Judal had another strange dream.
He was caught somewhere between the sea and the sky, swallowed by waves and then spat out among the stars. There was little sense of either hot or cold, but the thrumming of magic beneath his skin grew stronger with each passing breath. And he breathed. In and out, eating stars and drinking salt water until he felt full enough to burst.
This time when his skin began to peel away, there was nothing monstrous underneath. Instead there was light, and crystals, and something that burned to look at but he couldn't look away. He felt joy, and fear, and happiness, and a euphoric sense of yes yes yes that he couldn't fathom even in a dream.
Someone else was in his dream. Multiple someones.
Hakuryuu with a hundred eyes, kissing him as his skin peeled from his bones and left him as only light and gemstones.
Spartos, pressing his hand to his belly and reminding him to exhale, to inhale, to feel for his center.
Aladdin, laughing, eyes sparkling, teeth sharp and smile kind.
When he woke up, Judal couldn't remember the dream.
Even after a good night's sleep, a warm breakfast, a dip in a nearby pond, and a few stolen moments of kissing Hakuryuu, the mountain still looked menacing. Judal had hoped that the unpleasant atmosphere might have diminished overnight, but of course it hadn't. Stars, he wanted to be at the top already. Then he could see Aladdin's wings, and maybe ask him if he knew anything about changelings who had spent most of their lives in tiny apartments that smelled like citrus and ink.
Things went from casual to frustrating quickly when their mounts absolutely refused to cross the invisible boundary between forest and mountain. An entirely fruitless half-hour was spent trying to coax the various beasts closer to the mountain, but none of them budged. Not even Hakuryuu's regal wolf, who made his unease known in the form of long, mournful howls.
Inevitably, this led to someone, who was Spartos, saying; "We should go on foot."
Morgiana was by then fed up with their dithering and, ignoring a protesting Alibaba, grabbed Judal's sleeve and hauled him towards the mountain before anyone could argue. As expected, Hakuryuu followed immediately, which put an end to whatever argument may have been about to take place.
There was only one path by which to enter the mountain, a wide strip of land that wound alongside the small river as it flowed up towards the peak. At first, the path seemed welcoming and easy to navigate, but soon it became evident that this was merely an illusion. The path twisted sharply in an undulating pattern not unlike a snake, so that the trees which had once appeared distant obscured what lay beyond the next turn. With each twist the path became narrower, forcing them to bunch together in a tight cluster so as not to step into the water or between the trees, and in turn the river widened.
It felt like no time at all before the path disappeared altogether and left them standing amidst the encroaching forest. They had walked a suspiciously straight strip of earth and then, suddenly, there was nothing but the wood about them and the river beside them. Morgiana breathed through her mouth, twisting her head to taste the air in all directions, while Judal tried not to lose himself in the hum of life that traveled from the earth up through his bare feet.
Hakuryuu turned back to look where they had come from, then up at the patches of sky still visible through the leaves overhead. He wasn't surprised to find the path gone, as if they had been walking without it for hours. The sun sat heavy in the sky, teetering between its height and inevitable descent. Back the way they came, the earth dipped in a slope that went unnoticed while they were in motion.
"Well, that did seem a bit easy." Alibaba said.
"Where from here?" Pisti asked.
Morgiana tilted her head as if to consider answering, then looked to Hakuryuu instead. Hakuryuu in turn looked to Spartos, who he knew for a fact had been raised amidst the ever-changing mountain landscape the high elves called home. If there was someone to trust on a mountain, it was him.
"I think we should stick to the river."
Judal was speaking out of turn and he knew it, and if he had had any doubt then the eyes of his companions would have told him as much. He spun the smooth stone he'd plucked from the riverside between two fingers. It wasn't like he had meant to speak when he wasn't supposed to, the words had just kind of… slipped out.
Spartos shook his head.
"A water source will attract beasts. Perhaps more importantly," he paused, expression shifting to the one Judal had come to associate with a lesson. "Can you think of it?"
Judal didn't have to wrack his brain very hard, the lesson had been on the forefront of his mind even as he spoke.
"Running water strips magic." he said. "Crossing any form of running water is worse than crossing a threshold uninvited, and has been known to nearly kill weak fae."
"Exactly." Spartos nodded. "All that in mind, avoiding the water is best."
He addressed the group as a whole next, explaining that he believed they should head westward, away from the water, in search of a second path. It was unlikely to be easily found, possibly only traveled by beast and therefore visible only to those used to finding such walkways. He was confident he could, of course.
No one argued further, but Hakuryuu paused to brush his knuckles against Judal's cheek.
"Stay close." he murmured. You seem frightened, Judal heard. And I do not want you to be.
They split from the river and turned into the wood instead, spreading their formation slightly to account for the interruption of trees. Morgiana fell back, until she was close enough to grab Judal's sleeve again. He glanced down at her, and she frowned.
"You think this is wrong." she stated, rather than asked.
Judal thinned his lips and looked at the stone he had been toying with. It was plain, and well-worn by years of existence, oval shaped and unimpressive. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to hold onto it.
Magic was a learning curve like no other, and discerning between his own ignorance and his emerging instincts was a strain on his patience. Intuition was the sixth of what felt like an endless amount of senses necessary to navigate Sidhe. Thus far, it was the only one that came easily to him.
"Yeah." he admitted, pocketing the stone. "Yeah I don't feel- I just don't think this is a good idea."
He couldn't explain why.
Morgiana regarded him silently, then nodded.
"I will keep alert."
Judal felt an immediate swell of fondness for her. There was little doubt that she had already planned to "keep alert", but she had seen fit to try and reassure him anyway. For whatever reason, she seemed more inclined to listen to his instincts, and though he wasn't sure why that was, he was grateful.
The sunlight petered out eventually, leaving the party to travel by the faint light of the lanterns at their hips. Stopping for the night so as not to lose their way had been suggested, but Hakuryuu vetoed the idea immediately.
"This wilderness is not truly wild," he had hissed. "You think it wise to sleep in the lands of a faerie?"
As if to punctuate his words, a sharp howl had cut the silence of the night. It was difficult to say where it originated from, but it was distant enough that no one felt the need to go for their weapons. This didn't stop tension from gripping the group in a collective vice, or Hakuryuu from reaching out blindly until Judal's hand was firmly clenched in his own.
No one mentioned stopping, after that.
