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“You do? You know a cure?” Rain said quietly, feeling hope grow inside of her again. She looked over at Shea. “Can he hear us?”
“I can tell he fights the Soulblight. Something deep inside him is trying to hear us. That is the part of him I will try to communicate with. It will be difficult to cure, as he is so far along. And I will need something from you. Please, tell me why you have come to the Dark Wood.”
Rain hesitated. She looked around the room at the furnishings and decorations once more. Edana seemed like a kind soul, and she would be grateful to anyone who knew how to help Shea.
“We are here to visit Lake Dolmeria,” she said, deciding she didn’t have to say anything else.
“Her waters have been still for a hundred years. How do you expect to summon the Goddess without innate magic?”
Edana’s question took her by surprise, but didn’t acknowledge that fact. “You know about the Goddess?”
“Yes, of course,” she said. “She was honored by the moon elves.”
Rain looked into her eyes and wondered if she already knew the whole story. “No, I do not yet know how to summon her. But I am hoping I will be able to find out once I’m there.”
“You have a lot of nerve,” The old woman said with a small smile. “Just getting there will be difficult. You’ll have to continue following the bone path, but it doesn’t continue the whole way to the lake. There’s an unsafe portion of the forest you’ll have to travel through.”
“What—who—are the bones from?” Rain asked to change the subject, and then wondered if she would regret asking.
“I don’t know,” she said, but Rain wondered if she knew more than she told. “I do know that the phantoms don’t go near them, and they keep away the illusory powers of the rest of the Dark Wood.”
“Phantoms?” Rain remembered what Aeraldor had said about dark spirits that could sense magic, and had a feeling these were the same ones.
“Yes. Dark spirits roam the forest outside of the bone path. They have inhabited this place since the moon elves’ disappearance.” Her voice grew quiet. “They cannot see or hear. They can only sense magic. They feed on it. Mainly the residual magic of the moon elves. But they cannot leave the Dark Wood.”
Rain wondered if there was any magic left after all these years. Perhaps the phantoms were hungry, then. The thought made her shudder. “You know the way to the Lake, then?” Edana nodded. “You are doing so much for us, is there anything I can do for you?”
Edana’s face grew mournful. “I would like my years of waiting for my love to not be in vain.” She looked into Rain’s eyes. “Do not think me weak—I have overcome my sadness, for the most part.” She sipped her tea and then gazed deeper into Rain’s eyes. “Can you bring back the moon elves?”
Rain could only stare. How did she know all of their plans already? But she nodded, feeling like she should continue the charade. “I will try my best, Edana.”
“Summoning the Goddess will be all but impossible without innate moon elf magic. Yet you seem so sure you can do it.”
Rain paused, the question catching her off guard. She realized Edana hadn’t recognized her as a moon elf.
The old woman sipped her tea, her eyes calm. “What do you plan on doing when you get there? How will you know what to do?” she asked, sounding like a mother scolding her child.
“I… I don’t know. I could try feeling out my memory like I did to find our way into the Wood.”
“Memory?” Edana scoffed. “Is that how you think you got here? The only way into the Dark Wood is by accident. By chance.”
Then why did Aeraldor make it sound like the map would help them?
“It didn’t feel like an accident,” Rain said. “It strangely felt like… coming home. It’s like I’ve been here before, yet I don’t remember being here in what I can remember of my life. My only memories are of my home across the Fangs in Willshire.”
“You weren’t raised in Ellwood?”
Rain frowned. “No, I was raised across the fangs. By foster parents.”
Edana stared at her. Her hands visibly began shaking, and she wasn’t doing anything to hide it. “Your red hair… Oh dear, oh dear, what have I done? It’s been so long, I can’t even recognize one when I see one… You do have the magic, don’t you?” She stood up so fast she bumped the table, sloshing a bit of her tea out of its cup. “You have to go. Now. It is not safe here.”
“What? I thought you said it was.” Rain felt her stomach tie up in knots. “What’s wrong?”
“Get your horses ready, I will pack food for you for your journey home.” She turned and hurriedly went into the kitchen and started rummaging through her cupboards.
“I have to go to Lake Dolmeria.” Rain wondered if it had been a good idea after all to have tea with this woman. She seemed crazy. “Can you at least tell me what you know about the path there? You said there was an area that wasn’t safe.”
Edana stopped and turned to her, whispering as if people might be listening in. “You really should just go home. But, if you must…” she paused. “The only way is through the dwelling-place of the phantoms, where there are no illusions, but the path is not safe. Follow the bones until they end, and continue straight along the path. After a good while, you will find Lake Dolmeria. But if you use any kind of magic, even through memory, they will find you.” Her voice returned to normal. “Now, go get your horses ready. Both of them—Shea must go, too.”
“But I need your help to cure him!”
