Chapter Sixty-Six

The Travelling Forest

Michael finally pushed himself off the door and turned to see Nichole floating there.

The ranger opened her mouth to speak but only amounted to glancing down at her feet. When she finally looked up again, she shook her head and pulled Michael into a tight hug and held him for a moment.

Michael didn’t realise his entire body was shaking until she softly said, “It’s okay.”

When they parted, Michael’s eyes fell on the portal behind her.

Unlike the one they’d found in the cavern, this one was a sphere of icy blue energy, radiating pure frost as it revolved in the water like a spinning marble. All about the room, the walls were coated in swaying algae, and the various Legacies were crowded around the face of the orb, doing their best to stay out of the Arcanii’s way.

The sorceress spoke in hushed tones as she carefully touched the sphere in different places, each time igniting it with a bright or dark shade of blue, slightly tinting the overall colour.

A pounding fist came crashing on the door and incoherent shouting could be heard on the other side.

The Arcanii ignored it and sighed, looking distastefully at her work. “It’ll have to do. Everyone gather up. This assortment of spells will put you on the eastern half of Lighila, or Olympium, as you call it. It requires a secondary connection point, meaning it will hone in on the nearest, most powerful source of Creation Magic.”

Rose felt a shiver go down her spine. “Is this manifestation magic? The way monste-” she fumbled the word, realising the Merhoii was looking pointedly at her.

The Arcanii sighed and muttered, “Go ahead. I think it’s safe to say none of us have earned the title of ‘Saint’ today.”

Rose shook her head. “I misspoke. It’s how Citizens are reborn, or how they transport in some cases, right?”

The Arcanii gave half a smile and said, “It’s a slightly different version of that, but yes. Hopefully, the nearest source of Arcancy will be your camp, but there’s no telling. There are many great and terrible things buried away on your side of Lighila.”

A barrage of stone clattering echoed off the door behind them and all at once several cracks split up and through the side of the door.

“Time to go.” The Arcanii turned from the portal and reached into a thicket of algae. From the flowing moss, she pulled up a small chest, no bigger than a jewellery box.

Carter pushed himself to the face of the portal, squinting at its pale blue light. He twisted quickly in the water and called back, “Arcanii, thank you. And good luck.”

The Arcanii’s face was tired. She simply nodded as more cracks splintered into the stone and its noise seal was broken, filling the room with the voices of shouting guards. “I didn’t do it for you, Legacy.”

Carter swam through the blue haze and disappeared.

One by one the rest followed urgently, nodding to the Arcanii before everyone but Michael, James and Rose had vanished into the magic.

James and Rose paddled up in a hurry as several large pieces of the wheel-stone were broken away and spears were thrust through the holes, narrowly missing Michael as he pushed himself out of reach.

James and Rose vanished into the displacement spell, leaving Michael alone with the Arcanii as the guards continued hacking at the door, shouting in Hoiise. He watched as she carefully removed her spell-making crystals and placed them in the chest.

The Arcanii noticed him still there and spoke above the noise, “Go, Paladin!”

Michael stopped a foot from the magical doorway and turned, hoping to apologise one last time. “Look, Arcanii...”

The sea-woman swam briskly over to him, placed a single hand on his chest and shoved him into the sphere of frost, shouting, “You just owe me one!”

Michael’s reality became overwhelmed with burning light, enveloping every inch of him as his body tumbled endlessly. He felt himself shouting out but his voice was muted beneath the roaring magic when quite suddenly, colours of life and the natural world came blaring back into his sight and Michael was slammed back-first into solid ground.

He rolled onto his stomach and coughed up a lungful of sea water as the breathing magic was stripped away. Michael felt long blades of grass between his clutching fingers. He opened his eyes and tilted to his head up to find his companions there with him, in various states of spitting-up-water or gasping breaths.

All around them, stretching up into the sky like temple pillars were trees as white as marble, thick with red, star-shaped leaves as far as the eye could see. All about them the very same leaves were fluttering to the ground throughout the entire forest in a steady rain, like the forest had fallen behind on Autumn and had some catching up to do. Beyond the sound of leaves kissing the grass, a chilling quiet rang through the woodland. No birds sang. No animals prowled. No insects chirped.

