AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This is where she came through.” He reached down, hesitated, then touched his fingers to the black mark. A wisp of smoke trailed from his fingers; his face twisted in pain before he wiped the black stain onto some nearly leaves.
“Here.” He pushed gracefully to his feet. “This is where they’ll be, right below this spot.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because if we fail, it would give her such pleasure to gloat over how obvious her clue was.” He dropped to his knees, Zor right beside him. “If we start digging now, we might reach them in time.” A shimmer of his blue-black magic stained the air, dirt already flying.
And then I saw her trap.
The Oracle meant for us to use our magic—every last scrap—to dig them out.
Magic that would bind us all more firmly together, magic that would bring us one step closer towards becoming monsters. A little broken laugh slipped between my cracked lips.
Such fucking irony.
We’d become the hideous, blackened beasts, while the Oracle would end up a beautiful goddess.
I braced my hand against the rough, gnarled trunk of the enormous oak that was almost Zorander’s final resting place. Now it would be my mother’s. Tavion’s.Tristan’s. I wanted to fucking scream. Then hunt down that foul creature and slit her throat.
Beneath my palm, the bark shifted, the massive trunk expanding to an unheard-of circumference, a faint cracking emanating from the tree as it grew faster than the bark could endure.
“I wish you could help me,” I murmured. “I wish you could tell me how to save my friends.”
One of the moss-covered roots swung across the ground, carving an enormous furrow through the dirt, before it curved around me almost protectively.
Raz popped his head out of his hole and Zor gaped as the tree trembled beneath my hand, as if…as if waiting for my orders.
My palm was slippery, but I kept it pressed tight to the trunk.
This was…no magic I’d ever heard of, but if there was the slightest chance the tree was somehow sentient, I would fall to my knees and give this forest whatever it wanted to save my friends.
“I know you are new and still growing.” I felt foolish, talking to a tree, thinking it might actually be listening, but I didn’t know what else to do. “Three of my friends are buried somewhere below me. Below you, maybe at your roots. We have to get them out.”
Zor had joined Raziel in digging and I honestly didn’t know which of us had the more fruitless task right now. Digging a hole to nowhere or putting all faith in a tree.
But there had been those in Varitus that had believed in gods more ancient than the Old Gods. Gods of nature and creation and life. They believed that all life in this world was connected, and I closed my eyes, praying they were right.
“I don’t usually ask for favors.” My eyes landed on the circle of death the Oracle had wrought upon this beautiful place.
“But my friends and I are connected by the magic, just like you.” I ran a finger up the mark on my side, which throbbed faintly. “The Oracle will kill them, just like she killed that part of you.” I nodded to the withered circle. “If you help me save my friends, I will try to heal you.”
The tree shuddered again, leaves falling like rain.
Crack.
Crack, crack, crack. I was knocked backwards as those enormous roots, bigger around than my body, plunged straight into the ground. Deep crevices spread from the base of the tree as the roots delved deeper and deeper. I laid there, my mouth hanging open in awe.
Then Raziel dragged me away, cursing. “What is this?” he muttered. “We don’t need the forest coming alive. If they are down there, this could kill them.”
“This will save them.” I didn’t know where my confidence came from. But the forest had heard me and was trying to help. “I asked the trees and the magic to save our friends.” I glanced up into his face, tight with shock and fear as the entire forest floor came alive.
Roots burrowed deep into the ground, soil heaving and rippling beneath our feet as we stumbled out of the way.
“I didn’t know what else to do, Raz.” I gripped his arm, glad I had something to hang onto. “We can’t find them, but maybe…maybe the trees can.”
The ground shivered, cracks deep enough to swallow houses growing and spreading as we retreated toward the river. Raz snapped his head toward the deep, fast-flowing water. “If those cracks reach the river, all that water will flow down and fill the hole. They’ll drown.”
We traded a horrified glance.