“I do not think what I had in mind would work, and he is much safer on the move than here.”
“We should try it. I would try anything. I have no idea how to help him.” Rain felt the tiny bit of hope left in her drain away. What had brought about this drastic change in Edana’s mood? Did it really matter that much that she was a moon elf?
Edana continued to gather food in her kitchen and Rain felt anger build inside her. “You said you would help,” Rain said firmly but quietly, still trying to be polite.
“I am sorry—” she put the last of the food in the bag she was preparing “—I am of no further help to you.” She frowned at Rain. “Are you going to just stand there? Well, then, I’ll get the horses myself. I’m in trouble either way,” she mumbled. Then she turned and hurried out the front door to the stables.
Rain turned to Shea, whom she knew at some level saw what was happening around him. After being unusually quiet during her conversation with Edana, he now looked to her and shrugged. “I didn’t think she’d be of much help anyway.” He stood up and stiffly followed Edana to the stable, his face emotionless.
***
After loading up the horses in the darkening sky, Edana gave Shea a lit lantern hung on the end of an iron pole to help guide them and then said a quick and awkward goodbye. She hurried past her beautiful garden, went inside, and shut the door behind her.
With Shea next to her lighting the way in the darkness, Rain led them past the ring of pine trees to the distorted ones beyond, and they found themselves back on the bone path. Rain felt a wall of mist and looked behind her. Edana’s house had disappeared again, the path continuing on behind them. It was growing dark, and she was glad for the lantern.
After about an hour, Rain noticed the sound of the horses’ hooves on bones had stopped. Their surroundings didn’t look any different, but the bones were definitely gone, and she looked worriedly into the dark trees surrounding them. If she didn’t use magic, she would be alright. She hoped.
***
Another hour on horseback passed in silence. It reminded Rain of the first night she met Shea, when he guided her to Fairfield. This time, she was the one guiding him, and his presence was no longer reassuring.
Pan stopped his fast walk unexpectedly, and did not move when she told him to. She looked to the ground in front of him and her heart leaped—she saw the edge of a pool of water. She nudged Pan closer to Ahearn and she took the poled lantern from Shea. Taking the light and pointing it at the water’s edge, she saw it was not just a small pool, but an enormous lake. They had reached Lake Dolmeria.
“Now what?” Shea asked absently.
“We find the boat Rowena mentioned.”
They walked slowly around the lake, Rain holding the lantern out as far as she could. Finally, they saw a dark shape on the water. They neared it and found it was a small boat floating at the water’s edge, the front end tied to a nearby tree.
Rain dismounted to inspect the boat, keeping her bow and quiver secure on her back. She didn’t want to be without protection in these woods, though even if she had her magic she wouldn’t know how to use it in a fight.
She took the lantern off its hook at the end of the pole and left the pole on the ground by the tree. She held the lantern out as she approached the boat, which was quite clean. Creeping closer, she noticed the rope appeared to be freshly tied. The boat was even clean on the inside, and she didn’t see any sign of spiders or other bugs. Either it had somehow been here for a hundred years without showing any age, or someone had put it here for her.
“She is watching, you know.” Shea’s voice was slow and menacing. Rain stood straight up in surprise, too afraid to turn around and face him.
“What—what do you mean?” her heart began pounding in her chest. This was nothing like his usual negative remarks. The voice that came from him did not seem like his own. It was too malicious.
“Your every move is being watched. You aren’t safe from her. Anywhere.” She finally turned around. He sat atop Ahearn, his smile going no further than his lips. His eyes were darker than before; so dark that even the whites of his eyes were deep black. They even stood out from the darkness of the night. Just like the wolf’s eyes.
Shea grasped the sword in his sheath.
Grateful again for her aegis, she started backing away from him. She then realized Damien, or whoever possessed him, would now know that she could somehow resist the fear spell, but it didn’t matter. They probably suspected it before, when Damien encountered her in the woods.
“You’re a tricky one,” Damien said through Shea’s voice. “Even managed to wrap yourself around Edana’s heart. No matter. She was weak anyway.”
“What did you do to her?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
He continued his sadistic grinning, and the ring of his sword coming free reverberated over the lake.
Rain slowly set her lantern on the ground. She reached behind her, took the bow off her back, and nocked an arrow. What was she going to do with it? She couldn’t kill him, or his horse. She glanced behind her and saw the boat.
She turned back to Shea and drew back the arrow, straining to pull it to its full draw, hoping to trick Damien into thinking she might actually kill Shea, and backed further away.
Too late she realized she had used magic to draw the string.
She slowly let the string down, but still pointed it at Shea. The red energy in her hands tingled, and she tried to release it. It draws the creatures to you like a strong scent.
Shea hadn’t moved closer, but she knew he would be able to push his horse forward and cut her in two at any moment.
