by R S Penney
“And if I can’t?”
“Then you’re going to make more mistakes,” Kalia replied. “And people will die.”
Another day of travel brought them a little closer to their goal. Desa kept expecting to see the Sapphire Sea, but it never came. She did, however, recognize the outcroppings of rock that protruded from the grass as the land sloped gently downward to the water’s edge. The trees that sprouted here and there were all bare, but she remembered when they had been lush with foliage. This was the way they had come five months ago.
So much had changed in such a short time: Marcus gone, their hopes for defeating Adele dashed. Now, the Eradians were marching south. That fact alone slowed her down considerably.
Desa tried to avoid the simple paths that an army would use. That forced them to travel over some very difficult terrain. As they neared the sea, she began to suspect that she needn’t have bothered. There should have been some sign of an enemy force making its way into Ithanar, but the land was barren, empty. Which meant that Adele must have been transporting them to their destination. Such extensive use of her powers was ravaging her body.
Night came early at this time of year, the sun dipping under the horizon to make way for a dark sky where the stars twinkled faintly. It was cool here but not bitter cold, and once again, she blessed her good fortune. There was no sign of rain. That would make it easier to sleep. The tiny tent Rojan had given them would be enough to keep out the night’s chill.
Desa found herself lying on her back with hands folded over her chest, staring thoughtfully into the darkness. Was Kalia right? Was it guilt that drove her to make poor decision after poor decision?
The other woman was curled up on her side with her back turned, breathing slow and steady. So beautiful. What would a goddess like that want with Desa Kincaid?
Rolling onto her side, Desa wrapped an arm around her lover’s tummy. She kissed Kalia’s cheek, waking her.
The other woman turned, looking up at her through fluttering eyes. “It’s not your fault,” Kalia whispered.
“What do you-”
“You know what I mean.”
Kalia seized her face with both hands, kissing her hard on the lips. The next thing Desa knew, she was being pushed down onto her back. Deft hands undid the buttons of her shirt. Soft lips found her neck, her collarbone, the smooth skin of her tummy.
Piece by piece, their clothing fell away until she was alone and vulnerable with the most magnificent creature to ever draw breath in this benighted world. Kalia kissed her, and she melted into the other woman’s embrace.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Desa arched her back and shuddered.
Enough was enough. She had never been the sort to remain passive in such moments. She rolled Kalia onto her back and kissed every inch of her. Every delicious inch.
She couldn’t say how long it lasted – hours or minutes; Time seemed to blend when she was lost in the dreamy haze of lust – but it wasn’t long before Kalia was curled up, sound asleep with her head on Desa’s chest.
Desa, however, was wide awake.
With the moment past, the niggling guilt returned, creeping into her mind despite her efforts to keep it away. She had defied her people. She had taught Bendarian the basics of Field Binding. In a way, that one decision had set all of this in motion. Would Hanak Tuvar have been released if not for Bendarian’s twisted experiments? Would the world be facing destruction if not for Desa Kincaid?
Unable to sleep, she rolled Kalia over – the other woman didn’t wake – and dressed as quietly as she could. Her legs wanted to move.
Out in the night, she found nothing but grass and rock and the odd tree that sighed in the gentle wind. After the warmth of her lover’s arms, it was painfully chilly. But the cold was good for her.
Desa marched over the uneven ground with arms swinging, shaking her head. “Let go of the guilt, she says,” she muttered. “By the Eyes of Vengeance, how am I supposed to do that?”
She fished the blue crystal in its brass cage from her coat pocket, setting it down on a rock. “Let’s see what secrets you have to tell.”
Backing away with her hands in her pockets, Desa closed her eyes and nodded once. A thought was all it took to trigger the Electric-Source that she had Infused into the metal.
The crystal began to glow with cerulean light, thin beams fanning out in all directions, drawing the outline of the room. Colour entered the image a moment later: white walls and white cupboards, tables loaded up with equipment that she couldn’t even begin to describe.
Then Mercy appeared.
The woman wore heeled boots, black pants and a white coat that fell halfway down her thighs. Her black hair was done up with a clip. And of course, she wore a pair of thin spectacles.
The goddess turned her head so that she seemed to be looking directly at Desa. “Now, where were we?” she mumbled. “Ah, yes. Attempts to use the gateway have been met with setbacks. Despite Kiaz’s familiarity with the Unifying Field, he has been unable to send a manned expedition through to another universe. Even the automated probes have failed to offer much hope. It seems most universes operate under laws entirely different from our own. The probes simply cease to function on the other side. And any living beings who went through would almost certainly perish.”
Mercy used her index finger to push her glasses up her nose.
Clearing her throat, she began to pace across the length of her laboratory, looking back toward the device that recorded her journal. “None of which has anything to do with my project,” she added. “Except that Kiaz’s misfortune might be my gain. I received a notice this morning indicating that the Council of Twelve is reevaluating the budget, and they are now willing to provide us with greater funding.
