Tainted roots

Having a necromancer with us was more helpful than that damn map. For starters, she knew all the shortcuts and had us exiting the tunnel, not even a hundred feet from the river in under an hour. I relished the slight freeze cooling my skin and breathing in the fresh air rather than the earthy scent that had been surrounding us for so long. Across the river from us was the waterfalls region. We had been so close to here earlier and we didn’t even know it.

When we stood on the river bank, Alora put her fingers to her lips and gave a short and then a long whistle. Which was louder than I was expecting, making us cover our ears.

“What the hell was the for? A little warning would be nice,” I grumbled, rubbing my ears.

“I’m calling one of the boats, how else would we get to the ferry?” Alora asked slowly as if it was obvious.

“That would’ve been nice to know the last fucking time,” Ari grumbled.

Our complaints were cut off when the small boat came flying down the river, coming to a stop in front of us. Alora climbed into the without any hesitation, and like before, it didn’t tip or rock. As soon as the rest of us took a seat on the rowed benches, the boat sped down the river, going against the current with ease. Black water sprayed into the air and onto us as waves crashed into the boat, still not affecting its course. We took a sharp left turn, joining up with the main river. The branch we had been on was maybe a mile wide, this one had to be several. In the far-off distance to our right was a smoking volcano erupting and spewing lava.

I continued shooting the river cautious glances, not liking how close we were to it in this small boat. While I didn’t see anything that could indicate something under the surface, that wasn’t all too reassuring since the water was so dark. Add in the fact that every other time I’d been in or on the river, I had been attacked with no warning.

As we passed the waterfall region and another river branch on our left, I finally caught sight of the ferry ahead of us. The boat zoomed up to the ferry, easily catching up to its lazy pace, and pulled to the right side. Once the boat stopped and attached itself to the side, we climbed over the side of the ferry.

Alora went up the stairs to the upper level and the rest of us followed. She went to the front and began tapping the railing. A white light glowed from the railing and when I got closer, I realized the light came from a small hole in the railing. The white light projected on an image that we were all intimately familiar with now. It was a map of this realm.

“That’s us.” She pointed to a black dot in the tree trunk, a third of the way up. She moved her finger up the projection, stopping at a triangle shaped section in the top right corner. “This is where we’re headed. This is where we reside.”

The piece of land she was pointing to was the second smallest on the map. You’d think they’d choose one of the larger areas, but then again, not every region wasn't the most hospitable.

She touched the black dot on the projection, and her finger didn’t go through it like I thought it would. A black line followed her finger as she traced the main river and a branch that led to the necromancer’s region. When she was done, the black line glowed and the projection vanished.

“What was that?” Ari asked, dumbfounded as she continued staring where the projection used to be.

“I plotted a course to our lands,” Alora said, once again confused by our shock.

“You can plot out the route?” I blurted out.

“I keep forgetting this wouldn’t be common knowledge for those who didn’t grow up here.”

“What do we do if the creatures decide to attack us?” I asked crossing my arms as I eyed the water again. “Every time we’ve been on this damn river, we’ve been attacked, and I’d rather not go through it again.”

Alora leaned over the railing and looked down into the depths as she pursed her lips. “As long as they aren’t being controlled, they won’t attack with me around. They’ll sense my energy and will know better.”

“Has your leader sent creatures to find you?” Gemini leaned back against the railing, resting her arms behind her. She had redone her hair so that it was no longer messy or sticking to her face from the dried blood.

“I’ve lost count of how many creatures he’s sent after me. It's why I haven’t stayed in one place more than a couple of months.” She turned around, and hopped onto the railing, facing away from the water. A shudder worked its way down my back. I could never put myself so close to the water and turn my back on it.

“What if they come for us now?” I asked, still not convinced we wouldn’t be attacked.

Tilting her head side to side, Alora considered my question. “I don’t think so, he’ll probably assume I wouldn’t be dumb enough to be out in the open like this. All of the creatures he’s sent after me have been ones that move on land, not water.”

Despite her reassurances, I still wasn’t convinced, but let it go for now. “Can we please stop calling this fucker the prophet? It sounds dumb as hell. What’s this asshole’s real name?” Ari asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“It’s Kain,” Alora said, fighting off a smile. Of course, he had an evil-sounding name.

On our right, we had finally passed the lava region and the connecting river branch. The next region was the fucking forest. To make matters worse it was nighttime—as it still was over the river, but it wasn't as dark as before. Far-off howls filled the night air as another full moon sat high in the sky. Was it always a full moon in the forest? You’d think it would suck for the werewolves, to have to shift every night. No doubt that shit was painful. But who knows, maybe they preferred being in their wolf form.

Thankfully, the part of the forest we passed didn’t include the cries and screams begging for help. I couldn’t turn my back on the unnaturally long trees and their even longer shadows. Because even though I was nowhere near it, I could still feel the tingling sensation of being watched.

A loud smack on deck had me jumping and whirling around, to find Starling and Seth laying on the floor. Seth grunted as he rolled over onto his back, while Starling choked and coughed. Springing into action, Koa and I rushed over to them. I threw Starling’s arm over my shoulder, half dragging her out of the way. Koa helped pull Seth to his feet and out of the way.

Not even a moment later, Ander and Reed came hurtling through the rift, smacking just as hard and loud against the deck. Reed let out a few choked swears as Ari dragged him out of the way by his ankles—good to know it wasn’t just me. Gemini at least dragged Ander out of the way by his arms.

