“Why are we awake again?” Norm grumbled as he staggered down the dock.
Echo huffed. “For the hundredth time, we’ve a lead on the Hunger’s source.”
He rolled his eyes. “Because I’m so sure a killer plague is coming from some old tree.” Mira opened her mouth to speak, but he continued before she could utter a sound. “Oh wait. Some old tree some make-believe spirit/witch thing is buried under.”
Healer cocked his eyebrow. “We live in a world of gods and monsters, but an evil spirit loosing a plague on a town is too much for you to consider?”
The demigiant priest had swapped his clerical attire for breaches that came to Mira’s shoulders and boots big enough for her to stand in. Encased in chainmail, the only sign he wasn’t a simple sell-sword was a bronze crest of Estoria— a sickle behind a shaft of wheat —worn prominently upon his chest.
“Have you heard of her before?” Norm countered.
“Fair point.” Healer shrugged. “But I reckon there’s a fat lot more I don’t know than do. Do you know every spirit in the world?”
Norm could make no counterpoint. “Either way,” he grumbled, “do we have to head out so early?” He rubbed his eyes. “Feels like the sun’s stabbing me.”
Zhel cast him a dark look. “If only one of us knew what that was like.”
“Hey! Bonjour mes amis! How you doing?” Remy called at seeing them.
“A good morning to you as well, Master Remy,” Echo replied.
“Master?” He clucked his tongue at her. “Do I look like your daddy?”
Feathers audibly bristled at how quickly Echo tensed.
The fisherman’s lips pursed. “You okay?”
Mira grimaced. “Her father passed away recently.”
His face fell. “Oh, chere.” Sweeping off his hat, he held it over his heart. “I didn’t mean nothing. Forgive an old swamp dog?”
The duchess waved her hand dismissively. “There’s nothing to forgive. You couldn’t have known.” Despite her words, her feathers didn’t flatten as she turned to the others. “Everyone set? Spells studied, lunches readied, pokey stabbies sharpened?”
“You’re sure you made enough bushes to keep the kids busy ‘til we get back?” Norm said to Rosalie. “None of us want… you-know-who around them unsupervised.”
The tiny shapeshifter nodded confidently. “It’d take a dozen grown adults a week to harvest them all.” She looked to Remy. “Would you like me to swim ahead? Keep an eye under the water for nasty bitey things?”
“I dunno petite.” Remy shook his head. “That don’t sound too safe to me. Old nasty gator’ll take one look at you and—” He mimed jaws slamming shut.
Rosalie smiled. “I’ll be quite alright.”
With that, she leapt towards the water, but as she sailed through the air, she compressed in on herself. Her arms became fins, her legs, a powerful tail. By the time she hit the water, she’d become a fearsome, armor-plated gar.
“Come along,” Rosalie somehow managed to say. “We’ve not all day.”
***
The incessant buzzing of insects was the sole constant in the depths of the bayou. They’d run out of theories to the Hunger’s origins hours ago. Not that there were any new ones. They kept coming back to the same three: the water, the grain, the tree.
Remy dutifully punted his boat down a natural canal. Old growth pressed in around them. Moss hung from tree branches in impenetrable drapes. Scant strips of light struggled through the canopy, catching glimpses of dragonflies on the hunt.
Mira mentally cursed the tedium. There’d been no warnings from Rosalie beyond the occasional alert to a sunken log or debris in their path.
“Will it be much longer?” Echo said with as much enthusiasm as a rock.
“Not much.” Remy’s jaw tensed as he scanned the shores around them. “Should be seeing it any minute now.”
“Thank the gods,” she muttered.
Rising to her feet, she stretched her arms overhead. Her wings spread, soaking in what warmth she could.
Such pretty feathers, Mira thought idly as the dappled light danced across the duchess’s plumage. She looked to her own wings and sighed. Not like these dull things.
“We should probably eat now,” Zhel suggested.
“Got anything left?” Healer smirked. “You’ve been picking at yours since we left the docks.”
The night elf’s brow knitted. “I have?”
“Well, maybe not that long, but you’ve been working at it for a bit,” said Healer.
Zhel opened his satchel. Sure enough, he’d already eaten half of his prepared lunch.
Norm smirked. “I thought elves were supposed to eat like birds.”
“My apologies. Some of us only take one serving of breakfast,” Zhel quipped back.
Remy stopped punting. “Whatever ya’ll are planning on doing, best do it now.” He pointed to a break in the trees. “There she is.”
