Of all the things Wil expected and dreaded from Faerie, unparalleled beauty wasn’t one of them. He supposed it made sense that a collection of magical people who avoided industrialization would have great natural beauty where they lived, but it was different seeing it for himself.
The path leading to Oakheart Spiral took them through rolling emerald hills covered in bright flowers, with the occasional pond or stream as far as the eye could see. Now that they were no longer stuck in an enchanted forest, they were no longer alone. Unfamiliar, brilliantly colored birds flew across the sky in formation, singing and diving down to snatch flowers or fish from the ponds. Groups of what appeared to be especially shaggy goats frolicked, grazing on the grass.
“I can’t believe this place,” said Darlene in a voice little more than a whisper. Even the sun in the sky shone…not brighter, but clearer in a sky of deep azure. The few clouds in the sky even seemed to have a rainbow going between them.
“I know what you mean,” said Wil, in just as much awe. He stepped carefully, still getting used to walking with a staff. As lovely as the fae countryside was, he didn’t forget how dangerous this place could be, and having a new staff was a great comfort. Just the same, he found himself angling closer to the goat looking creatures, curious.
“I’m still amazed this doesn’t look like Harper Valley at all, or anywhere in the basin,” Wil continued, still looking around. “Part of me expected something like a mirror of our world, especially after parts started bleeding over. This is its own land, and I bet it’s at least as big as Calipan!”
“Is getting closer safe?” Darlene hung back. “What even are those?”
“Good question,” said Wil, grinning. “Hey, what are you guys?”
The not-goats turned and looked up at him. Then, to Wil and Darlene’s surprise, they exchanged looks with each other and bleated. They turned around and ran clear in the opposite direction, cloven hooves stamping out a muffled beat against the thick grass. Before too long they crested the next hill and disappeared.
“Was it something I said?”
Darlene nudged him. “You’re enjoying yourself too much.”
Wil opened his mouth to protest before he realized she was right.
“I’m not trying to,” he said, looking around the vivid meadow. “This is just something I never thought I’d get a chance to do. I know we’re here for a reason and have to get our people back home, but…Just look at this place!” He gestured with his staff.
After a few seconds of keeping an impossibly straight face, Darlene gave in and nodded. “It’s beautiful. But we need to keep our guards up, right? We should maybe not approach any creatures and assume that everything is out to get us.”
He hesitated. “That’s probably smarter, but…” How did he put this? “I get almost nothing but a good feeling from where we are now. No stomach getting weird. And if it helps, I can reach out and get a feel for the land and how welcome we are.”
Darlene raised an eyebrow. “What, talk to the meadow and see if you can make friends? Is that something you can do?”
“Kind of,” Wil shrugged. It was complicated, but a wizard’s senses of the world around him was greatly enhanced from normal humans. When one opened themself up, they could feel for the magic around them, and it told them so much. The health of the land, echoes of its history, and a sense for what intelligence left its mark. It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t entirely intelligible, but it made sense to him.
“Well, go for it then,” said Darlene, shrugging.
Wil took a long, deep breath and let it out. He closed his eyes and opened his mind up. The land of faerie dwarfed him, bigger in all directions than he could comprehend. There could’ve been terror in that sense of smallness, but Wil took comfort in it instead. The land was old and rich and had its own personality and humor. He could feel the goat-like things, still running off. The birds in the sky, the worms in the earth, and the richness of the soil, all were one.
It all soothed him. On and on his senses stretched, to the edge of the forest they came from, which had a closed off feeling. Over up the start of the mountain, where things were less soft and a little more tense. Not malicious, just the wariness of the wild. Down to a swamp in the southwest, and a shadow that --
Wil opened his eyes suddenly.
“What?” Darlene asked, watching him closely.
“I’m not sure,” he said, reaching out again. It had almost felt like another powerful magic user, someone slipping into their othersense and seeing him just as he saw them. Whatever it was, it was gone now, a momentary shadow in his mind. “I think we’re okay though. This place feels good. We should just follow the road and every so often I’ll check again.”
