Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Joshua guided them through the forest, and Carys walked beside him, trying to find peace in the chaos of her mind.
“At least you got some answers, right?” Joshua asked.
Carys’s mind was clearer, but her heart was heavier. “I don’t suppose you’re going to just give me an address where I can look up these Mothers, right? Or do you have to guide me to a bridge where, in order to find them, I have to battle a serpent or demonic cow or something?”
“Well, these are the only cows we have.” Joshua gestured at the small herd of European bison that lived within the forest. He’d been walking with Carys and explaining the ecology of forest restoration that the bison and wild pigs in the land trust were part of.
“They’re terrible about fence destruction,” he continued, “but I’d have a hard time calling them demonic.”
In fact, the bison grazed calmly in the underbrush beneath the trees. One of the calves nursed, and the lone bull in the group appeared to be taking a nap in the sun, dust floating around his thick brown fur.
Laura and Cadell were sitting on a fallen log while Duncan and Lachlan leaned against a sturdy wooden fence.
Naida, of course, appeared to be having a conversation with one of the bison, and Angus was nowhere in sight.
“The Mothers are in Swansea.” Joshua pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to her. “They have a shop on High Street.”
Carys looked down and read the card. “Pages and Portals? There are three mother goddesses in Wales, and they run a bookstore in Swansea?”
“Books and records, but there’s also a tea shop in back and a corner that’s reserved for Oshun’s jewelry. Stunning goldsmith, that one.”
“Oshun?” She was a goddess from West Africa and a powerful fertility goddess. “She’s one of the Mothers?”
Joshua nodded. “The Mothers are… well, old. Older than all the rest of us, I think.” He glanced over his shoulder, back in the direction of the cottage. “Maybe not Angus.”
“What is he?”
Joshua laughed a little bit. “He’s a character.”
“To say the least.”
Joshua paused and turned to her. Carys stopped and faced him.
“Can I give you some advice?”
“Everyone else seems to, and I like you more than most of them.”
Joshua smiled again. “Your father has a family in Wales. He left them behind because they found your mother too strange. They were very… conventional people.”
“So they did know my mom?”
Joshua nodded. “You can’t know your future unless you understand your past, but I would encourage you to focus on your mother in this chapter of your story, Carys Morgan. Not all mysteries can be solved in one tale.”
She flipped the business card in her fingers. “Pages and Portals?”
Joshua nodded. “The Mothers will be able to guide you where you need to go. I think Jibril brought you here because he wasn’t sure about you. But I am.”
“Well…” Carys sighed. “Thanks. It was great to meet you, and…” She took the handkerchief from her pocket. “I appreciate this.”
“Your mother made these for him, didn’t she?”
Carys nodded. “Yeah. She did the embroidery in the corners.”
“So you have a bit of both of them in that talisman.” Joshua smiled. “I’m glad I could give it to you.”
She glanced at Duncan where he stood leaning against the wooden fence.
“You’re not going to mess up his life,” Joshua said. “You two belong together.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, I don’t like to brag.” Joshua threw a wiry arm over Carys’s shoulders. “But I’m kind of all-knowing about most things. Not everything, mind you. But most.”
Just then, he froze. His arm dropped from Carys’s shoulder, and he turned to face the herd of bison.
There was a huff and the bison bull rolled up to his knees, then his feet, grumbling and turning in circles.
Naida stepped away from the female she’d been talking to. “Something is happening.”
A lone crow landed on a low oak branch overlooking the dry creek bed where the bison were grazing.
Joshua narrowed his eyes on the crow. “Hello there.”
The bird angled his head toward Carys, peering at her from its branch and blinking one round eye.
There was a high-pitched squeal from the underbrush, and a group of large furry pigs darted from the forest, crossed the dry creek bed, and escaped into the dense wood that stretched out behind them.
“Carys?” Lachlan stepped toward her, followed by Duncan. “Carys, walk over here.”
“Good idea.” Joshua put a hand on her shoulder and urged her toward the distant fence where Duncan was waiting. Lachlan had stepped away from his Brightkin, squaring his shoulders against the small herd of bison and drawing his sword.
“Knight of the Shadows,” Joshua warned, “you will not harm these animals.”
Lachlan shot Joshua a look but said nothing.
Cadell and Laura were also on their feet, and Cadell was backing away slowly with Laura shoved behind him. “Something has disturbed them. Naida, step away.”