Night was gone in the blink of an eye, but daylight didn't lift the fog of unease that had settled over them. Spartos led them forward with grim purpose, focused intently on the earth in front of him until he came to a sudden stop. Judal reached into his pocket automatically, touching his fingers over the three stones he had picked up. Something about their weight was comforting.
Spartos's jaw was tightened, eyes narrowed to disdainful slivers that made him look particularly unforgiving. His mouth drew into a thin line.
"This is east." Pisti announced. "We are headed east."
"We should not be." Spartos hissed, eyes flaring open along with his mouth, which twisted into a grimace.
"This point is higher than before, so we are going up." Morgiana said. "But she is right. This is east."
Hakuryuu exhaled between his teeth, but said nothing. He didn't have to, the way his eyes were dancing with barely contained frustration. Judal wanted to reach out for him, but thought better of it. Hakuryuu was their leader, decision making would ultimately fall to him, and he didn't need any distractions when he was already irate.
"High elves have command of most mountains." Alibaba said, directing his conversational tone at Judal. "They build their cities in these places that are nearly impossible to reach without one of them guiding you. Usually, they can get through, over, or around any mountain they come across, anywhere in Sidhe."
"Yes, well, an exception has appeared." Spartos snapped.
He ran a hand through his sleek hair, ears twitching irritably.
"It is as if the mountain is mocking me. I can feel the directions, the pull of the paths- they want to be walked upon, the same as any path does -but the more I seek them the more they change."
"I don't think this place much cares for visitors." Alibaba said.
Pisti threw her hand up, as if she needed to ask permission to speak, then spoke anyway without it being given.
"Since we stopped anyway, let me try something!"
Hakuryuu nodded his head once and she scampered off. Pisti didn't go far, only a few paces from where the group stood, at which point she bent down and opened her mouth, only to chatter instead of speak. Judal watched, fascinated, as the petite fae alternated between tones, voices, and what may have been speech patterns, before stopping. She stood and shook her head, returning to the group.
"I figured." she sighed. "The animals won't listen to me, so the beasts definitely won't."
"Brilliant." Hakuryuu snarled, whirling away from her so he could collect himself before his anger even reached the surface.
Alibaba leaned over, whispering to Judal conspiratorially and effectively distracting him from doing anything about Hakuryuu's temper.
"Pisti can speak beast." he informed him. "She can't control them, really, but she can talk to them the same way she would a person. Most animals only understand fae magic on a basic level, so she can usually compel them to do what she wants."
"Sounds useful."
"Yeah, believe me, there's little scarier than an army of squirrel spies. You literally can't keep a secret from her back home."
Hakuryuu took a few moments to reign in the temptation to lash out at the forestry around them and turned back to his companions. He met their eyes one by one, assessing each of them in turn. Pisti was disappointed that she would be of little use, but was otherwise unaffected. Morgiana was calm as ever, and Alibaba had kept himself calm by redirecting nervous tension into educating Judal. Judal, in turn, seemed uneasy but stubbornly reticent to let it show.
Spartos seemed the most off-balance of all of them, no doubt livid at his own inability to use a basic instinct he'd had since childhood. Like being stripped of a limb and unsure how to balance yourself without it. Hakuryuu could relate to that feeling, and that thought brought calm back to his mind. He was here to make sure none of them lost their way, literally or figuratively.
"Find west." he instructed Spartos, who nodded sharply. "I still think your reasoning for going that way is sound. While we go, I suggest trying to move upwards as best we can at the same time. We have already wasted one night making questionable progress."
Hakuryuu swept his eyes over them again.
"Time is against us, the sooner we reach the summit, the better."
West didn't seem inclined to stay in the same position for more than an hour at a time, and that was assuming that Sidhe had hours, which was entirely up for debate.
The infuriating frequency with which west changed orientation was enough to disorient everyone, even while standing still. For every step forward, they seemed to take three more back. It was hard to say if they were even climbing in elevation at this point. If they tried to retraced their path, they just found themselves in entirely different locations altogether. Not that it was easy to tell, because the forest hadn't changed in well over a day.
Going in circles would have felt more productive.
Hakuryuu was nearing the edge of his patience with alarming speed. He had no intention of spending an indefinite amount of time wandering aimlessly around on some damned mountain, though the mountain wasn't exactly giving him much choice. Feeling lost, no matter how much he told himself that they weren't, was unpleasant enough to make him nauseous if he thought about it for too long. It was too similar to how he had felt in the mortal realm, disconnected and out of his natural element.
Sidhe was supposed to be where he was in control, where the very earth beneath his feet sang for him and magic came when he called for it. And the mountain was full of life that his magic should have drawn on, yet somehow it danced just out of his reach. When he grabbed for it, it slipped through his fingers, but shimmered close by as if to taunt him. His only consolation was that it was like that for everyone in the group, from Morgiana who could barely trust the scent of the air to Judal, whose fidgeting only stopped if Hakuryuu grabbed his hand.
Alibaba handled frustration even worse than Hakuryuu did, somehow, but without some external ignition for his temper he dealt with it by chattering endlessly. Blessedly, Judal was a receptive listener who had never heard any of his stories, jokes, or rambling descriptions of treaties between kingdoms before. They kept one another entertained, and their lighthearted banter eased the tension in the air.
After passing the same tree, with the same configuration of moss on its trunk, four separate times, Hakuryuu simply stopped looking at the world around him. Though the magic slid from his fingers like sand, it welcomed him when he submerged his consciousness in it. He sank into the life around him and followed it, rather than his eyes. Spartos was a steady thrum ahead of him that he latched onto, while the inherent magic of the faerie's domain prickled against his nerves.
Like this, Hakuryuu felt the forest shift around them before anyone saw it begin to change. When he dragged himself back from the depths, it was to find that they were now walking through a forest of far more tropical origin than before. The air was humid, and the trees grew to incredible heights, the canopy of boughs overhead so thick that they blotted out the sun. It was dim within this forest, and it smelled of damp earth and rotted fruit.
Hakuryuu resisted the urge to loudly express his relief over the changed terrain. It was the closest thing to progress they had had since they set foot on the mountain. Pisti was less reserved, and was making a series of delighted chirping sounds that seemed to speak for all of them.
