Mortiswood: Kaelia Falling (Mortiswood Tales Book 2)

by Gina Dickerson

  ‘And why would I?’

  Calix lifted an eyebrow. ‘Because if you do, I’ll tell Kaelia how you helped us. I’ll make sure she understands how nice you’ve been.’

  ‘Why would I care what you tell Kaelia?’ A muscle pulsed in Bran’s jaw. ‘If she’s convinced she’s found her knight in shining Vallesm fur she won’t care about anything else.’

  ‘Am I missing something?’ Jade frowned, watching the men intently. ‘What are you talking about?’

  Ignoring Jade’s questions, Calix said, ‘I know you want Kaelia, Bran. You want her power. I’ve seen your face when you touch her; you look like you’re ready to gobble her up!’

  ‘Shut up!’ Bran spat. ‘Or I’ll tear your face off.’

  Calix pulled a “yeah-right-I’m-really-scared-expression”.

  Bran pursed his lips. ‘Fine. Who am I taking first?’

  ‘Bryson, the Vallesm.’ Calix nodded at the wolf. ‘He’s in the worst shape. Jade and I will walk on while you take him.’

  ‘First I bring the wimpy Sifar back to life, now I have to carry an oversized pet,’ Bran grumbled, striding over to Bryson. He lifted the Vallesm from the ground, stooping slightly under its weight. Bryson stirred and his amber eyes fluttered open before he growled weakly. ‘Shut it, Mutt,’ Bran snapped. ‘I’m taking you to the Vallesm castle. If you so much as raise a lip at me, I’ll leave you in the woods to die like a common mongrel.’

  Calix rolled his eyes. ‘You really need to work on your people skills.’

  Bran, the mighty Vallesm slung over one angular shoulder, snarled, ‘Vallesm aren’t people they’re wolves.’

  ‘They turn from people into wolves,’ Calix corrected smugly. ‘Something you already knew.’

  Bran shrugged Bryson over his shoulder, the wolf’s head lolled and he grumbled. Bran fired a bolt of violet light at Calix’s feet, before he zoomed off through the trees with his Vallesm burden.

  ‘Remember to come back for us!’ Calix called after him, stamping out the purple flames surrounding his feet. ‘Kaelia will hate you even more if you don’t!’

  * * *

  Bran dumped Calix on the plush, apple-green grass underneath a copse of Lime trees by the gate to the Vallesm castle. Glaring at the necromancer, Calix dusted off his sleeves and shoulders.

  ‘I’m not a sack of potatoes,’ he complained.

  ‘No,’ Bran returned. ‘A sack of potatoes is a feather compared to you. You should think about losing weight. You weigh near enough the same as the old Vallesm.’

  ‘It’s pure muscle; something you obviously know nothing about.’ Calix eyed Bran’s angular, tall figure. ‘Do you even eat? Do you need to? Aren’t you immortal too?’

  ‘Stop asking me questions. You already annoy me enough as it is.’ Bran turned away sharply.

  ‘Not coming inside then?’ Calix teased. ‘Scared of what Kaelia will do to you?’

  ‘You really are the most infuriating human I’ve ever had the displeasure to meet.’ Bran stopped without turning around. ‘In answer to your question, no I will not be entering the castle. There’s a protection spell surrounding it. My name’s obviously not on the entry list.’ He turned away.

  Calix shouted, ‘Earlier, you said we’d both lost something today. What have you lost?’

  ‘Are you doing this on purpose, interrogating me to see if I snap your neck again?’

  ‘Yeah, right. I really want to relive that great experience.’

  ‘Then why the sudden interest in me?’

  ‘I’m just trying to see if you really are as evil and cold as I think you are. Just answer the question, what have you lost?’

  Bran stuffed his hands in his pockets. ‘Reiterating what you said earlier, I lost someone not something.’

  ‘By someone you mean Kaelia?’ Calix asked, but it was too late, Bran had shot off kicking up a cloud of dust behind him.

  Spluttering, Calix rubbed his eyes, tiny grains of dirt stinging them. On the ground beside the comatose Vallesm Bryson, Jade coughed.

  ‘That guy’s got some serious issues,’ she said.

  ‘He’s seriously bad news,’ Calix replied as the dust settled.

  ‘Did I just smell The Dark One?’ Bay approached the castle gates from the inside and opened them. ‘I thought it was his particular odour.’ He rushed to his father’s side, running his hands over Bryson’s blood stained fur. ‘Dad? Did Bran do this to my father? I’ll kill him!’