There was a whispering wind that curled through the trees; then in a rush, a massive flock of crows swept in from the east, cawing and screaming as they swooped down and startled the bull, whirling around him as the animal let out a low, rumbling bellow that seemed to shake the ground.
The bull turned, lowered his head, and began to run directly at Carys.
“Carys,” Naida screamed, “run!”
“The fence!” Joshua shouted. “Run for the fence!”
Carys didn’t question it—she turned and ran.
The rumbling groan of the male bison transformed into the stampeding of heavy feet as the small herd began to chase them down.
“Can’t you stop this?” she shouted at Joshua.
“Not without hurting the animals!”
Carys wanted to shout, What about me? But she was too out of breath.
Joshua was a god. He was going to be fine, but there was no way Carys was going to outrun a herd of bison. The most she could do was hope to climb up a tree or get over the wooden fence she could see in the distance.
Duncan had climbed up and was holding out his hands, ready to pull her over. “Don’t look, just run!”
She heard Cadell shouting, and the rumbling came closer. The ground shook like an earthquake.
Just then, a low, eerie howl echoed from the forest.
She turned to look only for a second, but she saw a streak of white and black weaving through the trees, heading straight for the herd.
The bull swerved away from the dry creek bed where Carys and Joshua were running, wheeling to the left to face off against the predator.
A massive wolf ran straight toward the bull, snarling as it leaped, fangs bared, on the shoulder of the young male.
The bison shook its body, tossing the wolf away, and the animal flew through the air, striking a tree before he fell to the ground.
“Godrik!” Naida screamed. The fae put her hands to the ground and glared at the bison, and then her determined expression fell when she realized…
The ground here did not speak to her.
The battle was not finished though, because the wolf struggled to right himself, bared his teeth, and ran straight toward the bull again.
As they fought, the females of the herd encircled the younger animals and ran back toward the forest, leaving the two battling animals behind as they protected their young.
Godrik held the bull off as the crows cackled from the branches and clouds of starlings whirled overhead.
There was snarling and bellowing, howls and barks.
“They’re not stopping,” Joshua said. “They will kill each other.”
The bull charged at Godrik with his head down, knocking him over and stomping his massive hoof on the wolf’s leg. But Godrik struck, twisting his body to clamp his jaws around the bull’s front leg, shaking his head until Carys heard an audible snap.
“No!” Naida cried.
The bison huffed and roared. It stumbled back, limping.
Then, just as suddenly as the bull had become aggressive, he stopped. The animal backed away from the wolf on the ground, shook his head and twitched his ears. Then a second later, he walked into the trees on unsteady legs to follow his herd into the forest.
Carys turned to Joshua to see the god holding up a hand and whispering something under his breath.
“What did you do?” Carys asked.
“A natural bison stampede I can’t do anything about,” Joshua said. “Sometimes the world works that way. But that bull was possessed.” He nodded at the crows, who cawed at them one more time before they flapped away. “And I do know a little bit about animals being possessed.”
Godrik lay on the ground, his leg at an odd angle and his side heaving as he struggled to breathe.
Naida ran to him. “Godrik!”
Cadell, Duncan, and Lachlan sped toward Carys.
“Are you safe?” Duncan wrapped her in his arms. “Christ, I was terrified.”
Joshua cocked his head at Duncan. “I know.”
Duncan blinked. “Oh. Right.”
Laura and Naida were kneeling by Godrik on the ground.
“He needs help!” Laura shouted. “There’s a lot of blood.”
“Godrik?” Naida was cradling the wolf’s head in her lap. She looked up at Joshua. “If he’s here in wolf form, there must be a gate nearby. Help me get him to the gate and I can heal him.”
“There is.” Joshua looked at Lachlan, Duncan, and Cadell. “You three, carry your friend. I’ll show you the way.”
“I can’t believe I found you.” Godrik’s shaggy silver and black hair seemed even darker in the pale light of the fae gate. “I heard Naida screaming, and I just ran. I don’t even know how I found the gate or why it let me through.”
Naida hadn’t even taken the time to get them out of the forest. The moment they’d crossed into the nighttime world of the Shadowlands, Joshua had disappeared, as had the sun, and the blue lights of the wisps were the only thing that illuminated the world around them.
“How are you feeling now?” Naida brushed Godrik’s hair off his forehead.
“Better.” His grey eyes were soft on her. “I went back to the gate in Alba. The moment we went through, I heard a pack of young wolves crying for help, but I never found them.”