by Dark, Raven
Once I finished dressing, I slung my pack over my shoulder, and left a fat purse on the table as a tip for our Yantu hosts. Then I went to the door and took one last look around the hut.
It felt a little surreal to realize this was the hut where I’d lived before my time away in the Temple. Last night was the first time I’d seen the place. It was clean now, if not spotless, left in good shape for the servants who would later come in to ready it for the next occupants. There was no evidence of my rampages, of the mess I’d made when I’d wallowed in my fucking pity party, but I knew it had been there. My men had seen it. My men had seen the worst of me. Setora more than anyone.
I took a moment to take a mental picture of the room, fixing it in my memory for the times I knew would come when I’d want to slip back into the old Sheriff. Change was never easy, especially for a man like me. But I was committed more than ever to that change. To be better and learn from my mistakes.
I silently thanked whoever was up there listening and walked out, closing the door for good.
The sun warmed my face, stabbing at my eyes, and I let it burn, breathing in the sweet fresh air. Sucking life into my lungs.
Life I was able to live because of my woman.
I hummed to myself as I headed up the path toward Hawk’s hut where the group was waiting. Today, I had my life back, but in minutes, I’d be getting something else back too. I smiled to myself and sped up my pace.
Turning on the path, I scanned my surroundings. Now that the sun was out, I could finally get a good look at everything. Fuck me, they really were huts. Every house on the street was made of clay and straw, dirt paths cutting between them here and there. Funny how those homes looked as sturdy as stone.
When I reached the front of Hawk’s hut, men’s voices drifted from inside. Pretty Boy’s mischievous laugh, Hawk calmly chiding him. Steel’s cursing, Setora’s sweet giggle.
The sounds filled my heart with fierce joy before a prick of regret overshadowed it. It all sounded so normal that I had to remind myself that things were anything but. There was danger ahead of us, more than we’d ever faced before.
And then there was me, the old versus the new. How the hell I still had any friends after all that I’d done, I had no idea, but I did.
I opened the front door and stepped into the living room. The men were seated around the table. “Morning boys.”
All eyes inevitably turned on me. Pretty Boy and Doc both broke into big grins. They still weren’t used to the fact that I could see—fuck, even I wasn’t used to it yet. The way Steel caught himself staring, clearing his throat and suddenly taking profound interest in his meal before him was comical.
Pretty Boy pulled up a chair for me.
“Hungry, Master?” Setora stood up and indicated a side table laden with food.
“Starving. Load me up, sweetheart. Where’s Hawk?” I took my seat.
“He’s gone to get us a map from one of the villagers,” Pretty Boy said.
Setora set a plate down for me. Before she could return to her seat, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her onto my lap. Her startled laugh was music to my ears. I nipped her ear. She groaned in pleasure and squirmed. Never had I reveled in the feel of her soft, feminine warmth against me as much as I did then. It felt like years since I’d held her like this.
The men talked and ate while we waited for Hawk, relaxed and kidding around. This might be the last time we got to relax for a while.
Several minutes passed before Hawk returned. I looked over my shoulder at him as he crossed the room with several scrolls in his hand.
“You’re only putting off the inevitable, Hawk,” I half teased.
The men chuckled.
Hawk’s yellow eyes sparkled knowingly. He set the maps on the table.
“I’ll get you a plate, Master,” Setora said to Hawk.
“Sit,” he said, waving at her before she could get up and grab a plate. “Eat.” He served himself up. Taking his damn time. The bastard.
Setora got off my lap and went back to her seat.
Finally, Hawk walked around and dug into the inside pocket of his cut. The gavel. He dropped to one knee in front of me.
“For you, my king,” he said with an unlikely curve to his lip, holding out the gavel like it was a ceremonial sword for some long-ago king of old.
The men roared with laughter.
“Asshole.” I snatched the gavel from him, my shoulders shaking. “Sit your ass down.”
He took the remaining empty seat.
“So, we’re all ready to go then?” I asked, taking a mouthful of scrambled eggs.
“We are, except for mapping out our route,” Hawk said.
“Let’s get on it then.”
He laid out the maps, using the mugs on the table to hold the corners down.
“I really don’t know shit about the Orial Mountains, boys,” I said, looking over the lines on the map. “I always fell asleep during Payton’s geography lectures in Dire.”
“Everyone fell asleep during his lectures,” Steel grunted.
“I know a little about it,” Doc said.
“So do I,” Setora said. “Damien’s tutors were exhaustive about teaching me every part of the world.”
I finished my breakfast and put my plate aside. “Good, then you can tell us how the hell we’re supposed to get through there without getting dead.”
Setora stood up, put a last piece of fish in her mouth and studied the maps.
“High Priestess Lanaya said Julian is at the northern most tip of the Orial. That would put him somewhere around here.” She pointed to a large area on the far northern end of the map where mountains marched for miles.
“That area is cold as fuck,” Doc said. “And I mean butt-fucking cold. The temperature regularly drops low enough to freeze on contact. Ice storms blow up out of nowhere. There is the constant danger of frostbite, among other things.”
“Lovely,” Pretty Boy muttered.
