Seven
After the sunset, all the dryads gathered together close to the Heart, as they did every night. There wasn't anything special about tonight, it wasn't a solstice or festival. It was just the usual socializing, future planning, and gossip swapping social hour it always was. The loudest and most animated of the group stuck close together next to the flames of the manifestation. Eli hung back, not interested in engaging tonight. He wasn't angry per se, but since Ler ordered him to get rid of Tristan's axe, he felt submerged in a harshness that was beyond mere annoyance.
He wanted to move, to act, but he had no direction. He needed to fight, but, at the moment, he was a warrior without a war. Apprehension hardened inside his mind and he couldn't shake it loose. He wasn't the only one. Whispers of what had happened that night with the wolves had reached every dryad. They all knew, and stress created a backdrop inside all of them. Eli could see it in their eyes and hear it in their voices even if they were talking about other things. The worry seemed to weigh heavier on those who were new parents.
His attention settled on those who rocked infants in their arms or tried to corral toddlers. All the new parents were their own clique. They all exuded an air of pride and spoke to one another as if they shared important secrets that those who were not parents yet could not understand. This didn't annoy him. He didn't care. Nothing inside him seemed anxious at all for fatherhood, despite the constant cultural pressure to procreate. He liked kids, just other people's kids. When he thought about the little ones, all he felt was an obligation to protect them.
In the group of new parents, his eyes settled on Shi. Her hand rested on top of her pregnant belly, unconsciously moving in slow circles. She was the closest thing he had to a mother. Because of that, his protective nature was unwavering when it came to her. Part of him wanted to go and sit beside her, just to absorb some of her warmth, but he couldn't be greedy. Shi was adopted mother to them all, but she also had two of her own children and another on the way. After 10,000 years of being caught in a tragic love affair, Shi and Ler finally had a family of their own.
He saw his friends and considered joining them but before he moved forward, Ara caught his gaze. She looked at him from the side of her eye and he got the feeling she had been looking at him for a long time. He looked away but, after a moment, he looked back. She was still looking at him and her eyes burned with intention. He sighed and turned away. Her attention scraped at his already raw mood. Guess Lex was right, she was interested in him. It made him feel angry and guilty even though he hadn't done anything wrong. And he wouldn't do anything wrong either. Ara was with Rom and Rom was his friend. He wouldn't touch her.
His teeth ground together as he imagined being with her. His mind thrust the fantasy on him against his will. Her eyes had let him know she wanted it from him. He shook his head and banished the errant images from his brain. He wouldn't do that. He wouldn't do that to his friend. And he wouldn't use her even though he could. She wasn't what he wanted. He didn't know exactly what he wanted but he knew it wasn't her. He hoped her infatuation would fade quickly, and she would be loyal to Rom.
Eli decided he'd rather be by himself and began heading away from the Heart. He walked at a leisurely pace through the shadows, avoiding eye contact with those he passed.
"Hey, Eli! Wait." Lex called coming up behind him.
He looked over his shoulder and slowed.
"Where are you going? It's early."
"Just not in the mood tonight. I'd rather be by myself," Eli said.
They walked companionably together in silence toward the outskirts of the Wood. When the noise of the crowd was far behind them, Lex grabbed Eli's arm and gave him a serious look.
"You didn't get rid of that axe did you?" Lex kept his voice low.
"What do you care? Did Ler ask you to interrogate me about it?"
Lex gave him a dirty look. "How long have we been friends? When have I ever…"
"I'm sorry. That was shitty of me. I'm just on edge… Yeah, I still have it."
"Good," Lex exhaled. "That's good. I can't understand his reaction to it. Keep it hidden."
"I will. Did you hear any of what Sabra said?" Eli asked.
"Not really. I caught snatches of their conversation, eavesdropping you know. All I heard was she said she would look into it. I didn't get anything else, sorry."
Still desiring to be alone, Eli gave a fake yawn. "I'm just gonna call it a night, man. You should go back to the Heart. Go run your game on the females and see if you can get lucky."
Lex chuckled and shook his head. "I'm right on top of that. But why do I get the idea you're trying to get rid of me?"
Eli stopped next to his tree and leaned against the trunk casually. "I'm just not feeling that well."
Lex looked up at Eli's branches, his eyebrows pulling down in a look of concern. "Dude, are you ill? Your tree doesn't look healthy. You don't have much color."
