by Elisa Paige
Pouring rage through my body as if muscle and sinew and bone were mere vessels for the caustic emotion, I lifted my daggers high over my head, savoring the moment before I struck. Reveling in Reiden’s astonished awareness of his impending death, soaking it deep into my being, I howled with the savage thrill of having my most reviled enemy helpless at my feet.
At the height of my strike, a cry went up nearby and Koda’s roar carried to me, shaking me from my bloodlust. My breath caught and I hesitated. Off to my left, a gap in the fighting showed him defending a knot of fighters about to be overrun by ten wendigoes.
In a black fury, I cursed Reiden in two languages for his using creatures such as these to do his fighting. Their proximity to Koda and one having already damn near killed him burned through my near-frenzy. On an instant, my vision cleared and my intellect hammered my instincts into submission. I left Reiden lying, forgotten and bleeding.
Koda.
Desperate to reach him, I shaded and filtered myself through the melee to his side, joining the fight as the wendigoes broke through the front lines. Solidifying in time to separate a creature’s wrist from the taloned hand reaching for a Sioux’s throat, I spun to my knees under its reach. When it bent toward me, I drove my other blade between the wendigo’s eyes, surging to my feet to drive the ehrlindriel even deeper. Twisting the dagger sideways, I tore it free and slashed sideways, beheading the repellent thing. A swift stab and I ruptured its heart before the body succumbed to gravity.
Seeing the Sioux warrior’s astounded gawk, I grinned. The whole attack had taken seconds.
“Down!” Koda bellowed, catching me in his arms and taking me to the ground as our allies dropped to their bellies. I sensed his incredible power burst from him, felt his will strike the creatures and the extreme effort he expended to hold them frozen. The sound of hooves at full gallop preceded a storm of bullets and arrows, the deadly missiles shredding the wendigoes’ ranks as fifteen of our people thundered past. Fae on aughisky tried to intercept the band, but a motorbike contingent interceded, hacking through the iron-stunned beasts and their riders in moments.
This was the skirmish that broke the enemies’ battle spirit, probably since they’d counted on no one being able to withstand a wendigo troop’s attack. With Militis fallen and their most lethal allies destroyed, the fight petered out as the few surviving slayers retreated and the remaining handful of fae shifted away.
Wildly relieved Koda was okay, I twisted beneath his protective bulk since he still lay on top of me. Flinging my arms around his neck, I grinned as he kissed whatever parts of my face he could reach. Knowing he was alive eased the terror that had driven me to his side. Pulling free, I grabbed his hand and shot to my feet, dragging him with me. “Come on!”
“What is it?” Koda asked, running with me.
“Militis isn’t Reiden’s ally!” I yelled over my shoulder. “He is Reiden!”
Koda’s power battered violently against his control. “He dies today.” The words fell on the thick air like the blackest curse, spoken from the depths of centuries of incalculable loss and helpless fury.
“That would be a good thing since I killed Cian,” I called to Koda as we ran.
He snapped, “Did you forget the Hunt?”
“We need to take care of Reiden before he can tell the Huntsman.”
Koda’s muffled curse carried to me.
Because of how widespread the battle was, it took a while to find the spot where I’d left the king pinned like a loathsome bug. But when we got there, my stomach lifted into my throat, nearly choking me. “No!” I rasped. “It’s not possible!”
That Reiden was gone was secondary to what he’d left behind.
The spear was stuck point-first in the ground with a blue-beaded necklace hanging from the shaft. The same one Ahanu had been wearing when I last saw him. I didn’t have to look at Koda’s face to sense his unspeakable horror and grief.
Taking the necklace down from the spear and holding it tight, he rasped, “I will not lose my last brother. I cannot.”
Desperately ignoring the little voice in my head that told me it was probably already too late, I vowed, “We will get him back.”
I realized James and Evie were with us when he rested a consoling hand on Koda’s shoulder. “Whatever it takes, my friend.”
“It’s Halloween.” I squinted up at the sky before turning to Koda. “The sun is setting.”
