by S. D. Grimm
“Welcome, Wielder.” A man with piercing blue eyes and longer, dark hair extended a hand for Connor to shake.
Connor recognized him. “Logan.”
“Please, come to my tent.”
Connor stopped and dropped to his knee as two wolves approached him. They were like all the animals who came to him. Apprehensive yet in awe.
“You are the Wielder.” The female wolf spoke. She approached more readily and seemed to want to lick his face as if he were a pup.
“Aurora?”
“You know me?” Her tail rose and brushed from one side to the other.
He turned to the other wolf. “You must be Westwind. I’ve heard so much about both of you.”
Westwind lowered his head in a bow.
Connor touched the wolf’s shoulder. “Do not bow to me, friend. We are all in this together.”
Connor looked up to see so many animals clustering closer. Bowing in reverence. “Friends, I am honored to fight with you.” He turned his attention to Logan who regarded him, then motioned for Connor to follow.
Rebekah wrapped her arm around him, and they walked to the only tent in the whole camp. Logan motioned to four people Connor’s age and introduced him. Ethan and Jayden. The other two Deliverers. He’d already met Ethan. Jayden studied him.
Then Logan motioned to Morgan. She looked so like Madison.
Connor’s heartbeat sped as soon as he saw Quinn. She looked so much older. He’d never seen someone so beautiful. Her eyes were the same. Ageless. Young and innocent as well as wise and weathered.
Ethan was the first to offer a handshake. He pulled Connor closer and slapped his back. “Good to see you.”
Connor smiled. “You, too.”
Morgan inclined her head in a greeting as did Jayden.
Quinn stared at him, her hazel eyes wide. “You have the same eyes.”
He shivered. He could not let her touch him and complete the circle of his power. He was not prepared for that.
Connor caught Jayden staring at him. Her kind, blue eyes seemed to search him. He gravitated closer to her and held out his hand. “May I?”
She put her hand in his palm.
He kissed the back in a proper greeting, but that wasn’t the purpose. She was powerful. “You can read my emotions?”
Her eyes widened slightly and she nodded. “You’re scared. Resisting something. Hesitant. You can trust us.”
He released her hand. “I do.”
She smiled. “How did you know what I could do?”
He shrugged. “Wielder.”
Connor stared into her eyes. Surely the Creator wanted him to have a pack—a family. But in the presence of all of them, his power still churned inside of him. Brewed like a storm. Would he be able to contain it? Right now all he wanted was to protect everyone in this tent with his life. That meant he’d never stop searching until he found another way. That meant he’d need to see if Quinn had the Whisperer’s book and find out what she knew.
The answers to his questions, hopefully.
In his short time here, he needed to learn everything she had to teach him. He didn’t realize he’d turned his attention from Jayden to Quinn until he saw her return the tentative gaze. She smiled, and it was so sweet and innocent. Just like a Whisperer should be.
Logan sat on the ground and everyone joined him. He looked right at Connor. “What can you tell us about this Black Blood Army? What do we need to know to stop the Mistress forever now that the door to her prison has been sealed?”
Connor’s heart clenched. So it was true.
There was one way.
Opening the door of death.
He could do it.
And everyone would die.
Connor nodded to Quinn across the circle they’d formed. “Quinn, would you please relay for them what the Mistress’s powers are and how she’ll use them?”
Her eyes popped open. “Should I know this?”
“Isn’t it in your book? Do you have the book?”
“Yes. I haven’t been able to read all of it yet. It’s too dark for me to stomach sometimes.”
His heart practically sank and jolted at the same time. How could she not know? “Too dark? Quinn, we need the information in that book. You’re the only one who can talk to the trees. We need their memories if we’re to defeat her.” If Quinn knew of no other way to put the Mistress away, what choice would he have left? “You have to read it. Fast. Otherwise we’re losing precious time.”
Her eyelids fluttered and she opened the book. “Some pages are locked because Ryan, the last Deliverer, has not touched it yet.”
