“Now, since you all seem to want to fight…here’s what we’re going to do,” I began, my voice raising to a more commanding octave. “My sister and I will lead a scouting team to the last place the feral were seen. We’ll relay the information needed to get everyone into position to launch an attack at sunrise; it’s earlier than they’ll be expecting us, hopefully, and so hopefully their forces won’t be as concentrated as ours. Speaking of which, Kael…” I glanced back to find him watching me in a quiet, admiring sort of way. It made me cheeks feel hot and my mouth dry. I cleared my throat and hurriedly went on: “If you’ll lead a team to go and finish alerting all of the packs waiting for our signal. Tell them it’s time to start marching.”
And hopefully everyone who’s promised to join us actually does, I couldn’t help but think. But I kept that fear to myself. The ones around me already had enough fear threatening to divide them.
Kael nodded silently, and Will was at his side a moment later.
“I’ll go with him,” he said, and I mouthed a silent thank you at him for that—because I knew it was his subtle way of showing me that however frustrated he and Kael might have been with each other, we were still in this together. Until the end.
The end, the end, the end…
The words pounded over and over in my mind. And with each of their beats, my magic burned a little closer to life beneath my skin. Like it could sense the battle and the coming dawn, and it was more than ready to finally rise and meet it.
“And as for everyone else…” My gaze drifted over them, pausing for a moment on the girl who’d tried to rob me. She’d lifted her head from her hands and watched me closely as I said, “If you have any doubts about which side you’re on, now would be the time to get out of the way of the rest of us.”
All the whispering stopped. Everyone was completely still. The weight of what I was about to conclude with, of what I had to say, settled heavy on my chest. It made it hard to breath, and to force out the words. But I still managed it.
“Because as far as I’m concerned,” I said, “there is no in-between. This is the end, and there’s no looking back or anywhere else, now. Because now we have to move forward and fight.”
A few people yelled and clapped their agreement; others only fell back into whispering— but even most of their tones had changed, I thought; they sounded eager, almost. They shuffled about in that eagerness, and I caught sight of Joseph. I beckoned both him and Eamon over to me. “Can we set up some sort of parameter around at least some of the battleground? Something to protect any humans that might wander too close?”
“We can try,” Joseph said. “There are a few learned magic users among the Aran Island pack, I know. They may be willing to help us.”
Eamon nodded, but there was a hesitant, almost pained look in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I will help with the parameter, but it may be the last thing I can do for you.” As I watched him closer, I noticed something odd: he seemed to be occasionally trembling and having a hard time focusing, and that smug confidence he’d exuded since basically the first minute we met was nonexistent. “I never thought I’d say this, but I actually want to stay and help you fight. I still don’t think you have a particularly good chance of winning, but hell if that hasn’t stopped you from getting to this point anyway—and legitimately bringing an army together to help you. I am, I must say, impressed.”
“But you’re still leaving?”
“You can call me a coward again, if you wish. Because I am afraid I wouldn’t be able to fight off the feral’s influence, once we’re face to face. It’s already causing a strange, weighty sort of pressure on my heart—not unlike the curse on your friend’s. Only this particular weight might tip me into doing something terrible; I’m afraid I’d be more of a liability than an ally at this point.”
“…I understand,” I said. “We’ll see you afterward, maybe?
“Doubtful,” he said with a small, sad smile.
I frowned in response, because I assumed he was doubting that I’d still be here afterward. “I’m going to win this war,” I said, as much as an affirmation to myself as anything.
“Possibly,” he said.
“Then why…?”
Instead of answering me, he gave Joseph a pointed look, and then he turned and walked away.
“I don’t get it.”
Joseph hesitated, waiting until Eamon was almost out of sight before he said, “Have you forgotten? We are trying to fight our way to the feral’s stronghold, to the source of their power. Once that source is destroyed…Well, there will probably be side-effects that we’d rather not happen, of course.”
“Side-effects of…wait, do you mean…” My stomach gave a sick lurch as I thought about all the ones like Eamon—the neutral feral who might have been posing as humans, the way he was, and who wanted nothing to do with all this—being destroyed because of what I had to do.
“I’m not entirely sure what will happen,” he admitted. “But it’s probably best we not dwell on it now. There’s still too much else to do.”
“I—”
“Listen to me, Alexandra,” he interrupted, gently but firmly. “There is no such thing as a clean victory in war. We just have to do the best we can, now.”
I didn’t want to, but I nodded to show I understood.
I glanced back at the rest of my pack. Kael and Will were discussing the plan for the group they were leading, their voices still a bit tense but cooperative. Vanessa was silently watching everything unfolding. I walked over to her—partly so I could say, Don’t worry about the guard duty fail; it was time for me to get up anyway—but also because of that calmness I was used to feeling around her.
“You could rest for a bit, maybe,” I told her. “At least until the troops start moving out or whatever.” I still found it hard to believe that she’d let herself fall asleep while watching me—she must have been practically dead on her feet. I thought, again, of the way her curse attacks had been more numerous than anybody else’s, and I wondered if that had anything to do with it.
