by Kate Keir
“Even in the face of my ire, you still jest, Flora Bast.”
“I know you won’t risk killing me unless you have my body in the Endwood for real. You’re a pain in the ass, Sluag, but I’m not afraid of you.”
“I discovered something this week, Little Dreamer.” He took a few paces away from me and spoke calmly, almost as though his earlier tantrum had never happened.
“What?” I knew he was going to tell me whether I wanted to hear it or not. The quicker he tried to upset me, the quicker I could go back to reality.
He strolled to a tree and peeled a piece of bark from its trunk. He began absently turning it over and over in his hand.
“I discovered the existence of my elite new Draugur will, in all likelihood, begin tearing down the veil between the Endwood and the mortal world, without your death occurring in my kingdom.”
I did not like the sound of that, one bit. “In all likelihood doesn’t mean definitely.” I was proud of how unconcerned I sounded.
He grinned, exposing his rows of hideous teeth. “I suppose we’ll see, won’t we?”
I stayed silent.
“Don’t get me wrong, Little Dreamer. I’m not letting you off the hook. I still very much want you dead. If nothing else, I desperately want to punish you for killing my rogue souls.”
“Ahh, boo, hoo.” When would I learn to just keep my mouth shut?
“This little development just means that I won’t have to wait to kill you in the Endwood. It will be a thrill to send my new breed of Draugur after you with the instructions to destroy you and all of your Dion wherever they find you.” He tightened his fist around the bark in his hand, crushing it into black dust.
My stomach clenched with fear. I barely had any Dion left. What chance did we stand against this new army?
Information. If I had to be here, I could at least get information about the super Draugur from him. “So, you haven’t actually managed to create any super Draugur yet? How do you know it’s even going to work?”
He rasped laughter. “Because I’ve been doing my homework, just like you, Flora. I have my own manuscripts, and they reliably inform me Finlay’s blood is more than capable of creating my new army.”
“Have you forgotten I can kill Draugur now, Sluag?”
He threw back his head and laughed aloud. “Oh, Little Dreamer, you have no idea whether your new found skills will enable you to kill my new Draugur, do you?”
I blinked. Hatred burned inside me.
“Shall I let you into a little secret?” He smirked.
He took my silence as encouragement to continue.
“You are perfectly capable of killing my new Draugur, Flora.” His tone had become wheedling.
“Why would you tell me that?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“Because I’m curious as to whether you are prepared to do what it takes to kill them.” His grin was malevolent.
“What will it take?” I ground out past clenched teeth.
“Well, in order to destroy my new Draugur, you must first destroy their maker.”
“So, I have to kill you first?” Dammit, I had no clue how we were supposed to kill Sluag.
“You mistake me, Little Dreamer. I am not their true maker. That honour belongs to the traitor whose blood was used in their creation.” He cocked his head to one side and studied my reaction.
Finlay.
“I don’t believe you,” I managed.
Sluag gave a dismissive shrug. “That isn’t my concern.”
I thought about it for a moment. “He’s already dead, though.”
“Yes, but you need to obliterate him in the same way you have been going around doing to all of my other rogues, Flora. Funny how your little victories always seem to be your own undoing, isn’t it?”
“I hate you,” I hissed. It was childish and did me no good at all, but I couldn’t help it.
He stopped smiling and strode toward me. I backed up against my tree as he stopped with his scaly face only inches from mine. I gagged at the rotten smell of him.
“You’ll hate me even more when you wake up. I am tired of you trying to ruin my transcendence to the mortal realm, Little Dreamer. It’s time I started to really show you exactly what you’re playing with.” His eyes flickered and glowed in the half-light of the Endwood.
My stomach became ice. “What have you done?”
“Your Dion keep abandoning you, don’t they?” He smirked.
Realisation dawned. “What have you done to Lyall? Where is he?”
