by Raven Storm
“This is the best place to hide.”
I swallowed, not wanting my fear to overcome my gratitude. This was better than nothing. I needed somewhere safe to heal, hidden from the demon hordes. Even if the walls were closing in, the darkness cloying, and the—
I chased away the bad thoughts, focusing on breathing deeply and calmly.
“I don’t think there’s room for both of us.” I said evenly.
She giggled and shimmied up the tree and out the trap door. Her wide, dark eyes stared back at me, and I wondered if I was making a mistake by trusting her.
“I’ll bring some dinner and tell Grandmother and the rest of the coven!”
I tried to protest, but she was already gone. I couldn’t follow her out and risk discovery, so I was stuck trusting she wouldn’t say anything to get me killed.
I carefully sat. The moss was at least soft on my body as the candles flickered. I wondered if it would be better to blow them out—if I could calm myself easily if I thought of wide-open spaces…The real question was whether witches were neutral. I was embarrassing just how little I knew about the different magical creatures. As soon as I was in Lyoness, I would seek out Domik and learn as much as I could about every creature in Dorea!
I slid into my draken form, keeping my wings tucked in close to my back. Pain assaulted me immediately from the tear in my wing, and I wished in vain my mates were here to help me heal. My mates. I struggled to keep a sad warble from my throat as I thought of Benedict, who was likely dead, his body crushed under the rocks. The urge to screech and wail, to have my people find me was overwhelming, but I squeezed my eyes, keeping them shut until it passed. Benedict had to be alive, he had to be.
Carefully, I stretched on the soft moss floor of my hidey-hole, hissing as I tried to find a comfortable position for my wings. At least here, I could lay in my draken form. If I were stuck as a human, I wouldn’t heal at all. I needed to recover and get to Lyoness as quickly as possible. I dozed for a bit, unable to fall asleep with the pain and anxiety. I twitched when the trap door above me yanked open, the dwindling sun still causing me to squint when I looked up. I was in my human form in an instant.
“Luci came baaack!”
The girl hurled a parcel wrapped in cloth at me, which I caught in reflex. The delicious aroma of roasted meat hit my nose, along with freshly baked bread and some mushrooms.
“Luci? Is that your name?” I asked, sniffing the mushrooms cautiously.
She giggled as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I decided not to question it or the food, instead gulping it down. Luci clapped her hands in delight at my eagerness, giggling.
“I’m Wren,” I offered, and her smile grew wider.
“Do you want more?”
More would be amazing. Was this a draken thing? I assumed only male drakens ate like they were starving, but perhaps draken bodies just required more than I was used to eating.
“I don’t want to get you in trouble,” I replied instead. She tsked, then scurried back off into the woods. Luci returned less than fifteen minutes later with more mushrooms and a dead grouse. I furrowed my brow, not sure how to react to the raw bird in front of me. I gasped when flames shot out of the palm of her hand, roasting the mushrooms. She wrapped them in a large leaf and stuffed one in her mouth. She dropped the rest down to me and set to plucking the feathers on the dead bird.
“Pluck them out, then roast it! Done soon.”
I nodded dumbly, having nothing else to say. I was friends with a young witch who could conjure fire and didn’t seem too concerned about a strange woman hiding in her tree. I decided to let all my questions go, and just focus on eating, sleeping, and staying alive. For the moment could take some time to heal and try to rest. It would have to be enough for now.
TWO
Isettled into a comfortable routine, sleeping in the hidden tree and eating when Luci brought me food twice a day. I kept my wings out when I was alone, hoping to heal as quickly as possible. My worst complaint was the claustrophobia, but it could have been so much worse. Luci tried to coax me to leave and wander the forest with her, but I refused. I was terrified I would be caught out in the open by a vampyre or one of the lesser demons.
An indulgence I did allow was for Luci to leave the trap door open when she was nearby. To see the leaves above, with the blue-sky peeking through white clouds filled me with a strange sense of peace. The sound of birds filtered down to me, their music caressing my ears as I longed to join them in song as well as in the sky. I twitched my wing, feeling only a slight lingering soreness. Soon.
