A World Long Sundered -- Chapter 4 PART 3

The nymph-child hesitated. It was clear by the child’s eyes that the fear was keeping her from leaving the sanctity of the tree. Seeing this, the mother who was still leaning upon the root, held up a hand and motioned for her daughter to join her. The child rushed to the outstretched hand, but was careful to keep the root between herself and the human boy. Clearly, despite being near her mother, the child was still afraid.

The mother, still supported by the root once again, put her hand upon Auryn’s chest. The child’s face distorted in great dismay and she tried to pull her mother away. Gracefully, and with such a tenderness Riggs had rarely seen, the mother turned and cupped her daughter’s face in her hands. The girl looked up with eyes that Riggs could see were beginning to fill with tears. The mother whispered something softly to the child, which only seemed upset her further, but the girl desisted from interrupting her.

Turning back to the boy, this time with her daughter’s hand in hers, she placed her hand upon Auryn’s chest. Just as before, her head lowered and eyes closed. A moment passed before she took a deep breath and released it in what Riggs could only describe as song. Yet the word did little justice to the miracle that now flowed from her mouth.

All other sounds of the forest became overshadowed by its splendor. Or maybe the forest itself quieted in reverence. He could sense the strength of an entire forest behind the words that reverberated around him. A scent of lavender, accompanied the Nymph song.

Letting go of her daughter’s hand, the Nymph dropped her own hand to the root of the R’leigh Bo once again. The girl, not wanting to let go, placed her hands on top of her mothers. The root flared to life once again upon the Nymph’s touch. Now the song seemed to not only flow from the Nymph but through the R’leigh Bo as well, as if amplified.

Next a strange thing happened. Hundreds of tiny roots rose up under and around the body of the boy and wound themselves through his clothing. Gently, they tore the clothing from the boy’s body. Slightly alarmed, Riggs saw the roots quickly retreat back whence they came, taking the strips of cloth with them. With the boy completely naked, Riggs could better see the extent of the damage the fall had caused. Several of his ribs had obviously been broken. Who knows just how much internal damage the boy had suffered? The Nymph, seemingly unabashed by the boy’s nakedness, had left her hand upon his chest, which had now taken on a perceptible glow.

The Nymph faltered and tightened her grip upon the root of the great tree, drawing strength. Riggs saw that the light had begun to ebb from the golden lines that covered the root and flow into the Nymph. This was confirmed as he looked up and saw the light flowing from the emerald leaves above down through branches, to the base, into the ground and then back up through the exposed root. The Nymph glided her hand to several obvious points of the boy’s injury and even some not so obvious.

Upon each touch, the light from the tree flickered briefly, but it was the boy that caught his attention again. For each section where she had touched, a similar ephemeral, green glow remained, but of his injuries there was no longer any sign. Broken bones that had nearly punctured bruising skin a moment early were now smooth and whole. The nymph continued. Her hand traveled over the length of his body, stopping briefly at several points, depositing the green afterglow. All the while her voice sustaining the nymph-song.

Finally, her hand came to rest upon his forehead. The delicate features of the mother now strained in concentration. The trees energy no longer seemed enough to sustain whatever ritual or magic the nymph summoned. A flash of light came from the higher branches as Riggs saw one of the emeralds above burn out and shatter. Trails of emerald light fell like the celebratory sky flowers Auryn had witnessed once during the Festival of Gathering. Still, the nymph sang and released her healing. Riggs could see no evidence of injury anymore. Yet, her hand remained upon his forehead. Riggs’ hand went to his own forehead, imagining what the touch of such a creature could possibly feel like.

Minutes seemed to pass and still the nymph’s hand had not moved from the boy. Energy continued to flow from the tree, through its conduit and into the boy, Auryn Riggs. Two more of the lights above had flashed out of existence. The girl reacted to this with immediate alarm, and continued to try and pull her mother away. This had no affect however, the nymph’s body failed to budge at all, anchored in place by the arcane forces involved.

Despite this, the girl persisted. Jumping to her feet, she hopped over the root, despite her fear, and grasped her mother’s other hand. No effect. Another emerald light winked out above, this time, without a flash.

Now frantic, the girl looked around for anything that could be of help. Seeing nothing, she reached down to try and pull the boy away instead. She paused slightly, as if considering, before laying hands on his shoulders. Her hands never reached his skin, however, for from the emerald glowing on the boy’s body there erupted such brilliant explosion that the girl was thrown off her feet and slammed into the base of the R’leigh Bo. Recoiling from the blow, she landed on her feet momentarily before toppling forward, her hair spilling out among the grass. If her mother was aware of her daughter’s plight, she showed no sign of it, her face downcast and eyes tightly shut. Still the energy flowed.

The surrounding trunks of the Bo, the ones directly underneath the now extinguished lights above were devoid of any sign of power. The golden ley lines had disappeared; all had all bled into the ground to fuel the will of the nymph and her song. Only the base where the girl had been thrown against showed any sign of power, and even this was weakening as seen from the dimming and flickering of the verdant light above. Crying and still obviously dazed, the girl struggled to her feet and stumbled over to her mother’s side. As if broken, she embraced her mother, rested her head upon her shoulder and waited for the light above to disappear.

Without removing her hand from the boy, the Nymph mother once again aware, turned what attention she could afford to her daughter. Just as the final light above faded in one last emerald goodbye, the nymph whispered something to her daughter bringing an upwelling of tears to her eyes. Looking over her daughter’s shoulder at the tree beyond, she saw that the once liquid gold lines had all but faded away.

Her eyes returned to the children and Riggs saw the look of determination within them. Cupping her daughter’s chin in one hand and raising her face to meet her own, she once again uttered several words in an unknown tongue. There were a few moments afterward where the two merely looked upon each other, etching each other’s face into memory. Then from the hand upon the boy’s head, came a final verdant flash as the nymph fell forward into the arms of her daughter. There her body rested momentarily in the arms of her daughter until it too faded as if erased by the wind.

It seemed like several minutes before the girl moved again. She simply kneeled, her arms half open as if still embracing her mother. It seemed to Riggs that the girl was stuck in shocked supplication to a power that refused to answer. The fear in her eyes had been replaced with vacancy. Eventually, numbness replace her shock, and she stood, . Movement below captured her attention.

At this point, after all he had seen thus far, Riggs was hardly surprised to see the body of his younger self stir, as if waking from a deep sleep. A shiver brought the boy completely awake. The first thing he saw was the girl standing before him, the second was his complete nakedness. Both shocked him profusely. Seeing the blood around him sent him into a panic. He began to push himself away from the girl slipping and splashing through the mud and water, but stopped when he saw the girl did not follow.

Expressionless, she only stared at the boy for several seconds. Neither man nor boy could read anger or sadness on her otherworldly face. Finally, without emotion, her lips muttered something imperceptible towards the boy. Then she turned and walked away, the tree gave no resistance as she disappeared into its depths.

“Now do you see Riggs? Do you remember? Do you remember the girl?” the bugs inquired, again with unusual emotion.

The question jerked Riggs from the awe of what he had just witnessed. His tumultuous thoughts within were too difficult to voice. All he could do was mutter.

“I…do…”

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