Rose sat up, ringing out her wet mass of blonde curls. She looked through the dense mess of trees and croaked, “Where are we?”

Carter shivered as he stripped off his wet cloak and tossed it over a low-hanging branch. “These aren’t Pale Oaks, are they, Rose? Because if we ended up on the other side of the world again, I’m going to lose my mind.”

The Riniglacian girl shook her head, pulling out the seaweed braid. “Pale Oaks have deep grooves in the bark. This isn’t Riniglacia.”

Oliver crouched down to Sarah’s side, the young woman still fighting off a water-logged cough.

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As soon as she was able to take in a complete breath, she let out a sharp whistle and rose to her feet. “I thought the Arcanii said we’d appear near a source of powerful Arcancy?”

Nichole peered at the great trees and muttered, “There’s something familiar about these.” Her gaze then snagged on Carter’s cloak and her she quickly yelled, “Carter!”

Carter frowned, sharply following her gaze. She was looking at his cloak as it was inching higher and higher on the tree trunk, nearly out of his reach. The branching was lifting… no, the tree was growing. He leapt up and snagged the dark shroud before it had risen too far away, and watched in awe as the branch grew slowly before them, climbing toward the skies.

The Legacies all turned, each looking at different trees to find them all the same, growing faster than any tree on Draendica had any natural right to, though just slow enough that they nearly hadn’t noticed.

Rose’s bright eyes twinkled with delight. “We’re in a Travelling Forest. Which would explain this...” she pulled her amulet out from beneath her shirt as it pulsed bright white.

Aroha raised an eyebrow at her. “Aren’t Travelling Forests a myth?”

Nichole touched her arm patiently. “We’re a myth, Ari.”

“True, proceed.”

Michael had been on the grass all the while, looking into the carpet of red leaves across the forest floor. In the back of his mind he heard them speaking, like they were in a great house, and he was sitting in another room somewhere down a cold hallway. He eventually stood, only half-listening as the others spoke, unable to stop himself playing the last ten minutes over in his mind.

Oliver spared a moment to look at the young archer as thunder rumbled in the sky. “Come on, Michael, even I have questions. You must have some.”

Michael turned and glanced at the empty space where the portal had delivered them and said nothing.

Rose saw the look on his face and her explanation slowed to a stop as Raeken plummeted through the trees and came swooping to the branches above them. Held aloft in his front claws was Magnus, who he promptly dropped to the soil with a thud.

Magnus grimaced from the ground-shock, holding his black cloak in a thick wad in both hands. He looked at the gathering in silence and threw his the bundle to the ground where it slammed down with a metallic clang, despite the soft leaves beneath. Both he and the bundled cloak were sopping wet.

Sarah knelt down to the cloak and whipped it open to see a horde of weapons, both belonging to the Legacies and the Merhoii. She said a small prayer as she picked up her curving sword and the others dove into the mess.

Oliver did his best not to look like he’d found a lost limb as he picked up Iron Tooth, but even Michael in his numbed state saw his hands shaking as he strapped it back to his hip. “Where did you find these?”

Magnus leant on his scythe as water dripped from his matted, dark hair. “I wasn’t about to let good craftsmanship go to waste just because none of you know how to keep a grip.” He eyed Nichole and Aroha specifically. “I expect better from you. You can stow your weapons magically and still managed to lose them.”

Nichole cocked her head. “Yeah, well, I expect you not to get knocked the fuck out when we’re fighting for our lives, but I guess we were both disappointed.”

James pushed aside the Mariniad spears and found the bottom of the cloak. “What about my axe?”

Magnus grabbed his cloak and ripped it out from under James’ foot, slinging it back over his shoulder. “Don’t know. These were just the ones that got caught in the corals. Pick a less ridiculous weapon if we get back to the fortress alive. Or you could just get over yourself and use your Arcancy.”

