Trefan and Neesy jockeyed for their landing spots as they descended from Gravenar node town to the Shrine of Earth.
Neesy was excited. Her mentor had only introduced her to Druid Tom the last time she’d been here. This time, they were going to actually use the orgate. Neesy knew Tom and Trefan had been Crossing for twice as long as she’d been alive, and the routine must be as familiar to these elders as going to Gravenar was for her, but she didn’t care. They were going to Earth.
There was a part of Neesie that recognized the gift that accompanied their responsibility. After all, the raincusi served the Great Tree directly, even while performing secondary, tertiary and even further removed functions of support and effort in this region of the Endless Climb and on Earth. She knew Trefan had been making this long glide from Gravenar, conducting research on Earth, then marching through the Endless Climb to bring his notes back to the library, since forever. Seeing the bored expression on Trefan’s face said that once a raincusi experienced the magic thousands of times, the novelty sort of wore off.
Trefan led the two-person formation they formed, spiraling down the seemingly unending vertical surface of the trunk in a curving glide. The return stairway, a mostly smooth ramp that paralleled his path to his right, led upwards to the lift station out of sight far above. Thousands of years of use and modification had fashioned the long spiral path into the cliff, like a switchback that never actually switched back.
The two flying raincusi tilted simultaneously into their final approach. Trefan landed on the deck first, Neesy a scant fraction of a second later. Their ring wings merged into staves, similar in cylindrical shape, but each a unique color and displaying embossed carvings. The staves slipped into the harness behind each raincusi shoulder and disappeared from notice.
Trefan’s caftan, which had been flapping all the way down the glide from Gravenar, fell into place, and he appeared robed from shoulder to foot in light blue.
Neesy’s clothing also smoothed into her form, and the fabric of her more translucent caftan settled over her curvier form. She was dressed in the same style as Trefan, and the color indicated she was an acolyte.
Trefan snapped his clothing at the hips, and began instructing. “Let's leave the notepads on the trunk so we can begin the transcription as soon as we return.”
“Yes, Scholar.”
“This will be your first trip through the orgate pool. Druid Tom had many duties to perform yesterday, so please direct all of your questions to me. Our Gateway Druid can be…tired, especially after a house grafting party…er ceremony.”
Neesie sensed movement, and Tom stepped from behind the other doorway. He looked over his shoulder, eyes darting all around to the distant limbs and open spaces outside the quiet pool within the grotto-like shelter.
He spoke in low urgent tones before either of them could say anything. “Be quiet. There's a blight beast coming. If we don't leave right now, we're all going to die.”
Trefan looked shocked. “Another one? But we haven’t seen the monster since you were a child.”
“Monster?” Neesy said, confused and alarmed. “Blight beasts are real? Aren’t blight beasts just for scaring children on long climbs and camp outs?”
Neesie noticed Trefan staring at Tom’s white leg. “Oh, they are real. They hardly ever come to our part of the Great Tree.” His eyes moved from Tom’s leg to his face.
“Do we have time to undress?”
Tom responded, “No, we don’t. We must leave now.”
Neesie forgot Trefan’s directions and interrupted. “How do you know it’s a blight beast?”
“He knows, Neesie. Drop your notebooks and get in the pool.” Following his own direction, Trefan tossed his scholar’s satchel to land against a wooden box near the pool.
A dark form slid past the triangular opening of the sheltered pool within the burl. Neesie only saw it for an instant, but the speed, purpose and lethal angle with which it shot past the opening made her heart skip a beat.
The burl was hollow, with a sizable pool within the space. The pool was almond-shaped, and over a hundred feet from the pointed end, which was where Tom stood. The hollowed portion of the giant burl went deep into the sapwood of the huge tree. Tom stepped forward, and stretched his white-furred foot to touch the pool. Even Neesie could sense the green force moving within him. As if in response, the water began to glow. The glow was soon so bright that the water appeared white, like a light bulb. The glare blocked the view beneath the surface.
Trefan gestured urgently to Neesie and they both started wading into the pool. The water dampened their clothing, and Neesy wondered if she would need to wash her robes early. They were taking deep breaths to prepare to submerge in the glowing water when the blight beast attacked.
It came through the middle opening of the outside, flashing past Tom’s head to strike the wall. It did not splinter the wood, but dented it like a giant hammer had smashed into balsa wood, leaving an impression. The three raincusi were thrown, or dove on their own to the side.
The seven tentacles of the sphere emitted spikes, like white fangs as long as a child’s leg. The fangs anchored the creature to the wooden surface of the wall. Then the tentacles convulsed and the monster sprang towards Tom. Tentacles writhed. One of the spikes chopped down. It caught Tom in the side, driving itself into the wood beneath and pinning him to the floor.
The other tentacles flexed, lifting the central sphere over Tom. It was wet, like the surface of an eye. The squirming tentacles emerging from the strained lips of gaping mouths at the surface of the sphere. It was obscene. The tentacles themselves appeared like black snake skin made of glistening obsidian. The white spikes were rigid in their stark contrast.
Neesie had barely recovered from the initial onslought, and she turned to see Tom grasped at the tentacle spike that pinned him down. He finally cried out in pain. Three tentacles remained anchored to the surface of the wood and three more rose above Tom. The toothy spikes emerged slowly from the tips of the threatening tentacles.
Neesie thought he was about to die. A shameful part of her wondered if she could be assigned to another door druid, but then she realized the incredible monster would probably kill her and Trefan in a few more seconds.
Neesie sensed a pulse of green force suddenly coalesce in the wood of the floor beneath Tom. Neesie could sense it move into the old druid’s body, joining with him as if two bubbles, a tiny one of Tom and a much larger bubble, merged into a single bubble of power.
The bubble burst.
The spike pinning Tom to the ground disintegrated in an explosion of light. The tentacle that had been attached to the spike, writhed and swung away. Tom turned over, groaning at the stab of pain in his side.
Neesie met him at the water’s edge.
The Great Tree had intervened, she realized. In her astonishment, she sensed the light of the water and the light in Tom’s spirit were the same.
The Great Tree wanted them to escape, Neesie realized. She’d actually seen an Intervention.
Tom staggered forward and braced his feet. His stave was in his left hand, but had extended itself into a staff or walking stick. He braced the staff and shook Neesie’s hands away.
“Go!”
He held his side, knee deep in the water. Blood welled up around his fingers and the black fur of his side. It dribbled down the white fur of his right leg.
Neesie couldn’t leave him. What would she tell the abbot? What would become of this sacred doorway?
She sensed movement and looked around. The blight beast was stirring.
“Go! I’ll follow!”
Neesie groaned and lunged into the glowing pool with Trefan. They dove beneath the white surface.
*
Tom knew it was his turn, and he plunged into the pool. He was in such pain that he didn’t notice the central sphere of the blight beast split like a cantaloupe. Inside, a molded recess near the center ensconced a smaller version of the beast. It was similar to a black avocado seed or center of a dark softball. Then it squirmed.
The new creature was a duplicate of the much larger version, but only the size of an eyeball. It emerged from the molded recess like a diadem from a jeweler’s display, and flung itself to Tom’s shoulder, clinging to his hair.
In his pain and fear, Tom did not notice. He dove.
*
As soon as his head disappeared beneath the surface, the light in the room turned off like a switch, and the pool appeared smooth and clear as before.
The raincusi trio did not come back out of the pool, but their clothing did eventually bob to the surface.
The split on the blight beast closed. It drew back from the pool and remained still. After a few moments it shook itself and left the doorway pool. It crossed the deck surrounding the burl and leaped from the ledge, off to continue hunting in a forest with no ground.