One afternoon, I awoke from a nap to the sound of Luci screaming followed by harsh, guttural laughter from outside the tree. My body flooded with adrenaline as I banged my head against the wall in my haste to get up. I slid effortlessly into my draken form, ready to defend my small savior.
“Little witches shouldn’t stray so far from their coven,” a voice snarled, and I bared my teeth from within my hiding spot. Judging from the laughter, there were at least two more. I twitched my wings, testing it carefully as I flexed and bent it. It still hurt but was more manageable. I could fight, and I could win.
“We’re looking for a draken. We know she landed somewhere nearby; you seen anything?”
My heart stopped in my chest as I put an ear against the bark, listening closely for her reply. I needn’t have worried.
“I don’t know what a draken is! LET ME GO!”
There was a loud crash and cursing from Luci’s captors.
“You little witchling bitch!”
Luci screamed again, and I acted without thinking. I punched my claws forward, and ripped the base off the tree apart, emerging into the bright light. Two lykos and two vampyres stared at me, their jaws hanging open. The first vampyre cradled his hand, nursing a large burn. Luci hissed at him.
“Looking for me?” I snarled and exploded into action. I threw both of my knives, each of them finding a vampyre throat. They fell, gurgling with their hands at their throats, the first managing a high-pitched whistle before I struck. The lykos growled and I drew my short sword. I eyed them warily, but they didn’t attack—just continued to growl while backing away. The whistle must have been a signal, because the small scouting party quickly swelled, and I found myself surrounded by nearly a dozen vampyres and lesson demons. Luci backed into me, whimpering. Lesser demons were small, only coming up to my waist. Their skin was a dark red, their heads bald and eyes pitch black. They chattered at me, their sharp tails whipping back and forth with the promise of blood. Vaguely I noted the lykos were gone.
“Got any other tricks up your sleeve?” I asked Luci, half kidding, half hoping she would. To my surprise, she responded.
“Grandmother says I can’t unless it’s an emergency.” Her black eyes were wide with panic.
“I think this would qualify,” I hissed back, as they slowly stalked us. I threw my sword into the chest of the biggest vampyre, then dove into the next with my claws and fangs. Three more quickly pounced on top of me, the first skewering himself on my hard, spiked back. His weight pushed me down, and I knew eventually they would overpower me, and I wouldn’t win.
“LUCI RUN!” I screamed, hoping she could get back to her people.
I felt a blast of heat and heard tortured screams. The scent of burning flesh hit my nostrils, but I ignored it as the bodies on top of me went still. I fought and clawed my way out of the pile to find the forest a holocaust of destruction. Luci stood in the middle, her eyes blazing as everything burned around her—the trees, the bushes, even the ground. We were trapped.
The smoke thickened, making it hard to breathe, let alone see. Luci screamed her rage and fear at the world, the fires blazing higher in response. I grabbed her arm and Luci snapped out of it, her sharp eyes darting around to the destruction. She went deathly pale.
“Come on, move!”
I snarled, but she was rooted to the ground. I tried to throw her over my shoulder, but my injured wing t
hrobbed from being overworked too soon, and I tugged uselessly on her hand. How did such a small little thing stay so rooted to the ground?
“LUCI MOVE!”
I yanked hard on her hand again, but where would we go even if she did move? Everything was black, thick rolling smoke—it was impossible to see where the flames ended and more began. I tripped over the body of a vampyre and went sprawling. With shaking hands, I retrieved my dagger from his throat, feeling around for the other body, and thankfully closing my fingers around the hilt of my second one. I’d be inconsolable if I ever lost the first gifts anyone had ever given me. I sheathed them back around my thighs with shaking hands, and yanked my short sword out of a dead, flaming chest. All around us bodies were turning to ash, and if we didn’t find a way out, we’d be next. It was almost impossible to get a clean breath.