Blindly, Hakuryuu reached back in search of his lover's hand. Judal's fingers soon curled around his own, reassuring in their warmth, but concerning in the tightness of their grip. It hadn't escaped his notice that Judal had spent most of the day talking without saying anything, only half-focused on whatever conversation he was having with Alibaba. He wanted to ask, knew he should ask, but it didn't feel like the time or place to allow himself to be distracted. At some point, he would find a balance between the role he was used to playing in Sidhe and the person he had been with Judal in the mortal realm, but he hadn't yet.
That was also frustrating, so he squeezed Judal's hand and chose not to let go this time.
UnSeelie harbored no tropical landscapes, leaving Hakuryuu well out of his element as they trooped further into the dank forest. Morgiana fell back, bringing up the rear alongside Alibaba, and though the pair remained outwardly relaxed, their eyes had sharpened as they gazed out into the swaying shadows. Without light, it was impossible to tell what time of day it may be, or how long they had been walking. Soon, there was only the humid air and the distant rustling of wildlife preying on their nerves.
After what felt like an age foraging their way into the eerie murk, Spartos came to a stop. The others all drew up short behind him, exchanging glances heavy with apprehension. Judal squeezed Hakuryuu's hand before letting it drop, only to stuff both hands into his pockets instead.
( He touched the stones he had collected, running his fingers over their smooth surfaces as though it was a habit he'd always had. )
"I cannot find it." Spartos announced.
"Can't fi- What, west?" Alibaba said, incredulous. "It's a whole direction, Spartos! There are only four!"
His outburst was rewarded with a withering stare.
"There are more than four directions, prince Alibaba. Or do I need to inform king Sinbad that you ought to join the palace children in their lessons?"
Alibaba flushed, thoroughly abashed.
"I cannot feel the pull of the northern star," Spartos continued. "And of the directions, north is the easiest to detect. If even that is gone then I have nothing to extrapolate from. Direction has been completely obscured. I cannot even see the sky, to use my eyes as a guide."
"Fantastic." Judal hissed under his breath.
Alibaba swore. Then he swore again, because Hakuryuu had refrained from doing so.
"We go back." Hakuryuu ordered, grasping for the semblance of a plan. "Finding where we lost our way may provide some clue, there must be something we missed."
There had to be, because the alternative was that they hadn't missed anything, and their expedition had been doomed from the start.
Morgiana shifted her weight.
"We should not be here." she murmured.
Everyone fell silent at once as they finally acknowledged the ominous shift in atmosphere. The jungle had hardly been welcoming, but now an oppressive sense of anxiety blanketed them as thickly as the mulch on the ground. The change had come so swiftly, so subtly, that it felt almost as if the jungle had been patiently awaiting the moment when they all finally realized it had led them into the bowels of the unknown.
No matter how it was phrased, they were unquestionably lost, and without any form of compass by which to guide them.
"We go back." Hakuryuu repeated firmly, his face a calm mask over a sea of unease.
Retracing their steps was easy at first. This muggy land didn't repeat itself as the endless rows of trees from before had, and when their memories failed them there was Morgiana to follow their fading scent. It felt like progress, even if they were going backwards, which was better than they'd had in a long while. No one spoke, each of them doing their best to smother their anxiety for the sake of the others. One crack in their proverbial armor could spell disaster for them all.
Pisti found her way to Judal's left side, mirroring Hakuryuu's strides on his right. Judal's hands remained tucked into his pockets, eyes a constant flicker of motion across their surroundings without moving from the ground beneath their feet. Everyone walked closer together, knitting themselves into a single moving entity.
The further into the murk they went, the more sure it became that they were not following the path they had come from. No one dared to acknowledge it aloud, but tension hung about them in a thick miasma that said it for them. As desperately as they tried to find their way, the mountain seemed twice as intent to mislead them. If only it were as simple as that; that was an old fae trick, to confuse the magic and make it lead someone to the opposite of where they wanted to go. They all knew how to circumvent that sort of thing.
But this was something else. Something older and more obscure, possibly, probably, something unique to the faerie. Hakuryuu had never experienced magic that simply had no interest in him, and as soon as they were done with Aladdin he was going to work very hard to make sure he never dealt with it again. It was uncomfortable. Even the magic of the mortal realm had crawled willingly beneath his skin and settled into his blood and bones, not just wandered over his skin lazily, bemused by his frustration.
"Something is waiting up ahead." Morgiana said abruptly, bringing them all to a sudden halt.
"Should we go back?" Alibaba asked.
Pisti shuddered.
"They already know we're here."
And wasn't that a comforting statement.
Even Judal knew better than to suggest turning their backs on an unknown foe, so there was nothing for it but to continue forwards. Hakuryuu prowled shoulder to shoulder with Spartos through the gloom, stepping lightly around puddles of muck and patches of lazily twisting vines. Something was moving ahead of them, rustling the canopy and stomping through the rotted fruit. Suddenly, large figures came loping out of the shadows and the fae froze.
Judal stared.
At first, all he could focus on were the pairs of glowing yellow eyes, speckled with brown, like overripe bananas. The smell hit him next, a pungent aroma of wet fur, sickly sweet nectar and musk. Even hunched, the beasts were massive, coarse gray fur covering bulky, muscled bodies. If he had to equate them to anything, they looked like apes, except apes were not suppose to be this huge, or have interlocking canines that jutted over their lips, or hissing, undulating vipers for tails.
Hakuryuu curled his fingers more tightly around the hilt of his sword, slowly edging the blade from its sheathe. He didn't dare risk any sudden movements because there was a chance, an incredibly slim chance, that the beasts would decide it wasn't worth it to try and fight a gaggle of fae.
The largest ape stepped forward, digging thick claws into the soft ground, opened its mouth, and screamed.
Hakuryuu had his sword free of its sheathe before the beast's roar reached its crescendo.
The fae drew first blood. One of the sharp stones Spartos wore at his hip extended in his hands into a beautiful lance that cut across the distance between himself and the ape lunging towards him, catching it mid-leap in its exposed belly. The ape bellowed its pain, jerking sporadically and rolling to the forest floor, scrabbling at its bloody fur as it hollered. The sight of blood seemed only to enrage the others, who thundered forward, leaping at their foes.
Distance was going to be their friend in this fight, Hakuryuu could already see it. These beasts were huge and powerful, more than capable of snapping bone and crushing internal organs. He was proud to note that his companions had placed themselves between the beasts and Judal, who had wisely scampered back as far as he could without being separated from them. Not that it would do any good if the apes set upon them in a pack, since the resulting chaos would be too much to keep track of all at once.
