  “Wow, you’re really great at this, Yoda,” Lydia told her.

  “Who’s Yoda?”

  “You don’t get out much, do you?” Lydia laughed. “It really doesn’t bother you that I have dark magic?”

  “What’s really bothering you, Lydia? Why are you here?”

  “An evil mage offered to train me last night in exchange for my loyalty. If I don’t join him, he will perform a ceremony to take away my powers. Tonight. I just found out who I am, and now all of that is going to be taken away. I can’t go back to being a lackey working for Kade. I can’t.” Lydia slapped a hand over her mouth to force herself to stop talking. Something about this sprite just brought out the chatterbox in her.

  “Oh, sweetie. That’s the first rule of power,” Kaylee said. “You have to fight for it. Dark magic, good magic, bad magic, it’s all the same. If you’re going to survive, you must forget about the labels and embrace your dark side. Trust me, dark magic is not only better and more powerful, it’s all-natural.”

  Lydia was pretty sure that the sprite had lost her mind. “Excuse me? Did you just call dark magic all natural?”

  “Think about it,” Kaylee said. “What do those mages really do? They read long and boring books with their monocles and mutter intricate spells that have thousands of stupid rules attached to them.”

  “Monocles? How Old Are You?” Lydia asked her.

  Kaylee crossed her arms. “No judging.”

  She had a point. The magic that Kade and the other mages practiced seemed boring, sanitized, and intellectual. She had always assumed that was all there was. Clearly, the sprite was using magic, and she had done it without pledging to the stuffy mages in town. Lydia was suddenly all ears. She wanted to hear about this all-natural dark magic. “Okay, I’m sorry, Kaylee. No judging. Tell me everything you know about using dark magic, I’m ready to listen.”

  Now that Lydia knew where the tree goblin dividing line was, she felt a lot better about being this close to the forest. She could finally relax a little.

  “First of all,” Kaylee said, “what did the idiot mages teach you? I’d like to undo any stupid habits you picked up over there.”

  Lydia paused. “Hey, don’t take this the wrong way, Kaylee, but why are you helping me?”

  “I’m a forest sprite. The forest is my happy place, at least it used to be. Now I can’t even go in there. I used to be able to go wherever I wanted. Then I could only go in during the day, and now I can’t go in at all. If you’re a Shadow Slayer, and I believe that you are, then you can get rid of the tree goblins. And if that happens, then I get my forest back.”

  Lydia stared at the trees and then at the inviting looking picnic tables and beautiful landscaping. It looked like a perfect place for families. “With these tree goblins on the loose, how is it that there haven’t been a dozen people killed here? I would have heard it on the news, right?”

  “Well,” the sprite giggled. “You know how this place is supposed to be haunted?”

  “Oh yeah, there’s that,” Lydia admitted.

  Kaylee shrugged. “Well, I come and scare everybody away. Better for them to be a little frightened than very dead.”

  “Why didn’t you come scare me away when I showed up?” Lydia asked.

  “I’m scared of trolls,” Kaylee said.

  Lydia smiled. The fresh air was helping her mood. “Fair enough. Now where were we?”

  “Idiot mages and what they taught you,” Kaylee volunteered.

  “Well, last night the idiot mages were attacked by wraiths and I helped them survive.”

  “Pity.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Lydia answered. “But I had no choice.” She decided not to tell Kaylee or anybody for that matter that she was now bound to Kade somehow. She was still unhappy about it herself. “So, to save his own skin, he told me to point at the wraiths and say a spell.”

  “Did that work?”

  “Yes. In fact, it did. A blue stream of light left my hand and hit the wraith I was pointing at, which then dissolved into the floor with a pop.” It occurred to Lydia that if she were talking to anybody else, she would sound like a lunatic.

  Kaylee took it all in stride. “Ugh. Very ineffic
ient. What was the spell?”

  “Something in Latin. I didn’t use the Latin version though, he said I could ballpark it, and the ballpark version was ‘die, stupid ghosts’”.

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Not kidding. There’s no way I could ever make that up,” Lydia said. “What do you say? Can you fix me so I can try to save your forest?”

  “Well, I can’t possibly do more harm than he did.” She flitted around Lydia again before landing just to her left. “Okay, rule one, don’t cross the line. Period, okay?”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice,” Lydia said, taking a step backward. “Oh yeah, what about my sword?”

