The Secret of the Dread Forest: The Faire Folk Trilogy (17 page)

“Do not hork up a hairball,” she warned him.

He purred.

They went deeper into the forest, and the tires crunched less as the road turned into softer ground. Keelie opened her mind to the trees. She needed their soothing green presence in her thoughts.

Tree shepherdess, the poison cloud makes us ill.
The trees, mostly spruce, that grew along the road spoke in unison.

Keelie glanced behind them at the spinning exhaust plume behind Vlad the VW. Ooops. No wonder they were upset.

The poison cloud will be gone soon. It brings help for the Tree Shepherd.

The trees seemed confused. As Zabrina drove past, Keelie saw the shocked faces in their trunks.

Trust me.

The scent of evergreens filled her mind.

“The Dread is well and truly gone.” Sir Davey’s voice was thin with awe. “That Zabrina can get this far into the forest is surprising, and you’re not feeling the effect at all, Keelie.”

“It’s far worse than that. ATVs have been getting in. Dad fears it could become like the Wildewood. Look.”
Keelie pointed at crisscrossed tire tracks and flattened foliage on both sides of the road, and gashes in the tree bark. She made a mental note to tell Dad and return to heal the trees.

Zabrina shook her head. “That rotten stinker of a mayor. He’s been pocketing money from some of these so-called recreational vehicle companies who want him to open up the trails. If I had anything to do with it, motorized vehicles would be banned from the woods.”

In between the trunks of two large spruces, Keelie caught a glimmer of silver. Niriel would have guards out looking for her. He wouldn’t give up.

She opened herself to the trees.
Show me the location of the jousters.

Images of armored and searching jousters on horseback came back to her from all across the Dread Forest. Other images flashed across her mind: the village green surrounded; the Lore House protected.

The aunties called to Keelie.
You need the treeling. She will help you save your uncle, Tree Shepherdess. Without her, there is no hope.

“Stop,” Keelie shouted.

Zabrina slammed down on the brakes. Vlad squealed to a stop and they all lurched forward.

Knot flew off of Keelie’s lap onto the floorboard. Molly was flung into the windshield. She looked like a parking sticker for a rock and roll concert.

Sir Davey clung to the passenger seat, his knuckles white with fright.

“What?” Zabrina flung her hands up in the air.

“We need to get out. I think the jousters have spotted the exhaust. The trees will cover for Sir Davey and me.”

“So, this is where we part ways.” Zabrina seemed sad that her part of the adventure was over.

Something thunked the hood of the VW and bounced off the chrome strip in the center.

“What was that?” Zabrina stared at a crease that now ran across the VW’s hood.

“It’s a lance.” Sir Davey said grimly.

The jousters approach, Tree Shepherdess. We will try to stop them, but cannot for long.

Two mounted men in armor appeared around a bend in the road, and another, the spear launcher, came at them through the forest. Zabrina laughed. “What a hoot! This is like at the Ren Faire.”

“Yes, but for real.” Keelie didn’t like the look on the jousters’ faces.

“We need to go,” Sir Davey cautioned. “When lances are thrown, in my experience, drawn swords aren’t too far behind.”

“Thanks for your help, Zabrina.” Keelie was anxious to reach her father and Jake. “Will I see you again?”

“You know where my shop is. The luck of the forest to you.

“It will be.” Through the VW’s window Keelie saw the face of a nearby spruce looking down at her.
Protect her.

She opened the passenger door and stepped out into the green, springy ferns that bordered the road. Sir Davey clambered out, disappearing into the forest. Knot ran after him, as if he’d had enough of Vlad the VW.

From the side of the road, Keelie watched as Zabrina turned Vlad the VW around in a billowing cloud of sooty exhaust. The two jousters on horseback coughed, then quickly reined their mounts around as the VW charged them, bouncing off trees like an insane pinball game.

Keelie caught up with Sir Davey, who was running toward the village. They slowed to a walk. No jousters were in sight. “Sir Davey, before we go to the trial, there’s someone I have to get.”

“Who?”

“Alora.”

“The treeling?” Wrinkles formed on his forehead. Then Sir Davey said in a panicked voice, “Keelie.”

A cold point jabbed Keelie’s neck. “I found you. If you move, you will feel my blade,” a deep voice rumbled behind her.

She recognized the voice. It was Tamriel. He must have used a shielding spell to hide himself.

“Don’t move, dwarf.”

“Let her go.” Sean stepped out from behind another tree.

“Not this time. Niriel will be pleased that I’ve caught her.”

“I’m his son, so what I say goes, too.”

“Everyone knows you’re smitten with the Round Ear. I listened to you last time. Not again.”

