by S. D. Grimm
He winced and turned away from her.
“Ryan’s case is different altogether. Those who were given the spell . . . the venom’s just a black ball of hatred inside of their blood. When it pumps through their hearts, the spell guards their hearts.”
“So if we undo the spell, we could make them tainted?”
“Yes.” Serena nodded at Connor. “So we have to cure them.”
“How do we cure them?” Logan asked.
“White alor. But we’d need a lot of it.”
“If we get to the white alor tree, Quinn can make more of them grow,” Jayden said.
Serena smiled. “Yes.” Her bright eyes were back.
“But how do we distribute the cure?” Rebekah asked.
“We can make it like an exploding potion—the kind that you drop in a vial. As the vial breaks, the potion escapes. If we can get close enough to the army, we could save many of them. If we don’t free them before we open the door to the Afterworld to defeat the Mistress, they will all die with her.”
“Scarface said we had to make the blood run red,” Ethan said.
“That’s exactly what this will do.”
Logan nodded once. “We leave for the Forest of Legends tonight. We get the power and the bracer and wait for the Mistress to show up. Then we defeat her and her Black Blood Army.” He looked at Connor. “Or we go to her now when she’s at her weakest and end it before she strips us of our powers. Our bonds.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a form in the darkness. She hovered near his tent. Kara. What was she up to?
She entered, and Ethan drew his sword, pushing Jayden behind him. Connor stepped in front of Ethan. “Kara?”
“I’ve come from the Mistress. She is here.” Kara walked past Ethan and his sword and slammed a page on the table. A map. Her eyes met Logan’s.
“She tells the truth,” Serena said.
“Then we leave at dawn. The Mistress is ours.”
They began to exit his tent, and Logan turned his wooden token over in his fingers. Morgan’s warning came back to him: “It’s a key of some sort. It opens a door. And you’ll need it if you’re to defeat the monster. Her name is Garmr . . . if you don’t defeat this creature, it will take all the Deliverers. Garmr kills with fear. That’s how her power works. She latches onto their fears and lets them grow until the fear suffocates her prey. The Mistress will use her to kill the Deliverers once she gets what she needs.”
He would defeat this monster. Face his greatest fear and thrive.
Chapter 51
Destruction
Solitude was something Connor missed. He guessed it was something he got used to. He shifted into his wolf form and loped along the riverbank. The ground under his paws was moist and soft still, but padded with old leaves. Winter would soon be here. Logan had moved them again today, but Connor knew the Mistress would find them. She’d search for him. He had to take the fight to her before she was ready. They needed the Creator’s power.
Cliffdiver flew the perimeter on the other side of camp, sorrow filtering over the bond. “I should be with you for hundreds of years. Not this short time.”
“However short, I am glad to have you for a friend.”
“Me too.”
Connor stopped and sat just on the outskirt of camp, his tail curling around his haunches. Only the sliver of a moon shone tonight—red reflected across the water. A rustling of leaves announced someone’s presence. Connor lifted his nose to the wind. Cherry wood and blossoms. Quinn. She saw him and stopped still in her tracks. The scent of fear poured off of her. In five hundred years, would he ever be able to make her not fear him? His heart mourned, but he was surprised when a whine escaped his throat.
Quinn took a step nearer to him. “Are you wounded?”
Quaking in fear, she still asked if he was injured. What a sensitive heart she had. His love for her swelled.
“Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. A friend of mine talks to wolves. If you’re wounded, I’m sure he can help you.”
“I’m not hurt.” He smiled at her before he turned to leave.
“Then what’s wrong?”
Connor stopped and faced her. “You can hear me?”
“Yes.”
“How is that possible? You aren’t bonded to wolves.”
“No, but I can talk to you.” She stepped closer to him.
“Aren’t you afraid of me?”
“Should I be?”
Connor limped closer. “No. But I smell your fear.”
“I am afraid, but maybe I shouldn’t be. Are you afraid of me?”