“I can help you get Ryan. But you have to read the parts available to you.”
“How is he?” Ethan’s eyes held desperation.
Connor’s chest seemed quiet. “He’s . . . it’s a good thing Serena showed up when she did.”
“Serena made it?” Jayden asked.
Connor nodded. “I will help her and Kara free Ryan.” He turned to Morgan, noticing her clasped hands. “And Madison.”
“Thank you,” Morgan said.
Wind fluttered through the tent, and Quinn’s hair whipped around her. She hunched over the book and read.
Connor watched her for a heartbeat, then turned to Logan. “I have the ability to open the door of death. If I can use my powers to open the door, the Mistress can be thrown into the afterworld—as long as she’s overpowered. First, I needed to touch all the Deliverers.” He glanced at Jayden. “I only have Serena and Ryan left, but I’ll get to them soon. Then I’ll assess what all of your powers are and have an idea of what we can do to stop her.”
“But only you can open this door?” Logan asked.
“No. The Mistress can open it as well. I imagine she’s given the same power to Gnarg and Garmr.” Because she wanted them to be like him. Because she was obsessed with the Wielder. “If the Mistress gets her hands on the Creator’s power and makes it her own, it’ll be impossible for us to get her through the door. We should move now. While she’s still weak.”
“So the four Deliverers need to obtain the Creator’s power to be strong enough to push her through the door?” Logan asked.
Connor nodded. “I’m sure you’ve heard the prophecies? A sorceress will come with power to destroy all the Creator has built. She’ll break the land and the people’s hearts and bring death to those who’d oppose her. But hope will be found when the Deliverers rise through fire, through ash, and heal the heart of the land.
“Through blazing fire and torrent of rain, the Forest shall fall and rise again. Those who will deliver the land will summon the Creator’s power. They will work as one, each having different talents: the heart of one, mind of another, the soul of one, and strength of her brother.”
“I’ve heard most of it.” Logan nodded. “Some seems cryptic.”
“Basically, the Mistress is looking to control the Deliverers. She wants to control one’s heart, one’s mind, one’s soul, and one’s strength. She believes once she has all of that, she will be able to use the keys to unlock the power.”
“Good. How do they obtain the power, and where are the thrones and these keys?”
Connor nodded to Quinn. “She should have those answers in her book. There’s one more thing.” He winced. “The Mistress needs a vessel in order to survive here.”
Logan narrowed his eyes.
“She’s chosen Ryan. And claimed part of his heart.”
Jayden gasped. “Tell me we don’t have to kill Ryan.”
“No. But the Mistress has a hold on his heart. If Ryan were to die, she’d simply put her heart back inside Smoke until it’s time for a new vessel. When it’s inside Smoke, she has to remain dormant, but the dragon will keep living. She needs a human vessel to be alive here. She’ll just find another.”
Ethan breathed deep. “So we have to kill Smoke first?”
Connor looked right at him. “Yes. And if the Mistress taints more than half of Ryan’s, when she dies, he wil
l die.”
“Then we need to get him out now.” Jayden’s voice wavered.
“I’m working on that,” Connor said. “Tomorrow, with Serena, Kara, and Madison’s help, we will free Ryan and bring him back.”
“Then we kill the Mistress.” Ethan said, his jaw tight.
“Yes.”
“What do you need?” Logan asked.
Connor breathed deep and looked to Morgan. “Your powers, are they weakening?”
“Daily.”
“Will you tell me what you know?”
“I can’t see the battle. But you have an army?”
He nodded. “I know how to kill Franco. And the four of you together will kill the Mistress. I need you to be at the castle’s east side in two days.”
Logan nodded. “We will be.”
“No.” Morgan looked at Logan. “You will retreat. Soon. The Deliverers will go on ahead.”
Logan’s eyebrows pulled together.
“If you take your Feravolk fighters, every single one of them will die.”
Connor’s heart clutched. So it was true. He would use his power, and they would all die.