Spartos caught another jumper, this time between the ribs, jerking forward to plunge his lance deep enough to puncture lungs. Pulling free of a corpse took precious seconds, which may have cost him, had Morgiana not already sucked in a breath and loosed a ferocious shockwave of noise. The apes were driven back, startled, some of the smaller ones clearly frightened, which bought them time. Not a lot, but enough for Alibaba to launch twin arrows of fire from his fingertips and set two of the young beasts aflame.
Their shrieks of pain and fear brought another bloodcurdling scream from the leader, lips pulled back over yellowed teeth and spittle flying from its open jaws.
Stars, Hakuryuu had missed this.
The enemy rushing towards him, the adrenaline pumping through his veins, the steady feeling of his allies at his side. He had wielded a blade in the mortal realm but it wasn't the same, not like it was in Sidhe. The weight was different, the silver glistened like stars, it hummed with magic that recognized him, called to him, loved how his hands curled tight at the hilt as his anticipation mounted. His blade was an extension of his body.
Alibaba's eyes were golden fire, his mouth a vicious smile that begged for bloodshed. Spartos held a gaze as unforgiving as the mountain itself. Morgiana's face belonged to a predator hungering for the hunt, and Pisti's laugh was a tittering war cry.
With two apes gouged and two now smoldering and lying prone, they were left with five beasts to contend with. It had been six, at first count, but Pisti had set her talons into a foolishly exposed throat, laughter rising in pitch as she tore flesh to ribbons. Five fae against five beasts, not terrible odds, even if the magic of the mountain refused to be used by the intruders. Pisti had already darted after another one, not far from where Spartos contended with the second largest of the pack.
Spartos wove and dodged and struck with such brutal precision that it made the raging beast seem bumbling and clumsy. In the beginning it had landed a few glancing blows, denting armor in places and opening a gash on Spartos's pale cheek. Now, its movements were frenzied and frantic as Spartos gouged into it over and over, matting its fur with thick rivulets of blood.
A spry youngster, no doubt seeking revenge for its charred brethren, had seen fit to challenge Alibaba. Without direct sunlight to draw from, Alibaba chose to use his magic sparsely and relied mainly on his sword. Flames danced along the blade's edge, white hot and playful, licking over skin and melting fur into flesh with every strike. To the untrained eye, Alibaba's strange posture and playful grin seemed unbalanced. Hakuryuu knew better. He had been crossing swords with this man since the day they met, teaching him UnSeelie technique to fill the gaps in Sinbad's tutelage. To fight a beast was a game to him, he verged on the same kind of manic laughter as Pisti, just this side of too composed to let it free.
Only Morgiana had the strength to best one of the beasts in close quarters, and thus she had chosen to take the most dangerous opponent for herself. The leader of the apes was easily five times her size, if not more, though you would be hard pressed to tell from how she grappled with him. When its punishing blows did little to deter the sturdy fae, the ape changed tactics, lashing out with ragged claws. It followed this with a darting bite from its viperous tail, which was its first mistake.
Morgiana caught the snake by its head and sunk claws of her own down through scale into muscle, twisted her wrist, then wrenched. The motion took only a few seconds, then the snake's head popped clean off. The ape howled, furious and in pain, as its tail lashed uselessly in wild, jerky arcs. Morgiana's linen wrap was streaked with mauve blood, but she hardly seemed to notice.
Bitter cold crept its way through Hakuryuu's blood, seeking to chill his nerves until he was naught by ice. The cold creature that lurked within him gnawed at his belly; restless, hungry, after so long without release. What blood he had shed in the mortal realm could not compare to the carnage he was capable of here. Part of him yearned for it, for the familiar, seductive lull of cool darkness as it swallowed down his being and freed him of all but the enemy before him and what he chose to protect behind.
The beasts. Ahead.
Judal. Behind.
The last ape bore down on him with a savage yowl, tearing up chunks from the earth as it raced towards him. Hakuryuu forced back the invading chill and narrowed his focus to the beast before him, blocking out all the other fights taking place around him. It would be easy to let the icy sharp magic of his court guide his blade, but it was hardly worth the effort for a single beast. No, the thing scratching at his ribs would want more bloodshed than he could provide it then, a challenge that this beast would never be able to rise to. It was better to avoid the inevitable frustration in the aftermath.
Hakuryuu allowed the beast to come to him, and the ensuing fight required neither precision nor finesse. All it asked of him was his agility, which Hakuryuu possessed in spades. He wove between the ape's flailing blows with grace, his feet never on the ground more than a few seconds before they were dancing away again, guiding him back and forth, under and around. Even if he had never hefted a sword in his life, so long as he could evade, he could have won. As it happened, Hakuryuu had been taught the art of the blade from the time he was a child, and that made things all the easier.
A few well placed stabs rendered the ape too weakened to move. It had overexerted itself, blood gushing from arteries it had been too enraged to notice had been ruptured. Hakuryuu swiped a single gash across its throat for good measure as it fell, and claimed his victory.
The jungle had stilled again by the time Hakuryuu took in his surroundings. He whistled sharply, and almost immediately five- no, six, whistles echoed him. Judal's came late, as if he was unsure if he should join in, and the sound of it filled Hakuryuu with a sense of relief. His shoulders slumped and he leaned over to wipe his blade clean on the carcass of his kill.
Almost as soon as he stood straight to sheathe his sword, a distant shriek rent the air.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Morgiana's hackles rise. He took quick stock of his other companions, all close enough to be seen but too far to keep close, and felt his heart speed up. Seconds of strained silence ticked by as the six fae stared apprehensively into the gloom.
Then came another scream. Then another. Pounding, like distant drums, met their ears and as it drew closer, they became aware that it was not drums but footfalls. The thundering echo was punctuated by howls and screeches, rising to a crescendo as whatever stampede was coming drew near. Even without seeing the beasts, it was obvious that they would be vastly outnumbered.
The beasts would overwhelm them.
"Run." Hakuryuu ordered. "Run!"
They ran.
When fae ran, they were like shadows and sunlight. Shifting, darting and vibrating at the edge of one's vision; there but not at all. They were nigh impossible to keep track of using sight alone, one had to know how to listen, how to catch their scent, or taste their magic in the air. Hakuryuu knew how to track a fae, he used every trick he knew to try and keep his companions within reach.
It didn't work. The jungle itself seemed to try and pry them all apart, taking advantage of their frenzied flight to obscure their way and confuse them.