James smiled chillingly at the young man and knelt down to the pile of stone spears. He picked one with an emerald point and wiped it clean of algae with his wet shirt. Looking roughly satisfied, he looked back to Rose, as though Magnus hadn’t spoke at all. “You were saying about Travelling Forests?”

Rose was still looking at Michael, who hadn’t even bothered to pick up his bow or quiver, now lying in the grass. “The short version is this: somewhere in the world at any given time there is always a Travelling Forest. They begin to sprout from the moment sunlight hits the ground, completely at random. Once dawn hits, they grow to completion by one hour before sundown, and then they begin to die and shrivel all the way back down. On the exact moment the sun disappears beneath the horizon, the displacement magic takes everyone inside in the forest anywhere they want to go, so long as everyone’s holding a dead tree and agrees on a location.”

Oliver frowned, subtly clutching his sword’s handle, as though worried it would disappear again. “And if we don’t? Does it just not work?”

Magnus chuckled, glancing to Oliver. “Oh, it still works. Pure Creation Magic is unstoppable. If you are undecided between let’s say… two places, or more. You will be transported to two places, or more... in as many pieces as it takes to reach all of them.”

Sarah polished off the curving blade of her gilded sword and stowed it away in its sheath when a dark look lingered on her face. “Wait. If this is the most powerful source of nearby Arcancy, then won’t it attract Creations? Especially with all of us here...”

Nichole slung her bow over-shoulder and peered through the trees. The silence was thick and even the wind seemed to make no sound as it whisked up the unending rain of crimson leaves. Through the red canopy, she saw the sun hanging in a deep arch over the horizon, only a few hours from sundown.

Nichole nodded to her and guessed, “It’s about Mid-Felling, which means this forest has been attracting attention all day. I think we should search around and make sure there’s nothing dangerous nearby. Also, I don’t know about you lot but I’m starving and there might be something worth scavenging. We might be near a road, who knows.”

The company all nodded in vague agreement, except Magnus, who wasn’t listening. Everyone but Michael then slipped into a small, expectant silence.

Michael glanced up to realise they were looking at him. “What?” he said, uninterested.

Nichole looked at the others uncertainly and said, “You’re leading this charge.”

Michael rolled his eyes before glancing to the others one by one, to find they each held a similar expression. When he got to Carter, although still slightly tired in his eyes, he shrugged. “Just because you slipped up doesn’t mean I don’t trust you with my life.”

Sarah smiled at his remark and shrugged effortlessly, in the exact same manner. “What he said.”

Sarah and Carter, standing side by side, smiling slightly, light with amusement while edged with seriousness, the realisation then truly dawned on Michael.

Their hair was different lengths, styles, and colour, but its thickness was the same. Their eyes, one pair dark as coffee, the other blue as sapphires, were both the same perfect oval shape. Their cheekbones, both subtly impressive, yet hidden amongst other immaculate features, were mirrors of one another. Sarah was drenched through to her skin, yet still poised. And now, side by side with Carter, his hair plastered to his face and dripping into the grass, the pair of drowned young warriors could’ve been-

“You’re related...” Michael said, finally, with a strange weight in his throat.

Carter blinked. "Um, well-"

Michael nodded to himself. It was a slow movement.

No one spoke.

Carter tried to form a response but as soon as he opened his mouth, a look of sour disbelief began to spread on Michael’s face. “Michael look I promise I didn't keep it from you for no reason."

Sarah’s face froze in confusion. “You- you didn’t tell him? I thought you guys were old friends?"

Michael pinched the bridge of his nose. "You swore. To my face. You swore that there was nothing else, Carter. You swore it."

"I meant it, Michael!"

"And what good is your fuckin' word if its just another thing I have to sift the bullshit out of?"

Silence rang through the group but Michael's eyes didn't drop. He looked Carter in the face.

Michael waited, and then with venom he spat, "That wasn't a rhetorical question. Answer me." Michael looked from Carter to James and their faces plain with deep shame. "Either of you. Both. Whenever you're ready. I'm done begging. Talk."