“This is not the Protector!” The small woman’s voice grew thunderous, echoing off the trees in the clearing. Hekla sensed the warriors gathering behind her, tension stirring in the glade. The Forest Maiden sniffed the air. “You have…bondedto this human, Kritka?”
Hekla’s brows drew together.Notthe Protector? After weeks of the squirrel telling her she was, she’d rather gotten used to the name. “I’m Hekla,” she said, frowning. “I woke you—”
With a harrumph, the Maiden strode toward Hekla. Putting tiny hands on tiny hips, she scowled in disapproval.
Kritka’s tail twitched nervously, and he finally pushed to his feet. “But Kritka did as you said, Mistress. We went south and searchedfor many long moons. In the strange, twisting woods, at last we found the Protector. But Protector was surrounded by predators. Kritka killed them all, but when we turned back, Protector had fled.”
The Forest Maiden massaged her temples in a surprisingly human-like gesture. “Youlostthe Protector, Kritka?”
Hekla felt a pang of sympathy for the exhausted squirrel.
“Kritka searched for many long moons, Mistress, never giving up. We traveled very far north. And one day, we found the scent once more—the Protector had found Mistress’s markings and followed them to your grove!”
Hekla puzzled over Kritka’s strange story, trying to understand. South. Twisting woods. Surrounded by predators. “Do you mean the Twisted Pinewoods?” she asked, realization beginning to dawn. “That wasyouin the Twisted Pinewoods, Kritka?” Hekla dragged a hand down her face. “Silla fled through those woods. She told me that members of a warband had stolen her belongings—that a grimwolf had killed them all and she managed to escape.” A caustic laugh fell from her lips. “She said it made no sense, but I’m beginning to understand.Sillais the Protector.”
Crouching beside her, Rey cursed. Kritka bounded a few cautious steps toward him. “But this one also carries the Protector’s scent.” The squirrel’s nose twitched as he scented Rey. “Why does he also smell of the Protector?”
“They carry the scent,” said the Forest Maiden, “because they’ve been incontactwith the Protector. You must fetch the true Protector. My woods are under assault, and the leech has grown too strong.”
“Leech,” Hekla repeated. “Do you mean the mist? What can you tell us about it?”
Tiny tail tucked up, the woman leveled her with a stern look. “It lives, yet it does not breathe. It is vast, yet small to the eye. It is the un-maker. It takes that which is natural and makes it…other.”
“Chaos,” said Rey.
The Maiden cocked her head to the side. “Unraveling of naturalorder. The corruption of bonds. The ruination of my forest. It is why I have called upon the Protector for help.”
“Are you saying,” said Thrand Long Sword, scratching his beard, “that the leechisMyrkur?”
The tiny woman’s glare was fierce enough that Thrand retreated a step. “No, you fool. The leech is Myrkur’sprogeny. And thus the magic they carry is similar.”
Rey’s jaw hardened. “Chaos magic. This…leech has seeped into your forest from Myrkur’s realm.”
“The heartwood,” murmured the Maiden. “It is the name of a grove of ancient trees in the Western Woods. Here the roots of the elder trees grow the deepest…this is where the leech climbed into this world.”
“Elder trees. Do you mean the hjarta trees?” Rey’s gaze grew distant. “They are blessed by Sunnvald.”
The Maiden began pacing on the soft, verdant grass. “Yes, the Sun God’s ashes fell upon these trees. The hjarta trees are the beating heart of the woods. Like mothers, they nurture those all around them through a lattice of threads beneath the soil. When the leech took the largest of the hjarta trees, it gained control of this webwork, pulling the life force from the trees and plants all around it.
“I tried to heal the hjarta tree, but it was too late. It is no longer as nature intended. Where once sweet, nurturing sap flowed is now thick, black ichor. Great burls grow and burst. The tree’s sturdy wood is fortified by things I do not understand, all of it protecting the leech. Only the Protector can undo this great wrong.”
“How does this tree tie into the mist?” Hekla asked.
“Mist!” spat the forest spirit. “Mist is the essence of the forest.Thatis not mist. It is the leech’s progeny, seeking new hosts.”
“Hosts,” Rey repeated. “Are you saying…the leechlivesin the Turned creatures?”
“It pulls the life force from the forest. Channels it into that deviant tree. And then it sends out seeds of destruction. When these seeds plant themselves, they grow and spread and seize control.”
Hekla glanced at Rey. “If the leech controls the draugur, couldMyrkur do so, too? Is it He who has instructed them to travel to Rökksgarde?”
Rey’s gaze grew distant as he rubbed his beard. “If so, then our need to destroy the hjarta tree is even greater than we thought. We must stop the leech from spreading its poison and Turning the good people of Íseldur to Myrkur’s cause.”
“The leech must have a weakness,” said Eyvind. He turned to the Forest Maiden. “Fire?”
“An axe,” suggested Thrand.
Poison,signed Sigrún.
