Chapter 4 #2
Laura, Duncan, and Carys left the vehicle and walked over to the sunny spot where Cadell was basking in the light and Godrik was taking deep breaths of fresh country air.
He glanced back at Duncan with a slightly abashed expression.
“The van is comfortable,” the wolf said. “Far more comfortable than most vehicles here. Thank you for procuring it and driving us to the woods.”
Laura squinted as she looked into the forest. “Does anyone see Naida?”
Godrik walked to her side. “Do not fear. The fae woman must be with the trees after so much time in town.” He glanced at Duncan. “I’m sure she means no offense.”
“I’m not offended.” Duncan locked the car and started walking toward the trees. “I know how hard it is for her to be on this side.”
Godrik handed Carys an envelope as the party headed toward the forest. “She was working on the translation last night. I escorted her to the park so she could concentrate away from the distracting human environment.”
Cadell whipped his head around to look at Godrik. “Did you try to change?”
Godrik smirked a little. “Perceptive.” He looked back at Carys and Duncan.
“I tried. I wasn’t able to, but I did feel something.
The dragon’s thought is not without merit.
If the Morrígan’s magic continues to grow, there may come a time when shifters on this side of the gates are able to take their true form. ”
Laura grimaced. “Well, that would be exciting.”
Carys walked across a grassy berm and paused next to a spiky blackthorn hedge where pale purplish-green berries hung from the branches. Honeybees buzzed around the leaves, and butterflies flitted along the top of the hedge.
No, not butterflies.
Or yes, butterflies, but… more.
It was just a flash, but Carys spotted a flutter of long wings as a purple-headed sprite danced from inside the hedge, popped its head out, then zipped away, disappearing into the shadow of the trees.
“Sprites in the Brightlands,” she whispered.
If sprites were on this side now, what else was coming through?
Laura walked over, copying Naida and removing her shoes when she reached the grass. She dug her feet into the earth and crouched down, putting her hand in the grass. “The ground here feels really alive. I think there’s a gate nearby.”
“I saw a sprite,” Carys said.
Laura looked up. “Really?”
She pointed at the hedge and nodded. “With the butterflies.”
There were more butterflies now, masses of them, dipping and dancing in the sunlight as Naida walked out from between the trees.
“There is.” Naida paused and leaned against a birch tree. Her color was the best it had been in days. “Sprites and nymphs in a nearby spring. The gate is small, but it’s very alive. Do you want to go through?”
Godrik, Cadell, and Duncan walked over when they saw Naida return.
“Elf, you look recovered,” Godrik said.
“Thanks—I found some mushrooms.” Naida smiled. “They are like medicine for my kind.”
Cadell stared into the trees. “There is a gate in this place.”
“Yes, we’re on the light side of the Great Bern Wood,” Naida said. “I was just telling Carys and Laura that there is a fae gate nearby. We could go through it if you want. It’s very well-traveled.”
Walking through fae gates was never Carys’s favorite thing. It was as if the fae portals knew she wasn’t truly a creature of either world. They always tried to grab her and hold on even when she was with Cadell.
Duncan was watching her. “It’s up to you, Professor.”
“Maybe we should,” Carys said. “Naida, I’m sure you’d feel better.”
“It’s not about me,” Naida said. “But things might be happening on that side of the gate too. We don’t know if the Morrígan’s power might be felt in both the shadow and the light.
“It might be advantageous to go even if it was only for a few hours,” Cadell said. “We could send a message to your uncle and to King Harold, Nêrys. Let them know what is going on this side of the gates.”
“It’s the middle of the night there,” Duncan said, “but Cadell, you can still speak to any dragon who might be around, right?”
Dragons had a kind of mental communication that stretched across large distances. While Cadell could speak to Carys in his mind, he could also call out to any of his clan who were within range.
“I can,” Cadell said. “And it would be wise to let Mared and Demelza know what we think the Morrígan might be plotting.”
“Fine.” Carys nodded. “We’ll go.”
Without another word, Naida turned and started walking farther into the forest, not looking back once as the trees grew thicker.
Carys tucked the envelope that Godrik had given her into her pocket and followed Godrik, Laura, and Cadell. A moment later, Duncan took her hand in his.
“Did you leave your phone back in the van?”
He nodded. “I did.”
“Okay, good.”
He squeezed her fingers. “Are you nervous?”
“I’m nervous at every gate,” she said. “They always feel… sticky.”
“Sticky?”
She nodded. “Like they’re trying to grab me and keep me.”
“Oh, but I can’t blame them for that, lass.” His brogue grew thicker. “You’re a tasty morsel.”
She smiled. “Are you trying to distract me?” She could feel the gate nearby. The trees grew dense, and the light above them dimmed as the sky disappeared.
“I am—is it working?” Duncan pulled her closer.
The first branch reached out for her ankle and slapped it.
Carys sucked in a breath. “Uh-huh.”
“You’re lying.”
When Carys looked down, the moss was up to her ankles, and a whooshing blue light darted between her legs.
“Keep walking,” Duncan whispered. “Keep your eyes on Naida.”
Between Godrik’s and Cadell’s massive shoulders, Carys could see the small fae woman tripping along the path, clearly delighted to be heading back to her native realm.
Unlike the vines and branches that reached out to clutch and grab at Carys’s ankles, the thick vegetation seemed to bend toward the tiny fae as if waving and welcoming her home.
“I have you.” Duncan locked her arm with his. “I can feel them.”
Duncan might have felt them, but Carys could hear them now, the whispering voices, the childish laughter, the high-pitched squeals that sounded somewhere between an excited baby and a rare bird.
They walked the narrow pathway between two oaks, and as soon as they passed through, a shower of butterflies burst from the trees, whirling around them with bright purple-and-orange splendor, and between the fluttering creatures, the wisps were everywhere, darting here and there, cascading through the canopy and dancing in the dim, slanted light.
The sky grew darker, and the wisps glowed brighter.
The shrieks of laughter pierced her ears.
She clung to Duncan’s hand as if he was her lifeline, her eyes fixed on Naida even when ominous shadows loomed in her peripheral vision and she heard the flap of bird wings behind her.
Keep going. Keep walking. Don’t follow the wisps, Carys. They want to lead you away.
The last of the light fell away, and the darkness in the woods wrapped around them like a blanket.
The air took on the bite of nighttime cold, and the wisps flew back to the safety of the gate, falling into the shadows as Naida led them through the tunnel of trees and into a meadow lit with the blue-green glow of luminous mushroom caps.
Carys took a deep breath, and the damp mist of the Shadowlands entered her lungs.
They were back.