Chapter 26

"The path is different now."Between deep breaths, Iliantha looked around. "This is the path I came from, but it's not the same."

"Well, can't say I'm surprised that it changes based on the way we move through it," Laila said, bending over to grasp her knees.

My calves were burning, so I lowered myself to a squat. The air couldn't get in my lungs quick enough. "Damn, I need to get back to the gym."

The deer was much faster than us. We'd been running for what felt like an hour and still hadn't caught it. Hadn't even seen it since the first time it'd sprinted past.

"You and me both," Laila murmured. Propping her hands on her hips, she nodded to Amara. "You're right about one thing. When it comes to aerobic strength, we're weak."

Amara frowned. "I hadn't meant any offense, do gràs. It's just?—"

"Yeah, yeah." Laila waved her off. "I'm starving. We didn't even get to the food at dinner. She just drugged us and sent us off into a maze in the middle of the night tripping our balls off."

The backpack I hadn't taken off since we arrived was still strapped around me. Covered in mud and kelpie blood, sure, but it was still there.

After unbuckling it, I dug around inside for a moment. The granola bars at the bottom may have been smashed, but the packaging was still intact. I tossed one to Laila, then to Iliantha and Amara. Still trying to catch my breath, I tore open the last one. When it felt like I could get a decent breath in, I dumped the contents into my mouth. There was more granola than bar at this point.

"Can I ask you a question, do gràs?" Amara asked, sitting across from Laila.

"Throw it at me," Laila said between chews.

"The magic Caeda uses," Amara began. "The way she manipulates souls to live longer. How do you feel about that?"

"You want my blanket opinion? Or the multifaceted one?"

"Both?" Amara said.

"I'm glad that the magic was banned. It was made illegal way back when, before your soul was ever even created," Laila said. "It didn't need to be, really. People on Morduaine had no desire to use it. We saw what the maalaichte cnihme did with that magic. They destroyed our world with it. There was a natural consequence, so we all understood why it shouldn't be used, and why it had to be banned on this realm. Hell, I signed off on it way back then.

"But then I died. There was no tree of life. There was no eternity. You had a few options if you wanted to expand your life. Either A, you did what Caeda has done, or B, you became a Vampire. Obviously, considering how I feel about Warren and Ezra, I don't have issues with Vampires. Especially because Ezra, for example, didn't choose to become one. Warren did, though, and I get it. A hundred years to live isn't enough. Especially not when your enemy lives for thousands, like the Angels do.

"From what I've gathered, the Elves put up a hell of a fight against them. They have, for the last hundred and fifty years, since Caeda accepted the crown from her mother. The Fae haven't. And I mean no offense by that, either to the Fae or the queens." She looked between Iliantha and Amara. "But the fact is, the rulership here in Makora is strong. We don't see the damage in this city that we have seen in the capital. The Elves have always been good fighters. It's why we used them to create Guardians. Maybe that plays a part, or maybe it's the ruler.

"But, on a moral level, because I don't see Caeda causing any true harm with the magic, I'd be a hypocrite if I hated her because of it. If I were in her shoes, and my world was under constant threat from a race that lived thousands of years longer than I did, and I knew I could protect my people if I used the magic that's forbidden, I would. I would do anything to protect my home and my community, as long as I knew that I wasn't tipping the scales in a bad way. I don't believe Caeda is. I think that she is leveling the scales that are stacked against her. So no, I can't blame her for that, and no, I don't have an issue with her using the magic.

"I have an issue with the magic itself because of what I've experienced, but how is that even right? The magic is innately bad because it requires taking a life, but is it? If you're taking the life of someone who is causing more harm to the world than good, are you doing more good than bad by using what is considered to be bad magic? Like I said, it's multifaceted. Rarely do I look at things as black and white, and this is an area of gray. I can't flat out say that I have no issue with anyone using this magic. I also can't say that I think Caeda is using it irresponsibly."

"I understand all that," Amara murmured. "But it doesn't come down to you, then. You don't mind people living forever, even if they don't acquire eternity from you."

"I'm careful with who I give eternity to because of my obligation to a' chraobh. When I was Véa, I trained my entire life to be the ultimate judge. I was very young when I learned the gravity of my power. The harm people can do with their eternity, with all that power I gave them willingly, that's on my shoulders. I will not spit in the face of the great tree. I will do as I was taught. But I cannot control anyone but myself. If someone gets immortality elsewhere, and they do bad things with it, that's not on me. That's on them. I'll stop them, if I have to. But I won't have that burden on me, nor on the great tree."

"A' chraobh. That's the great tree, right? I think I've heard Graham talk about it," I said. Laila nodded in answer. "And the great tree is an actual thing," I said slowly. "It's not just a metaphor."

"A very real thing." Laila nodded. "An actual tree, bigger and brighter than anything you've ever seen, with leaves that glow and change colors and understands the universe and life itself in a way that I doubt any of us ever can."

"Is it here? On the Fae Realm?" I asked.

Frowning, she shook her head. "It's on a dying world. Still alive, though. That's what Jeremy said, anyway. I haven't been there since I died. I probably should go visit her, but frankly, I'm ashamed to. Dying was a mockery of her power. I shouldn't have let that happen." She paused. "Anyway. Anybody got some water? I finished mine off."

Iliantha reached into her cloak and came out with a canteen. "Here you are, do gràs."

Rustling sounded to my right. We had come from the left.

Around the corner of bushes, a single ear poked around the edge. The deer.

Slowly, I brought myself to my feet. Very gently, I edged forward, the rest following silently.

