They both shook their heads and the Ice King sneered at their ignorance. “Good.” He turned and left, leaving them baffled.
“What was that about? What’s he mean by that?” Shade whispered. Dylan shrugged and turned toward the great oak tree.
“I don’t know, but he doesn’t want us to know, either.” He reached out to touch the tree, but nothing happened. The great branches above swayed, with the wind caressing its limbs.
“Maybe we shouldn’t know.”
“Maybe. Come on.” He led her out of the atrium once more and to the library.
*****
CORB PACED THE throne room, exasperated by the discovery of the great oak tree in his atrium. He was powerless to remove it. Its magic was earthbound and older than he was. He wondered if Shade and the Teleen warrior really didn’t know what it was or what it could do. They shouldn’t. Corb’s magic was powerful enough to make them forget such things. The Teleen would’ve known, otherwise. There was one which grew as part of their cavern home.
The great oak trees of Faerie were rare and stood hundreds of feet tall. The silver metallic sheen to their bark made them stand out from all the other trees around them. In Faerie, they offered sanctuary. They could teleport a person anywhere they needed to go. If one simply wished for home, it would take them to another ancient oak tree closest to where their home was.
There was one ancient oak tree in the Teleen Caverns, hidden in an open cave in one of the many vast tunnels of the underground city of Teleen. If Dylan had known about it, he sure didn’t seem to remember it. Which was just as well. Corb couldn’t risk them discovering what the tree really was: a portal out of The Great Divide.
It did, however, make him extremely nervous. There had been no way out prior to the tree springing from its roots in his atrium. How did Shade know the seed around her neck could be planted? He’d seen her ampules of memory and the acorn-like seed dangling at her throat, but he couldn’t remove the charms. It was forbidden in Faerie. To try to remove them would send him flying from a jolt of power, not from Shade, but from the land itself. Memory was precious, and memory charms like hers were indestructible unless she took them off willingly, herself.
Something must have told her about the seed. How else could’ve she known about its magic? Maybe she hadn’t known. Maybe the wretched seed had called to the earth, and she was simply drawn to obey it. She probably had no idea why she buried it.
This revelation made Corb laugh out loud as he paced the throne room. He was still wearing his traveling gear, all black, worn leather and sheaths for his daggers. Exhausted, he spun to go to his chambers and rest. But Shade was standing before him, vibrant in an ethereal way. Her long white gown seemed to float slightly about her, swaying in an invisible breeze. Her long, dark hair was down, laced with frost as she watched him.
“What do you want with us?” A voice full of whisper drifted from her cherry lips. She was stunning, and for a moment, Corb was disarmed. She reminded him of Kilara so much. Her stance, her long flowing hair… though Kilara’s was a lighter color than Shade’s, and she had tanner skin. Still, the beauty and power emitted from this halfling was intense and spurred his senses.
“Where is your Teleen slave?” He remarked, hoping to snap away her confidence.
“He’s resting. I left once I knew he’d be completely asleep.”
Corb laughed, finding her amusing. “It must be a dire request to have left your true love behind in such a manner.” Approaching her, he pushed his own power against hers, testing the boundaries of her control.
She wavered, her eyes coming into focus as she felt the prickles of his icy power. Gasping, she stepped away, looking as if she had just realized she was in the throne room, alone with him. “Answer me,” she managed to say through her fear.
“I don’t have to answer to you. You have to answer to me. Where can I find Kilara? Where is she hiding as she slumbers?”
“Who’s Kilara?” Shade sucked in a breath and continued to step back until her back was pressed against the frozen, polished wall. Its freezing temperature didn’t affect her anymore, and she welcomed its cool, solid surface.
“Don’t be coy with me, halfling. She’s probably contacted you at least once by now. What did she say? Where can I find her?”
“If I tell you, will you let us go?”
He paused, studying her expression as if to find treachery in her two chocolate eyes. Without finding anything that hinted of deception, he twirled around, pacing once more. “No.”