He met my gaze, an ancient rage blazing like madness in his eyes. “The walls will fall at midnight.”
I nodded. “And we’ll be waiting.”
Chapter Twenty
A grim-faced Koda hadn’t spoken a word since we’d left the battlefield, and as we stood in the final moments before midnight, guilt consumed me.
My raw voice broke the still night. “I had the bastard beneath my blades.”
Koda stirred, his gaze sweeping the rolling hills before us. It stung that he didn’t look at me and I wasn’t sure how to interpret it. “In a short while, I hope to say the same.”
A breeze ruffled my hair as James and Evie appeared beside me. Like Koda and me, they’d armed themselves with the bows, arrows and ehrlindriel swords the fae had dropped when they fell on the battlefield. Since modern weapons wouldn’t function on Reiden’s plane, none of us had guns.
I wasn’t surprised that our friends were determined to help. Flashing a grateful smile at them, I returned to my vigil. The full moon lit the rolling prairie near the Black Hills. To the Sioux, it was a sacred place, a magical place. It was also one of the few locations where the walls between planes crossed—happily, just a thirty-minute drive from Koda’s cabin.
“Promise me you will do everything possible to survive tonight.” His voice seemed to come from deep within him, and finally he turned to look at me.
Stricken by the anguish in his eyes, my need to make Reiden suffer was swamped by my concern for Koda. Swallowing hard against the lump in my throat, I nodded. “You too.”
He didn’t say anything, just wrapped me in his arms and pressed his face into my hair.
“You too,” I insisted, pulling back to look up at him. He wouldn’t meet my gaze. “Koda?”
“I love you, Sephti.”
Speechless, I stared up at him. Those three precious words, spoken for the first time, had sounded a helluvalot like goodbye.
In a blast of wind, the walls fell and the craggy black hills before us shimmered like a heat wave on the desert. Koda bolted forward and I had to sprint to catch up, with James and Evie running close behind.
Because of the odd distortions of space and distance and because of the way the fae plane works, getting where we wanted to go took less time than mortal physics would allow. Gone were the magnificent Black Hills, replaced by a series of emerald-green rolling fields covered in a carpet of delicate white flowers. Their sweet scent under our feet filled the night pleasantly at first, but became more and more cloying as we ran deeper into Cham Reiden’s realm.
Cresting the tallest hill, we caught sight of the keep a half-mile away. Our having gotten this far without seeing another creature, let alone without being challenged, had the hair lifted at my nape. When we reached the keep’s enormous gates, wide open and unguarded, I traded an uneasy look with Evie.
“So,” she said quietly. “Trap?”
James nodded. “Trap.”
Koda didn’t respond, just kept right on running, through the gates and across a series of deserted courtyards.
My instincts shrilled their constant alarm even as I wrestled with the impossibility of the keep’s emptiness. The stronghold was capable of garrisoning more than nine thousand warriors within its twenty-foot-thick walls—officers, cavalrymen, men-at-arms, archers and foot soldiers, plus the newbies in training and the squires who served them all. Double that number of civilians called the keep and its surrounding villages home.
“Where is everyone?” Evie’s fangs were out.
“No idea,” I said as we entere
d the inner walls that surrounded the castle itself.
Koda came close. “Is there a prison?”
I nodded. “But I don’t think Ahanu will be there.”
“Where, Sephti? Tell me where to find my brother.” Tension and unspeakable rage quivered through Koda’s tense form.
Laying a brief hand on the corded muscles of his forearm, I squeezed gently. “The Great Hall. I’d bet on it.”
“You know the way?” James asked.
“Yeah.” My voice was terse.
Still unchallenged, we ran up a sweeping staircase through the huge entry and into the keep proper. The décor reflected Reiden’s having pillaged and plundered the finest of treasures from both the mortal and the fae planes. Everywhere we looked, encrusted gold and fine gems bedazzled the eye. All around us were tapestries and rugs, immense crystal chandeliers and wall sconces, travertine floors, heavily inlaid walls, buttressed archways and exquisite paintings and statues. Rounding the final corner, we sprinted through the immense arched entry into the Grand Hall, slowing to a stop as we finally found Reiden’s subjects.
