She Walks in Beauty

VIII. Shadows

The woods were dark and deep, the branches of the solemn pines creaking under the weight of the snow above. Ahead, a stream flowed like silver mercury, the currents curling back on themselves and flowing in strange, fractal patterns. Above, barely visible through the roof of pine needles, the full moon fractured like a reflection cast onto broken glass. Twisted boughs grew at odd angles, the bark somehow rough and smooth at the same time. Everything about the valley they entered distorted the senses. Even the call of owls lost above them seemed to fluctuate in pitch and echo strangely off the standing stones instead of being absorbed by the thick moss and lichen everywhere.

Rúna knew without a shadow of a doubt that they had entered a khiirdu, a tangle of space and time in Creation's flow where neither force behaved as they should. Places like this were incredibly dangerous, as crossing a small valley could take a few minutes or several years, maybe even longer. The fact that there was no clear path did nothing to ease the worries of her human traveling companions.

"This place has a dark magic to it," Chi whispered, gripping the torch they had made more tightly. The fire flickered and snapped as pitch from the branch caught. Already even it was affected, casting unnatural shadows that seemed to flicker and crawl around them like living beings.

"It is just magic," Rúna said. "The only evil in a khiirdu is what you bring with you."

"Lovely," Thema muttered darkly as she looked around.

Then again, Rúna supposed that they brought ample darkness with them, given everything the orc had said about the evil their soldiers had worked. Their walk would be far more dangerous than that of those who followed them. "We should be careful," she cautioned. "The magic here...sometimes khiirdu respond to the thoughts and hearts of those who enter."

Thema made that irritated 'tch' sound in her throat again. "This is a foolish path you have chosen," she said, glaring at Rúna.

"Would you prefer to be gutted by orcs?" Terese asked mildly.

Rúna set her ward down, but Terese made no move to open distance between them. Instead, she clung to Runa's arm, taking any solace she could find in the face of the yawning fear of the unknown.

Thema huffed at that. "At least orcs can be struck down."

"Not easily," Chi pointed out reluctantly. "Not without some or all of us dying." He turned his gaze on Rúna. "So...you can navigate through this space, wildling?"

Rúna was not about to admit that she had only been in such a place once before, far to the north of where they now stood, and only at her mother's side. The strange formations of ice had concealed many paths that wove a labyrinth of mirror images in the smooth surfaces of the wind-polished ice. It had taken them two weeks to travel a mile, but they had escaped no worse for wear despite some weariness. "I can," she said, trusting in the lessons that tangle had taught her.

"How?" Chi said, waving a hand at the warped trees.

"Creation flows here in strong currents and eddies," the disguised giant explained. "One need only follow its course as it seeks to return to the rest of the world."

"Let's get moving," Thema said sharply. "There may be any number of wild beasts in this area."

Rúna nodded, though she was swiftly distracted by the presence of faintly luminescent moths approaching the torch's flame. They danced around it on delicate wings. She reached out without really thinking of what she was doing, catching one in her hand just before it could fly directly into the fire. Another perished to it, falling to the ground as an ember. "That is a bad omen," she whispered before looking down at the moth captured in a cage of her fingers.