  ‘No, Thom did,’ Jade answered.

  ‘What did the necromancer want, then?’ Bay stroked his father’s wolf head.

  Calix gazed into the trees, certain a Bran shaped shadow lingered between them. ‘Bran wants what he’s always wanted. Kaelia.’

  * * *

  Chapter Eleven

  Kaelia turned over in her sleep. The fluffy throw Bay had covered her with slipped, exposing her back so the flames from the fire danced patterns across her bare skin. Twists of russet-red hair tumbled across her face, the tendrils moving gently with the exhalation of her breath. Beneath her eyelids, her eyes moved erratically, caught in the throes of dreaming. The flames’ dance grew frantic and their tongues forked, blazing higher and brighter but still Kaelia did not awake.

  Kaelia was running and she knew she had been doing so for ages, the ache in her leg muscles offered such confirmation. The path was stony, nipping into her bare feet but she carried on regardless. Rain splattered her, sticking her hair to her face. Pushing damp curls out of her eyes, she glanced over her shoulder, heart pounding furiously. She knew she had to keep running, to reach...something. No, that wasn’t right. She had to keep running to reach someone not something.

  She stopped as the path neared an end; the only way forward was along a narrow ledge carved into the side of a ravine. Sensing movement behind her, she turned and instantly shrank backwards. The smell was unmistakable. If evil could have a smell then this would be it.

  ‘What do you want?’ Her voice was weaker than she had hoped.

  Thom’s narrow lips twisted. ‘What do you think I want?’

  ‘I won’t join you.’

  ‘Yes,’ he replied, with a chuckle. ‘You will if you want to know what happened to your mother.’

  Kaelia gasped, his words knocking the wind out of her. ‘Tell me what you’ve done to her!’ Anger drew her hands up, calling on her power. Her palms fizzled but wouldn’t ignite. Splaying her fingers, she tried again. A few sparks chipped off like an ignition starter on a gas cooker.

  Dwarfing her, Thom loomed over Kaelia, his shadow shrouding her in its putrid clutches. ‘Your powers do not work in the dream world.’

  ‘Then neither will yours!’ With a rush of adrenalin, Kaelia shoved the Draugr.

  Thom wobbled slightly. ‘You are not stronger than me here. You may be The Chosen One but you have yet to unlock your full powers.’ His bony fingers coiled tightly around Kaelia’s wrists, his pale-blue skin straining over his own wrist as he clenched, revealing the shadows of blue veins beneath. ‘Until you reach full power you will never be more than a mere mortal here. I, on the other hand, am as strong in the dream world as I am in the real world. It is part of who I am. I have the ability to enter dreams...or to send them.’

  Recoiling from Thom’s decaying stench, Kaelia twisted her wrists but the Draugr’s hold burned. ‘It’s only a dream, you can’t really hurt me,’ she whispered.

  Thom pressed his nails into the soft underside of Kaelia’s wrists, drawing blood. ‘I can hurt you, foolish girl. Can you not feel?’

  Kaelia cried out and kicked Thom. ‘Let me go!’

  Thom’s mouth opened inhumanly wide, displaying his shards of teeth. With a blue tongue he licked his lips, and then snapped his teeth together. ‘I can keep you here in this dream state until you agree to pledge your powers to The Salloki.’ His breath was hot against Kaelia’s face. ‘I can drive you insane. You will weaken. I will not.’

  Kaelia’s eyes widened, and then, suddenly, she was released. The Draugr s
pun around with a deafening screech.

  ‘You!’ Thom accused.

  Bran’s face was thunderous. ‘He is lying to you, Kaelia. You just have not built up the experience yet.’

  A small wave of relief washed over Kaelia but anger made her clench her fists. ‘What are you doing here, in my dream?’

  ‘Putting a stop to the Draugr’s games.’ Light crackled from Bran, emitting slivers of violet that swum around him as he moved closer. ‘He can’t keep you here indefinitely. The longer he stays in this dream world, the weaker he will become. None of us can leave our physical bodies without tiring. Just because Thom’s a Draugr doesn’t mean he’s immune.’

