Sember (Forestfolk, Book 2)

Chapter 20

The following morning, I expected lots of awkwardness. That kiss had been amazing . . . until I brought it to a crashing halt with my fears. Was he put off when I stopped his advances? Did he feel rejected when I told him it couldn’t happen again?

“Hungry?” Jastin’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and I looked over to his smiling face. He held out a strip of salted fish.

He didn’t look put off to me, but I couldn’t be sure. “Are we . . . ” I stopped, realizing there was no we. “How do you feel?” I finally asked, taking the fish from him.

He seemed to know what I was talking about and gave me a reassuring nod. “We’re okay. And we’ll go at your pace. I’m a patient man.”

My pace? Did that mean he still wanted me? “But . . . I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Well, you’re certainly entitled to your opinions.” The grin he gave me was so endearing, I decided to stop pressing the issue. For now.

* * *

It was close to lunchtime when we finally reached the cave. The entrance was a jagged hole between boulders, easily mistaken for an animal’s den.

“This is it?” It looked like we would have to crouch to enter it. I wondered if the entire cave was that low.

“Yes, we have arrived.” Jastin slid the pack from his shoulders and set it against a tree a fair distance from the cave entrance.

“Aren’t we going in?”

He eyed the cave entrance, and his mouth pressed into a tense line.

It was the first time I’d ever seen trepidation on his face.

“We should rest before entering,” he said, his eyes fixed on the cave. “No telling what might await us inside.”

I shivered at the thought. I was eager to get this over with, but at the same time, I had no guarantee that I’d come out of this alive.

I tossed my pack beside his and sat next to it. “No argument from me.”

“Well, that’s a surprise.”

I shot him a look.

His lips curved into a teasing smirk. He was baiting me.

I shook a finger at him. “Not this time.”

He settled against a tree opposite me. “I just want you in fighting form when we get in there.”

“Ha. Believe me, it won’t take much.” I dug a piece of jerky from the pack and tore off a piece. “How do you know this is the place? Maybe a bear lives here and the actual cave is somewhere else.”

“You see that pile of rocks near the entrance?”

I looked where he was pointing. A circle of medium-sized stones formed a base while a strategic formation of smaller stones piled on top.

“That is what we use to warn other people of danger in the area.”

I frowned a little. “Why not close the entrance? Barricade it somehow? Keep people from going inside in the first place.”

“We’ve tried.” Jastin sighed. “But I don’t know. Either people open it up again because they think there’s treasure, or whatever is inside clears it out.”

I stopped chewing, thinking of the latter possibility. What would we find inside?

“I’m taking a nap.” He stretched out on the ground and threw an arm over his eyes.

I stared at the cave entrance, wishing I could see inside without actually going in. Would we find a monster? Some kind of magic? Or worse, would we find nothing at all?

* * *

After a fortifying nap, we prepared to enter the unknown. Jastin pulled two torches from the pack and handed me one.

I shook my head. “I don’t need it. I am a torch.”

“I think you should conserve your energy.” He held the torch out to me.

Before my perilous trek through a blizzard with bare feet and a near-frozen brother, I would have stubbornly refused. But now that I knew I had limits, I accepted the torch, recognizing the wisdom behind his words.

I shouldered my pack, lit both torches with quick snaps of my fingers, and in we went.

For several minutes, we had to crouch under the low ceiling as we shuffled along. Tree roots dangled from above, and dirt crumbled onto me when I scraped against them. Then, finally, the cavern opened up.

“Thank goodness,” I said as I arched my back. “I was starting to feel like an eighty-year-old woman!”

“Are you saying the elderly are decrepit?”

I thought of Davin back in Foresthome, whose hands shook while he worked. “Aren’t they?”

“My grandfather bedded maidens until the day he died.”

I burst out laughing. The sound echoed against the stone walls and into the far reaches of the dark cavern.

I cringed. If there was anything living in here, it certainly knew about us now.

“Perhaps we should continue more quietly,” Jastin whispered.

I nodded in agreement and looked around us. Our torches lit up the cavern walls, revealing . . . nothing. Just rock and dirt. A dark hole on the far side indicated the only direction in which we could advance.

