Midnightstar (Creatures of the Lands Book 5)

by Natalie Erin

  Snapfoot’s breathing was heavy as he stood over his victim. “Get him out of here, and clean his wound!” He ordered two females standing off to the side. They scampered forward, tending to the old wolf immediately. Unable to look at him, Snapfoot began walking away, the other wolves staring at him in awe and fear.

  “That was amazing fighting,” Kaliska murmured, coming to his side. “But why mutilate him, instead of simply killing him?”

  “He broke my Aunt Lottie. So I broke him,” he said harshly. Even so, he couldn’t help but feel ashamed. There wasn’t any need for what he had done.

  “Why are you moping?” she asked. “You won. You’re still leader.”

  “I ruined his life, Kaliska!” Snapfoot responded. “He’ll never walk again!”

  “He was asking for it. Any other wolf would’ve done the same,” Kaliska assured him. “Come now. A leader cannot hide himself away.”

  “Just give me a moment.” Snapfoot said. The guilt was already beginning to weigh on his mind. He’d lost control, but instead of murdering Echo like he should’ve, he dealt him more pain than was necessary, and left him to live on in misery.

  He felt like a monster.

  “How much farther must we walk?” Adelaide whined. “My feet hurt.”

  “We’ll arrive when we arrive,” Dust responded simply, obviously not fatigued by the long journey.

  “Stop complaining, Adelaide,” Rabika snapped. “We just have to keep walking until Dust decides we can stop.”

  “Who died and made her queen?” Midnightstar mumbled under her breath, doing her best to prevent a growl emerging from her throat.

  “Look!” Adelaide shouted abruptly, stopping in place. “It’s a bow!” She picked up a piece of pale pink fabric in her mouth and held it gingerly, wagging her tail in excitement.

  “It’s a lovely color,” Dust commented, without turning to look.

  “Would you put it in my fur, Dust?” Adelaide asked. “I love bows. Kia always used to put them behind my ears, like so.”

  “A bow is a simple vanity,” Dust replied. Adelaide dropped her head in sadness.

  “I’ll put it in your fur, Adelaide,” Midnightstar offered, glaring at Dust. “Bring it here.”

  “Really?” Adelaide asked. “Thanks, Mids!”

  “Of course.” Midnightstar smiled as the younger wolf sat in front of her. “I’ll put it behind your ear, just like you want.”

  “That would be perfect.” Adelaide wagged her tail eagerly as Midnightstar quickly attached the bow to the long fur atop her head, so it sat at a cute angle.

  “You look lovely, Adelaide,” Midnightstar complimented as they begun to walk once more.

  “She looks ridiculous,” Rabika snarled. “Why would you want to wear such a silly little thing?”

  “You just wish you could have one too,” Adelaide teased, holding her head high. “Thank you so much, Midnightstar. You’re such a great friend.”

  “Sure.” Midnightstar let herself fall behind. But I’m not the best of friends to anyone, she thought sadly.

  They walked for another hour before danger reared its ugly head. A loud noise off to the left caught the attention of every wolf except Dust, who plowed onward.

  “What was that?” Rabika shouted. “Dust, what was that?”

  “A noise of some sort,” Dust replied.

  “It didn’t sound good at all,” Tatl commented. “Maybe we should get out of the open.”

  “A noise cannot be good or bad,” Dust told them. “But if you wish to hide, then hide we shall.”

  Dust led them toward the cover of the trees. They were tucked away behind a mass of berry bushes when a large brown bear barreled out of the trees on the opposite side, roaring angrily.

  The creature looked as if he had been through horrible times. Its fur was matted in spots and large scars, both from burns and fights, stood out all over its body. One eye was sealed shut with mucus, and the other was immersed in milky-white. Despite its impaired vision, the bear didn’t slow down.

  “We come as friends!” Midnightstar cried, cowering in the brush. “Please allow us to pass!”

  The bear rose up on its hind legs, sniffing the air eagerly. “In a past time, you would be able to leave, but now there is nothing left! When food wanders by, I can’t just let it go.”

  “We are not food!” Adelaide yipped defensively from behind her brother.

