by AJ Nuest
A shrill battle cry spliced the wind in her ears. She risked a glance over her shoulder and terror propelled her stomach into a freefalling spiral. The flowing black figures of five hashishans breeched the forest, right on Belial’s tail. The wild eyes of their black steeds rolled maniacally, bits tight at their foaming mouths. They sped like demons through dreams, converging on the path she piloted across the field. Belial didn’t stand a chance at outrunning them, not with Caedmon’s extra weight.
She grabbed Caedmon’s arm and leaned them both over her stallion’s neck, urging the horse faster. She had only one choice. Make for the Black Forest and pray the hashishans wouldn’t follow.
Another douse of fresh tears wet her cheeks, tainted with despair. To do as much would seal Caedmon’s fate. No help awaited them there. Yet if they were to die, they would die together. Just as they were always meant to be. Better for their lives to end at the hands of the Dreggs than the poisoned blades of Braedric’s traitorous minions.
Hatred darkened her vision. But if they followed, she would welcome them as a wraith from hell. With Helios as her witness, before the last breath left her body, she would bleed their foul lives to the ground.
An arrow whizzed past her head. She ducked and swerved right. Dart zoomed by, his piercing screech goading the stallion faster. Belial snorted and pitched forward, hoof beats pounding the earth like waves roiling against the surf.
A ray of light pierced the mist as Helios beat back the fog. Shadows leapt from the forest, tangled and stretching like long-fingered hands. Arrows thudded to the ground as the horse neared the twisted tree line. A chill dried the sweat on her brow as they breached the desolate gloom. One more glance over her shoulder and she gritted her teeth in both frustration and relief.
The distance between them had grown. Steam shot from the muzzles of their black steeds as the hashishans reined in their mounts. They weren’t prepared to cross into the Black Forest.
“No-o-o,” Caedmon groaned, his hand tightening at her waist. “Dreggs…danger. Do not enter…this place.”
“We’ve got no choice!”
Belial reared and danced away from the forest, his high-pitched whinny filled with fear. She cinched his mane harder and forced his path to remain true.
They crashed through the warped branches of the leafless trees and the foul odor of rotting vegetation and hoary slime coated the inside of her mouth. Belial faltered in the muck, stumbling and lurching to find solid ground. Dart chucked from his roost on a gnarly branch and, as they cleared the first quagmire, he flitted to another tree a few paces ahead. Rowena steered the horse in that direction and the marshy bog gave way to firmer soil. She wasn’t about to argue with the falcon’s instincts. He’d saved her ass more times than she cared to count.
She followed as Dart picked their path until, at last, the trees opened upon a large circle of sodden moss. A massive flat boulder jutted in the center, tilted at an awkward angle as if over the centuries the weight of it had caused one end to sink into the spongy turf.
She slipped the knot at her waist and Caedmon moaned and tumbled to the side, collapsing on his back to the ground.
“No!” She leapt off Belial and knelt at her prince’s injured side, cradling his face in her hands. Blood coated his chest, trickled down his arm and dripped from his fingers. A strange blotchy pattern etched the waistband of his leather pants. Her pulse leapt in alarm. Goddesses wept, he was dying before her eyes. No one could lose that much blood and survive. “Look at me. Caedmon, look at me.”
He reached for her with his uninjured hand, but it fell lifeless across his chest. “Don’t cry, my love.” He grimaced and pain flooded his gaze. Raspy breaths hitched in this throat. “I found…my way back…to your arms. Nothing else…matters.”
“You can’t leave me.” Misery tightened her shoulders and she lowered her forehead to his. Her tears dropped and slid down his cheeks. “You hear me? You can’t die. Not now.”
“Kiss me…one last time…and I shall depart this realm…within the memory of your…sweet lips.”
“No!” she screamed, fisting her fingers in his hair. “I won’t. I won’t kiss you unless you swear to me you will live.” A sob wrenched her shoulders and she buried her face in the slope of his neck. A cruel pain knifed her chest. Agony fractured her heart into a million serrated shards. How…how would she ever breathe again? Where would she find the strength to take another step? “I won’t allow it, you hear me! I won’t ever let you go.”