“He’s with his mother, Flora.” He took a step back, and I breathed a sigh of relief at his distance. “Lyall is currently languishing in a cage, waiting for Finlay’s blood to run dry. Once that happens, he too will be sacrificed, and we will create Draugur from his blood.”
No, not Lyall. I can’t go through this again.
“Where is he?” I was begging, and it was pathetic.
He studied me. “I think you know where he is. You’ve found Helena’s facility. I also suspect it’s going to hurt you rather a lot when he dies, Flora. The agony of losing two Dion whom you love might even kill you.”
“I won’t let you kill him,” I growled.
“Well, you’re welcome to come and try to save him. However, I feel that you have slightly more pressing matters to deal with right now.” He smirked as he started to release me from the Endwood.
“What do you mean?” I shouted as he began to fade from my sight.
“Your precious Castle Dion is under attack from my loyal Draugur as we speak. If they don’t kill your remaining Dion, they will take them to Helena also. You really should run along and try to help, Flora.” He gave me a shooing gesture with his hand.
“I’m going to destroy you, Sluag,” I howled.
“Trying to destroy me is what got you into this mess. Perhaps if you stop pissing me off, Little Dreamer, your friends might start to live a little longer.”
Chapter Twenty
I had never left the Everwood as quickly as I did after Sluag released me from my dream. I ran up the steps of Castle Dion and through the main door. As I entered the gloom of the hallway, the sounds of fighting reached my ears.
I ran toward the great hall, and my breath hitched as I took in the sight of my Dion battling against a large group of Draugur. Freya and Artair were both armed with swords they were using to send the bodies of Draugur crashing to the ground, immobilised. They couldn’t kill them, however; they needed me for that.
Enid was valiantly trying to fend off one Draugur that had her trapped in a corner of the room, and I knew I needed to help her before I did anything else. I ran across the stone floor and hurled my incantation through the air at the monster. As its soul was ripped from its chest and it crumpled to the floor, Enid sobbed in relief and ran to my side.
Without hesitation, I turned toward the main body of Draugur and began targeting them one by one. After the first few fell down dead, they turned their attention to me and started to approach. I realised I couldn’t recite quickly enough to finish them all before they reached me. Looking around frantically, I noticed a sword that had been discarded on the stone floor and faced them armed with steel.
The first Draugur fell after I used my energy to extract and kill its soul. The second came close enough for me to aim a swing with the sword, and I emptied its guts onto the floor, sending it crashing to the ground. I hoped I’d have enough time to come back and kill each Draugur before they reanimated, once I’d managed to help my Dion temporarily stop them all.
I could sense Freya and Artair growing tired as I drew closer to them. I couldn’t blame them. There must have been forty Draugur in the great hall, and they had been fighting them alone until I arrived.
A sudden realisation hit me. “Freya,” I shouted over the noise.
She looked at me, panting hard.
“Where’s Pen?”
Freya’s eyes glistened a little as she ran her sword through another Draugur. “They took
her, Flora. I think that’s the whole reason they were here.”
So, Sluag had Pen and Lyall, and I was down to two and a half Dion. I wanted to cry.
Another Draugur came at me, and I muttered the words to end its life. At the same time, I felt a wetness above my lip. Touching my finger to my face I wasn’t surprised to find that my nose was bleeding again. I couldn’t keep this up for too much longer.
Artair shot me a worried look as he took out another Draugur with his sword. “You’re going to kill yourself if you don’t stop, Flora.”
I frowned and lifted up my own sword to meet another monster. “I’m not sure I have a choice, Artair. We have to get rid of them somehow.”
Freya fought off another attacker as she shouted over the noise to me. “Flora, your blood.”
She was right, if I could get my blood into the comatose Draugur that littered the floor, I could control them until we found a permanent way to get rid of them. I searched through the chaos until I found Enid’s terrified eyes.
“Enid, get me something that will hold liquid,” I barked.
She nodded and flew to the doorway before disappearing into the hallway and returning moments later with a cup from the dining hall clutched in her trembling hands. She reached me and held the cup out for me to take.
