Wind Rider (8 page)

VII

Ulrike’s sisters came to say
goodbye, and her Aunt was there to bid farewell to her cousins, loading the
twins and Ulrike and me with provisions for the next few days journey. Cullen,
Woltan
, Elias, and Kara had all been outfitted as well.

Erik was there to hug his daughter, and his
nephews. Then he hugged Hans
Arboris
, and gave him a
great staff of living wood, at least six feet long, that the Tree Mother
herself had made for him. Hans started to weep, and he reached out and hugged
the trunk of the tree mother and her branches shuddered. I heard a great groan
that hurt me deep inside.

Then, at last, we were walking, and Hans
Arboris
led us. The mossy road felt soft under my feet, and
I could feel the energy in the moss underneath. It was growing increasingly
dark, but the rain was gone, as if either nature or the dark lord had decided
to storm elsewhere. I walked in the back with
Woltan
and Kara. In front of us walked Elias and the smith, in front of them Ulrike
with her twin cousins on either side, following Hans.

Woltan
whispered then.
“We can all see the plants, can’t we? Even the moss on the road beneath us
lights the way.”

I nodded. “It blinded and deafened me at first. I
expect Hans and Ulrike have similar gifts.”

The smith spoke then. “I am surely the least
magical here, sire. But I can see the path as if it was painted with fireflies.
Like this we can walk all night.”

Woltan
shook his head.
“All night, no. But until we reach the mountains, yes. There we should find
shelter in a cave, and rest a while. Our slumber was short and sweet under the
protection of the tree mother, but we need more sleep if we are not to become
stumbling bumblers in the two days walk ahead.”

Kara shook her head. “I am still a little lost
here. Perhaps when we reach the mountains all will come clear to me. But I
worry for the people you have left behind,
Woltan
.
What if the dark lord attacks while we lie taking a nap on this mountain?”

“We lose time sleeping,” said
Woltan
.
“Or we lose time with accidents and stupid mistakes. There is no other way,
except wizardry, and we will go that way only if we are forced to choose it.”

We heard Elias’s thoughts then.
I feel rested.
The tree mother’s food has filled us up with energy, and the hours we rested
there is equivalent to days of sleep outside her protection.

Ulrike agreed.
I do not know much of your
world, but I know that after sleeping in the shelter of the mother tree we can
go days without sleep. And the food we ate will not only protect and hide us,
but also nourish our minds and bodies more than ordinary plant or animal food.

“In that case, let us walk until we can walk no
more,” said
Woltan
finally. “And then rest and set
watch.”

It was dark now. We walked quietly and the moss
seemed to come up to meet our feet, the branches of trees seemed to sway away
from our faces as we passed. Never had I felt so in tune with nature. I could
smell and see the plants around me in the night, could taste the dirt in which
they grew. I could feel where the soil was acidic, where it was alkaline — the
ground itself was like some alchemist’s experimental laboratory, like I’d read
about with my tutor. If I reached out with my mind I could hear the sing-song
of the grass, the whispers of the shrubs, the low rumble of conversations of
the trees.

I tried pushing my mind out as far as I could, to
see how far I could feel. My feet kept walking methodically but my mind
exploded: a blinding flash of green life energy and brown earth, a deafening
symphony of living plant music that filled my head to bursting. I tried to
relax and float in the middle of all of it, and the sound and the light calmed.

But I could still see and hear all of it.

I smiled and kept walking. I found I could keep
walking and look where I was going and still see and hear everything. It was
intoxicating. Then all of the sudden, I stopped.

Something was very wrong in the forest.

Kara was sniffing the wind. I could smell nothing,
but my plant friends were in panic. They were being trampled, and there were
torches. I could feel the fire, feel the feet upon me, but could not tell what
they were.

We had all stopped now, in a circle, but it was
Kara who gave the alarm, speaking and thinking it at the same time.
Keiler
! And soldiers!

There was a moment of panic in which we didn’t
know whether to fight or flee.
Woltan
blasted into
our minds then.
Remember our invisibility. Press against the trees and wait
for them to pass. If they are small in number, we shall ambush them.

We moved off the trail and took our positions.
Cullen and I pushed against a large tree. I looked around and it was only with
my third eye that I could see anyone, and even then, you needed to know what to
look for — our auras had been changed by the food of the tree mother, and mine
even more so by her sap. We blended into the trees as if we were all one and
the same, plant and person. Even the mighty
Arboris
made his tree seem just a bit larger and more imposing.

I held my breath and let my mind wander. They were
approaching rapidly, coming from the west. I could smell smoke now. They
carried torches. There were many of them. They smelled of smoke and they
smelled of hate.

Suddenly a
keiler
rushed
past me, twirled around, and ran back to the road. It was sniffing around
wildly. I remembered that they were stronger in scent than in eyes. I hoped
that I smelled more of tree than of human, now.

Then three more ran forward to stop and wheel
around at the road.

THE TREES HERE SMELL DIFFERENT!

Shut your mind you idiot! This is a magical
forest!

MAGICAL OR NOT IT WILL BURN JUST AS WELL!

I said SHUT YOUR MINDS ALL OF YOU!

I saw with my third eye beams of energy move out
and squeeze the auras of the
keiler
. They squealed,
and stopped moving.

A man walked out onto the path. I did not dare
breathe. I had seen this man before, and I had seen him again in my dreams. He
was covered in a cloak and in one hand he held a staff, in the other a lit
torch. Two men with swords and torches followed him.

They stopped in front of the
keiler
.
The wizard was only about ten feet away from where I lay pressed against a
tree. He spoke. “I’ll talk out loud, because we need to avoid anyone seeing our
magical thoughts, and these two men can’t hear them anyhow. The dark lord needs
you to be discreet for once,
keiler
. That means you
keep your minds shut. Squeal at each other if you can’t shield your brains. He
doesn’t need anyone to hear of his plans to burn that tree and her people. He
doesn’t need you spilling his plans to attack the walled city when his troops
are ready.”