“Then I’ll never tell you.” Shade turned to walk out but stopped when Corb abruptly appeared before her.
“You will tell me, or your Teleen boyfriend will suffer my wrath. I can always encase him in ice again… but that would be merciful.” He gripped her neck and gave it a firm squeeze. Shade scratched at his wrist, pulling to no avail. Her breath squeaked as he pressed harder until stars popped into her vision.
“Please….” She managed before he suddenly let her go, sending her crashing to the floor. Gasping and coughing, she bent over and attempted to catch her breath. She rubbed the sore spots on her neck and glared up at Corb. “You may have erased our memories from us, but you’ll never get what you seek. You can encase us in ice, torture us, whatever you like, but you’ll never find what you want the most. Ever. She never wanted you to!”
Shade scrambled to her feet before his anger burst again. This time he remained still, focused on her with a snarl on his face. His breathing told her he was reining in his temper and was about to lose this battle as he quietly seethed from her words.
“No matter what you do, you won’t find her. She made sure of that,” Shade spat at him, disgusted at his lack of control. She prayed he wouldn’t keep his word on torturing Dylan, but she had to run right now, or he might do something insane.
She backed her way out into the hall, keeping one eye on Corb and one on her route of escape. As she turned to go, his voice echoed in her ears, bringing her fear into check.
“You may be right, Shade. But I have eternity to find her, even after you are long gone and your children are grown and dead. Don’t ever forget, you are not the only descendant to come. Your children’s children will be haunted forever until I find her. So you think about that in your little human brain. You choose the future of your children, or I will do it for you. I can wait a very, very long time.” With that, he disappeared from the throne, rushing by her in a blur and down the hall toward his chambers, leaving Shade shivering in his wake. The cold was nothing compared to the aching defeat she felt cracking inside her soul.
He was right. He did have an eternity, and she had nothing but her mortal life of magic to contend with him. If she didn’t cave in, someone down the line would, and that someone would be blood of her blood regardless of what happened now. Nothing could stop him. Why hadn’t Kilara told her of this? Was it worth keeping the Ancient safe? Shade couldn’t defend herself against Corb, but Kilara might be able to subdue Corb if she was attacked. These thoughts were running rampant in her head as a million possibilities surfaced, slowly calming her frantic heart.
She’d figure it out. She just needed a little more time to think things over, maybe discuss it with Dylan some more. Her actions today had not been thought out well, and she was paying for it. In the meantime, she’d stay out of Corb’s way.
Chapter Seventeen
SHADE SAT AT the vanity table in her room. The snow was constant here and clung to her hair like thick ropes of ice. She had to frequently brush it to break off the icicles and smooth out her hair. It was a miracle her locks stayed smooth under such frigid conditions. She didn’t have to condition it at all when she washed it.
The castle miraculously had very exquisite bath pools. They were heated from underground geysers which shot out streams of hot water into circular pools lined with rock and ice. Shade loved to bathe in them, they were a solace in this desolate place. She still never saw the servants and often wondered who served them meals a
nd who tended to their clothes, changed their sheets and always had the place clean and tidy. Someone must have been there to work in such a vast place. But they never showed their faces, keeping the illusion of utter abandonment. Utter despair.
It was after one of her baths that Shade sat there, running the brush through her long, frozen hair when she caught sight of the ampules around her neck. She smiled as she fingered the beautiful vials hanging on the silver chain. She never took them off. It was as though it was incredibly wrong to remove them from their rightful place. She didn’t dare try. Something told her not to. She didn’t know how she knew that, she just did.
Today, she studied each vial over and over again. The blood-red fluid swirled inside of each one, vibrant and almost glittering. Alive, pulsating with life. She could almost feel warmth seeping from the glass, begging to be touched.
What was this fluid within? Was it a potion? Poison? Blood?
