Shadows of the Redwood - By Gillian Summers Page 0,85
got to do something. The trees are going to eat me.”
“Stay calm, Scott,” Keelie called up to him. But like a yo-yo, the wooden cage was yanked back up into the tree canopy.
“Okay, we’ll follow you.” Keelie detached one of the rose quartz charms that she wore on her belt loop. “But give him one of these, okay?”
“Of course. I figured you would see it my way.” Tavyn-Bloodroot took the little charm and put it in his pocket.
Laurie glared at the tree-possessed elf ranger. “You’d better not hurt him.”
“My dear, we are trees, not humans like you. Humans are the hurtful ones. We just want to make sure that your kind do not cause further destruction. We’re the injured parties here.”
Scott’s screams echoed through the night forest.
Laurie looked up. “Can we get one of those to him? I know just how he feels.”
“Me, too,” Keelie said. She wished Ariel were here. A hawk would be able to fly the charm right to Scott. She looked down at Knot and held out another charm. “Can you get this rose quartz to him? Mr. Greenteeth doesn’t seem to have any intention of giving it to him.” She thought she’d made too many charms, but at this rate she’d be out soon.
Knot took the key ring with the pink stone hanging from it and clawed his way up the bark of the nearby redwood. I hope those claws hurt, Keelie thought, but she didn’t dare say it in tree speak or Knot would be swatted down by a branch.
Tavyn-Bloodroot glared at the cat fast disappearing up the tree. “Come on, then.” He marched up the gradual slope, going through the great ferns and brush that covered the green hill. The girls struggled after him until they reached the top and saw a clearing, surrounded by the tallest trees Keelie had ever seen.
“The Grove of the Ancients,” she said aloud. She could sense that this was the source of the thread of dark magic.
Then she noticed Grandmother. Lady Keliatiel was sitting on a log in the center of the meadow with a very old man, who was wizened and wrinkled with age and holding a carved staff. He looked like a petrified wizard. It had to be the Redwood Tree Shepherd.
Keelie raced forward. “Grandmother, are you okay? We’ve been looking for you.”
Her grandmother didn’t seem to hear her. She and Viran appeared to be in a trance. At that moment, a clear bubble formed around them and they rose into the air, vanishing into the tree canopy.
Tavyn-Bloodroot leaned close. “She can’t hear you. She’s in her own world, lost in time.”
“What have you done to her?” Keelie wondered how she could get Grandmother and the old tree shepherd back to the ground safely.
“She’s in a kind of stasis, based on an elven charm that we have adapted to our own use. Tree shepherds are a constant source of magic, but your power exceeds our dreams.”
Now she knew why they wanted her here. “So you just want to use us as batteries? For what?”
“To protect the forest from humans. Humans have outstripped your tree shepherd skills. But we’ve discovered a way to keep them out. We need to control the Dread.”
“But the dark magic I feel here is not the Dread,” Keelie said. “What you’re doing is wrong. I will never help you.”
“That’s what we thought.” Tavyn-Bloodroot nodded as if she’d confirmed it.
Suddenly, there were loud screams. Keelie looked behind her and saw Laurie and Risa ascending in a wooden cage. They were next to Scott, whose cage now dangled above her as well, transported there by the trees. He had the rose quartz, but there was no sign of Knot.
“If you want your friends to survive, I think you will cooperate.”
Keelie had to find a way out of this. Sean and Coyote were somewhere out there, and Knot was somewhere up in the trees. She wished she could communicate with them.
Tavyn-Bloodroot turned to her. His eyes were bright green, but ringed with gold. Keelie recognized the sign of fairy magic. Dark fairy magic.
He leaned closer to her. “The elf jouster will not save you, nor will the fae creatures.”
Tavyn-Bloodroot could read her mind. Keelie stared into his green-veined eyes. Focus. Concentrate. The trees had used a disorientation spell, based on sound waves. She pulled up her barriers against the trees, then pushed Tavyn-Bloodroot out of her mind. Maybe if she concentrated on something that she found irritating, she could telepathically send it to Tavyn.