Her tense body drooped to the ground, and she pressed her forehead against the tree. A sigh escaped her parted lips. “Looks like I don’t have a choice now.”

  I raised both eyebrows. “You mean that light was some sort of promise bonding?”

  “Of the strongest kind!” Kedie shouted as it flew about our heads and clapped its hands. “The power in the root has embedded the command into her very being! She’s got no choice!”

  I looked up at Chris with wide eyes. “How’d you know that would happen?”

  He sheepishly grinned and shrugged. “I didn’t, but I figured with my life energy being what unbound her than maybe it could do the reverse and bind her to her word.”

  Fortia cast a dark look at us. “Stupid mortals...”

  I smiled as I unwrapped the rope and grasped it in both hands. “Don’t forget that these stupid mortals captured you.” Fortia sneered at me before she turned her face away.

  Chris nodded at the rope in my hands and rubbed his welted wrist. “I’ll hold her.”

  “It’s probably a good idea, anyway,” I agreed as I passed off the leash. “What with your bond and all.”

  Chris smiled before he leaned forward and pecked a kiss on my lips. “You’re the only one I’m bound to.”

  I set a hand on his chest and smiled up at him. “Did I mention I missed you while you were away?”

  “We were only separated for a few minutes.”

  I leaned up on my tiptoes and returned the kiss. “The longest few minutes of my life.”

  Kedie batted its eyelashes and sighed. Fortia gagged in the background. “Do I have to listen to this foolish mortal simpering all the way?”

  Chris held up his end of the rope and grinned. “The faster you get us through the mist the sooner we’ll release you.”

  Kedie flew in front of my face and clapped its hands a few times. “I want to come, too!”

  I shook my head. “This is too dangerous for a little pipsqueak like you.”

  “But I already helped!” Kedie insisted at it stabbed a finger at tall the burnt patches around the area. “I know I can help again!”

  I set a finger on each of its shoulders and gave my friend a smile. “I appreciate the offer, I really do, but this is bigger than you.” I paused and studied the pixie’s size. “Which is something you should be used to.” Kedie glared at me, and I held up my hands in front of me. “Okay, bad joke, but I’m telling the truth. There’s something out there that’s in charge of the forest now, and your people might need you to stay here and warn them if something pops out of the fog.”

  Kedie’s crestfallen face perked up at my suggestion. It flew up a little higher and stretched itself to its full short height. “I’ll take my duty seriously and protect my colony with my life!”

  I smiled and tapped my finger against the pixie’s tiny nose. “Let’s not go that far. Chris and I are out to save everything, after all.”

  Kedie pawed at its nose and frowned. “But how are you going to do that? How did it even happen?”

  Chris stepped up to my side and shook his head. “That’s a story we don’t have time to tell.”

  I waved at Kedie as we turned away from our small friend and entered the mist with Fortia grudgingly leading the way. Chris clasped my hand in his and held tight as we were swallowed by the fog. The light out of my chest disappeared in the thick white haze, but Fortia kept up a brisk pace.

  The fog was thin enough immediately around us that I could see Chris look down at me. “So, what was Fortia going to do to Kedie?”

  I grinned. “The same thing she was going to do to you, suck out your magic.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Without a straw?”

  I snorted. “And without any manners, too, I bet, but Kedie told me dryads are known to eat the magic of others.”

  Our leashed guide was too far ahead to see, but Fortia gave a tug on her root. “Not all the magic of others!”

  “Then how much?” I challenged her.

  There was a long pause. “Just enough to get a good bite, and then I let them go! Nothing wrong with that!”

  Chris raised an eyebrow. “What happens to your ‘leftovers?’”

  “They go off…”

  I didn’t like the way she trailed off. “Just like they were before?”

  “Well, they might be a little weak…”

  “And?”

  “And maybe they can’t use their magic anymore…”

  Chris pursed his lips. “Maybe we shouldn’t let you go.”

