Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 268

Chapter 268: What happened to me?
Ford had felt something strange as soon as the stone had struck him. It broke, so at first he thought it was simply the injury resulting from a hard jewel shattering against his flesh.

However, as soon as the dragons took Trace, he’d dropped to his stomach and convulsed uncontrollably. He couldn’t even cry out because the experience was so disorienting.

When it stopped, he felt… different. More intense. And yet, even now that sensation was fading with every second. He stood and flexed his fingers, flinching that the pain was still present, still there.

He would have to ignore it to get through whatever was coming. Instantly, the pain receded. He stood straighter and stretched slightly. He checked his ribs, pushing at them, and they hurt rather badly, but as soon as he turned his attention elsewhere and decided to ignore it, the pain was gone again.

“What happened?” He repeated, looking at the others with wild eyes.

Was this magic? Could he heal?

He reached up to his eye, which was still very swollen from Denholm’s attack. It was still injured. He frowned, and tried to push magic at it.

“You kidnapped my daughter and now my brother’s been taken by dragons!” Seth interrupted Ford’s train of thought with a tone that sent ice through his veins. “That’s what happened!!”

“Papa!” Mia cried. “He didn’t kidnap me, I decided to leave and asked him to come with me!”

“Don’t try to protect him, I have plans on how to deal with Ford,” Seth glared, and Ford shrank back from the older man’s rage. Mia stepped in between them.

“We don’t have time for that, Papa. We can discuss it later.” Mia held her hands out in a calming gesture. “Getting to Uncle Trace is going to be a long journey, and we can’t delay for these kinds of recriminations!”

“What do you mean, a long journey?” Grandpa moved next to Seth and glanced between the father and daughter.

“In the presence of the tree, I couldn’t just feel what I was looking for, I could see it, and see the whole path to it!” Mia said breathlessly. “I could see every step of the way. I decided to look for the wights’ destination, and I saw it. It’s further away than traveling to the capital, probably by fourfold, at least. Maybe more.”

“Fourfold?” Seth’s attention was finally captured. “It takes a week to get to the capital! Are you telling me it will take a month to get to Trace??”

Mia’s shoulders lifted slightly in a humble display. “Probably longer; there is no road, and the terrain looks quite difficult in many places.”

Seth leaned back on his heels, shocked. “Is there any chance of catching up to them sooner?”

“I doubt it, with them flying and us either walking or on horseback,” Grandpa frowned.

“Then we have to go home first,” Seth replied. “We’ve already been gone long enough to worry Sarah and the others… A day or two, I could readily sacrifice so that I didn’t come home without him, but not this.”

“This is all my fault,” Mia’s face fell. “I’m sorry.”

“No it isn’t,” Ford shook his head. “How could it be your fault? Didn’t you tell them not to follow you? If they’d listened, then the dragons would have just taken Denholm and we’d be on our way to get you back home now.”

Mia turned to him, and her eyes widened. “I… maybe, but if I hadn’t come, then they wouldn’t have followed. None of this would have happened.”

“I don’t think apportioning blame is the right thing to do,” Grandpa said. “What we need to do now is get home, tell the women what happened, and then Seth and I can go after Trace.”

“I’m coming.” Mia said firmly. “You can’t leave me behind when I’m responsible for all this. Plus, I’m the only one who knows how to find the Castle.”

“Castle?” Grandpa’s bushy eyebrows rose considerably. “What castle?”

“The wights’ home, I suppose. It looks like a giant underground castle carved out of stone. It’s black like onyx, shining in the darkness. It has…” Mia paused, and closed her eyes.

“It has what?” Seth ducked his head, trying to look into her face more.

“Sorry, now that the tree is gone I can no longer see it, I’m going from my memory,” Mia explained. Ford moved to see her a little better. Her eyebrows were knit together as she concentrated on the images.

“Let me walk through it so you can help me remember. It’s so hard to keep the whole thing memorized,” She paused and took a deep breath. “I don’t think we can get there through their tunnels. The path I saw starts at the mouth of the cave and heads East, into the wilderness. Past the desert canyons, there are plains and grasslands as the river continues on, and then a forest leading into mountains. They are snow-covered, with puddles across them, and large, flat plateaus, and springs and ponds to wind between.

“Beyond those is a hole in the ground that looks no bigger than a wolf’s den, but it goes deep into the earth, and then through an underground forest full of golden, bejeweled trees. At the edge of that forest is the black castle where the wights live, and the dragons seem to guard it.”

She opened her eyes and looked at the three men as Ford swallowed. “There is a lot more detail, but those broad strokes summarize the journey, just in case.”

Grandpa pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “I guess we’d best get started then, hadn’t we?”

“An entire forest of golden trees?” Seth murmured. “This wasn’t the only one?”

Ford watched the two other men nervously, knowing that as soon as the novelty of the description passed and the enormity of the journey sank in, they were likely to turn on him and blame him for everything.

He wished he would disappear.