“Together we will see this through, LJ. From this point forward, always together. Okay?” Leaning down our foreheads meet and for a moment we just stay there.
“You’re right. Together.”
Grinning, I try to lighten her mood, “Not to mention that we have your crazy fearless brother, a righteous sprite, your sassy sister, a young druid, the backing of The Otherworld and The Underworld’s infamous prince of darkness. We are not to be trifled with.”
Her lips twitch, “You’re right, we should give our little group a name.”
Leaning in, I capture her lips in a kiss and then whisper, “Retribution, princess, we’re Retribution.”
She kisses me back, and murmurs against my lips, “How could I forget.” Pulling back, she asks, “If I’m Retribution and Lachlan was once Adam, then what does that make my brother? I wonder.” She pauses. “Is it time to meet up with our tiny troup?” Her unwavering determined blue eyes find mine as she ponders a question that neither of us has the answer to at the moment.
Nodding, I murmur, “Yeah. It’s time that I shadow walk us from here to where we are to camp tonight. You ready?”
Cupping my cheek in her hand, she says, “I can face anything if we’re together. Come on, demon boy. Let’s go meet up with our friends.”
Leaving the shelter of our dwelling here in the borough, I take to the air with LJ wrapped in my arms. Shadow-walking was not difficult, considering that we started out in a cave. I’m finding that my demon and I are no longer at odds with one another. We are beginning to merge, and are no longer completely separate entities like I once thought. The lines between us that were once so clear before are beginning to blur as we hold our mate close and traverse the shadows. Once we leave the refuge of the caves, the shadow-realm is not so dark and Lillie allows her curiosity to grow.
“It looks so different here. Most everything is shades of gray, black and white, with some odd colors. So strange. Tell me that it will not be that much longer.” She says while craning her head to look around.
Our reply is quick, “See there below us? The trees are beginning to thin. We are very close.”
“Would it be okay if we drop out of the shadow-realm soon. We could use the cover of the trees. It’s strangely cold here, and I don’t like it.” Her voice is quiet and full of angst.
Angling for the cover of the trees, I point. See there in the distance, where the mountain range, the trees, and the barren lands all meet. That’s where we are heading. Would you rather walk from here? I will not risk flying outside of the shadows just yet.”
Nodding she agrees, “Yes. Let’s do that. It will give me some time to become acquainted with this place.”
Circling, I find an opening in the canopy of the trees and quickly slip out of the shadows to land on the overgrown grass-like growth. Scanning the blood-red skies for anything remotely threatening, I see nothing to keep us from setting out on foot. “Come on, princess, we have about an hour's walk to get to our destination, but I think the walk will do us both some good.” I take her hand and pull her under the canopy of the sparse leaves of the trees. And so begins Lillie’s education of The Underworld, “See here? These trees? This is the Dark Forest. The trees here have wood that is black as soot and the sap from the trees bleeds red. It’s what we call a black elder tree. Most of the furniture back at the house has been crafted from the wood of these trees. Their timber is strong and sturdy. See?” I pull a twig of a limb down and snap the branch into two pieces, and sure enough, the sap drips red. As soon as the sap hits the ground it sizzles for a moment and then is absorbed by the dirt.
“Is the sap poisonous? Why does it sizzle like that?” She asks as we continue walking.
“I’m not sure if it’s poisonous. I don’t know of anyone that has ingested it as it tends to burn what it touches. Some of the majic users of this realm collect it to use it in certain charms and spells.”
“Can we harvest some of this sap? My aunt Lexie would love to work with something so undeniably foreign. She’s always looking to create new and powerful charms. This could come in handy in the future. Who knows what we’re going to encounter.”
“Let me see what I have in my pack, I’m sure we can do that,” I say. After a few minutes of rifling through my bag, I find a small glass vial and we quickly go about collecting enough sap to more than halfway fill the small bottle.
LJ takes the container and looks at the viscous dark ruby red liquid that appears to be glowing ever so slightly, and says, “I