“Can you stop it?” I yelled back to Luci, but it was like talking to a large, terrified doll. I seized her hand again and picked a direction. Flaming tree limbs fell from the sky, making it impossible to move anywhere with confidence. The urge to let out a distress call was strong, but I tamped it down. That would be the quickest way to draw the demon hordes to me, and they were clearly already searching hard.
I coughed, wondering if I could fly us both away while struggling to get air. I grabbed Luci and held her tight to me, shielding us both with my wings as I flapped them hard as a last resort. I felt an odd tingle, then all the air vanished from my lungs. I was left sputtering and choking, releasing Luci as my hands went to my throat in blind panic. Where did the air go?
The flames around us instantly vanished, sucked back down into the ground and out of existence like they’d never been there to begin with. The forest around us went deadly silent, surrounded by blackened, charred remains and grey ash. Luci stuck her head out from behind my wing, and the air immediately returned. I fell to the ground gasping, relishing the feel of clean air returning to my lungs.
“LUCI! LUCI!”
A stoic, breathtaking woman with silver hair met Luci halfway, falling to her knees and seizing the small girl in a fierce embrace. Luci was babbling now, crying hysterically as she described the vampyres, lykos, and demons who had come for us. A group of women halted a few feet behind the first woman, stopping together in formation as one cohesive unit. They all had the same silver hair and wore the same white linen shifts. Luci’s red hair stuck out like a flaming beacon. I rolled again, trying to get my feet under me. The woman shoved Luci behind her and raised her hands at me in a threatening gesture. I flared my wings again, flinging off soot and debris as my fangs flashed. My body still ached, but I could probably fly if I absolutely had to. That would likely be my own defense against a witch. If their glares were any clue, it might be sooner rather than later.
“A female draken?”
The woman’s voice was a hoarse whisper of astonishment, sending those behind her murmuring and gasping.
“It’s Wren Grandmother, I told you about Wren.”
The woman’s eyes were pure silver. Her shocked gaze wouldn’t leave my face.
“I thought it was just another imaginary friend, like all the others.” Her voice was awed, while Luci huffed in indignation.
“I told you…” she muttered.
I stepped forward, lowering my wings and holding my hands out. My white scales were covered with black and grey grime; I must have looked awful.
“It’s my fault...there was a hunting party looking for me. I fell while we were fleeing the mountain.”
I had hoped this would explain things, but the women all stared at me as if I had just uttered complete gibberish. Luci’s Grandmother waved a hand helplessly.
“The drakens have left the mountain?”
The tone of her voice couldn’t decide between disbelief or shock. I nodded.
“We were fleeing to Lyoness, and I was injured and fell. Luci—” I smiled at the smaller girl—” fed me while I recovered. I regret I brought the hordes anywhere near your forest.”
My shoulders drooped, surveying the damage.
“No wonder there have been so many in our woods this past week.”
I shifted uncomfortably, her eyes never leaving mine. Luci drew them away, babbling as she took her grandmother’s hand.
“There were so many, and I was scared, but Wren told me it was an emergency so I used the fire—”
The woman shushed Luci’s frantic explanation, one hand smoothing over the girl’s hair.
“That was absolutely the right decision, my star. I’d rather have half the forest burn down than lose you.”
“It looks like it was half,” murmured a voice from the larger group. The woman turned, snarling.
“Perhaps the next time one of your witchlings is in danger, Stella, we will see if a goddamn tree is more important!”
The woman glared, then turned back to me.
“I am Astrid. You have my eternal thanks for saving my witchling, who clearly needs to learn some more control. Regardless, the coven is in your debt.”
I shook my head.
“No! She kept me alive and hidden when she could have turned me over to the horde. There is no debt.”
Astrid nodded, accepting my words.
“Very well. We must move you on your way, before—”
“Another scouting party, six of them.”
I had seconds as the group of women fell into a tight V formation in front of Astrid and Luci, shoving me in the middle.