"Yeah, I've noticed. I think it might be taking that axe to the arm. I mean, the Heart healed me, I feel mostly fine, just not totally myself yet. Don't worry."
Lex continued to scowl up at his branches for a moment, then he shrugged. He nodded to Eli, turned, and began walking back toward the Heart. "See you tomorrow."
Eli watched Lex walk away. He waited until the shadows swallowed him up before sliding into the trunk. Guilt assailed him and he berated himself for being a disloyal friend and a liar. This wasn't his tree at all despite that everyone he knew believed it was. No one knew where his tree was, the location was his most guarded secret. So many times, countless times over the years he came so close to telling someone the truth, particularly Lex. But the words never came out. His instinct was resolute on this point but consciously he didn't know why. Why couldn't his friends know the location of his tree? He knew where all of theirs were.
Eli sighed and tried to let go of the guilty weight in his stomach. He moved the guilt aside to make way for anxiety. Lex thought his tree looked unhealthy, Eli would have to do something about that in case someone else noticed as well. He was usually more diligent. He couldn't afford to neglect his maintenance of this tree, otherwise, it would become obvious it wasn't truly him in a very short time.
Nestled deep inside the rings, splinters, and sap, Eli exhaled, pushing a measure of his life-force into the silent and stationary heart of this tree. Vibrant green light spread through the wood, reaching up through the canopy, pushing into the veins of the leaves and also down through the trunk’s girth, pooling in the roots.
He lost consciousness for a moment, physically taxed from giving so much of himself. After a few minutes, he woke feeling groggy. Eli reached into the hollowed out crevice he'd cut long ago and touched Tristan's axe. As soon as his fingers made contact with the weapon, ice entered his heart and the death memories of his father threatened to take him over. He forced himself to continue touching the axe even though he was afraid of it. His fingers moved down the length of the handle and lightly over the blade. His own fear was offensive to him. He wouldn't allow himself to indulge in this kind of weakness. All dryads feared axes. He would no longer count himself among them.
A scorching fury ignited in his brain. He wouldn't just master his fear. Conquering it wasn't enough. His whole life, over and over, he'd been forced to witness his father's execution. The beat of the axes, keeping perfect time as they cut down his father, was always with him. The gory music of death was wrapped deep inside his identity. He gripped the axe handle tightly with both hands. Right then and there Eli resolved that his fear was dead. Even though he still felt it, he would not acknowledge its existence, not ever again. And more than that, he would master this weapon and turn it against his enemies. A dark smile spread his lips. The dryad who fought and killed with an axe. A morbid pleasure spread through his chest, and he chuckled lightly to himself. He would offend everyone he knew.
Eli held still and waited for the night to mature before he dared to venture out and go to his real tree. He needed to wait for the rest of his kind to fall asleep, on the off chance someone came looking for him. He dozed on and off, lulled by the vibrations of his people, humming deep in the ground. The hum grew fainter and fainter as the congregation began to disperse, climb into their trees, and fall asleep.
He roused fully when the hum died down to only a few dryads. He climbed out of the trunk and stretched. His gaze drifted up to the canopy. Infusing the tree with his life-force worked. The leaves were vibrant again and in the darkness, mimicking the glow of a true dryad’s tree. He was about to take the axe out of its hiding place when he felt someone approaching.
“Eli,” she whispered.
He ground his teeth together and swore internally before turning to face her.
“What are you doing here, Ara?” he asked shortly, even though he already knew why she was there.
She came close, serious energy radiating from her. “I think you know.”
He shook his head. “Rom is my friend.”
She crowded him, heatwaves dancing on the surface of her skin. His body responded regardless of his determination to leave her the hell alone. Her midnight eyes sparkled with desire and knowledge. She smiled darkly at him. “I know how to keep a secret. Don’t pretend you don’t want me. The attraction between us is too strong to deny.”
Bullshit, he thought. If she wasn’t acting like this, talking like this, he never would have thought about being with her. And now she had just put him in the worst possible position. Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. He tried to think through it. There was no way to come out of this unscathed. How did he prevent as much damage as possible? He swallowed hard and braced his hands on her shoulders.
“You’re beautiful and sexy, Ara. You know that. And I would enjoy you…if you were mine. But you’re not. I won’t have pleasure at the cost of pain to someone else. I just can’t.”
She pulled out of his grasp and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing against him and kissed his mouth. His brain clouded and he clasped her to him, kissing her back roughly. Damn her… No. No way was this happening.
