{You are needed elsewhere.}
"To hell with what you need. I need to help Jo." And the human chose a direction and started walking.
Khe'sha blinked as the forest flowed around him, the exact tree or bush he watched never moving or changing but somehow becoming part of a thicket that wasn't there a heartbeat earlier. He smelled fresh-turned earth but saw none, heard the rustle of branches and leaves even though the air was still. Now the human faced a wall of thorny green that even Khe'sha couldn't force.
The fox sat on her haunches, a sparkle of amusement in her eyes. {You will find a path, if you try the other way. It leads where the forest wishes you to go. I'd suggest you take it.}
The human ignored that advice, proving the truth of his mate-bond. Khe'sha watched as the man poked and prodded at the forest wall, shifting sideways, each time forced to move downhill as well as to the side. Nothing changed, not visibly, not where Khe'sha could see, but the forest still deflected every effort.
Khe'sha's heart warmed to him. The man did just what he would have done, separated from his mate. Khe'sha would be testing now, pushing, shifting, struggling against the tangles. Even without his mate's need driving him, he longed to find a way to that treacherous witch. But he'd already tasted the power of this forest. He'd been forced to this place against all his strength and will. His toe ached, and he licked blood from the broken claw.
Now he understood. The red witch wanted him to live, as she wanted this Singer to live. The forest held its strength and turned its thorns aside, knowing what she wished.
He shifted his bulk downhill, toward the path that led away through the trees. He saw no point in continuing to bite stone or climb a hill of sand or swim against a current stronger than himself.
Khe'sha had walked this forest many times in many years, sharing duty with Sha'khe. He'd never seen it so powerful and aware. The red witch had given more than freedom to the trees. He pitied anyone who came to attack the keep. A thought chilled him.
{The dark one has cast a spell on our hatchlings. If she dies, they die. Thus she binds me to her bidding. Can the Red Witch break this doom?}
{The Steward asks the forest to trap and hold her enemies, if that be possible, rather than to kill. Asks, rather than commands. But the dark one holds much hate and much power, and the forest has never loved her. She may die. You are needed elsewhere.}
The Singer stopped struggling with the forest and grimaced. "I guess I don't have a choice." He turned to Khe'sha and flourished an elaborate bow. "I'm David Marx. Pleased to meet you."
{And I am called Khe'sha. I am honored to meet so powerful a Singer. Although, if you will allow, I do think you need to work on that sixth stanza.}
"That and the five before it and the twenty after. I hadn't planned on a performance." Then the human shook his head and blinked. "Hey, at least half of that was improvised, revising as I went along. Dragons like poetry?"
{The old songs are our lives. New songs are the sun on our backs and fresh meat in our bellies. Almost you give me the will to live, knowing that Sha'khe still lives in your words.}
The Singer slumped to the ground, burying his head in his hands. Muffled words leaked past his fingers. "She was beautiful. I've never been so terrified in my life, but there was something else, something that went beyond fear. Beauty. Terror. Awe. Even a sense of mirth. She laughed at us. And you loved her. I weep that I had to kill her. But she wouldn't let me follow Jo."
{There is no blood debt between us.}
David looked up, face shiny with tears. "Now this damned forest won't let me go to her."
The fox edged forward, timid and skittish, and licked the human's hand. {Your mate is safe, protected by the Stone and the keep it guards. The black-furred witch battles the forest, a greater power than she knows. The evil lurking in her den is a greater threat, to your mate and to me and to all that suckle young. Destroy it. There will be great danger. Both you and the dragon are needed.} She looked up at Khe'sha and smiled her fox-smile. {There may be a song in it.}
Khe'sha bent his head down to the forest floor, beside the man. {Go the way the forest wishes, Singer. Even I could not win against such strength. Trust the forest. It protects your mate.}
David smiled, with a wry twist. "I suppose you'll tell me that the fastest way to reach Jo is by going where the forest sends me. Typical run-around."
{And on the way we can taste the phrases of your song and polish them. What is this "opal" of which you sang?}
The human groaned. He stood and wiped his face on his sleeve, stared at the thicket blocking any route uphill, and shook his head.
"Maureen's created a monster."
Khe'sha chuckled, deep in his belly. {The forest has the power to do far worse. Perhaps we should find the dark one's lair.}
"Shortest distance between two points is never a straight line." He shrugged his shoulders and turned, sighing. The path opened in front of them, downhill toward the east. "If Fiona's tangled up in fighting the forest, what's the danger?"
Then he paused between one step and the next, foot in midair. "Her hedge. Maureen warned us about the hedge. Probably other traps." He set his foot down and looked up at Khe'sha beside him. "I hope this forest knows what it's doing."
And they followed the path, wide enough for a dragon's bulk, smooth for human feet, formed by the wildwood for its purpose and closing off behind them. Khe'sha heard the rustling leaves and creaking