But she just hugged herself, shook her head at me, and said, “I’m wide awake now, anyway. I’m ready.”
I could tell something wasn’t right, and I wished I had the chance to keep bugging her about it until she spilled the truth. We were interrupted, though, before I could say anything else.
“What about you? Are you ready to go?” Lora asked, coming up beside me and giving a little tug on my sleeve, just like she’d been doing since she started learning to walk. And I’d lead her, dutifully, around the rooms in our house back when she was learning, one wobbly step after the other. Now I simply had to keep finding a way to lead her, along with all of the others staring expectantly at me.
Vanessa gave me a reassuring smile—or an attempt at one at least. I looked up at the moon, almost full and beginning its descent toward the horizon.
“Yeah.” My voice didn’t tremble any this time. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Twenty-One
inherited
(Are you safe?) Kael’s voice whispered through my thoughts as I crouched, my sister at my side, in the tall grass. The blades brushed through my fur and tickled my nose, dancing in the sea-breeze.
(As safe as I was the last time you asked me. Which was thirty seconds ago, if you lost count.) I thought back, offhandedly. My focus was on scanning the beach below, and what I could see of the craggy caves among the cliffs that rose up from that beach. Kael was miles away, back at our camp, helping organize the ones he and Will had gathered. Or he was supposed to be helping, anyway. But mostly he was worrying about me.
(It’s just strange that there’s no sign of any of them,) he thought. (It feels like a trap.)
(I know.)
(Anyway…we’re all ready. Waiting for a command.)
(Good. Is the parameter set?)
(Joseph’s team just returned a few minutes ago.)
(Okay, I’ll tell yo
u when…) My thoughts trailed off at the sight of the grass nearby that was suddenly rustling, parting as a creature streaked through it. I panicked for a split second before I remembered my senses, and a deep breath through my nose picked up Alanna’s scent.
A second later, she broke into the circle of grass Lora and I were crouched in. She was panting hard. (This way,) she thought, in between breaths.
(Alex?) came Kael’s concerned voice.
(We have a lead, I think,) I returned briskly. (Start moving the first unit toward the coastline.)
(Consider it done.)
(Hurry,) Alanna said, picking up her own pace. Lora and I both tried to maintain some sort of stealth, keeping our bodies crouched enough that we weren’t visible over the grass. But Alanna didn’t seem to care, and neither did the two of her pack members who joined her after we’d raced maybe a half mile or so.
Which seemed strange.
I slowed for a few steps—enough that Lora shot ahead of me and I had to throw myself into a wild sprint to catch up. Alanna and her two wolves were just barely still in sight, the grass ahead only occasionally rustling now, or shifting just right to reveal a flash of tails that gave away their positions. I could have caught up with them, most likely, but something was holding me back.
(What are you running so slow for?) Lora asked, glancing back at me after I ended up several yards behind her for the second time.
(I don’t know. Just a bad feel—)
Crack!
A bright flash of magic overtook us as we broke out of the grass and stumbled across dunes of sand. Blinded by the light, and surprised by the suddenly much more loose ground beneath my paws, I stumbled. My momentum carried me down to the bottom of the hill of shifting sand, tangling me up with my sister in the process.
We finally stopped rolling enough to untangle, and I jumped back to my feet, teeth baring as I circled in place and tried to find the source of the magic.
He wasn’t exactly hiding, though.
“Hello, Alex,” Carrick said, stepping straight toward me with his hands held casually behind his back. “I know we’ve been spending some quality time together in our dreams, but it still feels like it’s been forever since we’ve talked. I’ve missed you.”
I jerked my head to my sister. (Stay behind me, don’t’ talk, and don’t move,) I commanded, before glaring back at Carrick. He was different looking in the light of the real sun. He still had that unnerving, ethereal sort of beauty that all the feral had, but there were humanizing things, too. Things that hadn’t been there in my nightmares.
Things like the burn marks on his face.
He still has them.
And that’s what I focused on as he spoke, because I was the one who had left those scars. Just like he was essentially the one who had left the scars on my face. I was generally disgusted by the thought of having things in common with him, maybe—but this was different. This was a reminder that he wasn’t invincible. I’d almost killed him once, and he obviously hadn’t been able to fully recover from it.
And this time, I wouldn’t give him a chance to recover.
(Where is Alanna?) I demanded. (And the rest of my team?)
Carrick’s smirk twitched. He held up his hand and gave a little flourish. Another crack of magic reverberated down the beach, and a barrier spell—one that was only some thirty feet away, but that I hadn’t noticed in the rising sunlight’s glare— shattered. Its collapse revealed a dozen of my team huddled together, all of whom seemed dazed at best, while a few looked like they might have been unconscious. Or worse. Out of the corner of my vision, I saw Alanna approaching, too. She was a human again, and being escorted by Cerin, who regarded me with the same sickeningly warm and too-familiar smile that Carrick had given me.
Alanna’s head was low and lolling about. My hackles rose as I watched her in between alternating threatening glares at Cerin and Carrick. (What did you do to her?)
“Only what we had to, Alex dear,” Cerin chirped.
