Bigfootloose and Finn Fancy Free (50 page)

And then the song ended.

I stopped, dripping sweat, breathing like a bellows, my back on fire.

Barry winked at me, looking calm as ever. The prick.

Minerva shouted, “Judges, tell us who you thought was the better dancer.”

Silene shouted, “Tell us whoever you thought danced best.”

Minerva growled. “That is what I said.”

“No,” Silene replied. “It isn't.”

Kaminari hissed. “Watch your words, you little tree whore, or I'll tear out your throat and you'll talk no more!”

“Hey!” I said. “Everyone chill out. Let the judges judge. That's why we're here.”

The judges looked to their left-most member. The will-o-the-wisp from the Silver said, “Finn.”

Not entirely surprising, but I felt hope flicker to life in my chest.

The next Silver, a water nymph, looked like she was trying to capture a live bug with her tongue as it ran around her mouth, but finally she blurted out, “Barry!” She looked to me, and shrugged. “Sorry. He flowed like water.”

Ah, crap, hold the holy. If I couldn't even win both Silver, I had no chance of winning the duel.

The first Shadows judge, a woman with the black-veined markings of a witch, smiled and said, “Barry. So tasty.”

I felt my knees go a little wobbly, but managed to hide that and the sudden sick feeling from my expression. I was about to die.
Sorry Aly. Maybe when I get beheaded, you'll just be set free.

*Yeah, that seems likely.*

The final Shadows judge, a man I assumed to be a waer of some kind, spat out, “Finn.”

I began to turn as he spoke, to dissuade Pete and the Silvers from trying to do anything foolish, when his decision registered.

“Wait, what?” I said, turning back.

Minerva looked at the last judge. “You're a gods-damned waerjackal. How could you not vote for Barry?”

He looked miserable, and when Kaminari also turned to look at him he looked outright terrified. He stammered, “Finn moved me. I never liked that robot crap. I didn't ask to be a judge!”

I had a second chance at life.

So did Barry. He'd pulled out some amazing moves at the end there. But I felt like I had a strong connection with the audience, and now that I knew what had persuaded the judges, I could play to that. Barry could, too, sure, but I had an edge—I wasn't hampered by a need to look cool. And ironically, that would let me show Barry how it felt to be the less popular one, no longer the crowd favorite.

“A break,” I said. “If that's okay?” I asked Barry.

He shrugged. “Sure. Ten minutes?” Barry tried to sound casual, but was that uncertainty I detected?

“Ten minutes,” I agreed.

I felt like I'd need ten days to recover, but ten minutes would do for now. I headed back toward Pete and the boom box, stretching my back to fight the stiffness wanting to settle in for a long visit.

I could do this. I could actually beat that bastard.

I stopped. I looked at Barry a minute, then I looked at Silene.

I could beat Barry. Maybe. But that wasn't what was at stake here. And I wasn't the one who really needed to beat him.

Pete slapped me on the shoulder. “Good moves, Brother!”

I smiled. “Thanks, Pete. Excuse me a minute.” I pulled Silene away from the crowd. As I did, I heard Kaminari practically screech, “Barry, you stupid cow, I want to talk with you NOW!”

Silene and I moved beneath the swing set, and I saw Kaminari and Barry disappear behind the camp's office cabin. I didn't envy Barry. I hoped he had that sleep potion ready.

I rested against one of the cold steel support poles.

“I'm tagging you in,” I said to Silene. “I'm making you my champion. Well, your own champion, really.”

Silene took a step back and shook her head. “No. I cannot. I do not dance anymore.”

“I know. But if I do this, it won't show them the strength of the Silver, it will just show them that I can dance. You need to do this, for your clan.” And for herself.

“If you will not face him again,” she replied, “then I will find another.”

“We only have a couple minutes. It has to be you.”

“I said I cannot. I—I've lost the grace, the music of laughter and life that once flowed through me.” She looked at the tops of the evergreens swaying gently in the evening breeze. “I cannot hear it anymore. And I no longer have the confidence of beauty—” She shook her head again. “I am a creature of knots and hardened sap, I am a rosebush in winter. I am a vessel of love and light no more.”