Rain turned her head to face the boat. She needed the lantern, and to untie the rope holding the boat to the tree, both of which she couldn’t do if she were pointing an arrow.
Filled with intense urgency, she put the arrow back in her quiver. She tossed the bow into the boat, grabbed the lantern, and turned to untie the boat from the tree. Shea laughed menacingly under his breath and pushed his horse forward, towards her.
His sword was suddenly in front of her face, threatening. She backed away, toward the boat. But it was still tied to the tree! How would she escape? Then an idea came, a faint glimmer of hope. She still held the lantern, so with her other hand she slowly moved to grab her dagger from her belt. The sword tip was unnervingly close to her throat. She continued backing away, and Shea moved his horse forward to match her steps.
With a burst of strength that she knew could only be from her lingering magic, she threw the dagger at the rope that held the boat to the tree. It sliced through the rope right next to the knot. But her hands glowed red. She was a sure target for the phantoms.
The next second, she ran out of ground behind her.
She fell backward into the boat. The force pushed the boat away from the shore, just as Shea lunged forward to attack her. He lost his balance and fell off Ahearn into the water, making a loud splash in the eerily quiet woods. Circular ripples drifted out from where he had landed.
Rain scrambled into a sitting position and picked up the two oars that sat at the bottom of the small craft. As she began rowing away, she saw Shea heave himself out of the water. He stood up, dripping wet in the dark, his black eyes two voids in the night, staring at her. She reached the point where the dim light from her lantern could not touch the shore, and his face faded from view. She heard his menacing voice once again.
“You may have escaped her now, but she will be waiting.”
A gargling shriek came from the dead forest around the lake, and she paddled harder in fear. After a moment, she heard another and another, and then it seemed to come from every direction around her. The phantoms. She couldn’t see anything past the lantern’s small ring of light, and wondered if the phantoms could travel over water. She had managed to stop the flow of energy into her hands, but the phantoms surely knew she was there. Would Shea be safe from them, surely filled with spirit magic from the possession? She seriously considered going back for him, but realized he’d probably kill her the minute she got out of the boat.
The awful noise continued, but was farther away after a few minutes of rowing. She swallowed, relieved. They apparently didn’t like water. She slowed her rowing pace to something she could maintain.
The lake was large and she couldn’t see far enough to know that she was going in the right direction to get to the center. However, she continued rowing straight behind her, and hoped she would eventually find the summoning circle, whatever it might look like.
***
After a few minutes, the noise died down and all was quiet except for her oars in the water. She felt quite alone. She hoped Pan was safe, and that the phantoms didn’t eat spirit magic.
Soon, he felt her boat run aground and she touched shore with her oars.
When she stepped out of the small boat, she put her bow back over her shoulder and picked up the lantern. She was grateful it had stayed lit through the whole ordeal. She dragged the boat onto shore and then turned to see where she had ended up.
She stood on a small grassy island that was fairly circular. The only decorations were six short pillars that stood evenly spaced in a circle. She walked forward and held out her lantern to inspect one. Made of stone, it was rectangular and about four feet high. On its front side was a carving of a simple sword, outlined in red. On the square surface at the top was a hand-shaped imprint.
Before touching it, she went around to the other stone pillars to see if they were the same. Every second one had a hand imprint and different carvings on the front; the other three were undecorated stone. One pillar carving was a sun, in yellow, and the other showed a blue shield.
Rain went back to the pillar with the sword carving and studied it harder. She recalled that she needed her magic to summon the Goddess. She tested using red energy, feeling the strength of it flow through her and light up her hands, making them tingle with warmth. She decided to try putting her hand on the hand imprint on top of the pillar—it was the only thing she thought of to try. The sword carving was red, so she guessed it symbolized strength, and she felt she had the right pillar. She reached forward with her free hand and placed it, still glowing red, on the hand imprint, not knowing exactly what would happen.
A faint, high pitched hum sounded through the air, and as she kept her hand on the pillar, the carving began to glow. Red light shown through and illuminated the sword carving. She slowly took her hand off the pillar, but the light and sound didn’t go away.
Excited, she hurried to the yellow carved pillar and thought of how she had healed Shea. She called on that same feeling, healing, growth, like the carving of the sun. When her hands glowed yellow, she placed one on top of the pillar.
The pillar’s carving matched her hand’s yellow glow. A slightly lower-pitched sound reverberated around her, harmonizing with the higher one from the red pillar. She took her hand off the pillar and let the light leave her hands.
Eager to see the entire circle lit up, she grabbed her lantern and moved to the third carved pillar. A shield could mean protection, she thought. Eyes open this time, she tried calling up feelings of being protected and safe. But that wasn’t quite it. Her hands didn’t show any signs of blue light. She brought the lantern closer to the carving. There was an unfamiliar coat of arms decorating the shield. It was cut in four equal parts with two intersecting perpendicular lines. Two shorter lines intersected in the center with the other two, creating a star-like pattern.
