To Fight the Black Wind

Chapter 12

No doctor of the mind succeeds one hundred percent of the time. We all fail to help our patients. Some are just too far gone. Some are unwilling to leave their delusions behind. Sometimes, it is the doctor who cannot figure out the path needed to cure our patients of their maladies. It was there, in the Enchanted Wood, where I failed Josephine.

I still do not know what I could have done differently to save her.

Relieved more than I ever thought I would be, Josephine and I ran hand-in-hand, dodging branches and leaping over roots. The Enchanted Wood didn’t seem as welcoming as it had before, but it didn’t appear malevolent. Not yet. I focused on finding Foolishness. I had no idea where he was or what he could do against our pursuers—who seemed like both half a dozen and a horde of thousands.

Josephine pulled her hand from mine and I allowed it to happen. We could run better and faster side by side. “They’re gaining.”

They were. The minions of the Black Wind were only a few trees behind us. I had no weapon. My father’s gun was lost to the chasm. Then I realized that I had no problems speaking or breathing. Had we been back on Earth, I would have been a broken wreck. “I know. Can’t you do something? You’ve trained for this. Create weapons.”

An explosion of sound erupted behind us and a metal spear stabbed itself deep into the tree next to Josephine. We hid behind another tree to look at the weapon. A long line of chain yanked it out of the wood. Josephine’s face went neutral. Only the press of her lips into a white line showed her fear and determination. She raised both hands to the trees above her. Their fruit—large, green, bulbous things—pressed themselves to her. She flung these at our pursuers.

They flew unerringly as if birds on the wing and the sound they made upon impact, wet and sizzling, made me wince. Still, we both smiled as the bandits screamed their pain.

“That should make them a bit more hesitant.” Josephine threw several more of the dangerous fruit then shook her hands as if they were hot.

“Yes.” I gestured for us to go. We took off running. “We need to find Foolishness.”

“In the Glade of the Haunted Moon Tree. It’s where he’s meant to be.” Josephine leapt off of one protruding tree root up to a high branch. “Come, the branch roads will be faster.” Without thinking about what I was doing, I mimicked Josephine’s leap. The jump took my breath away. She steadied me as I landed. “We also have a better chance of finding a cat in the branches than on the ground where the zoog will attack him.”

I laughed at the joy of being up so high. My laughter died at the first sound of gunfire and splintering of wood. Josephine and I took off running again. I dodged over and around branches that threatened to knock me from my height. I was equally cautious to avoid the glowing fungi and vines when they appeared in our path. Even in my haste, I saw that both were alive and hunting. Could these be used against our pursuers? “Why won’t they climb the trees?”

“Two reasons. The first, cloven hooves are not meant to climb trees like these. The second, the trees do not like them.”

I had no response. Both reasons made sense. A flash of orange ahead gave my heart hope that we would escape. “There!”

Josephine let out an unladylike whoop of joy and led me through the woven branch roads toward Foolishness. Behind, the bandits called and jeered in an incomprehensible language that hurt just to hear it. I shook my head and forced myself to go on. Josephine paused and faced our pursuers as I reached her. Again, she raised her fists high. This time, at her unspoken command, a wall of thorny vines sprung upward between us and the bandits. They wound themselves around the trees, linking them together in an armored lattice of living flora. The bandits howled their fury and pain as they rebounded off the barrier. The twining, writhing vines grew until they blocked the bandits from sight.

“I didn’t know you could do that.”

She looked at her hands. “Neither did I.”

“The trees, the Enchanted Wood, helped.” Said Foolishness. He sat on a branch in the distance.“Hurry. Hurry! We don’t have much time. You have to get to the Haunted Moon Tree. That’s your way out.”

Josephine and I sprinted over and through the branches toward him. Leaves slapped at my face and my body. I did my best not to disturb them, but they seemed to leap into my way. Vines snaked out to trip me. Was the forest trying to delay me in order to save Josephine? I pushed the thought out of my head as the madness it surely must be. I ran harder through leaves that blinded me. I would survive. I would make it through.

Then I was falling.

I hit the ground with a hard thump and sprawled there, stunned. Behind me, sounds of pursuit rose as the barrier of thorns and vines fell. I pushed myself to my feet and looked around. We were in the glade where we first saved Foolishness. This time, the glade was huge. It would be like sprinting across the university.

Foolishness twined himself about my ankles. “You must climb the Haunted Moon Tree. It’s the only way to escape now.”

“Will it send us home?”

Gold-green eyes stared up at me. “Yes. It’s your way out of the Dreamlands.”

