Kalona’s Fall (9 page)

“Thank you, Erebus,” Nyx said, hugging him. “Your creation has pleased me. You easily
passed this test.”

Still grinning, Erebus nodded at Kalona. “Your turn, brother.”

“Then follow me, and prepare to be impressed!” Before Erebus could protest, Kalona
had scooped Nyx into his arms and leaped skyward, rocketing into the west. She peered
over his broad shoulder to see Erebus following, with Mother Earth, who was clinging
to him, but was also laughing uproariously.

“The Fey are going to have to scurry to catch up with us,” she said.

“Yes, and I was hoping so would Erebus, laden with Mother Earth.”

“Be kind,” she said, but tempered her disapproval by resting her head familiarly on
his strong shoulder.

“She dislikes me.”

“Be kinder. You always seem so defensive around her.”

“Her gaze makes me uncomfortable,” he said.

“And still my advice remains the same. Be kind—to Mother Earth, to Erebus, to the
mortals that inhabit this realm, and, most important, be kind to yourself.”

“You did not mention that I should be kind to you,” he said.

Nyx stroked his cheek. “I did not think I needed to.” She laid her head against his
shoulder again and relaxed into his embrace, hoping silently that the outcome of this
test would be very different from the last.

*   *   *

Kalona descended onto a verdant
forest filled with the vibrant green of ancient trees. Boulders formed lovely little
gorges, and the entire landscape was carpeted with ferns and moss. He came to ground,
landing on a group of the largest of the mossy boulders, and gently released her.
Before Erebus and Mother Earth had joined them, he kissed her quickly but thoroughly,
and said, “Gaze upward.” Then he leaped off the boulder, his great wings carrying
him aloft so that soon he disappeared into the canopy of green.

Erebus and Mother Earth arrived soon after, and not long after that, a few of the
dryads materialized, chattering their displeasure at having been left behind.

“Where is he?” Mother Earth asked.

Nyx pointed upward. “He said to gaze there.”

“It is nothing but the side of a hill, littered with steep rocks, moss, and ferns.
There aren’t even any deer trails leading up there. It is too rocky, too slick,” Mother
Earth said, gazing upward.

“I wonder what my brother intends,” Erebus said.

Nyx smiled at him, noting that he seemed only curious and not envious at all. She
linked her arm through his. “You are not mean-spirited at all.”

Erebus’s smile was sunshine bright. “Why would I waste my time being mean-spirited
when being delighted and joyful is so much more fun?”

“An excellent question, young Erebus,” Mother Earth said, looking steadily at Nyx.
“A wise Goddess would wonder why anyone would choose to be mean-spirited over joyful.”

Troubled, Nyx did not meet Mother Earth’s gaze. Instead she looked upward, seeking
a glimpse of moonlight wings. She was rewarded by his silhouette, dark against the
greenery. He was standing on the top ledge of the steep, rocky cliff. Below him, yet
still above where Nyx and the rest of them stood, there was a lip of moss-covered
rock that formed a basinlike ledge before the boulders opened and dropped down to
the forest below.

Kalona raised one arm over his head, hand extended and open, and his voice echoed
powerfully against the rocks.

With her beauty she has captured me,

Speared through heart and soul I shall always be.

The mortal realm should rejoice that she is true.

Forsaking her vow is something Nyx will never do.

So come to me ancient magick divine.

Take form in a weapon destined to be mine!

The air above Kalona seemed to shiver, and a long, onyx spear suddenly materialized.
Kalona grasped it and commanded:

Water, heed the creation gift within my call.

Mirror her most favored headdress in a crystal, glistening fall!

Kalona drove the spear into the boulders at his feet, and water, answering his call,
gushed up from within the break in the rock, cascading over the ledge in an ever-increasing
powerful spill that widened, sparkling crystal and white, falling into the basin below
in perfect mimicry of the glistening headdress of stars that decorated Nyx’s hair.

