A Curse So Dark and Lonely

by Brigid Kemmerer

  Rhen turns his head and presses his face against my body again.

  Every time he does that, a wave of sadness washes over me.

  He doesn’t want this. I can’t fix it. I can’t kill him, either. Not like this.

  I look up and call to Grey. “What do we do?”

  The guardsman is pale again, leaning against his horse a short distance off. I wonder if he’s reopened his stitches.

  “I’ve never seen the creature settle,” he says. “Not this season. Nor any others.” He hesitates. “We do not know how long it will last.”

  “Well, we can’t sit here in the woods forever.” I’m scared to move away from him as it is, as if whatever keeps him at my side is a spell that can be broken by distance.

  “In truth, my lady, I do not know what our next move should be.” Grey sighs and straightens.

  As soon as Grey takes a step toward me, Rhen-the-monster lifts from the ground and whirls to face him. A low growl rolls out of his throat, ending in that hair-raising screech.

  The horses jump and shy back, prancing against the reins that keep them tied to the trees. Grey does not. He puts his hands up. “If a fraction of your mind exists inside this creature, you know I mean you no harm.”

  The low growl again, but without the same intensity.

  “Harper just pulled your knives out of his wing,” calls Jake from where he stands near the horses. “Might not believe you.”

  Grey doesn’t look away from the creature. “I have a hundred stitches holding my chest together, so perhaps we are even.”

  Rhen paws at the ground, then takes a step back.

  I have no idea whether that’s a truce or what.

  A loud sound echoes in the distance, like trumpets, but lower. Rhen’s head snaps up and swivels in the direction of the sound.

  “What’s that noise?”

  “The soldiers from Syhl Shallow,” says Grey. “Their battle horns. They are advancing.”

  We have no way to know if everyone has been evacuated from the castle. We’ve stopped the monster, but we haven’t stopped Karis Luran’s men.

  The horns sound again.

  “We have to go back,” I say. “We have to make sure. Can you tell how long we have?”

  “If we ride fast, we could possibly beat them by half an hour. It takes time to move troops.”

  “What do we do with that thing?” calls Jake.

  “I do not know.” Grey hesitates, and there’s an element of sadness to his voice that mirrors what I feel when Rhen presses his head against my chest. Grey looks up at the creature. “Do you wish to return to Ironrose? Do you wish to go home?”

  Rhen crouches and leaps into the air, catching the wind with his wings, soaring high above before turning west. The scales glitter in a shimmering array of pinks and blues and greens in the sunlight. From here, he’s all beauty. It’s only up close that you see the danger.

  “Hurry,” says Grey. He turns for his horse and yanks the reins free. “If anyone is left, they may attack him.”

  Or Rhen may attack them.

  I don’t say it. I just limp across the small clearing and whistle for Will.

  We ride hard and make good time. Rhen is faster, but he tracks with us, flying ahead before looping back to stay near. I keep worrying this docile tether is going to snap and he’s going to pass over Ironrose, to find the people making their way toward Silvermoon and the waiting ships. He’s large enough that he could easily destroy boats, crushing masts and sails. With his ability to fly, he could drown them all.

  I need to stop thinking like this.

  Especially when we near the lands surrounding the castle and he glides down to the ground to travel with us on foot. It’s hard not to flinch away.

  He towers over our horses. Will prances underneath me, and I keep a tight hold on the reins, but Rhen walks beside us like it’s nothing.

  I glance over at Grey. “What are we going to do with him at the castle?”

  “Let him hide in the courtyard and wait for Karis Luran to drive us out, I suppose.” He pauses. “Forgive me, my lady. I see no path to victory here.”

  The horns blow in the distance again. Rhen growls.

  I glance back at him, and before I’m ready for it, emotion fills my chest. “I shouldn’t have left, Grey. He needed me, and I was falling for him. But—my family—” I press my hand to my eyes.

  Grey’s voice is anguished. “He knows, my lady. I promise you. He knows.”

