Darkwell - Douglas Niles [122]
"And I wonder what we'll find when we reach the grove." Robyn shivered again, perhaps not entirely from the cold. She had earlier explained to the sisters the waning of the goddess's powers and her fears that the Earthmother may already have expired.
"I accompanied a small band of the sisters there several weeks ago, said Colleen. "It was horribly scarred and changed."
"Like the vale?" Robyn gestured around them.
"Even worse. The trees here are dead, but there they have been split asunder by some terrible force. Even the high druid arches were smashed. Not a one was left standing."
Tristan wondered at Robyn's reaction to the news, remembering her earlier despair, but she sat up to question the knight further.
"What about the dead? There was a legion of skeletons and zombies, walking dead, attacking the place when I last saw it."
"There was no sign of them. Only the awful dark water at the heart of the grove, and the statues, like frozen people, around the well. I did not approach the water, though my three companions did. From where I stood, I could see that it was black, completely lifeless…" Colleen paused, shaken by the memory. "The three sisters approached the pond, and there was a flash of blue light, like an explosion. And they were gone."
"I fled," the young Llewyrr woman admitted. She hung her head in shame as Brigit put a comforting hand upon her shoulder. "I ran until I could run no more." Colleen raised her head and looked square into Robyn's eyes.
"That is why I insisted upon coming along this time… to atone for my failure, my flight."
"You have nothing to atone for!" said the druid. "Because you lived, you have provided us with news about what we may find there. It would have been foolish to sacrifice your life as well!"
"As I have told you also," said Brigit quietly, but Colleen angrily shook her head.
"The leader of our group, the one who took the others to the well, was my own mother! And the other two were my sisters!"
Tristan wondered how she could discuss the deaths of her family thus, with such apparent lack of emotion, but he sensed the rage and shame that burned within her. It was something that even the stoicism of her race could not completely hide. Now it blazed like fire from the depths of her wide brown eyes.
"What do you plan to do when we reach the well?" asked Brigit.
Robyn described the Scrolls of Arcanus, explaining how she had held back the mastery of stone spell to use in changing the statues back to flesh. "With all the druids of the grove free again, we will combine to drive back the darkness from the well."
"But if, as you fear, the goddess has perished, how will the druids accomplish this?" Brigit asked.
"Genna will know what to do. She is the key to all of this! I know that she still lives, if only we can reach her!"
"Yes, child, she does… and you have."
The voice, emerging from the blackness, shocked them into action. Tristan leaped to his feet, his sword a gleaming challenge in his hand. Brigit, too, whirled away from the fire and drew her weapon. Yak bellowed in surprise, dumping Tavish unceremoniously to the ground as he heaved himself to his feet.
Only Robyn remained calm, rising slowly and turning to the woods, an expression of bright hope on her face. "Genna? Is that you?"
The stocky figure of the Great Druid emerged from the darkness, and slowly Tristan relaxed. Genna's face, lined with wrinkles, regarded them from beneath a gray mop of unkempt hair. Robyn ran to her teacher and embraced her.
Then the young druid pulled back in surprise, searching Genna's face with concern.
"What is it, teacher? What's wrong?"
The Great Druid walked easily to the fireside and sat down. "I am sorry. I am not myself, and this awful darkness oppresses me. But it is good to find you, my dear. I knew you would not be far away? "
A strange light gleamed in the Great Druid's eyes, but Robyn ascribed it to the reflection of the firelight. She sat beside Genna, suddenly alive with hope and optimism.
"Teacher, I have feared so! The goddess has been