  “I would beg to differ.” The bear laughed. “You’re dinner!”

  “Run,” Midnightstar said. “We need to run.”

  “Where did Dust go?” Adelaide said, zipping her head from side to side. “She’s gone.”

  “We’ll find her later! Go!”

  They took off at a fast pace, running through trees and brush. As they ran, Midnightstar found her mind wandering, her vision transported to the one place she didn’t want to be.

  “Not now,” she moaned, but it was too late. She was in Xiuh’s head.

  The dragon was flying some distance away from his companions, and hadn’t noticed the bear. He spiraled through the air calmly, enjoying the lovely day.

  Xiuh! Midnightstar yelled. We need your help!

  Get out of my head, wolf, he replied coldly.

  We need you! Midnightstar pleaded. There’s a bear.

  Have Dust take care of it, Xiuh snorted.

  We can’t find her. She left as soon as the bear showed up, Midnightstar explained. Please, Xiuh, we need you.

  Fine. But on one condition. Xiuh turned around, heading back in the direction he came and beginning to scan the ground for the bear.

  What? Midnightstar asked.

  You stop this foolishness and at least talk to me, he replied. I’m tired of being ignored.

  Okay, sure. Just get down here and help us.

  I can’t find you. Xiuh twirled through the trees, unsure of where to go.

  Let me guide you. Midnightstar focused intently, not sure if her idea was going to work. She found that she could take control of the motion of his head. She moved it so he looked to the right. We’re right down there.

  I’ll be there soon. Tell everyone to hang in there, Xiuh told her, barreling toward the figure that could only be the bear.

  Midnightstar jerked herself out of his conscience, happy to find she was still running and with everyone.

  “We’ll be okay! Just keep moving, guys!” she called. “Help will be here soon.”

  “What makes you so sure?” Rabika snapped. “Are you full of magic now?”

  “I just know, okay!” Midnightstar replied. “Quit asking questions!”

  The bear closed the gap between them as the wolves began to slow, nearing a small stream that extended off a waterfall. They couldn’t go much farther.

  “This is the end!” Tatl cried. “We’re going to die!”

  “This is not the end!” Midnightstar barked.

  “You better be right,” Rabika growled. “Adelaide’s running out of steam, fast.”

  Adelaide was panting, struggling to keep up with the older wolves. She was a lot slower than the rest of them, and the bear would get her first.

  “Bite her heels! It will keep her moving.” Tatl ordered. Rabika did as told and Adelaide picked up the pace just slightly, but not very much. The roar of the bear was suddenly joined by another, a battle cry resounding throughout the clouds.

  “It’s Xiuh!” Adelaide cheered.

  The dragon hovered around the bear, distracting him. Xiuh struck out, disabling the bear’s only working eye. Blinded, the bear shouted and moaned, running into trees and falling to his side. Xiuh pounced upon him, digging in his claws and biting down hard. The bear moaned, and Xiuh was able to toss him into the river, under the pounding weight of the waterfall.

  “Let’s go,” Xiuh said. “That won’t hold him forever.”

  The wolves fled, leaving the waterfall behind and scampering back to the road where they’d been before. Dust was sitting in the middle of the path, licking her paw clean and s
eeming completely bored.

  “What was that about? You completely ditched us,” Midnightstar snarled, pushing her way to the she-wolf.

  “One must learn to fight her own battles, and run away from the battles of others,” Dust replied.

  “Wouldn’t it make more sense to try and help your friends, instead of allowing them to die?” Tatl asked, confused.

  “You did not die,” Dust commented. “You are right here, alive and well.”

  “No thanks to you!” Midnightstar yelled.

  “Leave her alone,” Adelaide spoke up. “She was just running, like we did.”

  “Adelaide’s right. We all ran. Dust just ran in a different direction,” Rabika said, always jumping to the defense of the stranger. Midnightstar snarled and turned away.

  Xiuh landed on the ground a short distance away. She walked over and sat beside him, gazing up at the dragon. “Thank you. I’m sorry for how I’ve treated you, these past few weeks,” Midnightstar said.

