The Heart of the Ancients

by Elizabeth Isaacs

  I smiled thinking that if anyone came across the place, they definitely would think aliens had landed.

  Something stirred in the underbrush like a small animal hid among the brambles. The wolf that hadn’t left Cali’s side set his nose to the ground and sniffed.

  “So, how much farther do you think we’ll need to go before we find whatever we’re looking for?” Cali asked.

  “I’m not sure,” I muttered, my thoughts still mulling over the past few hours.

  A deep-throated growl came from the left; a shiver ran down my spine. Cali started forward.

  “Hey, wait.” I grabbed her arm. “The wolf’s probably found a rabbit, and I’ve seen enough carnage for one day.”

  Cali leaned forward; her eyes narrowed. “That’s no rabbit.”

  She grabbed a halberd laying nearby, its sharp blade gleaming in the sun. The wolf’s growl grew into a series of snarls and barks, and Cali knocked me back and ran toward the underbrush as the wolf let out a piercing yelp.

  The double-bladed axe flashed above the dense thicket before being brought down with a resounding thwack. The distinct sound of metal ripping flesh sliced through the air. Weylin, the wolf pack and the Urisk charged.

  “Nora, no!” Rena caught up with me as I ran in front of the alpha.

  Lifeless, thin black arms sprawled from under the shrub, a knife still in its grasp. Rena kicked the weapon out of its hand before dragging the demon from its hiding spot.

  “Cali?” I pushed my way through the foliage, frantically searching.

  Wild curls splayed across gray fur as Cali cradled the large boxy head. Tears streamed down her face as she watched the wolf struggle for breath. Blood seeped from its coat, right below its left haunch, crimson streaming all over Cali’s chest.

  Rena took the wolf from Cali, placing her hand over the wound, staunching the bleeding. Cali wiped sweat from her forehead with her arm, inadvertently smearing wolf blood across her cheek.

  “Melinda!” Weylin barked. He lunged for her when he saw the blood on her clothes and her face. “Oh, no,” he muttered, pushing her to the ground and ripping open her coat. “Please, no.” He tore her sweatshirt in half and hiked up the camisole. “Where are you bleeding?”

  “Weylin, I’m all right.” Cali struggled in earnest as bright sunshine shone across her torso.

  He froze, his face grew pale. Cali’s scar was at least an inch wide at the top and ran across her abdomen, disappearing beneath her pants. The flesh around her belly button had puckered as it healed, leaving nothing but a misshapen lump of flesh. It looked like she’d literally been gutted.

  Cali closed her eyes as her head fell back. “I’ve been trying to tell you, I’m not hurt. That’s wolf’s blood. I got it on me while trying to save him.”

  Weylin’s jaw ticked as he stared at the scar. “When did this happen?” His hand shook as his palm covered her disfigured midriff.

  “It was a parting gift after my first Dokkalfar party.” She struggled to sit up while pulling down her camisole.

  Weylin sat back, his eyes never left hers. “And how did you know the correct way to use a halberd?”

  Cali swallowed. “Elaine, Rena, and Nora taught me when we were on the ship.”

  Weylin’s eyes blanked, and he growled.

  Cali put her hand on his arm. “We didn’t tell you because we knew you’d freak. But the good news is I now know several ways to kill a Dokkalfar, and so it was worth it ... right?”

  Weylin glanced at the Dokkalfar lying dead a few feet away. He touched the camisole covering her scar, and Cali pulled her coat closed.

  “So, this is why you’ve been so secretive. Why I’m not allowed anywhere near you when you change?” His eyes hardened.

  Cali kept her head down.

  Weylin’s finger tipped her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I know you don’t understand your importance to me, not yet. But did you really think a battle scar would change the way I feel? How could you believe so little of me?”

  “I’m hideous,” she whispered, her chin quivering.

  “Not to me.” Weylin’s voice grew husky.

  Cali glanced around, pulling her tattered clothes over her chest, and Weylin realized they weren’t alone.

  He stood. His eyes blanked, and as soon as Gavin was by my side, he turned away.

  “I need a minute.”

  Cali’s head fell into her hands as he took off through the trees.