Sean’s eyes widened with alarm as Tamriel pushed the sword blade deeper into Keelie’s neck.

“Ow!”

“Quiet,” Tamriel growled. “We will go to the Lore House. You will not speak to trees, nor summon your birds or cats.”

Keelie looked at Sean. He sighed, as if he’d come to a difficult decision.

She held Sean’s gaze, his green eyes bright with concern and pain. She knew what he was thinking. If he let Tamriel take her, he was following his father’s evil direction. If he rescued her, he would be breaking away from his Dad. It was hard to disown his father, evil or not, even though many lives hung in the balance—and possibly the fate of all the elves.

“Tamriel, release Keelie.” Sean’s voice held no uncertainty.

Keelie cried with relief. She knew she had been right about him.

“What? You would choose a Round Ear over your own father? Over your own kind?”

“Release her.”

Sir Davey waggled his fingers. There was a rumble underneath Tamriel’s boots, and thousands of earthworms began wriggling around his feet.

He lowered his sword and began hopping out of the
way of the squirming mass. “What in the Great Sylvus is this? A dwarven curse?”

Sir Davey went in for the tackle like a little football player, crashing into the jouster at the knees. Tamriel toppled over.

Sean grabbed Keelie and swung her into his arms. He held out his sword, the blade pointed toward Tamriel. Tamriel glared at Sean. Keelie clung to her rescuer. He wrapped his arm tighter around her waist. She would remember this moment for the rest of her life.

Sir Davey kicked Tamriel’s sword away, but Tamriel countered by flinging a handful of earthworms into Sir Davey’s face. Davey gagged and staggered in a circle, scraping worms from his hair. Tamriel turned over onto his knees and got up, armor clanging, and ran into the forest.

“I hate to leave you here, but I know you will be protected by Sir Davey.” Sean nodded his head toward the dwarf. Sir Davey nodded. “I need to catch Tamriel before he reaches my father, or there will be worse trouble for your family.”

Keelie watched as Sean ran after the fleeing jouster. She had no idea how much time she had left, and she still had to get Alora.

The area around Grandmother’s house was deserted, so Keelie ran upstairs.

“Where have you been?” Alora shook her leaves.

“Coming here.” Keelie tugged Alora’s flowerpot away from Grandmother’s now-empty bed. Outside, Sir Davey waited with the cart from the shed. Knot stayed close to Keelie. His eyes were narrow slits as he surveyed the area around him.

“I swear, if this tree were human, she’d look like Laurie,” Sir Davey said as he rolled Alora toward the village green.

Alora didn’t let up once she started her list of complaints.

I could’ve died of thirst.

Do you know what neglect is?

Just wait till the aunties find out what you’ve been up to. You’re in trouble.

In the distance, Keelie heard voices, and they were growing louder. They were on the backside of the village now, hidden from view, but still they were taking a chance being so close. Everyone’s attention was on the Council, including the guards. A trial was a rare thing for the elves.

Come to us, child, the aunties called.

Sean was on guard near the aunties. As they made their way, hiding behind sheds and large trees, Keelie wondered if Sean had managed to catch Tamriel. She didn’t dare make her presence known.

“I guess this is where we part ways, lass. For I need to go and speak with your father.” Sir Davey had reached the edge of the green, where the elven crowd had their backs to them.

Nodding, Keelie dragged the treeling off the cart and into the safety of the Auntie’s tree root.

You’re leaking salty water again.
Alora reached up and patted Keelie’s cheek with her branch as Knot slipped away.

A ragged jouster emerged behind Sir Davey, his sword drawn, ready to plunge it into the dwarf’s back. Keelie
recognized him—it was Tamriel. She struggled to get out of the Auntie’s root and shout a warning.

“Wait, Keelie,” Alora called out.

As Davey ducked, Tamriel whirled and struck out at nothing. He recovered and slashed again. Knot bounced back into view and leaped behind the jouster, who turned, still hacking at an invisible opponent.

Knot turned to grin at Keelie, then leaped onto one of the auntie’s roots. Tamriel followed, in furious pursuit. Tamriel was soon backed up against the aunties, and before he knew what was happening, a root lifted and he vanished from sight.

Knot saluted her with his tail, and Keelie bowed her head to him. She was going to have to rethink pushing his plush booty across the floor with her foot. He had hidden talents.

Everyone in the village had gathered around the Caudex. The elegant chairs, which looked like her father’s work, were arrayed on the fossilized wood platform. There sat Grandmother, the Lady of the Forest, with several other elder elves, including Etilafael, the Head of the Council. They were an impressive sight.

Niriel stepped onto the Caudex like a plucky rooster. He waved his hand as if he were a politician at a rally.