Nyx gasped in pleasure, clapping and laughing. Kalona dropped forward over the ledge
to swoop down to her, catching her as she flung herself into his arms.

“Mother Earth! Kalona has re-created your gift that I love so dearly,” Nyx said, grinning
at her friend when her feet were once more on the ground.

Mother Earth’s smile was guarded but genuine. “He has indeed. Well done, Kalona. This
does decorate my forest wonderfully, and it will always remind me of the fondness
I have for our faithful Goddess.”

The dryads trilled in agreement, dancing around the mossy boulders.

Erebus approached Kalona, extending his hand. “It is a thing of beauty, worthy of
our Goddess.”

Kalona hesitated only a moment. Then he grasped Erebus’s hand. Smiling wryly, he said,
“Thank you, brother. And this thing of beauty does not stink.”

Erebus threw back his head and laughed. “You win today, brother! And I freely admit
it pleases me. You should show your sense of humor more often. I like this Kalona
more than the dour, scowling one.”

Nyx went to them, and over their clasped hands, she placed her own. “Your brotherhood
pleases me more than any test ever could. It is as if Water has filled me to overflowing
with joy!”

Joining them, Mother Earth said, “And this is what I intended when I set you to these
tests. I wanted only to be sure that worthy companions had been created for our Goddess.
I am well pleased today, too. Tell me, Kalona and Erebus, what element will you choose
for your final test?”

Nyx nodded to Erebus. “As Kalona chose Water, this next choice is yours.”

“If my brother is in agreement, I defer my choice and ask that you decide for me instead.”

“I am in agreement with my brother,” Kalona said.

Nyx’s smile was radiant. “Then I choose Spirit as the element for your final test.”

“Very well, then. Until you each call into being your creation, I grant you dominion
over Spirit. So I have spoken; so mote it be,” said Mother Earth.

“And now I must leave you,” Erebus said.

“Leave me?” Nyx smiled questioningly at him.

“Oh, only for now. I do believe the Great Mother and I need to return to Old Faithful,”
Erebus said, glancing from Kalona to Nyx, and then sending Mother Earth a pointed
look. “We seem to be missing several of the Fey. I think they must still be at the
geyser. You know how distracted they can be by sparkling colors.”

“We should go collect them, poor dears,” Mother Earth readily agreed with him. As
Erebus lifted her carefully into his arms, she called, “Come, dryads, let us go back
and find your sisters.”

Before he leaped skyward, Nyx touched Erebus’s arm. “Thank you. You are precious to
me.”

“As you are to me, my Goddess,” he said. “Good-bye, brother. If you need help with
your next test you can find me by following the rising sun.” The chattering dryads
in tow, Erebus took to the sky, leaving Kalona and Nyx completely alone.

“He’s smarter than I thought he was, though his height still surprises me,” Kalona
said.

“His height? The two of you are almost identical.”

“He is shorter and younger than me,” Kalona said. “Though, as you mentioned the similarity
in our appearance, I will admit that he is exceedingly handsome.”

“You are incorrigible!” Nyx pushed playfully at his chest.

Laughing, Kalona grabbed her, and fell backward. As Nyx shrieked he unfurled his wings
and they floated slowly down to land on a ledge just above the basin that was now
filled with crystal water. Still holding her in his arms, Kalona murmured into her
ear, “I told you I would never let you fall.”

“And have I told you how cold mountain waters are?” Nyx retorted, looking uncertainly
below them at the sparkling pool.

“I cannot command Fire, but you, my Goddess, can,” he said.

Nyx grinned. “Yes, I can!” Stepping out of his embrace, she faced the waterfall and
lifted her hands, invoking:
I summon you, Fire. Your warmth in these waters I do truly desire.

Instantly the rocks surrounding the waterfall and pool began to glow like embers,
and warm mist lifted from the basin.

“Shall we?” Kalona asked.