  Molly bent down, her eyes softened. “He’ll be right, Cali girl. It’ll be the scars that make appreciatin’ the beauty that much sweeter, now wouldn’ it?”

  Cali shook her head. “I’m not so sure about that.” She took a deep breath and pulled herself together. “How’s the wolf?”

  “He’s still weak,” Rena said.

  “Then he’ll ride with me.” She brushed a stray tear from her face, her expression daring anyone to say anything about her tears, the wolf or Weylin.

  Tark gently picked up the wounded animal and led us to the place where the Urisk were repairing the sleds. Kyla brought a cup of water from the stream, and the wolf weakly lapped it up.

  “Why couldn’t we smell him?” Cali asked, watching the Dokkalfar catch fire from the sun.

  “The field is saturated with their stench. Sometimes it allows them to hide,” Rena commented.

  “We have to move,” Gavin muttered to Rune.

  The minute the words were spoken, Weylin’s tall frame appeared up ahead. He stayed there, waiting for us to join him as the wolves darted in and out of the tree line. Rena and I ran alongside one sled, while Cali stayed in the other and tried to keep the wolf from jostling too much.

  We paralleled the creek, running against the current of rushing water until we came to a deep ravine. Moss covered every nook and cranny. Lush evergreens ran up both sides as if we were nestled between two mountains.

  “Wait,” I whispered. “Gavin, this is it.”

  I pointed at a log running across the stream. “See? There’s the fallen log, in the mural.”

  Rena’s eyes grew wide. “You’re right, my lady.”

  The clouds parted, and light angled into long yellow ribbons.

  “We’re running out of time.” Weylin paced next to me. “It doesn’t take a genius to know that we took out only one arm of their trap. There are two more packs still out there and heading this way. We’re like sitting ducks. Worse, we’re on lower ground. They’ll pick us off like flies.”

  “I agree.” Gavin came from the woods. “Even with the Urisk and the wolves, we wouldn’t last long.”

  “Is Mia with them?” I asked, digging my boots into ice and rock.

  Gavin hesitated. “Yes.”

  Molly grunted. “We’ll be headin’ toward higher ground then.”

  My heart stopped as white noise whispered in the wind.

  Chapter 28

  The Cerberus’ Cave

  We picked up speed. Snow settled in low-lying hollows, and I stumbled in knee-deep drifts. Gavin took my hand, helping me through.

  “How much farther?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  My heart sank. We could be out here for days, then. The wolves had disappeared, and it was getting dark.

  The hair prickled on the back of my neck. The feel of energy curled around my side. Gavin stopped, looking at me.

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, concentrating on the sensation. I’d felt the same familiar pull the afternoon we’d found the Sfera. There it was again, just past my right shoulder.

  “That’s it, Nora. Concentrate,” Gavin whispered.

  Now that we faced the direction the energy was coming from, the pull centered on my heart. Ice burdened brambles tangled the underbrush. The sounds of the forest fell away leaving nothing but quiet. The air crackled with raw energy, reminding me of a bottomless pit found in Malachi’s tomb.

  The very pit that held the Breath of Creation.

  Wolves howled in the dist
ance. Gavin’s eyes blanked as he grabbed my hand. “Elias has called for any creature willing to defend. It should slow the Dokkalfar and give us a little more time.”

  Black spruces reached the sky as the Aurora Borealis illumined to ribbons of green. The silence grew burdensome, oppressive, like the air itself protected the forest’s secrets.

  My heart sped as the pull grew stronger, beckoning me on.

  Rena stopped; her solid jasper brown eyes and sharp features met Gavin’s gaze, and he nodded. The Alfar closed ranks as the Urisk protected our perimeter.

  Between the haunting ribbons painting the sky, the towering trees, and the vast white tundra, my perspective changed, and I felt like a field mouse skittering along the forest floor. Anywhere else and the night would have been so black we wouldn’t have been able to see our hands in front of us, but the Borealis light reflected off the endless snow, making it possible to see any Dokkalfar heading our way.

  Gavin motioned us forward, our path guided by a smattering of paw prints.