A coat of arms meant the symbol of a family, or an army, or a nation. It signified a group, held together by loyalty.
Loyalty.
She pictured the people of the Council in her mind, figuring it would help. She felt her loyalty to those people, to the many people of Belmaeron and the whole of Ellwood. She let herself bathe in the feeling of doing good, trusting them, protecting them. Faint blue light swirled and twisted around her fingers. She stood up, turned back to the pillar, and placed her hand on the imprint.
A low hum came from the stone, and the designs lit up with a blue color. She removed her hand and let the feelings pass.
Two tendrils of red light shot out of the red pillar, to the smaller pillars on either side of it. The yellow and blue pillar did the same, and the lights mixed when they touched the pillars in-between, creating orange, green, and then purple.
The sounds of the pillars blended together and created a beautiful resonance, something strange but familiar. The lights seemed to grow brighter, and after a few moments they were so bright they turned white. The three main pillars had tendrils of light shoot upwards out of them. They met in the center, high above the island. A shape seemed to form out of these three beams of light. It grew larger, and descended to stand in the center of the circle of light.
Rain stepped back. The white shape dimmed slightly and formed into the shape of a woman. Her pale face was framed by long white hair. Her skin glowed, emphasizing her ageless beauty. She wore a white velvet dress not unlike the one Rain wore at the Council meeting, but the collar and cuffs were embroidered with sparkling silver thread and the whole thing seemed to shimmer in the white light of the circle.
The Goddess opened her eyes and smiled at her. A warmth and beauty unsurpassed by anything she had ever felt filled her body, and she kneeled, feeling completely unworthy of her glorious presence. She bowed her head to the ground in reverence, feeling it was the right thing to do.
“Sister, please stand. Do not feel unworthy.” Rain looked up and saw she still smiled. The Goddess bent her knees and held out a hand.
She took her hand, feeling it would be rude not to do so, and the warm feeling she had felt was magnified. After she stood, the Goddess released her hand and the feeling lessened a bit.
“I want to thank you, Sister, for my summon.” She put her palms together in front of her and bowed slightly.
Rain did the same, but bowed deeper. “Thank you for being here.” She was surprised at the title, for she still felt she did not deserve it.
“You certainly do deserve it. With power as great as yours, anything less would be disrespectful.”
Rain stared in surprise. “You can hear my thoughts?”
“Certainly. Now, Sister, what is your name, so that I may use it? I can see you are still getting used to your true title.”
“Rain, Goddess… your highness…ah…” She realized she had forgotten to say the Goddess’ title in return when she spoke before.
“My lady will do, dear Rain,” she said kindly. She looked out above Rain’s head, scanning the far shore. Sadness filled her features, and the happiness Rain had felt emanating from her turned to deep sorrow. “It has been a long time. Such a very long time. My people are so far away.” She looked back at Rain. “This land is cursed. You have summoned me at a critical time, Rain.”
Rain ran through in her mind the things King Arthain had told her to ask the Goddess. “There have been raids by craetons in Graemar, where the humans dwell, and we do not know why, and would like any insight you might have. And, my lady, we would like to know if there is a cure to the Soulblight. The elemental wizards and witches can only do so much, and I fear for my friend, who has contracted it himself. His mind is filled with shadows.” She almost asked about where the moon elves were, but felt it would be too much to ask for at once.
“I do not know much, for my power has waned these many years, but I will try to answer your questions, including those unasked.” The Goddess smiled knowingly, and closed her eyes. She seemed to concentrate, and then began to speak, the words reverberating as if said from a far distance.
“When the great blight has crossed the land,
One Sister holds the key.
She must open the Hollow,
To set those like her free.
“The Sister must be wary,
For the magic of spirits holds great power.
It triumphs over the elements,
But inner magic it cannot devour.
“The answer is buried deep inside,
The magic is the cure.
If she gains the trust of those like her,
Only then will the cursed endure.”
The Goddess opened her eyes and came out of her trance, and Rain stared wide-eyed at her, all manners forgotten.
“What do you mean, ‘open’ the Hollow? What does all that mean?”
“I’m sorry, but I must go now, dear one. There are things that must be done in your world, and you mustn’t waste time. Do what your heart tells you, and don’t doubt your instincts.”
It all happened too fast, before she could tell her to wait. Her glowing presence seemed to grow brighter. In a blinding flash, she became three thick beams of white light. Each beam traveled in a straight line to the red, yellow, and blue pillars, and the humming of the rectangular stones faded and then was gone. The multicolored glow of the pillars dimmed and then winked out, leaving her in total darkness except for the lantern that still glowed at her feet.