Hands shaking, Marianne ended her third unsuccessful attempt at calling emergency services and glared at her phone. What was even the point of having the new fancy thing with satellite connectivity if she still ended up stranded in the middle of nowhere with no way to call for help?
Completely useless, she thought before lobbing the piece of junk out into the darkness.
“I have the distinct feeling we’re not in England anymore,” the coffee spirit said.
It was a perfectly reasonable assessment, but Marianne had let herself focus on her anger about their predicament in an attempt to tamp down her fear. Unfortunately, the two emotions had blended together into a sort of frantic rage that had her snapping, “That’s blatantly obvious!”
“But where are we?” the festival goer asked.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care!” Marianne shouted as if she could convince herself of her indifference to the situation through sheer volume alone. If nothing else, she wanted to be back in the tourist infest seaside town far more than she wanted to spend a minute longer in this place. “I need to be working on my stupid book!”
“That isn’t a good reason to shout,” said the coffee spirit, frustration creeping into her voice. “You’re not the only person with deadlines.”
“We should just sit tight and wait for daylight,” the festival goer said.
“Assuming daylight even exists here,” the coffee spirit murmured, low enough Marianne wasn’t sure she was supposed to have heard, but that didn’t stop her responding.
“I am not even going to entertain the idea of this being a world of endless night. Thank you very much.” The announcement of her intention wasn’t enough to actually stop the chill that ran down her spine at the thought.
“Where there are trees, there must be a sun,” the festival goer said.
It was as good an argument as any, and it wasn’t like Marianne had a strong desire to go exploring a strange forest in the dead of night. That sounded even worse than standing exposed in the middle of the clearing with no idea what was out there in the dark.
Why did she have to throw her phone away? The light would have still worked even if the blasted thing couldn’t complete a call.
Once again, she could only blame herself for the results of her impulsive actions.
The three of them stood in uncomfortable silence for several miserable minutes before the festival goer said, “We should introduce ourselves.”
“Introduce ourselves?” Marianne asked turning to face her. “Now?”
“It’s not like we have anything better to do if we’re waiting for dawn,” the festival goer snapped back, crossing her arms over her chest. Her light coloured shirt contrasted starkly with the deep tone of her skin and was the easiest thing to see of her in the inconsistent light of the fading magic besides the sparkling glitter of her wellington boots.
“It would be useful to know one another’s names,” the coffee spirit agreed. Her dark hair and clothes made her seem more like a floating face in the dark “I’m Gale.”
“Nice to meet you, Gale,” the festival goer said. “I’m Leyna.”
Marianne bristled at the expectant silence. At least neither of the other others had gotten the idea of doing some sort of ice breaker game where she would have to tell a fun fact about herself, or two truths and a lie. It was just her given name, not even her whole name.
With a resigned sigh, she said, “I’m Marianne.”
The next gust of wind had Gale shivering. The once hot coffee that had soaked in to the cuffs of her hoodie sleeves and the knees of her leggings had gone cold and was growing even colder. As much as she hoped Leyna was right about the existence of a sun, there was still the dark thought in the back of her mind that morning would never come, and they would spend their last hours in a dark unknown world.
Wind rushed through the shadowy mass of the trees surrounding them, and Gale couldn’t shake the overwhelming feeling that they were being watched.
She pulled out her phone and switched on the light, which illuminating the empty paper cup and the puddle of coffee surrounding it. If she’d only put the lid on more securely, she could still be cradling most of it in her hands as some protection against the chill of the night. Quickly putting that thought aside, she lifted her phone and took in the area around them.
They were standing on a large, stone paved circle. The weather worn paving stones were covered with moss and lichen with clumps of grass and wild flowers creeping up through the gaps. The same grass and wildflowers filled the clearing. When she held her phone out farther to get a better look at edge, the light glinted off a set of eyes at the tree line. They were maybe two metres off the ground and cradled in what seemed to be the joint of two heavy branches. Unfortunately, the light didn’t reach far enough for her to make out what it was.
Maybe some type of wildcat?
Hopefully a friendly one, or, at the very least, indifferent, but given how the night seemed to be playing out, it was likely sizing them up for dinner.
Instead of a cat leaping down into the grass, the entire tree that stepped into the range of Gale’s pathetic light.
The creature had to be at least three metres tall at the tips of the tree-like antlers. The shape was familiar, but every cell in Gale body was too busy screaming in terror to even find the space to identify it.