  Shivering, I released enough power to warm Ester’s underclothes. The forest shuddered as if it felt my energy and was answering. I gasped as we passed the last of the magnificent black spruces. Two large sculptures, tall as the trees, stood guard, their bodies gleaming white against the jagged mountainside. Tipping my head back, I stared at the top. Like the mural in the Urisk’s prophecy, the sculptures were of a single figure. The head held four faces: an Alfar, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. The statue had four wings: two outstretched in the back and two overlapping in the front, covering its torso. The scepter in their hands started at the base of their cloven hooves and ended in a sharp point above their heads.

  “It’s here,” I whispered. “We’ve found it.”

  “Yeah. Now what?” Cali asked.

  “The answer to sealing the abyss is in there,” I said. “But we don’t know if the Dokkalfar can get in or not, and we don’t know what we’re looking for.”

  Cali groaned. “Again, I ask. What now?”

  “We protect the cave while Gavin draws Mia out.” Elias’ sapphire eyes glittered like hard chips of ice. “And then we find out what’s in the cave.”

  A gust of frigid wind brought with it the tinge of rotting flesh and my eyes flew to Gavin. One of my dreams flickered like fragmented pieces of shattered glass.

  “Give us a minute,” Gavin muttered.

  “Lass,” Rune’s eyes narrowed as his feathers ruffled. “You’ll be rememberin’ the gift that’ll be restin’ over your heart?”

  I nodded as my fingers found King Frey’s stone.

  “You’ll be not forgettin’. Only be usin’ it if it’ll be lookin’ like the end of all things.”

  My heart sped, and Rune nodded to Molly. Without another word, the Urisk disappeared into the forest.

  “We’ll wait over here.” Elias led the Keepers and Cali to the edge of the field.

  Gavin leaned down and kissed my lips. “I’m sure we won’t have to resort to using the Khiton’s energy. Please don’t worry.”

  I took a deep breath as his love, devotion, purpose, and most of all, protection, ran through me.

  “Nora, promise me you won’t allow your love for me to cloud your judgment.” He ran his knuckles along my cheek. “You carry Kailmeyra’s future. You must survive.”

  Startled, I placed my palm over his heart. “What are you saying? You’re Kailmeyra’s future. You’re the one who wields the power to destroy the abyss. You must survive too.”

  Gavin smiled as his large palm enveloped my hand. “Sounds like a plan.” He brought my wrist to his lips, his emotions steeped in pain.

  “What’s this about?”

  Gavin took a deep breath. Tension threaded through me as his eyes turned to faceted chips of green. “There’s a reason Malachi insisted we be equally strong when we are separated. He knew we wouldn’t be able to do what we need to do if we were dependent on one another to survive.” He ran his hand up and down my back as he looked at the sculptures behind me.

  My heart jumped in my chest. “I’m your source. Of course, we need each other to survive. We’ve been training for this. We fight side by side.”

  “Not this time.” Gavin kissed my forehead trying to soften the blow. “This time I go alone.”

  “Why?” I stepped back.

  Gavin’s arms fell away. “Because I’m the one marked yet refused to be claimed.”

  “What are you talking about?” Exasperated, I started to argue, but the Urisk thread latched onto the prophecy and threw it to the forefront of my mind “... She will redeem the ones born of light who stumbled into darkness and destroy the ones of darkness who mock the light. She will leave the one that has been marked but has refused to be claimed ...”

  White noise whispered in the breeze.

  “They foretold that I leave you?” Shocked, my eyes flew to his. “I thought they were talking about the Abyss. That land had been marked by the Dokkalfar, and yet it still fights to survive.”

  “No, love.”

  I turned away, and Gavin’s broad chest warmed my back as he put his arms around me. “They were talking about me. I’ve been marked by Mia, the Dokkalfar look upon me as her mate, yet I refuse to be claimed. No one can get close enough to Mia without her energy killing them first. It has to be me.”

  A Urisk trumpeted in the distance, the energy around the cave grew impatient like it knew what was heading our way.

  “Then I’ll protect you while you kill her. We’ll do it together,” I rushed on. “I’m not leaving you again.” I tried to face him, but Gavin’s arms kept me close.