  “But he still let me go.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  When I look across into Grey’s eyes, I realize.

  Rhen fell for me.

  I think of his voice when we stood on the cliff at Silvermoon. I want to know it’s real, too.

  It was real. For him, it was real.

  He was waiting for me.

  “I’m the one who failed here,” I say, and my voice breaks. “It was me. Not him.”

  “No.” Grey is stunned. “No. You have failed at nothing.”

  “I did—”

  “No,” says Jake, speaking for the first time in a while. “Harper, you didn’t do this.”

  “But I could have stopped it. I couldn’t get out of my own way—”

  “No,” he snaps. “And damn it, for once would you listen to me? You didn’t curse him. You didn’t bring yourself here.” He takes a long breath. “You didn’t—you didn’t give Mom cancer. You didn’t force Dad to borrow money from the wrong people—”

  “You didn’t, either,” I say to him. “But you still went to work for Lawrence.”

  “I did what I had to do,” he says. “To give Mom time. To protect you.”

  “Me too,” I say.

  We ride into the woods, and Rhen’s creature drops back to follow. I should have known. I should have realized. Now we’re going to ride back to an empty castle. Grey will return Jake and Noah to Washington, DC.

  I don’t know what I’ll do.

  As we ride through the trees, motion flickers ahead. Voices echo in the distance.

  I draw up my horse. “Grey. Is it Karis Luran’s army?” Have they gotten ahead of us somehow? But then the gold and red of Rhen’s army’s uniforms becomes clear through the trees.

  “They didn’t leave!” Confusion takes over the lump in my chest and squishes it into a new form. “They’re still here! What happened? What’s—”

  “The monster!” a man cries. “The monster is in the forest!”

  Men swarm forward. Shouts are all around us. I see bows raised. Horses trample the ground.

  With a shriek, Rhen’s monster unfurls his wings and tries to lift from the ground—but the trees are too dense here, and he’s too large. They’re going to attack him. He’s going to fight back.

  “No!” I yell. “Hold your charge!” Will prances, and I give him some rein so I can ride in front of the men who are leading the attack. “Stand down! Where is your general?”

  Behind me, Rhen shrieks. Many of the soldiers fall back. Horses rear and prance in a barely contained formation. A few others push forward.

  “Enough!” I call. “I said hold your charge.”

  Rhen’s army stops. Grey is behind us, blocking the creature. I hope he’s convincing Rhen to hold as well. We’re trapped in a tense circle of fear and vicious loathing. Everyone wants to attack.

  “My lady.” Zo rides through the soldiers. Her face is fierce and lined with tension. She gives a worried glance at the monster behind Grey. “You have … captured the creature?”

  Rhen’s talons scrape at the ground. A low growl rolls through the woods. A nervous murmur goes up among the soldiers behind her.

  “You were to evacuate,” I say to her. “What are you doing here?”

  “Everyone who was willing has evacuated.”

  “Everyone who was willing?” Several hundred men and women stand behind her. “Our orders were to evacuate all.”

  A man steps forward. His name is General Landon, a man who once served Rhen’s father.
He stops his horse beside Zo. “My lady, if you are willing to risk your life to save us, we are willing to risk ours to save Emberfall. We did not form this army to run.”

  I’m not sure what to say. “General—the army from Disi has not been able to move.” I feel tears form in my eyes and worry this will be seen as weakness. “Our numbers are not great enough to stop Karis Luran’s soldiers. They are already advancing.”

  “If we can hold them until reinforcements arrive …”

  Reinforcements.

  “General.” My voice breaks. “I do not—I do not have—”

  Rhen screeches and paws at the ground. I turn and glance at him over my shoulder.

  He might not be wholly himself, but he knows me. He knows Grey.

  I swing my leg over the back of my horse and drop to the ground, then walk through the underbrush to get to the creature.

  As soon as I stop in front of him, he stops glaring through the trees at the soldiers and presses his face against my chest. His warm breath blows against my knees again.

