Chapter 15: 14. The Woodlands

They passed the Spire of Veshod. It was a black, jagged, hazed-over needle on the distant horizon to the east, so tall that it could be seen hundreds of miles away from a high point and on clear days. A crumbling stretch of Oldwall, the solid and massive stone net that once surrounded the whole coast of Esenia, extended off the Spire’s side and followed the party as it moved down the road, until it ended as abruptly as it had begun. It looked as though the Old Kingdom architects had built this Spire and its connected wall and simply never finished them, leaving a rogue stretch of fortifications to defend nothing, in the middle of nowhere, for no purpose.

But the land had moved in the last two thousand years, and most of the Oldwalls had been destroyed in the Fall. They had once formed a web; the Spires pulled mana from the Aether, and that mana was channeled back to the capital, Ewsos, where great and terrible sorcery was performed.

The Oldwalls looked like giant walls, and they doubled for that purpose. But they were actually circuity. They were what enabled the Old Kingdom to reach its heights, what fueled its machines, and what led to its end.

And now they were nothing but scenery.

Corvo had been taught all of that by Mother during their history lessons. When he was younger, she had read to him whatever she herself had been studying, which inevitably was some history of the Old Kingdom or a treatise on arcane lore. He absorbed the knowledge without understanding it. There had been no time for that lately, with Mother busy and them both on the road, but Corvo recited what he knew in his head as the ruins slowly shrank behind them.

While they rode, he listened in on a hushed conversation between Mother and Aunt Aletheia:

“I’ve seen mages with an excavation team,” Aletheia said. “Near the coast. They were led by an Archaeologist.”

Eris sighed. “Then they likely have restored the Spire’s teleportation systems.”

Aletheia nodded. “Someone could come looking for us.”

“We have hardly been careful with our identities.” Mother glanced forward, toward Melitas, who held awkwardly on to his horse’s saddle. “And I doubt his phylacteries have been destroyed. Yes; a Seeker may come our way.”

“We’ll take care of him,” Aletheia said. “We always have before.”

Mother wrapped an arm around Corvo’s chest. Dorian had been walking today, and Corvo was back to riding with his mother.

“I have no desire to repeat an encounter with a mage hunter,” she said. “I will not fight one again for Melitas’ sake.”

“Will Melitas have to go away?” Corvo asked.

Mother held herself very still. “I do not know. But we will not be able to travel with him forever, no matter what happens.”

“I’ll talk to him about it,” Aletheia said. “Please—don’t hurt him. He’s just a kid.”

“He looks like a man to me. But I will not do anything to him yet. I doubt the Council sees him as threat enough to deploy their precious resources toward his apprehension. But should we find ourselves negotiating with a Seeker, I will not hesitate to turn him over in exchange for our safe escape. And with Corvo here—I would expect you to do the same.”

Aletheia nodded. “I would. And I will. Don’t worry.”

The grasslands of Veshod became hillier, and woodlands appeared around them. Corvo was growing agitated. Traveling on horseback made him bored, tired, and restless all at the same time. Normally Mother would let him stop at villages to play or meet other children, but there were no such stops this time. They camped every night in the bright magelights, and they spent all day moving.

So he couldn’t help himself. When the party reached the woods and dismounted, the moment Mother had put him down on the solid, soft earth, he sneaked up behind Aletheia while she spoke with Dorian, reached for the backpack that she had left on the ground, quickly snatched it up, and made a break for the trees.

The pack was huge and heavy. But he didn’t care. He wanted to run, and he wanted her to chase him.

“Hey!” she shouted. “Corvo! Get back here!”

When he was a safe distance away, he looked back to her and said, “You have to chase me for it!”

She laughed, but her look was still serious. “Corvo. It isn’t safe here. Corvo! I promise—”

But he was already running into the brush. The air here was rich and earthy, and it was cool among the trees. The plants were small, mostly, barely as tall as Mother at the largest, but thickly spread. After so many days of grasslands, Corvo felt like he was back in the Grelnoi Mountains and their thick pine forests. He only ran to the edge of where Mother’s lights reached, and then he doubled back, following along the edge of where the shadows stretched.

It didn’t take long for Aletheia to catch up to him. She swooped down behind him and grabbed him around the back, lifting him up before coming to a stop. She was much faster and much more athletic than Mother, or even Dorian, and the grip she used to restrain him was very strong.

