Tree of Ages 2 Read online

  The Melted Sea

  Book Two in the Tree of Ages Series

  Sara C Roethle

  Contents

  Copyright

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Note from the Author

  Glossary

  Copyright © 2016 by Sara C Roethle All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Prologue

  The man’s icy eyes stared forward as he rode his horse full speed down the Sand Road. He would make it to Migris within two days, and there he would earn the largest bounty of his life. His silver hair blew back in the breeze generated by his galloping horse, but the lines of his aged face remained impassive, as hard as the stone that composed his heart.

  Óengus smiled coldly as he thought back to the previous night. The night a sorceress made him the offer he’d been waiting for, for a very long time . . .

  He’d been eating his supper near his fire when she’d appeared. She was as tall as any man, but thin as a rail, with wild, fiery red hair that reached her waist. She’d approached his fire without hesitation, then eyed him coolly as the flames reflected in her bright blue eyes.

  “Óengus,” she’d purred, “It’s been far too long.”

  Óengus had quirked a silver brow at her in response. It had been a long time. He’d met Keiren when he was just a lad, and they’d traveled together for a time. She’d made him the man he was today. A heartless killer.

  “I have a job for you,” she’d said, which coming from Keiren, meant she had a demand.

  Óengus had snorted in reply. “Knowing you, you’re either after the Faie Queen’s Shroud, or the tree girl.”

  Keiren had looked momentarily surprised, then quickly schooled her face back into its haughty expression. “Given that you already know of these things,” she’d said, “that will make your task simple.”

  He’d shook his head. He wasn’t sure if she’d called the girl a thing on purpose, but it was a fitting statement coming from Keiren. People were her pawns, nothing more. He easily related to the sentiment. “Last I heard, the girl and her companions were on their way to Migris,” he’d explained. “I will meet them there, though I can’t quite decide if I should sell the girl, or allow her to lead me to the shroud.”

  “You will acquire them both,” Keiren had snapped, but Óengus had only smiled. He’d known this girl when she was less sure of herself, and knew those insecurities still lurked within her depths.

  He’d smiled up at her. “Something protects these items from you,” he’d mused, knowing it was the truth. Keiren possessed the sight. She could see the future and past, and could find any person she wanted in the blink of an eye . . . though she hadn’t bothered with finding Óengus in many years.

  She’d glared at him. “I’ll give you back what I stole from you,” she offered.

  There had been no need to elaborate. She’d known that was all it would take.

  “I’ll reach Migris in two day’s time,” he’d replied simply, agreeing to her deal without giving her the satisfaction of acknowledging her offer.

  “I’ll be in contact,” she’d said simply, then melded back into the darkness like a ghost.

  As far as Óengus was concerned, that’s exactly what she was. A ghost from the past, come to haunt his dreams, one last time.

  Chapter One

  Finn was bruised, sore, and lying in a ditch. She reached a shaky hand to dab at the blood on her forehead, then listened for signs of pursuit. Her waist-length, light brown hair hung loosely around her, adorned with broken twigs, grass, and dirt. One of the trees blocking her view of the far-off path shifted slightly. The minute movement of the branches would be perceived as wind catching the leaves, but Finn knew better. These trees protected her from her captors. . .

  She had gone to sleep beside Iseult, the night after they’d left Port Ainfean. She was restless with excitement for the journey ahead, but at the same time was troubled with thoughts on what Gilion had revealed to them. Àed had hoped that his one time friend would have information on who Finn really was. Unfortunately, it was not information that any of them had chosen to accept. Gilion had implied that Finn and Iseult were enemies, or at least they should be. He’d also made it clear that Finn would likely turn on Iseult, once she remembered who and what she was. Yet, Iseult clearly did not believe that Finn would turn against him, else he wouldn't sleep so easily beside her. His black hair, flecked with gray surprising for a younger man, glinted in the moonlight. She almost wanted to reach out and touch it, reassuring herself that this man who’d done so much to protect her was real, but she didn’t want to wake him.

  She sighed. She would feel better in the morning once Iseult and Àed were awake, and the three of them could have breakfast together. It was that thought alone that allowed her to finally drift off to sleep, and it was the first thought on her mind as she woke gasping for breath.

  Leathery appendages entwined around her body, nearly crushing her, but not quite. Soil scratched against the back of her scalp as she struggled to free herself, but it was no use. Suddenly sunlight stung her eyes as whatever entrapped her began to loosen its grip, moving away from her face and neck. Now that she could see, her pattering heart sank. Massive roots were slowly peeling away from her body to return to the earth. They were the same roots that had crushed a man to death before her very eyes. The man had been attempting to kill Kai, but that didn’t make the roots any less frightening.

  Her eyes searched frantically for Iseult or Àed as the roots retreated, or perhaps even Kai, come to find her after she ran away from him in Port Ainfean. What she hadn't expected was Branwen. At first, Finn was filled with excitement to see her friend alive and well, but that excitement was soon dampened as she took in the blankness in Branwen's honey-colored eyes. The young woman stared down at her apathetically, her tawny red hair hanging matted and dirty down the sides of her angular face. The noonday sun illuminated Branwen’s hair so that it looked like fire.

