Into the Forest Shadows (18 page)

Three small eyes looked up from a wide
forehead, blinking two of them.

The hatred in the air around her focused on
the small creature.

Kate blinked. This small creature was what
the trees had been trying to warn her about?

In a high reedy voice it said, "Good. More
workers to toil in this filthy forest."

Blank-faced Gatherers surrounded them. Did
the blank expressions mean slow thinking, as well? If they made a
run for it, would the Gatherers react or be able to keep up?

Then she spotted a shape slinking behind the
creature. A razor wolf, his eyes narrowed in the daylight. The
wolves didn't look any better in full day. The light only
emphasized the claws and razor points down the back.

It stepped closer, sniffing the air. Kate
took a step backwards, right into the wide chest of a Gatherer.
"They have the taint of a Watcher on them."

The creature shook its shoulders, standing up
straighter. All three eyes blinked rapidly as if trying to bring
them into focus, "Both of them?"

"Don't accuse us of killing the Watcher."
Kate glared at the wolf, using anger to keep the fear away. "Your
kind murdered him, not us."

The razor wolf chuckled, coming to stop in
one of the darker shadows along a tree. "Did I say you killed him?
If you have the smell upon you, it means you came from somewhere
near the invasive human home."

Rage surged through her. They had to be
talking about Grandma, and she was not invasive. The trees
themselves trusted her.

Ayden pulled at Kate's sleeve, shaking his
head. Kate fell silent, watching the two. Shadows moved and darted
around them, but not taking shape. More Shadow Creatures, she was
sure of it.

"If they were near the human home they might
be of use to our leaders, if only for a meal," the wolf said.

"I want workers. We need more product," the
little creature insisted.

The wolf snapped its jaws at the three-eyed
creature, making it jump. "You do not command us, Newcomer!"

"No. They stay here. They will be put to the
spores," the creature insisted, a hand going to a pouch on its
uniform.

Kate watched them bicker back and forth. The
memories from Grandma finally clicked and she blurted out towards
the little creature, "You're a Newcomer!"

"My kind are more ancient than your kind!"
The creature bristled. He opened a pouch on his belt. "They know of
our arrival. We shall soon know how."

Fear, anger and the impression of danger
flooded out from the trees, overwhelming Kate. The pouch. Danger
lurked in that pouch.

A low creak went through the trees. The
Newcomer paused while pulling a packet out of the pouch. The razor
wolf jumped to its feet, looking up with long ears swiveling
around.

The pain and moans of the trees filled the
camp as the limbs lowered. The razor wolf easily jumped out of the
way of the slow moving limbs, but the Newcomer didn't. The Newcomer
screamed as a limb caught him in the middle and knocked him
away.

"The cape!" The razor wolf shouted. "They are
protected."

"Get them out!" The Newcomer squealed. "To my
Captain! Into the cargo pod!"

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Kate pivoted, pushing through the Gatherers.
If they could get into the regular forest they might have a
chance.

But the Gatherers were much faster than their
blank expressions indicated. She found her arms caught and held
tight, her feet kicked out from under her.

The trees continued their attacks, but as
fast as the branches knocked the Gatherers away others replaced
them. The attacks didn't slow them from dragging Kate and Ayden
away from the center of the camp.

She caught a glimpse of several small dark
pods near a large shuttle that looked like it was made of the same
black armor of the Newcomer's uniform. She struggled even more,
yelling out at the trees to help.

A door on the side of one of the pods opened.
Metal cylinders knocked the breath out of her when she was thrown
inside. Ayden tumbled over her legs. The door slid shut behind
them.

Kate scrambled to the door, trying to find a
way to open it. She heard a limb strike the top of the pod, the
echo hurting her ears.

The pod shifted, throwing her backwards.
Ayden grabbed her before she hit a wall.

"Careful," he said in her ear with a strong
arm wrapped around her middle.

An arm she very much liked.

She felt Bunbun at the side of his shirt. "I
hope I didn't squish Bunbun."

"He's fine."

