“Impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because Fan’twar would have told me. He studies prophecy. He would have told me.” Uli was making it up. It was the only explanation.
“Believe as you wish. But someday you will understand the truth.”
I took another sip. Uli, after all, was mad. This must have been part of her delusion. Then again, this wasn’t the first time I’d been called Deathbringer. Whenever I saw Fan’twar next, I’d have a few questions to ask.
She stood and placed her empty bowl on the hearth. “We leave when you are ready.”
“I’m ready now.” I laid my bowl aside and attempted to stand. My knees felt weak and nearly gave out. I needed more rest. I couldn’t have slept more than a few hours, but now wasn’t the time.
“You are certain?”
“Yes. I need to find that tree.”
She picked up a sack and began filling it with jars and glass containers, some with sand or liquid. She picked up one with what looked like snails with spiked ridges down their backs. Opening the jar, she popped one in her mouth, then placed the rest in her bag.
My skin crawled as she crunched down on the snail.
Or maybe she was just as crazy as ever.
“How do you know about the Deathbringer?” I asked her as she tucked more containers in the bag.
“It was a story told to me as a child.”
“A story? Then it wasn’t prophecy?”
“It was prophecy told so many times it became a story. A legend. Why you have never heard it is strange to me. Unless there is a reason for this. As is with all that happens. There is always a reason. A reason for everything. A purpose.” She crunched the snail some more, then made a snorting sound as if she’d gotten some of its slime lodged in her throat. Then, she chewed some more.
I attempted not to vomit.
“I am happy to be the one to tell you. You have a great purpose, Deathbringer.”
“Please call me Olive.”
“You do not wish to be called by your true name?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Deathbringer sounds a little violent, don’t you think? I prefer Olive.”
She shrugged and didn’t argue, though the unpleasant expression on her face told me she disagreed. She continued packing until she’d stuffed the bag. What she intended to do with all her loot I had no idea. “Are you ready?” she asked me after slinging the bag over her shoulder.
I rubbed my sore ribs. “I suppose so.”
“Good.” She grabbed me around the waist. My bruised ribs protested. She beat her wings twice, and then we soared out of her home through an open doorway.
I’d barely gotten a moment to rest. Someday, after this was all done with, I planned to spend an entire week at home with nothing but my cat and a few good books.
The sun rose over the pixie kingdom. Majestic spires glistened in the early morning light, bathing the world in gold and amber. The view stole my breath. Uli’s grip also stole my breath, but I tried to ignore it.
During the daylight hours, the tree seemed to transform. Pixie children, wearing bright, mismatched colors, darted from holes. Their laughter drifted toward us. Banners of red and gold fluttered from many of the windows. In some places, I saw destruction, though the pixies fluttered around the toppled towers and crumbled roots, repairing them with ancient-looking saws and wooden mallets.
If yesterday’s attack had bothered them, it didn’t show.
Uli flew away from the familiar courtyard and into a part of the tree I didn’t recognize. Deeper into the tree, the familiar bauble lights were lit. Only a few streamers of sunlight penetrated this deep.
Chapter 37
Uli flew down into the tree, past the glowing baubles, past the laughter and people. Deeper and deeper, until the darkness overtook us.
She pulled a light from her pack. The small, glowing bauble barely illuminated the roots and dirt as we flew faster and faster. A tinkling sound came from somewhere, reminding me of the wind chimes on my mother’s porch. Strange. Such a familiar sound seemed wrong in a place as dark as this.
The smell of damp earth filled my nostrils. Uli flew as if she were in a trance, as if, as soon as the pixie king had granted his permission, a spell had been broken. She flew with the stealth of a ghost. Faster and faster, until I was sure we must have flown to the center of the earth. But the tunnel only continued downward. It branched into different directions, but at every cross section, she didn’t hesitate.
My ribs ached where she held me. “How far is it?” I called. But either she didn’t hear me, or she ignored me.
I estimated that we had flown for several hours by the time we finally stopped at a shallow root outcropping. I sat between two shoots, feeling grateful for a moment’s rest. Uli pulled two jars from her pack and passed one to me. “Eat,” she said.
I eyed the jar as I removed the lid. I couldn’t tell what was inside besides a large, gray lump. Uli ate without speaking, her eyes unfocused. I took a small taste of the paste and found it tasted a little like corn meal, so I took a larger bite.
“This is a strange place,” I said to break up the silence. My voice echoed through the tunnels. Chimes tinkled in the distance. The sound must have been some sort of magic that came from the tree. Given that they sounded so familiar to me, I suspected the tree knew I was coming.
“The tunnels were not created by my people,” she offered. “They have been here since the beginning
