CHAPTER 123

As they crunched through the wilderness, he heard snippets of words nearby. They were solitary thoughts, barely audible in the cold, dark of night. It was the spiders of the woods, just trying to survive until daybreak when they could warm back up and hunt for food.

But it wasn't just the spiders he sensed. Whenever he moved close to the trees, he was under the impression that they were listening. On a few occasions, he would put his hand out to either steady himself on a trunk or move a branch, and he could have sworn that he felt the tree shift beneath his touch.

"Are their dryads out here?" he asked, looking at Bigfoot.

"Nope," Velvet answered. "It's always just been us."

"But the trees..." He looked at a nearby pine. Though it looked like an ordinary tree, he could almost feel its presence in his mind. "It almost feels like they're watching me."

Bigfoot nodded. "The land watches you, Caretaker, as it watches us all. There are many spirits that reside in nature, many of which cannot be perceived. Each tree is alive in every sense of the word. They think and feel for themselves, much like children. Together, they make up the mind of the forest."

"Like a hive?" A chill went up his back.

"In a way. Everything out here is connected, Caretaker. This is an important thing for you to understand." Bigfoot put his hand on a fallen log. "I am very surprised that you can feel it, though."

Amymone. Sex with the dryad had apparently come with a perk of its own. Did the women he slept with gain something from him? Cecilia had that little red streak in her hair, but what about Lily? Or Naia for that matter? He looked at Quetzalli, Velvet, and then Dana. What part of his soul had he given to them? Peering up into the sky, it occurred to him that Abella seemed no different than when he had met her.

He should probably be keeping a little black book with this information in it, but he hated the idea of carrying around his own personal fantasy fuck-list.

The more they walked, the more he could feel the forest. He no longer felt like the trees were watching him, but that they were reaching toward him. When he first heard the whispers, he thought it was just more spiders suffering through their eight-legged anxieties, which were largely narrowed down to eat, hide, and build.

However, the longer he was steeped in these thoughts, the more he realized how much he missed the sun. He longed to feel its rays across his body, and to soak in the cold, trickling water that would come from the melting ice. To feel thunder booming through him as the spring rains came, to feel the songs of the forest embrace him, and--

A heavy hand gripped him by the shoulder, snapping him out of his reverie. It was Bigfoot wearing a smile on his face.

"Perhaps, when this is over, I can teach you to listen to the trees without losing yourself." He gave Mike a firm squeeze. Mike looked around and realized that they were somewhere new. How long had he been lost in thought?

"I would like that," he replied.

"It is an honor to speak with the forest," Bigfoot told him. "Never do anything to break that bond, for it is sacred and the forest will remember."

He nodded, and they all continued.

Guided by starlight and foxfire, they finally arrived at a small rock formation surrounded by snow-dusted bushes. The owl landed just ahead and transformed back into a humanoid, her dark eyes devoid of emotion. Before them, the night sky had been blotted out by a mountain.

"We are here," she announced. Mike couldn't help noticing that Bigfoot looked around with grim recognition.

The owl-woman raised her arms and waved. Around them, the forest shifted as creatures slowly revealed themselves. Most of them were beast-like, but almost all were frightening to behold. A large bear with no fur and an oversized head regarded Mike with bared teeth. Above the rocks, a large eagle with a moose head landed, then stood to reveal the body of a man. More than a few serpents circled the area, but they all remained back.

"If this is an ambush..." Yuki growled, but the owl-woman held up a hand for silence.

"This is not an ambush. We have brought you here so that you can see our numbers. Other than the Nirumbi, none of us here were part of the assault on your home." The owl-woman chirped softly, and a few Nirumbi came forward. "Time is short. We must descend into the earth."

"Why can't we talk out here?" Mike asked.

"There is much to discuss," replied the owl-woman. "And you must see to understand."

Mike looked at the others. Uncertainty was written on their faces, but Bigfoot nodded.

"I know these caves well," Bigfoot explained. "If they hope to lose us, I can get us out. I believe I know what we have come here to see."

Mike nodded, then looked at the others. "At the first sign of trouble, you know what to do."

"There will be no trouble, Caretaker." The owl-woman hopped down from the rocks and landed silently on the snowy ground. Her feathers swirled around her like a cloak. "You have survived the Nirumbi's arrows and they now believe you to be one of the forest gods, like Bigfoot. Your companions are frightening, but the one who eats the dead frightens them the most."

Dana raised an eyebrow. "Technically, anyone who eats meat eats the dead."

"Do you know why the Nirumbi eat their own dead?" The owl-woman stepped back toward one of the bushes, then grabbed a branch and pulled it to reveal a narrow opening. "By eating the flesh of their dead, they gain the strength of the fallen warriors. You consumed the flesh of many of their warriors while they lived, which is even more powerful, but considered taboo. They fear the strength you have gained."