Cloak of Darkness (The Destroyer-Blessed Saga Book 1)

by Sara E. Tonissen

  “And it’s best that you close your eyes,” the male added. He pressed his body closer to Red, making sure that they could both feel each other as they neared the shadowy expanse of trees. “Once you see something, you will be aware of what it is.”

  Red understood the warning. Trusting that the alpha male was not planning on abandoning her in the smog, she threw her hood over her head. She made sure that the fabric was pulled well over her eyes, ensuring that she would only be able to see the ground if she could not keep her eyelids shut.

  The Phantom Wolf Pack slowly passed into the thicker line of trees, the werewolves closing in tightly to each other. Red followed the pack blindly, hoping that the rest of her senses would be able to lead her to safety.

  All too soon, the group was swallowed up into the heart of the Forbidden Wastes. Every being prayed to the Maker—who had abandoned them long ago—asking her to watch over them as they passed by the Destroyer’s most cursed creations.

  ~~~

  Red’s body was no longer quite her own. Sweat soaked through her tunic, but gooseflesh ran across her entire body. Her eyes were shut against the horrors of the outside world, and her ears went deaf the moment her lids shut. The dark smog made everything float in place around her, but its weight pushed down on Red, almost suffocating her.

  Nothing made sense as she blindly followed Canis and the Phantom Wolf Pack.

  Time was an arbitrary concept. Hours could have already passed by quickly in a hazy dream. Or mere minutes could have dragged on endlessly.

  The feeling will pass eventually, Red thought to herself, wishing it to be true.

  “It always feels like this,” Canis commented, sensing Red’s continued confusion and agitation. Red could not see the alpha male, but she could feel his glowing eyes watching her, concerned. “It will pass once we are on the other side.”

  “Why?” Red asked, not really sure of what answers she was hoping to hear.

  “Our magic may have been dampened when we were cursed to live here, but not every creature's power was put into check before they were imprisoned. Some have curses set on what they claim to be their territory.”

  Red could not imagine how much power was needed to set such a curse on such a large expanse of territory. It was barely anything compared to the actual size of the Forbidden Wastes, and it was nothing compared to any of the seven kingdoms. But it was a cunning play of power, especially in a place where no one held true power.

  “The controller of this power tried to make herself queen when she was first brought here,” Canis continued, his voice softening as he remembered where he was. “She believed that if she could have the allegiance of every creature placed in here, she would be able to gain control over the strange magic that makes the Forbidden Wastes what they are.”

  Red tightened her grip on the male’s pelt. Her ability to feel Canis’s fur under her hand faded as her hearing took charge of her senses. Red tilted her head from side to side, trying to determine what her fingers felt instead of raven fur.

  “She did not realize, however, how many different factions of creatures lived inside these cursed woods. She did not understand what it would take to rule everyone.”

  Red leaned against Canis as she lost all feeling in her fingers. Her upheld weight was the only thing that proved the wolf had not disappeared. “How much longer?” she asked, her voice gravelly and heavy in the base of her throat.

  “We are not far,” Canis informed, his muscles tensing as he tried to keep Red from falling over. “But it is much easier to enter these parts than it is to leave them.”

  Red nodded her head. Or she thought she did—the twisting of her neck no longer seemed to register within her muddled brain. She managed to throw her free hand over her eyes, not feeling the smack to her face as she did everything to keep herself from seeing what was ahead.

  As her mind quieted down again, Red could feel the brush of her lashes tickling her fingers. She could sense the darkness beyond her eyes, but she could not determine if that darkness came from closed eyelids or the fingers still clamped over her face.

  Red felt the reverberations of Canis growling through her fingers, but she had no other clue as to what might have distressed him. She forced her feet to keep moving, the pull forwards the only thing keeping her from being left behind. But her will was not enough to keep her moving.

  Red’s hand slipped down Canis’s back, her fingers barely managing to hold onto his flicking tail as he pushed ahead without her. Her eyes betrayed her as she tried to search for her counterparts, opening them to find her fingers slipping away. To find her cloak being drawn back.

  Red was left behind. Frozen in place. Dead to the world beyond the fog.

  The smog was blinding but too dark to see through. It clung to the trees and fought against their dead branches as it tried to reach for Red. It was smoke and dust and wind and rain. Too thick to swim through but too thin to walk across. It blew through Red’s hair through her cloak—in a hot, lifeless breeze, but froze her to the core, stabbing into her clothes and skin like knives.

  Red’s limbs were unwilling to move away from the pain, or the pleasure, as her brain malfunctioned, no longer able to take in the information that swarmed her senses. The sound of distant shouts was cut off from reaching Red’s indifferent ears. A forceful push against her side was dutifully ignored by her numb limbs.

  You cannot escape, the smog taunted. You can never escape.

  “Escape from what?” Red asked even as her throat formed no sound—as her mouth made no movement to speak.

  Yourself.