He braced his hands on her shoulders again and pushed her back. She gazed at him with taunting heat in her eyes.
“I’m so hot for you, Eli. You’re what I really need. Rom isn’t half the man you are. I knew kissing you would be like that. Don’t bother lying. You’re burning up for me, too.”
“I’m sorry. This isn’t going to happen. I never did anything to lead you on, or at least not intentionally.”
She put both her hands flat on his chest and ran her fingers down his torso. He grabbed her by the wrists and forced her hands back, anger now pulsing through him.
“Didn’t you hear me?” he demanded. “Rom is my friend. Don’t you care how much this would hurt him?”
She licked her lips. “I only care about you. I care about our future together.”
She was really pissing him off now. “Future? You’re way off. There’s no future for you and me.”
A frown pulled in her brow and she narrowed her eyes. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying no. No to anything and everything that could transpire between us.”
“Why? If you’re so worried about your honor, I’ll dump Rom tomorrow. I’ll end it. Okay?” she smiled warmly and moved toward him again.
“I. Don’t. Want. You.” his voice was hard. “Is that clear? I’m not interested. I have never been.”
Color rushed into her cheeks and she put her hands over her mouth. Ara shook her head and tears slicked her eyes. He cursed her in his mind. He didn’t like having to be so harsh, but it seemed she wasn’t going to give up otherwise. The moment dragged out, tense and awkward. She swallowed and straightened her shoulders, her expression shifting into a derisive sneer. The next second she lunged at him, a cry of fury in her throat.
He blocked her attempt to strike him and shoved her backward. She stumbled but she didn’t fall. Breathing hard she took a step back, a nasty smile on her lips.
“Think you’re too good for me? Is that it? You should have thanked your good luck when I came here. Everyone wants me. You have no idea what you’re passing on…You’ll be sorry for this. Reject me? I’ll make you pay…so much, Eli.”
“I see what I’m passing on. No dignity, no loyalty, and no class. You should count yourself lucky someone like Rom wants you at all. This was your mistake, don’t make it worse.”
She continued to back up. “Like I said, you’ll pay. Just wait and see.”
He sighed as she turned and ran back toward the Heart. He hoped humiliation would get the better of her through the night and she wouldn’t do anything stupid in the morning. If she kept silent, so would he. If she didn’t and she lied about what happened, he wouldn’t turn a deaf ear. He’d defend himself and his honor if she forced him to.
Eli gazed into the shadows after her, the weight of what this could mean for him in the morning falling on his shoulders. He exhaled and grimaced. Hell hath no fury… he waited a few minutes, just holding still and listening, making sure she was really and truly gone. The moon moved overhead as time passed. The entire forest gave a deep sigh as all went sleepy and quiet.
He took Tristan’s axe from its hiding place and headed out of the Wood, toward his real tree. Eli needed to reconnect the two halves of himself. Keeping his tree’s location secret meant he didn’t get to be whole as much as the rest of the dryads, and the amount of time he spent torn in half probably wasn’t advisable. The longer he went without reconnecting, the more agitated and strung out he became.
Passed the boundary of the fringe of the Wood, nestled in a clutch of towering, ancient, silent trees, the other half of Eli lived. His heart beat steady and he breathed easier as he drew close to his base. The glow in the veins of his leaves was faint, but it was still visible. His height also gave his tree away as dryad. He set the axe down on the ground over his roots, before sliding into the trunk. He exhaled and closed his eyes as his two halves realigned. Regrettably, maintenance was required to disguise him and he would have to see to that now.
He inhaled, pulling energy and life out of the wood and into his heart. It was a reverse action of what he had to do on the other tree, his fake base. Centered and resigned he slid back out of his trunk looking up at his branches with a critical eye. If any of the other dryads knew what he was about to do, and that he did it regularly, they’d consider him completely and possibly dangerously insane. Perhaps he was. He didn’t like to think about it too deeply. Grimacing, he began to climb his trunk. Just get it over with quickly.
Eli ran his hands over a few of his branches, testing their strength, and assessing vibrancy. Biting down on his bottom lip he grabbed a thick limb with both hands and snapped it off. The cry of pain pushed hard in his throat and sweat instantly covered his skin. Damage or injury to the tree caused simultaneous physical pain in his corporal body. He dropped the limb to the ground, panting. He gave himself only a moment to school his breathing before breaking another branch. And then another and another. He slumped after six, weakened and nauseated. Come on. You can’t stop yet. Four more.