“I once promised…never to lie to you. Don’t ask…as much of me now.” A gentle smile lifted the corners of his lips. “Kiss me, my love. In farewell. And I shall await you in paradise.”
She should have ridden faster, tried harder to get him to safety. She should have accepted him the moment he walked back into her life, hair dripping salty tears from the sea, brown eyes filled with love as he sank to his knees before her.
Holding his cheeks, she pressed her lips to his, trying to drink him into her soul, gather some small part of him she could always keep with her. His mouth parted, the tip of his tongue swept hers. A small breath eased from his throat and he went still.
Her hot tears mingled with the last two, soft touches she placed on his lips. She withdrew from him, the back of her wrist pressed to her lips to contain a wail of despair. She had brought this upon him. Dying in a swamp. A kiss given freely only at the moment of death. And now emptiness. Self-loathing. Grief.
The curve of his bottom lip swept her palm as she dragged her hand down his face to close his lifeless eyes. He’d deserved better. So much better. She tilted her head to the sky and her sardonic laugh fell hollow against the sodden air. He’d offered her love and, in return, she’d brought him death.
A low hiss gathered force inside the trees, the soul-shuddering flap of veined wings. She slowly lowered her head. A clawed foot stomped from the forest, larger than human, the leathery black skin covered in coarse dark hair. It was quickly followed by another, and then several more.
A clan of male Dreggs. They had her surrounded.
She sprang to her feet, the last two silver spikes from her chest plate spinning home to the centers of her palms. The beasts were human in shape but stood several hands taller, with lidless black eyes and pointed ears topped by tufts of black hair. The pointed joints of their black bat-like wings soared several feet over their shoulders, each boney ridge ending in a sharp talon ideal for decimating flesh. No clothing adorned their hairy bodies, the dense covering thicker and longer around their genitalia. Leather cords encircled their necks, decorated with little bones and teeth secured on multicolored twine—no doubt trophies from their unlucky victims. Yet the one thing that sent icy shivers down her spine were the flat, moist slits that posed for a nose, and the skinny forked tongues that flicked and slithered past sharp fangs as if tasting the damp breeze.
“The first one of you to touch him dies.” She crouched low and spun in a slow circle, meeting each pair of soulless blank eyes. Two dozen, maybe more. They blended so well with the contorted trees it was difficult to discern their numbers.
But she would go straight to hell before she allowed these vile creatures to desecrate Caedmon’s final sleep.
Chittering laughter erupted through the ranks, so piercing and high the whine drilled into her skull like a swarm of enraged bees. She slapped her hands to her ears and shook her head to try and clear the needling vibrations.
“Tressspassser, ’tisss not human flesssh we ssseek.” The largest of the Dreggs edged closer and she quickly stepped between him and Caedmon’s body, waving a silver spike under his pointed chin.
Perhaps he was the leader. And perhaps if she took him down the rest would skulk back to the dank cave they surely infested. “Then what do you want? Leave me to mourn in peace and I’ll be on my way.”
“Your mate ssstill lingersss in thisss realm.” His tongue snaked out and moistened one of his eyes, coating it in a thick film of glistening slime. Her stomach rebelled
and she clenched her teeth to suppress a gag, swallowing the bitter bile that scored her parched throat. “He can be sssaved.”
“You lie!” They were playing tricks on her. Trying to make her drop her guard. Several more tears trickled down her cheeks, tumbling from her chin to the ground. “I felt his dying breath with my own lips.”
“Hisss sssoul awaitsss in the Cave of Tearsss.”
What gibberish was this? Yet her heart lurched with the terrifying pain of renewed hope. If one chance at saving Caedmon existed, she would take it. Whatever they asked of her, she would go to the ends of the earth to fulfill their demands.
Leaves crunched behind her and she spun, jabbing her weapon in the air. Another drone of chittering laughs swept the forest and she whirled in a lame attempt to drive back their slouching advance. “What is it you want from me? Speak your devil’s bargain or get lost.”
“White ssssorceresss, prophecy foretellsss only you hold the ability to sssave usss.”
Save them? Her? Save them from what?