“Greetings, lords and ladies. We gather here under grim and solemn circumstances, the likes of which we thought we would never face again. We have been betrayed, and all that we are is now in danger. Before you will come those
who wish to see us extinguished from the earth, and it would be meet to punish them as they would have us punished. Oh, elevated ones, members of the High Council, you see before you the criminal returned.”

Jake was pushed into the clearing. He stumbled, then turned to the Council and bowed elegantly. He seemed not to react to the stony silence that met his flourish, but Keelie noticed his tiny wince, and the worry that clouded his eyes.

Lord Niriel continued. “You have consorted with the unnatural child of one of our own, one who was once your brother. When we capture Keliel Heartwood, she will share your fate.” He said her name as if it was a curse.

“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Her voice rang through the clearing. All faces turned, mouths open, as head held high, Keelie walked into the tree circle.

He’d called her unnatural. Was that because of her human self or her use of dark magic? Keelie stood straighter. She’d show them. The moment she stepped up onto the fossilized wood she felt its hum and stared down, astonished. The tree was dead, but amazingly, its energy lived on.

Lady Etilafael stood, leaning on a tall staff. “Keliel Heartwood, you stand accused of wielding dark magic.”

“Yes ma’am. But it’s not dark in a bad way. It’s just different.” Keelie looked around for her father. He stood to one side of Grandmother’s thronelike chair, with a clear view of the Council and the crowd. He met Keelie’s gaze.
Dad felt the tree’s hum, too, but he looked worried. Sir Davey near him, holding a stone and murmuring to it.

She wondered how many other elves could feel the ancient tree’s magic, how many had that much tree shepherd in them that they heard the forest speak to them. A quick glance showed that not many did.

Despite Niriel’s decree that this was a solemn occasion, many of the elves looked almost darkly gleeful, as if they were happy that she’d been caught doing wrong and would now be cast out. Risa’s red hair stood out in the crowd, and Keelie gritted her teeth as she saw the girl talking excitedly with another elf girl, her eyes wide, barely containing her laughter.

Two more of the Council stood, and Grandmother stood as well. Her serious expression did not betray any hint of love or sympathy as she addressed Dariel—now called Jake.

“You were banished from our forest, doomed to forget, and you have returned. You knew that the consequence was death.” The members of the Council looked at each other, except for Keliatiel, whose eyes were glued to Jake.

“No way,” Keelie muttered. Dad had said that death was not on the table. “It’s not his fault his memory came back,” she cried out. “And he loves this forest. He was worried because the Dread was failing.”

“Silence!” Lord Niriel swept forward. “For all we know, the Dread failed because of the vampire’s return. Did he not kill three trees and countless animals?”

All the gathered elves started to speak.

“Silence!” Lord Niriel raised an arm and turned slowly, and the crowd grew still once more. “Your turn will come, Keliel Heartwood. You have no say in this matter.”

“I’m a witness. I saw the true vampire, myself. Jake only took a little of the animals’ life essence, and he never killed any. He never harmed a tree. ”

Etilafael banged her staff against the wood-stone floor. “Enough. Child, you know not of what you speak. Events long ago sealed this one’s fate, and now he must pay.”

A green-cowled elf brought the Lore Book and placed it in the center of the slab. Next to it he put a silver knife. Not a good sign.

“This isn’t civilized. He deserves a fair trial, not a bunch of antique rituals. The trees can be witnesses.” Keelie gathered every bit of knowledge she’d gleaned from her lawyer mom. “What real wrong can be blamed directly on Jake? That he returned? He’d been warned against it, but is trespassing punishable by death? Are you going to execute every hiker who wanders up here?”

The elves murmured, and Lord Niriel frowned and walked forward swiftly, the Lore Book in his hands.

The crowd parted and a stretcher was brought to the circle. Lord Elianard lay in it, pale and trembling, his once-beautiful golden hair lank and plastered with sweat against his head. He looked as if he was dying. Elia stood beside him, a hand on his shoulder, the other holding a cloth to her tear-stained face.

Lord Niriel pointed to his former flunky. “Behold another who allowed the darkness to touch him. Lord Elianard is on his way to becoming a vampire, and it is Dariel’s doing that has brought him to this end.”

Keelie opened her mouth to protest, but Jake’s face fell and his shoulders drooped when he saw Elianard’s condition.

The gathered elves were silent as Niriel read aloud from the elven law. “Vampires are parasites not to be tolerated. They bring attention to the Otherworld and endanger all by their presence in the human world.”