Corvo laughed. But when Aletheia brought him around to look into her eyes—golden, just like his mother’s—she was serious.

“We don’t know what we’ll find out here, okay?” she said. “I promise we can run as much as you want. But not now.”

“How long?” Corvo said. The travel from the Tower of Keraz had lasted weeks, which was enough to have felt like three lifetimes to a little boy.

“I don’t know. But not long.”

He had to look away from her. “It’s always not now,” he grumbled.

“No. Not always. Just usually. Come on, let’s go.”

He stared at the ground as she picked her pack up and led him back toward the party, out of the shade of a tree and closer to where the lights shone unimpeded. Corvo dragged his feet.

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Mother observed them from near their horses, where she stood with Trito.

Corvo waited for a moment when she wasn’t looking his way. Then he said to Aletheia, “Do the fireworks.”

“Not now,” she said. She tugged him harder.

Corvo withdrew his hands. He put them behind his back and shook his head, coming to a halt. “I want the fireworks.”

She shook her head. She had long, dark blond hair that she kept braided down her neck, with two loose strands over her shoulders. Unlike Mother, she wore boys’ clothes, with trousers and a jacket interwoven with chain links. Her arms were lean and muscular, like Dorian’s, even though she seemed much smaller.

But when she looked into his face, she sighed.

“Will you stay with me and Mother if I do? You won’t run off again?”

Corvo nodded, smiling now and standing on his tiptoes in anticipation.

“Do you promise?”

“I promise,” he said.

She sighed again. “Okay. Watch.”

She kneeled down to his level and brought a finger before his eyes. A moment passed, until she whispered in Regal, “Ignite.”

The tip of her nail began to sparkle.

Teardrops of gold dragged down Corvo’s vision, raining to the forest floor in bright sparks. A noise like the burning of a fire crackled quietly from the light, and Aletheia moved her hand back and forth as the intensity picked up.

Then she brought her fingertip into her opposite palm. The light shone through her skin, making her flesh glow amber, and when she turned both hands around, the sparkling stopped. Instead in her palms were two small yellow lights. She lifted the left, then the right, and with the motion, each light took flight.

They made it a foot in the air, until at Corvo’s eye level. They hung there for a moment, just like Mother’s magelights.

Then they exploded into showers of gold.

There was no heat or noise except the sound of a quiet pop at the explosion. It was bright enough to overpower the sun and the magelights both for a tenth of a second, as the area around them in the woodlands was bathed in gleaming gold. Scentless white smoke trailed into the air, up past the branches overhead, and beneath it colors rained downward.

Corvo watched in awe. He was stunned until any trace of the magic had faded. And once it had, he erupted in applause.

“Do it again. Please! Do the fireworks again!”

But when he looked up to Aletheia’s face, he realized something was very wrong.

She was staring past him. At the forest floor behind him. It was lit by the nearest magelight, but she stared anyway, like something invisible was there and about to strike.

He had never seen Aunt Aletheia look so afraid. The smile on his face dispelled instantly.

She reached down and scooped him up into her arms. He barely fit anymore, he was too big and she was too small, but she did it anyway, and she carried him quickly back to Mother.

Mother was talking to the elf.

“You are more attuned to these things than I,” she said. “If you sense an enchantment—” She looked to Aletheia. “What is wrong?”

“I saw him,” Aletheia said. She put Corvo down, but rather than stand back up, she embraced him tightly.

“What?” Mother said. “Him? You mean—”

“The Shadow Man,” Aletheia said. “In the flash of my firework. It was so bright—Corvo had a shadow, and I saw him.”

Mother’s jaw clenched. “You are sure?”

“Yes.”

She kneeled and embraced both him and Aletheia.

“Keep him with the animals,” she said. “Do not let him go anywhere where the trees give shade.”

Aletheia nodded. She tapped his shoulder and sat down, then bringing him into her lap. Mother turned her attention to Trito.

“You will forgive me if I regard this plight more seriously than that of your boyar,” she said.

“A woman who values a stranger’s life over her son’s would be the one in need of forgiveness,” the elf said.

He was towering and unflinching, and his eyes were like empty marbles. Corvo had never seen an elf before. Everything about him was unsettling. He carried his spear everywhere, and he went nowhere with his armor off. But Trito smiled down at him.

“You do well to keep him safe. Esenia is a dangerous place,” he said. “I will fetch Dorian and begin the search.”

