His voice was steady, reassuring, as if they had all the time in the world and this was simply an exercise, not a matter of life and death.
Pick a single image and then focus on one small detail.
“Okay, I’ll try.” She chose the first “screen,” the one that came in from the tree frog.
She was once more looking down on the tops of the people as they moved past. One head caught her attention. A woman. Her straight, thick black hair was covered with leaves and ash, like most of the others, but she had something stuck in her hair. An ornament made of bone, carved and painted. Riley could make out the swirls of red and white paint beneath the streaks of ash. She locked her focus on that hair ornament, and as the woman continued on the frog tracked her with its eyes until the hair ornament disappeared from its view.
The image of the woman immediately changed to a different perspective. Now she was watching the woman from a spot ahead of her, but she still had a clear view of the ornament in her hair. Riley could see part of the woman’s face but she didn’t want to get lost, so she stayed focused on that single detail. As the woman walked, Riley’s vision began switching from view to view. The viewpoint switches started coming faster and faster, until Riley thought she was going to lose herself.
Dax poured waves of reassurance into her, and as if blinds had opened to let sunlight stream in, her mind expanded, using the eyes of every insect, bird and beast nearby to form clear, three-dimensional images of the party.
The entire party of the hundred or so villagers advancing on Riley’s encampment were bent on killing her and everyone with her.
R
iley was shocked at the clarity of her new, stereoscopic vision, which was so far superior to her own, unenhanced eyesight. All of the details and color, the ability to magnify images and see multiple locations at the same time was incredible. It should have been overwhelming, but miraculously, she was fine. She could do this.
Mitro’s minions were making a straight line for the encampment, destroying everything that attempted to slow them down. It was clear they had come from a local village. And even though everything about them felt evil and wrong, she found it hard to believe all of them had willingly succumbed to Mitro’s foul control. Some of the women had baby cradles strapped to their backs!
Dax, wait. What are we going to do to these people? Kill them? There are mothers in that group!
They
were
mothers, Riley. Were. The men and women coming toward us are already gone from this world. Only their physical husks remain. Vampires take pleasure in digging out the insides of what they despise and can no longer be, replacing it with the foul evil they have become.
Can’t you save any of them?
I wish I could,
sivamet,
but it is not possible. Those people are truly gone. The only humane thing to do is put their bodies to rest. I am sorry.
Empathy radiated through their connection.
There were no children in the mob, and Riley’s heart broke at the thought of what might already have happened to them. Their parents clearly had not given up without a fight. Almost all of the oncoming villagers bore signs of brutal struggle, including deep furrows scratched into their bodies and faces.
Riley could feel the plant life trying to bend away from the taint of evil the group carried with them. Suddenly her vision went blurry, as if the eyes through which she was watching had lost their focus. She pulled back, closing off all but a few of the viewpoints until she was staring at the approaching group from above. That was when she realized there were several people wearing similar hair ornaments in the row. She counted eight different people, each wearing the same small bone adornment. There was something about them that made her skin prickle. She stretched out her senses and nearly gagged at the overwhelming stench of evil that radiated from them. The earth cringed beneath their feet, insects scurrying away, plant roots withering beneath each step.
For whatever reason, these eight carried the most concentrated levels of corruption in the entire group. As she focused on them, using the reluctant eyes of creatures that would rather run than look at them, she made a disturbing discovery. The long, matted hair spilling down their backs was not their own, but rather multiple bleeding scalps grotesquely sewn together. Riley gagged again as the bowls of soup she’d eaten earlier threatened to come back up.
Those eight are the greatest threat,
Dax said.
Riley, you don’t need to see more. We have all the information we need.
She held on a moment longer.
Are you sure? Maybe I can see something else to help us.
More details flooded into her brain. The flesh of the eight seemed to ripple and palpate, as if bugs were crawling in every direction under the surface of their skin. Their fingertips were devoid of flesh, the bones filed down to points.
Not out there. Come back to the camp. Come back now.
Dax’s tone changed. He wasn’t making a suggestion.
Riley moved away from the group, releasing the eyes of the forest, but not her connection to the earth. Slowly, she pulled her awareness back to their own encampment, and found herself searching for Dax among the people preparing for battle, needing his calm, reassuring strength. Her awareness shifted downward, and she found him, wrapped in earth, solid and calm in contrast to all the chaos above. Strength radiated from him even while he rested. She could feel his hands running over her arms.
Are you up for a little more?
With the power of the earth running through her veins and his mind connected to hers, she’d never felt so strong before.
What did you have in mind?
I was thinking about defense.
Defense? Were you thinking a moat or something?
This is what I was thinking.
Her mind filled with an image of the trees behind the camp interlocking to form a dense wall. Two of the trees in the wall remained upright, growing taller than normal. Riley frowned. Weaving the trees into a fence to stop the oncoming attack made sense, but the picture Dax had formed showed the wall being erected at the back of the camp, not the front.
I don’t understand. You want to trap us in? Why wouldn’t you put the fence between Mitro’s puppets and our camp?
I won’t let any harm come to the people in this camp, if it can be avoided. Have faith.
Even as Dax spoke the group of thirty or so in the camp, some only armed with spears, began running toward the tree line he’d shown her. Four of the men broke off from the group and ducked into the big tent. Moments later, they came back out, carrying the professor on a makeshift gurney. His remaining student followed close behind, the professor’s pack clutched in his hands. Together, the small group moved back into the tree line.
Riley reached for the trees and the plant life with a mental sweep of her hand. The foliage vibrated at her touch, then leaves unfurled and roots extended as she encouraged the plants to grow. Soil was rich with nutrition and water. Bushes thickened. Trees grew taller, branches reaching out. Limbs and vines entangled, weaving together rapidly, and a wall began to take shape.