  “If you stay by my side, you stray from your intent.” His palm covered the space between my hips. “And these little ones need protecting more than me.”

  I shook my head. “You’re wrong. I won’t be straying. My intent is to—”

  “Please.” Desperation darkened his tone. “Don’t fight me on this.” He nuzzled my neck, taking in deep breaths through his nose as if he couldn’t get enough of my scent. “Nora, we must believe that the two halves separate are as strong as the whole.”

  A lone howl echoed in the forest. Black feathers and gray fur darted through the trees.

  “We’re out of time.” Gavin’s voice broke as turned me around. He placed his palm on my cheek, his breath became ragged.

  His eyes blanked. Elias, Elaine, Rena, and Tark started toward us, followed closely by Weylin and Cali.

  My heart ached as he fell to his knees. His fingers dug into my hips, and he pulled me close, resting his forehead on my stomach.

  “I’m so proud to be your father,” he whispered in the Ancient Language. “I so hope to see you, to hold you, to smell your sweet scent, if only for a moment.” Ardently, he rubbed his nose across my abdomen. “Please, watch over your mother. Bring her happiness and joy. Above all else, love her with all your heart, as I love you.”

  A sob tore from my throat as the white noise of the Dokkalfar reached a fevered pitch, growing nearer.

  Gavin stood, his beautiful eyes shone with utter devotion. He pulled me to his chest. “Thank you,” he whispered. “For loving me more than I ever thought possible. For sharing your mind, body, and soul with me. For being the mother of my children. I’ll honor you. Always.” He placed his hand on my heart. “No matter what happens, know I’ll never betray this.”

  The drone of the Dokkalfar became a roar, and Elias and the rest of the Keepers now circled us, protecting our last moments together. Molly and Rune stood a few hundred yards away, their feathers outstretched, their bright blue eyes shining like a beacon in the night.

  Gavin leaned in and kissed me. His eyes lost their warmth as he turned to Elias. “Keep them safe,” he softly demanded.

  Elias placed his fist over his heart and bowed. “It will be my greatest honor.”

  Rune threw his head back, his roar echoed through the forest. The first Dokkalfar darted into the clearing.

  “Go!” Gavin hissed, pushing me into
Elias’ chest.

  Before I knew what was happening, Elias grabbed me, the Alfar forming a tight circle, and we ran toward the entrance of the cave.

  As soon as we made it across the threshold, the statues guarding the cave angled the bottom of their scepters, so the poles crossed over the entrance. Blue flames exploded, blocking access to us with pure, raw energy.

  The inferno’s blast sent a wave of heat, forcing us back. Helpless, I stared through the opaque flames, watching as thousands of Dokkalfar poured onto the field.

  Gavin, Molly, and Rune ran toward the statues, allowing the energy to serve as a natural defense for their backs. The Urisk bolted, creating a wide arc, protecting their leaders. The first wave of Dokkalfar surged, sacrificing themselves before the next wave stepped on their carcasses and did the same. It was only a matter of minutes before the sheer number of Mia’s army overwhelmed the Urisk, and they were smothered in writhing black bodies.

  No one touched Gavin, Molly or Rune.

  Bile rose in my throat. “She wants to weaken Gavin by destroying the Urisk first,” I whispered. Rena came to one side while Elaine went to the other. Each took one of my hands, holding it close.

  Heat gusted around us as the blue flames increased.

  Gavin ran toward Molly and Rune as they desperately fought to kill any demon that moved, yet more Dokkalfar flooded through the trees.

  Molly lunged, but Gavin grabbed her and pulled her back. He must have said something to her because she and Rune stopped fighting and flanked his sides, waiting.

  Gavin opened his arms wide, embracing the darkness. His emotions dimmed to nothing.

  The Dokkalfar stepped back and fell to one knee while the Urisk scrambled to help their wounded.

  A lone figured sauntered from the trees.

  “No,” I whimpered.

  Dark mist danced and lapped around Mia’s feet, reminding me of the black flames of the abyss. Mia’s once gray skin now shone like polished onyx, gleaming in the eerie light. She smiled with a playful grin, her shallow ice blue eyes glittered as she looked around the field.