Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY FIVE
The weight of the Great Elm’s power was crushing, its presence sending my senses ringing and mind scattering as I stumbled closer to it.
I had never seen anything like its majestic beauty.
Everything about it from the fluid patterns which were mapped across its trunk to the delicate leaves in every shade from emerald green to blood red, sunshine yellow, glimmering gold which rippled with movement as if each one of them were sentient.
I could feel the spirit’s joy as it took us in, the Dragon, Raven and Unicorn all bristling in reaction, lifting their heads and inhaling huge breaths laced with memory and a sense of belonging which stole the air from my lungs.
And then the Rat, Bear, Tiger, Wolf, Fox, Stag and Phoenix all paused too as if the call had reached them as well and for a moment which rang on into eternity, I was certain they remembered themselves.
I had so often referred to the Great Elm as a mother missing her children but of course those same children needed their mother just as keenly, if not even more so.
Tears spilled down my cheeks as I beheld her, the warring of the two Fae seeming so insignificant in her presence. But I couldn’t allow myself to ignore them.
I tore my gaze from the magnificent tree whose branches seemed to brush the sky itself and forced myself to focus on the danger which was coming for me.
Islasees was hell bent on making it to the Great Elm first, fighting to get past Bane and even if I could beat him to the tremendous spirit, he had more amulets than me. My only hope was that Bane might cut him down and take them – but if that happened then the boon would be lost to me too.
The songs of the Lost Children were louder here and as I looked to the Great Elm, I found them all clambering through her branches, her leaves brushing against their hair, their cheeks, a welcome home which only encouraged their sweet lullaby.
Helga burst from the Labyrinth with a startled cry as she took in all that was happening and Islasees whirled towards her, sword swinging.
“Take it!” she shrieked, stumbling back and ripping the Boar’s amulet from her throat. “I only want this curse ended. I don’t want to die for the boon.”
Islasees grinned, holding out his hand but Bane rushed him, forcing his attention back onto their fight, the world rocking beneath the power of their collision.
Helga didn’t slow her movements though, her arm wheeling back then snapping out as she hurled the amulet away from her – not towards the Fae warrior – but to me.
I almost missed it in my shock at what she’d done, my arm shooting out at the last moment, fingers tangling with the Boar’s amulet as I gaped at the woman who had just gifted it to me.
“A human should be the one to end this,” Helga panted. “We are the ones who paid the highest price for the curse.”
As the Lost Children continued to sing their eerie songs from the treetops, hundreds of voices coiling together in a song of loss and sacrifice, I knew that she was right about that.
A rush of heavy power swum through my limbs as the Boar’s magic met with my soul and I felt the slight burn of its mark appearing upon my right shoulder.
And now I had four amulets. Perhaps all hope wasn’t lost after all.
Islasees wailed in horror as he took in what had happened, hurling himself more viciously at bane, a wild swipe of his sword cutting into the Necromancer’s arm. Bane grew more feral at the wound, the blood only urging him on as their swords clashed and rang out against one another.
“Ferris!” Rissa’s cry had me racing toward the edge of the glade before I even spotted her. She was riding the Serpent once more, its stony flesh scraping against the bark of the Great Elm as it slid down it, headed straight for me. “Claim it!”
I didn’t know what she meant but the Dragon snarled from within the confines of my mind in agreement.
“This is a part of your destiny, spirit singer,” it growled. “Now prove to me that you are worthy of fulfilling it.”
I had no way of knowing what it wanted from me but it seemed like some piece of my soul was already perfectly attuned to what it needed.
The Serpent rushed ever nearer, its fangs bared menacingly and my sister clinging to its back, her eyes wide with want, with hope, with fear.
Any sane person would have leapt out of the spirit’s path.
But I lifted my hand, met the giant snake’s gaze and spoke to it in a clear and commanding voice.
“Join me,” I said, my voice ringing with an ancient power that set my veins buzzing and limbs vibrating.
Its body hurtled closer, the rumbling of rock and ruin crashing down upon me and I bit back a scream before it slammed into me, not in solid form, but in a cloud of thick smoke.
The Serpent’s amulet fell at my feet and I snatched it as the heavy, ancient roots of its power rocked me to my core. Another mark seared its way onto my right arm, curving along my bicep as I claimed yet another spirit.
Rissa was launched free of it, a joyous cry escaping her as she caught hold of one the Great Elm’s branches and clambered into its canopy to join the other Lost Children in their haunting song.
Bane and Islasees still fought ferociously at the foot of the enormous tree. But now I had five spirits and they were five of the most powerful too. Surely more powerful than those Islasees had won.
The boon was mine. I only had to claim it.
At the base of the Great Elm its roots tangled together and formed a series of plinths, each with a spirit represented in its shape.
I set my gaze on those hallowed places and broke into a run.
Islasees saw what I was planning and threw himself at me, leaping into my way with his sword swinging. But Bane was there, ferociously beautiful as he blocked the blow and met my eyes for a second that resounded through me like a haunting cry to the depths of my soul.
I darted around the battling Fae, hurling myself aside as their swords clashed right where I would have been standing and then I raced on once more.
I could have wept with joy and relief as I made it to the foot of the tree and tore the amulets from my neck.
“No!” Islasees bellowed, a knife embedding itself in the root right beside my head before Hendrix’s roar of fury stole his focus and their battle consumed them once more.
One by one I placed them where they belonged. Raven, Boar, Serpent, Unicorn and finally the Dragon itself.
A rush of magic swept around me, lifting my silver hair from my shoulders, almost plucking me free from the ground itself. I choked out a sob as I prepared to beg this most wondrous of spirits for the return of my sister at last.
But before I could make my request, an ethereal voice called to me within my mind, quelling that hope like a flood to a spark of flame.
“You must return all of them, spirit singer. All. Or the boon is void. And the curse shall not be broken.”