Chapter 31
Prism
Wraith marched me into the peculiar forest with speed and purpose. “Put me down!” I commanded, beating against his chest. “You withers think you can just throw us maidens over your shoulders at a moment’s notice—it’s rude!”
We entered a small clearing past the slender trees, and Wraith sat me down. The wither put a hand to his chest, his black claws stark against his leathery red skin. As ferocious as he was, my heart warmed with emotion at seeing him, a part of Nisse, a part of home, a part of Vore.
He paused for a long moment.
I put a hand to my forehead. “Oh, no, can you not speak here? Because it is not Nisse?”
Wraith inclined his head.
“Ugh!” I kicked at a small mound of sand. “That limitation extends even to the Underworld? How did you get here? How did you find me? Do you know where Vore is?”
Wraith opened his palms and lifted his shoulders. Of course, he couldn’t outright answer any of those questions.
“Okay, okay.” I paced back and forth. “I’m going to ask you yes or no questions. Nod for yes, shake your head for no. Alright?”
Wraith inclined his horned head.
“Can you take me to Vore’s soul?”
The wither let out a solemn sigh… and shook his head.
“Why not? That’s where I’m going, it’s why I’m here. Why else have you come?”
Wraith pointed a dark, clawed finger at me, then pointed it towards the sky.
I furrowed my brow. “Me? You’ve come… you’ve come to get me?”
Wraith nodded.
“To take me back? Back to Nisse?”
Wraith nodded again.
My heart warmed and broke at the same time. I wanted to go home. I wanted Nisse so badly… and somehow a part of Nisse had come for me in the Underworld. I could still hardly believe a wither stood before me. The effort it must have taken to find me…
“I want to go home so badly,” I said, fighting the well of tears in my eyes. “Wraith, I can’t leave without Vore. He is why I came, and I intend to leave here with him or… or stay forever.”
Wraith shook his head and crossed his arms.
I crossed my arms right back, craning my neck to stare up at him. “You think you’re going to stop me?”
Wraith nodded.
I kicked the sand pile again. “No, you’re not!”
The wither raised an eyebrow as if to say, Who’s going to stop me? You tiny little thing?
“I know you’re bigger than me, and I know you probably think you’re doing the right thing, but you have to let me try, Wraith.” I leaned my back against a tree and sighed. “I’ve come so far, and I’m so close. I feel it—I feel him.”
Wraith eyed me with an unreadable expression.
“Vore is my claimed. The greatest love I’ll ever know through any realm. If you force me to live a life without him, you will force my soul to die while my body merely functions. This is what I want. Please… please let me continue.”
Wraith let out an exhale. I was getting somewhere.
Hope sparked within me. “How about this, you accompany me to find Vore’s soul.
If I cannot bring him back, you whisk me back to Nisse.
It’s not what I want, I’d want to stay with Vore here, if even just to be closer to him, but…
this way you fulfill your duty, and I am permitted to at least try for his soul. Deal?”
The wither narrowed his gaze, considering my proposal. He twisted his neck as if he were fighting himself from saying no.
“Please,” I begged. “Your help would mean everything to me and to Vore.”
Wraith let out an exasperated breath… and inclined his head.
“Yes!” I jumped. “Thank you.” I wrapped around the red wither’s waist in a hug.
As if he didn’t know what to do, his large red hand landed atop my head, giving me a pat, pat, pat, as if I were Fuzz the fallope.
“Okay, my guide was a butterfly man and he’s abandoned me, it seems…
but he mentioned something about spinning doors.
Did you happen upon anything like that on your journey here?
Or do you know where they could be? I feel they are close. ”
With a nod, Wraith made to pick me up again but stopped himself mid-grab. He then tapped his shoulder in silent question. Would you like to ride?
My chest tightened remembering all the times Vore had carried me. The way I’d nuzzle into his chest. How safe I felt wrapped in his arms. The way I’d found my own nook in the crook of his elbow. The safest place in the world… I couldn’t bear to be carried that way by any wither other than him.
It was as if Wraith knew that and respected it as he offered me the top of his shoulder instead. “Okay,” I agreed. “We’ll get there faster if I’m not slowing you down with my short human legs.”
Wraith picked me up and put me on his broad, muscular shoulders. I held onto his black curved horns, and we marched through the trees in the direction of my claimed.