“I know. There’s nothing out there for miles except ice and snow, and the area is immense, so it’s easy to get lost if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“Guess we should start packing the food on, then,” Steel put in, grabbing a plate of bacon.
I shook my head.
“What did Lanaya mean by ‘where the Light stops,’ Princess?”
“There are lights in the sky over the Orial at all times,” Setora began, her voice sounding a bit faraway.
“You’re talking about the Alaybra Lights,” Doc added.
She shook herself. “They look sort of like a rainbow, but bigger, and they move like waves. I’ve…seen them before, in my dreams.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard stories of their beauty,” Doc said.
“Anyway,” she continued, leaning over the map, “There must be a spot, maybe here,” she tapped, “where the lights don’t appear. This circular mountain range must be high enough to block out most of the sky, perhaps. I don’t know. ‘When the Light stops’ must mean an area where something’s covering the Lights. Or it’s a place where the sun is blocked out, so it’s nighttime twenty-four hours a day.” She shrugged. “I guess we’ll know more when we get closer to the area.”
Night, twenty-four hours a day with no sun? In that cold? This trip was starting to sound worse by the minute. “What’s the best route out there?”
“From what I learned about the area, our best route runs right across here.” Setora drew a line with her finger. “Through Dead Man’s Pass. It’s less treacherous, with high cliffs that will keep most of the wind off of us. But there’s something you should know.” She waited until we all looked at her. “There is a reason they call it that.”
Doc nodded. “There’s no fueling stations along that route. It’ll take a week or more to get through it, and as I mentioned, its extremely cold. Lots of high, icy cliffs to go tumbling over. We won’t be able to drive through it. Which means we’ll need to find other options that don’t include traveling on foot.”
<
br /> Setora’s face was growing paler by the second. “My tutor wasn’t prone to dramatics, so when he explained about the conditions there…well, put it this way, if the cold doesn’t kill us, lack of food or an avalanche will.”
“I’m guessing this is how Julian stayed hidden for so long,” Hawk said, “There’s no one and nothing out there, and anyone who tries to find him dies before they’d reach him.”
“Then how the hell are so many people getting out there to serve in his fucking army?” I asked. “You’d think he’d lose more people than he recruits.”
“Violets,” Doc said quietly.
“Probably.” Setora nodded. “I’m betting most of the parties that end up going to him are being led by a Violet who’s constantly connected to him. Using that mental link to guide them to him. And Maker, with their incredible strength and that mental pull to him, they’d get there no matter the odds.”
I sat back, thinking on this, seriously considering making her and most of the men stay behind, and only myself, Hawk, Pretty Boy, and Steel going on this crazy fucking trek through a frozen hell. We’d already lost Pup, Latch, and Crash. We’d lost enough men on these journeys without putting more men in danger when the trip only called for the Four. I’d have made Doc stay behind too, but we’d need his medical expertise out there.
Except that having any of the men stay behind wasn’t an option. There was a ridiculously high likelihood that one or more of the Four wouldn’t make it. If that happened, we’d need the others to increase the chances of keeping Setora safe. And I couldn’t force her to stay behind. No way would she face this fuck alone, but we would need her help to find him.
Son of a bitch.
“Ali’san’s coming, I assume?” I asked when we’d finished plotting out the trip.
“Yes,” Hawk said. “I sent her ahead a couple of hours ago. She’ll meet us here, at Sala Ray.” He tapped a spot on the map.
“Good. And Vol Ivek? Has he been updated?”
Hawk nodded.
“Steel, bring him in here.”
“You got it, General.”
Steel left, and the group lapsed into an unlikely silence while we waited. It felt like the awareness of the high danger ahead of us hung like a cloud. Setora sat back down, running her fingers over the lines on the map distractedly. I could see the fear for us written all over her face.
“Sweetheart, come here.”
She got up and came to me, and I pulled her onto my knee, slipping my arms around her waist. “Scared?” I whispered into her hair.
She heaved a sigh. “I just wish there was a way I could face Julian in my head. I wish none of you had to go.”
I wouldn’t sugar-coat this by telling her everything would be fine when I knew it wasn’t. “We’ll keep you safe. And when this whole mess is over, you’re going back to the Grotto, and when you’re not spending your days on your back, we’re going to be pampering you to death. And most importantly, you’re never leaving again.”
A soft laugh left her. “No arguments here, Master.”
“Good.” I kissed her temple.
The door to the hut opened and Ivek strode in with Steel, drawing my focus to him. Fuck me, he really was a barbarian, complete with thick braids of black hair held in a band at his nape in the classic Critian style. His pants were made of thick fur intended for colder climates. He even had a medallion that looked like a tooth from some large predator resting on a bared chest almost as broad as Steel’s. With the thick ropes of muscles on his arms, I could easily see him wielding an axe as big as Savage’s. He wore a leather band around his head encrusted with jewels, the mark of the ruler—the Vol—of Crite.
Stopping at the table, Ivek took in the gavel beside me with a smile. “You really can see again.” He sounded awestruck. “Is it true the Liberator restored your sight?” His voice was guttural, laced with a thick accent.