Echo gasped as it came into view.
Easily twenty feet across, Mama’s Tree was well over a hundred feet tall. Warped burls resembling closed, bulbous eyes and cavernous holes like gaping mouths covered it. Thick sap oozed from its dark, twisted trunk, coating it in rancid pitch. Long branches swayed in the breeze like some enormous sea anemone, a mirror of the gnarled roots clawing the earth.
Its shadow fell over them as they drifted forward under the boat’s momentum. Remy made an X over his heart and kissed the back of his hand, muttering to himself in words none of them understood, but all could easily understand as a prayer for protection.
The fetid swamp stench grew with every foot. Murky waters darkened before them. Remy tensed as he brought the boat towards the muddy shore.
A great splash sounded off their side. Rosalie hurtled towards them, transforming back into her humanoid form midair.
“It’s too shallow ahead,” she said. “I couldn’t swim much further, but I didn’t see anything toothy or nasty anywhere nearby. In fact,” she said, grimacing. “I’ve not seen anything living for the past half hour.”
Zhel’s face went serious. “Corpses? Carrion? Do you see any remains?”
She shook her head. “Bones stripped long ago was all.”
“Ain’t much that can survive so close to Mama’s Tree,” said Remy.
Pressure built in Mira’s temples as they crossed into the clearing. Spots danced across her vision, and a foul taste filled her mouth. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she shut her eyes.
“My lady,” she grumbled. “I think you’re onto something.”
“What do you—?” Echo gasped. “Dame Mira? My knight! What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Echo placed a hand on her knight’s forehead as if checking for a fever. A gentle breeze licked Mira’s face a moment later. She forced her eyes open to find the duchess fanning her with her wings.
“You’re warm,” said Echo. She turned to Healer and snapped, “Tell me fever isn’t a symptom!”
“Not of the Hunger but…”
He placed one of his massive hands on her head. His touch was cold as stone. A look Mira couldn’t place filled his eyes. Worry? Suspicion? It was hard for the knight to make out as her vision filled with spots.
“It’s the same feeling you got back at mill, idinit?” said Healer.
“Similar,” she admitted. A tremble shook her as she felt the color drain from her lips. “Not exactly, though.” She forced a quavering smile. “At least this time my stomach isn’t trying out for the circus.”
“What about the mill?” said Zhel.
“She’d an episode like this in the windmill yesterday,” said Echo.
“Interesting,” the nu-duwar muttered.
Warmth flooded Healer’s palm. Praises of Estoria’s name whispered across his lip. Mira’s vision cleared, the pressure in her head lessened, becoming more like a static crackling than a construction crew erecting a temple behind her eyes, but that was all. The vile taste in her mouth refused to budge.
“Better?” said Healer.
“Yeah.” Mira took a breath to steady herself. “Must’ve caught something.”
“All these bloody mosquitoes?” Echo nodded. “Wouldn’t surprise me.”
A ponderous look swept Healer’s face as he shook his head.
“Something the matter, reverend?” said Echo.
“Not sure,” said Healer. “Just finding it a might strange, this happening to her outta the blue an’ all.”
“I agree.” Zhel nodded. “We should keep an eye on her.” He looked to Mira. “Let us know if you’ve another episode, dame knight.”
She and Echo exchanged quizzical looks.
Norm rolled his eyes. “They think there’s a connection between you getting migraines and the Hunger, instead of, y’know, us being in a freaking swamp filled all sorts of biting things and toxic gases.” He clapped her on the shoulder. “Congratulations! You’re the canary for their coal mine.”
There was a light bump as the boat landed. Zhel was first to disembark, a grimace filling his face at the wet squashing sound of his boots on the mud. Mira’s face twisted in wordless agreement as she followed him ashore, halberd before her to test for quicksand. They turned, offering Echo a hand out.
Folding her arms across her chest, the duchess gently fluttered over the edge, casting a playful look at Mira as she came into a hover next to her.
Curses fell from Norm’s lips as he struggled through the sucking muck. His vulgarities spoken for two based on the expression Healer wore.
“Best be quick,” Remy said as he warily studied the clearing. “If Mama’s behind this, it’d be best not to stick around long.”
“Agreed,” said Echo. “Come then.” She fluttered ahead. “It dries ahead. I’d rather not have to fish anyone from quicksand.”