  Fortia’s rope flailed about. “I promise to be good!”

  He lifted up the root in his hand. “Do you promise on the grave of your stump?”

  “Yes!” The rope glowed a little and I knew the deed was done. The root fell limp and a few grumbled words came from the mist. “Stupid mortals… I swear this is the last time I help them…”

  16

  We continued on our way, but the forest changed. The air soon grew heavy, and I found myself tripping over not roots, but smoothed stones. The further we walked the more the rocks popped up until they covered all the ground that we could see around us. The flat form of the stones caught my attention, and I couldn’t help but squint at them as we passed them by.

  After a long examination I looked up at Chris. “Do these stones look natural to you?”

  He shook his head. “No. They look carved and polished.”

  I noted the weathers cracks and thick layers of moss built one on top of the other. “They look really old, though.”

  “Of course!” Fortia’s voice floated back to us. “You lot have been here for a long time! Too long!”

  The paved road widened into a great processional route, and upright stone monoliths loomed out of the mist. The fog, too, grew thin until we stepped out into a void of open air. We were presented with the wondrous sight of a temple of stone and ancient trees. The monoliths totaled four and were spaced at intervals between the massive trees from which vines and branches hung low over the stones. The vines had entwined themselves around the upright rocks and cast strange and wondrous designs over the monoliths. The branches stretched over the path and shrouded us in their shadows.

  At the far end of the procession stood a large, short platform, and atop that was a stone block some three feet high and wide, but seven feet long. Leaves draped over the lid like flowers placed in memorial.

  I swept my eyes over the intertwined branches that towered above our heads. “What is this place?”

  Fortia cast a sullen look at me. “It’s a shrine, stupid-hey!” She whipped her head to Chris and glared at him. “Stop that?”

  He lifted the bridle in his hand and shrugged. “Stop what?”

  She grasped her end of the rope and bared her teeth. “Stop yanking on it!”

  “Then start behaving,” he scolded her before he nodded at the columns. “Now what’s this shrine business about?”

  Fortia rolled her eyes. “It was built by you lot a while ago. They were so smitten by His Upstart Lord Silvia that they went to all the trouble of making the trees grow this way.” She sauntered over to one of the said plants and tapped a long fingernail against the wood. “My sisters thought they were so special being treated with such care by you mortals. Now here they are left all alone with no one to show off to.”

  I nodded at the large sarcophagus in the middle of the shrine. “What’s in there?”

  Fortia shrugged. “One of your dead. You mortals have a strange practice of taking the bodies of the earth and putting your own inside it.”

  As we walked up to the sarcophagus, I noticed the beam of light stopped a few feet short of the tomb. A slight mist appeared in front of us, stopping us in our tracks as we watched the fog form into a human shape. My eyes widened as Greylock’s identifiable, though young, features emerged, and soon he stood before us facing the platform.

  I made to move toward him, but Chris held me back. “It’s just another memory.” I bit my lower lip but stayed put.

  Ethan stretched an arm across his chest and bowed low at the waist to the sarcophagus. “Elder of the woods, I beseech you a favor.”

  My jaw hit the ground as mist poured out from beneath the lid of the stone grave. The fog drifted to the edge of the platform where it shaped itself into the familiar cloaked form of Silva.

  His hood hung over his back as he studied Greylock with his strange eyes. “What favor does a mortal ask of an immortal?”

  Greylock straightened and swept his arms over the area. “I wish to make a longer pact with you than the one to which we have agreed.”

  Silva tilted his head slightly to one side. “Why? The one we have agreed to is beyond your life span.”

  Greylock smiled. “Yes. That is exactly why I wish to lengthen it.”

  Silva frowned. “What you ask for I will not give.”

  Ethan took a step toward him and bowed his head. “I don’t ask this of you merely for myself, but to protect those whom I have brought here to protect them from the encroachment of man.”

  Silva shook his head slightly. “I will not grant you what you desire.”

