A Clove of Fates

15. Already Lost

As we continued through the forest, the trees began to bend and twist more and more, some of them wrapping around each other to form structures that I was unable to identify. In some of the trunks I saw nymph faces of all ages, the hues of their earthy skin ranging anywhere from neon green to coal black. The younger ones pulled themselves back into their trees when I met their eyes. Their giggles rustled the leaves above us and their whispers floated on the breeze that flowed past us.

I kept flinching when we approached the trees, expecting more nymphs to walk out of them. It wasn't like this was my first time seeing one, there were a couple at my school, but there that trick was only used for hide and seek. In this situation, it was one of many upper hands they had against us.

Me. Ifera and I were far from in this together, I had to remember that.

I was also worried about Fraed. Where was he? Had they gotten him as well? How would we manage to find each other? I'd grown rather fond of him. He thought like me, I think. He was a connection the side of my sister that I didn't fully understand. And now there was the prospect of never seeing him again, and it made me feel worse than I thought something like that ever could. And just like my sister, I'd already lost him.

We approached the base of a large tree, the largest I'd seen thus far. The trunk was easily a couple of yards in diameter and the branches extended past the canopy of leaves that hung above our heads. The roots visible from the ground slithered past us like snakes, pulsing dimly with that same purple hue that got us into this mess.

The nymph that was holding me loosened her grip on my arm. I wasn't completely sure how she could have held me so tightly, being as she was just leaves as far as I could tell from the waist up.

We stopped walking and she began to speak in that foreign, whisper language again. The sound washed over my ears, but the effect was unmistakable. The ground beneath us pulsed slightly, and the purple light that sat stagnant in the roots raced back toward their source, filling the tree with an ethereal glow. The shape of a woman began to appear in the tree and she looked down at us with cold, calculating eyes.

"Kanorasalvi, mea alta." The female nymph said, and her words were echoed by the other nymph beside her. "Ea krimintoj."

"Mividas." The woman in the tree responded. Though she spoke in the quick whispers that the rest of the nymphs used, her words resonated within me, rising up my body from the soles of my feet, sending tingles through my being.

She focused her gaze on me, and the nymphs released us, taking steps back into the forest line. "Make yourself known, child." She spoke in latska, for my benefit, probably, as I was the only one here that didn't speak kvek...kverkoj.

I swallowed, then straightened. "Jarelis Talindottir."

She tilted her head back and closed her eyes for a moment before returning her all seeing gaze to me. "Talindottir. Yes, the trees know you well."