Mother nodded. But after a moment she said, “No. Dorian and Aletheia will look after Corvo. I know spells of arcane detection, and I will be able to hasten the process. We cannot afford to waste time here.” She looked to Aletheia. “You will keep him safe.”

“Of course,” she said.

Mother grabbed the orb from atop her staff. It always levitated now, at all hours of the day, because the lights were always being sustained. She took it into her hand, then tossed it to Aletheia.

Aletheia caught it—and let it go. With her palm facing upward, the orb slowly took off, coming to a rest a few inches over her skin.

“I do not know how far we will go,” Mother said. “Keep this so the lights do not go out. We will be back by nightfall.”

Mother, Melitas, and Trito set out into the woodlands, heading uphill. Dorian stayed with Aletheia and the horses. The seriousness of Aunt Aletheia’s look faded slowly with time, and she brought Corvo to the brightest spot, where there were no trees or shadows anywhere at the center of the lights. She took his toy warrior from Mother’s saddlebags.

“Here,” she said. “I’ll be this twig. Let’s go find an orc to fight.”

Corvo hadn’t played toys with anyone in months. He quickly forgot about his concern and lost himself in his imagination.

Dorian came around to watch them. In a lull, Aletheia let Corvo to play alone, and she talked to the older man.

“How old are you?” he asked. “If you don’t mind saying.”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to ask women that,” Aletheia said.

“Women, no. Girls, though….”

She smiled. “I’m twenty. I think.”

“You think?”

“I lost a year. It’s complicated. Why? How old are you?”

“How old do you think?” Dorian asked.

Aletheia considered him carefully. “I don’t know. Maybe eighty?” He laughed, and before he could say anything, she said, “I’m kidding. You’re only seventy. Right?”

“Closer to that than twenty,” Dorian said. He nodded to Corvo, who, not thinking, nodded back. “You love him.”

“He’s the only family I have,” Aletheia said. “Not that we’re related, but—his father was like my older brother. It sounds silly, but he wasn’t a hero yet. He was just Rook. He gave everything for me. I didn’t deserve it.” She sat back down with Corvo. “Plus he’s cute.”

“I’m not cute!” Corvo said. “Babies are cute. I’m not a baby.”

“No,” Aletheia laughed. “You’re right. You’re handsome.”

Corvo nodded to this obvious and undeniable assertion of fact.

“And Eris? Is she like your sister?” Dorian asked.

“More like cellmate,” she said. “But I love her, too. Sort of.”

Now Dorian sat, intent to continue the conversation. Corvo was somewhat offended. He and Aunt Aletheia finally had playtime, but it was being wasted with boring talk. But he said nothing.

The forest around them darkened with dusk. Their camp remained bright as ever.

“I ask because—well, this was your expedition, wasn’t it? Trito tells me he came along only after he met you, and Melitas doesn’t seem like much of a leader.”

“I met the Boyar’s mother first. So I guess it’s my quest. We had someone else who helped me get started, but… you know.”

“He made love to you and ran off, never to be seen again?”

“I wish,” Aletheia said. “No. He walked into a spike trap.” She seemed jovial, but she wasn’t joking, and a flinch of pain passed through her features.

“So you came all this way, and you made it to the end,” Dorian said. “But then you stay with Corvo, and you let Eris go off with your party. I would’ve thought you’d want to see it through.”

Aletheia shrugged. “I do. But it makes more sense for Eris to go. I can stay behind for now. She knows more spells, and she’s better at using them.”

“It just seems strange to me. That’s all.”

“Honestly—I think it’s normal. I think I’m the most normal—”

Corvo heard something crack out toward the trees. Aletheia jumped to her feet. She grabbed her bow and stared out at the darkness.

“What?” Dorian said. He reacted more slowly; he hadn’t seemed to hear anything, but seeing Aletheia’s response, he drew his sword.

She nocked an arrow. Before pulling back her bow’s string, she ran her hand across the leaf-shaped head, and it began to glow with bright pulsations of golden light. Then she stretched her elbow back and shot it off. With a hushed twang it flew through a spot of branches, illuminating everywhere beyond Mother’s magelights, until it landed in the trunk of a tree.

All went dark. Then it pulsed again, and the forest before them was illuminated for a long second.

And in that light, Corvo saw three forest trolls standing in the woodlands.