They heard the movement of many creatures reacting to the light. Most were little more than a flutter of wings or the sounds of tiny feet skittering across the rough bark of the tree limbs. They could see that the bark on the trunks around them was different than anything they had ever seen before. It had a strange pattern to it that was very geometrical. There was also a lot of moss growing around them, but instead of bright green, the moss was a dirty gray.
“Strange,” Lexi said.
“Definitely magical,” Tiberius agreed. “These trees aren’t natural, not even in the blighted lands.”
Lexi was about to say something else, but she was interrupted by a deep, resonating growl. The sound was felt as much as heard. The limbs they were resting on vibrated, and both of their eyes grew round. There was something in the forest that didn’t like the light, and as Tiberius looked up, he knew there was no way he could climb back out of the twisting tunnel of limbs fast enough to escape.
“Go back,” Tiberius said.
“Are you coming?”
“There isn’t time.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Lexi said.
“Please,” Tiberius said.
“No,” Lexi insisted. “This time, we do things my way. Snuff that light and follow me.”
Chapter 12
Lexi
She grabbed Tiberius’ pack and pulled it off his shoulders. He had to turn so she could unhook the bag, but he didn’t resist. She shoved his pack into a small gap in a tangle of branches. Then she did the same with her own.
“What now?” Tiberius said.
“Time to find a better hiding place.”
The trees were still shaking, even though the growling had stopped. The woods vibrated in a pattern that Lexi recognized as footsteps. Whatever lived down in the hole they were climbing through was coming up to meet them.
Lexi pointed at what seemed like an extraordinarily small gap in the limbs, but she saw that it was just big enough for the two of them to wiggle through. And the space beyond was slightly larger. Lexi hoped it was far enough away from the main tunnel that the creature would pass them by.
She poked her head into the opening just as Tiberius snuffed the light from his spell. For a moment she was blind, but she didn’t need to see to keep moving. Her hands grabbed the rough bark and pulled while her feet pushed her deeper into the gap. The shaking was growing stronger, and Lexi felt the bark biting into her back, but she didn’t have time to rotate or adjust her body. She needed to get into the hole and help Tiberius in after her.
“Hurry,” Tiberius said.
Lexi felt the pressure mounting. She was terrified they would be caught by the creature. She reached back through the small opening and took Ti’s hand. It was a much more difficult climb for Tiberius. He wiggled frantically, grunting as the rough bark tore his clothes and gouged his skin.
The little opening was barely big enough to contain the two of them. Their bodies were pressed together in the tiny space, arms and legs entwined, but there was no thought of romance. They could heard the creature’s huffing breath now. Tiberius was staring back toward the tunnel, but Lexi was searching for a way to get even further from the creature.
There were no more openings large enough for both of them, but a small gap near her head was just big enough that she could squeeze through, and a larger gap between two branches might be big enough for Tiberius.
“There,” Lexi said, pointing at the gap. “Get moving.”
“We won’t fit,” Tiberius said.
“Not me, just you. I’m going this way.”
“I thought you wanted to stay together.”
“I want to stay alive more,” Lexi said.
She wasn’t waiting to convince him. She pulled her body into the tiny opening and slithered into a sitting position, pulling her legs in behind her. Tiberius was moving, too, but much slower.
Suddenly there was a deep, resounding growl, and the trees around them shook violently. Tiberius screamed in pain as the branches he was struggling through squeezed him. Lexi could see the beast’s head. It was round and covered in dark fur. There were four large teeth, the size of shovels, only flatter. The beast bellowed into the opening, and Lexi screamed back. Then the teeth began to bite into the wood, splintering it easily. The creature was too large to follow them into the small gap, but it wasn’t giving up the chase.
“Keep moving!” Tiberius shouted.
Lexi could see that he had finally made it though the small opening he had struggled into. The creature was clawing and biting the wood, pushing its mouth further into the gap. The trees around them were swaying as the beast burrowed after its prey. Lexi was distraught that they were moving in opposite directions but she knew they didn’t really have a choice. If they stayed together, the creature would certainly catch them.
She kept squirming her way through the branches. Some were soft and covered with moss; others were so rough they snagged her clothes and scraped her exposed skin bloody. The creature was angry, ripping and tearing through the trees. The sounds of its teeth gnawing the wood and the branches popping as it ripped them away was frightening, but the further she crawled, the more she realized the beast wasn’t following her. That fact was a relief but also frightening, as she realized that meant it was pursuing Tiberius.