Three elven guards came forth—Niriel’s lackeys—and each in turn presented their evidence against Keelie: the amulet she still wore around her neck; that she was subject to the Dread, and therefore human; and that she be-friended a vampire and kept his existence a secret.

“I should be allowed to present witnesses for the defense,” Keelie argued.

Her grandmother looked at Etilafael, and the elven matriarch nodded.

“I call forth Knot.”

Niriel laughed. “A cat?”

Shouts erupted as Knot strode out in his Puss n’ Boots garb, sword at his furry side. Keelie stared. This was right out of her dream. She could almost smell the fish sticks. She knew that Knot was more than a cat, but this was a lot more than she’d envisioned.

He raised a paw for silence.

First, he bowed toward the Council, then turned to bow to each of the aunties, the queen oaks.

“Meow am not a public speaker, but meow must come before yeow to defend my Dariel Fae Friend. Meow tell yeow that yeow have falsely accused yeow boy. Dariel of the Tree Shepherds is meow friend. A friend to all fae, a blood bond that meow takes not lightly. Meow is guardian to his kin, meow is bonded to Keliel.” He bowed to Keelie, then winked one big eye.

Eloquently, in his kitty accent, he described what happened in the Wildewood, and that the unicorn Einhorn himself gave Keelie the amulet that Elianard had used against him.

Niriel jumped up from the seat he’d taken at the side of the standing crowd. “It is as I said. Nothing has changed. Elianard used the amulet against the Wildewood unicorn, and now Keliel has the cursed thing and uses it in our own forest. Is the Dread not broken? Surely she has done this with the help of her vampire kin.”

Knot hissed at Niriel, fangs exposed. “Yeow are the villain in this play.”

“The cat is a fairy,” Niriel said quickly. “Everyone knows the fae are fickle and not to be trusted.”

Some of the elves looked doubtful. They knew Knot, and certainly had never seen him take this shape.

“Would the testimony of a tree help?” Keelie asked. The trees around them murmured.

“Since Zekeliel and Keliel are the only ones who can
hear tree speak, trees may not testify in this matter.” Etilafael looked around. The elves nodded. Grandmother Keliatiel looked bemused. For a long time she had heard tree speak only in dreams, but yesterday her skill had returned.

“But there’s a tree that can speak plainly for all to hear.” Keelie turned to her father. “Dad, get Alora.” She turned to the Council. “The acorn treeling will testify.”

Dad wheeled out the pot in which the treeling was planted. Alora seemed very pleased with the attention. Keelie was afraid that they were in for some more of her obnoxious dramatics, but instead she just straightened her leaves.

“Do you think you can you make them all hear you?” Keelie whispered, bending low. “Jake heard you, but of course he’s a tree shepherd.”

“Don’t worry, Keelie. I’ve got Wildewood sap in my trunk. I can make myself heard.” Alora waved her branches for attention, then showed her face.

The crowd roared, excited by a sight that they’d only heard about. Dad and Grandmother looked around, astounded. Everyone could see the tree’s true face.

“I am the daughter of the Great Oak of the Wildewood,” Alora’s voice rang out. “Sent to renew our bond with our sister forest. I was entrusted to Keliel Heartwood, daughter of Zekeliel Tree Shepherd. I witnessed the end of the battle, and my parent trees watched as well while Keliel defeated the evil elven wizard Elianard and his daughter Elia of the
Dark Heart. They had used the amulet to drain the Unicorn Guardian’s energy and weaken the forest. They took his horn.”

Gasps arose from the crowd. Niriel scowled at the treeling, who continued, unperturbed.

“Zekeliel Heartwood himself fell ill from the dark magic. As an acorn, I was entrusted to Keliel’s care in gratitude for her service. Now I speak for the Wildewood. Keliel Heartwood is welcome there. She is sister to me. The one you seek is not accused, but I accuse him. Niriel of the Silver Bough.”

The crowd gasped and Niriel paled, but stood tall. “This is nonsense. Obviously I am no vampire. Will you listen to a talking tree?”

Keliatiel stood once more. “Our fates are tied to the trees. We are honored that the Princess Alora addresses us.”

A branch snaked down from above, holding the book that Keelie had surrendered to the aunties before she went underground. Niriel jumped, trying to grab the book.

A piercing cry from above signaled the return of Ariel, who swooped down, talons extended toward Niriel’s face. He ducked and Keelie grabbed the book.

Niriel straightened and adjusted his robes as Ariel perched on a branch above them. “See? She herself proves me right. Her dark magic restored the sight of the hawk, and now it is a darkling beast that does her bidding. She used this cursed book and now she wields it once more.”

Keelie turned to Jake. “Tell them the truth. Tell them what happened with you and Elianard and Niriel.”