Harmony and Parker came through next. “That was way worse than I remembered,” Harmony wheezed as I dragged her out of the way. Koa pulled a dry heaving Parker to the side in time for Wyatt and Rowan to come through.

With them being the last ones, we let Wyatt lay there staring up at the sky, groaning between his swears. Rowan rolled onto her feet, shaking out her fur. ‘Something in this realm is throwing off the stability of the rift.’ She padded over to me, rubbing against my leg. ‘What troubles have you found, little wolf?’ She looked up at me with her yellow all-knowing eyes.

Letting out a low chuckle, I rolled my eyes and stroked her fur. After many swears and coughs, everyone in our group was standing. It didn’t take long for them to notice and then gape at Alora.

We gave a brief rundown of our meeting in the tunnels, what we discovered, and how we had to retrieve the key to allow her into our realm. Once Reed was done gaping at Alora, he couldn’t keep his attention off our surroundings for long. We had told him all about this place, but hearing about it and seeing it were two different things.

My suspicions of Gemini’s dislike of Wyatt had been accurate, she was giving him a wide berth and went as far as refusing to even look in his direction. There wasn’t a single part of me that didn’t want to know what happened between them. This shit was better than tv.

Ander instantly went into planning mode, not questioning anything or chastising us. I wasn’t foolish enough to think he let this go. After all of this was done, he’d lay into Ari and me about going into a dangerous realm without telling him.

Alora answered the questions about how their region was guarded, how often creatures came through, and how long it’d take to arrive if called. She told us what made Kain so special. Allegedly, he spoke to the deities and carried out their will.

What a load of crap.

It was more lies used to manipulate them. Who would dare challenge the deities’ will? If I hadn’t been so disgusted and horrified by him, I might’ve been impressed at how effortlessly he had them wrapped around his finger.

After much debate, we finally settled on sneaking into the region in three groups, coming in from different sides of the triangular-shaped region. Sneaking in from the west were Seth, Parker, Alora, Starling, and Rowan. She had wanted to stay with me, but we both knew it’d be more advantageous if we were in separate groups. That way, she’d know if my group found any trouble and alert the others, as would I if anything happened to them. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the best we could hope for.

Reed, Harmony, Ari, and Gemini would enter from the southeast side. My group would be coming from the northeast, consisting of Koa, Ander, and Wyatt. Somehow I ended up stuck with the worst combination of people, with grouchy Wyatt, and Ander who couldn’t stand Koa.

At least Ander seemed to put aside his hatred for him, he was fairly civil around Koa while we made our plans. Hopefully, he remained that way. Those two would eventually have to figure out their shit, and I was at the point where I was tempted to let them figure it out on their own.

Once we had our plans set in place, we broke off into smaller groups to get ready. During our planning, we’d passed by the forest on our right and the region that was pure darkness—Alora told us it was the vampire’s territory—as well as the frozen region. We were currently floating down one of the rivers between the fields with grass so high, it was probably taller than me. On the other side of the river were the wastelands. Liquid poured from the sky over the wastelands in sheets, the ground sizzling as it made contact. What nice weather they were having.

Ari, Harmony, Starling, Alora, and I sat on the benches at the front of the ferry. Harmony handed out blades and harnesses as well as a new bow for Ari. She also handed out new clothes for us to change into.

“There is some serious tension there and not the sexy kind.” I inclined my head toward Wyatt and Gemini, who not only managed to ignore each other throughout the planning session but were now on opposite sides of the boat. While it was clear Gemini was annoyed and hated him, Wyatt was indifferent to her, like she was a stranger.

It only made me want to find out about their history even more.

Alora glanced between them and gave me a puzzled look. Starling chuckled and took pity on her. She kept her voice pitched low, even though I doubted anyone else was listening. “There are many types of tensions, especially between former lovers—like I’m assuming they are. There’s the kind where they’re mad or hurt by the other, but they still have the physical chemistry and can’t resist each other.”

“Second chance romance,” Harmony added, arranging her medical supplies so they were easily accessible.

“Sexy tension,” I said, adjusting the harness around my thigh. “But that’s not the tension those two are giving off. I get the feeling Gemini would rather stab him than fuck him, and not in a sexy way.”

“Some things just can’t be forgiven,” Ari added.

“There’s a sexy way to want to stab someone?” Alora asked, frowning. I opened my mouth to explain, but she shook her head and held up her hands. “You know what? I don’t want to know. Do you have any idea of what happened between them?”

“Not a clue.” Ari spared a glance at them over her shoulder. “Until a day ago, none of us knew of her.”

“I still don’t understand how there is sexy tension”—Alora used both of her hands to do air quotes—“for two people that hate each other. If you don’t like someone, you’re not going to want to be with them.”

I threw my head back as I laughed. “When we get back to our realm I’ll introduce you to some enemies-to-lovers books. You’ll understand what I mean then.”

“I can’t believe you came all the way here in a hunch,” Starling marveled after silence fell over our group, shaking her head in wonder.

My only response was a shrug. Doing something impulsive with little to no prep was an occurrence that happened more than we’d like to admit. Sometimes if you sat around and overthought, one of two things would happen. Either you psyched yourself out of doing it, or you waited too long and missed your chance. My mom would say differently, that having a well-thought-out plan was the way to stay alive.

Hopefully, the vague plan we came up with was enough to keep us alive when we snuck into the necromancer’s region.

Words I never thought I’d say.