Paths disappeared underfoot.
Trees sprouted from nowhere, roots arcing up in great tangles, like giant nets trying to catch slippery minnows.
The magic of the mountain caught and spun their senses into a delirious mess, dizzying and nauseating.
One by one, they disappeared amidst the shadows.
By the time he stopped running, Judal was certain he was going to be violently ill. He doubled over, unable to continue moving another step at that speed, and heaved dryly over a pile of crisp auburn leaves. The jungle was gone, replaced by a quiet, musky forest, which smelled of freshly turned earth. Trees stood tall and thin, tucked into dark soil pocked by upturned stones and boulders, their branches almost completely bare of leaves. Despite the lack of canopy, light seemed hesitant to filter down through the boughs.
Judal's head had barely stopped spinning when something touched his back. He spun fearfully, only to sag with relief when he recognized Spartos's concerned face.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
Tentatively, Judal nodded. He waited for another wave of nausea that didn't come, leaving him a few moments to flick his eyes over Spartos. The elf was still bruised from his battle, armor scuffed, the cut on his cheek muddy with drying blood, and though he was directing his concern at Judal, he looked equally pale and unsettled.
"Where's everyone else?" Judal asked, finally looking around for the rest of their group.
"As lost as we are, I imagine."
Well, wasn't that a cheery thought. Judal looked around with renewed alertness, looking for landmarks or a conveniently placed sign pointing them in the right direction. Possibly Aladdin lurking in the shadows, laughing at their plight.
"I couldn't see anyone else, how did you keep track of me?"
"You were in front of me, and once the landscape began changing my sense of direction returned enough to tell you were going east. I just tried to do the same, assuming we would end up in the same area if I did."
"You didn't happen to see where anyone else headed, did you?"
"No. Did you?"
"No. I think Hakuryuu tried to catch up with me but I-" he shifted his weight uncomfortably. "I think I was moving too fast or something. I didn't even know I could run like that, I sure as hell couldn't back in the human world."
"Be glad you can." Spartos said gravely, which came off so ominous Judal wasn't even sure how to respond.
They lapsed into silence, and Judal found himself gravitating closer to Spartos as he observed their surroundings. Spartos eyed the woodland critically, no doubt looking for a hidden path that would lead them somewhere other than where they stood. Judal's eyes couldn't stay still, flicking from leaf covered earth to the peeling bark of tree trunks, to moss covered stones and up to the tangle of empty branches overhead.
There was nothing to indicate the presence of the ape-like beasts from before, or any other living creature, for that matter. In fact, there didn't seem to be so much as an ant crawling across the ground. Judal strained to listen into the silence, searching for the distant sound of a bird call or shuffling of small paws through the underbrush.
Dead quiet answered him.
This kind of still silence never led to good things. Judal was reminded of the frozen cityscape when Belial and Zagan had made their appearances in the mortal realm, which really only unsettled him more. Hakuryuu's vassals were the kind of ancient, powerful beings humans had spent centuries cowering in fear of when the sun went down, and even they hadn't stilled Sidhe like this.
Oh, fuck, Judal realized. This silence wasn't natural. Something was out there.
"We need to go." he said. "Like right now, Spartos."
Rather than question him, Spartos set off immediately through the thin trees, trusting Judal to follow without further explanation. And he did, he wanted to get out of this forest before whatever was in it noticed that they had intruded. He was so focused on his urge to get away that his mistake occurred to him far too late. In his haste, Judal had forgotten that unspoken words carried further and with more volume than any screams in Sidhe.
How long had he been thinking about the being? How many times had he referred to it in his mind, acknowledged its presence at the edge of his consciousness? Hadn't he felt a name, lazily tumbling into his thoughts and daring to be considered at the back of his mind? Thoughts held intent, and intent held power. One did not have to speak to be heard.
He may as well have drawn the creature a map straight to him.
They hadn't gone more than ten yards when Spartos came to a sudden halt and reached out, gripping fiercely at Judal's elbow.
"Be still." he hissed, voice sharp and urgent.
Staying still seemed like a good idea. Staying still seemed like a fantastic idea, actually. The air was growing heavy and the whisper of magic against his skin was becoming a violent storm of lightning pinpricks. Beneath the bare soles of his feet Judal could feel the earth trembling, and as the atmosphere grew more oppressive, the light seemed to dim. His animal instinct to freeze or flee was in full control, keeping Judal in place while filling him with the urge to run and hide behind the biggest rock he could find.
Magic was wonderful, but incomprehensible, and while Judal was fond of its absurdity in most cases, this wasn't one. Something prickled beneath his skin and made his fingers flex, trying to curl around something that wasn't there. His eyes swept searchingly across the shadowed underbrush, seeking a shape, a form, an object, a being? He didn't know. The magic of it called to him, though, and so he was sure it was there.
The timing could have been better. The last thing he wanted to be thinking about right now was how he had to find it, whatever it was, quickly, and how imperative it was that he did. When he did find it, his heart leapt and his eyes fixed on the perfectly smooth, oblong stone, lying innocently between two knobbly tree roots.
He was across the distance and scooping up the stone before his common sense, or Spartos, could try and stop him. In his haste, he missed how the stone pulsed with pure energy when his fingertips connected, but it was impossible not to feel how it hummed in the palm of his hand. The other six stones, distributed between his two pockets, hummed in return.
A voice filtered through the trees, singing a haunting lullaby without any words. The presence drew ever closer, threatening to crush them beneath the weight of its very existence. Judal was pulled down into the flow of magic around him, and was immediately overwhelmed by it. His mind refused to keep up with the indescribable experience, but his body operated as instinct demanded.
Spartos stood stock still, watching as Judal pulled stone after stone from his pockets, clutching the one he'd just picked up in his left hand. He laid them out in a perfect circle, the newest last, placed carefully back onto the earth with a somber kind of reverence. The change was instantaneous, the crushing pressure lifted and the world inside the circle seemed to grow fractionally brighter. Judal blinked back into focus and stumbled away from the edge of the circle, backing up until his shoulder knocked into Spartos's.
They stayed still, breathing as quietly as they could, and stared out into the trees. For a long time, nothing happened. The singing swayed on the air, around their silent circle without ever seeming to cross the boundary. The ground continued to shake, and now the trees shivered with it.
And then something crossed their line of sight.