Darlene smiled and motioned for him to lead the way. “You’re the expert. I’ll keep an eye open along the way too, obviously.”
The path to the great tree Wil assumed to be Oakheart Spiral led them to the northeast. There was no actual road, per se, just a worn groove in the earth by who knows how many hundreds or thousands of years of travelers crossing from Faerie to the capital. And for a while, it was as uneventful as either of them could hope for.
Sure, there were signs of life in strange creatures and the occasional sighting of tall, ethereal, beautiful people in the distance who looked like they wanted to stay that far away. Nothing bad happened for the next hour of walking. Maybe it was inevitable Wil let his guard down. He was too caught up looking at the landscape to notice the creature stalking them.
“So Declan said we’d be gone for three days our time, which means three weeks here, right?” Darlene said.
“Yeah, I think so,” Wil said, his stomach twisting a little. He looked around, but everything seemed fine. “Why?”
“Because if that’s the case, does that mean it’s going to take us over a week to get there, and then over a week to get everyone back?” Darlene made a face. “Please tell me you think Declan is erring on the side of slow.”
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It was something he’d thought about more than once since they first agreed to go to Faerie. “I think it might take up to a week. This is about more than just getting Bram and the others back. If we’re going to diplomacy each other into a peace agreement, it might take some time.” He looked behind them, but there was nothing. But that twisting continued, like his stomach was seconds away from dropping.
Darlene snickered. “Diplomacy each other?”
Wil grinned. “I don’t know the proper term to convey that I will be engaging in diplomatic relations with a possibly hostile foreign nation. Diplomify, maybe?”
“Diplomify? That just sounds si --”
His gut wrenched. Wil whirled around, swinging his staff. It collided with a long, sleek form. Wil exerted some power and flung the creature away from him. It landed hard and rolled, coming up into a ready, crouched stance.
“Well, well, well,” it, he, purred. “You’re not as oblivious as you look, Wizard.” The creature looked almost like a mountain lion, but bigger and with six powerful legs instead of four. His feline face had only one green eye, but it glittered with malicious intelligence. One long, crooked bottom tooth stuck out from his lower lip. A stubby tail flicked behind him. “You’ll make for good prey.”
“What the hell are you?” Darlene demanded, showing no fear or hesitation. She drew the iron bar and held it up, not a threat so much as a promise of violence.
“Me? I’m hungry,” the cat said, letting out a harsh, hissing laugh. “But only a little hungry. Run along, little girl, I prefer the taste of wizards. No need for you to die too.”
Before Darlene could take a swing at the creature and maybe get hurt, Wil stepped forward. “What name may we call you by, creature?”
The big cat stalked to the side, slinking low and keeping his eyes on the two of them. Wil and Darlene rotated with him, not letting him anywhere near their back. “You can call me Isom,” said the creature, bowing his head in a clear greeting. “Wampus cat.”
“Oh, crap,” said Wil, fear suddenly crashing against him like a wave.
“A what?”
“Wizard eater,” Wil said. He no more finished saying that before Isom launched himself right at Darlene.
Wil cried out as the big cat all but collided with her, disappearing at the last second. Before Wil could even register the disappearance, Isom appeared in front of Wil, all his momentum stored up and released on the wizard. The two crashed and fell to the ground, the wampus cat savagely snapping powerful jaws forward.
The first snap came within inches of Wil’s face, making him flinch and jerk away. He brought his staff up just in time to shove it into Isom’s mouth. The wampus cat’s teeth dug in, but the empowering runes on the staff held and kept him from chomping the wood in half. Wil held on for dear life.
Darlene came from behind, swinging her iron bar down on the back of Isom’s head. It connected with a satisfying thud and the wampus cat violently jerked, steam hissing off a black line in his tawny fur. He released the staff and dove away before Darlene’s next hit could land, one more circling the two of them.
“Bad move, little girl,” Isom said, shaking his head sadly. “Now I’m going to end you first. I’ll eat your entrails in front of the wizard!”