Instead of taking the cup from her, I drew the sword across my palm, in the same spot I’d used earlier. The wound reopened easily and began to pour with blood. The sword had cut deeper than I’d intended.
Vaguely wondering at the irony of bleeding to death by my own sword, I held my hand out over the cup and allowed the fluid to rapidly fill the vessel. Enid looked as though she was about to burst into tears as she stared at the mug.
I had to stifle a snort of laughter as I followed her gaze and realised the cup she had chosen was delicately printed with a ring of pink, dancing unicorns—not the usual cup of choice for a blood sacrifice.
I was pulled back to the present, as I heard Artair grunt in pain when a Draugur caught him off guard, and I quickly sobered.
“Enid, take this and make sure my blood gets into the mouth of every Draugur that is unconscious. Can you do that, for me?” I spoke softly, hoping I wasn’t asking too much of her.
For a heartbeat, I thought she would refuse but she finally turned huge eyes on me and nodded before heading off with the cup of my blood in her hands.
I stood and watched her administer my blood to the first two Draugur, until I was satisfied she knew what she was doing. Then I turned back to deal with the few remaining Draugur that were still on their feet.
Between myself and my Dion, we quickly finished off the last couple of attackers. I used my energy to kill the final Draugur, mainly just because I was so angry at Sluag, and I wanted to hit out but I regretted it when I fell to my knees with a groan.
Freya ran to my side. “Flora, are you okay?”
My head was throbbing, and blood was trickling from my nose in a steady flow now. I took the hand Freya offered and pulled myself to my feet, but at the same time nausea got the better of me, and I vomited. I panicked as I realised I couldn’t breathe because of the blood inside my nose and the bile in my throat, and I landed on my ass, gasping for breath. It wasn’t my finest hour.
“We need to get her somewhere she can rest.” Artair was already lifting me from the floor as he spoke.
“No, we need to help Pen and Lyall.” I weakly pushed at his chest, trying to stop him from carrying me.
“You’re doing no helping in that state, Flora.” Freya wrinkled her nose as she scrutinised me.
Then to Artair she said, “Artair, take her to her room. I’ll deal with these things.” She gestured around the room at the immobile Draugur as she spoke. Enid had finished her mission to get my blood inside the mouth of every remaining Draugur, and she currently stood with the unicorn cup in her hand, looking thoroughly lost and miserable.
“Come on, kiddo, you can help me herd them into the cellar for now. We’ll work out a more permanent solution when our Soul Keeper’s recovered.” Freya shot an easy smile in Enid’s direction, and the young girl moved to stand next to her with a look of relief.
I didn’t see what happened after that, because Artair carried me from the room and started walking up the stairs. It didn’t escape my notice that he was incredibly strong, barely seeming to notice my weight in his arms. I was surprised because he was much shorter and slighter of build than both Lyall and Finlay.
He took me to my bedroom and gently laid me on my bed. Achilles came padding over to investigate me, clearly worried in case his primary food source was unable to keep up its end of the deal.
“Artair, we have to go and help them. If Pen’s information was right, then Hel-Laurel’s facility isn’t too far from here.” I wanted to try to sit up, but I was too weak.
“You can’t even walk, Flora. You need to rest, at least for tonight.” His voice was firm.
“He’s going to kill Lyall,” I whimpered.
Taking a seat at the edge of the bed, Artair gently patted my hand. “Think about it, Flora. If he had used all of Finlay’s blood up, he would have fully certified super Draugur by now, and if he had them, he would have sent them out to attack us tonight, not ordinary Draugur.”
What he said made complete sense, and I relaxed a little.
“He is not going to kill Lyall tonight, Flora. In fact, I’m almost certain he wants you to find your way to Laurel’s facility so that she can kill him in front of you. You know how Sluag loves his theatre.”