She pushed herself back to the small window
in the door. The pod rose up through the canopy while the trees
took swipes at it.

Ayden grabbed at a strap holding the
canisters tightly to the wall as the pod was buffeted by the
attacks. "I lost my axe and backpack. See a control pad
anywhere?"

She shook her head. "Not a thing."

He started searching the walls. Kate searched
around the door again, still not finding anything. Not even a small
control pad or a computer cabinet.

The peaks of the mountain brought her
attention back to the window. "We're heading out of the human zone.
I needed to go there, but not like this."

Ayden rushed to the window. "This isn't good.
No one goes off the peninsula."

"I'm guessing the Newcomers have." Kate
leaned against the door, her head against the window, watching the
deep passes and hidden valleys pass by. "The Ancients are going to
be livid."

"If anything will get them to show their
faces, this should." Ayden frowned, "I guess we try to make a run
for it when we land and hope we can find our way back. But I don't
know this area, or some of the trees I'm seeing."

Kate slipped out her phone. She shook her
head at the readings. "Nothing. And I thought we'd made it when we
found the camp."

The peaks flew by, the land gradually
leveling out. The nose of the pod dipped down, sending the
canisters clanking against each other. They moved through cloud
wisps, revealing the dense green of a new forest.

Trees that might help them.

Kate chewed on her lower lip. "We need to go
the other way."

"What?"

She pointed at the sharp hills and slopes
they could see out the small window. "Those aren't right. That's
not where we need to go, even though I can tell we're closer. So,
it must be the other direction."

"And I didn't think you could get any more
strange," Ayden said with a shake of his head.

Kate shrugged and smiled, "I've been called
worse. Going to argue with me?"

Ayden leaned against the wall, letting his
head rest against the edge of the window. "No. For some reason...
just no."

She didn't like the doubt in his voice.

Out of the sea of green a clearing appeared.
In the middle of it sat a large oval object half buried in the
ground. The matte-black pieces of curved hull told her the ship
belonged to the Newcomers. At the very top near a rounded
protrusion a small part of the ship lay exposed, small spots moving
around it.

Regularly-spaced small buildings surrounded
the ship on all sides. Ayden was right. Houses like that didn't fit
on this world. They didn't feel right. They sat on top of the
ground apart from the landscape instead of a part of it.

"Not a Gatherer Camp," Ayden commented. "I
don't like this. No one should be out here."

"No trees to help," Kate added as the pod
settled down in the middle of the clearing. The trees might be too
far to help, but their long shadows overlaid the entire camp.

Two large Gatherers appeared on the other
side of the door, their blank stares echoing those of the camp
they'd just left.

"Get ready," Ayden whispered. "I'll tackle
one of them, you run for it."

She shook her head. "We need to both run for
it. I can't survive out there by myself, and you know it."

A glimmer of Ayden's cocky grin reappeared.
"Good point."

From behind the two Gatherers a door to one
of the wood buildings opened. A Newcomer with a familiar uniform
stepped out. At his shoulders glittered draped golden cords. He
stopped in the sunlight, adjusting a prim black hat with a narrow
brim and gold ornamentation along the edges. He stepped to the side
of the door, looking back inside the building.

Then emerged the one person she so
desperately wanted to see.

Grandma.

And all the run left her. No way was Kate
going to leave Grandma.

Ayden grabbed her arm and whispered, "She's
alive."

The door of the pod moved outwards, letting
in the smell of dust and dirt. The Gatherers stood on each side of
the opening, their eyes hardly blinking.

Grandma beckoned to her, moving forward
slowly as if in pain. A breeze rustled through the fringes of her
dirty apron. "Come out, dear. The pod needs to be unloaded."

Kate cast a nervous eye at the Gatherers and
the fancily dressed Newcomer. With a hand on the edge of the door
frame she pulled herself out of the small pod.

"What is happening?" Kate demanded as she
straightened up.

Out of the corner of her eye she guessed the
distance to the nearest trees. Much too far for her liking. Yet,
she could feel them. A haze of discomfort and pain lingered in the
air, blowing along with the breeze. It was too far to see the
coloring of the bark and trunks, but she guessed they would show
gray and white marks.