Lexi worked her way back to the tunnel. It wasn’t easy, and she had to navigate carefully. Once she even had to stop and change directions, but eventually she made her way to the tunnel. She considered going back up to the war ship. She would be safe from the animal that was chasing them, and if Tiberius were smart, he would do the same thing, but she was also afraid that he might be hurt. If he needed her, she couldn’t bear the thought of having abandoned him in the forest.
Once she was in the tunnel, she moved much more rapidly. She had taken her time with Tiberius, not wanting to make him go any faster than he was comfortable, but now she dropped down the tunnel at a dizzying pace.
She found the spot where the creature had attacked them. The wood all around the spot was splintered. The bright wood under the dark bark was almost like an open wound. Sap dripped from the worst of the smashed branches, and there were tufts of fur pinched in the tree bark. Their packs were still intact, and she retrieved them both. Climbing with the added weight of two heavy packs would be difficult, but she didn’t want to leave anything they might need behind.
Lexi knew that following the creature was a bad idea, so instead, she climbed further down into the dark tunnel, hoping she might somehow get ahead of Tiberius and find a way to help him.
It grew darker the further she descended, and Lexi had to rely on her ears rather than her eyes. She could still hear the smashing and cracking of the large creature eating its way into the forest, but it seemed to be moving away from the tunnel. Lexi could only hope that Tiberius wasn’t still trying to lead the creature away from Lexi. She was safe enough; she only needed to find him so they could get back to the ship.
She had to slow down to listen in the gloomy forest. Moving through the darkness without making a sound was something she understood very well. And while she had never been in a real forest—had never even climbed a tree for that matter—she found moving through the tunnel easy enough.
It was too dark to see Tiberius through the thick limbs and trunks, but she heard him. The forest was full of sounds, the wood creaking, small animals scurrying about, birds fluttering, but nothing was like the sounds of tired exertion that Tiberius was making. He was grunting, his clothing snagging and scraping on the rough bark.
Lexi settled into a crook formed by a thick limb as it joined a large, angled trunk and waited for Tiberius to appear. It was dark, even though glittering light could still be seen far overhead. The amber sunlight simply didn’t reach down through so many tangle branches. It was almost like seeing the stars in the night sky. All around Lexi the tunnel was dark, with only a slight difference in the shades of darkness to indicate a wooden bough that was closer than another.
“What are you doing here?” came a tired voice from the gloom.
“Waiting on you,” Lexi said. “You sound surprised.”
“I thought you would have gone back to the ship.”
“Not without you.”
Lexi couldn’t see Tiberius, not even as a shadow in the darkness. His voice seemed close, but she couldn’t see him at all.
“How did you get away from the creature?” Lexi asked.
“Cloaking spell,” Tiberius said. “It was the only option I had.”
“I can’t believe that beast couldn’t just follow you by the noise you were making.”
“In case you didn’t notice, the giant fur ball with teeth was making quite a bit of noise itself.”
Lexi smiled. “The cloaking spell—that makes you invisible, right?”
There was a slight pause, then Tiberius suddenly appeared in the darkness beside her. He was little more than a dark blob in the gloom, but Lexi felt better seeing him just the same.
“Yes,” Tiberius said. “Sorry I didn’t drop it.”
“No,” Lexi said. “I was just curious. What now?”
“Well, I’m going down,” Tiberius said. “I need to see if there is anything at the bottom of the tunnel other than that creature. But you don’t have to come with me.”
“You know I’m not leaving you,” Lexi said. “Lead the way, but take your pack—it’s killing me.”
“You got the packs?” he said in surprise as she handed him the canvas bag.
“Of course,” she replied. “Someone has to keep a level head around here.”
“You’re amazing,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
“Don’t get sappy, just find a way down.”
“You’ve got it.”
They had to descend by feel, and it wasn’t long until the darkness around them was complete. Even the tiny specks of light overhead disappeared. Lexi’s stomach growled, and she realized that night must have fallen.
“Ti, we need to find a place to rest,” she whispered.
“I know, but I was hoping we might get to the ground before we stopped.”
“How will we even know?” Lexi asked.
“I guess I need to try the light again.”
“What if it draws more creatures?”
“I’ll keep it dim, and we'll have to shade it as much as possible.”
Lexi wasn’t crazy about the idea, but she didn’t have a better one. She wasn’t afraid of the dark, but finding a place where they could rest through the night would be difficult in the darkness. For all she knew, they could be taking refuge in the giant creature’s den. And there would be no relief from the darkness in the morning. They would have to use the light eventually.