“What are you thinking about while sitting there so pensive?” Dylan lay across the sheets of the bed as he enjoyed watching her beauty routines. It was like watching a bird preen itself, running its beaks through long feathers, making them shine and gleam. Not that she was a bird; she was nothing less than an extraordinary woman in his eyes. He wanted nothing but to be where she was, watching her brush her hair. Her long silk gown rustled with every movement, snug against her body and pressing to her curves where he stared longingly over and over again. It was hypnotic.
“I was wondering what these charms were for. Do you know? Does one drink the fluid inside?” Shade held the necklace up for Dylan to see. He hopped off the bed and approached, taking the charms into his hands but not removing them. The vials did feel alive and begged for release.
“They look like memory charms.”
Shade straightened, her eyes wide with expectation. “Like, to remember things we don’t want to forget?”
Dylan nodded. “Yes. Vials of memory are made of one’s essence. I don’t know whose essence you have here, but from what it seems, you may have two memories to contend with if you drink them both.” It was curious how Corb had not ripped the charms off her already. This made Dylan suspicious and also excited at the prospect that Shade could have her own memories in the vial at her throat.
“Shade, you should drink them both. You would remember then who you were before this place. Maybe you would be able to help me remember, too.” He handed them back and waited as she pondered his words. She stared at the vials as they shimmered and the glass tinkled where the vials touched. Could it be true?
The tiny acorn-like seed had seemed to have its own memory, and it had pushed its essence onto her to plant it into the ground. She hoped when she drank the vials, she would remember what the great oak tree was for.
Unscrewing the tiny jeweled tops, she pressed the vials to her lips, at one time, glancing at Dylan one last time for reassurance. He nodded, urging her on with his beautiful steel-grey eyes. She tilted her head back, letting the warm fluid drip into her mouth and down her throat.
Suddenly, she felt a fire building inside her, slowly growing and growing until she dropped the vials and let out a piercing scream.
“Shade!” Dylan caught her before she collapsed to the hardened ice floor where her body convulsed as the fire grew and felt like it would consume her from within. “Shade, what’s happening?” He pushed disheveled strands of hair from her face as she twitched and groaned, stifling screams as they came out with choked breath.
I’m going to die. This is it. I’m on fire!
She couldn’t speak to tell this to Dylan, but she felt a scorching heat building up within that begged to be free, begged to melt her icy exterior.
Dylan felt her body get hotter and hotter as the moments ticked by. The ice melted from her hair, leaving it damp and saturated. Water began to hiss as it turned into steam and billowed off her skin. Dylan himself could feel the heat, and it was defrosting him, too. His icy, white façade slowly melted away to reveal blue fire softly burning along his skin.
Memories.
Memories can hit like a freight train, a hurried mess which entrances the mind in its myriad of flashes. An entire life can be glimpsed in mere seconds. He let them run wild through his mind, seeing things he hadn’t thought of for what seemed like hundreds of years. His mother’s face. Darren running around, throwing sparks into the air and igniting the twigs Dylan had sent flying across the Glass Bridge as a child. The Teleen caverns flipped by, like scenes in a silent movie. The moment he first laid eyes on Shade and had acted so cocky and self-assured to later find that he’d been such a fool. He’d thought so little of her at first—his discrimination against her mortality had set him up for disaster, binding him to her forever. At first he’d been hateful, resentful of his enslavement. But now, now she was everything he wanted in his life.
As the crash of his returning memory settled, he craned his head down to look upon Shade’s face. She had stopped twitching but was still burning up, even hotter than he’d ever felt her. Small lines of blood dripped from her nose and mouth, crimson and stark against the icy floor where it sizzled and melted through it.
Now the daze was just as quickly replaced with panic as he nudged her to awaken, calling her name. “Shade!”
Corb was at their sides a moment later, shoving Dylan away from Shade and assessing her injuries.
“What’ve you done? What did you do?” He burned his fingers on her skin as her temperature continued to rise, and the icy floor melted all around her, soaking through the silk of her clothes. Once he touched her, he sent his freezing spell through her to cool her down. It wasn’t until he realized how much power it was taking to reverse the heat that he even saw the empty vials lying in the pool of water expanding all around them.
