Another howl—this time from the east. Okay, west it was then, because there was no way I was heading in the same direction as whatever was making that sound. Moving fast and keeping to a crouch, I streaked across the land heading west, with the plan of circling back to Jinx’s cave. My head was throbbing dully and my legs ached. The cave was a safe place to rest and gather my wits for the next phase of whatever plan my brain conjured up. Jinx had talked about death, but aside from the faraway howls, nothing had jumped out at me, nothing had screamed mortal danger. Had he been lying about that too? The fucker was about to meet my fist. Answers were needed, and if I needed to beat them out of him, then so be it.
The past two hours of no major shift in the terrain had allowed complacency to set in, and at first, the seething dark mass up ahead didn’t register, but then my brain pinged and my feet froze. There was something alive, something moving, but not toward me. Dropping to the ground, low enough to hopefully blend in, heart in my throat, I watched as the dark mass split into several large, dark masses. They scuttled back and forth as mandibles chomped.
Oh, fuck.
Oh, no.
My brain shuttered and then fired back online.
Spiders.
Huge, hairy, hungry spiders, and nope, no bug spray in sight.
They were feeding, and on what wasn’t on my list of things to find out. As long as it wasn’t me, we’d be cool. Getting closer was not an option, going back was not an option, because the howling things were behind me.
Shit. Okay. I’d head parallel to them, not get any closer and hopefully be able to skirt the mass and get back to the cave. Staying low to the ground and keeping my distance, I began to move. Spiders had lots of eyes, and legs, and urgh. They couldn’t see me, right? I was too far away and much smaller than they were, right?
Okay, getting somewhere. They were almost behind me, which wasn’t ideal either, but it did mean that I was closer to the cave now. Dammit, should have stayed in the damn cave. A quick glance over my shoulder showed them still working their meal, whatever it was, and then one of them froze. Its front legs came up, testing the air.
Okay, that didn’t look good. It looked almost as if it was waving.
The others joined it and my calf muscles burned and ached, wanting to run. No, hold off. Just stay still. It could be nothing to do with you. It could just be—
They turned as one and began to run toward me.
Adrenaline was an explosion in my veins and I was off, running as if the hounds of hell were after me but knowing there was no outrunning these creatures. I needed higher ground, needed to get a bolt into K. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Rocks up ahead. Time to take a leap. There was no picking up speed as I was already going all out, so using the momentum already acquired from my death sprint, I pushed off the ground, jacket flapping, and landed with a thud on the rocks. Spin, engage bolt, fire.
Nothing.
Not a click, not a whizz.
K was dead, runes silent, his metal body cold in my hands. Terror gripped me by the throat and shook me, because they were on me, leaping toward me, mandibles quivering and leaking some kind of fucked-up drool, and shit, I could see down their throats, right inside. Inside, where they wanted me to be.
Orange flames sprang up between us, a wall of fire so high and so hot it singed my brows before the heat of it threw me backward off the rocks. The spiders screamed and screeched, their hairy bodies dancing within the flames.
“Hurry!” Jinx said from behind me. “This way.”
I scrambled up and ran after his limping form. His staff thudded on the ground as he dragged himself rapidly along. Behind us, the cries of the dying spider things was a blessed symphony.
He stopped too soon, turning to face the inferno.
“Why are we stopping?”
He reached into his cloak and drew a wicked-large blade. “Take it.”
“What?”
He inclined his head to the flames. “The fire die in moment, and you retrieve our supper.”
Supper? “Wait, what? You want to eat those things?”
“It is meat. You want live? Then you eat.”
Oh, fuck. He was right. Sustenance was essential, and if these things were the only meat around ... This was going to suck. I took the blade off him and, with a deep breath, headed toward the burning spiders.
Twenty minutes later, we were headed away from the carnage with several lumps of roasted spider meat. It actually didn’t smell too bad—kinda a cross between fish and chicken.
Jinx moved briskly, even though he was reliant on the staff. “You need eat. You need stay strong if you want get through the tear.”