“You already know my answer. I am very fond of Water,” she said. “I am also very fond
of you.” Deliberately, the Goddess reached behind her and pulled a silver ribbon,
loosening her dress. With a shake of her shoulders, it fell from her body to form
a sky-colored puddle at her feet. Wearing only her headdress of stars, she said, “Will
you join me?”

“Always,” he said, and took her in his arms.

Their attention consumed by the pleasure they found in each other, neither noticed
the skeeaed. With eyes narrowed in envy, L’ota watched the immortals’ lovemaking before
she soundlessly slithered away to disappear into the darkest of shadows.

8.

WHERE THERE IS LIGHT, THERE, TOO, MUST BE DARKNESS …

“Why is this so difficult?”
Kalona’s frustration boiled over and he threw the rock away from him, causing the
ever-watching ravens to flutter and squawk. He had been attempting to breathe Spirit
into inanimate objects to create a new type of creature for his Goddess and had thus
far failed miserably.

First Kalona had tried to insert consciousness within a tree, one of the gnarled oaks
that proliferated the cross-timber area bordering the grassy prairie.

Apparently, trees already contained a living spirit that did not appreciate company.
When he had flung spirit into it, the craggy oak had shivered like a horse shaking
off a swarm of biting flies, and had hurled Kalona’s magick back at him. The immortal
had been knocked off his feet with the backlash—and he had had to endure the whoops
and chants of the local Shaman who, witnessing the debacle, promptly lit sage and
danced all around Kalona’s campsite, wafting smoke everywhere. Kalona had no idea
what the mortal believed he was doing. He only knew for sure that the smoking sage
made his eyes water and his nose tickle, and this annoyed him almost as utterly as
did the noisy birds. Rather than smite the human and arouse pesky Mother Earth, Kalona
had flown away to Nyx’s falls, meaning to wash himself in the crystal shower, hoping
cleansing his body would likewise clear his mind.

The Goddess had been there, sunning herself on the moss-covered boulder. As he landed
lightly beside her, she’d opened her eyes and smiled joyfully up at him.

“Is it really you, or am I having a wonderful waking dream?”

He’d taken her in his arms and shown her how very real he was.

Kalona had found contentment in Nyx’s arms, but that contentment lasted only as long
as they were together. When she left him, returning to the Otherworld alone but satisfied,
and Kalona had flown back to his campsite, the happiness he’d found in her arms only
intensified the frustration he felt at their separation.

“Divine energy, mixed with the power to create and the element Spirit,” Thinking aloud,
Kalona sat on a felled tree he’d dragged near the campfire he lit nightly, and poked
the embers with a long stick. “Spirit, energy, and creation—that equates to life.
If I have reasoned through that, Erebus surely will, too. I can see him now, preening
and fluttering as he presents his creation to Nyx, making her smile and clap and coo.”
Kalona jabbed the fire so violently that his stick snapped in half.

“I will not find the answer sitting here staring at the fire!” That was when Kalona
spotted the rock. It was a flat, heart-shaped sandstone. With two hands he hefted
it, deciding it would do. With a hasty incantation, Kalona summoned Spirit, mixed
it with magick and creation, and funneled it into the lifeless stone.

The rock had broken open, spewing sand and forming grotesque lumps of coagulating
energy. Kalona had hurled it away from him in disgust. “Why is it some things can
be filled with spirit and life, and others cannot? Humans were once just earth and
water. Look at them now!” he’d shouted to the sky.

Some of the grasses surrounding his campsite rustled. Kalona clenched his jaw in irritation.
It was probably that damned Shaman again. The human seemed to have devoted the winter
years of his life to spying on Kalona.

Three ravens croaked reprovingly at him. Kalona rubbed his aching forehead.

“More in a long list of excellent reasons why I need to complete this test and depart
this realm permanently,” Kalona grumbled. He had decided days ago that, once he joined
Nyx in the Otherworld, he would be able to provide amusements enough for the Goddess
there,
ensuring that she would want to spend less and less time
here.