Dark Queen: The Cybelline Prophecies

Chapter 40

"I can't leave?" Cybelline turned her freshly scarred face towards the fox, "Says who?"

The fox looked at the young child whose eyes could burn ice and bristled. For some reason. he felt a little scared when faced with this little child. The fox looked at the child carefully, there was a spark of magic in this ordinary child, but nothing about him was alarming.

And yet, in the child's anger, the fox felt an instinctive feeling of danger, the kind that animals all shared. The sense of dread before earthquakes, fires, and floods. The fox took a step back, and then, remembering his own power, scoffed at the strange fear he had toward the youth.

"This place was build based on your wants, needs, and desires." He said, "Why is it that when most would die for a chance like this, you want to leave?"

"Then go find someone else." Cybelline's voice was cool. "I don't want it."

"Why won't you stay? This place was created based on your every want and need" The fox asked, a little hurt, a little offended. He had only wanted to play a joke in the beginning. And the tree was never wrong in choosing the next caretaker it rescued people and brought them here.

Cybelline took a deep breath, and forced down the unease. She sat down and looked at the perfect land, her gaze always falling back towards the dying, gnarled tree. It was no higher than her knee, the skin ancient and cracked. Six branches, that, if you looked closely enough you could see were six different colors. Black, white, gold, blue, brown, red. There may have been many leaves before, but now only a handful remained on the tree. A good breath would knock them down.

"What are you doing?" The fox demanded suddenly as Cybelline reached out towards the withered, gnarled, dying tree.

A light flashed as her hand touched the barrier. A sharp, piercing pain ran up her hand, it was as painful as the blood curse she had just experienced.

Cybelline turned to the fox, "What's so special about this tree. Why me."

"It chose you." The fox said simply, "It does that sometimes, bring dying people with the Spark who can help it live a little longer."

"So because I was dying, it decided to bring me here?" Cybelline asked. The fox nodded.

"What is this place?"

The fox's voice was a little tight, "What does it matter if I tell you? You caretakers all die in the end. Mortals." He plopped himself down and began to wash his paw, his back to her.

Cybelline was never rash and if the situation called for it, she was always the first to calm down. Taking a few deep breathes and allowing the tension to leave her body, she thought through her problem.

She sat down on the ground, and wished there was some firewood. The moment she had the thought, the wood appeared in front of her. She looked at the fox, "Did you do that?"

"There are a lot things outside the fog. If you ask within reason, I'll provide everything for you." The fox said, his voice muffled by his paws, he sounded a little dejected. Cybelline nodded and added this little tidbit of information into her knowledge of the place. "How big is this place?"

The fox turned his head away, and Cybelline shrugged and started building a little fire. Taking out some of the kills she had made over the last few days she began to make roasted rabbit and pheasant.

The little fox's tale wagged. Cybelline saw it from the corner of her eye and made no comment. Soon, the irresistible smell of the roasted meats wafted into the air.