23. Hell Vines and Waterfalls
Alistair
Moments like this make me wish I had wings. Combat-trained fae, or those with mixed heritage with avian shifters do. I don’t.
Since I belong to the flora-and-spellcraft sect, all I can do is incant, stabilizing the crumbling stone bridge as the glowing waterfall seems to drift farther away.
There’s nothing to grab as the steps fall out from under us.
Below, massive scorpions stack their bodies into a living ladder.
I blast them apart, scattering the heap—only for it to reform seconds later.
"I’m going to fly to the waterfall while I grab two of you at a time," Azael shouts above the rumbling noise of debris falling.
As soon as his feet leave the stone pathway, a thick dark-green vine, covered in blade-like thorns shoots out from the chasm below.
It wraps around him, piercing his torso.
He roars, letting out a burst of angel fire that melts the vine, but two more snap out, wrapping tightly around him, shredding his wings.
Baz transforms into his ivory dragon, his throat glowing with a building fire.
But as he takes to the air, he immediately gets covered in multiple thorny vines digging into his hide.
He bellows a torrent of fire, burning the vines to crisp.
But more vines snap out of the ground and tear at his leathery wings.
That's when it strikes that the rest of us haven't been attacked by these vines. "Baz, Azael, stop flying!" I shout. When they don't pay heed, I amplify my voice using a simple spell and shout louder catching their attention.
"Stay on the stone bridge! When you leave it, that's when the vines attack."
They keep struggling against the vines against advice, so I start incanting.
The vines holding them hostage are pulled toward the stone bridge with every word uttered.
Hell-vines are strong, but my will is stronger.
While I manage to stay upright on the shaking pathway, both Baz and Azael's feet touchdown. In a blink the vines slither away.
They all look at me with varying degrees of surprise. But before I can even catch my breath, the middle of the bridge falls away to almost nothing, save for a long sliver of stone. I cast a spell in a hurry to stabilize the remaining connection.
"We've to hurry!" Zien yells urgently, as I continue to funnel my power to keep the bridge from falling apart completely.
Others sprint at full speed, including Baz who's transformed back, but bleeding profusely.
Azael's torn shirt has turned golden with how much he’s bleeding.
I'm unable to move as the intensity of the spell keeps me rooted.
Sweat pours down my back. My muscles are locked tight to the point of tearing, when they finally reach the opposite ledge. With a gust of breath I release the spell. The sliver of stone connecting the two halves of the bridge falls away.
Fuck! Now what?!
Azael prepares to fly again but I shout––"Don't!" And Silas holds him back.
Need to find a way out. I won't be fucking scorpion meal!
I peer over the edge of the broken stone pathway, hovering one foot over the chasm.
Instantly, a thorned vine lashes up from below.
I hurriedly retreat, and it withdraws. I try again—the vine lunges once more.
We repeat this strange dance until a laugh escapes me, and the vine trembles in the air, as if laughing with me.
Huh? Is the hell-vine really enjoying this peek-a-boo?
An idea strikes. My magic sings to all forms of flora. But my fae blood is almost irresistible––it subjugates them without any effort.
Taking out a small blade from the hidden slot in my boots, I make a shallow cut on my arm. The vine shoots forward greedily, hovering just above the cut that's oozing blood––hypnotized.
Shouts from the side of the waterfall reach me that I ignore. "What the fuck are you doing, Alistair?"
"You want?" I ask in ancient fae tongue. The sentient vine bobs up and down.
"Help me get to the other side. To my friends." I command.
The dark green vine seems to consider my condition for a moment, then curls its pointy end, acquiescing.
"You must take only a drop, no more, no less." I infuse my command with power. The vine inches closer then dips the pointy end into the cut on my arm. I feel an immediate connection. It's an ancient flora, has been serving Duat for millenia. And well cared for.
Hmm..the management is doing a good job it seems.
The vine shivers, as it absorbs a drop of my blood. "Enough!" I order. Anymore and it’d be rendered useless. "Wrap yourself around me. Watch the thorns. Take me to my friends."
The vine sways a bit as if drunk, then withdraws the thorns inside its thick stalk.
Gently coiling around my torso it picks me up.
Airborne, I glance below. The scorpions, moving in small clusters, are still scrambling to reach the stone bridge but failing spectacularly.
The vine slithers forward and tries to dump me on the other half of the crumbling stone path. "No. Take me to my friends."
The vine proves to be stubborn and drops me in the middle of the remaining half of the stone bridge.
Others are visibly shocked, watching with bated breath from a distance.