A chill swept through his bones. “Terrified.”
“Well, you don’t need to be. I won’t hurt you. I have a friend who is a wolf.”
Connor cocked his head.
“He doesn’t know that I know, but I made a mistake. I told him I was afraid of wolves. It’s true, but I didn’t mean I was afraid of him. I thought, maybe if I could have a conversation with one, it would help me to understand him better.”
She knew?
She moved closer. “You’re hard to see in the dark. Your coat is black?”
“Brown. I—”
“I thought you were limping. Are you sure you’re not hurt?”
“I’m all right. Quinn, I—”
“How do you know my name?”
“Quinn?” Serena’s voice echoed down toward the water. “Quinn, you’ve got to come back to the camp. The wolves have spotted danger. There’s a monster headed this way.”
Connor bristled. “Monster?”
The trees swayed. Whispers carried through the breeze. Quinn reached a hand toward Connor. “Come with us. You could be in danger.”
Serena stepped closer. “Quinn, who are you—oh.”
“I think he’s hurt. Wait, the trees say there’s more than one monster.” She pointed toward the east, just near the river. “There!”
Connor turned—how did he not smell them? A throaty growl heated the air like a crackle of lightning. Connor looked over his shoulder. “Take Serena and run!”
Quinn turned. “Run!”
“Connor!” Serena yelled his name.
Quinn spun around. “Where?”
“The wolf, Quinn. It’s Connor.”
“What?”
“Quinn, please, take Serena and run. She can’t get hurt.”
Four fiery beasts stepped forward, and the scent of char and heat finally filled the air. Connor’s hair stood on end. Creatures of the depths of the underworld. Bulls—huge and fiery. The Mistress had originally created four. One to watch each entrance to her shadow lands. They raced toward the water and rammed their horns into the trees. Quinn screamed as one of the trees ignited and fell across the river. Three of the bulls continued to ram into their trees, but one creature of flame jumped atop the downed trunk. “The Mistress of Shadows knows you’re here, Wielder.”
Connor’s powers erupted inside of him like lightning about to strike. He contained them. “Then why does she send you?”
It laughed. “Join her now or die.” The bull raced toward him.
Connor threw back his head and let out a mournful howl as his power crackled beneath his fur. The howl echoed through the trees, and they shifted, as if recognizing his voice. The ground shook. The waters rumbled. One tree uprooted and plummeted toward the bull. His powers exploded into the land. They pulled, wanted to be stronger, and he resisted. Another tree crashed down, bridging the river.
Connor fought the pull of his powers, but the land ached with his indecision.
Quinn had touched him.
He couldn’t stop it now.
The other two bulls downed more lit trees, and fire started to spread. He needed to douse it. To save the Feravolk.
His power ripped through him, free.
With a surge this strong, someone would die. He did all he could to target the three remaining beasts headed for him and Serena and Quinn.
Water rose into a long pi
llar, bleeding the river dry. One bull hit another tree with its horns. It ignited into flame, and fell, spreading more fire through the forest.
Connor unleashed the river. The water fell on the beasts, dousing everything. They screamed and drowned with a hiss. All but one. Black char dripped off of it as it climbed free of the water, and it continued charging at him, hitting everything in its way. Connor leapt forward. His steel-trap jaws enclosed around the creature. Charcoal hooves kicked at his body. His ribs broke. His shoulder cracked. Still he held on. Wind struck up around him as he held on to the creature’s throat. And he unleashed another surge of his power into the creature. No blood spilled into his mouth, only dust. So much dust. It choked him. Still he held on until the crackling breaths stopped.
“Let go!” Hands touched his head. Serena was above him. Falling to the ground, he released the beast, and the rest of it blew away in the wind. Both of his sides throbbed, and his left foreleg dangled uselessly. But that was nothing compared to the destruction he’d caused. Most of the water had doused the fire, but the riverbed lay dry. The woods were charred. The valley looked as though it had been without water for decades. Just like the Forest of Death. Just like where that creature had come from.
