Prologue

A Chapter by rosieposie

My name is Lake, and I am a Forest Sprite. Now if you don’t know what that is then you are probably not a sprite, but a human, or whatever other creatures may exist out there. But if you are a sprite, then you know exactly what I am talking about.

For all of you humans reading this, a Forest Sprite is… well it’s a sprite that lives in the forest really. Oh, you’ll figure out the rest as we go along.

Okay, so more specifically I am a water sprite that lives in the forest.

Now on one seemingly average day, I was out in the forest with my students.

“Come on little droplets, we’re headed to the lake today.” I said. We hiked through the trees, bits of dazzling light shone through the canopy of leaves over our heads dappling the undergrowth that covered the forest ground.

“What type of training are we doing?” Rain asked.

“You’ll have to wait and see, but first let’s go for a swim.” I said and dove into the clear water.

The water accepted me as its own, and I felt its calming power coursing through my veins and filling every essence of my being.

This is what it is to be a water sprite. I thought. I was water incarnate, the very spirit of the forest’s waters. All felt utterly right with the world.

I felt reluctance as I surfaced and climbed out on the bank. The water clung to my skin, as if it too, was averse to letting me go.

“Today we are learning how to walk on water.” I said, which elicited a host of cheers from my students. “This technique is all about finding your center of balance.” I said and stepped out onto the lake.

My students watched my every step with fervor; their eyes wide and sparkling “So who wants to try first?”

“I do!” Shouted little Rain. She hastily stepped out onto the water and promptly fell in with a splash.

“Better luck next time.” I teased and pulled her out of the lake.

After several hours and most of the students experiencing the same result, we retired for the day all soaking wet because, of course, once they all fell in they couldn’t resist dragging me in too.

“That’s it for today little ones.” I said, and they all sighed.

“I was just starting to get the hang of it! I’m sure I could do it if I tried one more time.” Rain pouted.

“I’m sure you could. Go practice in the training rooms during your free-time, and maybe you can try again tomorrow.” I said. “Now go on back in the tunnels, you don’t want to miss your next session.”

“Aren’t you coming down with us?” River asked.

“Not today, I was chosen for guard duty this week.”

“Too bad, I hear that’s really boring!” Rain exclaimed.

“The Grove is really powerful, and it is important that it be guarded with the utmost care.” I said.

“Well, then they shouldn’t have chosen you!” Rain teased and ran off towards the tunnels.

Scowling, I made my way over to The Grove and relieved the guard on duty. I sat down in the center of the clearing and let the forest’s energy flow into me.

As a water sprite I feel the energy of the water everyday, all the time. But in The Grove I can feel all of the forest. I felt the trees, the earth, the sun shining down through the leaves. The Grove reminded me that every part of the forest must work together in order to thrive as a whole. In The Grove I am not just a water sprite; I am elemental.

I focused my energy into reading the forest. I let my conscience expand until I reached the forest’s boundaries. I could feel the plants that were thriving, and the ones that were fading with age.

I spent my time monitoring what went on, who came and went, the humans that live in the squat little buildings in the northern region, and the ones that were chopping down trees in the west.

We had been monitoring the ones in the west for some time, trying to maintain peace, but while keeping them from straying too close. They didn’t seem like they would be too much of a problem though; they were just taking the trees on the edge, the younger ones. The humans in the north were harmless. They were young, and besides the occasional brave soul who wandered through the trees, they never caused any problems.

I sat in that trance-like state for several hours, guarding The Grove and watching for any unusual activity. As I was about to withdraw to my normal state of awareness, the forest stopped me.

My vision went black. I was rushed forward and could feel leaves and branches scraping against my arms and face. I opened my eyes to find myself hovering above the forest. I looked down from above, and I watched in horror as I saw fire begin to spread. Thick billowing smoke painted the sky an eerie gray. The fire began to devour the trees until they burned down to charred stumps where nothing grew and all life fled. All that was left was a barren swatch of blackened earth; no sprites could live there.

The Forest groaned with great distress and flashed a picture of a girl before my eyes… a human girl. I heard no words, as a forest cannot speak such as we can. But I was filled with a certainty that if I did not find the girl this destruction would surely come.

I woke up from my stupor in a cold sweat. Night had descended over the forest and the nocturnal sprites had begun to emerge. My replacement came and saw the troubled look on my face.

“Lake are you okay?” He asked.

