The Angel of Elydria (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 1) (51 page)

EVEN IN THE light of day the woods were enough to exacerbate the growing sense of paranoia in Penny’s head. Wherever they went, the leaves above their head formed an unbreakable seal from the sky, creating a dim and stuffy world beneath the branches. Now and then when Penny looked up during their arduous trek, she saw the fluttering, intricate patterns of moth wings as wide as quilts above the trees.

Near midday they came to a wide stretch of fiery-red, earthy brown, and gold leaves covering the ground, having left their skeletal hosts above as the chill of winter imposed upon the land. Many scrapes and bruises were suffered during this time, as it was difficult to see what lay underneath the cover of autumnal leaves. When the blood-red light of a sunset filled the forgotten paths of Mulgrith they stopped for the night. After another dreary meal left them all feeling discontent and empty, they took turns puzzling over Penny’s glass ball, giving outlandish suggestions of what to do with it, none of which worked.

That evening the mists came, floating in from the depths of the woods and snaking in white tendrils. Going to bed that night Penny was shocked to hear strange, mournful music coming from a great distance. It was a thin, whining sound that came from a woody instrument. They all gathered together, collectively disturbed by the song.

Penny could not sleep that night. Though her body ached with exhaustion and her insides tormented her with hunger, she could not seem to relax. Her coughs broke the stillness and her sinuses filled with pressure. Insomnia reigned until Simon shook her for guard duty. They sat back to back, looking out through the shrouds of fog.

A shock came when several of the massive centipedes trundled toward their camp, but the centipedes snaked around them and went along their way. They received another shock as a storm of winged, humanoid creatures zoomed over their heads with enormous speed, each one a different colored fire-burst of light.

As dawn leaked anemic warmth across the forest, Penny wondered how she was going to continue on. There had been little food and even less rest during the last two days, and it was taking its toll on the group of weary travelers. Almost everyone suffered from a sore throat or stuffy nose of some degree.

Not long into the day’s trek, the forest began to change, growing thicker, mistier, and greener with every step. The moss-engulfed trees twisted upward in malformed shapes. Annette almost screamed when a massive creature as tall and wide as a semi-truck crashed past, carving a small path of destruction as it went.

After a treacherous hike through the deep woods, the trees began to thin somewhat and the woods opened out onto a glade, where a waterfall poured into a clear pool. Argent explained that the water was rich in magic, and they all took a drink from the icy spring. The water tasted of minerals and seemed to revitalize their tired bodies. Hector deemed it a nice place to spend the night, and Argent crafted a makeshift fishing rod from a tree branch.

Penny didn’t realize how much she’d missed meat until she bit into the warm, crispy flesh of the grilled fish. It was full of nutrients and robust flavor from the enchanted pool. As darkness fell again, the improving mood was killed by the ominous sound of angry Gobblish voices in the distance.

Hector used magic to get rid of the campfire and they all scrambled to hide their belongings, throwing themselves into the underbrush behind a fallen log just as a group of goblins tromped into the glade.

“Ah, I smell smoke. They could be nearby! They’ve probably gone up ahead. Come on, let’s go!” a goblin called to his friend. A great rustling of plants was heard and the goblins charged onward, their voices growing quieter by the moment. Penny stood on unsure legs and helped Annette to her feet as Argent poked his head out from the trees.

“It was only a matter of time before they caught up with us,” Argent sighed.

“We’ve got to move. We’ll have to sleep somewhere with more cover―come along, no time to waste,” Hector whispered. They took refuge in a soft depression in the forest floor that was snaked with thick roots and dewy moss, making beds in the soggy earth, and burrowing between the clefts of soil and ferns as they tried to no avail to get comfortable.

The group did not allow themselves a fire again, instead huddling in the blackness, shivering as the curling mists and dew condensed all around them. Through the endless shade of night Penny could hear large, powerful things moving about through the trees. She shut her eyes and tried not to think of what it was that was making such a disturbance. Twice she felt something crawling through her blankets and leapt up, slapping at her legs and arms, but when she looked closer at them, she found nothing.

In the deepest part of the night when even the chattering of insects and calling night birds had gone quiet, Penny could hear the whining of that same mournful flute off in the distance. She sat up and hugged her knees to her chest, watching as an eerie orange trail of lanterns drifted through the tall trees almost half a mile away. Near daybreak Penny succumbed to her exhaustion and slept for an hour or two, only to wake feeling absolutely hideous. Along with a searing headache and stiff, weak joints, she felt nauseated. If Annette hadn’t helped her up from the mossy pit, she felt sure that she would have lain in the wet soil ringed with ferns and mushrooms until she died.

