Page 57 of Renegade Kings
Throughout it all, I didn’t feel in any danger. There was an edge of panic at being possessed by the magic, but I could feel my power lingering out here amongst the dense wild magic, and I knew it wouldn’t allow me to come to any harm.
Just when it seemed like there was no end to the forest before me, a sudden flare of moonlight burned at my eyes as I emerged from the trees. My feet stepped out onto grass, and I looked around at the small meadow I’d emerged into.
I didn’t recognise this place. There had never been a meadow in the middle of the forest when I’d been a child, but so much else had changed around here. Why not this?
That same crack of ageing wood sounded from immediately behind me and a breath stirred the hair at the back of my neck. It was time. Whatever had been stalking me through the trees was waiting for me to turn around, and even though the magic still hung dense in the air, my body slowly turned under my own control when I wanted it to. Whatever magic had made sure I’d come to this place was gone. Its mission was complete.
And now it was just me and… the dryad standing behind me.
My joints locked up as an icy chill of dread swept down my body.
This wasn’t good.
The dryads hadn’t been seen in Nymeria for millennia. They were the whispered stories our grandparents had told us. The original magic wielders of the Spring Court that had kept order in our realm when magic first leeched out across the land.
And it had been an iron rule where the only punishment for the barest of crimes was death.
So the question was, what crime had I committed? Oh right, I’d flooded the court with a strange and wild magic and it was creating something potentially dangerous out amongst the trees where this dryad apparently ruled. Yeah… this wouldn’t go super well for me.
I locked eyes with the dryad before me. It probably wasn’t smart, and yet that realisation just made me want to do it even more. This wasn’t a fight I could survive. Besides, I was curious about what it wanted with me and how it had been living in this forest without any of us knowing of its presence.
“You brought me here?” Okay, maybe that sounded a bit too much like an accusation to start out with, but surely I deserved a bit of leeway here.
The dryad said nothing, and I shuffled nervously on my feet. I couldn’t figure out from the look on its face if it was here for peaceful reasons or if violence was about to break out. Its wooden face didn’t show any emotion, and it seemed to be passively waiting for what I’d do.
I took a step back, and a quiet crack of wood accompanied the dryad cocking its head to the side. I’d heard the stories of dryads, but seeing the tree-like creature before me in real life was fascinating. Part of me wanted to reach out and see if its skin actually was made of wood, but I was guessing that would be kind of rude. After all, I wouldn’t like it if everyone I met started poking me to see if I was squishy or not.
We fell into a silence where I tried not to stare. I tried not to keep looking at the wooden creature in front of me that could have been an old tree brought to life. The strange branches that sprouted from their shoulders looked like they’d never again sprout a leaf. Bark-like skin that seemed to be broken and peeling in places. The more I looked, the more I realised that something was wrong.
“You… you’re sick,” I stuttered out, hoping I wasn’t about to insult the creature in front of me.
I didn’t think they’d respond at first. I wasn’t even sure if they could. So when the dryad finally opened its mouth, I was more shocked than afraid.
“Is the state of our world of concern to you now, young queen?” Their voice creaked like the sound of moving wood, and I cringed at the direct hit to the guilt that still lived inside me.
“Yes. I’ve made mistakes in the past. In fact, I’m still making them now. But I’m here, and it’s time for me to set right what wrongs I can.”
The dryad nodded. “Perhaps Nymeria can set right these wrongs by itself. The fae have been part of this world for nothing but the space of time it takes for a single breath. They have squandered the gifts that Nymeria gave to them. Perhaps all of this world’s problems would end with the fae.”
As much as I wanted to argue with their logic, I couldn’t.
“Is that why the forest is moving? Nymeria is getting ready to wipe the land clean of the fae?”
The dryad shrugged and then walked around me into the centre of the meadow. Tipping back its head, it closed its eyes and basked in the moonlight for a moment.
“Or is it you that moves the forest?” I asked, realising that maybe this problem wasn’t as large of scale as it might appear to be.
When the dryad turned and smiled at me, I knew I’d hit the nail on the head.
“The forest moves when the land needs its presence. The trees can only thrive in the places they are supposed to be.”
Cool, so we were going to get into the riddles portion of this confrontation now.
“Why did you call me here? This is your magic, right? You’re the one gathering all of this power in one place. What exactly do you intend to do with it?”
The dryad actually laughed at me then, and it wasn’t the friendliest I’d ever heard.
“My magic? I’m not the one who came storming into a palace, claiming it as her own. I didn’t send waves of foreign magic across a court claimed for spring.”