“I-I’m fine.” I said and bolted off through the trees. And of course I ran right into Star.

“Lake!” She exclaimed when she saw me, then she saw how worried I looked. “What’s up, you look tense?” She asked.

“Um, it’s nothing. Look I gotta go, I’ll talk to you later.” I said and tried to dash off again, but she stopped me.

“You had guard duty right? Was it the humans? Have they come further into the forest?” She asked.

“No. I’ll explain later, but right now I really have to go!” I said and darted away before she could stop me again.

I headed off towards an entrance to the tunnels and made my way down as quickly as I could. I ran through the hallways, receiving strange looks from sprites as I went. I skated through the water tunnel and tumbled out the other side to arrive in front of the throne room doors.

“Lake. What are you doing here?” One of the guards asked.

“I need to see the queen.”

“You were not summoned. You can’t just decide you want to visit the queen.” The other guard said.

“I know! But it’s important. I was in The Grove and something happened. I need to speak to the queen.” I said, beginning to lose my patience, which was uncommon for me.

The guard scowled, but I guess he realized that this was serious. He nodded to the other guard and they moved the trees blocking the door and announced my request.

“You may go in.” The guard said, and I stepped into the throne room; the doors rumbled shut behind me. I knelt before the queen.

“Rise Lake.” She said. “What is so important that you are demanding my attention for?” She looked down on me from the dais her leafy throne sat upon.

“Uh, Queen Rose…” I started, suddenly losing my nerve, and not really knowing how to explain myself. “I was guarding The Grove today, and The Forest showed me a vision.”

Now she looked intrigued. “That’s unusual… but not unheard of. Continue.” She waved me on.

I explained the vision I saw. Queen Rose sat back in her throne, thinking. “Who is the girl?” She asked.

I cringed, this was the part I wasn’t real eager about sharing. “Well… she, um, she’s a human.” I said.

The Queen’s jaw gaped, like a fish gasping for air. “A human…but that can’t be right.”

“Should we try to find her?” I asked.

The Queen pondered this for a moment, but then she froze. Her limbs went rigid and she sat up straighter, wearing her full air of authority as queen. “Lake do we associate with humans?” She countered coldly.

“Well, no but….”

“But nothing. We will not rely on a human to help us. We are not even sure that this will come to pass. There aren’t any signs that the forest is even in danger.” She said.

“We can’t ignore this though.” I pleaded. “At least let me look for her.”

“Lake, enough!” She demanded. “You will not go anywhere near the humans, or I will have you grounded!”

I stumbled back like I had been struck and hung my head in defeat. I couldn’t be grounded, not like Ash.

“We will keep careful watch over the forest, and our security sprites are trained to handle any disasters that may strike. Now go and don’t speak of this to anyone, I don’t need the whole forest being thrown into a panic.” She said.

I sighed and turned to go, “And Lake,” I looked back towards her. “Keep a close watch on your brother.” My face-hardened, and I nodded and left the throne room.

Well that didn’t go well. I thought. I had no idea what to do. I was just sure that if I did not look for that girl we would come to regret it.

I walked solemnly back to my room to find that my brother wasn’t there. What was new though; he didn’t come back most nights.

I crawled into my nest for the night and fell asleep with heavy thoughts plaguing my mind.

The next day I tried to go about like normal. I went up to the forest for training, and immediately noticed a guard tailing me at a distance. I’m sure the Queen was just taking precautions; she never really trusted me. I blamed Ash for that.

My students were eager to continue with the lesson, but I was distracted and hardly paid attention.

After training I floated around in the lake trying to let the water soothe me, but not even the soft murmurs of the water lapping at my skin could calm my tumultuous thoughts.

When I didn’t show up for mealtime, Bill eventually came looking for me. Star must have gotten to him.

“Trying to drown yourself again? Lake, I’ve told you before that will never work. When you’re a water sprite that’s just not possible.” He joked and sat down on the bank.

“Very funny. “ I scowled. “Star told you.”

Bill nodded even though it wasn’t really a question. “So what’s up?” He asked.

I lowered my voice to a whisper. “ I have a tail. Bushes to the right.” Soft vibrations rippled across the surface of the water.

“Not for long.” Bill said and stood up. “I’ll be right back. I just remembered I need to check the nests; they just started laying their eggs ya’know.” He added in a louder voice.

