by Lee Savino
I’d watched as the giant snared Leif and fought to his side. As the giant’s axe swung down, I blocked the blow. Leif’s sword ripped through the net and took the giant’s head. He’d saved my life. I’d saved his. The bond formed, linking us forever. My enemy, my comrade in arms whom I despised, now could reach into my mind.
Brokk, come back. The cry came so faint, it could have been an echo, my own mind trying to tempt me. Brokk, please. We need you. We cannot survive without you. Lies, all lies.
I roamed over the heather-covered slopes, and Leif’s call faded away. I could run back to the cliffs and reach out to the Alphas. I’d tell them to send me into battle again. I’d find the Grey Men and kill as many as I could before I fell. Willow would be fine with Leif. Perhaps that was why the mating bond formed between a triad—if one Berserker died, the other would care for his mate.
Brokk…no…
From the highest hill, I watched the mist closing in. I squinted. It headed for the ruined castle.
And then I knew I did not need to go and hunt the enemy. The enemy had come to us.
I ran as fast as I could. The mist closed around me like a fist. At times, it choked me like thick smoke, but I pressed on, reaching for Leif. Brother? Where are you? Get Willow out!
The broken tower loomed ahead, and I heard a scream break out. Willow was in trouble.
I doubled my speed, and bounded onto the parapet in time to watch Leif attack.
Backed into a corner, Willow held a branch she’d plucked from the fire. She screamed again, waving her fiery weapon at the monster Leif had become.
“No, Leif!” I bellowed as he advanced on Willow. I opened the bond between us. Do not lose control. Not now. We have waited so long.
Cowering, Willow shook her makeshift torch at the monster, and Leif swiped the stick out of her hand, his claws extended to rake down her defenseless flesh. I tackled him, the force carrying him across the yard. We both ended up rolling, snarling. The very air around us crackled as I fought Leif, and the Change. The mist seeped into every corner, covering the keep with a thick blanket. The Corpse King’s spells controlled the very weather.
“Willow,” I shouted as I faced down my warrior brother, nothing but madness burning in his golden eyes.
Leif’s claws swiped at me, and caught my shoulder, leaving great bloody furrows along my arm. I roared in pain, and the beast took hold.
Willow
I cowered against the wall, pressing into the stones so hard my spine hurt.
“Go!” Brokk ordered, but I could not move. He ducked and wove, fending Leif off. I cried out as the black beast that had been Leif rushed Brokk, who fell to his back before him. Brokk’s powerful legs kicked up, sending Leif flying into the thick fog, out of sight.
“The mist,” Brokk shouted. “It is the Corpse King’s making. It attacks the mind.” His human face disappeared, jaw elongating, fur covering his skin as he turned into a monster. “The beast,” he barked. “Run.”
Leif’s growl echoed around the keep. I whirled and ran, ignoring the agonized snarl of a predator missing its prey.
I disobeyed and paused to glance back. On the castle wall, two men stood locked in combat as the mist swirled around them. They were equally tall and equally strong. Equally matched. One or both would not survive the fight.
And I would be alone. Alone as my mother had left me. Alone forever. Even if I found my way back to the abbey, I’d live among its ruins and haunt the empty village…
The Corpse King…attacks the mind. These were not my thoughts. Or if they were, the despair was of my own making. I could just as easily will it away.
My mind cleared.
Well done, Willow. The dulcet voice belonged to the Lady of the Lake. The water—it had stopped the Grey Men. Perhaps I could take shelter there.
The fog followed me, descending like a cloud from the keep. It overtook me, and I coughed as it clogged my nose and throat.
Behind me, an eerie howl rang out.
Quickly, Willow. The lake.
With new purpose I stumbled over a few bird carcasses on the sand. The mist poisoned everything it touched. Stripping off my garments, I ran into the water and plunged in.
The water parted, even as it reflected the terrible events on the shore—two men, closer than brothers, fighting to kill one another. The worst had happened. They’d lost control. The Corpse King would pick off my guardians and then come for me.