  In a flash Bran was beside Kaelia. He slipped his hands under her elbows and gently lifted her to her feet. Energy crackled from him, prickling underneath her skin with the contact. Drawing in a trembling breath, she shivered and grasped his hands. She needed Bran’s strength, absorbing some of his power made her head light. It wasn’t as intense as it would have been if they were back in the real world but it was intoxicating nonetheless. Bran gently withdrew his support and she swayed forwards, missing the contact.

  ‘Leave her alone, Draugr,’ Bran hissed. ‘I’ve told you before.’

  Thom picked at his teeth, flicking out a morsel of pale-blue flesh from between them. ‘You do not dictate to me, Necromancer.’

  Bran raised his hands, violet light blazing around them, and fired at Thom. Thom caught the first bolt, sending it flying over his shoulder. The second clipped his arm and he screeched. Lightning forked in the sky, clouds rolled faster, and thunder rumbled the ground.

  Experimentally, Kaelia held her own hands out. Blue-white light burst into roaring balls around them. Linking thumb with thumb she fired at the Draugr, catching him unawares.

  Thom staggered backwards. ‘You have power? He eyed Kaelia in surprise. ‘You!’ He pointed at Bran. ‘You transferred some of your power to her, how is this possible?’

  This time Bran laughed. ‘Didn’t you know when Kaelia and I touch our powers surge back and forth between us? We are two sides of a coin, Thom. I am The Dark One and Kaelia is The Chosen One.’ He gestured for Kaelia to take his hand. ‘Together we are electric!’

  Kaelia joined her left hand with Bran’s right hand. Their light formed a swirling, purple stream that they directed at Thom, blasting him further away from them. With an eerie screech, violet smoke engulfed Thom and he juddered from his Draugr form into the shape of an immense, earless and tail-less, grotesque black horse. Violet vapour expelled in snorts from his beastly nostrils and dinner-plate large hooves scuffed up the ground beneath them. Rotting flesh, flayed from his flanks, trembled as the Thom-beast turned, galloping away. His neighs echoed and the land cracked, opening a muddy mouth to reveal a tunnel leading into the depths of the earth. The Thom-beast shot into the gaping wound and the ground resealed behind him, leaving only an air trail of rotting flesh.

  Kaelia shuddered. The power surge from connecting with Bran made it hard to focus.

  ‘Enough.’ Bran let go of Kaelia’s hand and slipped his arm around her waist. She leant gratefully against him, the rhythmic beat of his heart filling her ears, and felt him stiffen.

  ‘How did you know where I was?’ she whispered. The rush of energy simmered, reawakening her senses and, embarrassed, she pulled away from Bran. This was Bran for goodness sake. It didn’t matter if this was only her dream-body; being held in his arms was a betrayal to Bay.

  Bran looked away, his eyes focussing on a point in the distance. ‘I felt it. I felt you.’

  ‘Can you always enter my dreams?’

  Bran shook his head. ‘Something happened. Your guard was down, enabling Thom to enter your dream and for me to sense you.’

  ‘I wasn’t aware I usually dream with guards up.’

  Bran raked a hand through his raven hair; it flopped forward, licking the edge of his deep scar. ‘Something is different about you, something has changed.’

  Kaelia blushed. Of course she was different. She had slept with Bay. He had been her first but there was no way she was going to admit such a thing to Bran. It wasn’t any of his business.

  Bran’s obsidian eyes glittered intensely. ‘You are still changing, Kaelia. Be careful.’ He turned away, striding off in the direction Thom had taken.

  ‘Wait!’ Kaelia charged after him. ‘How do I get out of here?’

  Bran glanced over his shoulder, a smile lifting his lips. ‘All you need to do is wake up.’

  ‘What? You’re telling me I could’ve stopped dreaming at any point and woken up?’

  Bran walked off, his voice ringing with amusement. ‘But of course, this is your dream after all.’

  * * *

  Chapter Twelve

  ‘Where’s Kaelia?’ Calix puffed under his share of Bryson’s weight. ‘We should’ve asked Bran in and he could’ve carried your father into the castle.’

  ‘No thank you,’ Bay replied crisply. ‘The necromancer is not welcome in here. He’ll never set foot on my family’s land ever again.’ He pushed aside niggling thoughts of Kaelia and Bran, and how they both lit up whenever they touched each other. He had to believe she meant what she said about detesting him. ‘Kaelia’s sleeping. I’ll wake her once we’re inside. She can heal my father and see to your injuries.’

  ‘Don’t you two have a psychic link or something?’ Calix teased. ‘We need her now; we could do with her strength. You Vallesm aren’t exactly light. Don’t forget I’m only a norm!’