Bill walked off through the trees, and eventually circled back around toward the guard hiding in the brush. He looked around through trees and bushes pretending to check for bird’s nests as he slowly inched closer to the guard.

Once the guard decided Bill had come close enough to blow his cover he rolled through the other side of the bush towards the lake I was floating in, exposing himself. Bill climbed a tree dense enough that the guard easily lost sight of him, and as the guard was starting to make a move away from the lake Bill swung off of a branch and landed in front of him.

“Sorry about that Lake…” He said, and mocked surprise upon seeing the guard. “Oh, hey Slate. I was in the tunnels a bit ago, and the security sprites told me the queen wants to call y’all in for a meeting. They told me to spread the word.”

Slate looked flustered, like he’d been caught stealing treats from the cook sprites. He was caught between Bill and the lake. He turned to look briefly at me once, then quickly said “Oh, I better get down there then. She takes those meetings really seriously.” Then he dashed off.

I clambered ungracefully out of the lake, weak with laughter. “Oh, that poor sprite.” I chuckled.

“The sad sap has no idea what happened.” Bill grinned. “So anyway, what’s the tail for?”

“The Queen’s having me watched.” I said.

“I worked that much out for myself actually. But why? Does it have anything to do with whatever happened yesterday?”

I sighed. “She doesn’t want me to tell anyone.”

“Since when do you listen to everything she says?” Bill said.

“I try to, for the most part anyway…. Yesterday I was guarding The Grove, and I had a vision.” I explained the vision to Bill, and his face became more and more somber as I talked, all the mirth from moments before drained away.

“So she’s afraid that you’ll actually go to look for the human girl?” Bill asked.

“Yeah… she threatened to have me grounded.” I said.

Bill worried his lip “. She’s known to be strict, but that’s a bit harsh.”

“No worse than Ash’s.” I said.

Bill nodded solemnly. “Does she suspect him?”

“Of course.”

“Well are you going to look for her?”

I jerked my head up sharply, shocked. “Should I?”

“I think you already know the answer to that mate.” Bill said.

“What if I get caught?” I asked.

“I’ll help take care of the guards.”

I looked down and stared at my hands lying in my lap. I watched the light reflecting on the water under my skin, causing shimmering patterns to dance across my palms. “Okay. But don’t tell the others, I don’t want to get them involved.”

“Not to mention Star probably wouldn’t take it very well.” Bill said.

“No, I imagine she wouldn’t” I said.

I spent the rest of that night preparing to head to the edge of the forest. Bill and I talked it over, and we decided that the best place to start was the human compound at the northern edge of the forest. The humans on the western edge were mostly middle-aged men; it wasn’t likely that I would find the girl with them.

It would take a couple of hours to hike to the northern edge, and Bill would have to find a way to distract the security sprites. Tomorrow was a break day, so I didn’t have to worry about teaching a lesson, and the queen took me off guard duty since the incident. But that didn’t really matter, I couldn’t come back unless I found her, if I did the queen would have me grounded immediately and I would never have the chance again.

I retired to my room for the night, and unfortunately Ash was there. He glowered at me with his always-smoldering black-as-coal eyes when I walked in. I wasn’t exactly eager to see him, but I had told the queen that I would watch him, though I didn’t think I needed too.

“Ash.” I said curtly.

“Lake.” He countered. “Star told me something happened in The Grove.” He said.

I gave an exasperated sigh, “who didn’t she tell?” I asked rhetorically.

Ash rolled his eyes, “so what was it?” He asked.

“Nothing of your concern.” I said.

“It’s obviously something or you wouldn’t have told the queen.”

I scowled “How’d you find that out?”

“The amount I’m in trouble I practically live in the throne room, and the guards talk.”

“Well since you’re so close with the queen then why don’t you ask her?” I said and climbed into my nest nook.

“Be that way then.” He said and climbed into his own nook.

Ash eventually fell asleep, and I laid there in silence, my mind racing. It would be testy at best making it out of the tunnels tomorrow. Slate obviously figured out that he was tricked once he found that there was no security meeting. And he probably told the queen that I gave him the slip, so she must’ve known that I was scheming.

I rose at dawn, after a rather sleepless night. I sneaked out of the room, and successfully avoided waking Ash up. The lazy sprite rarely woke up before midday.