  It was only when Branwen turned to look over her shoulder that Finn noticed the creatures gathered around them. Their lower bodies looked just like horses, with fur done in grays and muddy whites, but it was their upper bodies that held Finn's attention. They looked almost human, but with gray, bloodless skin. Gaunt faces were dominated by uptilted, pure red, pupil-less eyes. The creatures appeared to be male, and had an eerie sameness to them, down to their lank, silvery hair.

  One spoke to Branwen in a language that sounded familiar to Finn, though she didn’t understand it. Branwen nodded, then silently helped Finn to her feet and brushed the loose soil from Finn's burgundy skirts. Branwen's deep red cloak was tattered and full of burs, but she didn't seem to notice. She looked like she had been crawling through the underbrush for a week, and it appeared that she'd had very little food in the process, judging by the gauntness of her face and the thinness of her limbs.

  “Branwen,” Finn whispered, “where are Iseult and Àed?”

  Branwen stared at her as the half-man half-horse creatures shifted impatiently. Finn thought that Branwen might not answer, but then she licked her dry, cracked lip
s and said, “Gone.”

  Finn inhaled sharply. “What do you mean, gone?”

  One of the creatures stepped forward and stomped its front hooves inches from Finn's boots. It said something in its guttural language while it gazed down at Finn with a sneer on its thin lips. A moment later, hands wrapped around Finn's upper arms, lifting her to standing, then all the way off her feet. She didn't resist as she was put upon the back of another one of the creatures, given that her only other choice was to stay dangling in mid-air.

  Her skirts hiked up around her legs, she placed her hands against the creature's back to steady herself as the one who had grabbed her let go. She was surprised by the velvety texture of the creature's fur, many times softer than that of a horse. Giving Finn no time to recover, the creatures began to trot in a cohesive unit, jostling her senses, and taking her away from any clues as to how she'd arrived in that place to begin with. She leaned forward and squeezed her legs around the creature’s equine back for dear life, not daring to wrap her arms around the humanoid torso.

  Panicked, she looked around, hoping for some sign to tell her where she was. The trees here were tall, with broad, star-shaped leaves instead of needles, and the ground was more loamy and green, nothing like the rocky landscape she’d gone to sleep in.

  The creature carrying Branwen on its back hurried to catch up to Finn's creature, allowing the two women to ride side by side.

  Finn looked over at Branwen silently, afraid to ask her more questions that would garner no real answers. “Where is your brother?” she asked finally. “We left you in his care, but when we returned from the Blood Forest, you were both gone.”

  Branwen's expression didn't change in the slightest at the mention of her brother. Instead, she pointed to a structure in the distance.

  There was ample moisture and fog in the air, making it difficult for Finn to see the structure clearly, but it looked like it had once been a castle, long since fallen into disrepair. The towers that she could see were partially crumbled, leaving only the lower part of the structure possibly inhabitable. They were several miles off, so she could not distinguish whether or not anyone currently dwelled there.

  Finn gulped as her brain rattled from the creature’s continued trot. “Is that where we're going?”

  “Cavari,” Branwen stated.

  Finn's thoughts came to a violent halt at the name of her tribe. She had little information on them, and was beginning to strongly suspect that they were the ones who had turned her into a tree, leaving her with few memories, and no explanations. They had also eliminated Iseult's people.

  As far as Finn knew, she had aided in the slaughter, at least in the beginning. Then, one hundred years ago, she was left alone in a field as a tree. Could the Cavari be the ones responsible for taking her away from Iseult and Àed? If they had left her as a tree, why would they want her now? Finn shivered. Perhaps they just wanted to root her back in the ground. Weeks ago, she would have accepted such a fate willingly, but now, she was unsure.

  “Branwen,” Finn whispered, not wanting to draw her captor’s attention, though she doubted the horse creatures spoke her language, “I do not think we should go there.” She subtly gestured to the castle in the distance.

  Branwen glanced at her, then turned to stare straight ahead, dismissing her. Finn searched around for some way to escape, or to at least slow their progress. She wasn't ready to face her people, especially when she didn't know where Iseult and Àed were, or if they were even still alive.

  As Finn scanned her surroundings, something caught her eye. It was just the barest hint of movement in the trees. She would have passed it off as nothing, but then she saw it again. The trees along the path they followed were moving in.

  Some of the man-horse creatures realized something was amiss, and began barking orders in their strange language. They halted their forward progress and closed in around Finn, though whether they were protecting her, or just preventing her escape was unclear. Whatever they were doing, it obscured Finn's view of the moving trees.

  Tension was thick in the air as they waited. Finn's heart thudded in her chest, making it difficult to focus. She sat up as straight as she could, trying to see what was happening. Her panic grew until it felt like she could no longer breathe. The cold air that did find its way in stung her lungs. If she was going to escape, now would be the time, but how?

