Treeline

Chapter 10

I was just whispering to a new flock of hummingbirds when the ground began to shake. I frowned. Zann's head whipped around. His face was twisted into an accusing grimace.

"Run, run, run," The hummingbirds in front of my face started saying overtop of each other in a strangely happy tone. That was new. My magic had never made a point to actually speak to be before. Too bad its voice didn't match the message, perhaps it hadn't learned nuances of speech yet.

"Stop that, no more!" He thought I was the one making the earthquake.

The hummingbirds vanished in tiny puffs of colourful smoke. My magic once again sealed with Zann's wish. My frown grew deeper. Grey had never told me any stories of the ground shaking. We had earthquakes back in the Cut every once in awhile but Rowan and I had thought them fun. Nothing quite like balancing on the top of a branch while the world does it's best to shake you down. My magic had never told me to run then.

The earth continued to shake.

"That wasn't me, Zann."

His brow furrowed but he was paying more attention to the lady, helping her sit up.

There were more pressing matters than the wellbeing of one crippled human. I hopped off his shoulder onto the white ground. My bare feet crunched through the thin layer of crust. Despite the warmth of the sun, the ground was quite cool. I reached down and felt it, rather grainy. I licked a finger, placing it on the ground then back in my mouth. Salt.

The earth continued to shake.

"Zann," I reached up and tugged at his jacket. "We need to get out of here."

Now I want to make a point clear. I did not say that to save his skin, for all I cared he could stay there until he rotted. The problem was that I couldn't leave without him expressly saying that I could. I could feel my magic gently guiding back to him even a few steps away. I couldn't bear to think what might happen if I tried running away as I had been told to do.

The earth continued to shake.

I glanced around the market. The other humans must not have been quite as thick as my new master. After my handiwork with the tables and the ground groaning under their feet, they had the great idea of leaving. Humans were rushing around everywhere shoving each other as they went. Some tried desperately to pack up their tables but the oxen steadying their carts were kicking and bucking, making it almost impossible to load anything. A fox ran past me, one of my previous travel companions.

I tugged harder on Zann's jacket. He helped the lady to a sitting position. Didn't he have any idea at all at what was happening around him?

The earth continued to shake.

I was always considered the fearless one. Rowan was the one who hung back. Grey would take us out to show us something like a boar and I would be the one to go down and talk to it, even as a sapling. "It could destroy you with one misplaced foot," Rowan would tell me. His face always so worried. I would tease him then and dance around the boar, daring it to step on me while Rowan watched on. Eventually Grey would step in and shoo the beast away. He'd ruin my fun. Rowan would breathe a sigh of relief.

I no longer considered myself fearless. I was terribly terribly afraid. A boar is nothing compared to the beasts that we would hear whispers of.

One time a brownie made his way to the Cut. He told us terrible stories of monsters that had eaten his whole family and his long journey to find somewhere like the Cut, somewhere safe from the outside world. He told us stories of stories that he had heard of even more terrible monsters that destroyed entire cities. "The world outside is not for the little people," he would say over and over again. We all thought him rather silly until he said that there was something hunting him and he had to hide from it. One day he vanished. I never had need to be afraid of his stories. I would never leave the Cut so it was impossible that I would meet anything horrible.

I gulped. The shaking stopped. The silence tore through the marketplace. Most of the humans had deserted it by that time and were making their ways across the plain of salt. Zann looked up as if noticing everything for the first time. He turned to me with a questioning look. He was holding the elderly lady in a sitting position, something was wrong with her though, she wouldn't open her eyes. Perhaps the table had hit her harder than he thought and she was dead after all. That would make it easier to get away. Her breathing told me that was not the case. Somewhere a child cried.

Zann's voice was barely a whisper. "What's going on?"

The ground smashed open. Zann, the lady, and I were thrown back as if it had been a fiery explosion. Salt was sent up in a spray along with tables and objects of every sort. I scrambled to my feet and ran to my master's side. He groaned. I glanced at the lady, unable to tell if she was breathing or not.

"Zann, the lady is dead, we have to get out of here. We. Are. In. Danger." I slapped his face to snap him out of the shock that was beginning to cloud his eyes. It turned to fear as he looked over my shoulder. That was good. We could work with fear.

A hissing sound filled the air. It wasn't the hissing sound of a snake though. Imagine more the hissing sound of a snake with gravel all down it's throat. Deep and gargly.

The human scrambled to his feet and fumbled for the stick on his back. I turned and couldn't help but let out a scream.

"My magic, Zann, give me back my magic!"