I swam and swam, the mist over me, a never-ending veil. I would swim until I sank, and die like my loves. The Corpse King would not take me.
I almost cried out when my feet struck ground. I crawled onto the shore of the small island surrounded by mist—the island from my dream.
The fog didn’t follow me as I stumbled onto the lichen-covered rocks. I shook with cold. I had to get warm. A hundred paces took me to the center of the island, empty but for a few trees and low bushes. I heard no birds.
I pushed through the brush and came to the circle of rocks surrounding one giant flat boulder. I staggered to it. The stone hummed under my touch like an old friend, warming me. I bent over the dimple in the rock that held a thin layer of rainwater. The liquid rippled and stirred, but, when it smoothed, I saw the woman from my dream. She looked younger, but it was her.
“Help me,” I begged. “I am not strong enough to stop them.”
“Who told you that?” she asked, her voice musical, melting, and oddly familiar.
“Please. They are hurting each other. Give me something to fight the fog and make them stop.”
“The fog’s only weapon is your mind. Clear it of everything but love, and you can triumph.”
“I don’t know how.”
“You do, Willow. All your life you have craved this love. Do not cut yourself off from it.”
The reflection clouded and cleared again. My men still fought on the beach, claws ripping at each other’s skin, blood dripping from the wounds.
As I watched, Leif roared and attacked. I gasped. At the last, Brokk fell to his knees and thrust upwards. The redhead warrior stopped, mouth open in a silent cry. The beast receded as Leif met his brother’s eyes. Brokk’s face was a terrible mask as he faced his brother, arms outstretched in an almost embrace. He rose, and Leif sank down before him. Blood gurgled from his mouth. Brokk’s claws had pierced through him, a fatal blow.
“No!” I screamed, and scrambled away from the pool. Enough hiding. I belonged with my warriors, even if only to hold Brokk as we watched Leif die.
Without a thought, I raced into the water, skidding onto the moonlight path as if the lake was solid, like black glass. I ran straight back to shore. The mist parted before me.
The bond, Willow. Link to them.
I opened my mind. A second later, all the pain poured into me. Agony. Not Leif’s. Brokk’s.
Forgive me, my brother. The blunt-faced warrior knelt at his handsome comrade’s side.
“You saved her.” More blood bubbled out of Leif’s mouth. His hair was wet with it.
I skidded to shore. “Oh no,” I sobbed. Up close, Leif’s wound looked so much worse. Blood soaked both men. Brokk’s hands were stained dark like the heart of a rose. His claws had gone deep enough to carve Leif’s heart out of his chest. What man could survive such a wound?
I threw myself to my knees, my hands over the wound. “No. No.”
“I’m sorry.” The corner of Leif’s mouth jumped, as if he tried to smile.
“No, no, shhh,” I hushed him, weeping. The mist swirled around us, blown back by an icy wind. Snow fell from a broiling sky, the strange weather fitting for a world gone mad.
Brokk. I wronged you many years ago. Leif’s voice sounded in my head, though his lips did not move.
Brokk shook his head.
Your woman did not even want me. She wanted to make you jealous. That is why she seduced me. I was weak. Leif’s eyes widened, and he gasped in pain.
“It’s forgotten, brother. Forgiven. I resented you too lo
ng. For that, I am sorry.”
Do not close your heart to love, Leif told us both. Promise me.
“Brother, please.” Brokk knelt. “You cannot die. You will not. The healing will begin. I have opened up to the bond…it will be enough to save you.”
Keep Willow safe.
“Leif, no, stay with me.” My hands were too small. I couldn’t stem the flow of blood. “Help,” I cried. “We need more help!”
“Well isn’t this a pretty picture.” A blonde woman appeared through the fog, walking briskly. She was short and ordinary-looking until she came closer. Her face was abnormally smooth and unlined, her expression fixed like a mask.
“Who are you?” Brokk snarled, and lunged towards her.
A flick of her hand, and he froze in place.
“Stay away,” he roared, but couldn’t seem to move.
