“None of them?”
None. All six of them were gone.
Colin felt something crawl up his back, the flesh of his spine prickling, the sensation creeping up into his shoulders and spreading out along his arms.
“What about the Shadows, the sukrael? Where are they?”
Still inside the forest. They’re still trapped by the Lifeblood, as we are. But you and the Wraiths… We never considered whether or not the Wraiths could leave the forest. They never have before, so we thought they were trapped like us, like the Shadows. But they’re not. They’re like you. They’re touched by the Lifeblood, but not yet caught.
“Where did they go?”
We don’t know. We can’t follow them, and we can’t track them. We tried to contact you as soon as we realized that they’d left. We thought that perhaps they’d gone after you, especially since they left almost immediately after you did.
Which was strange. But maybe his departure hadn’t been a factor. Maybe it had been a coincidence. Or maybe his leaving the forest had forced the Wraiths to act.
“If they aren’t coming after me, then where would they go?”
Osserin flared in anger. Again, we don’t know. But a few weeks after you left, something else happened. The Well itself… flashed.
“What do you mean?”
Colin could sense the Faelehgre’s frustration. The air around the Well began to hum, to vibrate, so we gathered at the edge of the Well itself, on the amphitheater’s steps. And then the sukrael appeared in the forest on the far side, hundreds of them. They came out of the forest, as if drawn to the sound, and they were… dancing, weaving in and out among the trees, cavorting with each other. The hum escalated, and everything around the Well grew still. The Shadows halted, the trees quieted. Even we grew silent. Because we could feel the buildup of power, could feel it throbbing on the air.
And then a white light pulsed up through the water from deep below, from the Well’s source, and spread outward, rustling in the trees, shoving all of us back toward the city, the Shadows back into the trees. A few of the Shadows shrieked, and one of the nearer buildings cracked, the foundation splitting.
But that was it. We stayed at the Well. The Shadows stayed as well, for a time, and then, as if by signal, they fled into the forest again.
When we went to investigate, we found that the influence of the Well had expanded. We could travel farther in all directions, out onto the plains, to the north, south, and east as well, deeper into the forest.
The same thing has happened twice more, the Lifeblood pulsing, and each time the extent of the Well’s influence grows. We’ve only been able to reach this far north within the last few days. And then Yssero sensed you at the edge of our reach yesterday. We’ve been calling to you since then, hoping you’d hear and come to us so we could warn you.
Colin had settled back onto the stone of the Well as Osserin spoke. “Has this ever happened before?” he asked.
Not as far as any of us remember. And the Faelehgre have long memories.
He narrowed his gaze at Osserin in suspicion. “What do you think the Wraiths are doing?” When Osserin hesitated, he added, “Osserin?”
In a flash and dimming of light that was almost as audible as a sigh, Osserin said, We think the Wraiths are attempting to… free the Shadows.
That same prickling sensation coursed up Colin’s back, only this time it continued to spread, sinking into the pit of his stomach with a nauseous heat, into his lungs with a tingling cold.
“Can they do that?” he asked, almost breathless.
We’ve spent hundreds of years trying to find a way to escape the Well. We couldn’t, because we can’t move beyond the Well’s influence, and we found no way to break the Well or alter its power from within. The Shadows are in the same situation. When you came, when you drank from the Well, there was much discussion about sending you out to find a way to free us. But in the end, we decided that couldn’t be done because freeing us would also mean freeing the Shadows. And that is too much to set upon the world. Not for what was our own mistake.
We never considered that perhaps the Shadows were trying to find a way to free themselves as well. We know that they are intelligent. After all they were once an embodiment of us, were once part of us, separated from us by the Lifeblood. They are the remnants of our bodies, while we are the remnants of our souls. That is why they feed. They are searching for the life-force that their bodies once held. But we did not realize how intelligent they are.
Colin heard something in Osserin’s voice, something dark, that made his skin break out in a light sweat. “What do you think they’ve done?”
Osserin hesitated. Then: We think that when the dwarren first arrived here in the forest, the Shadows tasted true life-force for the first time in centuries. They feasted, but when the dwarren grew wary of the forest, they realized that in order to continue feeding, they needed to find a way to break the Well’s influence.
“You said that couldn’t be done.”
Osserin flared in annoyance. Exactly. When the Faelehgre realized this, we stopped searching. Our drive to be free waned. It had never been as strong as that of the Shadows in any case. But the Shadows continued searching. And after the dwarren appeared, they realized that, if they couldn’t break the Well’s influence, then perhaps they could extend it.
“How?”
Osserin dipped toward the second Well. With this. Somehow, the Shadows learned of this second Well. A dead Well, one empty of the Lifeblood. They realized that if they could reawaken it, if they could bring it back to life…
“Then their realm of influence would expand,” Colin breathed.
Osserin pulsed in agreement. Yes. But the second Well was outside their influence. They couldn’t touch it, couldn’t activate it themselves. They needed someone else, someone who could travel outside the restrictions of the Lifeblood. So they created the Wraiths.
“How?”
Osserin flickered with uncertainty. We aren’t certain, but think back to the attack on your group. You said that the Shadows attacked in a frenzy, that they gorged themselves on the people in your wagon train, feeding frantically. They had not fed in a long time, and there were so many of you.
But then you said that their attacks changed, that they began to taunt you. The frenzy died, as if they had been sated. When you remained with Karen, they did not fall on you like they did the others. You said they “tasted” you.
Colin’s mouth had gone dry and he clutched at the stone of the Well, the memory of that day still sharp. “Yes.”
We think that they were testing you. Osserin drifted closer. We think that they were trying to decide whether you could be made into a Wraith.
Colin shuddered and his fingers scraped against the rough stone of the Well as he tried to dig into it. He lowered his head. “You’re saying that all of the Wraiths are… victims of the Shadows. That they were all once people, that they have been… poisoned in some way by the Shadows.”
By the Shadows and the Lifeblood. The first Wraiths, created before the appearance of humans on the plains, were short, about the same height as “The dwarren. They were dwarren.” Colin thought about all of the Wraiths he had seen since he’d drunk from the Well. They were always cloaked in the Shadows, so that their features were never clear, but now that he knew… “They have Alvritshai and human Wraiths now.”
And the Wraiths or the Shadows figured out how to reawaken this Well.
Colin stared down into the soft blue glow beneath him. “If there was a second Well, then there must be others. The Wraiths must be searching for them.”
If they find them, if they reawaken them, then their influence and that of the Shadows will increase. Already the influence has expanded enough to intersect with dwarren lands… and Alvritshai. Osserin drifted closer. The Wraiths have to be stopped. The Shadows cannot be allowed to prey upon the world.
