And something horrid and gnawed and dead still comes for us.
“We need to go. Now. Micah!” I scream for him. “Ravi, hurry up.” They both run towards us, but the thing follows. I’m stuck, unable to move as if death has risen and wrapped its fingers around my boots, and my eyes don’t leave the animal hauling itself towards me.
“Holy shit, Ever. That’s a Jarkoreth. A pretty dead-looking one, but it looks like it might be.” Wonder glimmers in Capella’s words, and I look again to check if I see the same thing as her. A humped back dwarfs the rest of its body, lined with veins, no, vines, like ivy. It has elongated forelimbs, long and spindly, and three sharp claws in place of hands. It’s grey and sickly, and I can’t tell if that’s because it’s dead or its true colouring. For a moment, I imagine that in life, its form might have reflected the vibrancy of the forest.
Yes, yes, she sees…
That voice on the breeze answers my silent musing, sending another shiver through me. And then the Jarkoreth lifts its head towards me. Half of its face is missing, rotting off, the flesh half clinging to its bones, but one eye still shines with silvery moonlight as if the power of Aslendrix still lingers. Its overlylarge maw is needed to contain the jagged razors for teeth that are not hidden behind lips.
If this is what protects the forest, no wonder nobody came here.
It tilts its head to me, swinging forth an arm to dig in and pull its body closer, and still, I cannot move, although the sense of menace has lessened, replaced with pure terror.
“Can you command it?” Raiden asked.
“What!”
“You raised it. Speak to it,” she says.
“Are you crazy?” My voice shrills. But my eyes don’t leave the Jarkoreth. The thought of the leaf brooch surfaces, along with what Capella said earlier.
It might look ghastly and like death incarnate, but it’s wounded, mortally so, dredged back from death by whatever gift I have.
It was at rest, and I took that from it.
Something inside of me eases, making way for a moment of guilt. This is my doing, and I need to fix it. I grapple to leash my courage and stand straighter, pretending I have all the power I need at my fingertips.
To step forward. Towards it.
“I… I’m sorry,” I start. “I didn’t mean to wake you. We won’t hurt you or the forest. I promise.”
It lunges with the same arm, swinging the claws into the ground to heave it forward, dragging the rest of its body with it as if it’s only regained the ability to move parts of itself.
Ravi and Micah both stand behind me now, Raiden and Capella flanking me.
“We’ll leave you in peace. We won’t harm you or the forest,” I repeat.
“Ever, what are you doing?” Capella whisper-hisses from my side.
“Raiden told me to speak to it. I’m reasoning with it.”
“You what!”
“You are familiar but unknown here.” A guttural voice gurgles and wheezes at us. “We see all. Remember all. But you are new.” The sound echoes around the forest as if it commands the very air to press down and trap us. Yet the teeth moving in the Jarkoreth’s mouth tell me the voice is from it, the vision sparking an image of flesh and bone being chewed through like nothing.
“Tell me you all heard that?” I ask, closing my eyes and begging Aslendrix that they did.
“We heard.” Raiden’s voice is so level, so unflinching, that I wish I had her strength.
“I… I have a Variscite leaf. It is precious to me. Is that what you recognise?”
The creature shifts its one eye to me, the moonlight flowing like silver over the surface.
“Yes, yes,” it drawls. “That is what I sense. Hold out your hand to me, Fifth. If you truly intend no harm, then let me sense you properly.”
Every muscle in my body constricts as if railing against the idea. My head whips to Raiden and Capella, and fear thunders through me, my hand already shaking at my side.
You must, you must...the wind breezes past, bringing a fresh scent tinged with salt. It brushes over my skin, my palm, as if guiding me forward.