I pushed my body over Leif’s. “No.”
“Come, Willow.” The woman squatted next to me. “I’m here to help. Let me see the wound.”
Leif’s life was draining out as we spoke. There was no harm in letting her look. She could not kill him twice.
“Who are you?” I croaked.
“She is the witch, Yseult,” Brokk said. All his anger had disappeared. “The Alphas sent her. Can you help him?”
“You did a good job of killing him,” Yseult snapped. She shook her head with a sharp jerk. “You are the only one who can save him.”
“How?” Brokk flung himself beside us.
“Give him your heart’s blood. The same way you would turn him. It will strengthen the bond between you. He will use your strength to heal.”
“Your chance to be free…of me.” Leif grasped his arm. Brokk shook his warrior brother’s weak hand off as if it weighed no more than a fly.
“And try to woo Willow without your ugly face? Next to you, I’m almost pretty.”
“Quickly now,” the witch warned.
I winced and half turned away as Brokk plunged his claws into his own chest.
Yseult watched intently, excitement illuminating her face. “Raise him up, let him drink.” The witch licked her lips.
“Please,” I begged the witch. “Don’t let me lose both of them.”
“You will not.”
My sobs shook me. Brokk bent over Leif, one arm under the redhead, holding him as if in final embrace.
The mist seethed around us, tendrils trying to grasp us, dissipating when it touched the witch.
Finally, Yseult rose, and I shook myself, remembering to breathe. “It is done.”
Brokk slumped over and rolled to his side, facing Leif.
“Is he—” I dared not finish the question.
Yseult gestured to Leif. “See for yourself.”
Underneath the clotted blood, Leif’s wound had closed. The injured warrior wheezed a little, but his color no longer matched the pallor of death.
“Brother,” Brokk rasped. His own wound had healed. I sobbed harder at the sight of tears in his eyes.
The air seemed to thicken and still.
“Come, Willow,” the witch called to me. “Leave them a moment and walk with me.”
I rose also, and stilled. Hundreds of snowflakes hung suspended in the air. I touched one, and it sizzled a little as it melted. The rest drifted downwards like feathers.
Time had slowed. “Yseult…did you…?”
“I made sure Brokk saved his brother in time. It was all his doing...but for a little help. Come.”
Reluctantly, I left the warriors and went with her to the edge of the lake.
“They will need you,” Yseult told me. “They’ll still quarrel. The Corpse King’s mist only can prey on a weak mind. Your strength, and the magic in the bond, will keep them strong.”
I swallowed hard, wanting to ask how I could possibly aid the warriors in such a way.
“Still,” Yseult continued, “I wouldn’t stay here longer than a night and a day. No more, in case the enemy sends his servants.”
“Is the Corpse King near?”
“He is still bound to his tomb but growing in power. I dare not travel near his territory. He would catch me and absorb my essence. Even now, I must not linger.”
“You’re leaving? But what about the mist?”
“You have all you need to defeat it. Your fear, your despair powers this spell. The mist unleashed their beast because the monstrous side of them tries to protect them with its rage.”
“But the beast doesn’t protect them. It makes them lose control.”
“Too much strength can be a weakness. You’ll have to teach them how to temper their beast.”
“Me?”
“There is one thing they share, one thing they cherish above anything else.”
“What is that?” I wondered if she spoke of an object, something from their homeland, or a weapon of great value.
Yseult looked at me with an impatient expression. “You, Willow. You can heal the bond between them, and the three of you will be as one.”
I bit my lip.
“My work here is complete.” Yseult waved a casual hand toward the keep. Leif and Brokk still lay in shadow. Brokk bent over the recovering warrior, clasping his hand with both of his.
“Thank you,” I said. “I am grateful you came. But for you…” I choked and shook my head. “How did you know where to find us?”
“The Alphas sent me. But I found you through the mist when I sensed your magic.”
“My magic?”
“Yes.”
“It was the goddess.” I told her of the woman of the island.
“That was not the goddess.” She smiled, an eerie expression on her inhuman face.