I navigated the twisting hallways trying to act casual. I made it to the platforms without any trouble. I tried to blend in with a group of sprites going up for the early morning shift, but the guard snagged my from out of the crowd.

“Lake. We are not authorized to let you go into the forest today.” He said.

“Why not?” I asked, feigning innocence.

“I must obey the queen’s orders even if I do not know her reason behind it.” He said.

“That’s alright. I understand.” I said and began to walk away. Just then the descending platform began to lower, the nocturnal sprites were coming back from their shifts. Star was with them.

“Star.” I said, and quickly snagged her from the group.

“Lake, why are you up so early?” She asked.

“I, uh, couldn’t sleep.” That was true enough. “I need your help.” I whispered.

Her eyes narrowed. “With what?”

“The guard won’t let me up. Go get Dust.”

“Does this have to do with The Grove? Lake what happened?”

“Yes, shhh. I can’t explain now, but I’m in trouble, and I need your help. Please Star, trust me okay?” I said.

She paused for a moment, thinking, then she nodded, “meet us in the crystal dome” she said and walked away.

I headed around to the dome, trying to blend into the crowd of nocturnal sprites as I went. Star was doing me a huge favor, though I didn’t think she would approve if she actually knew what I was doing, but it would have been too suspicious had I been snooping around the earth sprite corridor.

After awhile Dust and Star entered the room.

“Lake, what d’ya want, and at an hour like this?” Dust asked, his voice groggy with sleep. “Star said the guards won’t let you in the forest, what happened?”

“It’s a long story, but I need your help.”

“Well you’ll have to tell me what to do, I can’t just go up to them and take over. They know I’m friends with you.” Dust said.

“Create a diversion. Can’t you like make the ground shake or something?”

“I’m not that powerful. I can’t create an earthquake.”

“Make some rocks fall or something. You and Lake hide in that side room and I’ll stay in here and call the guards when it happens.” Star suggested.

“Star, you could get hurt.” I said.

“Dust will be careful. He knows what he’s doing.”

Dust nodded. “Let’s try it.”

Dust and I went and hid. Dust raised his hands, and I could see the power surge through his arms as he pried the rocks from the wall and let them fall to the ground with a crash.

Star, covered in a fine layer of dust, rushed from the room, “Guard! Help! The ceiling collapsed.” She shouted.

The guard hesitated, but her glowing amber eyes must’ve won him over. He rushed to her aid.

Dust and I bolted from our hidey-hole, and I stood on the rising platform. Dust swung his arms upward, and I went racing toward the forest. The plan had worked.

I knew there would be more guards waiting for me up there, so as soon as I could see the trunks of the trees above my head I hurdled over the edge of the riser and took off. I vaulted into the tree that I knew Bill was waiting in. The guards fanned out around the trunk below us.

“Trouble in the tunnels?” Bill asked.

I nodded, out of breath. Bill handed me the bag we had packed the night before, and I hooked it onto my shoulders.

Bill was wearing the blue pants I had stolen for him. He handed me one of the masks, which were little more than tan sacks with crude holes hacked into them for eyes, and we both pulled them on over our heads.

“Head for the river. I’ll make towards the east.” Bill said.

I hesitated. “Bill…. you can still back out, you know the consequences…”

Bill grabbed my arm. “Just promise me you’ll find her.”

I nodded. Bill swung out of the tree and landed in the circle of guards. He ran towards the east, jumping completely over a guard’s head. Half of them raced off after him.

I guessed the other half were mine then. I jumped from the branch I was perched on, and immediately bolted towards the river. I could here the guards scramble in pursuit.

I weaved around tree trunks, nimbly dodging their scratchy branches. The guards were close behind.

I made it halfway to the river, when I saw a piece of ivy snap out from the forest ground. I tripped, and I heard my ankle snap with a painful crack. Clearly a plant sprite was in the group.

A guard grabbed my throbbing ankle. I turned around and saw that it was Slate. He stared down at me with a malicious grin; he was obviously still upset about being tricked. I pulled back my good leg, and I kicked him square in the jaw. He howled in pain, and I yanked my ankle out of his grip.

“Lake, you don’t want to do this!” He shouted behind me.

I saw the water rise up before me, and I dove into the river blending in with the murky water.

Slate slid to a stop with a curse. “We’ll find you Lake! Mark my words!” I could still here him shouting on the bank.

My ankle was screaming with pain, but I had made it. I let the river current carry me northward.