  Her question was answered a moment later as the ground began to tremble. Finn screamed as massive roots shot up from the earth, scattering dirt throughout the air and tossing her equine captors aside like they weighed nothing.

  Finn was knocked from her perch to the ground, and would have been trampled by the horse-creature's hooves if one of the roots hadn't darted in to fling her aside. She flew through the air, then hit the ground hard, several feet away. She huddled on the ground for a moment as she tried to regain her breath, then knowing she might soon run out of time, she rolled to the side away from the chaos caused by the roots.

  She forced herself to continue rolling, and soon hit a downhill slope. She picked up momentum, hitting painfully against rocks on her way down until she landed in a heap at the bottom of the gully. The trees around her quickly uprooted, then moved on spindly, wooden limbs to replant themselves in front of her, blocking her view of the road. She could hear shouting in the distance, and the thundering of hooves as the man-horse creatures stampeded across the countryside, looking for her. She held a hand to her head, and came away with blood, as a group of the creatures trotted merely twenty feet away from where she was hiding, within the tightly packed group of trees.

  Once they’d passed, she quickly returned her hand to her side. It was important to be still. She closed her eyes and gripped her fingers in the damp grass as the shouting continued, and hoof beats thundered all around. The sounds surrounded her for what felt like ages, but eventually they grew distant as the search party deemed the area clear. When the hoof beats could no longer be heard, one of the trees near her bent itself in half, bringing its upper branches toward her face.

  The Trow opened its eyes and smiled down at her. It looked much like the Trow she had met in the Blood Forest, with its rough bark and spindly limbs, but she was very far from that place. The Trow's deep green eyes grew concerned when Finn did not return its smile. The jagged crevices in its bark flexed in and out as it took long breaths through its knobby, wooden nose.

  “What has happened, Tree Sister?” the Trow inquired kindly in a voice that sounded like bark scraping over rocks.

  The other Trow that had helped conceal her all turned curious gazes down to where she still lay.

  She shook her head minutely, having no idea how to answer the question. What had happened? She’d been stolen away by roots while she slept, but now the same roots had just saved her.

  Taking her silence for fear, the Trow comforted, “The Ceinteár are gone now. You’re safe.”

  Finn wiped at the tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried to rise, only to double over in pain. A large rock had jabbed into her ribs on the way down, and it felt like one might be cracked or broken.

  “The roots,” she began, gritting her teeth against the pain as she forced herself to standing, “they've saved me before, yet they also brought me here. Do you control them?”

  The lead Trow seemed confused. “My lady, only one of the Dair can control nature in such a way.”

  Finn shook her head, spilling her long hair forward over her shoulders as she panted in pain. “I was being taken to the Cavari. Why would my people save me from themselves?”

  The Trow looked confused again, until another one stepped forward. This one seemed older than the rest, with large lumps and gray areas mottling its bark. “My lady,” it began in a gravelly voice as it gazed down at her, “only one of the Dair could accomplish such a feat. We simply stepped in to shelter you.”

  “But the roots that brought me to this place . . . ” she trailed off, not understanding why some roots helped, and some hur
t.

  The Trow shrugged, if the awkward creaking of the bark on its shoulders could be called a shrug. “Perhaps you saved yourself, or perhaps you have friends you’ve yet to be made aware of. Not all Dair are Cavari.”

  Finn's head began to spin. She sincerely hoped her skull hadn’t suffered any damage. What the Trow said about her saving herself couldn't be correct. She couldn't control anything in nature, especially not without meaning to. Yet the thought of other Dair involving themselves was no more comforting. She knew the Cavari had not been the only tribe involved in the world of man. There were others, at least at one point in time. Whether they were friend or foe, she did not know.

  The Trow around Finn waited patiently while she attempted to gather her wits about her, but said wits were nowhere to be found.

  Kai had been following Finn and the others since they’d departed from Ainfean. At first he’d thought he’d never find them, as there were many tracks leading out of the port town, but sticking to the Sand Road had proven the correct choice. By sleeping little, and taking no time to rest during the day, he’d eventually caught sight of them, only to fall behind before he was spotted in return.

  When Finn had left him, Kai had been at first relieved to learn that she had rejoined with Iseult and Àed, but then he’d also learned that they were being followed by a silver haired man. Kai had little doubt that the man in question was Óengus. He’d been curious about Finn back in Badenmar, which meant he was likely out for the bounty on her head. Óengus was an exceedingly dangerous man, and Kai wouldn't mind being the one to keep Finn from him, if only to prove that he wasn't the man she thought he was. He was sure that once he proved her wrong, he could let her go and move on with his life.

  He liked to think that he had rescued her from trouble the first time too, never mind the fact that he was the one that put her in said trouble to begin with, stealing her away from Iseult and Àed in an attempt to gather the same bounty that Óengus was likely after. He sighed as he thought back to the moment she awoke, realizing that he and Anna had betrayed her. Oh, how angry she had been.