Gale’s breath caught in her chest as she tried to make her hand move. If I can turn off the light, maybe it would forget we’re here and leave, she thought, but her thumb wouldn’t budge.
“Is that a moose?” Marianne asked.
The sound of her voice was a trigger. The creature bellowed out in rage before charging toward them. The thunder of its hoofbeats echoed through the clearing.
Absolute panic kept Gale frozen in place. She knew staying put would be a death sentence, but her body wouldn’t obey her. She just stood there like some horrific garden ornament, illuminating the creature as it descended upon them.
Marianne had no such problem. She spun around and bolted, but in her own blind panic, she slammed into Gale’s shoulder, sending the two of them into Leyna and toppling all three of them to the ground.
The jolt was enough to get Gale moving as the three of them scrambled to their feet.
They had barely managed to make it upright before a crack like thunder echoed behind them with a flash as bright as the light that had brought them to this place. A glance behind just as the light started to fade told Gale that the only trace left of the creature was a black char mark on the ground just outside the circle, like the thing had slammed into some sort of overpowered forcefield.
She’d barely finished the thought before she spun around and grabbed Marianne and Leyna, yanking them back down to the ground.
“What is your problem?” Marianne snapped, shoving Gale’s hands off and climbing back to her feet.
Gale grabbed Marianne’s jacket and pulled her down again before she could take another step. “That thing was vaporised when it touched the edge.”
Grabbing her phone off the ground, Gale pointed the light at the charred grass.
“Shit!” Marianne said.
“It could be a protective spell,” Leyna said, voice wavering doubtfully.
“You wanna test that theory?” Marianne asked.
Leyna made an uncertain noise.
Marianne groaned. “I’m going to die in another world trapped on a stupid stone circle.”
Gale saw no point in arguing when she was thinking the same thing. Hands trembling from the come down of adrenaline, she took several slow deep breaths in a bid to calm her nerves.
They were going to go home. They had to. She was going to see her game’s release, and it was going to be perfect. this was just a very weird detour for the evening.
“Oh, spirits above,” Marianne swore, sitting bolt upright and staring out at the tree line. “What now?”
Wiping tears from her eyes, Gale looked up to see a glowing orb of light moving steadily toward them.
It was nearly on them before Gale could make out the cloaked figure cradling it in their hands.
The figure stopped at the edge of the circle and said “I apologise. I expected to arrive earlier,” as he pushed back his hood.
The light caught his unsettlingly pale grey eyes, making them stand out from his brown skin, and yet Gale felt the oddest rush of relief when she saw him, like he was a dear old friend. Heart thundering in her chest, she swallowed down that feeling and averted her eyes, hoping she’d return to her senses when she broke eye contact.
Glitter in Leyna’s wellies sparkled as she stepped into the light and faced down the stranger. Her dark curls were fighting to escape the two tight braids running down the back of her head.
“What was that creature?” she asked, and for one horrifying moment, Gale thought she’d succumb to the disquieting familiarity and had dropped her guard, but Leyna planted her feet at shoulder width for balance and pulled her arms up and in, ready to strike if needed.
Leyna was a full head shorter than the stranger, but she looked more than ready to take him if needed.
“An eolc,” the stranger answered. Waving a hand back toward the trees, he said, “Come. Let us get indoors before the rain starts. I will explain what I can then.”
The promise of solid walls away from any more of those eolcs was almost too tantalising to refuse. So tantalise, in fact, it felt like it was meant to lure them out of the protection of the circle.
When the other two firmly stayed put, Gale knew she wasn’t the only one thinking that.
“It was my spell. I won’t use it against any of you,” the stranger said with the tone of an impatient teacher talking to known troublemakers. “Come.”
None of them moved.
“Prove it,” Marianne said.
The stranger let out a tired sigh. “Why do I even try,” he muttered before stepping onto the circle with absolutely no difficulty and pointing his free hand toward the trees.
An electric charge filled the air around them, raising the hair on Gale’s skin before a bolt of lightning shot from his finger tips and crashed down at the far end of the clearing.
“Satisfied?” he asked and stepped back down into the grass, still completely unharmed.
Gale still didn’t trust him, but what choice did they really have? They could take their chances with this guy or stay here in the dark hoping they wouldn’t be attacked before daylight. And what did they expect to do then?
Accepting she was about to make an irrevocable deal with some sort of trickster, Gale stepped off the stones.