She forced down an enraged shriek. Oh no, not this. Anything would be better than this debilitating illusion. This horrid realm and their moronic prophecies. Did these Dreggs really believe she could predict their future? Or, better yet, maybe they expected her to recite some archaic enchantment that would magically transform this foul swamp of theirs into a forest of fairies and unicorns. If the goddesses had graced her with such power, she would do it. Anything to save Caedmon’s life.
But they petitioned for something she didn’t possess. “I’m nothing but an ordinary woman. The person you seek does not exist.”
A ray of morning sunlight broke over the trees, warming her cheeks and the crown of her head. The dew-covered moss sparkled and she squinted inside a fleeting beam of incandescent rays. Leather wings ruffled the air and a humid draft lifted the hair from her shoulders.
One by one, the Dreggs fell to their knees.
She slowly lowered her weapons and stared at their bowed heads. They were paying homage to her? Kneeling in reverence? She nearly laughed. The idea the sun indicated her divinity was ludicrous beyond measure.
“Candra-ssscinlæce…andra-ssscinlæce…ssscinlæce…” whispered through the trees.
She dropped her chin to her chest and pinched the bridge of her nose, heaving a soggy breath. “Save it. I’m not who you think I am.” Though never in her life had she wished with such bitter realization she was wrong.
Exhaustion burdened her muscles, laden with gut-wrenching heartbreak. She tossed her weapons aside. Piss on it. Once they discovered the truth, they’d surely kill her. The joke would be on them, though, since they’d be doing her a favor. At least she’d be with Caedmon, here, at the end of all things.
“We are not asss we onccce were, Candraaah.” The leader stood and, with his ascent, the rest of his ranks lumbered to their feet. “Our ssstrength fades, allegiance sssplinters, numbersss weakened.”
A second Dregg loped forward, shoulders more stooped than the others, gray strands mottling the dusky patina of his coat. What was he supposed to be? The Dregg version of an elder? “And the sssilver flame ssshall bathe her mate in the tearsss of the nine, exchange light for dark, one sssoul to sssave many.”
The words echoed deep into bones. A shiver coursed through her body, ushering in a glimmer of recognition. The tears of the nine actually existed? Here? In this vile place?
“Yet, heed thisss warning, Sssorceresss.” The leader held up his palm, easily the size of a large dinner plate. “The gloaming of the goddessesss is deccceitful. Once the cave is entered, time within their realm doesss not exissst.”
Her thoughts reeled and she staggered unsteadily to the side. A cave of tears…tears of the nine goddesses. Of course! Others had entered this forest and never returned. Or had come back years later, not having aged a day. She slapped a hand to the top of her head. Sweet tits, could the prophecy be true? Did it even matter? If, by some small miracle, these mysterious waters they spoke of contained healing properties which could save Caedmon’s life, she would go wherever, do whatever they said.
“Take us there. To the Cave of Tears.” She strode forward and fisted her hands at her sides. “Take us there and I swear on my life I will do whatever is within my power to restore every last one of your kind.”
With a nod from their leader, two of the Dreggs moved to Caedmon’s still form. They draped his limp arms over their shoulders and she shielded her eyes with her hand as the wind from their powerful wings buffered her cheeks. A leap of their hulking forms and she lifted her face as the three of them soared into the morning sky.
A pair of clawed hands cinched her waist and she gasped, slapped her palms over the backs and clutched the Dreggs’ wrists. A swirling gush of moist air twirled her hair and the marshy ground surrendered and shrank beneath her feet.
They flew north.
Chapter Four
Thus my angel comes…
Clear liquid spilled over the rim of a golden chalice, splashing his shoulder, his torso. It moistened the line of his lips. Water. Thirst. Yet his dim glimpses of the celestial being that tended him so resembled his beloved Rowena—the slim column of her throat, the white-blonde cascade of her hair, the tender touch of her kiss to his forehead and cheeks—he fought at first to rebel.
Pain screamed through his shoulder whence he struggled to deflect her nurturing and bid her away.
“Shhh, my prince,” she murmured, returning the cup to his mouth. “Drink.”