Death Bringer.
That’s what he was.
He tried to drag himself to stand, but pain crushed his insides. He fell to the ground and let out a whine.
“Connor!” Quinn raced to him. “Oh.” She touched him and he whimpered.
She ran her fingers along his face. His ear. His neck. He closed his eyes.
“Quinn?”
That was Serena’s voice. She . . . why were his thoughts so muddied?
“Oh, look what he’s done.” Serena stopped and surveyed the landscape.
Now Connor’s heart joined in the pain.
Quinn’s hand retreated. “The monsters.”
“No.” Serena dropped to his side. “Connor.”
“What?” Quinn’s voice was breathless. She backed away from him as Serena leaned over him.
“Hang on, Connor. I got you.” Serena placed her hand on him, and he no longer wanted to be healed. When he looked in Quinn’s eyes and saw the horror of what he’d done mirrored in them, he wanted to die.
“Connor, if you have no will to live, it makes my job much harder.” Serena’s voice would have been a comfort if he didn’t want to dissolve into nothing.
He thought of his mission to keep the Deliverers safe and his purpose filled him again like a spring. “Take all the strength you need.”
Serena’s healing pulsed through him. Mended everything but the ache in his soul.
Quinn stared at him, her eyes huge. “You—” she stopped and shook her head. “What are you capable of?”
Death.
Destruction.
“My powers are like the Mistress’s.”
Quinn gasped and pulled away from him, but something deep in Connor’s bones rose up like a warning. He looked at Serena. “She meant to draw me away. The Mistress is here—in the Shadowland. She can access the Shadowland. This was a distraction.”
Chapter 52
The Shadows
Logan lay next to his wife while the night grew deeper. Darkness
had settled by the time Westwind sent him a warning. Logan sat up, and Rebekah with him.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Westwind sees something strange approaching. I’m going to look into it.” He strapped on his weapons, and Rebekah wrapped her arms around him.
“Hurry back.” She held him tight.
He pulled her in for a kiss. Then he stepped outside and headed toward the edge of camp. The trees around them shielded the group, but even they looked thinner than before.
The night air was uncommonly cool, but something was off in the breeze. Not just the chill. Not just the lack of moisture in the air. The changing of seasons was always full of new sensations, but this breeze was void of sounds, smells, tastes. A strange light, like a distant fire, gave the night an eerie glow.
“Is your fur on end?” Westwind’s voice carried over the bond from where he was—not far west—but the breeze that blew through camp muffled his voice. That shouldn’t happen. That was new. It meant the wind belonged to more than the forest.
“Did you sense that?” Logan stopped and felt the air with his fingers. Every speck of dust and sting of cold.
“Something hunts you, friend.” Westwind’s words came slow and deliberate, as if they waited in the shadows stalking prey. But he was right. That was the feeling. Something stalked him. A tremor rocked the ground, and Logan turned to the west. Fire sprouted up from the trees near the river. “What is that?”
Westwind’s thought slammed into him with the panic his friend felt. “Connor is battling something made of fire. We need to run. This danger feels dark.”
Logan drew his sword and a deep, brittle laugh—like stepping on frosted grass—skittered over the bond. Not Westwind’s laugh. Not their bond. Some different bond. An intrusion.
Rebekah joined him in the wood. “Logan. Aurora said you were in danger.”
“It’s not here for me.”
“It?”
“Whatever it is, it wants the Children.”
Rebekah gasped, and the word “no” hung in the middle of her expelled breath.
He tapped into the coldest, most desolate corner in his mind. “What are you?”
“I am their worst fear.” The reply came as if a whisper on the wind. “And I’ve come to claim them.”
“Do not think you can fool me. I know you are no Whisperer.”
“No.” The voice hissed like water poured onto embers. “I am in the Shadowland. Come. Join me here.”
“Shadowland?”
“The Mistress’s realm. It’s how she can send her messengers without them being detected.”