Beneath the weight of her armor, Mira found herself sinking ankle deep in mud with every step. A labor shared by the hulking demigiant. Not that the night elf or human were fairing much better. It may have only been fifty feet to dry land, but by the time they’d fought their way free, Mira was spent.
Plopping down on the first rock she saw, she pried off her greaves one-by-one to drain them. Spreading her wings, she sighed with frustration at sight of her cake flight feathers. It was going to be a long day.
Norm and Healer joined her a moment later. Hopping on one foot, the demigiant tugged off a boot and dumped it out.
“Where’s the little one?” he said.
They scanned the beach, but Rosalie was nowhere in sight.
“Over here!” she cried.
Worried glances went between them before they took off. With every step, the pressure built in Mira’s head. She hurtled over the wall of roots separating the Yesha from them, and as her feet touched the other side, a wave of dizziness threatened to take them from her. Even though Mira wasn’t moving, it felt as if she was crashing.
Through blurred, swaying vision, she couldn’t make out any dangers. No alligators or monsters. Just the tiny shape shifter craned over something.
A thud sounded next to her as Healer landed. The mammoth priest joined the miniature blur a moment later, followed swiftly by Zhel and Norm. None of them gave her as much as a backwards glance.
Echo’s soft hand brushed her cheek. “My knight?” she whispered to her.
Mira said nothing. Leaning on her halberd she took a step. Another wave, more intense than the first shook her to her knees.
“Healer!” Echo shrieked.
Echo wrapped her arms around her, putting every ounce of herself into holding her champion up. Mira’s breath was heavy and shaken. Her lips pale and face ashen.
Heavy footfalls shook the ground.
“What’s happened?” Healer demanded as he took the labor from Echo.
“What’s it look like!?” Norm snarled. “Your canary’s found your gas pocket!”
Warmth radiated from the priest’s hand. Slowly, her vision steadied.
“Myria’s feathers,” Mira muttered. “It felt like I’d just spent a week in the tavern.”
Norm grimaced. “Well, at least tiny was here with the hair of the dog.” He jerked his head towards the others. “Come on. You’re—.”
Mira’s body moved before she could think. A dark form loomed over Rosalie and Zhel. Wrenching the dagger from her boot, she lobbed it.
Thunk!
The dagger flew through the figure and lodged into one of the tree’s gnarled roots.
Zhel wheeled. For the briefest moment, he stared at Mira’s outstretched hand. In the next, his eyes traveled the path of its trajectory. A gasp filled him as he drew his sword.
The figure was massive. Every bit as big as Healer but less… solid. A vaguely humanoid form made of smoke and shadow. It spread its arm, reaching twice Mira’s wingspan, and as it did, the vapor of its being coalesced. Hardening and sharpening its fingers— if they could be called fingers —into three sickle like-blades.
Stepping through Zhel like he wasn’t there, it swiped at Rosalie. Pure reflex saved the Yesha from its strike, but the second found purchase. A howl of pain tore through her as the shadow creature’s claws pierced her ribs.
A furious scream erupted from Echo. Thrusting her hand at the monster, four beams of light snaked from her palm. Converging on the target, they exploded, knocking the beast away.
Mira’s eyes crossed as green flames shot from Norm, his spell joining the duchess’s to drive the creature further back.
“Hold on!” Healer bellowed as he raced to the injured Yesha’s side, but Rosalie was already moving.
Frenzy filled the shape shifter. Snarling and hissing like some wildcat, she threw herself forward. Her arms became masses of muscle. Seven inch fangs descended from her upper jaw as her mouth distended into a razor filled muzzle. Thick, tawny fur spread across her, and as her clothes vanished, sliding up inside of her, she grew into a massive, feline shape.
With a roar befitting her new form, Rosalie sprang at the smoke monster. Both paws smashed into the root, but did nothing to the creature. It was like she hadn’t even touched it.
Muddy or not, Mira flapped her wings, sending her flying at the shadow thing. Her halberd streaked for its neck, but the blade passed through as if there was nothing there at all.
“How are we supposed to fight something we can’t touch!?” Mira screamed.
“It’s spectral!” Zhel shouted. “Only magic can harm it!”
Running his hand down his blade, he encanted words Mira couldn’t begin at guessing. Silvery light lit the edge. He lunged, thrusting at the shadow beast. A terrible sound, not quite a scream but not a howl either, emanated from the nothingness of its form as the weapon found purchase.