They’d been standing facing into the huge hall, but when we entered, the crowd turned toward us. I was surprised to see they were all civilians, without a single warrior in the group. The casual way they’d turned gave the initial impression they’d been waiting for our arrival. But they all just stood, staring. Their faces were expressionless and the human phrase “lights on, nobody home” ran through my thoughts. I’d been braced for hostility. Had expected it. But this…this vacuum freaked me out far more than any malevolence could have.
Lifting my gaze, I caught sight of Reiden on his raised golden throne. The bruises, stitched lacerations and heavy bandaging his sumptuous tunic and leggings couldn’t hide lifted my spirits. But I was positively giddy that the Huntsman was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t know what game the king was playing, but if he’d told Berand about my killing Cian, he would’ve attacked the moment we’d entered the keep.
The king gestured grandly and the crowd split down the center, each half moving to stand against the hall’s sides. This left a clear path to Reiden, yet still no warriors had appeared and none stood guard by his throne. Keeping my gaze focused on him, knowing it was a trap but thinking regardless that I could shade and sprint fast enough, leap onto the dais and…
Koda made a strangled noise and I whipped my head around to see what was wrong.
Ahanu’s broken body lay cruelly tied to a large wooden table, his arms and legs stretched at such extreme angles, I had no doubt they’d been dislocated. His handsome face was a ruin and the flesh of his chest and belly was…
Squeezing my eyes shut, I swore fervently. Reiden would die far more horribly than Ahanu—I’d see to it with lingering, brutal care. Lifting my gaze to the crowned bastard, noting how his eyes gleamed with satisfied malice, I took a step toward him, murder filling my heart.
Koda shook off his shock and bellowed, the cry filled with devastating grief and a catastrophic, annihilative rage so extreme, it verged on insanity. Chanting under his breath, Koda drew his bow and let fly, speed blurring his actions. When he stilled, five arrows were buried in the Dark king’s chest and only the fletchings were visible.
Gaping and visibly trying to suck air into his perforated lungs, Reiden plucked at the feathers as the crowd erupted in panic, released from their bizarre trance. With so many people racing around the Great Hall, it was difficult to make out the warriors shifting into being and trying to dodge the throng of freaked-out civilians.
I longed to sift through the stampeding fae and finish off the king. But nothing would make me leave Koda’s side as glowering warriors shoved their way toward us. I moved to cover Koda’s right flank as James and Evie guarded his left, all of us armed and ready.
Sensing Evie’s rising agitation, I flicked a glance at her. She and James seemed to be communicating silently again. Whatever was being said had him even more tense.
Seeing me looking at her, Evie said, “I can’t raise even a tiny glow here.”
Remembering the strange blue energy emanating from her on the battlefield, I swore. “Not your fault. Reiden placed protective wards all over the keep and the surrounding countryside. They must be messing with you.”
James cursed, an unusual event judging by Evie’s shocked expression.
Koda’s chanting rose in volume, the words coming fast and bitter. With sudden insight, I realized the wards wouldn’t affect his power the way they had Evie’s, since his abilities negated dark energy—the very stuff the wards were made of.
The fae swordsmen broke free of the last civilians and charged and I braced for the attack. Flinging a hand skyward, Koda bared his teeth, his face strained and flushed with effort. An unearthly wind blasted open the ten-foot inner doors so hard, their hinges tore from the stone walls, leaving them hanging sideways. The windows high overhead shattered and glass rained down on the panicked fae in a cutting shower, but the wind kept it back from us. I watched, mesmerized, as the glittering shards tore through the screaming civilians and swordsmen. Cowering, they fled in every direction, desperate to find cover.
Koda’s chant took on a song’s cadence and rose in volume. The wind increased its speed, knocking the fae to the floor and extinguishing the wall torches so that the hall was cast into shadow. Only the full moon’s light, spilling in through the empty windows, kept it from being pitch black. Then the wind’s keening took on the whispery echoes of Koda’s song and the fae moaned in terror—the warriors loudest of all as they scrabbled away, crablike. Battered by the cyclone and terrified of the voices within it, weapons clattered to the travertine floor as at least half the swordsmen fled the hall.