The terrain soon changed from sand and slender trees, thick greenery, and white birds to green moss. It reminded me of when I’d first walked into the blue fog and the moss that surrounded everything. We stopped at a pond. Wraith knelt, and I jumped off, looking around.
Stones covered in thick green moss surrounded us.
It was eerie in its own way, because while rock and fuzzy foliage were a part of nature, the scene was anything but natural.
Wraith scooped water into his hand and poured it out.
Again, he repeated the motion. As I watched, he scooped again, and as he poured, the liquid from his hands shone in a metallic tone. “Silver?” I asked. “A pond of silver?”
Wraith wobbled his head back and forth as if to say both yes and no. He pointed into the pond, then gestured to himself and to me.
“We have to go in there?”
Wraith nodded, still scooping and pouring silver liquid with his big hand.
“Is that… is that where the spinning doors are?”
The red wither inclined his head again, gazing into the pond.
“The Underworld is so weird,” I mused, watching the ripples of silver.
“It’s nothing like what I expected… yet somehow it feels almost familiar in a strange way.
Maybe that’s because my matri came from here…
and I believe my mother visited, perhaps?
I don’t know, but people seem to know of her.
Her lemon cake is famous here.” I smiled.
“I bet she would have loved to know that.”
Wraith dipped his hand into the pond, only this time, instead of scooping the liquid, he waved his hand back and forth. The water swayed slowly, as if the liquid were as thick as honey.
Soon, the water swirled, creating a slow whirlpool.
Wraith pulled his hand back and glanced over at me. He looked as if he wanted to say something, yet he couldn’t. I didn’t know him well, so I couldn’t even guess, but I felt the need to say something. He was risking his soul for me, after all.
“You’ve known Vore for a long time, right?”
Wraith nodded, his eyes softening. “I miss him,” I said, though it needed no saying. “I hope this works.”
Wraith reached out a hand and paused, unsure of what to do.
Finally, he patted me on the head again.
A small smile tugged at the corner of my cheek.
I remembered hearing of the duel that had happened between Wraith and Vore.
They fought for who got to come and collect the next rejected maiden at her wedding rite.
If Vore hadn’t won… would I have felt the same for Wraith?
I stared at the crimson wither. He was kind and strong; they all were.
Though, everything in me called to Vore and him to me.
It was the way it should be. Though, the strength it must have taken the red wither to come and find me, and to allow me to continue my quest, must have been considerable.
It spoke to the wither’s care towards not only me, but to his friend as well.
“You love Vore, too, huh?” I asked after a moment.
Wraith turned his head, eyeing me, before slowly nodding. “Let’s go get him. Let’s bring him back.”
The red wither patted his shoulder.
With a deep breath, I climbed back atop him and held on to his horns.
“Here we go,” I said, mostly to myself. My time with Fuzz and various creatures had taught me that talking to myself calmed me down.
By the looks of it—we were about to walk into a pool of silver—I needed a considerable amount of calming.
Wraith stood and slowly stepped forward. He waded slowly into the swirling silver. As if it were so thick, it was an effort to move. “What happens when we go under?” I asked, anxiety cracking my tone. “I really wish you could talk outside of Nisse.”
Regardless of my terror, this was happening, and I was about to find out.
Wraith reached up and held onto my ankles, making sure I didn’t float away, I guessed, as the silver crept higher and higher up his body.
Suddenly, it was at my feet, then at my knees.
To my shock—it felt like nothing but air. Not water, or honey, or sand. Just… wide-open space. That realization calmed my nerves as it rose higher.
Finally, as we walked toward the swirling center of the pond, the silver enveloped Wraith’s face and my middle. I sucked in a breath as if I were about to plunge into Willowspire’s water hole.
I pretended this was just a summer swim.
The silver rose to my chin, and I held onto Wraith’s horns so tight, I felt the indents pressing sharply into my palm. It was a small comfort to know he was still there, even beneath the silver.
In an instant, the silver liquid overtook us, and we plunged into darkness. Thank goddess for Wraith. He held me tightly and didn’t waver. The wither walked forward through open, dark space, towards something illuminated in the distance.
I held tightly to his horns and leaned forward. “What is that? Is that where we’re going?”
Wraith inclined his head.
The red wither seemed to display Vore’s patience. In fact, I’d always observed the withers being the picture of patience towards any maiden they came across. It brought to mind the one morning Cadaver startled me as I explored the small grove of fruit trees in Nisse.