  ~~~

  Canis cursed himself for trying to help the girl. He had never been compelled to help one of Alpha’s wielders before. The magnificent blade had never called to him since its creation. But when he had felt its presence by the delta, its call had pulled at his very heartstrings.

  They had been steps away from leaving that hexed expanse of trees. Steps away from reaching the closest thing to safety in the Forbidden Wastes. Steps away from getting that girl out of there.

  Canis barked out another curse.

  “What should we do?” one of the pups asked, his tail tucked between his legs as he looked back at the shroud of fog.

  Canis could still feel the pull toward that sword, even as the pull was dampened by the spell that had created the smog. His pack could not deny that pull. It was a part of their blood—their souls. It was their ancestry. And it was tied to the hip of a human.

  Canis hated that damned sword.

  The alpha male took a step forward, his pack protesting as he neared the fog. “I will retrieve her,” he declared. “I was the one who lost her. I should be the one to go in and find her.”

  The Phantom Wolf Pack did not argue against that. They stood by their alpha male’s side, ready to follow him if he asked. They would not go against his orders, but if Canis failed, they would each enter until one succeeded. Or until there were none of them left.

  Canis would not allow himself to fail.

  “Where is she?”

  The female closest to Canis raised her snout, her nose sniffing at the stale air as she tried to find Red. One giant paw raised as her great muzzle pointed forwards, guiding her alpha in the only way she knew how. “I don’t know how far she is, but her scent is not moving.”

  Canis nodded at the female, moving to stand directly in front of her. He slowly stepped forward, his own nose doing its best to try to pinpoint where Red had stopped. The fog enveloped him all too soon, the thick cloud causing the alpha male to overheat even as his body was wracked with shivers.

  Canis immediately spotted Red, his eyes catching on her obnoxious cape. He did not let the relief get to him, though, for he was still tasked with getting her out into the unmarked forest.

  Other creatures stood frozen, their minds long ago corrupted after their bodies had frozen at the edge of the fog. Poison trolls sent to destroy the creator of the fog were frozen mid-battle, their clubs raise
d overhead, ready to beat down their long gone opponent. Beyn unicorns stood with their horns thrust forwards, impaling nothing but air. Red stood, her hand outstretched as if she were still holding onto Canis’s fur.

  A strange darkness enveloped that outstretched hand, but it too was frozen from what could not be seen. It continued to spark around Red’s fingers like fire, but that was all the power it managed to create.

  Canis could not imagine what Red was seeing, but he knew that whatever it was, it was not going to let her go without a fight. It had her trapped, enchanting her with a dark magic that preyed on the innocent.

  Red might not have been considered innocent to the rest of Cathal’s standards. But she had not seen every horror that the world could throw at her. The creatures of the smog knew that, and they sought to destroy her chances of redemption.

  “Red!” Canis shouted as he neared her. “Red, listen to me!”

  Canis knew that sound would no longer register in her mind, but he could only draw her out of the fog if he could get through to at least one of her senses. He nudged his nose against her lowered arm. It shifted with his touch, but the movement was sluggish.