“Then who was it?”
“Here.” Yseult picked up a stick, and waved it over the edge of the water. Time sped up once more. The mists cleared away, fleeing into the forest.
“Look in the lake again.” She pointed to the still, black water.
Frowning, I did. The wind ruffled the water, but under the ripples the image was clear. “That’s her. The Lady of the Lake.” I turned to Yseult, but she had disappeared.
The reflection at my feet was the woman I’d met on the island, who shared her wisdom and lent her strength. A woman with dark hair, green eyes, and great power. Me.
“Willow,” Brokk called. I walked to him and hovered my hand over the healing cut on his chest then turned to Leif. The warrior still lay on his back, propped on a stone, but his color had returned. His skin bore the scars of Brokk’s deadly blow. I crumpled next to him. Brokk caught me, while Leif stroked my hair. They remained silent until I sat up.
“The witch is gone?”
“Yseult left, yes.” I told them what she had said.
“We must flee this place soon.” Leif sat up. He looked himself, other than his torn breeches and red-stained skin.
“Not so quickly, brother,” Brokk said. “You must rest.”
“I can travel,” Leif protested, but Brokk shook his head.
“I am drained as well. Let us retreat to a safe place where we can stay the night. Besides, I wish to spend some time strengthening the bond.” And he looked at me with hunger in his eye.
“Ah, yes, brother.” Leif grinned, showing his fangs. “Where shall we rest for the night?”
“I know a place.” I gazed across the water to the small island that had appeared out of the mist.
The swim was long and cold, made slower because the warriors carried their packs clear of the water, but we emerged clean of blood. Leif stopped grumbling about the chill when I pointed out we could strip out of our clothes to dry them faster. He and Brokk seemed to like the idea of the three of us lying naked by the fire.
I liked it, too.
“Look at her, brother,” Leif murmured, once the blaze roared high enough to cast a gold light over the water. “Is she not lovely?”
“She is,” Brokk said. “And she is ours.” He tossed another log on the fire and dusted off his hands. “Come here, Willow.”
The firelight played over my breasts and the cleft of my sex as I approached. I swayed towards them, letting my hips dip and swivel with each step, drawing the warriors’ eyes.
“Vixen,” Brokk growled. As soon as I grew close, he grabbed me, his rough hands spanning my waist, his thumbs brushing the bottom of my heavy breasts. I waited, but he spoke no more, just bent and laid his hot mouth over my taut nipple. I fisted my hands in his hair, holding him to my chest as he warmed my flesh.
Is this what you wanted? he whispered in my mind.
“Yes,” I sighed. My head fell back as his fangs scored me lightly, not deep enough to draw blood. His lips soothed the sting away. He repeated this on the other breast. Knees weak, I swayed back into a hard chest. Leif’s arm curved around my waist as he supported me.
“We’re going to claim you this night.” His tongue touched my ear, traced the sensitive edge. You’ll beg us to fuck you, to keep you, to never let you go.
I arched my head and sought his lips, one hand pulling Brokk to my chest, the other reaching back to pull Leif to my mouth. Leif’s cock probed my bottom, making my cunt ache.
“Here, Willow.” Brokk fell back onto the pelts, and I draped myself over him. Leif followed, kneeling at my back. We moved in a smooth and sinuous dance, swaying together as if we were not three bodies but one.
Brokk’s fingers probed my wet heat. I wasted no time sliding onto his long, fat shaft, biting my lip and murmuring deep in my throat as he settled deep inside me.
“Good lass.” Leif stroked my back.
I had no words. We needed none. Brokk and I kissed as Leif spread my silken fluid over my bottom hole. His smallest finger set me shivering, my mouth opening as the sensation became too much. Brokk studied me.
“You will take us both.” He pinched my nipples, and I clenched on his cock.
“Easy.” Leif steadied me, pushing me over to Brokk so he could tease the crack of my ass. “She’s tight,” he said to Brokk.
“She’ll need to wear the plug more often, to be ready for us.”