It roiled and raged. Lashing out against the steel impaling it, it grabbed Zhel’s arm and began to push. The smoke of its being ripped and tore around the blade. A tear swiftly began to split it in half. Mira’s eyes widened as the nu-duwar stepped back as one being became two.
“That can’t be good,” Mira thought aloud.
“You bloody think?” Echo replied flatly.
“Fall back, my lady.” Mira stepped before Echo, raising the halberd in a defensive stance. “I’ll try to hold them back.”
“Did you not see what happened?” Another green bolt streaked from Norm’s hand. “It went right through Zhel. You think you can stop it?”
Mira’s mouth opened and closed with no words to speak.
The next thing she knew, Echo grabbed the haft of the halberd and began encanting a spell. A glow lit the blade, the very same as Zhel’s.
“But my lady!” Mira protested. “What if it just divides again?”
“It likely will!” Echo hissed. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not hurt. Look!”
She pointed to the shadow creatures. The monstrous forms were halved in size, but what was more, wispy smoke puffed from where Zhel had struck them. There, the edges of their beings were torn and tattered. It may not have been the crimson Mira was familiar with, but they were bleeding.
A single, ferocious wingbeat rippled the water as she launched herself at them. Halberd blade trailing, she sliced up at one, bisecting it at the torso. Flipping in midair, her feet slammed into the tree before propelling herself back at the other, her next slash cleaving what amounted to its head in half.
Rosalie’s saber teeth and claws glowed as she pumped magic into them. She leapt at one of the shadow creatures. Claws restraining it, she took it to the ground and buried her fangs into its neck.
“How many times can they do this!?” Zhel spat as he slashed one. “Hurt and weakened or not, we can only fight so many at once!”
Mira’s jaw tensed. He was right. They could only fight for so long before the weight of numbers would overwhelm them. There were already five with two more forming from Rosalie and Zhel’s efforts. The numbers would be against them in seconds.
“Hold steady!” Healer bellowed. Thrusting his fist to the sky, a beam of light pierced the canopy. “Holy Mother, lend me your strength! Goddess Estoria, bring light to this dark place, and banish these foul spirits!”
He raised the holy signet of Estoria. The sunlight intensified, concentrating through him before erupting from the goddess’s seal, consuming the shadow creatures in as a torrent of divine fury. Their screams didn’t last a second as they were burned from existence.
Norm’s eyes narrowed as he turned to him. “You’re telling me you could’ve done that from the start!?”
Healer shook his head. Swaying dangerously, he fell to a knee.
“Afraid not,” the priest muttered. “It takes just about everything I’ve got to channel that much divinity.”
“He’ll be weak as a babe for hours,” Zhel confirmed as he sheathed his sword and joined the go’thial.
“Heh.” Healer grinned darkly. “I might not be worth much for the magic for a might, but I can still swing a mace if it comes to it.”
“Um… excuse me, I hate to be a bother but—” Rosalie reverted to her humanoid form, clutching her side. “Would anyone happen to have some bandages?”
A scarlet patch grew beneath her hand. Mira stooped to help stave off the flow. With a gasp, Echo flew to them. Retrieving one of Narsis’s potions, she held it to the Yesha’s lips.
“I’ve got her,” she said to Mira. “Go see what she’s found.”
Silently nodding, the knight left her to her charge’s care.
There on the ground was a low bench. Crude in construction, it was little more than bleached driftwood propped upon stacked stones. Several unlit candles were melted to it along with the spent ashes of incense, stripped bones, and the unmistakable stains of blood.
The pressure in her head was worse than ever.
She felt Norm’s presence next to her as she took it in.
“What is it?” she whispered.
“An altar,” he muttered. “But I’ve never seen one like it.”
They knelt next to each other to study it. A metallic glint beneath it caught her eye. She reached for it only to find the warlock’s hand there first. Retrieving the object, he dusted it off.
It was a simple ring of some dark, tarnished metal the size of a pie tin. Rows of polished, inward facing spikes lined its interior.
She turned perplexedly to Norm. “What is it?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know…”
Continue to Chapter Thirteen
About the Author
A. S. Raithe is a fantasy author living near Pittsburgh with his wife and children. Always the creative type, it wasn’t until high school and being introduced to a local bestselling author that he found his passion for writing. He took time away from writing to attend college before being convinced by his wife to pick it up again shortly after their wedding. Outside of writing he enjoys exercise, baking, gardening, folklore, music, and hiking.