I stared at him, sensing there was more he was trying to tell me. The crack of gunfire as well as the explosion of the spear ballista told me I had no time to interrogate the cat further. “Josephine!”

She stood on the edge of the glade. “I can hold them back.”

“No. It’s time to go. We’ve got to go home.”

“I can do it.” Her hands clenched and her eyes narrowed in fierce determination.

I touched her shoulder. “I know you can, but now is not the time for this fight. We need to go home. Up the Haunted Moon Tree.” I squeezed her shoulder, my voice low even as the horned and hoofed bandits came ever closer. “Please, we’ve got to go. Before it’s too late. I believe you. I believe in your power. But now is not the time.”

Josephine hesitated a moment longer. Then she nodded. My heart soared. I would save her as I had not saved Malachi. In our world, on Earth, we could plan and fortify ourselves. We needed time. We needed safety.

We sprinted through the impossibly tall, purple grass. It was as if we’d stumbled into a purple cornfield. Yet, in front of us stood the Haunted Moon Tree. So huge now, it seemed to rise to the moon above us.

When had it become night?

As before, I leapt for the tree, intending to climb it. Instead, I stumbled and fell flat against the bark of the trunk. It was as if I’d missed a step running down stairs. I stood on the side of the tree, unsteady and confused. Gravity was both beneath and behind me. How?

“Doctor, time is of the essence. We must go.” Josephine put a hand to my back and pushed. Then we were running up the tree as if it were on its side. We ran upward, my hair flying behind me. At the same time, we ran forward. Both states of being were possible in this place.

A shot hit the branch in front of me, throwing splinters of wood into my face. I cried out and shielded my eyes. Two more shots. Josephine stumbled.

I turned to her as she got to her feet. Her leg was bleeding. We reached for each other even as the bandits behind-below fired again. This time, it was the spear ballista and it struck true.

Josephine screamed as the spear pierced her through the shoulder. I did not let go. I held both of her hands as she was pushed toward me then pulled backward. “Don’t let go.”

“I won’t,” I promised, not knowing I lied despite my sincerity. I saw that the spearhead had a hook to it that prevented it from slipping free from her tortured flesh. I would have to break the spear from behind. “Hold onto me. No matter what happens, hold on.”

Josephine nodded, her face grey with pain. “I will. Do what you—”

The rest of her words were lost to the sound of another spear ballista firing. A spearhead punctured Josephine through the chest with an audible breaking of bone and splash of blood. The world froze into flatness and silence. Josephine and I still held both hands in a tight grip. Her mouth opened in the beginnings of a scream that would never come as her body arched with the impact of the spear.

I stared at her, not believing my eyes. Not wanting to believe the death in hers. Unable to make myself move.

Foolishness walked down a branch. He was the only thing moving. “She’s dead now. You can let go.”

“No. I promised I wouldn’t.”

“It’s fine. I’ve died many times.” The cat cleaned his face with a paw. “At least this was quick for her. She’s already dead. She can’t feel anything anymore.”

“I can’t.” I stared at Josephine’s face frozen in shock and saw that he was correct. There was no life in her eyes. The spear that was still moving toward me had already taken it. “The healing feathers. You must have some. We can save her.”

The cat shook his head. “We cannot. The feathers only work on the living.”

I watched the spear tip come ever closer to my chest. “I promised her. I can save her body from them. Bring her back from the dead like I did the butterflies?” It was a hopeless question. I already knew the answer.

“You also promised Sati.” The cat’s tail flicked back and forth, agitated.

I didn’t know if I could resurrect Josephine. If I left her, I couldn’t for sure. “I can’t leave her.”

“You can. You must. You have another duty to attend to.” The cat reached out a ginger paw to the pocket where the scroll case was. “You can stay here and die with Josephine or you can return to your world to do what needs to be done. Choose.”

I thought of Sati’s words and wondered if my taking of the Elder Sign is what cost Josephine her life.

Foolishness answered me even though I didn’t ask the question aloud. “Her fate was written in the stars long ago. Yours was not. Do you want to die in vain?”

I shook my head and chose to live. Chose to let Josephine fall. With that decision, the world reasserted itself. I jerked back from the spear before it impaled me as well. Josephine was yanked from my hands even as I let her go. I watched her lifeless body plummet into the waiting arms of the minions of the Black Wind. I didn’t know what they’d do with her. I didn’t want to know.

I turned and ran. Ran for my life, my sanity, my soul, toward the moon. Its fullness filled me. I ran faster. As I reached it, I found myself slumped in my office chair, the single spotlight above and behind Josephine shone in my face.

Across from me with our knees touching, Josephine lay limp in her seat, her eyes closed, her breath non-existent.