  “What’s that now?”

  Lydia pulled out her sword, and as usual, it burst into flame in the presence of a supernatural creature.

  “Ooooh, pretty,” Kaylee said, backing up. “What is that?”

  “It’s the flaming sword. The weapons of a Shadow Slayer, supposedly.”

  “Where’d you get it?”

  “Had it since I was a kid. Anyway, will this help me with my magic?”

  “Not at all. I admit I don’t know what the deal is with that thing, but for now you should put it away. It has zero to do with magic. Okay, are you ready?” Kaylee grabbed a rock and flew away out to an empty area of the parking lot where she put the rock on top of the rustic wood fence.

  Lydia noticed that she chose an area opposite the actual forest, and not in the line of fire of her abandoned log cabin. Smart. This would be fun. “Okay, what’s first?”

  “Aiming,” Kaylee said, backing away.

  “I can’t just point at my target?” Lydia asked.

  “You could, but then they could see you point and get out of the way,” Kaylee replied. “Tree goblins are a lot faster and more mobile than wraiths.”

  “Alright, how do I aim, then?”

  “Let’s back up for a minute,” Kaylee said. “I use magic every day, and I never learned from the mages. I and many others use natural magic. And by natural, I mean magic that doesn’t need a book and ingredients or an insane Latin spell.”

  “I am loving the sound of that so far,” Lydia said. “Oh yeah, like Drat! He uses magic all the time and he didn’t learn from the mages.”

  “You know that horny little gnome?” Kaylee scowled.

  “Um, now I want to say no,” Lydia said. “Whatever he did, I’m sorry. I’ve known him for years, and I wouldn’t call us best friends or anything...”

  “Forget it. Just shut up,” Kaylee said. “Back to magic. Natural magic is harder to master, but once you get the hang of it it’s much more powerful. It involves two different processes. I had to slow down to explain it because it’s become second nature to me. I never think about it anymore. Okay, it’s like a dual process. You aim by thinking about it, no matter what your hand is doing. And you unleash with your emotions. Understand?”

  Lydia shook her head. “Not even remotely.”

  “Try this. Look around for a moment, then pick out the rock target on the fence with your eyes. See it as a whole in its environment and then focus on it exclusively.”

  “Okay, now what?” Lydia asked.

  “Feel something, any emotion, at the rock.”

  Lydia stared at the rock. She fought the urge to point at it. How do I feel something at a rock? “Um, good little rock. I feel happy thoughts at you.” Nothing happened. “I don’t think it’s working. Hey, I have a question. When I did it with Kade, the wrong way, at least it made sense. I pointed with my hand and a beam of light came out of my hand. If I unleash natural magic with my mind, um, where does it come out?”

  “Your eyes, silly. The beam of light will come out of your eyes. Okay, I’m figuring out how to explain it better. It’s easier to get the hang of it if you close your eyes at first. Memorize the scene in front of you and then close your eyes.”

  “Okay.”

  “Now, in that image in your mind, isolate the rock.”

  “Got it,” Lydia said.

  “That’s how you isolate the target in order to aim. It works with your eyes open or closed, but it’s easier to get the hang of the process by concentrating with your eyes closed. Now we’ll talk about unleashing your magic. We’ll start with anger. Anger is the weakest of the emotions, okay? Let loose your anger on that rock over there. Little rocky will be fine, I promise.”

  Lydia took one more look at the scene in front of her and then re-isolated the rock in her mind with her eyes closed. Then she concentrated on it while she unleashed her anger. She heard a disturbance over by the fence and opened her eyes. “What happened?” The rock was still on the fence, though.

  “You missed,” Kaylee said. Then she unleashed a small blast of her own that hit Lydia in the ear.

  “Ow, what the hell!” Lydia said. “That was my first try.”

  “You only have a few hours,” Kaylee said. “If you can’t get this figured out soon, I might never get my forest back.” She zapped Lydia again.

  “What was that one for?”

  “For Drat. You can give it to him when you see him. Now close your eyes again. And stop feeling sorry for the rock. It’s an inanimate object for crying out loud. Pretend it’s something you want to destroy. Like a tree goblin.”

