The Forest Keeper

Chapter Four: IN WHICH The Ground Shakes, and Kea Makes a Decision

Tuesday, October 2nd

"There are more on their way," Avanelle mumbled to Kea, shaking her hands free of fairy blood. "Petri says it's not just fairies anymore."

Kea groaned and put her head on top of the altar. "Crap," she hissed. "This is just never going to end, is it? Every time we seem to make headway, we get shot right back down."

"Oh, don't lose hope. We'll find a way out of this." Avanelle rubbed her eyes and wiped the beads of sweat from her face and neck. She took a deep, shuddering breath that seemed to shake her whole body.

Kea looked at her and cleared her throat. "Do you need to rest, Avanelle?" she asked. "You're not looking too good."

Avanelle smiled and looked up. "I don't look well," she corrected with a well-meaning smile. "I'm fine, Lady Keeper. This is just a small thing." She took another breath. "It will pass."

"No, I don't think it will. Avanelle, you look like the rest of the fairies. You look..." Kea shook her head. "You look like your dying." She looked the fairy queen over. Ashen skin, pale eyes, the veins in her hands dark and popping from her skin...

Still smiling, Avanelle got to her feet and brushed the grass off her skirts. She stumbled, falling until she caught a low-hanging tree branch. Her breaths came in short gasps.

Kea rushed to her side. "Avanelle!" she hissed. "Sit down. Sit down! You are not well." She took Avanelle by the arm and made her sit in the shade of an oak tree. "Stay here while I look at the new set of patients."

"I'm fine. I just..."

She shook her head. "No. You're not fine, and you are not moving from this spot, so help me God!" She smirked. "Don't make me put a jinx on you."

Avanelle groaned, her eyes closing. "Fine. But I'm not staying here because you told me to..." She let out her breath as a prolonged sigh. "I'll just... stay here for a while. Just until I get my bearings straight again." She relaxed, and soon she was asleep.

Kea stood up and went back to the altar as Petri landed. "Who else do you have for me, Petri?" she asked, rubbing one of her eyes.

"We have a handful more fairies, and a unicorn and a specter. Plus a few vampires and a naiad."

She sighed and put her elbows on the altar. "Is it slowing down at all?"

"No. In fact, I think there are more and more infected creatures every day. Even some of the birds have it, strangely enough."

She groaned and slumped to her knees, hands still on the altar. "What is going on?" she hissed, pounding her fist against the ground and snarling. "What the..."

A pebble next to her hand started to shake, and the earth emitted a low rumble, so low that she could barely hear it. And then, it got louder, and the shaking intensified. The altar began to crackle like fireworks, sending slivers of stone into the air like sparks.

Kea stood up and looked at the rest of the forest. The trees shook, and she could hear everything shout in terror and pain. Roots were torn from the ground; creatures fell to the dirt and broke bones that shouldn't have been able to break. Screaming and sobbing filled the air around her.

She covered her ears. Think. Think! What do you have to do? She raised her hand to the sky, fingers splayed, and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Cessare!" The power word for stop.

Within ten seconds of her command, the earth stood still. Trees stopped swaying, and all the wounded creatures were able to stop their screaming and dull it to low moans and whimpers.

She fell to her knees, most of her energy gone. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm her pounding heart. Her hands and forearms were red where blood had rushed to them, and her head pounded with every heartbeat.

She looked over to Avanelle, who was upright and wide-eyed. "Avanelle, are you okay?" she asked, standing up and rubbing the feeling back into her hands.

Avanelle rubbed her neck. "Was there... Was there an earthquake?" she asked, voice hoarse. She pressed her hand to the side of her head. "I... I feel... strange. Like there's something in my head." She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Yeah, there was an earthquake. You're not hurt, are you?" Kea asked, jogging to her side and pressing two fingers to Avanelle's wrist. "Tell me, is there anything that feels like it's broken?"

Avanelle pushed her hand away, though the motion was weak and seemed to demand every scrap of energy she had left. "I'm fine. Stop... Stop worrying about me." Her throat bobbed, and she closed her eyes. "I'm fine. Look after the others."

The others... Kea bit her lip and looked over the clearing. "There are so many..." she whispered. "How can I take care of them all? I still don't know what I'm supposed to be curing."

"You'll figure it out. You always have, and you always will."

She chewed her lip harder. "You're not going to like my idea..." she mumbled. She didn't like it either, but if it was going to help her with the fairy problem... She had to go back to the lake. She had to go find Leonas – he seemed to know what was going on better than anyone.

Avanelle pursed her lips. "What idea?"

"I'm going back to the lake. I have a friend there who might know how to help us. And if he doesn't..." Kea tasted blood as she bit her cheek. She winced, but did not utter any sound. "If he doesn't, I'll be severely disappointed in him."

"Him? Who is he? Is he dangerous?"

She smirked. "I don't know yet. I met him a few days ago, and haven't seen him since. But I have the feeling that he could be dangerous to whatever is threatening Albinan so completely." She stood up. "I'll be back soon. Try not to move too much."

Avanelle sat up straighter. "It's a Laconis," she breathed. "Kea, you mustn't befriend any of them. They cannot be trusted." There was fear in her voice, as well as something else, something harsher... anger, maybe?

Kea looked at her. "I know. That's why I haven't told him my name yet. If I had, I'm almost certain that it would have been disastrous." She shivered and pulled her jacket closer to her body. "I'll be back as soon as I can. If you need anything, send Petri to get me. And if you need anything from the house, tell Petri that he has my permission to go inside and retrieve whatever he may need."

"Kea, please. Don't go to the water's edge. The kelpie will drag you down and bring you to Laconea to be a slave."

She laughed, but her stomach twisted with fear. "I'll be fine. I know more magic than even most fairies, and I can handle myself in a fight."

"Their prince, Leonas Irades, would defeat you in seconds. I've seen it done; he could do it to you."

She paused. "What do you know about Leonas?" she asked. "I haven't told you anything about who I am going to visit, and still you insist that I am visiting a Laconis."

Avanelle folded her arms and fell back against the tree she was under. "Let's just say that a little birdie told me what happened on Friday. You can't trust them any farther than you can throw them. And the shorter the distance..." She drew a sharp breath and wrapped her arm around her side. After a moment, she relaxed. "The shorter the distance, the better, I'd say," she finished, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I'll be fine. When did you become my mother?"

A spark of something else – something sadder – lit the fairy's eyes as she looked away. "I'm... sorry. I spoke out of turn. Please, forgive me, but... don't put yourself at any more risk than is necessary. Alright? Can you promise me that?" She looked back up. "I've already lost one friend in the last few weeks. I can't lose another one so soon."

Kea heard the sadness, and the pain, in Avanelle's voice, and she sighed. "Alright. I promise. But I'm still going to go see him and find out what's going on. He seems to be the only one willing to talk to me about any of this." She pivoted on her right heel and began the journey to the lakeside.