Wil’s heart raced. The cat’s muscles punched up, preparing for a pounce. Wil focused and channeled power through his staff. A dark blue cloud descended as Wil shouted, “Run!”
Darlene did as he said and ducked out of the way. Wil could see through his own cloud, and he gambled on the fact that Darlene could too through those enchanted spectacles. The wampus cat landed where she had been and whirled around. He sniffed the air deeply, letting out a frustrated growl as he took in the scent of cotton candy, making his nose useless.
Wil threw himself in front of Darlene, staff held out and ready. The cat looked around for a second before he turned his head in Wil’s direction. Then he vanished from sight. Wil dispelled the cloud and looked around wildly. “Where did he go?”
“I don’t see him,” said Darlene, frantically whipping her head around. If Isom was under an illusion, she should’ve been able to see him.
“Of course you don’t see me,” Isom’s voice came from no discernible direction. It might as well have been above their heads for all Wil could tell. “I don’t want you to. Poor, poor wizard and human girl. You’ve never faced such a predator as I! Your lives are mine to play with.”
“Getting a bit tired of your crap,” said Wil, leveling his staff out and rotating slowly, extending his senses out. “How many wizards have you eaten, Isom? You seem to have picked up a few tricks.”
A deep, growling chuckle echoed from all directions in a way Wil couldn’t help but appreciate as an illusionist. It was just as unsettling as the wampus cat could’ve hoped for. “Four. You’ll be the fifth. What is your name, morsel?”
“Call me Wil McKenzie,” said Wil, pouring his power into the staff. The storm inside it stirred. The runes carved into the wood crackled to life with a pale purple light. “Know that you cannot win here, Isom.”
“Wil,” Darlene whispered, holding her iron bar up. “Are you really that confident?”
“I am,” said Wil, almost believing it. He felt powerful, more powerful than he could ever remember being. It wasn’t just the staff. Something changed. “I’ll be the one to end your hunting spree!”
Once more the wampus cat laughed. “I wonder what new ability I’ll get from you, Wil McKenzie. Shall we find out?” His laugh rose into a roar that turned Wil’s insides to liquid. He didn’t need his gut to twist and scream that danger was coming to be prepared for the worst. He moved by reflex, turning and facing a direction where the six legged snaggletoothed monster cat leapt in his direction.
Time seemed to slow down. Hunger and triumph shone in the wampus cat’s golden eyes. Isom was fast, fast enough Wil knew he couldn’t really hope to aim well. But now that he was in the air, coming his way, there was no way for the cat to dodge. Wil grinned and unleashed the power he’d been building up.
And he blasted Isom in the face with a bolt of lightning.
It was too late to stop the predator’s momentum, but for a long, shining second Wil got to enjoy the look of surprise and uncertainty on Isom’s face. The bolt hit the cat with a thunderous crack that left Wil’s ears ringing. The cat’s body convulsed violently before crashing right into Wil and sending them both rolling along the ground.
To Wil it was like being run down by a runaway train with claws, and the red hot pain of his skin being pricked was dulled by the impact after. He rolled over and got back up on shaky feet, staff held tightly in hand. He pointed it at Isom and charged up again.
Darlene stepped in, slamming the bar down on Isom’s head, again and again. Each strike left a smoking black welt and earned a pained yowl. Isom disappeared from view and reappeared ten feet away. He took off running, shimmering before fading into nothing.
“This isn’t over, wizard,” the cat hissed from right behind Wil’s ear. “Your heart will be mine!”
Wil said nothing, looking around. He almost expected the retreat to be a feint, just a way to get him to lower his guard. Darlene’s gasp shook him from his paranoia.
“You’re bleeding!”
Wil looked down. A line of claw marks across his chest bled slowly. Distantly, they hurt but mostly Wil’s senses were on high alert, too jittery to care about the pain. “Huh. I guess I am. Darlene?”
“Yes?” Darlene reached for his chest and then thought better of it.
“I think I appreciate how dangerous this place is now.”