“Okay, but be careful,” she warned.
As Tiberius chanted the spell, Lexi’s hand went to the handle of the Wangorian dagger. The weapon was small but solid, and just holding it sometimes helped calm her nerves. A tiny dot of light appeared between them. It was so dim that it looked almost like a firefly. The light did nothing to illuminate their surroundings, and all Lexi could see was a shadow beyond the light that she knew was Tiberius.
The light grew a little stronger, and Lexi could finally see the trees around them. Overhead, the light seemed to to drift up into the trees, which were so dark they seemed like living shadows. Below them was nothing but darkness.
“There’s no place to take shelter here,” Lexi said, examining the trees around them.
The limbs and trunks were so entangled that she knew finding a gap between them that she and Tiberius could squeeze through would be impossible.
“Should I increase the light?” Tiberius asked.
Lexi wasn’t sure. The light was reassuring, and on the one hand, she wanted more of it. But it also made her feel exposed.
“Do we have a choice?” she said.
Tiberius looked at her for a long moment, then shook his head. “Here goes nothing.”
The light began to descend and brighten at the same time. They had to climb further down to see anything other than the tree tunnel they were in. Finally, after several minutes, the trees around them began to spread out, making the tunnel widen. There were gaps in the trunks and branches, but Lexi didn’t notice any of that. Instead, her eyes focused on what appeared to be a stone wall.
“Is that the ground?” Tiberius asked.
“Has to be,” Lexi said.
“And that wall? Is that part of a building?”
“Keep climbing,” Lexi said.
The limbs were further apart, the tree trunks becoming vertical and making the climb much more difficult, especially for Tiberius. They made their way across the tunnel until they were right beside the wall. They could see the rotting remnants of roof beams. The roof had long ago caved in, but the walls had been made of mortar and stone. Lexi put her foot on the wall and tested to see if the structure would hold her weight.
“It’s solid,” she said after a moment.
“I guess we’re at the bottom, or close to it.”
“Should we keep moving?” Lexi asked.
“I’m thinking that creature we saw was nocturnal, but at some point it will come back this way. I’d rather not be here when it does.”
They moved slowly out across the wall, and then came a smaller tree that allowed them to make their way down the wall to the ground. Lexi felt good having solid ground under her feet again, even if the soil of that ground was damp and spongy. The smell of damp earth and decaying vegetation was strong. As Tiberius let his magical light shine brighter, they could make out the remains of buildings and homes among the massive tree trunks. Gnarled roots ran along the ground in places, and piles of stone from collapsed structures made walking treacherous.
There were also large mounds made of fallen branches, leaves, and dirt. Lexi guessed they were animal dens of some type. They kept moving until they found a sturdy-looking building. The roof had fallen in, but there was space just inside the door that was clear of debris and where the wooden floor was still intact.
“This looks like a good place to spend the night,” Ti said.
Lexi agreed, and they settled in. They both sat down and leaned against a wall in the corner of the old building. The roof beams angled down over their heads and were covered with debris from decades of forest growth above. In normal circumstances Lexi might have felt claustrophobic in the small, dirty space, but the sturdy stone walls gave her a sense of security. She liked being in something that was obviously manmade after being in the overgrown forest, which seemed like nature’s insane attempt to take over the world.
“You hungry?” Lexi asked.
“Famished,” Ti replied with a smile.
She pulled out the salted meat rations and two small loaves from her pack. The food was mostly eaten in silence. Tiberius had dimmed his magical light so that it was merely a soft glow. It gave them enough illumination to eat and see one another’s faces, but nothing more. They didn’t want to attract any unwelcome attention.
“So what now?” Lexi asked, stifling a yawn.
“Now we rest. In the morning we continue the search for the Emerystone.”
“Do you really think we’ll find it?”
“Our chances seem to be improving. Besides, I don’t want to think of what might happen if we don’t find it.”
She leaned her head against Tiberius’ shoulder. Nothing in her life had ever been safe, and while she didn’t like the fact that the world seemed to be falling to pieces around them, she didn’t feel distraught the way her friends did. She had confidence in Tiberius and in herself. She knew that no matter what happened to Avondale or the other cities, the two of them could make a life for themselves somewhere. Her only fear was the possibility of losing Tiberius. That thought made it hard to breathe, so she pushed it out of her mind, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.