We slipped through the opening, and now it seemed more like a tunnel than a cave. I brushed my hand along one wall, noting its rough-hewn sandstone texture. It looked as if it had been hacked at with tools. “Does this seem natural to you?” I kept my voice low.

He looked at the coarse walls around us and shook his head. His grip on the torch tightened, and we continued on.

The tunnel eventually opened up to another cavern, only this one was different.

Very different.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” I rubbed my eyes and looked again.

Jastin didn’t answer. His eyes roamed the walls and ceiling. Embedded into the surface were countless gleaming, white, angular . . . rocks?

I had no idea what they were. I’d never seen anything like them.

“What are they?” I asked, barely whispering. They looked so beautiful, so delicate, like maybe a loud sound might shatter them.

“I’ve only heard stories about these.” The reverence in his tone was evident. “They’re crystals. They form in ancient caves.”

“Are they . . . dangerous?” I wanted to touch one, but didn’t want to get sick. “Could these be what Dozan’s father encountered?”

He looked thoughtful for a moment. “There are legends about heroes being born from crystals, but none of them say anything about disease.”

Emboldened, I stepped closer to a particularly large formation and tapped my torch against it. It felt solid. “They don’t look dangerous to me. Well, unless you throw me against them. That might hurt.”

Jastin chuckled and wandered farther into the crystal-encrusted cavern. He touched one of the shiny protrusions with a fingertip.

Nothing happened.

The orange glow of our torches cast all sorts of strange, translucent shadows along the walls. I thought I saw movement from the corner of my eye and quickly turned my head. Shadows jumped and danced around the crevices and crystal formations. Nothing else.

A sudden gust of wind lifted my braid and blew the torches out.

A tittering sound echoed through the cavern.

The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up.

“Sember, was that you?” I heard Jastin’s voice, not far away in the pitch-black.

“I do not laugh like that,” I replied as I engulfed my hand in fire and raised it above my head. “Where did that wind come from?”

Jastin edged closer to me. “I don’t know.”

Another short gust blew at me, this time from behind. The flames on my hand fluttered wildly.

I spun around, but saw nothing. “What’s going on here?”

Jastin touched his torch to my flaming hand to relight it. “I think there’s something in here with us.”

I snapped my head toward a faint scuffling sound. “I think you’re right.”

A few beats later, we were again blasted by a gale. The force of it extinguished all the fire, including my hand, and darkness enveloped us. Gravel scraped against the rocky floor, followed by a grunt and sounds of a scuffle.

I lit both hands this time. I found Jastin on the ground, wrestling with . . . something? Someone? It had pale skin and yellowish hair matted on its head. Tattered pants adorned its skinny legs.

Its wiry arms pinned Jastin down, which didn’t seem possible because the creature was barely half his size. Then it blew something into his face, causing him to cough and sputter.

“Get off him!” I stomped at the creature with my boot until it rolled away and scampered back into the shadows of the crystals. I dropped to Jastin’s side, who still hacked and cleared his throat. Some kind of clear fluid slicked his face. I helped him sit up.

“I think . . . it’s human,” he gasped in between coughs. “It had . . . blue eyes . . . and a nose like us.”

“Human?” I looked around, trying to spot where it had gone. “What did it do to you?”

“I don’t know.” He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “But I feel strange.”

I moved a hand to help clean his face.

“Don’t!” He pushed me away with his other hand. “He sprayed me with something. You shouldn’t touch it.”

Dread seeped into my core. Was this the source of the plague?

I leapt to my feet and addressed the emptiness around me. “What did you do to my friend?”

My voice echoed through the cavern without any reply.

Anger began blazing within me, and I willed myself to contain it. I needed to keep a level head. Maybe I should change tactics.

“What’s your name?” I looked around at the shadows. “I’m Sember.”

Nothing.

I relit one of the torches and handed it to Jastin before speaking to the cave again. “We’re trying to help our people. Maybe you can help us.”

A scoff echoed around the crystals. “Help? No one helps Vill. Why should Vill help you?”

Encouraged, I said, “Maybe we can help you in return.”

“You already have,” the reedy voice said.

What did that mean? I took a step toward the voice. “Vill? Is that your name? Can you come out so we can talk?”

No response.

What would Siena do? She always believed in the innate goodness of people. Appealed to their benevolent nature. Her own kindness drew it out in others.