  Lydia knew exactly what to feel for the rock now. She took a long second to re-memorize the scene and then she imagined that the rock was Kade’s face. This time, when she let loose with anger, she meant it. A noise rang out through the air. It sounded like half bug zapper and half electricity crackling. She opened her eyes. The rock wasn’t on the fence anymore. Lydia screamed with joy and ran over to the fence. “I did it! Hey, where did it go?”

  “Who cares where it went?” Kaylee asked. Then she pointed off to the right. “It went that way. You’re getting needlessly distracted though.”

  Lydia went back to where she was before.

  Kaylee grabbed more rocks and lined them up on the fence. Then she turned to face Lydia. “Uh-oh! It’s your greatest challenge ever. More than one rock.”

  “I like you, Kaylee,” Lydia said. “You have a wicked sense of humor.”

  “Try it again,” Kaylee said. “See how many rocks you can take out. Count them, note where they are, and then use your anger.”

  Lydia did what Kaylee said. Then she closed her eyes and gathered her anger. She released it at the rocks. There was another bug zapper sound. Lydia opened her eyes, but only one rock had been dislodged. Lydia sagged.

  Kaylee replaced the fallen rock. “I did that to show you that for more than one target, or for a very strong target, one emotion is not enough. Now mix the anger with something else, something stronger.”

  “Like hate?” Lydia asked.

  “Anger and hate are too close together. It’s more powerful if you mix it up.”

  Lydia memorized the rocks again and closed her eyes. She mixed her anger with sadness. The sadness came from the possibility of losing all of her power. This time, instead of a bug zapper sound, it was stronger and more muted, like the hum of a nearby live electrical wire. She felt the emotions go into each rock in turn. Then she opened her eyes. “Whoa.” All the rocks were gone. Not only that, there were actual scorch marks on the fence.

  “Nicely done,” Kaylee said. “The more strongly you feel the emotions you unleash, the more powerful they are. And different combinations of emotions will work better on different creatures. Anger and sadness could probably take out the average guy on the street, but I doubt it would take out a tree goblin or something more in touch with their natural magic roots. That will be the challenge, you must vary your approach and adjust depending on how strong or weak your opponent is.”

  “Okay, I think I’ve got it.” Lydia turned around to focus on a different rock, one lying in the picnic area across from where she was. She closed her eyes and concentrated. The first two emotions that came into her mind was excitement and hate. She released them, feeling a much stronger hum of electricity than she did before with mu
ltiple rocks.

  “No!” Kaylee screamed.

  Lydia opened her eyes. “What? I didn’t hit you, did I? I couldn’t have, I was aiming way over there.” She pointed to the rock she had been aiming at. It was now a pile of rubble, but when she looked over, she saw what Kaylee was upset about.

  Three tree goblins had come out of the tree line and were eyeballing her and Kaylee.

  “Are you crazy?” Kaylee asked. “Never aim over at the trees. It makes the goblins mad.”

  “You said they couldn’t cross the line,” Lydia said, backing up and pulling out her sword.

  Kaylee flew behind Lydia. “I’ve never seen them cross the line.”

  The incoming trees halted their advance at the sight of the flaming sword. Then they melted back into the trees. Thirty seconds later there was no sign of them at all.

  “What just happened?” Lydia asked.

  “I don’t know,” Kaylee said shaking her head sadly. “The forest wasn’t always like this. Something is drawing them here, and it has to stop. I’ve never seen them cross the line, but every once in a while I see them come out to the boundary. I think they’re testing the perimeter.”

  “That’s terrifying,” Lydia said. Then her phone rang. It was Zack. She glanced at Kaylee. “I have to take this.” Then she walked off to the right, keeping her distance from the tree line, but her eyes on the forest. A few minutes later, she hung up and returned to where Kaylee was waiting. “Great news, Zack found a lead on the evil mage. Zack is the human detective I’m working with.”

  “You can’t leave,” Kaylee objected, “we’re not finished yet.”

  “I know,” Lydia said. “I’ll come back and train more later, but Zack has a lead on this Algorath guy. If I can get to him before it gets dark, then he can’t take my powers away. Then, I’m still a Shadow Slayer and I can still clear this forest for you.”

  Kaylee looked worried.

  Lydia put her sword away and ran to her car. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”