ChapterTwenty-Nine
Corson
“What…?” she breathed, her voice trailing off as her head tipped back to take in the canopy of branches and leavesoverhead.
As much as I didn’t miss Hell, a smile tugged at my lips as I gazed at the somewhat familiar landscape of my home. The only difference between what was here and the forest I’d once known in Hell was the lack of fires and tree nymphs dancing enticingly through thewoods.
“Calamut trees,” I told her. “They must have escaped Hell or at least some of theirseedsdid.”
She continued to gawk at the woods before speaking. “How does a tree escape fromanything?”
“Calamut trees aren’t like Earthtrees.”
“No kidding,” she muttered as her head tipped back again. “There are no trees this size left on Earth; I’m not sure there ever were trees this large. And I’ve never seen a tree this colorbefore.”
“That’s not even half of the differences,” I assured her. “And these are smaller than normal. They’re babycalamuts.”
“Holyshit!”
I chuckled as I leaned back on my heels to survey the calamuts. They stood about three hundred feet tall, half of their mature size. Deep grooves etched their black bark and gnarled, twisted limbs. Their hand-sized leaves were smaller than when they were fully grown, but still larger than the leaves on most Earth trees. The leaves were so dark a black they appeared purple in the sunlight filtering through their thickcanopy.
“In Hell, the tree nymphs lived in the Forest of Prurience with the calamut trees. Some demons used the fallen leaves of the calamuts to make clothing with. You can see the start of their prury fruit there,” I said and pointed to the small, plum-colored balls forming on some of their branches. “When the prury is full-grown, it is the size of yourwatermelons.”
“Can it be eaten?” sheinquired.
“River ate some of it without a problem, but the calamuts offered it to her. No one would dare to take the fruit from them without theirpermission.”
“The trees grant permission?” shesqueaked.
“These trees can move. I’ve seen them tear someone in half, spear an ogre straight through, then offer the tree nymphs protection. As I said, they’re not your Earth trees. Like everything that evolved in Hell, they’redeadly.”
Wren gulped. “Isee.”
“They won’t bother us unless we try to hurt one of them or a tree nymph. Then, they’lldestroyus.”
I grabbed her hand when it fell to her knife. She yanked her hand awayfromme.
“No weapons, not around these trees,” Itoldher.
“I’m not going to hurt them,” she retorted, “but there could be any number of creatures lurking in the shadows of thesethings.”
“The calamuts won’t allow a fight in their midst. If we don’t bother them, they won’t botherus.Come.”
I rested my hand on her elbow to nudge her forward before releasing her. Her head tilted back again when we stepped beneath the thick canopy of the trees; her mouth parted as she gazed at theminawe.
“They’re beautiful,” she whispered after a fewminutes.
The leaves rippled over as if a breeze blew through them, though no wind stirred the air. In response to her words, some of the branches dipped lower. Wren gasped and stepped back. I nudged her forward with my shoulder. “It’s okay,” I assured her. “If they wanted us dead, we would be. Your wordspleasedthem.”
“Oh, that’s, ah… nice,” shestammered.
The leaves crackled when they flowed together once more. “Amazing!” Wrencried.
“Yes,” I said, my gaze focused on her, but she didn’tnotice.
When we stepped from the shadows of the calamuts and back into the woods of Earth, the smile slid from her face as reality returned. Her shoulders slumped, and she gave a longing glance back before focusing ahead once more. I vowed to take her back through the calamuts the next chance I got if only to see her smile like thatagain.
When a shadow fell over us, I tipped my head back. Against the backdrop of blue sky, I spotted the raven circling overhead. Caim’s wings folded against his back, and he dove out of the sky to land beside me once more. Shifting, he fell into step beside me. “A small grove of calamuts,”hesaid.