He grabbed them and shook them at Dylan. “Did she drink these?” Dylan nodded. “What have you done, Shade?” He shook his head as he pulled her to his chest, cradling her. His power had worked momentarily, but now, without heat, she began shivering so intensely it looked as though she was going into a fit of convulsions again.
Scooping her up, he faced Dylan, who was slowly getting to his feet.
“I remember everything, Corb. Let us go.” His glare was filled with hate toward the Ice King for stealing their lives and now possibly having Shade die because they were stuck here. Drinking the memory vials shouldn’t have been so violent for her. He wondered if it was the bad mix of her power and the Ice King’s enchantment over her that was killing her.
“We have to take her out of here, or she’ll die,” Corb stated, gritting his teeth at the Teleen warrior. “You have to come, though I’d prefer you to stay here and rot.” He turned and whisked her away down the hall. Dylan followed close behind, afraid to lose sight of Shade forever.
The atrium was as before, with the enormous Great Oak Tree standing like a king in the middle of the room. Corb brought her to lie next to the great, metallic trunk of the tree and turned toward Dylan.
“You’ll have to be touching her at the same time as you ask the tree for sanctuary. Tell it where to go. Hurry!”
“Why can’t you?” He grabbed Shade’s fallen hand, feeling her shaking from the cold and her lips slowly turning an alarming shade of blue.
“I’m an Ancient. There is no sanctuary for Ancients of Faerie. The tree is an ancient unto itself. I can ride along with you, but I cannot make the request.” He motioned to Dylan, looking more desperate as the moments ticked by.
Dylan frowned, grasping Shade’s hand even tighter as Corb grabbed her other hand. He didn’t like it, but he had to get her to a healer quickly. Pressing his fingers to the cool, steely bark of the Great Oak, he squeezed his eyes shut. “Take us to sanctuary, Great Oak Tree. Take us home, swiftly as you may.”
With that, the great Ice Kingdom faded away as the wind blew around them with a deafening scream. He felt Shade’s fingers still gripped in his, her life force growing fainter and fainter as the jaunt took them across the earth and deep in
to the mountain caverns.
When silence had enveloped them again, he opened his eyes and took in the welcome sight of the grand room of the Teleen Caverns Great Oak Tree. He couldn’t be happier to see the rock walls and torch flames lining them which were burned into his memory. A few Teleen were standing around gaping at them, surprised to see anyone teleport in via the oak tree. Standing up, he hollered at them.
“Get a healer now! Now!” The few staring nodded and went running for the Rela, Teleen oracle. He knelt back down to find Corb chanting his own spell over Shade.
“Don’t you dare place any more magic on her! Get away from her!” He shoved at the Ice King, but Corb did nothing to retaliate. He continued his chant, infusing his life force into hers to prolong it as much as he could. She was fading, and only a healer could fix her now. Dylan flashed his worried eyes to Shade’s pale face.
Rela dashed through the hall and into the great room, coming to kneel next to Shade as she placed her hand on Dylan’s shoulder. “I’m here, let me work.” He nodded and moved aside to let her perform her magic. She began speaking her own chants and laid several stones on Shade’s heart, her hands and her forehead.
As she continued, Corb’s spell faded. He had stopped, letting the healer take over, but was left exhausted, drained and looking somewhat shocked. Dylan watched the oracle work her magic, knowing she was almost as powerful as Ilarial. Her fingers danced over Shade’s figure in an intricate dance as her voice strained, yelling the words out and pushing magic into her.
Shade was looking more and more pale, but the blue had faded. Her drenched tresses snaked all around her head. Her breathing was so shallow, Dylan feared she was not going to make it. Suddenly, Rela opened her eyes and stopped chanting. She was breathing hard and stared intently at Corb.
“You—you cannot stay here. You’re an Ancient, and you cannot remain in a realm not of your command unless you’re invited. You must leave now, or I will ask Faerie to make you.”