Stunned, James, Evie and I watched ethereal deerskin-clad forms taking shape in the wind. The huge room filled with the sound of many voices singing Koda’s lament, the whispery descant hauntingly lovely. As the voices grew stronger, the forms’ ebony hair shone as if lit from within. Their expressions wise, the ghost-people danced into being, moving in time with the song’s slow rhythm. The women and children in the group moved in a solemn circle around Ahanu’s body, their movements stately and graceful. The men turned to meet Koda’s tear-filled eyes, and his raw voice fell silent, the ghost-people continuing the song for him, their dance steps never faltering.
A gasp from the Great Hall’s other end drew all eyes toward the king, still pinned to his ornate throne. Tugging frantically at the arrows impaling him, he struggled to pull himself free but couldn’t escape as the ghost-warriors descended upon him. Their forms obscured the throne, then there was a flash of light and the thunder of beating wings. That end of the huge room fell into blackest shadow, and when I blinked the ancestors were gone. The throne was empty, with only the arrows remaining, stuck in the seat’s thickly cushioned back.
The dancers’ song changed pitch, drawing my gaze back to the table where Ahanu lay. To my horror, his body was also gone and I started forward, without a clue what to do. James’s hand caught my arm and I looked where he gestured. In the circle of ephemeral dancers was Ahanu, leaping into the air and spinning with great abandon. The song became triumphant and the dancers’ steps moved faster. The spectral warriors who’d taken Reiden appeared in their midst, vaulting high as Ahanu had done and crowing with joy.
Koda stirred to go to them, a beatific grin stretching his lips as he raised a hand in supplication. I caught that hand before anyone—or anything—else could and held on for dear life. Dragging him back, away from the ghostly figures, something told me I’d lose him forever if he joined them.
Koda looked down at me, his eyes opaque and terrifyingly distant. It was then that I realized part of him had already gone to his brother and their ancestors’ spirits. Only his physical self and whatever consciousness was needed to direct it still remained. The ghost-people’s drums pounded louder in my ears, luring my feet to take up their rhythm, my heart to match their beat. If the effect on me was so strong, I could only imagine its
pull for Koda.
Framing his sweet face with my hands, I kept his gaze on me, refusing to allow him to turn toward the dancers. “Look at me, Koda! You named me Beloved. In my world, you have to keep what you name.” He tried to pull free and I clung to him all the harder, shaking him to make him meet my eyes. Seeing me struggle to hold him, James and Evie moved closer, ready to block him if he got away.
“Look at me, dammit! When you gave me a name, you bound yourself to me. It’s why the lords never give bitterns true names, that binding. You’re mine now, Koda. Mine! Just as I am yours. You’re stuck with me. Ahanu and the others cannot have you! I don’t owe them that and neither do you!”
When he didn’t respond, I hauled his head down so I could reach. Grinding my mouth into his, I alternated feverish kisses with words of love and promise—words I’d only heard used, but never truly understood. Not until that moment. Koda’s lips remained unresponsive, but it was their increasing coldness that terrified me most. When he tried again to pull away, I wrapped my arms around his waist and held on.
“Dammit, Koda, you said you love me!” Burying my face in his neck, tears drenching his cold flesh, I wept. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. Don’t go away. Please, don’t go away.”
Ever so slowly, Koda’s hands crept up to press against my hip. Just as slowly, his body softened against me and he bent his head. “Sephti?” he breathed, his voice sounding ancient, hollow.
I tightened my arms around him. “Yes, Koda. I’m right here.” He still felt distant to my senses, like parts of him were stretched thin between the ghost-people and my embrace. “Come all the way back, Koda. I want all of you back.”
The dancers’ song became clearer, like a veil had lifted between them and us. I could hear the tread of moccasined feet, the steady throb of drums. Koda stiffened in my arms, and again I had to block him from going to them. That it took James’s help cranked my panic beyond all levels of endurance.