Quinn screamed.
Jayden rushed to her side first, but Quinn shook her head. “I have to keep reading.”
“She’s probably right about the darkness,” Connor said quietly. “Quinn?”
A wind kicked up around Quinn and surrounded only her, tossing her hair in all directions, but she clutched the pages of the book tight.
Morgan shook her head. “I don’t know if she can hear you.”
Connor inched closer. Not too close. “She’s likely in a memory. Give her some space.”
The wind stopped and Quinn slumped over the book.
“Is she okay?” Jayden asked.
“She took in a lot of information.” Connor stepped back. If he touched her, the circle would be complete. He didn’t want that arrow in his quiver to be accidentally pulled yet.
“Put her here.” Rebekah unrolled her bedroll. Ethan scooped her up and placed her on the bedroll.
Jayden followed with the book, but she paused in front of Connor and whispered, “Don’t be too hard on Quinn. She took that all in because you asked her to. She was so worried about meeting you.”
“Why?” Was she already afraid of him? What had she read about him?
Jayden’s smile resembled more of a frown. “I’ll let the two of you discuss that. Just—she’s one you’ll have to be more gentle with.” She touched his arm.
He turned and placed his hand over hers, anchoring it against him. “You’re very powerful. You can catch lightning and throw it. You can create a storm with your emotions or someone else’s. You’re fast. You can feel what I’m feeling and make me feel what you do.”
“What?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No. In fact, you may want to tell everyone what they can do. I don’t think we all know.” She started to walk away but paused and looked over her shoulder. “What can you do?”
He backed a step away from her without meaning to. “Terrible things.”
She bit her lip and nodded. “It terrifies you.”
“As long as I don’t touch Quinn—completing the circle—my powers stay suppressed. I’d like to keep it that way for now.”
“A Whisperer I used to know would tell me you were given those powers for a reason.”
“The reason is putting the Mistress away forever.”
Jayden nodded. “Then maybe I was meant to destroy her prison.”
Then maybe all of them were meant to die.
Jayden bit her bottom lip. “I used to be afraid to love because loss was too hard to deal with. It would have only made me more like Queen Idla.”
He nearly flinched at her mention of the dead queen. The queen she’d faced and killed.
She smiled as she walked away from him. And he was left standing beside Morgan.
“Can I talk to you?” she asked.
He nodded toward the tent door, and she followed him out. “You saw something?”
“Yes.” She said the word slowly and with a slight lilt that suggested a question, though no question followed. More like she had bad news to deliver and thought lengthening the process or waiting until he was in the right frame of mind might make it better.
Had she seen something about his future? Such was her burden. And he understood burdens.
“Connor, you saved my sister from . . . from unimaginable things. And you’re trying to save her still. I wanted to thank you.”
“There’s no need, Morgan. Your sister is a dear friend.” And even as he said it, he knew the weight of that sentiment. She remained quiet for so long his stomach started to squeeze. “You going to tell me what you saw?”
“I saw your death.”
That hit him harder than he’d thought. And it surprised him that a piece of him was relieved. Somehow he wondered if it was something dreadful that was going to happen to Quinn. “My death, huh?”
She looked up at him now, intensity in her eyes. “Connor, this is serious.”
He chuckled. “I know. It’s just—the gravity of what we’re up against is something I’m well acquainted with. Is it necessary, or did I mess up?”
Her eyes softened. “To keep the Deliverers alive, it’s necessary, but not as effective as you’d like it to be.”
So his plan had holes. “Okay. How do I make it effective?”
“I wish I could be of more help. All I know is you have to listen to Quinn.”
It all came back to the Whisperer. “Thank you. You’re wise, Morgan. Prescient. But you do let your heart get in the way of things sometimes, don’t you?”
“We’re only human.”
He couldn’t help but wonder whether or not he was only human.
She paused and faced him. “She can’t know you were here. You have to leave now.”