He stepped from between two trees on their right, carrying himself with the languid strides of a man unhurried. From heel to head he stood well over thirty feet tall, with broad shoulders that pushed aside the spindly tops of the suddenly small-seeming trees. The song he sung leaned heavily against the ringed barrier, as though it had just realized that it could not quite reach them with its eerie notes.
Judal stared straight ahead and didn't breathe. He didn't move. If he looked up, he would have seen shaggy hair of sapphire blue layered against the fae's sharp cheekbones, but he didn't dare. Just knowing the shape of this being, the powder blue color of his skin, the casual ease of his gait, was already too much. The image of him would haunt Judal for he didn't know how long, and as long as it remained in his mind, this being would be connected to him. Able to find him, seek him out at the bare hint of remembrance.
The circle held strong, even as the towering fae walked mere feet from its edge. It felt as though an eternity passed before the creature ambled his way back into the trees, singing lightly as he went. Slowly, slowly, the light began to filter back through the leafless canopy, and the air began to move again.
Spartos and Judal shared a long exhale of breath.
Judal slumped to the ground, hanging his head in an attempt to assuage yet another spell of dizziness. Whatever that had been, it had been old and powerful, and bone-deep terrifying. In retrospect, it wasn't even because of itself, necessarily, but because the scale of it offered a daunting level of insight.
The being had to be weaker than Aladdin, to dwell on his mountain freely. In turn Aladdin was, in theory, weaker than the Queens. One of those Queens was Hakuryuu's mother, who they were going to kill. The Queen who ruled an entire court and kept Sidhe's very existence in balance.
If he hadn't been concentrating on not being sick, Judal would have laughed hysterically.
It took a few minutes to regain his composure, but eventually the nausea passed and he could lift his head. When he did, he found Spartos regarding him thoughtfully. He looked even paler than before, a thin sheen of sweat on his brow, but when he spoke it was with the same calm as ever.
"I think it would be good to introduce you to Yamraiha, when we return."
The complete non-sequitur totally threw Judal. He blinked in bleary confusion at his teacher.
Endeared, Spartos offered Judal a light smile that brought a touch of color back to his cheeks. He offered him a hand and helped him back to his feet.
"Yamraiha is a general of king Sinbad's, like myself. She is regarded as something of a prodigy in the study of magic. What she lacks in power she makes up for as a researcher- I think you will need a teacher like that."
"I hate studying." Judal muttered absently, and Spartos laughed.
Judal giggled shakily and immediately felt himself calming down. Laughter felt good, it smoothed the frayed edges of his nerves and steadied his pounding heart. His head filled with memories of finals and pop quizzes, neither of which he'd ever have to think about again, and the sheer normalcy of them. He had left humanity behind, but there was a comfort to be had in the simplicity of his previous life.
"Let's get the hell out of here and find everyone else, yeah?"
Another bush burst into blue flames and Alibaba winced.
"That's eight..." he muttered, low enough Hakuryuu couldn't hear him over his seething.
He couldn't really blame Pisti for hiding up a tree like she was, it was probably the smarter thing to do. It felt like a minor miracle that Hakuryuu's pacing had yet to wear a trench in the exposed earth, though to compensate the surrounding area was pocked with smoldering greenery.
Alibaba silently begged Morgiana to come back soon with good news, and as if in answer to his wish, she reemerged from the foliage. A moment later Spartos, then Judal, stepped out into the clearing behind her. Alibaba was so relieved to see them- both because he was worried and because he was growing increasingly concerned by Hakuryuu –he could have hugged them, but wisely hung back.
Hakuryuu stormed over, eyes blazing. He ignored Spartos entirely and instead grabbed Judal, dragging him closer and scanning him for injuries at the same time. Spartos stepped away from the couple to join Alibaba, Morgiana and Pisti, glancing around with brows raised.
"Setting fire to a faerie mountain." he said dryly. "What an incredibly bad idea."
"That's what I said!"
Alibaba responded with an offended scowl when Spartos looked at him incredulously.
"I didn't start them!" he said, gesturing to Hakuryuu pointedly.
The prince was still seething through his teeth. Judal was unharmed, but something had clearly shaken him. His hair was mussed, flyaway strands escaped from his braid and curling up against his neck and jaw. The tick of his heartbeat was a touch too fast, and his magic was close enough to the surface that Hakuryuu could almost feel it squirming beneath his skin.
He would have gone on glowering at the invisible foe who had frightened his lover had Judal not cupped his cheeks and pulled him into a kiss. Hakuryuu returned the kiss fiercely. Judal's nails dug into his scalp as his fingers knotted through his hair, and his teeth worried Hakuryuu's bottom lip until the skin threatened to break. The prince bit his tongue, then nipped the corner of his lips as they parted.
"So," Pisti piped up once the lovers turned their attention to the group. "Does anyone know where we are?"
This version of woodland was lush, giving off the impression of fresh spring growth and bounty. Fruit hung from treetops and what bushes were still intact sagged under the weight of colorful berries. It reminded Judal how long it had been since he'd eaten, though he didn't dare sample the strange fruit.
"We have not ascended more than a mile." Morgiana said. "The exact place, I cannot be sure of."
"This is east of where we were, so it's probably closer to where we started when we began moving west." Alibaba groaned. "Which means we've spent two days making basically no progress at all."
Pisti whined aloud, which was an accurate summary of how everyone else was feeling at the moment. They were sore and dirty after their fight with the ape-beasts, tired after two days without sleep, and hungry. No one wanted to have to backtrack and make up a day or more of travel in their current state, but what choice did they have?
"Going west was clearly the wrong choice." Hakuryuu declared.
Spartos winced and Morgiana asked; "East, then?"
"To what end? I doubt this mountain is treacherous in only one direction."
"So we just go up? Come on Hakuryuu, that's not much of a plan, and that's coming from me!"
"Do you have a better idea, Alibaba?" Hakuryuu snapped. "Because unless one of you knows a path straight to the mountaintop, there seems little reason to go anywhere but up."
"I just don't really think that aimlessly wandering upwards is the secret to ascending a faerie mountain, that seems kind of..."
"Simple?" Spartos said.
Pisti perked up. "Maybe that's the point!"
"We should go back to the river." Judal interrupted wearily, drawing everyone's attention.
Like the last time he had made the suggestion, Spartos opened his mouth to protest, but Judal stopped him with an irritated scowl.