“Then dance what you feel,” I said. “Don't try to be the Silene you were, playing on the passions of others. Be the Silene you are. Show them
your
passion.”

Silene looked back to the crowd. Barry had returned, juggling pinecones. Kaminari was nowhere to be seen. Hopefully that meant Barry had knocked her out with that potion. I didn't want to think about her out there somewhere in the trees, plotting to attack.

The crowd parted for Barry, and he gave them his easy smile.

“He is everything I once was,” Silene said softly, watching him. “Beautiful. Confident.”

“Do you think you were better then than you are now?” I asked.

She looked back at me, as if surprised by the question. “I was happy then.”

“And your fellow brightbloods were being addicted and used, and had nobody they trusted to lead them to a better future,” I said. “Think of Challa. Aren't you happy for her, that she's safe and healing rather than being abused?”

“Of course.”

“Then see, you have happiness now. Focus on that, on everything you've gained and done. If anyone can celebrate growth, it should be a tree spirit.”

She looked again at the crowd, her hand going to her chest. “I am not sure that will be enough to move them.”

“Everyone has their own scars,” I said. “Not always physical, but we have them. Brightbloods can certainly understand the power scars hold. And what strength it takes to move past them.”

“Hey, Finn,” Barry called from the circle. “Time's up, brah! Not giving up, are ya?”

“Well?” I asked Silene. “Are you giving up?”

“No,” she said. “No. I will dance. And I will show him how thin and barren is the foundation his charm rests upon.”

 

34

Back to Life

Silene stepped into the circle as I moved to stand between Sal and Pete.

Barry gave Silene a smug smile.

“What's this?” Minerva asked, looking past the pair to me with her bright wolf eyes. “Afraid of losing?”

“No,” I said. “I had my fun. It's Silene's turn.”

Barry shrugged. “Seems a shame to remove such a pretty head from such pretty shoulders, though. 'Course, from what I hear, that's about as far as the pretties go.”

“Is that your best thorn, puppy?” Silene responded. “You should have stayed at home and humped your master's leg.”

“Whoa, harsh,” Barry said with a smile. “I'm so going to enjoy marking your tree as mine. Now, are we going to dance or waste more time?”

“Ready?” I said, and pushed play.

“Flashdance … What a Feeling” began playing with its soft synth and vocal intro.

Barry began moving at Silene in a sinuous, suggestive back-and-forth movement.

Silene whirled away from him, her eyes closed. And she began to dance.

It started with subtle, hesitant movements. Then, like the increased swaying of trees that heralds a growing storm, the movements became larger, more sweeping, more powerful. And every movement carried her smoothly away from Barry, dismissing him without Silene ever seeming to be aware of him.

I saw hints of the dancing I remembered from her memory in the Other Realm, the dance of a creature whose existence centered on free love and the celebration of joy, but the motions evolved as she moved, as her new self found expression. The movements hinted somehow that the love that now flowed through her was love for her tree, for her clan, for her cause.

The song's dance beat kicked in, and Silene's movements became stronger, reminding me a bit of the passionate anger dance from
Footloose,
a compelling call to never, never, never hide your heart.

Silene's thorny bodysuit broke apart and drifted away like falling leaves, and she raised her arms to the sky as if in triumph.

She no longer danced. She had become a creature of passion given physical form. She did not seduce with her movements, but rather she seduced us toward her passions. She challenged, and she raised in me a sudden desire to do more, to somehow match the passion of her dancing in some form, any form, in my own life. She celebrated the power of her limbs, the grace of a body created of magic and nature to be impossible to resist. And in her dancing, the scar no longer seemed a blemish on nature's design, it became part of her beauty, a reason to be drawn to her. It became a pink knotted rune of courage. A symbol of strength. A map of possibility. And then it simply ceased to matter.

When the music stopped, I realized I'd barely registered what Barry did for most of the dance, that I'd forgotten to watch him for comparison.

Given the way the rest of the crowd blinked and looked around, I was not the only one.

“Silene,” the first judge said without being asked.

“Silene,” the second said immediately after.

