Bannon shouted in dismay. “Laurel, no! Audrey, Sage!”
Astonishingly, when the forest women tossed Simon’s butchered corpse onto the barren ground beyond the fringe of the expanding forest, his blood was like a magical elixir, a potent life-giving spell. As the red droplets soaked into the dead soil, new roots writhed about like earthworms. Shoots of green grass and unfurling leaves lifted upward to form a carpet in the fading shape of a man.
When the young women laughed, it came as the sound of a storm in thick trees.
Nathan and Bannon drew their swords. Nicci stood ready to release her magic if the vicious women lunged after them. “Beware, the attack could come from anywhere.” But the three acolytes did not step beyond the edge of the growing forest.
Even Nicci did not expect what they all saw next. Weeds, vines, and thorny brambles continued to erupt from the spilled blood in the pattern of Simon’s body, but in the thicker jungle, trees rustled, and the undergrowth backed away as if bowing to a powerful lord. The three deadly forest women respectfully moved apart as a larger form emerged from the forest: a throbbing female titan with skin like bark, leaves, and moss, a naked body with enormous swaying breasts, the broad waist and hips of a gigantic oak, and hair made of vines and ferns. Her face no longer carried even a hint of matronly kindness.
Victoria … or, what had once been Victoria.
The fearsome forest woman towered above the gathered people from Cliffwall, and her voice boomed out. “This is my forest, and you are no longer welcome here—nor in this world.” She focused her startling, burning eyes on Nicci, who returned the gaze defiantly, not backing down. Victoria added in a mocking tone, “For I am Life’s Mistress.”
Branches cracked. Leaves and branches swelled, and the explosive outpouring of growth continued to spread.
CHAPTER 62
Nicci did not like to retreat under any circumstances, but the insane jungle was too unpredictable and could easily tear the Cliffwall scholars to pieces. As well as Thistle.
She pulled the girl to safety, away from the thrashing forest. The scholars’ faces were filled with despair after the slaughter of Simon and the monstrous appearance of Victoria and her acolytes, but she shouted, driving them into action, “Get back!”
Nathan and Bannon helped to herd the Cliffwall people away from the boundary of the deadly jungle, and the others needed little encouragement to run.
Nicci glared at the swollen, transformed figure of Victoria. The green female thing had an uncontrolled, hungry magic similar to Roland’s—and just like Roland, Victoria would have to be stopped. For this, Nicci suspected they might need a weapon even more powerful than the Eldertree acorn.
And the Sorceress must save the world. Maybe she wasn’t done here yet after all.
As the panicked scholars fled back to the uplift of the plateau, Bannon withdrew into a sense of sick denial after what he had seen the three young women do to Simon. “Sweet Sea Mother, they were so beautiful, so loving and kind. I loved them, and they loved me.”
“They loved you so much, they wanted your blood,” Nicci said. “They would have torn you apart, but Simon paid the price for you.”
Bannon shook his head. “We have to save them! They’re entangled in an evil spell, but I know their hearts are good. We can bring them back, I know it.”
Nicci frowned at him. “Don’t delude yourself with unrealistic hopes, Bannon Farmer. Those things are no longer the women you knew. We will certainly have to kill them.”
The young man stared at her, his mouth open in disbelief. “No, it can’t be. My life was happy, almost perfect for once.…”
With an understanding nod, the wizard squeezed his shoulder. “Sometimes outward beauty only masks a darkness inside.”
When they finally climbed back up the slope and returned to the hidden archive inside the plateau, Nathan strode directly toward the large library chambers, wasting no time. “Once again, we need to learn about a corrupt, uncontrolled spell,” he said, “so we can fight it.”
Nicci turned Thistle about, leading her toward their quarters. “I will destroy her, just as I destroyed the Lifedrinker.”
The girl hung her head, sniffling. “I just wanted to see my valley restored, but that jungle is almost as bad as the Scar.” Her voice hitched as if her throat were full of tears.
“We must eradicate both threats and help the valley return to normal, without being crushed by evil masters,” Nicci said. “That is what Lord Rahl stands for.” She touched the girl’s curly mass of hair, and Thistle looked up at her with complete faith. “That is precisely why we are here.”
“I know,” Thistle said.
*
With no clear leaders, the people of Cliffwall turned desperately to Nathan and Nicci for answers. The old wizard buried himself in the archives again, absorbing volume after volume, scroll after scroll, so that he could counteract the dark fecundity that “Life’s Mistress” had clumsily unleashed.
Mousy, dedicated Mia hovered by Nathan’s side, reading documents with lightning speed, tracing her fingertips over the handwritten lines. She could take in the gist of the text and cull out the important books she felt Nathan should read.
Nicci, though, decided to seek information in a more direct fashion. Because the memmers held the knowledge within their minds, she interrogated Victoria’s people face-to-face.
Marching into one of the classroom chambers where the memmers would recite their lessons, she faced them with her hands planted on the curve of her hips. “Victoria commanded you to search for fertility spells, horticulture magic, even restorative lore that could be applied to wildfire damage in forests. One of you must have recalled the dark spell that she used.” She narrowed her eyes, looking for an unexpected flush or a wary flinch among the memmers. “Someone pointed her to whatever incantation or blood magic she invoked. I need to know what it was.”
“Victoria wanted to save the valley and save us all,” said Franklin, blinking his owlish eyes. “She had only the best of intentions. We all wanted to help.”
“Best of intentions?” Nicci’s glare froze them as if she were a predator about to pounce. “You never learned the Wizard’s Second Rule.”
Gloria, a plump and earnest young memmer, frowned. Her lower lip trembled. “The Wizard’s Second Rule? What is that? Is it in the archives?”
“Any student of magical lore should know it. The greatest harm can result from the best intentions. Victoria proved exactly that. Rather than patiently waiting for nature to reclaim the valley, she unleashed even more dangerous magic, and now it is out of control. With her good intentions, Victoria may well have doomed us all, unless we can find a way to stop her.”
Gloria swallowed hard. “But how can we undo what she’s done?”