  “I am here to help. I suppose I could forgive you.” He stretched slightly and shook a few leaves from his back, his mane rustling as he did so.

  “I was cruel to you, and you don’t deserve it,” Midnightstar said softly. “I just couldn’t bear to tell you the truth.”

  “That you could roam through my mind?” Xiuh asked.

  “No, not just that. There’s more you should know.”

  “Like what?” Xiuh asked.

  “Let’s keep moving. Xiuh, can you be a lookout for us?” Dust called, rising to her feet.

  “We’ll talk later, Midnightstar,” Xiuh told her before taking to the sky. “I promise.”

  “How much farther?” Adelaide asked.

  “The Blue Sky Peaks are right there.” Tatl pointed with his nose, to a thin line on the horizon. “Just an hour or so, and we’ll be at the base.”

  “Yay!” Adelaide cheered in excitement. “I can’t wait!”

  Midnightstar felt uneasy as they drew nearer to the mountains. They had gone to find the Assembly, to end the unicorn war. But what if they didn’t want to help? What would they do then?

  Snapfoot snuck out of the cave under the cover of night, desperate for an escape. His guilt about crippling Echo was growing steadily as time went by, and he needed a break from it all. He walked blindly through the woods, his mind wandering to thoughts of the older wolf who would never be able to hunt again, who would rely on others to keep him alive.

  After he’d been wandering for an hour or so, a crack in the brush stopped him. Snapfoot dove into a bush and watched as four familiar blue hooves came into view. It was Crying Ice, and she was with three other unicorns...one green, one red, and a pale purple.

  “We must eliminate the problem completely,” Crying Ice said. “The wolves took one unicorn. Who’s to say they won’t take another?”

  “But is killing them really an option?” the green unicorn asked. “Vixen would be displeased.”

  “Vixen is gone, and so is Dragonstar. There is no one left to protect us anymore. We must do what it takes to save the herd.”

  “We’ve never attacked anyone before unless we had to defend ourselves,” the purple unicorn objected.

  “We must,” Crying Ice insisted “If they don’t die, we will.”

  “When shall we attack?” the red one questioned.

  “In two days time, as the sun rises,” Crying Ice said in a venomous, spiteful tone. “No wolf shall survive.”

  “It seems brutal.” The green one snorted, and stomped his front hoof twice. “We are gentle creatures.”

  “Not anymore,” Crying Ice said bluntly. “The decision has been made. By the light of the dawn, those monsters will die.”

  Chapter Seven

  Falling Down the Rabbit Hole

  Moonlight had illuminated the path of Midnightstar’s group, but none of them wanted to stop their journey. They were so close to the Blue Sky Peaks and the Assembly that stopping to rest seemed out of the question.

  “Everyone must hurry,” Dust added as they padded down the road that led up a particularly large mountain. “There’s a full moon tonight, which means they’ll be in session.”

  Midnightstar wasn’t paying attention. She was keeping her head down, thinking deeply about what she was going to say to the Assembly. What could she possibly say to convince the leaders of the Lands that the plains needed help?

  “You look worried,” Xiuh murmured, coming down from above.

  She took a shallow breath. “What am I supposed to say to them? I’m a quiet wolf. They won’t listen to me.”

  “The Creator will give you words to say,” Xiuh comforted, drawing closer.

  She blinked. “I hope so.” The texture underneath her paws hardened. She looked down and saw that she was standing on wood. Hundreds of trees had fallen from the mountains, and were lying in a messy heap across their path.

  “Must have been a storm,” Rabika called out. “Everybody watch their step!”

  Midnightstar tilted her head. This seemed oddly familiar. They jumped over the various tree trunks, waiting for Tatl to hop down to the ground below…

  SPLOSH!

  “Gross!” Tatl said, and they all looked over to see him jump out of a pit of writhing insects. “We’ve hit an infestation of maggots and worms. Don’t touch them.”

  At the mention of worms, her stomach wriggled. Midnightstar side stepped the bugs carefully and they continued traveling past various patches of grubs and up the side of a small mountain. Before them, Dust halted. As they approached, Midnightstar saw that she was sitting by a pit in the ground, a round hole that Midnightstar knew she had seen before.

