Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON TWO (Ongoing)

Part 4.8

"Emrys."

The Laran chief wears a wry smile.

"Friend of the crystal forest. Or should I say, friend of the endless stars?"

He knows.

"You shouldn't be here." My eyes fix on his milky orbs. "And I think you know why."

Celine's uncle steps out from the shrubbery. Bathed in light, his milky eyes seem to blaze. "I have come to see you," he says, "and to give you my gratitude."

"Gratitude for what?" I mutter. "Genocide?"

Emrys's expression remains soft. "If not for you, our people would not remain. The skreevar would have slaughtered every last one of us. We owe our continued existence to you."

So it was genocide or genocide. Those were my two choices. One dies, or the other. A witch brings only death.

"You were sent to punish us," Emrys continues. "But you protected us."

"I'm stubborn like that," I mutter.

"Why?"

I sigh. "I don't know why, Emrys. Honestly, I don't know why I try. It would be much easier to be evil."

A smile forms in Emrys's milky eyes. "Yet you chose the hard way. Why?"

"Because I'm an idiot," I tell him.

Emrys regards me with something that isn't quite pity. He takes a seat in the undergrowth, his white hair settling into the shrubbery like another plant. "When I first laid eyes on you, a part of me knew who you were. It was not simply your appearance. The part of me, the part of all of us, that is the stars and the earth and the oceans, knew that the old legends had come full circle." He closes his eyes, putting out the blaze that lit his words.

"After the attack, while I tended to the wounded, your face returned to my mind again and again. Your eyes, your words. Your spirit. And I realised something, friend of the endless stars. I realised the legends were wrong about you."

I look away from him. "I brought death. I brought destruction. Your legends were right."

Emrys opens his eyes again. They're softer now, like I remember them. Using a branch as a crutch, he pulls himself to his feet, his gaze never once leaving me. "I know there is much on your mind. The stars call to you, as do the forces of darkness. But in the moments between, when your mind enjoys a semblance of quiet, do venture into the forest proper. Straight forward, then a little to the left. Follow your instincts. They will lead you."

"What will I find there?"

Dark leaves hide Emrys's red velvet eyes. "Hope."

*

I can't energy-sense these days, so I venture into the lazy heat of the forest on foot. I know I shouldn't just go where some old guy tells me to, but I trust Emrys. Something in me knows he's good. I suppose he'd say that it's the part of me that is the stars and the earth and the oceans. Maybe he's right. Maybe there's a part of us all that just knows. I didn't listen to that part when it told me Queen Irine wasn't to be trusted. I didn't even realise that's what it was trying to tell me. The discomfort I felt around her was a warning. I didn't heed it.

I hope Onyx has kept his word about keeping an eye on her. As horrible as she is, I need her to be okay. Addy needs her to be okay.

What she does afterwards, only time will tell. Scion has what he wants. Dionysus is free, and the Ariadni will follow his energy signature here. He'll get to go home when Amarat never could. Does that mean whatever deal he struck with Irine is over? Or will he come after me again? Could I convince Addy's mother that I'm no longer a threat to her daughter?

I save those questions for later. Right now I have to worry about All Hallows Eve, and keeping the First Witch from re-entering the world of the living.

I sidestep a patch of invisible toadstools. White flowers glow in the darkness around me. I pluck one from its stem and hold it like a lamp. Without magic, I'll need something to light my way.

The leaves around me brim with a heat that's almost alive. I imagine that they sizzle. If I look closely, I can even see the flames, like the fingers of ghosts, stroking the darkness.

I blink.

This is no time for daydreams.

I don't know what Emrys expects me to find here. Hope, he'd said. I can't believe that. Hope was extinct in the Laran Valley.

Still, despite the blur of simmering leaves, this area looks familiar to me. There are no white flowers here, or invisible toadstools. It's dark and silent, save for my flower lamp. There's a lot of shrubbery here, and shasha plants galore. I'm reminded of bedding.

Then something catches my eye.

No...three somethings.

Three oval-shaped, melon-sized somethings peppered with spots of blue and green.

I let my mouth hang for a while.

It's the skreevar eggs I once mistook for illyrite. They're here, alone, unharmed. I reach out to the one in the middle. Gently, I press my palm to its shell. It's warm.

They're alive. The growing skreevar inside are alive. They survived the dark power. Their energy, I remember, was different to that of the adult skreevar. When I used the dark power to eliminate all skreevar energy signatures, the eggs must have been spared.

These babies, they could grow. No - they will grow. With Emrys's help, I would make sure they hatched. In time, they and their descendants will fill this empty forest with life again.

A pang rises within me, like a flower stalk shooting up into bloom. It's relief, I think. I didn't destroy an entire species. I could do what no magic could - I could bring the skreevar back.

And maybe it isn't just relief. It soars too high for that. It's the thing Emrys said I'd find, the thing I thought I'd destroyed.

It's hope.