“She wasn’t being very cooperative,” Carrick said with an agreeing nod.
(Cooperative?)
“We’ve had to become more creative with our controlling, you know,” Carrick said. “Conserve energy for this war you’ve insisted on having out with us. So we just made her a bit sleepy before we had her help us out. Don’t worry. She’ll wake up good as new. Most likely.”
(I’m not the one who insisted on any of this,) I thought darkly. (But since you both insisted, here I am. I would have come to you without Alanna’s trick, so you’ve wasted your energy after all.)
“You would have come like this?” Carrick asked, arching an eyebrow. “So alone?”
Lora growled, while I shuffled where I stood, annoyed that I couldn’t come up with an immediate retort.
Cerin laughed. “Did you honestly think we would give you a chance to put yourself in any sort of advantageous position?”
(I still have the advantage.)
“Yes, of course,” Carrick said. But his tone was annoyingly dismissive. “I sense the Solas within you. So why not shift back and wield it against us, and end all of this before it gets too messy, hm?”
(Maybe I’m just waiting for the right moment to unleash it,) I thought, growling and working my claws in and out of the sand.
“Ah, of course.” He glanced at what could still be seen of the moon against the bright sky of early dawn, a knowing smile spreading over his face. “Although if it were me, I would consider this particular moment perfect, I think. I’d be afraid things were getting a little too close for comfort, moon-wise—what do you have now, maybe twelve hours at most? But then, you do seem to enjoy playing with fire. So by all means—drag this out until the rise of the blood moon. Let’s see what happens and hope for the best.”
My legs felt weak, suddenly, and I found myself speechless again.
“Or…” Carrick began before trailing off, his eyes narrowing as he took a few steps closer to me.
I could tell from his tone that I would be better off not letting him finish that sentence. But it was only me and Lora facing them at the moment, and I didn’t like the odds—so I decided it was safer to keep talking. (Or what?) I asked.
“Or we could strike a deal.”
(I don’t make deals with devils. We’ve had this conversation before, I feel like.)
“You haven’t heard my terms yet.”
(Keep talking, then.)
“I can make the curse go away.”
All of the breath felt like it had left my body. (You’re lying.)
“I can make it go away,” he repeated. “And my offer as before still stands: I won’t kill you, or any of your friends, and we can rule this world together.”
(If?)
“If you give me the Solas that you don’t know how to wield, anyway. Likely I won’t be able to wield it, either—the criostals have a rather notorious reputation for only being wieldable by certain bloodlines, as you may have heard—but I need something to even out the playing field between the two of us. I want us to be equals, is all.”
(That’s all?) I thought with a sarcastic sort of snort that made his smile tighten a bit.
But still, I would be lying if I tried to pretend I wasn’t thinking about what he’d said.
The greatest good for the greatest number of people.
If he was telling the truth, this would save everyone I cared about. A great number of people that I cared about. And it was so tempting to be selfish, if only because I was so very tired of fighting. I didn’t want to have this battle—especially since there wasn’t even a guarantee that winning it would save my cursed friends and allies.
But I could hear those allies approaching in the distance. I saw the way Carrick’s gaze flickered to tops of the sand dunes, and the way the movement brought the scars on his face further into the sunlight. And I had a strange, almost otherworldly moment of clarity.
(You’re a liar. And my answer is no, same as it always was and will be.)
; His smile finally faded away, just as a line of wolves ascended the top of those dunes. It was an awesome sight—dozens upon dozens of them, the first wave in my army, their fur and teeth and fangs on fire from the rising sun—and it gave me the confidence to turn back to Carrick with my head held high.
(Surrender,) I said simply.
“I don’t think so,” he chuckled. He lifted his hand, same as he’d done earlier. There was no crack this time; only a shimmer of illusionary magic fading away.
I had assumed he was using magic to hide his forces.
I just didn’t expect to see that magic reveal so many.
There were hundreds. They moved in three main groups—some stalking from the left side of the beach, some from the right, some walking out of the sea itself—and all of them were converging toward us. I heard my sister let out a low, uncertain whine, and far behind us, several of my army echoed her sentiments.
I kept my head high, even as the weighty thought of this might actually be how I die tried to crush it.
(More are coming,) Kael said.
I didn’t turn around, even though I desperately wanted to see him right then.
(You’re not alone. They’re just waiting for the word “go”.)
I gave a tiny nod to show I’d heard him.
“I don’t think so,” Carrick repeated, “But I will allow you one more chance to surrender. So. Surrender now, or else I will crush your pathetic army and raise the sea-level with their discarded bodies.”
I locked my gaze on him. In my mind I saw fire and blood and all of the ways I’d been hurt over this past year. I saw my sister’s frightened eyes, my mother’s tears, and every time I’d watched my friends clutch at the curse they’d been left with. I saw my scars, and innocent human victims, and all the blood I’d tried to wash from my hands.
And then I very clearly saw an image of my father, holding the Solas in his hand. Giving it to me. It had been my grandmother’s, he’d told me. Given to her by my grandfather. I’d inherited it the same way I’d inherited this war.
Ascendant (The Shift Chronicles Book 4) Page 18