“Pah! We’ll see about that,” Ta’sradala scoffed. “I’ve clearly been too easy on you.”
She waved her hand, and the air around me began to stir. Before I could react, I was caught up in an icy whirlwind. My surroundings blurred, and I was forced to squeeze my eyes shut as dust began to sting them. Clenching my fists, I braced myself for the next challenge and hoped that Iannis knew how much I loved him. If not for that, I’d sincerely be reconsidering tying myself to him, knowing that such a hideous monster clung to his family tree.
11
By the time the whirlwind died down, I was excruciatingly nauseous. Doubling over, I braced my hands on my knees and took deep, slow breaths to keep myself from throwing up. The last thing I needed was to lose my lunch after going so long without real food. Since Ta’sradala had likely thrown me into an even worse predicament than the last, I needed to keep my strength up.
When the dizziness and nausea had finally subsided, I slowly rose so I could get an idea of my surroundings. I blinked as I looked around—I seemed to be in some kind of forest, but there was something very odd about it. The tree trunks were purple, the leaves cinnamon-colored, and the air smelled very different from any forest I’d ever seen in my life. Looking up, I gasped at the sight of the sky—it was jade green in color, and the sun hanging above was bluish with purple overtones.
This must be the Tua realm, I thought as a butterfly floated past my nose. Iannis had been here as a child—no wonder he had been frightened. It was too strange and different. The forest shimmered in a thousand different colors all at once, and I had to look away as my eyes started to ache. Panic filled me as what little information I had on this place began to pop into my head. Most of it was of dubious value, based on ancient legends and scary tales. Yet there were common themes, like time passing differently. If I ever managed to get out, would centuries have passed? Would all my friends be dead and gone, including Iannis? Tears stung my eyes at the thought, and I angrily blinked them away.
There’s no point in worrying about what ifs, I told myself firmly. For all I knew, I would only lose a week, not an entire century. It seemed increasingly unlikely that I would make it back from this ordeal in time for the wedding, but the important thing was to focus on actually making it out. I would deal with whatever came, when it came.
Fighting back the dread that seemed to have permanently settled in my guts, I cautiously made my way across the strange landscape. Spiders the size of my head wandered about the branches above, but to my relief, paid me no attention. Several times, I bumped into things that I couldn’t see, and from the snorts and shuffles that I heard, I gathered some of the invisible obstacles were animals. There was also an ominous buzzing sound, likely from some huge insect, that I retreated from quickly, though I never caught a glimpse of the source. I wondered if most of the local animals were making themselves invisible to hide from a predator. In that case, invisibility would be just as useful for the hunters among them. What if I accidentally ran head-long into something that could eat or trample me? Then again, perhaps these creatures might be perfectly visible to Tua eyes, and the deficiency was in my own senses. Neither alternative boded well for me.
That thought made me slow down even further. Using a walking stick, I tested the ground in front of me and sniffed constantly. Between my nose and my hearing, I was able to discern when a creature was in front of me, and I started bumping into them less and less. Thankfully not everything was invisible—I caught glimpses of strange rodents scampering through the brush and birds of strange shapes and colors flitting from tree to tree. Part of me wondered if it was worth hunting any of the animals, but I hesitated to try. For all I knew they would be poisonous to my system, and besides, I still had some provisions.
As the hours dragged on, I began to wonder if there was any end to this forest. The sun was hanging low in the sky, well on its way to dipping below the horizon, and painting the sky in brilliant shades of indigo and red. Coming upon a small clearing, I sat down beneath a tree and pulled out a bit of dried beef from my magical sleeve. Perhaps I’d camp here tonight and continue on in the morning.
But continue on to what? I wondered gloomily as the forest gradually began to darken around me. Soon, the only light would come from the pinkish moon and stars that were starting to appear in the sky. It wasn’t as if Ta’sradala had actually told me what I was supposed to do. I assumed the challenge was to get back to the human realm in one piece, but how the hell was I supposed to do that? Even if I had a working gulaya on me, I had no idea if it could actually transport me between worlds. And I had no way to charge it, so I couldn’t test the theory even if I wanted to. Neither Iannis’s lessons nor Fenris’s vast magical repertoire gave me the slightest clue how to move between different worlds. Unless I was merely expected to survive for a certain period before being yanked back again, I was screwed. And after my recent confrontation with Ta’sradala, she wasn’t likely to take pity on me.
I was just beginning to doze off when I heard something massive trampling through the trees. A low growl had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end, and I slowly got to my feet, pulling a chakram from my sleeve. For a moment, I was afraid this was another one of those invisible creatures, but as it came closer, I caught a glimpse of a large animal with shaggy, neon-green fur and glowing orange eyes. It was about the size of a horse, but lower-slung and far more muscular.
“Whoa there,” I said, holding up my hands as it came closer. I caught a glimpse of sharp tusks, and drool dripped from a maw of razor-sharp teeth. “You can back off. I’m not here to hurt you.”
The animal let out a roar loud enough to wake the dead and charged. The ground shook beneath the pounding of its hooves, and I threw myself to the side an instant before it could slam into me. Cursing, I threw a chakram at it, but the beast was fast despite its size, and it ducked. I threw another chakram as the first one slammed into a tree, and this one sheared off a bit of its shaggy coat as it charged toward me again.