“Silene,” the third said, her tone one of grudging respect.

Silene turned as the fourth judge made it unanimous, tears running down her cheeks, and was quickly surrounded by her cheering brightbloods. Barry, who'd begun to walk toward her with an upheld hand, frowned in frustration. He didn't seem particularly afraid or worried about what his loss meant, though.

“Please,” Silene said, raising her hands. She practically glowed with her own light. “I wish to speak.”

Her clothing reformed, green flowing up from the ground to wrap around her and create the bodysuit as her brightbloods moved back to give her space. She stood on tiptoes to see over their heads.

“I hereby spare the life of my opponent as a show of mercy and goodwill between the Silver and the Shadows,” she said. “We have both lost cousins in these past months to the plots and plans of others who would pit us each against the other, and one more life lost will not help any but our enemies.”

She held out her arm, and the thin line of brightbloods between her and Barry parted as she moved forward to shake his hand. “I hope that this marks the end of our battle with each other, and the start of a battle for the safety and rights of all—”

Barry grabbed her hand and yanked her to himself. At the same time, spider legs sprouted out of his back, and he screamed, “Attack, attack!”

Chaos erupted. Several Silver brightbloods and I rushed toward Silene, but Barry—or rather Kaminari, who'd obviously taken Barry's place—jumped away in the direction of the forest, and the river.

The movement of a few Silver brightbloods into the circle caused several on the Shadows side to rush forward in reaction. Which opened the floodgates on both sides as the Silver and Shadows brightbloods poured into the circle, charging at each other.

A wall of vines erupted out of the ground between the two clans. Several Silver brightbloods ran into it and were lifted up and flung back as the wall continued to explode upwards. I looked around for the source of the wall, and realized Silene must have created it as she was carried away. She had acted to save her clan before herself. I doubted Kaminari would give her a chance to do more.

Sal, Challa, and Dunngo ran after Kaminari and Silene. I thought I'd seen Waerjerk, Minerva, and the redcap angling in that direction, too, before the wall went up. I snatched up my backpack and began to follow.

“Retreat!” Don Faun shouted from the tree line behind us. “Back to your defensive positions! We'll cover you!”

Frak. I fumbled at my backpack, struggling with the zippers in my haste, and almost dropped the plastic Taser with my sweat-slicked hand. I snatched up the baton with my other hand.

The tangled wall before me rustled as something attempted to plow through it. At the same time, a scorpion-like form scrabbled up onto the top of the wall, and a bulldog the size of a small bull careened around the far end, almost losing its footing as it turned sharply to lope at the gathered Silver brightblood. I paused, uncertain which direction was safest.

The Silvers ran, hopped, and galloped for the tree line. Arrows and crossbow bolts whispered through the air to
shtik!
into shadowbrights and the vine wall. One bolt punched into the charging bulldog. Battle cries and screams turned the campground into a war zone.

All ways were chaos. I continued running in the direction Kaminari had taken Silene. Pete and Vee fell in on either side of me. Pete hefted the silver sword, and his eyes flashed wolf blue. Vee whipped Zeke's backup baton to full extension, while at the same time a giant squirrel tail sprang up from her lower back, pushing up the back of her shirt and rising behind her head like a samurai's Sashimono banner.

The Shadows brightbloods swarmed through, over and around Silene's wall, and chased after the retreating Silvers. A pair of ghouls angled off from the main pack to intercept us, their Mumm-Ra–looking bodies transforming into hyena as they ran.

“Keep going!” Pete shouted at me, then, like blockers guarding a runner in football, he and Vee broke off to stop the ghouls.

I hesitated, unwilling to just leave them.

Pete swung his sword at the first ghoul-hyena, who slid in the grass and scrambled to avoid the blow.

The other ghoul began to angle toward me. I raised the Taser, but Vee made a chittering sound and shook her giant, fluffy tail in a rapid quivering motion. The ghoul's steps slowed, and a confused expression settled on his hyena face as his attention fixed on her tail. Vee charged at him and swung the glowing baton in an arc that hit the beast's head with a bright flash, knocking the ghoul-hyena to the ground.