Excellent, Riley. Leave an opening here.
He showed her a small opening in the middle of the wall, just large enough for a single person to fit through. When she formed the opening and grew the two trees on either side to his specifications, he said,
I have lived a very long life, even by the standards of my own people, but I must say I’ve never been as impressed with anyone as I am with you. You are amazing.
Riley didn’t respond, but warmth unfurled in her belly. It was nice to feel helpful. She still couldn’t believe she was doing most of the things he’d shown her. Seeing through the eyes of forest creatures. Making plants grow with just her will alone. Even her mother hadn’t accomplished such feats, and yet, with Dax’s help, the abilities seemed to come almost instinctively.
She continued to grow the wall of vegetation, spreading it out in a semicircle around the back half of the village to form a natural funnel, with that opening in its center. The rest of the camp filed through the opening in short order.
All right, Riley. That’s enough. It is time for you to leave.
Are you sure the wall will hold?
She could feel the attackers drawing nearer. There were so many.
I am sure. Let go of the earth and come back into yourself.
Her hands still in the soil, Riley pulled her consciousness back into herself. It was just as disorienting leaving so many minds as it had been extending out into them. When she was fully back in her own body, she slipped her hands free and staggered to her feet. Her arms and legs felt like she had just run up a mountain, and her head was pounding.
She stood for a moment to catch her balance and stretch her back. The camp was deserted. Only her tent and the big tent at the center were still standing. Everything else had been packed up and carried away.
She turned to face the living wall behind her. It was a sight to behold, dense and impenetrable, already covered in moss, leaves, and little flowers of every color. The wall had grown so quickly, the ash hadn’t had time to cover it yet. Gary and Jubal had climbed the two large trees on either side of the center opening, and they had each taken a perch high up in the branches.
Ben emerged from her tent, carrying her backpack. He moved with calm efficiency.
“Time to go, Riley.” He gestured for her to precede him toward the opening in the wall. Evil was on the wind and getting closer, and they were the last ones left in the camp.
As they approached the opening, Riley could see the tips of rifles and blowguns poking through the wall of foliage. Everyone who had preceded her through the wall had taken up defensive positions on the other side. Now, she understood the plan. This evacuated camp ground was to be a killing ground, plain and simple. She turned sideways to get through the small opening. Ben followed close enough behind that he bumped against her with every step.
Slipping one shoulder down she ducked through the last few inches of the tunnel and emerged on the other side of the wall. She stepped clear of the opening to let Ben pass, then laid her hand on the wall and willed the branches to grow and intertwine to close the opening. Through the barrier, she could hear the sound of marching feet, growing louder as their attackers neared the encampment’s perimeter, and it gave her pause. Dax clearly wanted her on this side of the wall, safe and tucked away. Lord knows, she didn’t belong out there in the fight. But she had skills that could help. She wasn’t sure where she belonged.
“You belong exactly where you are.”
His voice sounded in her ears this time, rather than her mind. She spun around and found him standing less than ten feet away. The sun hadn’t yet set, and he stood there in the muted light of the ash-filled sky. Tall, strong, otherworldly. Sparkles of red-gold light flashed around him like fireflies as the dust from his scales rained down from his rising. Riley couldn’t take her eyes from him.
With a few long strides, he closed the distance between them. “Right now you are here with me. I wouldn’t want you anywhere else.” The man’s presence was enough to make her forget where she was. He bent his head toward hers, his lips hovering close. Energy crawled from the tips of her toes and traveled up her body, warming and swirling. For a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her right there, and she couldn’t think, couldn’t move. She could only stand there, staring at him in anticipation.
His head tilted to one side, and he pressed his lips to her cheek. The contact was intimate, soft. With him standing so close it was impossible not to feel the strength of his big frame. The combination of strength and tenderness shifted something down deep, and Riley almost wrapped her arms around his neck.
She needed him. Her heart was thudding like a drum. She wanted to cry for the villagers who had lost everything because she hadn’t been strong enough or fast enough to keep Mitro imprisoned.
“Had you kept the volcano sealed, we would never have met,” he reminded gently, his thumb tipping her chin up while his other hand cupped the side of her face. “I believe in fate,
päläfertiilam
. Mitro was meant to escape. I have no idea why. Maybe the Universe decided I deserved one such as you. If so, I am forever grateful to it. I am deeply sorry that you have to see the ugliness a vampire leaves in his wake.”
Riley nodded her head, half mesmerized by him. One would think that with a war party headed their way, led by zombies …
“Ghouls,” he corrected, in that same, soft,
hypnotizing
voice.
They were talking war, and her mind was hearing something else. That slow drawl, like molasses, warm and comforting. He exuded such confidence that she couldn’t help but feel safe even when she was scared to death. He looked at her and touched her as if she was the most precious, beautiful woman in the world.
Dax had only known violence for most of his existence. He’d seen things most people couldn’t comprehend and yet, with her, he was unfailingly gentle, tender even.
She nodded her head. “I can do this.”
“I know you can,” he agreed.
The cry of a bird and a shout from one of the villagers snapped them both back to attention. They turned to peer through the leafy wall and found that the first of the oncoming attackers had spilled like insects into the encampment clearing. Some of the attackers carried bloody spears and machetes; others held nothing but branches and rocks. Quickly they broke into two groups, each heading for one of the tents.
Riley watched as they tore the first tent to pieces. One of the eight, who had accompanied the first group, became enraged upon finding the tent empty. In a fit of fury, he shoved his spear through the closest person. Pools of black blood spilled out upon the ground as the wounded man screamed and fell to his knees.