He paused a moment, adjusting his grip on his aide, and then continued his limp shuffle-walk. Was this why he was still here, holed up in a cave? Did his limp mean he wasn’t strong enough to pass through the breach?
Up ahead, the cave came into view, the entrance bordered by thorn bushes.
He paused at the cave entrance. “I save you. You hunt for me. You hunt for meat. You hunt for survival. You hunt the denizens of the Everdark and we feast.”
If I was going to survive in this place long enough to find Valance and get the fuck out, then there was no other choice but to accept the deal.
“Fine. I’ll hunt for you, but you need to help me find my friend. He’s here in the Everdark, and I have forty nights to get him here.”
Jinx sighed. “You have a deal.”
***
The spider meat wasn’t actually that bad. I only gagged three times, and after that, Jinx distracted me with his mellow voice.
“Not often someone come through breach to this side.” He chuckled low and relaxed. “Yes indeed, a sight to see. You lucky you fall through as breach close and expel denizens.”
I paused in my chewing. “What do you mean expel?”
“When the breach close, it emit strange force. Knock the denizens away from it. They always scuttle back, but it give me enough time to get you out.” He picked at his portion of meat. “The spot where you see spiders is where the breach be. They be feasting on remains of the unsuccessful Others. Ones who get crushed and injured in influx to exit this hell.”
“So, these denizens are attracted to the breach?”
“Oh, yes. It not let them through, though. That privilege reserved for creatures who’ve resided both sides of the breach. Draconi, Shedim, and Others. They all lived in your world, and so breach recognize them and allow them through either way.”
“That makes no sense. It allowed me through, and I’m none of the above.” His eyes squinted. Was he smiling? “What are you implying?”
“Jinx not imply a thing. Simply tell you what I observed and surmised and learned.”
So, he was some kind of expert, was he? “Tell me about this place. What is the Everdark, anyway?”
I’d heard bits and pieces but nothing comprehensive. Maybe Jinx would know more; he lived here, after all. He polished off his meal and dusted off his hands. Then he reached up and pushed back his hood. My eyes would probably have popped out of my head if I hadn’t blinked in time. The face that he revealed was made of bark and vine, his eyes were glowing orbs set deep in the wood, and tiny flowers grew from his cheeks like blush marks. He ducked his head again as if embarrassed.
Shit. Stop staring, Wila. “Well, it’s nice to put a face to the voice.”
He smiled, showcasing neat, white teeth—no, not teeth. Thorns. Okay, that would be a smile that would take some getting used to.
“Everdark is all that’s left of the prison dimension the creator exiled his failed creations to,” Jinx said. “The Shedim come here first, led by their queen. They use combined will to push back the night and reveal the sun, but the Everdark always a threat, growing and having to constantly be fought back. Then come the Others, and finally the Draconi, who want this land for themselves. Conflict break out as they attempt to push the Shedim into the darkness and claim the light, and then ...” He faltered here, looking away.<
br />
“And then what?”
“The rest is history.”
He knew. He knew the truth, of course he did. We’d been right in our deduction that whatever Elora had done hadn’t affected the Others’ memories. “Ivan was about to sign a treaty with the Shedim giving them equality and brokering peace, but Elora killed him and altered everyone’s memories.”
He blinked at me in shock. “How ... how you know this?”
“I guess there’s a ton of stuff you don’t know either.”
His smile was bitter. “We suffer for our knowledge, speaking out and being ignored or cut down. Now we know to keep our memories to ourselves. There is no one to hear.”
“You’re wrong. I’m hearing you, and my friends are hearing, and we’re going to do something about it. Elora won’t get away with what she’s done. I’m going to make sure of it.”
“In that case, Jinx make sure you stay alive.”
He’d already saved my life twice. “What were you doing by the breach, anyway? Were you trying to get through?”
He ducked his head. “There is no getting through for me.”
“Then what?”
“Food. There is carnage and denizens fight over their bounty, they kill each other in the process. I gather what I can and bring it back here. It last me until the next breach event.”
