A low, ghostly voice sounded from around them. “Yes... and no.”
Kaelan edged closer to Magda. “Let’s go,” he whispered.
In spite of the fear spilling off of Kaelan and her own pounding heart, she held her ground. “Ouda?”
“Yes,” the voice answered. Below the water, the creature did not move. But the fine hair of the fungi rippled slightly.
Magda squared her shoulders. “We’ve destroyed the creature that usurped your name.”
“Yes,” the voice was deep, yet vaguely feminine. “The empusa.”
“What’s an empusa?” Magda asked, speaking up and then down, not sure where she should be directing her voice since Ouda’s words seemed to come from everywhere.
“A soul-eater. It came from the south, fleeing the purges of the Elf King. It fastened itself to my tree. I was forced to retreat to the water. It could not tolerate fresh water.”
“That would’ve been nice to know,” Magda muttered.
Kaelan gave her an anxious look and then turned his gaze back to the motionless figure of the true Ouda. “Then it was you who hid me all those years ago?”
“No, it was the empusa who helped you. She hid you here with the imps and protected your secret.”
“But... Why would such foul creature help me?”
“The sylph who brought you compelled the empusa to do so. But I believe she would have helped you even without magical coercion. She hated the Elf King for driving her from her home.”
Kaelan’s face darkened, his eyes growing distant.
“Well, it’s gone now,” Magda said. “Is there some way we can help you?”
“It is too late,” Ouda said. “My physical form has mineralized. I only continue in this world thanks to the fols. They surrounded me and absorbed the last part of my soul.”
Magda frowned. “The fols? You mean... the fungi?”
“Through them, I have been able to continue to watch over my forest, though I am much diminished.”
“So there’s no way to bring you back to what you used to be?” Kaelan asked.
“No.” The word echoed around.
Kaelan’s face fell.
“What about someone else? Someone whose body is still alive?” Magda asked.
“You mean the nymph,” Ouda said.
“You know about her?”
“She is one of my children.”
“What did the empusa do to her?” Kaelan asked, his voice ringing harshly through the cavern.
“She consumed a part of Honeysuckle’s soul.”
Magda’s stomach turned. Kaelan’s ferocity, too, seemed to wilt.
“Is there anything we can do to help her regain it?” Magda asked.
A long silence greeted the question. Torpid sadness dripped off of Kaelan, sticking to Magda like toad ooze.