"Come here, little guy," I murmured, hand outstretched. "I won't hurt you?—"

It took off.

So did we. This time, though, we were closer to start. I was only a few feet from the deer when he ran. She, actually. I didn't see antlers, and I was about ninety-nine percent sure that males would have them.

Regardless, the deer ran, and I ran after it. Everyone was close behind, except for Amara, who had the audacity to run past me. Damn her battle skills for making her physically fit.

But then she slowed. I was only a few steps behind, so I could see over her into the clearing. For whatever reason, the deer had stopped running.

Rather than a swamp or a lake, this time, we were in a meadow. Wildflowers stretched to the sky at our feet. In the center, a willow tree stood, its deep verdant leaves swaying in the wind.

The deer lay down beside it, as if asking us to join.

We edged forward, Laila taking the lead. Trees did seem to be her expertise.

As we approached, I was able to get a better look at the bark. While otherwise a normal tree, its bark and its trunk looked odd. I could have sworn my trip was ending, but staring at the willow sent me toward another peak.

Two eyes, a nose, and mouth. They weren't carved into the tree, but rather, formed from it. Each feature was a part of the bark.

"Come now." The lips made of bark parted, words leaving in an old, feminine voice. "You're almost done, but I must share with you first."

I half expected a Keebler elf to climb out of its mouth.

The others, though, only did as it said. They approached, then sat cross legged before it.

Those bark eyes scraped against the wood, turning to me. "You too, mil."

"Talking tree," I murmured. "Sure, I'll listen to the talking tree."

Stepping through the wildflowers, I breathed in their intoxicating scent. It was relaxing, as was the tone of the tree's voice. It continued to speak as I settled in on the floral bed.

"The air an tagadh, that's why you've come." The tree looked at Laila specifically. "You will end them, won't you?"

"We hope to," she said. "Do you know anything about them? Can you help us defeat them?"

"I'm not fit for a battle, a' chraobh. I do know many things about them, however. Some things I'd rather forget, but that should still be useful to you. Our roots all overlap, stretching all the way up the coast. Even beneath the water. We see all.

"The walls might not have eyes," I said, "but the trees do."

Laila shot me a look.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"They are as you believe them to be," the tree said. "But it is not so simple, as you have worried."

"You know about the magic they're using?" Laila asked.

"I do. It is not as bad as you fear it is, but it is worse than you had hoped," the tree said. "They are not in contact with our greatest foe. That is not where they have gotten the magic."

"Where did they get it?" Iliantha asked.

"The enemy who started this war." Lux then, right? "But it is ours. Yours, do gràs."

Again, it was looking directly at Laila.

She furrowed her brows. "You know who I am."

"A tree knows a tree." It was hard to tell, but those bark lips seemed to tilt up into a smile. No matter how odd that sentence sounded, it was actually quite beautiful. Comforting. "Fear not, Caeda knows nothing. I doubt she'd believe it if you told her. But that isn't what matters now, do gràs. What matters is yours. Ours. The tree is the property of all Fae, our mother and our daughter, our life and our fate, and they are hurting it."

"The magic the air an tagadh are using comes from a' chraobh," Laila said, confirming.

"Yes, do gràs," the tree agreed.

"But what is it?" she asked. "What's the purpose in using it?"

"I do not know, do gràs," the tree said. "I only wanted to assure you that they do not work with our greatest foe."

Pressing her lips together, Laila exhaled deeply from her nose. "Sure. Thank you, mil."

"The pleasure is all mine," the tree said. "Follow the deer now and remember. Only the sky will catch your fall."

The tree closed its eyes, and the deer stood. It looked between us all, waiting for us to stand. When we did, it started again. This time, it didn't run. It only walked to an arched opening in the bushes and waited for us to follow.

None of us spoke as we resumed our path behind the deer. I wanted to ask questions, but the look on Laila's face told me I shouldn't. She was deep in focus, squinting at the ground, barely looking up to acknowledge the deer.

I desperately wanted to ask, though. Why was this so upsetting to her? What did it mean? Was that normal? Could people tap into the power of the tree of life, aside from her? Was that even what the tree had meant? That's what it sounded like to me, but I wasn't completely sober yet, running on very little sleep, and wasn't sure I'd understood a word. I wasn't sure I even understood the circumstance. It was a talking tree, for fuck's sake. We all seemed to have seen it, but that didn't make it real.

I thousand more questions circled my brain as we crept deeper through the maze. So consumed with my thoughts, I hardly noticed the path growing dark. At the front of the group, Iliantha halted.

"Do you think this is what the lady of the lake meant?" Iliantha asked. "That the sky will catch our fall?"

I stepped closer, peering over her shoulder.

A few feet ahead was the night sky. Quite literally, I couldn't tell where the sky above ended, and this one began. Bushes still lined the path on my left and right, but a foot or two ahead, they melded into the sky above and the sky before us.

If I didn't know better, I would have thought it was a green screen, draped up the wall and onto the floor. But there was no projector. There was no light, only cerulean sparkled with stars and nebulas.

"If I had to guess," Laila said. She walked past me, then straight into the sky.

Like a vacuum, it sucked her in. She vanished, and only sky remained.

The deer hopped in behind her.

Before I had the chance, the others followed her. Of course they did. She was their god. What she believed, they believed.

I did not have the faith they did.

But I remembered.

Illusions are all within these halls.

It may have looked like the sky, but it wasn't. It was a portal that would get me the hell out of here.

So, like the others, I stepped into it.