“Access to the particle synthesis technology will be key. The Field cannot be bound to living tissue or to anything that had once been alive. But what is living tissue but a specific configuration of molecules? The same matter in a different configuration might be a rock or a piece of metal. The technology that allows us to break down industrial waste into its constituent elements will be crucial. If one were to achieve communion with the Field at the moment disintegration…Of course, the price of failure would be immediate death. So, you can imagine why I lack for volunteers.”
She cut off when a siren started wailing, turning to look out a window. Her posture was rigid, stiff. The sound had small animals scampering through the field to get away.
Kalia emerged from the tent a moment later, still doing up the final buttons of her shirt. She stopped dead when she found herself in the middle of Mercy’s laboratory, her eyes widening.
Mercy spun to face Desa, breathing hard. “Something is wrong,” she panted. “Something is very-”
The image flickered several times and then vanished completely, leaving her in darkness. Silence fell over the field, broken only by the soft rustle of squirrels running through the grass.
“What happened?” Kalia asked.
Closing her eyes, Desa drew a deep breath through her nose. “I think,” she said, “that we just witnessed their first encounter with Hanak Tuvar.”
Two days later, they were well into their journey across the Halitha. The grass was yellow under Midnight’s hooves, and an overcast sky seemed to press down on them. Desa remembered crossing the land bridge in the summer. Even then, with a plethora of worries hanging like a stone around her neck, the journey had been much more pleasant. It was amazing what green grass and blue sky could do.
Kalia sat behind her with her arms wrapped around Desa’s waist and her chin resting on Desa’s shoulder. By the sound of her steady breathing, she was about two inches away from falling asleep.
The packhorse with their supplies shuffled along behind them.
Pursing her lips, Desa stared directly ahead. How much longer? she wondered, her brow furrowing. We should be seeing it soon.
There was nothing before her but grass and hills that ran all the way to the horizon, but t
hat would change soon enough. She knew from her previous journey that they would soon come up against an impenetrable barrier.
The forest.
Last time, they had been forced to walk along the beach to go around it. She didn’t relish the thought of doing so again, especially when the sand would almost certainly be a thick muck after all the recent rainfall. Come to think of it, Midnight probably wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of wading through that either. But there was no choice. And muck was the least of their worries.
She shivered when she remembered the shrill cry of the creature that lived in that forest. They had no name for it except “the man-bat.” Would it show itself again? She couldn’t help but think that if it had wanted to attack her group, it would have done so. But that didn’t make it benign.
Either way, there was no turning back. Their food supply was growing thin. They had enough to make it to Hedrovan but not enough to return to the Al a Nari.
“How much further?” Kalia murmured, voicing her thoughts.
Squinting into the distance, Desa shook her head. “I don’t know,” she answered. “A few hours. Maybe half a day.”
Her initial estimate was correct. By mid-afternoon, they were confronted with a line of towering trees that grew larger and larger as they drew near. Just the sight of that forest made her skin crawl.
But there was something else.
At first, she thought she was imagining it, but once they got close enough, she knew her eyes had not deceived her. Something was different from the last time she had been here. There was now a path leading directly into the forest and presumably through to the other side.
She and Kalia dismounted, approaching with caution. Shivers ran down Desa’s spine. She wanted nothing more than to be as far away from here as possible, but she needed a closer look.
The trees stood at least a hundred feet high with naked branches crisscrossing in an impenetrable bramble. A human might be able to maneuver around those gnarled trunks and exposed roots, but horses? No, it was impossible.
And yet, the path was blessedly free of obstacles: no roots, no rocks, no twigs. Just a narrow corridor that cut through the forest so cleanly it might have been done with a knife. “Could we have missed it the last time?” Desa asked.
Stepping up to the edge of the forest, Kalia rested her hand on a tree. Her eyes were wide with alarm. “No,” she murmured. “Tommy and I scouted the area for miles in each direction. There were no pathways through.”
“And yet this one appears right where we need it,” Desa growled. “I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“Me neither.”
Desa looked up to the treetops, blinking several times as she considered her options. “I am no hare to be led to the trap,” she said, spinning around and striding back to Midnight. “We’ll take the beach. Like last time.”
So, they turned to their right and began making their way eastward through the soggy grass. It was slow going: a dreary, unpleasant trek that had her struggling to ignore her growing sense of unease. She led Midnight by his bridle, and Kalia did the same for the packhorse. The air was cool and damp, and moisture seemed to cling to her skin.
Desa couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched. On several occasions, she tried to work up the nerve to say so, but the words always died on the tip of her tongue. Kalia was equally silent, and the animals plodded along almost mechanically, never complaining.
Evening was coming on when the ground sloped gently downward to a muddy beach. The waters of the Sapphire Sea washed up on the shore, and gulls swooped low over the waves. But any hope they had of an uneventful journey died before they took even one step.
The trees spilled down the hillside and over the narrow strip of land where the beach should have been. If she had to guess, she would say that the forest extended at least half a mile into the water. That had not been the case on their last visit.
Kalia’s mouth dropped open when she took in the sight. “That’s not possible,” she whispered. “Forests don’t grow like that.”