It wasn’t just the physical pain, this type of self-mutilation broke his heart. Every branch he broke was akin to cutting off his own fingers. They were a part of him. Living pieces of himself that he decided to kill. The discarded branches lay in a pile at his roots when he finally finished breaking himself, for the time being at least. The illusion was satisfactory. His tree wouldn’t draw the eye now.
Exhausted, Eli lay back, his branches supporting him comfortably. Why was secrecy so important? Why was he so aloof from the rest of his kind? Every time he pondered these questions, answers were insubstantial. He couldn’t answer why all that came to him were flashes of his father’s execution and sometimes a woman. He never saw her face. She was always sitting, looking down at her hands. He looked over her shoulder at her palms. Her skin looked like carved wood. Words were on her hands. He tried to read them, but, as soon as his eyes focused, the words faded like sand washed by waves, replaced by lines of new words. His heart warmed every time he saw her in his mind. Sometimes he felt certain she must be his mother.
Eli’s heart pulsed heavy with grief for the parents he could never know. He blinked his eyes, his vision returning to the here and now. Or so he thought. Frowning and sitting upright, he rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times. What was that?
The small creature drifted on the air toward him. He’d never seen anything like it. Wings like a black fluid haze with glowing green veins or perhaps the glowing part was a skeleton. He blinked again and reached out with one finger as it came close. It didn’t flee from his hand. His fingertip touched the edge of its wing. His lips parted and he held still, amazed. Touching the thing felt like sticking his finger in warm oil. It was a pleasant, comforting temperature.
Slowly he twisted his wrist, so his palm was flat under it. The thing alighted on his hand. It beat its wings laboriously a few times then the bottom of it liquefied and ran under his skin. Startled, he tried to bat it away with his other hand, but it was too late. The entire creature had absorbed into his palm. He held his hand up close to his face and made a small cry of alarm in his throat. It moved again. Its smudgy wings beating slowly through his hand. It slid up to his forearm. He grabbed the crook of his arm trying to keep it from moving further. It stopped where his hand blocked, pulled up through his skin and out, drifting back into the air.
Amazed, delighted, and a little apprehensive, Eli laughed aloud. “What are you?”
It flew close to his face. He blew on it gently. It beat its wings a little faster and circled around his head. He held his hand out for it again, not wanting it to leave. It came back to his palm, alighted and slid under his skin. Perhaps he should have been afraid, but his initial anxiety vanished. It moved up his arm again and this time he didn’t try to block it. The warmth of it eased his physical pain as it smeared over his shoulder and across his chest.
Eli pulled his shirt over his head and watched the bird thing move over him. It looked like an odd tattoo. It slowed its exploration of his chest and seemed to settle on the top of his shoulder, its darkness spread along his collarbone and a little up the side of his neck. He exhaled and closed his eyes enjoying the fluid, comforting sensation it created. What the devil was it? Whatever it was, he wanted to keep it, and he wanted to keep it a secret as well.
After a few minutes, he noticed it had a pulse, or something similar. A constant, sleepy throb ran deep in the veins and out through the wings like the ebb and flow of waves. Eli smiled, bemused. It was like having a new pet.
He jumped down, picked up the axe, and climbed back up into his canopy. He leaned back again turning the weapon over and over in his hands. The feel of the wood handle was uncomfortable to him. He didn’t like the sensation as if it was made of a bone of a dead friend. The wood didn’t come from a dryad, but still, it was distasteful. Get over it.
He continued to mess with it long into the night, the texture of it, the weight, and how it moved. He would practice with it until he could wield it admirably. Eli shifted it from hand to hand, not sure which side he preferred, and it didn’t matter. He was ambidextrous. He needed another axe of equal size. He’d fight with two. One in each hand. The only problem was where was he going to get another axe?
As he pondered the problem, the bird thing began pulling on his arm. He looked down at it. One wing lifted off his skin while the other stayed rooted underneath. The free wing pulled and beat. He frowned and touched it lightly, trying to help it free itself or settle back on him again. It resisted both actions and began to pull harder on his arm.
“What?”
The thing surprised him with a show of force he wouldn’t have thought possible for the insubstantial wisp. It tugged vociferously on him and refused to let go.
Eli smiled. “Alright, alright. You want to show me something or lead me somewhere. I get it.”
