CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“You’re absolutely certain this is the entrance to the Autumn Court?
” I asked Nix for the second time, scrutinizing the large hole at the base of the tree and skeptically eyeballing its dimensions.
Nix was draped across my neck, both of us staring into a gaping hole in the ground.
“I’m certain,” he said. “Besides, it’s marked on the map, isn’t it?
What further confirmation do you need?” I gave a reluctant sigh.
“Yes, but the map doesn’t say anything about sliding into a gaping hole to get there. ”
I had followed Nix’s instructions without question since sailing up the river and finding this small forest, but now, I was no longer so sure we were on the same page.
He might not blink an eye at jumping into a random cavity in the ground, but I definitely had some concerns.
Still, my moonstone necklace was calm, so it probably wasn’t life-threatening.
“What if it’s infested with spiders?”
Nix was not the least bit perturbed. “The giant spiders don’t live near this particular entrance.
” I harrumphed. So there were spiders to worry about.
“That really doesn’t make me feel any better,” I muttered in response, sticking a single foot into the hole and wiggling it around, half expecting a hand to emerge and yank me down against my will.
Nix swished his tail, growing impatient. “Would you rather hike for days on end to reach the mountain? Get questioned or detained by a dragon on the way? This is the shortcut—take it or leave it. There is no quicker path to reach Western Uvrakar unless you’re flying on the back of a dragon.”
I stuck both feet into the hole. “I would just like to note I am doing this under protest.”
“Noted,” Nix replied with dry sarcasm. “Just remember to tuck your arms—”
Before I could lose my nerve, I sent us sliding into the hole, tucking my arms at the last moment per Nix’s advice.
I tried to contain it, but a small scream tore from my throat.
Sliding, sliding, sliding. I squeezed my eyes shut; it was too dark to see anything.
The tunnel was smooth beneath my back, and suddenly we were picking up speed.
The musty smell of dirt filled my nostrils while soft leaves and roots tickled my arms. Sliding, sliding, sliding.
Until we weren’t—spit out into a pile of autumn leaves.
I landed on my bottom—hard. Nix flew off my shoulders, but in typical cat fashion somehow managed to land on his feet, twisting his small body the moment he was sent airborne.
I picked a leaf out of my hair and brushed off my clothes before looking around.
While the trees in Uvrakar had already lost most of their leaves, we were now surrounded by vibrant tones of yellow, orange, and red everywhere we looked.
The tree nearest to us had no less than three unique varieties of mushroom growing out of its trunk.
A mushroom with a rounded red cap with white polka dots.
A small cluster of pure yellow mushrooms with a ruffled oyster-shaped appearance.
And a purplish-blue mushroom with branching stalks. All co-existing on the same tree.
Nix took off into the woods. I followed him, autumn leaves crunching underfoot.
A pleasant breeze whipped at my braid. The air was chilly, but not uncomfortably so.
I chased after Nix. What landmarks was he using as his guide?
He seemed so confident about our path. Noticing I was falling behind, Nix jumped onto a large mushroom cap growing out of the ground, waiting for me to catch up.
I huffed a few deep breaths after closing the distance between us. “Just let me catch my breath a moment.”
Nix rolled around on his back. “Take your time.”
“What’s so special about the log we brought?
” I asked him once we finished our break and resumed walking at a more sustainable pace.
“The trees in the cemetery are infused with powerful magic. They’ve put down roots among the bones of your predecessors.
And the protective spells guarding the island, renewed by their presence.
” Nix jumped across a series of large buoyant toadstools, disappearing into a clearing ahead.
I scrambled after him, gaining more air than I’d intended along the way, my initial leap onto the toadstools a tad too exuberant.
As I entered the clearing, my gaze fell upon the largest mushroom I had ever seen in my life.
It was extraordinarily tall—taller by far than the tallest tree around.
More like a house. And indeed, cut into its pink fleshy stalk, were a series of windows and doors.
Its thick central stalk extended into a blooming array of mushroom caps overhead of various sizes, each offshoot a different colored pattern.
The mushroom was breathtaking, and I stared at it for several heartbeats before I realized we weren’t alone in the clearing.
