the Forest of Emmitaenu

Vampire's Breath

[Cover art by Illiyana Omareva]

Pulling Lara through the woods by her hand, Lienkin lead them back the way they came. Someone was calling him. He didn't know who or how, but he was being summoned. He released Lara only to cross the creek, but as soon as she jumped to the ground he seized her arm and tugged her back in the direction toward the familiar clearing like a man possessed.

Lienkin! Lienkin! His name came as a muddle collage of whispers in the back of his mind, growing more and more persistent. Lienkin! He was actually hurting her and when Lara cried out in pain, surprised by the sound he came to a dead stop. Unable to untangle her voice from the whispers shouting his name, he had forgotten that she was with him, following in his wake.

He released her arm and turned to face her. "I'm sorry Lara, I didn't mean to hurt you," he looked into her eyes and could see the tears forming there. He had frightened her, and possibly hurt her by dragging her along the way he had been. "Someone is calling out to me and it's urgent, I can feel it," he tried to explain and tried to excuse his actions. "I have to leave you here but I will come back. I must go to my village and see what it is."

She didn't say anything, and he couldn't leave like this, not without hugging her at the very least. However when he tried to hug her, she resisted him, wincing before allowing him to pull her into his arms. Her resistance knocked the air out of him. He realized that he would have to win back her affection after what just happened.

Lienkin! All of that would have to come later, now he had to answer the summons. He kissed Lara's forehead and squeezed her shoulders. "I will come back for you," he promised before letting go and running through the forest away from her.

Lara watched his retreating form from where she stood on the edge of the clearing. Once he was out of sight she numbly turned her attention to the ever bright sun shining down on the open clearing. After pulling an all-nighter on the plateau, and spending hours being dragged through the forest like a rag doll just to be ditched in this familiar place, the time finally dawned on her and reality came crashing down with every ray of sunlight.

"Oh my goodness!" She shrieked. It was Monday, which meant her parents would be returning today to an empty house. She could just imagine the missing child posters taped up around town with her face all over them. She had to get home, now!

Jade tried to wake before Zeftx, but realized it was an impossible endeavor considering he hadn't slept. She found him in the kitchen sitting backwards in the chair with his elbows on the backrest and his eyes staring out through the gaping window hole. The boards that had covered it during the gargoyles approach were discarded on the table.

"Vampire's breath," Jade muttered with a frown, comparing Zeftx demeanor to the stench of death. He couldn't be left to his thoughts like this. "These windows will need fixing," She raised her voice for him to hear. He didn't look her way, just nodded his comprehension. "Right," she mumbled again, wringing her hands and trying to think what to do. 

Ten minutes later Jade had brewed two mugs of tea using the only herbs she had to help calm and comfort. Zeftx drank his halfheartedly; well aware of what the tea was made of and intended for. With little else at her disposal for distraction, Jade set him to work on replacing the windows so she could gather more herbs from the forest.

He leapt to his feet when she started making plans and tried to argue against them, insisting on finding Lara instead of worrying about the hut, but Jade managed to get his compliance by telling him that once they found Lara, they would need a safe place to bring her back to. Zeftx reluctantly agreed on the condition that while Jade was out collecting, she also searched for Lara in the process. He didn't intend to stay in the hut for longer than it took to repair the two windows in any case.

In the forest Jade worked without thinking as she collected and loaded her basket with the plants and herbs she needed. To find the distinct types of herbs she preferred, she had ventured a ways out into the woods, far deeper than any of them had gone over the last few days. She went deeper than the cultivated woodland, following her feet mindlessly into the jungle where the plants and trees went wild and she always found the best resources.

A strange sense of de ja vu took hold of her and suddenly she stopped on the weary path she walked. Impulsively she pushed her way through leafy plants, toward a patch of tall grass off the beaten path. As un-ignorable as being clubbed by a troll, Jades mind was ambushed by clarity.

"By the Immortals, this is it!" She exclaimed. Everything made sense now. She had been hunting for herbs the day she found Lara, and it was in this spot that she'd found her. All they ever had to do was follow her feet in route herb collecting. Jade smiled knowingly, aware she could always find this spot again when they needed to, and they would need to too. She could feel it.

Turning around with a full basket, Jade embarked on the long walk home. She encountered that telltale fork in the path, she wound around like a corkscrew through the forest till she reached the thinner trees where the woods were more sparse, passing that imaginary line between jungle and woodland.

Her mood was uplifted tenfold by the brilliant sunshine and music of the birds as she passed parallel to the clearing from yesterday. An atmosphere of peace and comfort covered her here and had felt that way since the day she met Lara. Jade wondered if it would still feel this way when Lara was gone.

"Now that she is gone, I do believe is what I meant," Jade corrected her thoughts, trying to reason with herself. Then she waved her hands dismissively in the air. "Leprechauns follies," she squeaked, knowing that her first instincts were usually the right ones. Her suspicions raised, Jade cast her senses, projecting out as far as she could reach. She tested her surroundings for Lara's aura.

Flooding her mind with all the things her senses detected, she could still make out the unique essence of Lara's presence. Delighted, Jade jumped and pounded her feet excitedly into the dirt. Honing in, she located Lara on the edge of the clearing, but something was definitely not right. Halting as suddenly as she had animated, Jade focused on distinguishing Lara's feelings. 

Lara was in pain.

"Oh no," Jade whispered, "Oh no, no, no," she shook her head. Hugging her basket to her chest, Jade began running. She kept her senses locked on Lara, but she raced to the hut to get Zeftx. She didn't know if alone she would be enough to help Lara.