Chapter 35
Black as Pitch
Jayden filled her quiver with more pitch-covered arrows and stared at the expanse before her. The palace loomed above it like an obsidian tower amidst a volcanic land. They had moved closer, per Connor’s orders, two days ago.
When she’d been here last, the grass had been lush, the fruit and vegetables had been the healthiest in the land. Now desolation surrounded the palace. Black earth cracked and lava oozed through.
A storm hung on the horizon like a skittish, unbroken horse. Dangerous when afraid.
It wasn’t all her storm, but part of it was. Any wrong move could cause her to snap. If it rained, it’d douse the fire—their only weapon against these creatures. Stormcloud pressed her nose into Jayden’s back and a calm strength filled her.
Logan stood on one side of her and Ethan on the other.
She looked into a pool of lava and it moved. Faced her. It wasn’t lava at all. The black-and-red creature was one of the molten bulls. No one had reported seeing one; everyone had thought them hidden, but they weren’t. Here they were, in the open.
Now that she saw one, she saw others.
The pools of lava: they were the threat.
The bulls lurked in the shadows. In the fire. They were born of bubbling lava, and when she looked at the ground, her heart sped. Sweat broke out on her palms so her hold on her daggers quivered. She held tight to them. These creatures preyed on fear, but as it grew in everyone, hundreds and hundreds of warriors, it bled into her like lava in the cracked earth.
Fear suffocated her.
Wind buffeted everything.
She looked at Quinn. “Are you sure fire works on these monsters?”
One by one, the creatures grew in front of Jayden. Feravolk stood at the edge of the black ground and looked up.
“Your fear feeds them.” Quinn’s voice seemed so small.
The thunder rumbled.
“You fear killing someone else? Someone you love?” The thought trickled into her like a tiny raindrop. “Then go with my messenger, and I’ll spare your loved ones.”
/> The heavens broke open. Sizzles met the ground and Stormcloud reared behind Jayden. One of the bulls stepped over the threshold. It tossed its horned head and then roared, showing off a row of jagged teeth.
Jayden stepped back. “How are they doing that?”
Quinn stared at her. “The Mistress just got stronger. She expanded the layer.”
“Long live the Feravolk!” Logan’s cry spurred the same from others.
Rain poured as they charged forward, their Wielder-crafted weapons leading. She sliced a bull apart. The contact didn’t even seem to heat her blade. Stormcloud whirled and kicked. The wind swirled, as if two storms fought one another to remain grounded here. She needed the rain to stop. It doused the fires they desperately needed.
“Jayden!” Ethan fought his way through the beasts, Zephyr behind him. The wind was strong and the storm wouldn’t stop. But he’d lost sight of Jayden. The scar Belladonna had left in his chest throbbed and pulled. It fought against the burn that told him how to protect Jayden.
Firegoats, like flying, flaming snakes, shot above them. They dove and killed. Another level had expanded? They were losing and he could do nothing about it.
Ethan breathed deep and listened to his talent. There was one option. He found Logan behind him. “You have to get them to fall back.”
“Ethan, we have to get—”
“The only way they survive is if they fall back. Let me protect Jayden; it’s what I’m supposed to do.”
Logan nodded. “Fall back! Fall back!” He grabbed Ethan’s shoulder. “You better know what you’re doing, kid.”
Didn’t he know it.
Jayden. There she was. He raced toward her and touched her shoulder. She spun to face him, dagger ready. And her eyes flashed red.
“No.” His chest hollowed as all the air left his lungs. He stepped back from her, heart thrumming. “Jayden, it’s me. Ethan.”
The bulls parted into two snarling rows surrounding Ethan and Jayden, cutting them off from the others, and a dozen abysshounds walked up the path, snarling at the bulls and keeping them in line. The hounds loomed as tall as the bulls, eyes like fire smoldering. But they wouldn’t attack. Ethan charged and sliced the head off one of them. Two others snarled and snapped, but wouldn’t bite him.