“Take out the log!” Nix commanded.
I hastily complied as a tall Fae guard approached us.
He was fungoid himself, the large mushroom cap growing out of his head resembling a very fashionable, very permanent parasol.
He lowered his spear, its sharp point visibly smeared with a chalky purple paste.
Coated in poison? I shifted the log so that it shielded my vital organs. “State your business,” he demanded.
Nix jumped back up onto my shoulder. He wasn’t panicking, so I didn’t either, remaining calm.
The guard lowered his wicked-looking spear a fraction, staring at Nix with a look of intense concentration.
“Nix!” he finally exclaimed, a large grin spreading across his face as he lowered his spear the rest of the way.
“I almost didn’t recognize you. You’ve made yourself small.
It’s been…” The Fae frowned as if he was having difficulty grasping the exact length of time it had been.
“It’s been a while. Traveling through the Autumn Court?
” The Fae licked his lips, looking at the log I held. “Is that for me?”
Nix answered from atop my shoulder. “It’s good to see you, Folluin. I’ll make sure to visit you again soon once I’ve regained my full strength. We’re hoping to follow the fungal threads to Uvrakar. Elvira brought a log fresh from the island cemetery. Just to your liking, to repay the kindness.”
Folluin greedily accepted our offering. “My favorite!” he said excitedly, spreading his spindly fingers over the log.
At his touch, the wood began to rapidly decompose.
The Fae didn’t seem distraught at the turn of events.
Rather, he appeared euphoric, eagerly absorbing the log’s magic as it decayed.
I stared unblinking as the log slowly deteriorated, its tough bark eaten away by black rot.
“Until next time, Nix,” Folluin said as the giant mushroom’s door swung open.
He acknowledged me with a polite nod. “Mistress of Midnight.”
I returned the formality. “It was nice to meet you, Folluin. Err…thanks for granting us passage.”
I followed Nix inside the giant mushroom.
“What is this place?” I asked him, the mushroom’s thick, fibrous walls muffling the sound of my voice.
“A mushroom,” he replied, sniffing the air currents.
The mushroom’s interior was split into dozens of tube-like hollowed out passageways, branching away from the central stalk.
I felt sure I wouldn’t have been able to navigate the labyrinth of choices without Nix, especially if he was relying on scent to guide us.
“Yes, I can see that, but why are we inside it?” I prompted, saddling up to Nix as an elegant Fae woman entered the mushroom’s lobby.
The woman, wearing a flowing burnt-orange gown that complemented her mushroom cap, proceeded to enter her chosen passageway without so much as a backward glance in our direction.
With another twitch of his nose, Nix made his choice, trotting down one of the many passageways straight ahead.
“The mushroom’s thread-like roots stretch all throughout the Autumn Court.
If we follow the right path, we can traverse those connections quickly using its network.
We can reach the other Fae crossings into Uvrakar in no time at all.
Folluin is an old friend with a penchant for the island’s wood.
He’s let the Midnight Sovereign take advantage of the mushroom in the past. Is that sufficient enough for you?
I need to focus; otherwise we could end up somewhere unexpected. ”
“Right, sorry. Lead the way,” I said, following closely behind him.
Within the passageway, my senses narrowed to the rich, musty odor permeating the air, to the warm glow of light emanating from well-spaced wall sconces, and to the soft rustle of clothing as we passed more Fae traveling through.
The sconces contained twinkling balls of faerie light, effortlessly floating within.
The Fae don’t have to exert any effort to light their lanterns.
They possessed ancient magic. I would have been tempted to take a few faerie lights with me, but stealing from the Fae was universally acknowledged to be bad for one’s longevity.
Now that we were deeper into the mushroom, we began to divert from the same path more and more often, Nix guiding us through a series of twists and turns and doorways until I was thoroughly, hopelessly turned around.
If he wanted to ditch me here, I doubted I would ever find my way back out. It was a veritable maze of a mushroom.
Nix’s paws padded softly against the mushroom’s porous floor as he guided us down yet another branching passageway. I stopped short as he came to sit in front of yet another door, looking immensely pleased with himself. “This door should let out near the Fae crossing into Western Uvrakar.”