  “Red, listen to me,” Canis growled. He pushed against her arms, her legs, trying to get any regular movement out of her. “You need to listen to me.”

  The alpha male repeated his chant, over and over again, hoping that even one word would get through to Red. He shoved his weight against Red’s body, but she barely budged despite her lack in size. The werewolf growled again, his muzzle pushed against Red’s ear. He could feel her flesh beneath his teeth, but she still ignored him.

  The only movement that Canis noticed was in the black fire that still wafted over Red’s outstretched fingers. He focused on that fire. It reached out toward the werewolf, ready to attack the only sentient being it could locate. It shrank back, however, when it realized that it could not win when its vessel was incapacitated.

  Canis was pulled toward that darkness, even more so than to the sword its vessel protected. It whispered to him, telling him what to do to save Red. To save itself.

  Canis let out another colorful string of curses, his options growing slimmer by the minute. He ground his teeth together, cringing as he sniffed at Red’s arm. It reeked of death and decay. A shiver ran down Canis’s back, hair standing on edge as he realized what he had to do.

  He spread his large paws apart, preparing for the shock that would most likely come once Red was free. Every muscle in the alpha male’s body tensed. Canis lowered his great muzzle, teeth bared in a growl as Red’s dark magic sent a smokeless flame shooting toward his black nose.

  Canis flattened his ears against his head, his eyes closing as he lunged forward—as he bit into soft, human flesh.

  ~~~

  Red’s dark magic shot through her veins. It yelled into her ear, just as she let out a matching scream. It pushed against her muscles, forcing them to ache. To feel anything.

  Canis caught Red as she tumbled forwards, his muzzle dripping with her blood. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, his chartreuse eyes going dull. “I had no other choice.”

  “Just get us out of here,” Red gasped, her eyes slamming shut. She grabbed onto the werewolf’s fur despite the aching in her arm, her legs giving out as he dragged her through the smog.

  Red only opened her eyes when she felt her senses return to her. The Phantom Wolf Pack stood before her and their alpha male, jaws dropped at what they saw. Canis lowered Red to the ground, leaning her against a rock before slowly backing away from her.

  The Phantom Wolf Pack leader trembled before Red, her blood still dripping from his muzzle. “What have I done?” he muttered. “What have I done?”

  “You came… back for me,” Red stated calmly despite the tremors coursing through her body. “Y-you saved me.”

  “All while cursing the rest of us,” one of the lower males spat. He glared at the blood that dripped from his leader’s gaping mouth. “I told you we never should have helped her.”

  “We had no choice,” sounded an older female, her black coat peppered with gray fur. “We were all called to the Alpha. If Canis had failed, we would have gone in his place.”

  Red pushed herself up against the rock, her wounded arm cradled to her chest. A spiderweb of black licked at the blood seeping from Canis’s teeth marks, the silky strands holding her blood in as best it could. She used that temporary hold to give her the time to rummage through the supplies in her pack.

  “Does this mean we’re cursed?” one of the pups asked. He snuggled up to his mother, his little paws trembling against the dry ground.

  The lower male growled, glaring at Red. “What do you think?”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Canis finally cut in, his eyes roaming over to survey his pack. “I witnessed when my cousin attacked the last female to wield the Alpha. Sickness washed over him and his pack almost instantly.” The alpha male eyed his pack curiously. “I don’t think we have been cursed today.”

  “Would the magic that traps you here be able to keep the curse from taking hold?” Red asked. She slowly lifted her sleeve, wincing as the bite marks were more clearly exposed to the stale air. She carefully poured water onto a bandage, flinching as the cool liquid came into contact with her wounds.

  Canis watched Red carefully as she did her work, wincing when she recoiled as if he could feel her pain. He tilted his head to the side in thought, considering her words. “The curse could have been absorbed by the fog,” he implored, trying to find a reasonable explanation for their bizarre situation.

  Red bandaged her arm, repacking her supplies once she was content with her work. She slowly pulled herself up, grappling against the rock as she stood on shaking legs. “Well, whatever it was, we should probably head out. I’d like to get as far away from that fog as possible.”

  “We’re still going with her?” the lower male demanded. He shrank away when Canis glared down his nose at him.

  “We are nearly through our journey,” the alpha male stated plainly. He looked at Red, his eyes once again glowing in the shaded clearing. “We will see her through these woods until we get to the edge of Perancis.”

  Red nodded thankfully at the alpha male, the werewolf returning the gesture before turning back toward the open forest. She joined the leader at the front of the pack, the other werewolves falling into line. The group continued on their trek, not stopping to rest until the cursed smog was well behind them.