I looked at my flaming hands. Maybe I was too intimidating. I lit the other torch and snuffed my hands. “Our people are dying. If we don’t do something, there won’t be anyone left.”

“Your people,” the voice spat, “are why I am here.”

Jastin finished cleaning his face with his sleeve and came to stand next to me. “I don’t understand. We are peaceful people.”

Another scoff. “So you say. Vill knows better. Vill was beaten and left to die by your peaceful people.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “Why would they do that?”

“You are Aberration, yes?” His voice came from different directions, like he was moving around.

“That word hasn’t been used in a long time. We’re Gifted,” I said.

Thin laughter reverberated around the crystals. “Call it what you like. People fear you, no?”

I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t refute him. The truth of his words robbed me of my voice.

“Vill feeds from strength of others. Others did not like this. Said Vill was dangerous. Feared Vill. Proclaimed Vill a monster.”

Monster. I knew that feeling. People didn’t tell me, but I knew they thought it.

“The world is different now,” said Jastin, trying to follow the direction of Vill’s voice. “They no longer hate us. The Gifted are respected.”

Was I respected? Or merely tolerated?

“Who respects a monster? Vill is no longer a man.”

“Tell us more about your gift,” I said. “I’d like to know more about you, as a person.”

“Gift. Peh. Vill sprays essence onto victim. Essence transfers strength to Vill. Victim dies when all strength is gone.”

“They . . . die?” I looked at Jastin with alarm. “How are you feeling?”

“A little woozy, but I think I’m okay.”

“Your friend is Aberration too. Strength not forthcoming. Will take much time to sap. But this is good. Spread my essence to others.” From the sound of his voice, I imagined him puffing his chest out with pride.

“So how do we stop it?”

A brief silence. “Stop essence from feeding Vill? Why?”

“Because it’s killing people. A lot of people.” I wondered if he felt any guilt at all.

More silence.

The sound of soft footsteps. Then he stood in front of us, a safe distance away. “You want Vill to die.”

“What? No!”

His face was human. Dirty, but human. His bare torso looked so slim, but from the way he’d held Jastin down, I knew he wasn’t weak.

“You say Vill is Gifted, and Gifted are respected. But you want me to starve. That not respect.” His pale blue eyes narrowed in accusation.

I had no idea how to respond. I’d talked myself into a corner.

“Look,” Jastin said, hands raised in placation, “we can work something out.”

“Vill not stupid. Humans kill monsters. Unless Vill kill them first.” His chest expanded as it filled with air, stretching out like an enormous water skin.

“No!” Jastin charged at him after realizing what Vill was about to do.

He wasn’t fast enough.

Vill exhaled with so much force that it blew Jastin aside. The torches blinked out. I stumbled back several steps, dazed.

I couldn’t see anything in the blackness. I heard Jastin’s groan though.

With an audible poof, I relit my hand and searched for him. My eyes widened with horror when I found him. “Jastin!”

I ran to him. He stood motionless, his side impaled against a sharp, protruding crystal, a dark circle forming around it on his shirt. “Oh no. Jastin. We’re getting out of here.”

I placed a hand on his shoulder, ready to help him move. He stopped me, instead pulling me closer. “We have to kill him,” he whispered. “His essence is the plague.”

I stared into his eyes, torn. “But you need a healer, and we’re days away from your village. We have to go, now.”

He shook his head. “After Vill is dead.”

I sighed sharply. “Let’s at least get you to safety.”

“Sember, I’ll be fine,” he whispered fiercely. “Don’t give him a chance to hide.”

“But he could—”

He pressed a cold finger against my lips. “Watch this.”

Still standing, he crossed his arms over his chest, fists pressed against his collarbone. I watched as his eyes closed and frost began to form, first across his brow, then over his hands. It spread across his face, covered his body, and thickened into an icy shell.

“Wow.” I tapped against the ice. It felt thick and solid. Worried about his wound, I peered down at his side. The ice had enclosed the offending crystal, effectively freezing it in place against his body. The dark circle, barely visible through the ice, had stopped spreading.

“Okay,” I said to no one in particular, nodding to myself.

I took a step back and turned to face the cavern.

I guess it was up to me now.