Uncanny Harvest by J. R. Pearse Nelson

Author:J. R. Pearse Nelson [Nelson, J. R. Pearse]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-05T09:25:30+00:00

Marty grew more agitated as we stepped into the garden. They murmured under their breath, eyes wide at the sight of familiar Covett Creek meandering through a fairy garden. The sun highlighted sparkles in the air and tiny beings hovered over the white blooms blanketing the ground. Who knew if they were fae or butterflies? They were too fast and too small for me to tell.

Marty peered around at all of this, every emotion possible playing out on their face. The wonder I could take, but the shaking worried me.

I took the cobbled path toward the little bridge crossing Covett Creek.

Sarah whistled from behind me. When I turned, she pointed down the other path.

“Oh.” I looked over my shoulder at the path I knew better. “Grisel won’t be there then?” I’d been counting on the dryad as a buffer between us and the fae twits. I didn’t realize how much until faced with the other path.

“Much as the circle of stones near your friend Grisel is the focus for the guardian’s activities at the garden, the great tree is the focus for us griffins.”

Marty and I looked up, and up, the great overarching canopy swallowing all hint of the blue sky above. I traced a huge limb with my eyes to where it met a mighty trunk.

“How many months have you been welcome in this garden, Naomi? And you’ve never set foot down this path, have you?”

“Well…there was little need. I usually come to talk to Grisel, or for the ceremonies…”

“You’ll learn better – this whole place is essential to your role in the garden. The great tree is a conduit for energies you and I can’t hope to understand. It must be fostered, protected. That, young ones, is the griffin’s role.”

“To protect the tree?” Marty frowned. “Is that why we fly – just so we can reach the top of it?”

“Very funny.” But Sarah’s glare said she wasn’t amused. “It is rare indeed that the great tree requires physical protection. I’m talking about psychic protection. Or spiritual protection. I’m not really sure which, to be honest, and it doesn’t matter.”

“I’m not psychic.”

“You’re not that spiritual either.”

“Hey.” They crossed their arms. “I’m an intellectual and an atheist. And you know it.”

Next I expected them to stick out their tongue.

“You don’t need to be psychic. It’s more like…” She stared up into the branches of the tree, eyes shining with unshed tears. She waved a hand. “You’ll feel it. Some things you’re just going to have to learn. It’s like a pull, a magnet maybe. You arrive, interrupt it, and the energy moves, and then the tree is okay. Without that release, there are some powers that would wound it. And I have no idea what would happen then.”

“It would be a calamity.”

We all turned at the new voice that had joined us. Two women stood there.

Not women, really. Not human women. They were tall, their posture perfect and their chins lifted so I could imagine a book balanced on top of each of their heads.

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