  Another murmur goes through the soldiers again, growing louder as word spreads.

  She’s tamed it. The princess has tamed the creature.

  I stroke the soft scales under his jaw and wonder if that’s true. Rhen once told me that if we could get Karis Luran’s army to retreat through the pass, we could station enough men there to prevent them from entering again. We just need to get her army to run.

  Rhen is terrifying enough that they might run from him. I just don’t know how to make him do it.

  “We can’t stay here. We’re all in danger. Karis Luran’s soldiers are coming.” I put my hands on either side of his face and look into his night-black eyes. “Please. Do you understand?”

  He butts his head against me, then paws at the ground again, stomping his taloned feet into the dirt, making the ground shake. The claws of his hind legs dig furrows into the path.

  Soldiers shout and shift through the trees. “Don’t let him harm the princess!”

  Rhen roars and rears straight up. It makes him twenty feet tall. Maybe more. The growling screech he emits rolls through the forest and produces a visceral reaction in my body. I drop and cower.

  He’s going to crush me. He’s going to kill them. He doesn’t understand.

  An arm grabs mine and jerks me back, out of the way. It’s Zo, and her sword is up and in front of us. Rhen’s taloned feet slam into the ground. He roars right in her face, and I shove her behind me.

  “No!” I yell.

  He stops—but turns on me. Fangs hook into the armor at my back. I’m jerked away from Zo. He’s going to tear me apart. Men shout. I see a flash of steel as Grey unsheathes his blade. Jake yells, “Harper!”

  I can’t think. I take a breath. I wait for pain.

  None comes. We’re running, so fast the trees are a blur to the side. I’m hanging from his mouth like an errant kitten.

  We break free of the trees and his wings catch the air. The ground begins to fall away below me. Someone’s screaming.

  It’s me. I’m screaming.

  All that’s holding me aloft are these leather buckles keeping the armor on my body.

  We’re so high that I can see for miles. Ironrose Castle. The soldiers shifting to become a pack, the horses so tiny they could be rodents. I can see the inn, and Silvermoon in the distance.

  We’re so high that the air grows thin. My arms begin to go numb from the pressure of the straps against my chest. “Please,” I whimper. “You’re hurting me. Take me back. Please, Rhen.”

  He doesn’t take me back.

  He lets go.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  MONSTER

  Destroy.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  HARPER

  I fall forever. The wind is a wild rush in my ears, a freezing blast at my face. The ground races toward me.

  Wings appear below me, white filling my field of vision. I expect to crash into him, but Rhen compensates for my fall, easing under me and swooping downward until my knees connect with the base of his wings, then leveling off. I wrap my arms around his neck, and the scales slice at my skin, but I grip tight.

  I look down. The soldiers are following on horseback. We’re faster, but they’re following, turning into a tiny blur in the distance.

  They won’t be able to help me. He can fly anywhere. He can drop me again.

  He could attack them.

  I can’t stop him. I can only hang on.

  I was so stupid. Jake was right. We should have killed him.

  In the distance ahead, a massive line of men on horseback are covering ground quickly. Green-and-black pennants flap in the wind. A horn rings out across the air.

  Karis Luran’s army.

  They bear heavier artillery. Two catapults. They have crossbows.

  I don’t know much about military strategy, but I do know this army dwarfs ours. If Grey and Jake and everyone else are still following me, they’ll be eviscerated.

  As soon as Rhen and I draw near, we’re spotted. Men shout, and their horses turn and shift, finding a new formation. Arrows sail through the air around us. I scream. “Rhen! We need to go back. We need to warn—”

  He roars, the sound ending in that earsplitting screech. Rhen swoops low, dragging soldiers from their horses and dropping them onto each other. Men scream and grab for me, but Rhen in his monster form is too big, too powerful. Blood fills the air as he tears them apart and soars back into the sky.

  He wasn’t trying to kill me. He was doing what I asked. He was trying to stop them.