Another plane? Logan whirled around to see Ethan, Jayden, and Ryan join him, Ethan with sword drawn. The dragon, gryphon, and pegasus followed. Where was Serena?
“You are her messenger?” he asked the voice in his mind.
“I am more than that. I have her power. I am death.”
Logan’s sword trembled with the shiver that coursed through him. He looked over his shoulder at the others. Westwind stood behind Rebekah and stared at the void in front of Logan. The others scanned the woods as if trying to find the threat.
If he could fight this creature—the Mistress’s barghest—in the Shadow realm, he could give them all a chance to flee. Morgan had told him this moment would come.
Logan met Westwind’s eyes last. “The bond I shared with you, friend, I now pass to Rebekah.”
“No, Logan, don’t. You—”
“When I return, I will take you back, but the cold here is not for you to feel.”
“Logan, don’t leave me here.”
“You have to protect them, Westwind. Now run.”
“If you—” His voice cut out and Rebekah gasped.
“Logan?” She started to run to him.
“Logan?” Ethan stepped forward. Jayden screamed his name.
He held up his hand. “No. This fight isn’t yours. You cannot follow me here. Listen to me. You have to stick together. You have to work together. Never stop believing that together you can beat her.”
Then he stepped into the void and entered the Shadowland.
The trees exploded into expanded pieces of a whole—frozen in time. Shards, brittle and full of ice, shattered all around him, suspended. The creature appeared before him. Razors for teeth. Pitch for eyes. Ears of fire. It looked like no animal. No creature. Nothing that should breathe.
“I don’t breathe air. I breathe fear. I am the barghest Garmr, and I have come to claim you.”
“Then you will die.”
Her laugh was broken in the wind. “You can’t kill death.”
“No?” Logan lifted the token the Whisperer had given him. The one with the wolves on the front. Anna said I could use this to d
efeat my biggest fear. The inability to protect those he loved was his biggest fear. And therefore letting this monster past him counted as that. “I will.”
It seemed to creep closer but never moved. “Stupid, noble human.”
“I protect my pack with my life. Die, creature of death. Go into the door of the Afterworld.”
“You cannot open that door.”
“The Creator gave me a key. See?” He held up the token. “I carry your greatest fear, Garmr.”
The beast lunged toward Jayden, covering more ground than natural in the normal realm. She faced it, eyes wide, and screamed. What did she see? Certainly not Garmr. It showed Jayden her greatest fear. Logan rushed to get between the barghest and Jayden and found that he moved as fluidly and fast as the creature had. Morgan had been right. He was immortal here. He had to kill the barghest before it took the lives of those he’d sworn to protect. Those he loved as his own children.
He swung his sword, and Garmr ducked. She turned her attention toward him.
Then something opened like a black void in the Shadowland. A stream of mist pulsed through and took shape as it joined Logan. His pulse pounded. The Mistress of Shadows. Another creature like Garmr followed her. And she stared at Logan. “Oh look. They sent you. One with no powers? This won’t be any fun at all.” She narrowed her eyes. “Gnarg, Garmr, bring me the Deliverers.”
“I am not alone.” Logan tossed his wooden token out in front of him, and the two wolves carved into it by the previous Wielder lunged out.
As big as any horse, one black and one white, they stood in front of Logan and lowered their heads. The growls that resounded out of them vibrated the very walls of the Shadowland.
The barghests opened their maws, fangs unfolding like a snake’s, and one lunged at the black wolf. The white wolf sprang up and jumped at the Mistress.
The second barghest, Garmr, raced around them and beat Logan to where Jayden stood. She remained in the other realm, and the barghest in this realm. But Garmr closed her jaws on Jayden’s head.
Jayden screamed, as something unseen gripped her. While the wolves from the key drove the Mistress and Gnarg back through the opening the Mistress had come through, Logan raced to Garmr. He slammed his body into the creature and buried his sword into Garmr’s side. The beast released Jayden and roared.