He jumped down from his branches, landing lithely on his feet. He contemplated leaving the axe by his trunk and then decided he needed to start getting used to having it with him. He needed a belt equipped with the right sized loops for this axe and the other one he would acquire. For the time being, he rested the axe on his shoulder and followed the direction his new pet was pulling him.
Eli snickered to himself as he walked, amused at this odd turn of events. It led him toward the rock face with the thin waterfall. He stopped and looked up where the trickle of water slid off the edge from the cave mouth behind it. The bird thing yanked hard upward toward the cave.
“Seriously? You want me to go up there?”
It yanked hard again.
“Fine, but this better be worth my while.”
He had to set the axe down then before grasping the rock with both hands, instantly finding purchase and hefting himself upward. It wasn’t really that high up, seventy feet give or take. The steep rock face gave a decent amount of natural handholds and in a minute, he mounted the shelf where the cave opened and the stream slid past his feet.
Eli looked out over the tops of the trees and spotted his own canopy. He was used to seeing this place from the vantage point of his highest branches. He always liked this little cliff in his view of the world but he hadn’t come here since he was a boy. Why had his pet wanted him to come here? It continued to pull on him. He followed its direction into the cave opening.
At first, he saw nothing out of the ordinary, nothing than what he expected to see. But then he walked around the snaking corner and stopped dead, his mouth falling open and his breathing arrested in his chest. The first second was shock, the next was awe.
Eli’s eyes were wide, his gaze absorbing the uniquely beautiful images greedily. Oh, yes. A deep sense of rightness breathed into him as he walked around the art hanging on the air. It spoke to his soul. Who could make such things? He desperately needed to know, because whoever it was, he understood them. Something deep inside him, a place he didn’t even know existed until that moment, woke up and recognized this, acknowledged it.
Slightly winded, he sat down against the wall. Time lost its relevance. His eyes slowly and intently probed every tiny detail of the images. It wasn’t the beauty that struck him or the skill. These designs and pictures were not brushed with paint but with pain. Each drifting and suspended dance of light and color was a raw, honest, brutal display of emotion. He understood why the creator of such things hid them. Part of him felt despicable for lingering like this. It was so intimate. So real. As if he looked directly into the artist’s soul.
He gazed back down at the bird thing, now resting peacefully on his forearm, and was assailed with questions. More than how was why? Why had it come to him?
He had to meet the artist. He was utterly compelled and at the same time afraid he would be disappointed. His mind had built this person up so high already as if they were some divine, otherworldly dream. She, he thought. Surely the artist was a woman.
Eli leaned his head back and exhaled. He tried to imagine her. What race would she be? How old was she? He knew he was tired. He felt it. He should go back to his tree and sleep, but he couldn’t leave. His heart wouldn’t let him. Not yet. He envisioned a woman, little more than a shadow there in front of him, her arms open, beckoning him to come close and hold her. And damn he wanted to. He scowled and shook his head. What the hell was wrong with him?
∞∞∞
Rahaxeris sat down and picked up his book, opening it to where he’d left off earlier in the day. He’d enjoyed the family gathering and getting to meet Erin. She was easy to like, and he looked forward to getting to know her better. Having Maddox settled was a great relief. He was worried about Sophie but he knew she would come to him in the morning.
His mind began to slide over the words on the pages, slipping away from the here and now.
Something moved in his peripheral vision. Startled, for the mere fact that he was startled by something, and that it was able to creep up on him. He turned his head very slowly and looked at what was looking at him. He set his book down just as slowly and stood up.
The female figure looked like a flat cutout, a silhouette. She was all darkness, like the heart of a shadow, only her eyes glowed a strange green light. She breathed, causing her defined edges to blur. He’d never seen an entity quite like her, that fact alone was chilling. Then she smiled.
“Hello, grandfather.”
His cold blood ran a bit colder. It spoke with Sophie’s voice.
“What are you?” he asked calmly.
“Feeling. I am only feeling.”
“Where did you come from?”
“Sophie. Obviously.”
“Sophie made you?” he pressed.
The thing laughed and spun in a circle like a little girl. “I climbed out of her. She tried to take me back, but I wouldn’t let her. I haven’t fulfilled my purpose yet.”
He tried to decide how he could capture this thing so he could study it. “What is your purpose?” he moved closer.
“Killing,” it hissed. Then it laughed again.
“Killing whom?”
It closed its eyes, the expression on its shadowed face going euphoric. “The baby’s father.”