"I'm sorry I had to leave so quickly. I was
called out to help," Grandma said. Kate noticed her droopy eyes and
pale skin. "This is Captain Straos, of the Myropties. It seems
there has been a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?" Kate repeated. She
rubbed the back of her neck, the building whispers from the trees
going straight through her head. How could they affect her so badly
with the trees so far away? "Oh, about what? The Gatherers? Your
kidnapping?"

Captain Straos stood up straight, motioning
the two Gatherers forward. He spoke in a child-like voice, "We came
at the suggestion of the ones you refer to as the Ancients. It
seems we both have a similar problem to deal with, although my
people's is of high priority."

"Even the Gatherers are catching it now,"
Grandma said sadly.

"What?" Kate moved away from the Gatherers to
stay out of arms-reach.

"My research, dear, with the sick trees. I
solved the riddle." She nodded to Captain Straos. "It is an illness
among their people as well as our Gatherers. It's spreading. Were
you successful in saving my research?"

Kate kept her face as steady as she could,
facing them fully while her mind raced to make sense of the
conversation. Of all the things to ask, Grandma was asking about
her research? Not about the Watcher? Not about how Kate came to be
here?

Grandma faltered, leaning back against the
building. "Oh dear. The sun. Much too hot."

"Your Grandmother asked you a question,
child," Captain Straos said sharply. "Answer your elder as honor
demands."

Kate glared at him, warring between anger at
his tone and laughter because he sounded like a petulant child.
"Which project are you talking about?"

"Immune systems! Age length and strength." He
waved at her grandma, "She is growing ill."

"She may not have it. I did hide it," Grandma
said. She retreated to the shadows of the building, fanning her
face with a hand, "Too hot today."

And the conversation started circling back to
where it started. A circle she didn't want to be in. And in a place
she didn't want to be in. How could Grandma work with those who
killed the sacred trees?

The cape.

Grandma wasn't wearing the red cape she
always wore when outside the cottage. A longer version of the one
Kate wore.

A loud rustling spread over the camp. She
looked at Ayden, but his attention remained on Captain Straos and
her grandma. As if he couldn't hear.

Images of dark moving shadows filled her
head. Of trees blocking paths. Protecting. A sensation of pushing
away.

The rustling ended, a great weariness washing
over her. The trees were exhausted. She would get no more out of
them.

But it was enough.

Kate squinted her eyes, not trusting the
shapes in front of her. Captain Straos remained firm, his lines and
form solid.

The form of Grandma blurred. Within the
colors and shapes of Grandma in her apron another shape emerged.
Crouching on two legs, a front leg extended out to balance.

She grabbed Ayden's arm and squeezed hard. "I
thought the research would be safer where you put it, Grandma."

Grandma looked at her sharply. "Then you will
have to go back for it. I cannot leave these sick people. They need
my help."

Kate glanced towards the trees, wishing Ayden
still had his axe. Ayden caught the movement, his body tensing.
They needed a diversion of some sort and soon.

A light wave of concern from the far circle
of trees, along with the sense of understanding. But the trees did
not move into the barren ground of the camp.

Bunbun shrieked. She turned towards Ayden
just in time to see Bunbun jump out of his coat. The bunt bounced
and took off running for the building at a awkward gait.

Kate turned and ran for it, only to have two
large Gatherers step in front of them. One of them grabbed a
fist-full of her cape, jerking her to a stop. Ayden slammed into
her as the other Gatherer grabbed his coat.

Kate was turned towards the building in time
to see the image of Grandma blur. The form of Diasis dropped down,
snapping his jaws at Bunbun.

"The Newcomers have formed an alliance with
the Shadow Creatures," Kate announced. "Want to try the explanation
again? Why do you want my Grandma's research?"

"For the same reason I look for the
Ancients," Captain Straos said, ignoring Diasis chasing Bunbun
around the corner of the building. "For honor to be repaid."