“Rub as much dirt and ash onto your skin as you can,” Astrid hissed, then strode to the front. Covered by the women, I had no shame as I shifted back to my human form, rolling quickly on the ground as I rubbed grime and soot over my arms, face, chest and neck. One witch grabbed a handful and rubbed it vigorously into my hair, covering its brown color. An extra shift appeared out of nowhere, and I shimmied it quickly over my shoulders and down my hips.
The vampyres and demons crashed into the clearing created by the flames, stopping short when they saw the witches. These demons weren’t the groveling imps that I’d just defeated—they were large, hulking beasts of black that stalked rather than walked, alternating between loping along the ground with their arms, and walking upright on two feet. Massive horns sprouted their forwards, two of them with only one that curled above his forehead, and one with two shorter, smaller horns on each side of his head. They were like the creatures that attacked us while we fled the mountain, but with a sharp, added intelligence. I knew they were different, but I couldn’t put my finger on why.
“Shadow demons,” Astrid hissed, as the witches pulled me up to my feet and shoved me into formation. I took my terror and shoved it deep down, trying to fix a fierce expression on my face to match the other witches. There was no way I’d fit in, they were all beautiful, pale, powerful, and—”
“What happened here?”
The shadow demon with one horn spoke slowly, painfully, as if our language was unfamiliar and painful to his tongue. His voice was a dark, gravelly rasp. Astrid didn’t shirk or step back from him.
“There was a fire.”
The shadow demon hissed. “Obviously, witch. Where are my men?”
Astrid deliberately kicked a lump on the ground, watching nonchalantly as it crumpled into a ball of ash. She shrugged.
“What men? We came to rescue our witchling, whose power is not yet tamed. If you tell us who you are searching for, perhaps we can be of assistance. We have noticed your presence in our woods these past few days.”
The demon’s nostrils flared, dark smoke trailing from his nose.
“You will stay here while we search the remainder of the forest.”
His men fanned out, while he ran a suspicious eye over all of us. I tried to imitate the other women by looking angry and put out. I praised the gods that the ash covered the shine of my skin, and even the brown, ruddy color of my hair. Would it be enough?
“Just how many of you are there in our woods?”
Astrid could have been asking abou
t the weather, she was so relaxed. The shadow demon hissed, but then shot her an ugly smirk that made our backs go rigid with anxiety.
We stood in stony silence as the horde crashed around the remaining forest. Time passed, the demon growing angrier the longer we stood there. When the final member of the hunting party reported back empty-handed, he was livid. Astrid’s face was smooth and unreadable.
“If you would allow us to help—”
“The she-draken is hiding in your forest, and I WILL FIND HER! WE SAW HER FALL!”
Rather than appear flustered or afraid, Astrid’s expression was politely confused.
“There are no drakens left outside the mountain, let alone female ones. Who told you—”
The shadow demon reached out with black fire, but Astrid held a hand in the air, sucking the air from his flames before they could reach her. The demon snarled, backing up a step.
“Air witch…”
“Are you accusing my coven of lying, lieutenant?”
Astrid’s eyes were ice, her body straight and proud. Her claws twitched out from her nail beds. The witches behind her did the same. The shadow demon realized he was outnumbered with his small hunting party against twenty pissed off witches. It didn’t make sense—where were the rest of his forces? Nevertheless, he backed down.
“No. But in the...spirit of cooperation, I am sure you won’t mind using your little fire witchling to assist us?”
Astrid frowned, confused.
“Of course, we will assist, but I don’t see how—”
“Burn the rest of the forest down, as a show of good faith you aren’t hiding the draken.”
The coven twitched around me but were disciplined enough not to glance at me or otherwise give me away. My heart dropped into my stomach and Astrid’s face paled, horror in her eyes.
“You want us to burn our home—”
The shadow demon laughed, a sound that carried a cold, icy breeze on the wind. I resisted the urge to shiver. The witches around me were murmuring and grumbling, but Astrid silenced them with one hand.