  Ethan’s face fell. “Please, Your Lordship. I only wish a longer lifespan to protect the woods and the creatures under-” He was interrupted by a horrible coughing fit that left him hunched over.

  Greylock covered his mouth with his hand, and when he finally pulled it away, I glimpsed a splattering of blood on his palm. It reminded me of what had happened to Ethan as he lay injured on the bed. There had been blood on his palm then, too.

  Silva lifted an eyebrow. “I can see the sickness inside of you has worsened.”

  A bitter smile slipped onto Ethan’s lips as he wiped his hand with a handkerchief. “Yes. My lung cancer is untreatable, and it spreads like the fires through your woods on a hot summer day. I… I don’t have much longer.”

  Silva studied him for a long moment before I saw a slight purse of his pale lips. “You wish to lengthen your time on this plain. That is a rather selfish request.”

  Ethan opened his mouth, but a swirl of mist whipped around him and swept upward above his head. The mist parted into four small spheres which arched over to the four monoliths. The fog formed a sort of white portal over the surface of the rocks, and four cloaked figures emerged from the four towering stone monuments. Two of them had removed their hoods, and it was easy to recognize the ice and fire lords of the elementals. The faces and forms of the other two were completely unrecognizable under the cloaks.

  Silva lifted his chin and frowned. “None of you were summoned here.”

  Kilnie, sovereign of the fire elementals, was the first to float forward a few feet, and it bowed its head to Silva. “My Lord, we have come to beg for this mortal’s life. We desire that Ethan Greylock remain among us as a protector, to move freely among the trees as any of your children and to have the longevity that comes with that honor.”

  Silva slightly lifted an eyebrow as he swept his eyes over the four. “Do you all agree with that statement?”

  Rimor nodded. “We do, My Lord. The vote was unanimous.”

  Silva pursed his lips before he returned his attention to Greylock. “You know the consequences of what you ask?”

  Greylock nodded. “I’ve been told.”

  “That you cannot leave the forest for any great length of time? Even what you mortals term a ‘decade’ would be too long.”

  I felt as though a hand had squeezed my chest as the full realization struck me. Ethan couldn’t leave the forest. The cancer would return and kill him.

  Greylock bowed his head. “I understand, and I take the responsibility of watching over myself in order that I may watch over those who call the forest their home.”

  Kilnie floated a little closer to the platform and clasped its tiny hands together. “Please, Lord Silva. Remember the last time we lost a beloved mortal.”

  Silva studied him for a long moment before he raised his hand, so the palm faced Greylock. “Then come closer, Ethan Greylock, and for well and ill you will be a vessel of the forest.”

  Greylock stepped closer, and as he did the mist around us closed in. The figures were shrouded in the white fog. I rushed forward and stretched out my hand. “Wait! I need to see it!”

  The mist didn’t heed my words but swallowed them all up. I stumbled to a stop, and even as I did the fog cleared and revealed the temple. The figures had vanished.

  Chris hurried to join me, and I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. “What did we just watch?”

  He frowned as he shook his head. “I don’t know.” His gaze settled on the bored looking Fortia. “Silva is a spirit of the woods, isn’t he? An immortal like you?”

  Fortia picked at a few pebbles on the ground and shrugged. “He is, and he isn’t.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Could you explain that in mortal-speak?”

  She lifted her head and nodded at the sarcophagus. “The problem is in that thing.”

  I looked from the stone coffin and back to her before I blinked. “The body?”

  Fortia wrinkled her nose. “The mortal body. If it hadn’t been for her then Lord Silva wouldn’t have become so weak and needed a human to help him protect the forest.”

  That caught our attention, and Chris took a step toward the sarcophagus. “Who’s in there?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t remember her name, but I think it’s written on the top.”

  Chris and I strode forward, dragging out unwilling companion behind us. As we stepped onto the platform and approached the sarcophagus a cold chill seemed to descend on me. The iciness sank into my bones, and I couldn’t help but wrap my arms around me to keep from shivering.