I glanced at Setora, watching her cheeks flush. She squirmed uncomfortably on my lap. “She did indeed.”
“Amazing,” he bowed his head in awe.
I grinned. “We have a lot to discuss, Vol Ivek. Have a seat.”
We quickly went over the trip we’d planned out, and all the dangers Doc and Setora had mentioned. His eyes widened, but otherwise he looked remarkably unphased.
“I will not hold you to what you said last night,” I told him when we finished. “There is a chance that not all of your men will make it. If you wish to stay behind, say so now.”
“General Sheriff, parts of Crite are as cold as the Orial. I am not afraid of the cold. From the moment my sister had her first vision of this Julian, I pledged my life to the Liberator and all who follow her. I will die before I abandon her.”
I hadn’t forgotten what Hawk had once told me, about Ivek’s interest in Setora when they first met. The Vol’s strange devotion to her made my hackles rise. I looked at my men. Apparently, their thoughts were like mine, because Steel growled, Pretty Boy was staring at Ivek like a silent predator, and Hawk’s fist tightened on the table. I found myself sizing the Critian king up. As it was, no matter how badly I wanted to, I couldn’t put him out on his ass. We needed him. Still, I’d be watching him closely. If he wanted Setora for himself, he was in for a few surprises—four of them.
“Fine,” I said. “How many men are with you?”
“Thirty, General.”
I widened my eyes. “And you came on horses?” I glanced at the others, then back at him. “There isn’t enough room in our carriages for us to drive you as far as the Orial. We won’t be taking mounts for about the first week. You’d slow us down.”
“There is a place you can buy carriages in Sala Ray,” Doc suggested. “But if we do it that way, Ivek, you’ll need money or something to trade. And you’ll have to leave your mounts behind, only to get others when we buy ours later.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Ivek said. “I have plenty of coin and the rest will be handled. We will join you, and offer our assistance as promised, General.”
“Good. We’ll meet you at Sala Ray in time for the dinner.”
* * *
We said our goodbyes to Leif and the Yantu, thanking them for everything, and left an hour later. After the few hours’ walk to pick up the carriages, we headed for Sala Ray, showing up around dinner, as promised.
Sala Ray spread along the banks of a river, a stretch of green lined with farms and villages. Docks lined the riverbank, boats bobbing on the water. Ivek had set up camp along the banks, just outside the village lines. The streets looked empty, the village deserted, but on closer inspection, I caught sight of a curtain twitching in a window here, a house owner disappearing into a home there, with furtive glances at the large barbarian party.
I chuckled. Like most of the world, apparently the townspeople here thought the same about Critians as anywhere else in the world—they were murderous, marauding demons.
Ivek’s men were preparing dinner. It looked like they had half as many horses as I would have expected for a thirty-man troop. Five large carriages like ours, with solar panels along the sides, stood between their bulky wagons. Leather canvases covered the wagons, each with two horses hitched, looking like something out of a time before the Old World had advanced into its technological age. It made for a surreal image.
“Dark Legion,” Ivek said, greeting us. “You must join me for a meal, General.”
“Much appreciated.” I followed him toward a cluster of cookfires around which his men sat in large groups. The smell of rabbit stew wafted up from the cookpots, spiced with pleasant, but unfamiliar seasonings that made my mouth water.
Ivek motioned for one of his men to get us bowls of stew. “General, Liberator, there are a few people you should meet.” He gestured to a couple at another cook fire. A man with hair like Ivek’s but dirty blond, and a Violet at his side, joined us. “General Sheriff, this is Xarq, my second in command. When I am not available, if you need anything, let him know. As we are your army, he will follow your or
ders without question.”
I concealed my surprise. A barbarian, following an MC General? That would take some getting used to. I shook Xarq hand. “Good to meet you, Xarq.”
“Liberator,” Ivek began, then gestured to the woman with Xarq. “This is Kashaya, my sister.”
I could see Setora’s eyes widen. No wonder why. For a woman, Kashaya was enormous, a head shorter than her brother and taller than Ali’san. Setora’s head dropped almost all the way back to meet Kashaya’s dark violet, almost black eyes. She had the build and size of a warrior, with broad shoulders, but her dark purple hair was laced with white flowers of some sort, and a long white frock draped to her feet.
Setora gave her a solemn bow that looked remarkably like the kind Hawk gave sometimes.
“Please, call me Kash,” the woman said, giving her the same inclination of her head. “And it is I who should bow to you, Liberator.”
Setora’s mouth opened and closed several times. Obviously, she was still trying to get used to people behaving as if she was automatically superior, and especially when Kash’s relation to Ivek made her the equivalent of a fucking queen.
“My brother said you had another woman with you? A Violet?” She glanced around curiously.
“Yes.” Setora glanced around as well. “Ali’san. She was supposed to meet us here.”
“Is she really a Yantu?” Kash whispered, leaning toward us.
Setora nodded.
“This I have to see.”
A low rumble from Ivek caught my attention, and I heard him mutter something about uppity women. Setora snickered, and Kash scowled at him.
“I will leave Kash to speak with you for a while then,” Ivek muttered before turning and stomping off, his huge back stiff.