"Look, you're all right." he said. "We've been halfway around the mountain at this point and all we've done is get lost repeatedly. The river is the closest thing to a solid path I've seen in the last two days! It can't be that much more dangerous to follow it than it is to wander around!"
"Actually, I think Judal has a point." Pisti said, catching them all by surprise. "If you think about it, the first thing a fae is taught about going out into the world on their own is to avoid running water. Hiding a path alongside a river makes perfect sense, especially for a being strong enough to not be terribly concerned by its effects."
"Rivers and streams do not often change their placements either." Morgiana added. "If a river moves, it is often because the land itself has moved as well. So, if nothing else, it would be a good way to return to the base of the mountain if we must."
Alibaba crossed his arms and frowned.
"This isn't common land though, who's to say that a faerie's river will obey the same rules?"
"Forgetting even that," Hakuryuu sighed. "Does anyone even know how to find the river again?"
"What are you talking about?" Judal asked, sounding confused. "It's right over there."
Judal turned and led his mystified companions between two trees, over a fallen log, and up to a low-hanging branch. He pushed the branch aside and, sure enough, there was the river visible through the gap. The babble of water over smooth stones filled their ears like it had been echoing around them forever, even if there had been no such sound just moments before.
Geographically, it shouldn't have been possible. They had gone miles from the riverside, and changed altitudes several times. But that was just how Sidhe was, wasn't it?
If the expressions of astonishment on his companion's faces were anything to go by, maybe not.
Everyone was staring at the river, all save Hakuryuu, who instead stared openly at Judal. He couldn't read his lover's face, or the emotions flickering within his glacial eyes. They were there and gone too fast for him to catch, but before he could dwell on it for too long, Hakuryuu was kissing him again.
"Well spotted, sweetling." he praised. Then, turning to the group; "I want everyone on their guard. This is the most obviously treacherous path to take, but Morgiana is right, it is also the most likely to be consistent."
"Great." Alibaba muttered. "Let's walk straight into danger, why don't we?"
They did not, in fact, walk straight into danger.
Actually, they stopped and settled by the river first to eat a much needed meal of dry bread and salted meat, washed down with sour nectar that filled them with buzzing energy. As they ate, they took turns explaining what had happened to them whilst they were separated.
Hakuryuu had ended up alone, a fair bit away from any of the others, and probably would have spent fruitless hours wandering had Alibaba not had the forethought to tag him with a small ember of his magic. Once the danger had passed, Alibaba sought Hakuryuu out and the two found one another with relative ease. Morgiana had sniffed out Pisti, then the two of them, and finally gone off to recover Spartos and Judal. When it was Spartos's turn to speak, he relayed what had happened to them in the desolate forest.
"Ooh a circle of protection!" Pisti gasped, delighted. "I never even thought to try something like that here!"
"Yeah, making a barrier is one thing, but to fully hide yourself like that on foreign soil you have to have mediums from the land itself. Finding the right ones is tough." Alibaba agreed, tearing a strip from his meat with his teeth.
"Where did you learn to do that?"
Judal answered Spartos with a noncommittal shrug.
"Just seemed like the thing to do at the time."
Fed and thusly rejuvenated, the party set out once more, this time following the lazy winding of the riverbank. Judal no longer hovered in the midst of the group, but darted between them as whim directed. When another stone appeared in his path, smooth, oblong, and unremarkable, he scooped it up without question.
More stones appeared as the day wore on, all of which Judal collected and tucked into his pockets for later use. The group made idle conversation, occasionally lapsing into long stretches of companionable silence, only to pick back up again as if they had never stopped talking. For all the talk of caution and danger, the most startling thing they came across was a pure white doe and her platinum colored fawn, drinking from the rushing water on the other side of the river.
The walk was quite pleasant, actually. The trees on either side of the river never encroached close enough to fully obscure the sky overhead, and the air smelled of fresh water and damp moss. The sound of running water became a pleasant backdrop to their conversations, and the landscape remained predominantly lush and full of both flora and fauna.
"Hey," Judal asked as midday turned into evening. "How do I make stuff float?"
"Oh, easy! Let me show you!" Pisti said excitedly, and she did.
By the time the sun had begun to disappear behind the treetops, Judal had mastered the ability to make small objects float on a pillow of air. Once the sun was gone and they were at the mercy of the night, he set seven stones in a wide circle around the group. The magic fell over them like a well-worn cloak, blanketing them in a bubble of quiet amidst the sounds of nighttime. Judal held out his hands and the stones lifted as one from the ground, rising until they hovered around them in a protective orbit.
The night was uneventful. Glittering eyes peered out from the shadows of the treeline, but never quite focused on them and winked out moments later. An owl hooted, far away, and was answered by a mournful howl. Several orbs of light bobbed across their path and danced over the river for a while before floating off in the other direction to wherever it was they were going.
It wasn't until dawn that Judal first felt the frighteningly familiar weight on his psyche. He stopped, as did Spartos just ahead of him, and the others followed suit.
Just moments before the air had been full of the sound of waking birds and running water, yet now even that seemed muffled. For several long minutes, they all just stood there. Then, Judal caught the first few notes of an eerie song and stopped breathing altogether. He knew the moment Spartos heard it too, because they shared a look that clearly said; fuck.
Oh. Judal repeated mentally. Fuck.
The distant echo became a clear melody as the being drew nearer to where they stood, and with it came the same aching, humbling pressure from the day before. He and Spartos had braced for it, but the others all froze under its sudden weight on their entire self. It was not simply the presence of the being, Judal realized dimly, but also a rebellion of his own body as magic far too old and far too potent tried to ooze its way into him. Before, it had been insistent, but today the magic felt curious and amused, as if he were a puzzle it wanted to solve.
Not this shit again. He thought, as nausea rolled over him in a gelatinous wave.
The being stepped out of the woods on the other side of the riverbank. No one looked at it. No one acknowledged it. They all stood perfectly still and tried not to see, think, or hear the creature crossing their paths.
In the air, the stones shivered, but continued their steady orbiting.
Though the sun had not yet risen fully into the horizon, it still felt as if they stood there for hours, unable to so much as think for fear of drawing the being's attention. The being was unhurried, he paused at the river's edge and leaned down to scoop a handful of water to his mouth, then stood again to watch the sun as it drifted higher into the sky. When he finally crossed the river, it was in one massive stride.
The pressure diminished for a moment, but only just.