E
ating the leftover fish from the previous night stopped the violent shaking. Even through her daze, Penny noticed that everyone was shooting her sidelong glances. By the time they were ready to set out for the day, Simon had worked up the courage to ask the question nagging at everyone’s minds.

“Penny, that orb―perhaps you’d better look at it a bit more. We haven’t got much time left and―”

“Didn’t I say that I have no clue what to do with it?!” Penny snapped, regretting her fierce tone the moment Simon shrunk away from her. Fatigue and illness were starting to wear away at them all, and no matter how much they did not want to admit it, life-threatening problems were becoming a possibility.

“Are we growing nearer to the center of magical activity in this forest, Argent?” croaked Hector.

“Yeah, I can feel it. We should be there by nightfall if I’m not mistaken,” Argent breathed, looking around with apprehension. “Let’s just pray that Della does in fact live there―I don’t know how much longer we can keep this up.”

As they delved deeper into the trees, the forest indeed became more saturated with magic. The colors of the arbors, the moss, and even the flowers and mushrooms grew more intense. Azure and molten gold veins ran through the leaves, and tall tree roots were becoming archways rather than traps for unwary feet.

A shiver ran up Penny’s spine. The limbs of the black wood trees looked to her like arms of the dead. She pulled out the orb and looked it over, begging for it to tell her its secrets, but getting nothing in return. A slow fury was growing toward Adrielle for giving her such vague directions, and Penny could not shake the unsettling, unspoken feeling that her friends were beginning to blame her for not knowing how to use the glass ball.

As the trip wore on, huge glowing mushrooms started appearing all over the place, indigo butterflies perched atop their hoods. The group went down a hill and through a few more clearings, arriving at a flat section of the woods that seemed to stretch on forever. Everything was silent; no chattering animals or swooping birds played amongst the greenery, nor was any insect life visible. Argent’s pace slowed after a while and he turned back to face the group.

“This is it. This is the most magic I’ve ever felt growing in the wilds. You can feel it too, can’t you?” he whispered. The mist was so dense that it obscured most of the world from view, making it impossible to see more than ten feet in front of them.

“Yes, I think so,” Annette answered reverently. “It’s a sort of humming or buzz…”

Penny felt uncomfortable as she stood between the towering rows of ancient trees. A keen sense told her that they did not belong anywhere near this place, as if it had gone undisturbed for eons. They were trespassing here. She drew closer to her friends.

“Look for anything out of the ordinary, but be careful. With all this magic, there’s probably something very dangerous living here.” Argent took a careful step forward and the group followed him in a tight knit cluster, not needing to be told to stay close.

The flat land seemed to go on forever and without definable landmarks. It looked as though the world had gone through a green filter and Penny’s eyes seemed to sting with the onslaught of color. She felt a peculiar sensation, almost an electrical buzz, whenever her fingers grazed the trunk of a tree. Their soft, careful footsteps were like an ear-splitting racket in the sacred silence of these woods. Something caught Penny’s eye in the distance and she stopped.

“Look!” she hissed, her voice cutting through the serenity and causing everyone to jump. The unusual colors she had spied became more obvious as she led them in a new direction.

They could now see a wide ring of mushrooms surrounding a field filled with delicate yellow and purple flowers that smelled of honeysuckle, the scent hanging heady in the misty air. The flowers grew around a deep green pool, with a surface as smooth as a mirror. A willow tree draping its long leaves over the surface was a stark contrast to the towering pines. The weary travelers stepped into the ring of mushrooms, their breathing apprehensive as they crossed the threshold.

“Hey…” Simon called, crossing the field of flowers and bending down before the edge of the pool. Penny was beside him in a moment. She looked where he pointed to and her heart leapt.

Before them stood a stone, elliptical in shape, but not extraordinary in any way except for what had been etched into the surface in English lettering:
Only Gods May Enter Here
. Penny nearly sank to her knees in relief.

“This has got to be it! Hector, come see!” Penny whispered, beckoning him forward. A smile lit his face when he saw the stone and he seemed to grow younger. He clapped Simon on the shoulder in a silent gesture of approval.

Without wasting a moment, Penny took the orb out of her pack and with shaking hands pressed it to the front stone. Nothing happened. She dipped it into the water, to no result. Frustrated, Penny commanded the glass orb to tell her the way.

Nothing happened. Feeling foolish, she stuffed the orb back into her pocket, refusing to meet the disappointed gazes of her friends.

ONE BY ONE they gave up searching for clues and went about setting up camp. After dusk, the only light that shone was from the ring of mushrooms that fenced them off from the rest of the woods. The night was too quiet and too devoid of life. They ate very little and talked even less.