Tree of Life Book III

Part III - Chapter 03

TREE OF LIFE BOOK III – PART III

CHAPTER 03

It was Wendy.

Wendy with the vacant, white eyes and she had floated into the room like a ghost. She stopped inside the doorway.

"Wendy?" Nicole began struggling to her feet.

The baby rolled her head around, and then the rest of her body followed. She was wavering up and down like a buoy in the ocean, but her face was fixed on the giant, wooden man, the yellow and red titan still cooking in the ore, chained against the backdrop on the far side of the room. She stared at him.

Julian stared right back.

"Hey!" The Queen flicked her eyes between the two at first. Now she focused on Wendy only. "Arwen! What are you doing in here? I told you to wait outside!"

Wendy seemed not to hear. She began gliding over to her mother and father.

Nicole beamed at her daughter. "Wendy!" She held out both arms to her as she neared.

The Queen growled.

She flicked her hand.

A ribbon of lava swept from the pit. It shot out for the baby from behind.

Julian saw it. He howled. He made to rush off for Wendy but his chains held him. He whipped his head around to glare at his constraints.

The lava was inches from Wendy. Her back was to it. She didn't turn around.

"No!" Ella cried out.

The lava was going to hit.

But Nicole was there.

She zoomed through the air. She tackled the baby. She snatched her away from the boiling liquid.

Falling, she rolled on the surface of the pit. She got back up. Wendy was locked in her arms and safe now but Nicole's back was alight. It had caught fire from her tumble on the pit's surface. She raced off for the lip.

She rolled when she got there to squash out the flames.

The fires went out. They stopped rolling. Nicole examined the baby within her bosom. She checked her over for injury. "Wendy, are you all right?"

Wendy shook her wee head. She blinked.

The white was gone. Her eyes had returned to their normal colour. She frowned up into her mother's face. "Mama?"

Even as the two recovered, the Queen had taken to the air, gathering up wind and a vortex beneath her. She floated out over it, until she was high above the pit. She turned to face Nicole and Wendy below. Her back was to Julian, still rattling on his chains.

She flipped her cape from her shoulders. She eased her hands from her sides.

"Mother!"

The Queen ignored her daughter. The wind all about her swirled more. Her cape fluttered and puffed out in it.

The lava below her took shape. Two pillars of yellow magma swirled upward to nearly reach her, some thirty feet into the air. Steam and fire spurted down the columns.

She lifted her arms higher.

Nicole climbed to her feet. She peered out over at Julian, still struggling against his bonds, the chains shivering in the tension behind him. The walls to which they were attached cracked and splintered and shards of it flaked and popped off. Julian's eyes were scrunched up. His teeth clenched.