  “No way,” Midnightstar whispered.

  “What’s wrong?” Xiuh asked.

  She blinked. “All of these things I saw in my visions. They were crazier in my mind, but they all result to the same thing.”

  “Are you saying…”

  “They were leading me to this place the whole time.”

  Nobody noticed Midnightstar’s astonishment. Except Dust, of course. She had to look back.

  “Why is she so cold to me?” Midnightstar asked, looking at her…she had never thought of it this way before…her portal. Her dragon.

  “She knows how you’ve been keeping things from your friends. Secrets that you have no right to keep,” Xiuh said.

  “I don’t have to tell everyone what happens to me,” Midnightstar said defensively.

  “You do when it’s affecting everyone,” he said, and she knew he was thinking about the incident with the Specters. “When are you going to let everyone know what you are?”

  “What do you mean?” Midnightstar asked, her heart quickening.

  “Dust told me to say that to you. I don’t know what it means, but she says that once you finally admit to yourself who you are, others will follow your leadership.”

  “What does she know about it? Is she a prophetess?” Midnightstar snarled.

  “You’ve been trying to be somebody besides yourself for a long time, Midnightstar,” Xiuh said. “Even I can see that.”

  Midnightstar swallowed. “After we leave the Assembly I’ll tell them about my visions. I promise.”

  “Will you tell me what you’ve been hiding?” he questioned.

  She nodded. “Later. But not now.”

  “Let us jump,” Dust said, and she pointed down into the hole.

  All of them peered downward. You could see nothing below. There might as well be iron spikes at the bottom, for all they knew.

  “Isn’t there another way in?” Midnightstar asked softly. She was already feeling nauseous.

  “I agree with Midnightstar. This seems reckless,” Tatl added.

  “Do you even know where this leads?” Rabika demanded of Dust, irritated with her for the first time ever.

  “You won’t get hurt,” Dust said. “Trust me.”

  The three wolves looked at each other. Adelaide pushed her way through and said, “You all are being babies. And you sa
y I’m soft. Come on, let’s have a real adventure!”

  “Adelaide, no!” Midnightstar shouted as the little wolf leaped cheerfully into the abyss.

  “Don’t look down,” Dust said, and she pushed Midnightstar into the hole.

  It was just like in the vision. Midnightstar could feel nothing beneath her paws as she seemed to dive down, down, forever. She heard the voices of her comrades as all of them plunged...Tatl’s screaming, Rabika’s frantic swearing, and Adelaide’s exhilarated giggling. Midnightstar looked around for Xiuh and saw him twirling downwards like a leaf below her, as if to catch her before the landing. Dust voiced nothing as she gracefully dived, her expression one of impenetrable stone.

  They landed on a soft substance that puffed and sagged underneath their bodies, one that wheezed when they landed. Midnightstar groaned. Getting up off the ground, she mumbled, “What did we hit?”

  “Ooh, look!” Adelaide exclaimed. “Glowing mushrooms!”

  Midnightstar looked underneath her feet and saw that there were hundreds of copies of the glowing mushroom she had seen in her dream scattered throughout the cave they had landed in. Her visions were coming back to her, making sense one by one.

  “Woah,” Rabika explained. “Look at where we are.”

  Midnightstar glanced upwards, and her breath was stolen away. Streams of light were shimmering off a glittering cave of precious, silver jewels. The Cave of Glass.

  “Let’s do that again!” Adelaide piped, spinning on the spot.

  “Let’s not.” Tatl shook his fur. He looked over at Dust, who was already moving ahead. “Hey, wait up!”

  Dust led them through the winding, bejeweled cave, Adelaide oohing and ahhing all the way. Midnightstar looked around and saw that there were various entrances to the cave scattered along the way, large and small.

  “Hey Dust!” she said loudly.

  “Yes?” she asked, not bothering to look Midnightstar’s way.

  “If there are other entrances, then why didn’t we just go through one of those?” Midnightstar asked angrily.