I hear the trees whisper in the depths of my heart, but it’s as natural to me as the act of breathing. From the frenetic spill of his words from his lips I can tell the frenzy that runs riot through Tyton is different, and my guess is that his raw magic amplifies everything until he teeters on the edge of madness. Prince Soren obviously has a lot of faith in his cousin, because I’m not sure Tyton will make it out of here still sound of mind.
My gaze drifts back to the trees, unable to resist their call. “The Ravenswyrd protects the Favored Children. Walking amongst the trees unharmed is as simple as your intentions.”
I speak to the soldier, because I already know Prince Soren’s answer. “Do you wish me any harm, Reed?”
Reed swallows and frowns at me. “You're the healer who’s going to save Prince Roan, the heir to the Snowsong family. I wish you no harm, if only to save his life.”
A far more honest answer than I was expecting, and Tyton’s face slackens as he turns toward the soldier. “The trees say you may enter. Leave behind a sacrifice, and they’ll let you make your journey unharmed.”
Prince Soren scowls as he stares into my forest, but he speaks confidently. “I’m not leaving the Favored Child behind. Her fate is tied to mine, but no harm will come to her unbidden.”
The trees don't like that answer as much as Reed’s, and it takes far longer for them to deliberate. A wind appears suddenly and rustles the leaves, the tall oaks groaning as they hold their conference with one another. They’ve been betrayed once before and will never be again, still paying the steepest price for the misstep.
I lean forward to stroke Northern Star’s neck, soothing myself as much as settling her, and finally I hear the answer in my heart.
Tyton speaks, his voice quivering with the old power that lives within. “You can enter. They say you must give them a sacrifice, as well. They say it must be bigger for taking their Favored Child. It wants more. It needs the Favored Children returned.”
Without waiting for Prince Soren’s scathing reply, I nudge Northern Star forward and take the lead. “Don't stray from the path. You never know what you'll find here.”
* * *
No one speaks as we walk our mounts on the path through the forest. The trepidation of the high fae riding with me is palpable, but my heart sings as I stare around at the untouched beauty of my home.
It thrives.
Even after two hundred years without my coven, the forest lives and breathes with the magic we once shared. Moss covers fallen logs along the path, and birds sing above us, the sound of the melodies exploding through my senses now after weeks of silence at Yregar.
Prince Soren stares around at it all as though he’s waiting for an attack, poised and ready to fight.
The farther we ride, the more light filters through the tree canopy, and it’s clear the trees themselves became a wall of defense around the outskirts of the forest. The small offshoot of the river follows our path, and I smile down at the water sprites playing there, the magic here still sustaining them even long after the rituals and practices of the Ravenswyrd Coven came to an end. The sacrifice of my family’s and friends’ lives, taken unwillingly and mournfully accepted by the trees, has kept the entire forest and the life within it preserved and protected from the drain of the war and the imbalance of the kingdom.
My throat closes as we pass a hollow tree, the echo of a memory within me. I realize now how slowly Pemba and I walked this path when we left, the way that my brother gently and patiently let me idle along. My heart was breaking inside my chest, not just at the loss of my coven but at the journey itself, and Pemba gave me all the extra time he could, a loving brother who always put me first. It was his gentle treatment, and the distraction and reassurance of Donn speaking to me each morning through our shared connection, that got me through that heartbreaking journey out of the forest for the first time. The last time.
The trees were terrified we wouldn’t come home.
As a witchling, I didn’t recognize that their song lives within me. It wasn’t until I reached Sol City and found myself trapped in the silence within my heart that I realized something had lived within me and was gone, leaving behind a chasm of pain. The trees in the Northern Land speak, of course, the Seelie high fae even speak back to them, but it's a different language. Foreign to me in its difference to the song I grew up with, and a reminder of what I lost.
It became a comfort to me over the years, but never a replacement. I only wish Pemba were here with me, not back in the Northern Lands, but this journey was one for me alone.
I never told him my fate.
“What the hell isthat?” the soldier hisses from behind me, and I glance up and see a small fawn foraging amongst the flowers ahead of us, content and unguarded.
There are predators within the forest, of course, other creatures and animals, but the deer is young and bolstered by an easy life so far. The Ravenswyrd Coven had hunted deer for meat, and I expect the herds have thrived here without us.
“Are there no deer left in the Southern Lands?” I ask as the creature spots us and startles away, running back into the thick line of trees and disappearing from sight.
There's no reply, and that’s answer enough for me.
Whether they were over-hunted when the crops began to fail or simply perished when their own food supplies ran out, there's clearly no wildlife left elsewhere. The decay of the kingdom spreads like poison and takes all life with it.
“How much farther until we reach these plants you need?” Soren asks, his tone utterly irreverent.
I look up at the canopy above us, searching for an answer there. “We have to follow the river into the heart of the forest. It won't take long with the horses.”
“There are plants surrounding us now, everywhere we look, are none of these what you require?”
He doesn't trust me within the trees any more than he did before, whatever reverence he's found not extending that far, but it doesn't bother me. None of it does, because I'm finally home.