Jake shrugged.

“You can’t just give up. Think of Elia. Don’t you love her? Do you want to die when her own father is fading, and she will be left alone?”

Jake’s eyes flitted to Elia, who stood at her father’s side, a faithful daughter even though she knew he’d led her into doing wrong. He slowly met Keelie’s gaze, then gave her a tiny nod and smile, straightened his shoulders, and faced the Council.

“Now will I speak of that which took place in this forest long ago,” he began. “I killed the unicorn of the Okanogan forest, and used its death to restore the Dread in our forest. For this I was punished, but know that I did not act alone. Lords Elianard and Niriel helped to plan and carry out the act. Together we slew the beast.”

The elves roared and angry shouts filled the clearing. Etilafael banged her staff against the Caudex once more, and after a while the crowd silenced.

Lord Niriel was frowning. “How sad that Dariel must accuse the innocent to assuage his own conscience. But surely a life outside of the forest is not worth living? Why fight for more of it?”

“Well, he didn’t fade did he?” Keelie shouted. “He was just fine in Seattle until his memory came back. He only came here for justice, and because his mother was fading.”

Keliatiel stared at her.

“I’m telling the truth, Grandmother.”

“She is telling the truth,” Elia said. She pulled a wrapped bundle from her gown and unwrapped the unicorn’s horn, its base jagged from where it was broken from Einhorn’s head. “Lord Niriel urged my father to do this. And to my shame, I helped.”

Gasps, then silence, met the revelation.

“That is mine,” Niriel shrieked. He lunged for the horn, but Elia tossed it to Jake. Niriel threw himself on Jake, knocking him to the ground. The two wrestled as the astounded elves rushed forward to stop them. With a shriek, Niriel lifted the horn over his head and drove it into Jake’s heart.

Jake stilled, his eyes wide in surprise. Then they closed, as his body went limp. Keliatiel cried out and ran to her lost son’s side. She knelt next to him and wept.

Keelie stared at her dead uncle, her friend. It had all happened so quickly.

Elia fell to her knees on Jake’s other side, tears rolling down her face. “What have I done?” she cried. “What have I done?”

A moan arose from the forest around them. Above, Ariel cried out and launched herself into the air. Dad grabbed Keelie’s shoulder. “Keelie, I want you to go back to California. Davey will take you to Laurie.”

“What are you talking about, Dad?”

A ripple crossed the clearing, as if the earth had shrugged,
and wind tossed the treetops. “Just listen to me. My mother has surrendered the forest. I must take control.”

Keelie felt the green energy building, like surf, rolling in and receding, growing stronger with each pass. “You don’t think you’re going to survive this, do you? You think it’ll kill you. You’ve tied yourself to the Dread!”

Dad kissed her, holding her tightly against him. “It’s the only way, Keelie. I love you.” He thrust her away and turned to the trees.

A green whisper floated through her mind and Keelie knew what to do. She threw the book of magic onto the center of the ancient tree’s rings, then grabbed Alora by the trunk and yanked her from the pot. The pot crashed to the ground, breaking. Alora’s exposed roots wriggled. Keelie lifted the treeling and banged her down over the book, sending her twinkles into a dancing fury. Immediately her roots surrounded the book, pulling it apart as a great cracking was heard. The base of the Caudex split. Alora’s roots entered the crevice and, fed by the magic from Under-the-Hill, the treeling began to grow.

The earth heaved as she rose, trunk widening, throwing elves and dwarf to the ground. Like a green tentacle, one of Alora’s roots wrapped around Jake’s body, pulling it into the roiling earth beneath the trunk, the unicorn’s twisted horn still protruding from his chest. Keliatiel and Elia tried to pull him free, but Alora was stronger.

Twenty feet tall now and still growing, the treeling
stretched her branches high and the queen oaks bowed before her.

Dad was laughing as he looked up into Alora’s face, now far above them. Keelie wondered if he’d gone nuts, and then it hit her like a runaway school bus, knocking her to her knees. The renewed Dread was roaring through the forest—brought back by the combined power of the Wildewood’s gift and the fae magic released by the book’s destruction.

Sir Davey pushed his stone into her hand. “Here you go, lass. I figure you’ll be needing this.”

Keelie stood up, a little wobbly but able to breath without throwing up. The Dread was back—so the forest was safe, and so was her father and her grandmother.

But Jake was dead. She sobbed as she realized that she’d never see him again.

Quit crying, Keelie. That salt water is bad for my roots.
Alora lifted one of her roots. See?

The
bhata
swarmed up from below her, filling the forest with their chittering and the ticking of their sticks. They carried the wooden sword, which they brought to Keelie.