In a blink, Zien traces and carries me over his shoulder, moving at vampire speed.
Another vine shoots up from the chasm to grab me, but the friendly vine swats it away.
Zien sets me on solid ground as the rest surround me. "Fuck, Alistair! When did you become the hell-vine whisperer?"
Smirking, I turn to look at the sentient vine one last time, slightly inclining my head in thanks. It curls its pointy head, the thorns visible once again, and retreats into the chasm.
"Why didn't you do that before? Whatever blood magic you did." Archie asks, looking slightly better. His wolf healing has kicked in I guess.
"It's not blood magic. And it's not something I do often. It's sacred to the fae and involves a fair amount of risk. I took a gamble there. Wasn’t sure how the flora down here would react to my blood."
"That took guts." Silas and Ifrinn speak at the same time.
"Thanks for holding the bridge together, Alistair." Baz thumps my back once. I nod, noticing that he too has stopped bleeding, but deep gashes still mar his skin.
Azael looks at the chasm, then at me, his face not giving anything away as usual. He offers a brief nod of thanks and advances toward the luminescent waterfall.
"Thanks, Zien." I offer quietly. He just claps my back once.
A sudden epiphany hits me out of nowhere.
We've all been in each others' lives for over a decade, ever since we married Aleiraah.
We all do our own thing and help each other out when needed.
But we've never had each others' back like this.
Working toward a common goal––to get Aleiraah back.
A seed of satisfaction takes root in my heart.
We were evolving into a clan, a true family.
Bazrosh
We near the waterfall, its cascade glittering with motes of trapped starlight. It reminds me of my Starling, and my chest aches with thoughts of her sassy smile—of the way she’d lure me from the library archives, full of mischief. Her inner light shines the brightest, drawing me unerringly.
The rush of water somewhat eases the hopelessness of our situation.
This place is nothing like the black waters Ra cast us into, where I harmed damned souls to keep us alive.
The vines were worse—immune even to my fire.
I truly thought we’d lose someone on that bridge.
My wings are shredded and slow to heal, the thorns unlike anything I’ve ever experienced—sharp enough to pierce even my impervious hide.
My respect for Alistair grew as a fellow immortal, seeing him control that cunning vine, using it to his advantage.
Tiny droplets sprinkle my skin, and I feel the soothing energy permeating my wounds. "I think this water has healing properties."
"I don't trust it." Alistair contests. "It's unnatural in this hell-hole. And it hums with a strange energy. I can't quite put my finger on it."
"Well, I don't see any other path forward." I counter, looking around.
Alistair surveys it with a frown then sighs, knowing I’m right. There's nothing here except for looming darkness that seems to be growing. And behind us, a chasm full of scorpions and mutant vines. We can't even fly over it.
"My instinct says that we need to go through this waterfall to reach Aleiraah." Azael comments out of the blue, taking us by surprise. He observes the waterfall with a single minded focus, as he often does with things that intrigue him.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Zien glances down at the pool where the glowing water plunges into.
The top of the waterfall is shrouded in mist, its origin unclear.
Azael steps on the narrow limestone bridge that disappears into the curtain of water.
The pathway is tapered enough to support only one of us at a time.
Azael puts his hand into the wall of water before anyone can stop him.
He turns his hand this way and that, then looks back at us. "It has healing powers as you said, Bazrosh."
Something in our favor for a change!
I nod at others to follow after him one by one as Azael disappears into the curtain of water.
I'm the last to enter and immediately feel all my wounds heal. A surge of energy courses through my veins. I feel stronger than I’ve felt ever before.
The water is warm, and runs down my skin, rejuvenating my aching muscles.
Tiny glowing orbs suspended within the waterfall hover close to my skin, circulating the healing energy.
But just as I reach the end of the cascade, a strange sensation of disorientation spreads through my body.
Stumbling, I step out into loose sand, dripping wet. The sun is blazing in the sky, and a desert wind blows by, coating me in gritty sand. Dazed, I turn back to re-enter the waterfall, but only sand dunes stretch as far as my eyes can see.
I look down at myself, thoughts crashing to an abrupt halt.
I'm no longer seven-foot tall. I've always been lean, but not this lanky. Stupified, I try to push out my claws but nothing happens. I try to shift into my dragon with rising panic, again nothing happens. Unnerved, I tug at my hair, only it’s shorn close to my scalp.
Spinning in a circle, I search for the others, calling out their names, but there's no sign of life anywhere.
Fuck! Am I still in Duat? Where did everyone go?
Alistair was right. That waterfall was not to be trusted. After all, it has turned me mortal!