  Chris glanced at me. “You feel it, too?”

  I nodded. “I feel it, and I don’t like it.”

  We reached the stone coffin and Chris being the taller of we two leaned over the lid. He squinted at some carved words that time and weather had made faint and rounded. “Here… lies… Elizabeth… beloved… of… the… woods.” He paused and frowned. “The word ‘woods’ is capitalized while all the others except her name aren’t.”

  My eyes widened and I pointed a finger at the tomb. “You don’t think we’re looking at Silva’s girlfriend, do you?”

  17

  Chris took one look at my face and burst into laughter. I frowned at him. “What? This is a serious moment!”

  “Yes, but your face is a picture to behold, more so than usual,” he teased as he gathered himself. “As for your question, I think you’re right.” He half-turned to our sullen companion who sat on the edge of the platform with her back turned to us. “What’s the story behind this inscription?”

  Fortia didn’t bother lifting her chin from her cupped hand as she shrugged. “Not much, really. Just the story of a stupid god and his infatuated followers who watched as he made a fool of himself.”

  Chris furrowed his brow. “He fell in love with a mortal.”

  Fortia dropped her hand to her side and tilted her head back to stare at us with a scowl. “He made a fool of himself falling for that raven-haired… what do you humans call them? Hussy?”

  I swept my eyes over the flagstones. “But people made this, didn’t they?”

  Fortia faced forward and brushed a finger along the length of the platform. “Yes, mortals made this place, but Silva took it and changed it into a shrine to his ‘beloved.’ He just couldn’t stand the thought of not having something to remind him of her.” She clapped her palm against the stone and wrinkled her nose. “Everyone else pitched in, too, except those of us who knew better. We watched the charade as they made a mockery of our tradition of leaving you mortals to your mortality and buried her in that tomb.” She wrinkled her nose. “They even swore an oath not to hurt any of you should you stumble into the forest. Do you have any idea how hard it’s been not to try a taste of human?”

  I cast a side look up at Chris. “The things immortals suffer through.”

  Fortia flung her arms up. “Truer words were never spoken!”

  I looked back at the stone sarcophagus and furrowed my brow. “So where do we go from here, guide?” The lifeline did indeed taper off at the center of the sarcophagus. I walked around the stone coffin, but the light out of my chest continued to point at the center of the tomb. “I mean, shouldn’t this be guiding us to Ethan’s stolen half?”

  Fortia shrugged. “Maybe this is where the fools left their hearts, so there’s nowhere else to go.”

  My heart sank at the truth in her words. I lifted one hand and brushed it through the beam of light that came from the manor. It didn’t seem as bright as I remembered.

  Chris cupped his chin in his hand and furrowed his brow. “That might be why it ends, but I wonder if there’s another reason for bringing us here because of the memories.”

  I tilted my head to one side. “Are you saying Ethan’s purposely leading us along these scattered memories?”

  He nodded. “That may be. Did you notice anything unusual about the gathering?”

  I snorted. “You mean besides a bunch of creatures of legend congregating around a crypt to honor a woman who was loved by one of them?”

  He tapped the side of his nose. “There were five legendary creatures there. Who were the other two who remained hidden? And why did the vision of past times hide their faces? The two elementals had their hoods down when they arrived, but the other two kept concealed.”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “Then you think there’s something important about them? Then why keep their faces concealed?” A derisive laugh came from Fortia. We both turned to her, and I crossed my arms over my chest. “I know what a laugh like that means. What do you know?”

  She shrugged. “Only that I didn’t see any hidden faces during that little show.”

  Chris frowned. “Meaning what?”

  Fortia rolled her eyes before she rolled her head backward to show off her annoyed expression. “Meaning I know who attended the meeting because I know them, but you two have only ever seen two of the attendants, so the other two were hidden to you.”

 

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