One of the
keiler
started to think, I could feel its thoughts moving out, and then Gerard reached
out and squeezed its aura, and it squealed again. “Speak!”

The
keiler
raised itself
up on its hind legs and spoke. Its voice was squealing and rasping at the same
time, a combination of guttural grunts and high-pitched squeaks. “How long,
wizard? How long until we attack the city?”

Gerard grunted. “It won’t be long now. Maybe a
week? Two weeks? Our job now is to destroy all their potential allies. First,
that tree witch and her sappy children have to go.”

I reached out my mind tentatively. Listening,
without touching anything. Besides the two soldiers, and Gerard, and the four
keiler
, we were alone. The problem was, Gerard was too
powerful, and his link with the dark lord was too great.

The others, though, must have had other opinions.

Arrows flew through the air.

They hit two of the
keiler
right between the eyes.

The beasts staggered for a moment and then fell,
and then all was rage and light. Gerard swept his staff back and forth and
light burst forth. The other three
keiler
twisted
around.
Shield yourself now and the smith. I will get everyone else.

It was
Woltan
. I hastily
pushed a green globe of protection out around me and Cullen. It was just in
time because suddenly a wave of fire washed over us, scorching the trees around
me. There was a moment of pause, while Gerard looked to admire his handiwork,
and then two more arrows flew, striking the
keiler
who had stopped to stare in fear at the burning forest.
Move to other trees
quickly.

I grabbed Cullen’s arm and pulled him with me to
another tree, leaving a bare
unscorched
patch where
we had stood. I saw the two
keiler
stagger — one was
hit in the eye, the other in the neck, and the boar-man staggered as it tried
to bat away the arrow. The two fell.

There was a cry of rage and Gerard raised his
staff again. I raised my shields both mental and physical and opened my mind to
see everyone around me. My other hand was on my sword, ready to draw it.

Gerard did not have time to move the staff.

A green bolt of living mother wood shot forth from
the crossbow of
Arboris
, and it struck true, hitting not
Gerard but his staff, with a great explosion of sound and light and fire and
thunder. I watched the staff splinter and explode with my third eye; and Gerard
staggered back, and the
keiler
crouched down, and
prepared to run. The soldiers fell down, and we fell upon them. Our swords
flashed with green and white fire.

The soldiers cursed and staggered back, seeing
nothing but the swords, and then they fell too, and died. Gerard had pulled his
own sword. He looked around wildly, and, his eyes unfocussed, spoke a word of
power:
SEHEN.

His eyes focused on me, and they glowed with red
magical fire — two red orbs of anger, and he spoke.

“You will pay for the staff, for the book, and for
the
keiler
. We meet again, Anders
Tomason
.
I hope your parents are well.”

He smiled sardonically, and raised a blade that
glowed red in the dark night with malevolence.

I nodded, and then my sword swung and clanged
against the other and a shock ran up my arm, and there was a great blast of
thunder and I saw Gerard’s look of surprise too, and felt Carolina in my mind.
You
aren’t ready for this, Anders, but he isn’t either. There’s a huge demon in
there who is twice as strong as me
but he’s not too clever.

I had no time to think about anything. With every
blow I felt weaker, but Gerard staggered as well. I wanted to speak a word of
power but figured I had neither the energy nor the concentration necessary.
Gerard must not have either, or he would have already slammed me. I tried with
all my might to keep my mental shield up, and raised the green shield of the
tree mother as well. Then Gerard dealt me a great blow. The sword loosened in
my grip. I staggered and fell, and the sword fell by me.

Gerard’s sword slammed against my green shield.
There was a great flooding of green light. For a moment I thought I was dead
but I realized it was the tree mother in the shield, absorbing the energy of
the blow and stunning Gerard. I grabbed at my side and felt the sword in my
hand and Carolina with me. Jumping up, I dealt a blow to Gerard, who staggered
back, his sword loose at his side. Then Kara was there at my side, and
Woltan
at the other. Gerard spoke a word, and it was a
curse, but it flew away in the wind with him in a whirl of red smoke. Blinded
for a moment with a red flash and a smell of burnt sulfur, when I regained my
sight we were alone in the dark night.

There were dead bodies all around us. Dead
keiler
and the two dead people.

Woltan
spat.
He has
gone to rejoin his master. We would do well to get out of here.

We left the bodies to rot.

Maybe they deserved a burial, but we had no time.

We followed the fluorescent path of the road, but
kept close to the side, ready to flee or hide again in the trees.

I walked alongside
Woltan
.
And the tree mother?

Their attention for the moment will be on us.
The more we move, the more they will be distracted from her. Besides, we cannot
defend her against greater forces unless we get help from the
Kriek
.

I fear too for your forgotten city.

Perhaps we are better defended. He would
certainly have more to gain from us. But his hatred for the forest is great.
I’m sure the Tree Mother has helped you appreciate that.

Her magic is different from his, isn’t it?

Woltan
sighed.
A long
time ago magic split into two branches; there was the chemical, with its devils
and sulfur, and there was the natural, with its fresh earth, its herbs, its
flowers and trees and faeries. Most magicians have some balance between the
two, but much of the natural magic has been lost. Meanwhile, magicians like the
one we fought –

Gerard, Gerard is his name –

Like Gerard, or his master, the dark lord, have
brought their study of the dark and chemical to a higher level than any other.
But they are more and more estranged from everything natural and living.

But it was in his shop that I first learned of
the nuts.

Spices and nuts are magic that even they have
not lost. But his connection to the living may make him more dangerous to us,
and to you. Thank you for the warning.