  Jade laughed. ‘You’re way more than a normy-norm.’

  ‘Do you mean you categorise normy-ness?’ Calix asked.

  Jade giggled. ‘Yeah, at the academy we do.’

  ‘I don’t feel more than a normal norm,’ Calix puffed. ‘Bryson’s bloody heavy.’

  ‘You’re doing fine, besides we’re here now so you can let go.’ Bay eased his wolf father from the others grasp and into his arms. With little difficulty, he carried Bryson to where the fire still smouldered in the hearth of the grand hall and gently laid him on a rug spread before the warmth. ‘See?’ Bay joked. ‘We don’t need the necromancer. We Vallesm are strong too, even as humans.’

  ‘You cheeky git!’ Calix spluttered. ‘Making us help you carry Bryson when you could’ve done it yourself!’

  Bay smiled lopsidedly. ‘Weren’t you always grumbling about not being able to do as much as Kaelia...or even as much as me when I was locked in my Vallesm?’

  Calix rolled his eyes. ‘Possibly.’

  Bay laughed. ‘I was trying to make you feel useful. If I’d waltzed in and taken charge, all super-Vallesm, how would you’ve felt? I was only thinking of you!’

  Calix stretched his arms. ‘You make me sound a right whiner!’

  ‘Well...,’ Bay teased.

  Calix laughed. ‘Fine, thanks for not trying to get one up on me. Bran always does it.’

  Bay clenched his jaw. ‘I’m completely different to Bran.’

  Calix held his hands out. ‘Hey, I know. How’s your dad, shouldn’t you get Kaelia to heal him?’

  ‘Yes, I’ll wake her up. She was exhausted so I was letting her sleep. You know how she’s tired after a big fight.’ Bay lovingly stroked the amber fur of his father, not caring blood smothered the fur. ‘Hold on, Dad,’ he whispered. ‘You’ll be awake soon.’

  A slight tremor shot down his arm, shaking his hand. He jumped to his feet and shook, blurring between a whirl of clothes and fur, before transforming into his Vallesm.

  With his claws tip-tapping across the marble floor, he raced to the spiral staircase leading upstairs. It was far faster to move as a wolf than as a man. Ascending the staircase in record time, he charged along the corridor to the library. He shook his fur at the door to the library and returned to his human form; words would not come if he remained Vallesm.

  The door handle was cool to the touch, not surprising considering it was brass, and turned easily in his hand. A wave of cold air hit him and Bay frowned. The fir
e was dead but it should have still been roaring away, the logs hadn’t been ordinary wood so should have lasted until morning. Icy-wind gusted in through the front windows, both flung wide open with their heavy, velvet drapes billowing into the room.

  Bay touched the logs in the fireplace. They were stone cold. An unfamiliar, burnt scent caught his senses as something crackled underfoot. A charred, scorch mark puckered the dense wool of the rug he and Kaelia had, not long ago, lain entwined upon. The throw he had covered her naked, sleeping body with, sat in a rumpled pool of fluff nearby. Bay gulped. He raced over to the nearest window and stuck his head out. Below was as he expected—flowers, exotic birds, and the fluttering butterflies. Well, those which had survived Thom’s attack.

  In the grounds the trees were still but a wind rushed above them, carrying the same unfamiliar scent. Bay’s eyes glowed amber as he called upon his Vallesm. Then, on the nearest turret, a movement caught his eye and his heart froze, he stopped transforming, half caught between human form and wolf. It couldn’t be...such creatures did not exist anymore. A low growl rumbled from his throat as he called out, his voice already lost to Vallesm. He could hear the word “stop” in his head but was unable to form it in speech.

  At the sound of Bay’s growl, a giant firebird scrabbled to maintain a claw-hold on the porcelain turret tiles. Its immense wings flapped rapidly, creating the gusts of cold air rushing through the windows. Its hooked, golden beak, opened wide and a stream of fire flared out, reaching to the window. The bird’s beady eyes caught sight of Bay, half-transformed, and it screeched. Losing its claw hold it slid from the tiles, flapped in mid-air and tried to reach for the edge of the roof with its feet but missed. Its wings beat faster, lifting the bird up, and its flapping evolved from frenzied to graceful, enabling the firebird to soar into the darkening sky lighting the air around, its long tail feathers shining alight with fire and scarring the sky with a scorched trail.