Here, the being paused. He stood, for the first time silent, and swung his head around to stare straight at Judal with three warm, unblinking eyes. But he couldn't see him, so he couldn't possibly be staring at him, and Judal had never seen his eyes or his face or his smile or the long, long, long plait of sapphire hair trailing over his shoulder towards the ground. There had never been a being standing in front of him, there was no being in his thoughts.
There wasn't, Judal convinced himself. There wasn't.
As soon as the being left, Judal slumped, dimly grateful that Pisti was close enough to catch him on her small shoulder. Hakuryuu rushed to prop him up on the other side, but he shrugged them both off and allowed himself to collapse to his knees. This wave of nausea was the slowest to pass thus far. Judal was sure he was going to lose his last meal twice before it finally subsided, leaving him feeling even more drained than before.
Morgiana wordlessly offered him a canteen and Judal drank, relieved to taste clean water. Hakuryuu helped him shakily to his feet and allowed him to lean heavily against his side, an arm around his waist, as they slowly started moving again. No one addressed what had happened.
Conversation picked up again several miles later, vague and without much life to it. Judal was walking on his own again, and Hakuryuu's hand had moved from his waist to grip fiercely at his hand instead. Their fingers were tangled in a white-knuckled grip that acknowledged that there was a lot going unsaid, if only for the moment. The others chose not to engage them, which was thoughtful in its own way, as it left them to walk in companionable silence.
For the first time, the mountain peak drew closer. Judal thought he was going to have some serious words for the faerie at the top, when they reached it.
Aladdin, dressed in a light blue shift with bluebonnets tucked into his hair, was waiting for them at the mountaintop. He stood with hands on his hips, inviting smile on his cherubic mouth, even before Judal dropped the circle of stones so he could properly see them.
"Welcome, guests!" he laughed, sounding as if nothing pleased him more than the sight of them all bedraggled, but victorious. "How wonderful you could all make it."
Aladdin turned his body and gestured wordlessly through an archway made of bowing trees with long, hanging vines of violet flowers. The invitation was subtle, but strong enough that passing through the threshold felt only mildly discomforting. Through the archway they found themselves standing in a wide grove of trees topped with pure white flowers, which glowed faintly with their own ethereal light. Here, the river thinned to a spring, which trailed around the circle of trees and back down on the other side, creating a circle of water about the faerie's home.
There was no fixed shelter within the grove, just several pieces of simple furniture lying about in the approximation of a living space. Cushions of moss and down lay piled to one side, while a long, low table sat on the other. Large clay pots sat by the edge of the water, alongside thin glass needles, laying innocently on the grass. There was a fire pit with well-worn cookware settled beside it in an organized heap, and a line hung between two trees with several brightly colored cloths tossed over it, drying.
"I have to say, I was hardly expecting you to keep moving non-stop. I am not so bad a host to have allowed you to be attacked in your sleep!" Aladdin laughed, his tone chiding despite its merriment.
Hakuryuu seemed either too tired, or too proud to be concerned with the vague insult the faerie was implying. His expression remained impassive, eyes fixed just to the side of Aladdin's gaze.
"We chose to be cautious." he said.
"And now we're here." Alibaba added. "So will you hear us out-"
Aladdin held up a hand.
"Every last one of you looks dead on their feet. Relax, now that you are here I will speak with you, so take some time to dress your injuries and rest."
He gestured around the grove, offering the empty spaces for them to make camp in. Judal found it hard to pretend like the idea of sleep wasn't appealing, and he didn't seem to be the only one. They waited for Hakuryuu's decision, and after a moment's pause he sighed and nodded his head.
They chose a spot near to the entrance of the grove and deposited themselves in a disorderly heap. Since they had traveled light they didn't have much in the way of sleeping arrangements, but made due with rolled cloaks and quickly grown bedding of pliant grass and squishy clumps of moss. While camp was being set, Judal meandered a few feet away to begin picking rocks at random from the edge of the stream. They didn't call to him the way the last two sets of stones had, but he didn't think they needed quite that much protection this time.
He made the approximation of a circle with them, hefting a few larger rocks into place with a grunt of effort that drew the faerie's attention.
"You know, in mixed company that sort of thing might be considered rude." Aladdin sighed, exasperated.
Judal stared at him pointedly and dropped the final stone into place, closing the circle around their makeshift camp. Aladdin looked as though he couldn't decide if he wanted to be amused, angry, or further exasperated by the changeling's antics.
"Is he always like that?" he asked.
"He rarely obeys convention." Hakuryuu said, unable to keep the fondness from his voice.
Alibaba wandered over to Hakuryuu as he approached the circle, crossing the barrier with him. He cocked his head wordlessly, conveying a desire for conference. Spartos joined them, looking somehow more weary without his armor on.
"I don't think we're necessarily in danger," Alibaba murmured, just loud enough for them to hear. "But I think it would be better if someone kept watch all the same."
"I agree." said Spartos. "Who should take first watch?"
"I will. The sun's still up, so I'll have a hard time getting to sleep anyway. Morgiana can go after me, since she needs less sleep than the rest of us. If we're still sleeping after her shift, Pisti can go, she rises with the sun."
Hakuryuu nodded, silently grateful that he would be left to sleep undisturbed by this arrangement. Alibaba grinned and clapped him on the shoulder before stepping back out of the circle, nonchalantly depositing himself on a small boulder not far from them.
Judal had already claimed a spot for himself, and by extension Hakuryuu, and was dozing by the time his lover joined him. Hakuryuu stripped his belt and scabbard from his hip and laid it with the rest of his equipment before finally lying down beside the changeling. Exhaustion swamped over him immediately, reminding his body of every ache and pain it had suffered in the last few days. He laid on his side and tucked an arm around Judal, drawing him to his chest so he could feel the comforting brush of his breathing on his neck, and finally allowed himself to sleep.
Notes:
I figured it had been a long time since we'd had any proper fight scenes, and I wanted to remedy that! For those curious, the ape-beasts were based loosely off the dungeon monster-human hybrids Morgiana fought in Balbadd, just without the humanoid element.
And I'll be naming him in the next chapter so it's not a spoiler to confirm that, yes! The "being" was Ugo! He's an old, old, old fae of unknown origin, but he chills with Aladdin so he's cool. Just kind of scary before you get to know him.
Are you guys missing the Ren family any? Would you like to see more side-chapters with them, or have those scenes incorporated into the main story? I'd honestly like to know, since I'm still adjusting the outline going forward.