I nodded slowly. I knew better than anyone how much Sluag loved to be dramatic. “He told me he knows we found Laurel’s lab. He knew I’d want to go straight there.”
Artair’s smile was dark. “He knew you’d exhaust yourself by killing his ordinary Draugur and that you’d be weak if you attacked Laurel. His intention was to finish us all off tonight, one way or another, I think.”
“I just keep running into his traps, don’t I?” I growled.
“Not tonight you didn’t. Sleep, Flora. I’m going to go and help Freya downstairs. We’ll meet in the morning to plan our assault on Laurel’s lab.” Artair stood up and made for the door.
“Artair.” My voice was heavy with weariness.
“Yeah?” He turned back with a questioning look.
“Thank you.”
“Anytime, Soul Keeper.” He smiled at me before closing the door softly behind him.
Chapter Twenty-One
I was so worried about Pen and Lyall I didn’t think I would be able to sleep. Which meant I was surprised when I woke up in the hazy light of a new morning. I stood up out of bed far too quickly and was rewarded with a brief moment of dizziness. I moved a little more slowly as I made my way into the bathroom and looked at my reflection in the mirror.
I wrinkled my nose in disgust as I studied the gaunt face that stared back at me. My green eyes were the only thing that looked the same. My face was thinner than it had ever been, and I had dark circles smudged below my lower lashes. My skin was tinged with a pale grey colour that was evidence of how much of a toll had been taken on my body the day before.
I got into the shower, allowing the hot water to cascade over my face. I scrubbed the dried blood from my face and the wound on my hand, trying to clean myself up as best I could, before dressing in dark blue jeans and a long-sleeved, green sweater. I tied my copper-coloured locks back into a ponytail and added a little makeup to my face—it didn’t really hide the sickliness, but there was no time to keep trying.
I walked into the downstairs dining room and tried my best to smile at Artair and Freya who sat at the table nursing cups of coffee and talking in muted whispers. I suspected they hadn’t been to bed. Pouring myself a coffee, I joined them.
“How are you feeling, Flora? You look a bit better.” Freya didn’t sound convincing.
“If I look better now, then I don’t even want to know how bad I looked last night.” My voice sounded raspy.
Artair shi
fted in his seat. “Bad. You looked bad, Flora. I thought you might die when you killed that last Draugur.”
I blinked at them both. “I didn’t think it was that bad, until I looked into the mirror this morning.”
“If Pen was here, she’d go crazy at the risks you took yesterday. We’re supposed to take care of you, not the other way around.” Freya sounded worried.
Resting my elbows on the table and briefly dropping my head into my hands, I responded. “Problem is, I was the only one who could fix our little problem last night, wasn’t I? It had to be me, Freya. It will probably have to be me when we attack Laurel’s lab.”
“Not necessarily,” Artair interrupted.
“What do you mean?” I lifted my head to meet his eyes.
“I think it’s highly likely Laurel will have humans as well as Draugur protecting her project.” He pursed his lips grimly.
“But, we can’t kill people. How can we stop her?” I frowned.
“I don’t think we’re supposed to,” Freya murmured quietly.
“Sluag has done some pretty spectacular advance planning, Flora. We’ve spent the night going through different options, and we can’t think of one that works flawlessly for rescuing Lyall and Pen.” Artair watched my reaction carefully.
I didn’t hesitate. “There’s only one option. We go there and we break in. Then we find Lyall and Pen, kill anything or anyone who stands in our way and we leave.”
“Are you ready for that, Flora? Are you ready to kill someone and then face their soul in the Everwood?” Freya asked.
I growled in misery, remembering back to the story Lyall had told me about the man he’d killed. It had fundamentally changed who he was and almost ruined his life. Even if these people were evil and wanted to see the world and everything in it burn under Sluag’s rule, could I really take a human life?
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “But I’m not going to sit here and let him kill them both. We have to go.”
They both gave a small nod of agreement before Freya added, “Enid cannot come with us. She’s not ready.”