Fury turned his fingers in on themselves even as agony gnawed at his consciousness. Did Helios despise him so much, the fiery god sought to torment him even in death? Curse the traitorous father and his malevolent ways. The fires of hell reaped no punishment compared to eternity spent clasped to the bosom of a seraph that embodied everything he’d lost, everything he’d sacrificed.
Tears scalded his closed eyelids and slid down to merge with the waterline lapping his temple.
A pool. Drifting. The suffering eased.
Darkness…sleep…
Caedmon blinked and squinted at the strange formations suspended above him. Fragile blue and pink light played off the crystalline rock, in constant motion as if water sprites frolicked along the faceted tines. Down the shimmering façade of a roughly hewn stone wall, rivulets of water trickled and gullied in shallow iridescent pools.
He licked his lips, yet no dryness parched his tongue. His muscles lay relaxed and well rested. A feathered mattress provided his comfort, thick pillows cradled his head and the woolen blanket covering his legs lay neatly folded at his waist. Warm air easily stretched his lungs with his deep inhalation and he pressed three fingers to the small wound in his upper chest. No blood, no soreness, only the faintest hint of a scar…
He frowned and grasped his shoulder, working the joint and flexing his fingers. Not a bit of stiffness lingered.
’Twould seem his attending angel had healed his physical ailments. He sighed in resignation and closed his eyes. Her spiritual balm, however, had not stemmed the profound ache in his heart. He’d breached the gates of eternity, yet rapture had not been granted as his reprieve. Indeed, how long would he linger in this ethereal plane before the goddesses deemed the sins of his earthly deeds had been compensated? How many eons would pass before he and his love were reunited? Whatever the duration of his interment, paradise would evade him until such a reward had been bestowed.
“What the hell is this thing?” A loud clang resonated against the stone walls and he scowled, tipping his head. That voice. It sounded like—
“Useless piece of trash, if you ask me.”
Another cacophony of crashing metal and he sprang to sitting. Across the span of a damp, uneven floor, the delicate frame of a fair maiden sat hunched over a large stockpile of weapons, carelessly flipping various pieces of armor aside. Silver hair tumbled like a waterfall past her slim shoulders, veiling her face from view. Her thin sleeveless chemise hid the angle of her bent legs, one narrow strap hang
ing limp off the curve of her pale shoulder, the hem a crumpled mass of creamy petals at her feet.
Yet the sensuous line of her bowed back, the determined swiftness of her motions, the slight incline of her head…
Joy surged through his veins even as despair fisted his hands into two unyielding stones. His love had succumbed to the dangers of the Black Forest and died at his side. If not for Helios’ absent heart, he would rout the gates of heaven and skewer the pitiless sun god himself. “Rowena,” he breathed.
She gasped and whirled to her bare feet.
Goddesses wept. Even in death her beauty outshone that of the nine combined.
A resounding gong bounded through the cavern as she casted off a dented shield and sprinted straight for his arms. All thoughts of death, all regret and misery faded to dim inconsequence as she straddled his legs and rained fervent kisses over his cheeks and eyelids, his forehead and chin.
An irrefutable craving for more razed all his reason to the ground. This…this was the welcome he had longed for since his return.
He gathered her around the hips and dragged her flush to his chest, capturing her lips and swallowing her gasp of surprise when the heated flesh of her inner thighs met the cool skin of his waist. Her mouth parted and a hungry growl grated his throat as his tongue gained entrance to swirl and explore. The sweetness of her detonated on his palate. He nipped and supped, tipping his head to feast from her mouth. The insatiable need to tear the shift from her body, expose every curve and valley of her soft skin to his greedy hands, pulsed through his veins…fierce, gluttonous. Pressure weighted his balls as her fingers raked through his hair, fisting and tugging the strands. She bucked her hips and his cock stiffened and throbbed when she dragged the nails of one hand down his back.
“Thank the nine.” Her arms cinched his shoulders, legs clamped around his sides as if she fought the boundary of her skin to get closer. The pointed tips of her breasts prodded his chest as she swept her cheek back and forth along the rasp of his unkempt beard. “I thought you’d never wake up.”