  I don’t want to see him like this. I don’t want to watch these men die.

  But I don’t want to watch our soldiers die, either.

  Rhen was so right about choices. There are no easy choices. None.

  He swoops down through the soldiers again, cutting a swath through their ranks. Blood sprays, mixing with the tears on my cheeks. I’m safe between his wings, but it’s a terrible kind of safety.

  He strikes again. And again. And again. The soldiers are skilled, and they rearrange their formation to compensate for our attacks. I can’t tell if his efforts are making any difference, and I want to bury my face against his neck, but I can’t. Arrows fly around us, and my armor has kept me safe so far. I yank them from Rhen’s wings when he’s struck.

  A loud creak and a snap sound from somewhere to my right, and it takes my brain too long to realize they’ve loaded the catapult.

  “Duck!” I scream. I give Rhen’s neck a wrench. A stone larger than my body barely misses us.

  Rhen flies past the soldiers, catching an air current to soar, taking us too high for the catapult to reach. I’m gasping, choking on tears. Injured men scream below us. Swaths of blood coat the battlefield below, reminding me of the cursed room at Ironrose.

  The soldiers are finding another formation. We have to do something. He’s too indiscriminate, and there are too many of them.

  Rhen spent a lot of time talking about battle strategy, but not with me. Always with his generals or the soldiers. I’ve only heard bits and pieces, but I do know the important people ride at the back.

  I don’t want to do this. I want him to fly me away from here.

  As I have the thought, I’m already talking. “The back lines,” I say to Rhen, and my voice breaks. I remember how broken he was after ordering the death of the man at Hutchins Forge. “We have to take out their officers.” I swallow and force my voice to be strong. “The back line, Rhen. The flags. The officers. The back.”

  He loops around and dives.

  I brace myself for an impact, clutching tight to his neck. He tears through the line at the back, shredding flags and bodies. The sound buries itself in my brain. Horses scream. Men shout and die. Boulders sail through the air and land with bone-breaking crashes.

  Once we’re airborne again, I lean out over his shoulder and survey the damage below us. My fingers are leaving bloodied handprints all over his gorgeous scales and wing feath
ers. He shows absolutely no sign of being winded.

  Bodies decorate the countryside. Farmland is soaked in blood.

  There’s no sign of our army. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

  I pant against him. “Now the front,” I say. “We can’t let them move forward. The front, Rhen.” I tug at his neck and point. “Do you understand?”

  In answer, he dives.

  These soldiers are younger. Smaller. Many are on foot. They die just as easily, caught by his talons or claws. The Syhl Shallow soldiers lose any sense of formation and they now run wildly, just trying to get out of Rhen’s way. Men have begun to run west. We’ve completely stopped any forward movement toward Ironrose.

  “We’re winning,” I cry at Rhen, though nothing about this feels like a victory. “It’s working.”

  He gives a long shriek that drives more men to run. Especially when he flies at them, talons outstretched.

  A twang and a whistle split the air.

  The impact slams into Rhen like a tractor trailer. We fly sideways. He crashes into the ground.

  His wings break my fall, but the impact gets me off his back. I go skidding along the dirt, feeling grit drive into the side of my face. The catapult finally landed a hit.

  This is bad.

  A boot kicks me onto my back. Arrows point down at my head. A loud screech echoes somewhere to my left.

  One of the men aiming an arrow at my face lifts his head to yell. “Beast! We will destroy her! You cannot kill six of us at once!”

  Another screech. The ground shakes as Rhen drives his feet into the dirt.

  One man grabs hold of my armor and lifts his knife. My head is still recovering from slamming into the ground and my eyes blur. I’m sure he’s about to stab me in the side, but he doesn’t. He cuts my armor free. Under the steel-lined leather, I’m soaked in sweat, suddenly cold from the air that rushes across my chest.

  Another screech.

  The man standing over top of me lets his arrow fly.

  The arrow slices right through my shoulder, driving into the ground below me.