Ashes by Stelmarta

Sorry it's a bit late, folks, I was in NYC all day yesterday and couldn't send this in. But anyway, this one's rather longer than my other chapters. It's dedicated to my aunt Chris, because a good friend of hers died of Lou Gehrig's disease last night, and even though she'll never read this, I feel she deserves it. Enjoy!

PART VIII – The Short Cut

As soon as Laesha stepped into the trees, she began regretting her haste. It was quite a lot darker in the forest than outside it. It wasn't nearly as thick as Graemoon, but the tree branches concealed essentially all of the moonlight, and obstacles like roots and rotting tree trunks were only vague shadowy shapes that were easy to stumble over.

Well, it's too late now, she decided and pushed on further.

Within mere moments, she was completely and utterly lost. Laesha had never been able to tell one tree from another in the day, much less during the night. She didn't hear the calls of Owl and Crow, and before long she was so turned around that she couldn't have found her own feet.

But of course Laesha wasn't about to admit this.

"Okay, moss grows on the north side of trees, right?" she mumbled to herself. Aha! There was a mossy tree, dead ahead. And if that direction was north, then this way….

There was another tree in her path. A mossy one. The moss was facing a completely different direction.

"Aw, come on!" she yelled and kicked the offending tree as hard as she could. And that is one thing she never did again. She swore and hopped around, clutching her throbbing foot for a few more moments before she could stand comfortably.

Okay, so taking a short cut had been a very bad idea, but Laesha, determined not to be humbled by a bunch of plants, decided to push on.

She stumbled through underbrush, pricker bushes from hell, and thick foliage until it was too dark to see more than a few inches ahead. She lurched forward over logs and tree roots, occasionally pausing to stretch her hands in front of her to make sure she wasn't walking into a tree. She would never be defeated by a forest. Never.

The sound of a wolf's howl to the moons tricked through the foliage, joined by second and a third, and more. Laesha froze, her heart pounding so loudly it was probably waking people up in Yasha. She hoped it was and it did and they would come to rescue her.

Her eyes began changing color very rapidly as fear built up in her throat like bile. The wolves were closer; she could see them surrounding her, eyes in the dark, all around, growls, sharp teeth, all around…

Hardly realizing what she was doing, Laesha began running. Where she was running to was a mystery to her. The darkness was oppressive, closing in on her, stealing her breath. She ran over bushes, beyond trees, her feet crunching on last autumn's leaves, sounding like the snap of a wolf's jaws. She tripped over a log and was sent flying face-first into the ground. Hardly pausing to make sure that her nose wasn't broken, she got up and stumbled off, her ankle wreathed in pain.

Then suddenly, a patch of moonlight came into view, illuminating a mossy spot near a fresh spring. Laesha stumbled towards it and fell again, the moss a soft cushion for her aching body.

Fear was still coursing through her veins, the illusory wolves still snapping at her heels. Stop that, she told herself firmly, get a grip on yourself. She forced herself to take deep breaths, like Crow had taught her to.

In moments, she was asleep.

~*~

"Laesha!" called Owl into the forest. Crow and he and been searching for hours, but Laesha was out of range. Hopefully out of range. He didn't want to think about finding a corpse the next morning, or if they never found her at all.

"LAESHA!" he yelled again, suddenly frantic.

"Owl." Crow placed a soothing hand on his shoulder, "We won't find her this night. However, we can continue in the morning, when there is light. Don't worry," she said, noticing his concern, "Laesha will be fine. She has unholy luck."

He nodded dimly, "I'll make camp,"

Together they built a small fire. Owl noticed that despite its light, the forest wasn't any less dark. The observation unsettled him.

They sat without speaking, eating their meager dinner without conversation. The quiet was more oppressive than the darkness.

Crow couldn't stand the silence any longer, "So, Owl, how have you been this past year?" she asked in the hopes that she could get him to say something.

"Terrible," he answered sharply, "I lived alone in the woods trying to find the man who killed my family,"

"There's no reason to be mean, I was just trying to involve you in conversation."

"Try the weather next time," he went back to his chunk of bread, tearing it savagely.

"What happened to you?" asked Crow in alarm, "You were never like this before,"

"Yeah, well having your family slaughtered and your home burned to the ground in front of your eyes will do that."

"I went through the same thing, and it hasn't changed me!"

"Do you honestly think that? That you aren't different than you were before? Maybe not openly, but you have changed. You're hiding something, and you're terrible at pretending that nothing's wrong. What happened to you in the Order?"