What could I say to that? He was a scavenger, a survivor, and he’d saved my life. “I’ll hunt for you, Jinx. You help me find my friend, and when the next breach comes, I’ll take you with me.”
He nodded slowly. “We have deal.”
***
The denizen circled me, its thick, large, centipede-like body trembling with the anticipation of the kill. I’d hunted its kind before, but this one was faster, with a yellow stripe down its back. I kept low, body in a crouch, eyes on the prize, because like fuck was I going down. The denizen was destined for the spit, crackle pop, the taste wasn’t so bad once you got used to it. Resisting the urge to shove my matted hair away from my face, I focused on the monster. Its body shrank like a concertina as it prepared to strike.
“Hold, just hold,” Jinx instructed from his position on a nearby rock.
The ass. He was making me pay for dragging him away from the relative safety of his cave. Four days we’d been traveling, and he’d made it clear that I’d be pulling seventy percent of the weight on this journey.
The denizen leapt. I met it midair, dagger in hand, slicing upward, tearing open its soft underbelly.
“Oh, good. Very good.”
Patronizing ass. But I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my mouth.
The denizen screamed and then fell to the ground, body twitching in the throes of death. No time to wait, no time to let it die, because the other monsters would smell the blood. They’d come. Climbing on top of the convulsing body, I began to hack.
After a few minutes Jinx joined me and started working on its soft middle. It took us several minutes, but we had the meat we needed. Leaving the leftovers for the other denizens of the Everdark, we headed toward our home for the night.
It was barely a nook really, positioned on a rise in the side of a dusty hill with a blackened, twisted tree to shield us. Jinx built a fire just outside the nook and set up a spit to roast some of the meat. My stomach grumbled and twisted. Killing denizens sure worked up an appetite.
“You’re learning,” Jinx said from his spot by the fire. “You kill quick.”
“I have a good teacher.”
“Yes. True.”
There was a smile in his voice.
I joined him by the flames, crossing my legs and staring into the fire as it jumped and played. “Were you always alone? Did you ever have a companion?”
Jinx was silent for a long time. His hood was up so his face was in shadow. When he replied his tone was hushed and reverent. “The Others are many, we are varied. We are vast, but my kind are no more. There was once another—my mate. We the last and now he gone, and I destined to be alone until I no more.”
Alone and trapped here. His lover, his mate gone. My heart ached for him, for all the long, sunless days he’d endured in this dreadful place. He deserved better. “Well, we’re going to get you out of this place. There’s a huge world out there, Jinx, with movies and popcorn and tea. You seriously have to try Gilbert’s tea, it’s delish. Oh, and we have lemon cake, it’s scrumptious.”
He laughed softly. “Better than denizen meat?”
Ha, he was making a joke. “Hell yes it’s better than denizen meat.”
He nodded. “Yes. Yes. I like, I think.”
Despite the chill in the air and the dire situation, a bloom of optimistic heat filled my chest. “We’ll find Valance and we’ll get back to the breach. You’ll see, we’re going to get out of here.”
He nodded slowly and turned the spit. The fire spat and crackled, the meat cooked with its distinct, pungent, not totally unpleasant smell, and I thanked the powers that be that they’d put me into Jinx’s path, because honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d survive this place without him.
Chapter 13
The fire burned steadily and the aroma of denizen filled the tiny cave. It was safe in here. My traps would alert me to any intruder, and the fire would keep them at bay. Denizens didn’t like fire, not one bit. Polishing off the last of my rations, I lay down on the soft, warm cloak—Jinx’s cloak. It made a comfortable bed. It still smelled like him, like moss and greenery. My eyes pricked. Man, I missed the old coot.
