Shadows of the Redwood - By Gillian Summers Page 0,86
thought about nails raking down a chalkboard. Laurie had done it at Baywood Academy.
Tavyn-Bloodroot stumbled back, holding his head.
Around the cages that held Laurie, Scott, and Risa, misty forms floated and circled. Then Keelie heard the sound of children laughing. Totally not what she had expected.
She looked around. The largest tree in the Grove stood in front of her, and growing between its roots were small treelings. It was the nursery she’d seen in her dream. Keelie heard the beautiful music, the lilting melody that had haunted her from the night she’d first arrived.
But the taint of goblin magic was getting stronger; Keelie located its source. It was the treeling nursery. And pushing her face out of the massive trunk was none other than Bella Matera, the Mother Tree.
“Hello, Keelie. I’m glad you could come and meet my babies.” Bella Matera pushed her whole body out of the trunk. No longer a part of the tree, she was in her spirit form, as were the little treelings, which had come down to dance and spin around their mother. Tavyn-Bloodroot pushed Keelie closer to Bella.
Bella clasped her elegant, treelike hands together. “Aren’t they beautiful? They will survive no matter what. I have seen to it.”
“What are you doing?” Keelie asked. “You’re growing them in soil tainted with dark magic. What will it do to their roots?”
“It will make them stronger. They have to be strong to survive today. Do you know how many children I have lost over the past millennia? My heart has been broken thousands of times—whenever I hear a tree being cut down for lumber. Now they will strengthen, while the Dread keeps humans away.”
“There has to be a better way.”
“If there is, I haven’t found one in two thousand years.” Bella’s voice sparked with anger. “When the goblin died at my roots, we drank in his blood. We tapped into the dark magic, and I found a new way to strengthen my young.”
“I’ve never heard of trees using blood for power. You’re the Ancients—you can’t do this. Did you kill the goblin?”
“He had lost his way. He was sick, and going to die anyway. The elves killed him to keep him from revealing the Grove and their village.”
“The elves killed a goblin here. Why didn’t they tell me?” Keelie thought guiltily of the Red Cap she’d killed, but he’d attacked the people and forest around the High Mountain Faire. She’d done it to protect them … but how was that different from what they’d done here?
“We call it survival.” Bella Matera’s face hovered inches from Keelie’s. She turned her head toward the cages. “There is another here with green magic flowing through her veins. She can understand me.” She pointed to the cages with her ghostly branches. “Release the elf girl and bring her to me.”
The cages lowered. Tavyn-Bloodroot pulled Risa out and dragged her over to the queen tree’s spirit.
Stubborn and haughty, Risa held her head high.
Bella examined her. “Her power is nothing near the strength of Keliel’s, but there is a different kind of magic. A fertile power of the Earth. We can take it to feed my little ones.”
“I’m with Keelie. I’m not going to help you.” Risa lifted her chin.
Tavyn-Bloodroot slapped Risa across the face and she fell to the ground, angry red welts on her skin. “You will do as our queen commands.”
“Leave her alone,” Keelie shouted.
Tavyn-Bloodroot glared at her. “Why?”
“Because she’s in love with my cat, and she’s covered my butt on more than one occasion, and I guess that makes her my friend. Something you wouldn’t understand since you’ve sucked up so much dark power that it’s made you unbalanced. Can’t you see what Bella is doing is wrong?”
“Do not talk to me about what is wrong. You were glad when dark magic restored your hawk’s sight and helped you to make things right in your forest. We’re only doing what is right in our forest.” Tavyn-Bloodroot turned his attention back to Risa.
“Dark magic is only helpful when it restores balance,” Keelie said. “Killing another creature is not restoring balance. Draining the magic of the tree shepherd is not restoring the balance. It’s evil and it’s wrong, and you and the other redwoods will pay the price.”
“Yes, we will pay the price, but our treelings will stand a chance in this world, and we’ll be able to protect ourselves from humans. You say killing another creature is wrong? How about the humans who tear us down, to be used for