"I – I don't want to think about it," she looked away from him, "It hurts to remember,"

"Then don't expect me to want to either," he murmured, anger spent.

A long moment passed, "I'm sorry, Owl," said Crow.

"We'll get up tomorrow morning at dawn and continue looking. Goodnight," Owl replied without looking at her. He threw himself on his blankets and closed his eyes. After a moment, Crow did the same.

Owl wasn't trying to fall asleep, he was too troubled, more than being worried about Laesha, but Crow's accusations as well.

You weren't like this before.

Had he changed so much? He didn't know. His life before the end of the Tori was blurry, forced from his memory in an attempt to dull the pain. But Crow's appearance had begun to bring it all back into focus. She was acid on the wound at the same time that she was the last remnant of a time long gone. But he couldn't let himself remember, if he did, he would lose sight of his goal: the death of Cayn.

~*~

Laesha woke with a strangled scream the next morning, causing the birds to pause their singing for a moment. She had had a nightmare, a truly frightening one.

/Pools of blood, seeping up through the smooth black floor. A figure in black, face in shadow, standing knee deep in red. The pool began flashing with images, at first just faces of strangers then some that were familiar. She began seeing people she grew up with, bright-cheeked villagers, girls in ringlets, dowagers and grouchy old men, everyone. She saw Cayn, and members of the Order, and Owl. Then came the most frightening vision of all; herself, a red tinted reflection staring back at her with vacant eyes and an expressionless face. Then she began to sink, deeper and deeper into the blood. Her ankles, her knees, her waist, her shoulders all slowly submerged. She couldn't move, couldn't even scream. The black-clad man remained motionless, faceless, holding dominion over the ocean of blood. She sank further, her chin now stained red. Moments before it would have covered her mouth and nose, she woke up./

Laesha tried to dispel the memory with only partial success. The forest was bright and peaceful, quite a contrast to the dark and fearful wood of the night before. Though she was still too shaken to notice, she'd woken up normal, that it to say, human, through and through. The cheeriness of her surroundings made it much easier to forget her fear.

She got up from her little mossy grotto, picked a direction, and walked off, already feeling more at ease. Birds were singing, little gusts of wind were making the tree branches rustle, and everything was very green. But she still could not quite dispel the memory of the dream; it lurked at the edge of her thoughts.

Laesha was not walking for long before, suddenly, the light became brighter the trees began to thin out. Absorbed in dark reflections, she didn't notice she'd made it out of the forest until she walked into the city wall.

She stared in astonishment at the gargantuan white barrier in front of her. She had made it!

~*~

.

Owl was up at first light, ready to continue the search. Crow woke up as he did: she was a light sleeper and just as concerned about Laesha as he was. He didn't say anything to her, just handed her a piece of bread as he began packing up.

Crow was slightly worried at his silence. He was obviously still angry at her, and she had no idea as to what she could do to make amends. He seemed single-mindedly set on finding Laesha. That was like him, to pretend not to give her the silent treatment by becoming absorbed in something else. She almost became angry at this, but realized she was being irrational and calmed down.

"Let's go," Owl said gruffly and started off into the forest.

Crow was struck by a wicked idea. Now she knew how to make amends.

"Don't you think it's lovely weather for flying?"

He turned back to her, looking slightly surprised. She was grinning. A slow smile crept across his face in answer.

~*~

Before long, the last of the Tori had taken to the air, which despite Crow's remark, was quite cold. Seen from below, they looked like two enormous birds, one with tawny brown wings, one with black. The forest was not nearly as intimidating from above. They could pick out little treeless patches in the woods, like a bald spot, ponds and brooks. It was picturesque and peaceful from a bird's eye view, though they knew that was not the case on the ground.

Owl was having fun for the first time in what seemed like ages. He hadn't used his wings at all after the attack, except when he fell off a cliff the other day, which hardly counted as a pleasure ride. Before it seemed to him that it would just bring memories and pain. It seemed he was wrong. Crow appeared to be greatly enjoying this flight, it was probably the first time she'd been able to stretch her wings since she had been captured. Her silver hair streamed out behind her glossy black wings like a comet's tail against a starless sky. One thing Owl would say for her; she had a great sense of the dramatic.

"Owl!" Crow shouted over the wind, "I see her! Over by the wall!"

Indeed, there was Laesha against, of all places, the towering city wall. She appeared to have walked into it. They landed nearby, their wings dissolving into a cloud of black and brown feathers. Laesha turned to them, seemingly unfazed by their impressive entrance, with a huge grin plastered on her face.

"I told you so,"