Page 9 of Up from the Earth

Gods, what is happening to me? I feel as if I’ll lose my mind if she does not…I don’t even know what I want from her—except…everything.

Suddenly, her true hand was upon my shoulder, her fingers idly playing with the long waves of my hair. Her nails were viciously sharp—long and menacing—as I turned to look at them.

“You have a task that you must tend to first and foremost, Cerridwen.”

I shook my head, my skull ringing with the melody that still loomed in the background. “I don’t understand. I’m just some girl, a witch, yes, but what could I possibly do for you?”

Tangles of black strands surrounded me—a fly caught in the spider’s web—and I was lost to the disorienting matrix of The Queen’s unique form as she circled around me. I was bound up in her black sea of inky waves, and she used them as ropes to hold me in place.

Standing before me, The Queen put the point of her nail to the underside of my chin, forcing me to look up into the incomprehensible beauty of her face—luscious full lips of ruby red, lidded dark eyes that peered into my soul, and a pristine construction of features that radiated with an unearthly brilliance.

“Oh, little seed, there is so much that you could do for me.” Her sly smile was framed in short fangs. “Still, another time. You havea task, after all.”

She said it as if the words were the sentence passed upon me by a higher power—her power.

“W-What task?”

I was a meek rabbit in her hold, a tiny bunny who’d hopped into the wolf’s den—a wolf who was somehow this woman as well.

“Darkness—unnatural and fiendish—has invaded the World of Below. I can sense it at the fringes, and yet it is shielded from my true sight. It disrupts the balance. You, sweet Cerridwen, must remedy this.”

I balked at the implication, my jaw dropping as I stared on in absolute horror. “Me? I am no match for something so detrimental. Surely, The Queen of Summer’s End is the fit for this. She has true power. She had defeated a corruption before, becoming the Queen we know now.”

The Queen stepped forward yet again, hovering her lips over mine like ghosts determined to haunt my every breath.

“No, little seed. The Queen tends toherrealm, and now you must tend toyours.”

“Did you say…” My mind reeled, frenzied panic crawling up the back of my throat to choke me. “My realm?”

This was wrong, so very,verywrong.

Five

Tasks Given By The Weavers Of Fate Cannot Be Ignored.

Weblines,createdbyinfinite strands of the darkest hair, knotted around me in ever-shifting patterns. They slid across my skin, their silky texture betraying the knife-sharp edges they possessed. Every inch of my flesh skittered with unseen energy. Purpose and greater magics than I’d ever known swam around me, seeking entrance at every nook and cranny of my spirit.

Run, Cerri. Run out of here. This is too much.

My mind screamed at me to obey, while still another part of me—deeper down, buried under layers of ghostly soil—demanded that I stay, that I staywith her.

“I…”

There were no words, but then, as quickly as she’d rushed me, The Queen retreated, sliding across the marble floor as if she floated above it. With space to breathe, my eyes darted around the room, seeking an escape.

It was clear I needed one. This was too far off the path. The wolf had plied me with sweet sunshine words and threats of purpose. It was time for me to return to my mother and the stout house where I belonged. I was, after all, just a silly girl who’d disobeyed, who’d not heeded the warnings of my mother and sisters.

A hunter could fell a wolf, but there were none in sight. There wouldn’t be, not in this realm far past the forest’s edge. The only hope of returning to my life as it was lay with me. I had to ferret out a way free of this world’s grasp and get home.

Think, Cerridwen. Think.

Scanning the massive chamber, I looked to the shadows. There, between two sets of stained glass windows, I spied a small passage that led from the room. Without another thought, I raced for it, throwing myself into the shadowy abyss just past the frame of the wall. I didn’t care where the corridor might lead. I could follow it to a new location and adjust my plan from there.

My steps beat against cold stone flooring for several seconds, the echo nearly deafening, and then I reemerged on the other side of The Queen’s chamber. I could see the throne to my right still, and the exit I’d used was directly across from me on the opposite wall.

“How?”

I scrambled, losing my footing on the slick marble, and then flung myself back through the passage behind me. The echoing was far worse this time, painful to my mind and skull.

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