  ~~~

  By the end of the two-week journey through the Forbidden Wastes, the Phantom Wolf Pack was stumbling over their exhausted paws. The dead forests that spread across the lands left little protection from the odd, yet harsh elements that raged against the group.

  They were all battered and bone tired, but they trekked on.

  When they neared the end of the tree line, Red found a new skip in her step as she spotted a speck of rolling emerald hills through the dense canopy of rotting branches. She was bloodied and bruised, but Red was glad to have made it out of the Forbidden Wastes alive. She was reluctant to leave the pack the closer they got to Perancis’s border, but she knew that she needed to get back to her life as soon as possible.

  Once they reached the far edge of the woods, Red moved to stand beside Canis, idly running her fingers through his thick pelt. “Thank you for taking me here despite the dangers in these lands. You could have left me to fend for myself in that smog, but you chose to risk the lives of your family to help me. I am forever in debt to the Phantom Wolf Pack.”

  Canis’s dark eyes met Red’s, a smile growing across his muzzle, his teeth shining in the speckled sunlight. “I will keep that in mind, Red Riding Hood, but for now you must continue your journey alone. We know the scent of the Alpha, so we always know how to find you. If you ever dare to come back to these woods, of course.”

  Red was about to thank the wolves again, but a shrieking howl pierced through her words. The pack turned, creating a defensive circle with haunches crouche
d low to the ground in preparation to pounce. The hair was raised on their backs. Muzzles were curled into threatening growls. Red was shoved to the back of the pack. A young female pushed her wet nose into her back, urging her to go out into Perancis’ bright countryside.

  An unfamiliar wolf stepped out from behind a row of trees. His coat was a sickly, smokey gray, the fur matted around his skinny body. Ribs stuck out along his frame, and skin stuck to bone as if there were no muscle between the two layers. Large, pale yellow eyes protruded from the too thin face. Red rimmed the yellow, making them glow like embers in a fire.

  “You have no business here, Canis,” the wolf sang out, his head turning at each word as if he could not focus on one spot to stare at. “These are my lands.”

  “You have no lands, Lycan,” Canis growled, baring his teeth at the newcomer. “Leave before we have to kill you.”

  “Killing sounds like fun,” Lycan breathed out wistfully. “I haven’t killed in quite some time, but I like killing. Indeed, I love killing. And I smell something that I want to kill.” Lycan’s head turned to Red as he ended his mad rant. His squished nose sniffed at the air, drool dripping down his maw.

  “What a beautiful Alpha wielder I smell,” Lycan continued. He inhaled deeply, licking his lips as he whispered gleefully, “I can already taste her blood.”

  “You will not touch the girl,” Canis commanded. “Or shall I remind you of what happened the last time you attacked a wielder?”

  “That doesn’t matter anymore,” Lycan laughed, “I can still eat her.”

  Red’s conscience told her to flee, but her legs did not budge as she took in the cursed wolf before her. Plans of attack ran through her head, but she knew that the wolf could very well make up in speed what he lacked in brute strength.

  Lycan merely licked his large teeth, eyes growing wide with hunger as he watched Red look him over.

  “I see you staring, lovely,” Lycan tittered, tilting his head to the side. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you it’s rude to stare?”