“I feel as though I’m being herded,” Desa grumbled. Toward what, she couldn’t say, but she didn’t like it one bit. No, not one bit.
She stooped to pick up a rock and then threw it into the trees, listening to the clatter it made as it bounced off trunk after trunk. “Hey!” she screamed. “I know you’re in there! Come out and show yourself!”
Nothing happened.
Desa took Midnight’s bridle in one hand, guiding him back up the hill. “Come on,” she said. “There’s no point in remaining here.”
“Where are we going?” Kalia asked.
“Our host – whatever it is – has made the rules of this game clear. If we want to go through, we must do so on its terms. Well, I see no reason to delay. Let’s get this over with, shall we?”
At the top of the hill, she waited for Kalia to bring the packhorse up. The other woman gave her a skeptical stare. “Are you sure that’s wise?”
“It’s the only way through,” Desa insisted. “We survived Vengeance’s traps. We can survive this too.”
So, they set off toward the spot where they had seen the path, but they had only traveled half the distance when it became too dark to see. There was nothing to do but set up camp on the eaves of the forest.
Finding sleep was difficult for Desa even with a tent to shut out the cold and the damp. A Heat-Source coin under her bedroll provided more than sufficient warmth, but she just couldn’t rest. Not knowing where they were.
Kalia was sound asleep, which left her feeling both envious and mystified. Try as she might, Desa just couldn’t let her guard down. Every rustle of wind through the nearby branches jolted her back to full alertness.
She sat up, hunched over with fingertips pressed into her forehead. The beginnings of a headache had settled behind her eyes. In another hour, she would be in a great deal of pain. And grumpy to boot.
Something snapped in the distance like twigs crunching underfoot. The sound made her jump and reach for the pistol she had left next to her bedroll. But of course, nothing came of it.
Restless, Desa threw on her coat. Kalia murmured at the sudden motion, but she did not wake. Good. One of them should get some sleep.
Taking her pistol in hand, Desa crawled out of the tent and stood up. She looked around, scanning her surroundings for any sign of trouble.
The forest was a mass of shadow before her, the twisted branches of trees black against a starry sky. A crescent moon hung overhead, providing just enough illumination for her to notice the contrast.
She crept forward, staying low, listening for any sound no matter how faint. The damp air left a film of moisture on her skin. She hated it.
When she got within arm’s reach of the trees, Desa stood up straight. She thrust out her chin to look down her nose at whatever might be watching her from the darkness. “I know you’re there.”
Nothing happened.
“Show yourself!”
Still nothing.
She turned around, shuffling back to the tent and heaving out a sigh. Head hanging, she scraped a knuckle across her brow. “What am I doing?”
A branch snapped behind her.
Spinning around, Desa pointed her gun into the forest. Sure enough, she saw a pair of glowing, green eyes watching her from within the gap between two trees. The man-bat was here. Perhaps it had been here all along. Maybe it was taunting her. “What are you?” Desa demanded. The eyes receded into the darkness, fading away.
Unable to help herself, Desa raised her free hand and triggered the Light-Source in her ring. Radiance washed over her, illuminating the yellow grass underneath her feet. The packhorse whinnied, but Midnight soothed him.
When she peered into the forest, she saw only twisted tree trunks and drooping branches. There was no sign of the creature. She got the impression that it was trying to lure her in. She would not be taking that bait.
The tent flaps parted as Kalia emerged, brushing dark
hair out of her face. The poor woman blinked, her eyes adjusting to the light. “What happened?”
“It’s here.”
“The man-bat?”
Desa nodded grimly. “It’s been watching us,” she said, striding toward the trees with her hand aloft to hold back the gloom. “I suspect that it wanted us to know it’s been watching us.”
“Why would it want that?”
“Because this particular hunter likes to play with its food,” Desa growled. “It knows that we will be entering its domain. So, it wants to taunt us.”
“Well,” Kalia grumbled. “So much for sleep.”
By mid-morning, they found the pathway through the forest in the same place it had been the day before. The sky above was still gray and dreary, shutting out the warmth of the sun. A perfect day to enter the lair of a predator.
The packhorse resisted as Kalia led him to the edge of the forest, trying to pull away and bolt. He almost reared more than once, but Kalia managed to quiet him with a few soothing whispers.
Midnight was as calm as a tranquil river, waiting patiently beside Desa. He turned his head to nuzzle her shoulder, a gentle reminder that he would be with her to the bitter end. She could not have asked for a better steed.
“Are you sure about this?” Kalia muttered.
“I see no other option.”
“No…Neither do I.”
Desa had to work up the nerve to take that first step forward, but when danger failed to leap out from every shadow, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was just a forest: old and ugly but no different from any other she had seen. And positively tame compared to what she had experienced in the Borathorin.
The path was quite wide. More of a dirt road, really. It provided ample space for both horses to walk abreast. Desa searched for ditches or roots or anything that might trip one of the animals, but the ground was smooth.
They had been walking in silence for almost ten minutes when she put a name to the fear that had been nagging at her from the moment that she had entered these woods. The trees on either side of her: they were too neat.