Pulling out my dagger, I rolled up my sleeve and ran my hand over the scabs and scars, twenty in total, and ten of them spent alone. We’d traveled far from Jinx’s cave, widening our net in my search for Valance. But it was time to head back to Jinx’s cave, time to wait for the breach and go home without Valance. I’d failed to find him, and now I’d be going home alone. Would Jinx’s cave still be unoccupied? We’d hidden it well, but who knew. Maybe some other creature had made it their home. Maybe the same one that had killed my friend had taken up residence. I should never have made him come with me. If I’d left him behind he’d still be alive, waiting to welcome me back; instead, I’d dragged him away from safety, far from the terrain he knew and into fresh danger. How many times had he saved my life? The worm stings? The venomous millipede bites? He’d healed me with the herbs that grew from his body, and when he’d needed me the most, I’d been gone. Hunting for meat while he fell prey to goodness knew what predator.
There’d been barely enough left to bury. But his cloak had been untouched, lying by the remains of his body. Each inhale was a memory. Ten days may not sound like a long time, but here, in the Everdark, it felt like a lifetime. We’d been together pretty much every minute, after all.
Blinking back the tears, I took a shuddering breath. He’d taught me so much. I’d be dead without him, and now dying wasn’t an option. I needed to make him proud. Get my arse out of here and tell the others about the man made of greenery who’d kept me safe in a barren land of darkness.
My chest ached with loneliness. What were the others doing now? Was Gilbert making tea? Was Trevor reading the Daily Vine? Had Noir gone back to his Arcana life, given up on ever finding me? And Tay ... he’d given up the knell, for what? Oh, God. Please, by some miracle, let me find Valance on the way back, please let this not have been a wasted journey.
Sleep had been fitful and brief since Jinx’s death. He’d watched over me while I slept and vice versa, but now I was alone, deep slumber was a luxury, and it had been over a week since I’d dreamt of the guys. My loneliness was complete.
My eyes drifted closed, but my other senses remained aware and alert. I’d skirted the edges of sleep, just taking enough to recharge, enough to ...
Burning, I was burning. Oh, God. I cracked my eyes open to see the fire low, too low to ward off predators. It needed kindling. Must get up. But my head was fuzzy and heavy, and my limbs were like lead.
Nausea rolled up my throat, and I turned my head to the side in time to spew. F
uck. Oh, fuck. The damn denizen. Yellow-striped fucker ... Toxic. Poison. Oh, shit. I threw up again and again until there was nothing but bile. Pain gripped my torso, making me weak.
An ironic chuckle bubbled up my throat. I’d been killed by a denizen, and all I’d had to do was eat the fucker. Dead. So dead. Sleep. I needed to sleep. Unconsciousness tugged at me.
“Wila, wake up.”
I peeled my lids back. “Azren?”
“Yes, it’s me. You need to stay awake. Stay alert.”
“Too tired.”
“I know. I know, Wila. But if you fall asleep, you’ll die. Do you understand me?”
Death was bad. Death was unwanted. “Poisoned.”
“Think, Wila. What can you use to purge the poison?”
Purge it ... Jinx ... Jinx would have had an herb or ... Oh, fuck. Herbs. There were herbs in his pocket. Every moment was agony, an exercise in willpower, but slowly, surely, my fingers found the pocket in the cloak and the pouch of herbs Jinx had ground up for me the day before his demise.
My head felt like a bowling ball had been strapped to it, but my hand was doing a fine job of teasing open the pouch, pinching some herbs, and then slowly bringing them up to my mouth.
“That’s it, Wila. You can do this,” Azren said.
The dry herbs touched my tongue, melting bitter and sharp in my mouth, and then my throat began to tingle.
Was it working?
If the fire died, then I’d never get the chance to find out, because the predators would get me first.
“Deep breaths, Wila. You can do this. Fight it,” Azren ordered.
I rolled onto my front and reached for the kindling, finger grazing the blackened, dried wood. Just an inch more. There. Okay. With a flick of my wrist, I sent fresh wood into the fire, reviving the flames.
“You did it.” Azren’s voice was laced with relief.
My eyelids were much too heavy to stay open. “Will you stay?”
“Yes, for as long as you need me.”
Chronicles of Arcana (The complete collection books 1-4) Page 48