“But it's dark in there.”
“There’s light farther in. I promise. You won’t be completely in the dark.”
Miren hesitated for another moment then nodded and went inside. Shadows swallowed him, but he'd be alright. There was no one else in that cave except the Foundlings and his brother. Sarn’s magic had told him that much before he'd shut it down.
Shade had also hung back, so they were the last to enter the cave. A lumir crystal hung from the ceiling casting a soft gold light on piles of cold weather gear, weapons, training paraphernalia, and other unidentifiable lumps. Before his friend could speak, Sarn motioned for silence.
“Everyone hide or our rescue mission ends here.”
“Who’s coming?” Miren asked, but Sarn couldn’t see him amid the poorly lit heaps of stuff.
“Probably a couple of Rangers. This is their storeroom after all, but anything they might need will be near the entrance. Stay as far back as you can and hide.”
Of course, Sarn disobeyed his own orders and hunkered down between piles of clothes, blankets, leather vests, gambesons, jerkins, and other technical clothing. Behind them, targets were stacked haphazardly by crates of arrows of all kinds. Sarn thought about grabbing a handful of arrows, but he was still learning how to hit the target without using magic. Maybe he should hold off on that until he was more accomplished at archery.
Shade crouched beside Sarn. They were hidden by the Rangers' inability to organize their stuff, and Sarn had to suppress a laugh at that. The commander was supposedly a brilliant tactician, but he couldn't keep his own office organized let alone all the things his Ranger corps used on a daily, monthly and seasonal basis.
It was all here in a disorganized jumble. But neither would they miss any of it if he borrowed a few things here and there. Maybe Sarn didn't have to search for his son with just the clothes on his back. Maybe he could do it fully kitted out like a proper Ranger.
Sarn liked the idea more and more as he considered what he'd need. He'd dug through these heaps to find items many, many times because that had been the only work suitable during the later stages of his recovery. He already knew what items to take and where to find them. He'd even tried at organizing one corner of this cave just so he could find the most requested items faster. In fact, Miren had helped him with that.
“How are we ditching them?” Shade asked in an undertone, interrupting the list of necessary gear Sarn had been compiling in his head. It took him a moment to remember who 'them' referred to.
“I don’t know yet. Let me know if you think of something.”
“The cold might change their minds. It’s brutal out there.”
Sarn shrugged. “It’s not deterring me.”
“Nothing deters you.”
“What about you? You don’t have to come with me.” Sarn wanted to look at his friend; he needed to know why Shade would volunteer for this. Was it out of guilt? But Sarn had to keep his damned eyes closed, or their glow would give him away because no one living in Mount Eredren had eyes that glowed except him.
“No, but I want to,” Shade whispered.
It was the old Shade, his stalwart friend, not the stranger Shade had become of late. To confirm that, Shade found his hand where it rested on a blanket, bunching up the wool, and rested a gloved hand atop it. Palm to back, their hands remained stacked one upon the other. Shade’s shorter, slenderer fingers slid between his longer, calloused ones and curled in, trapping that fragile thing their friendship had become.
Sarn swallowed hard and wished he could look at his friend. But it was just too risky, and the air was tense between them.
“Friends to the end?” Shade asked in that familiar rasp, a lingering gift of the fire that had scarred his friend so badly, Shade covered everything except a pair of eyes Sarn longed to look into. But he mustn’t ever do that because of his magic.
“To the bitter end.” Sarn turned his hand over and clasped his best friend’s hand, palm-to-palm.
He didn’t resist when Shade pulled him into a tight hug. It felt right, somehow. Maybe the old Shade was back for good. Sarn hoped so because he needed that Shade now more than ever, enough to suppress that twinge of unease and the question banging around in his chest: were you there when my son was taken?
Sarn pressed his lips into a thin line to keep that question from spilling out because he was in way over his head and couldn’t rescue his son without help.
“Let’s ditch these kids and take back your son.” Shade thumped his back then everything grew wavy.
Sarn slumped down as something tugged on his magic. Instinct drove him to pull back. It was his magic, and he needed it to save his son.
“Sarn? What’s wrong? You’ve gone all pale and shaky.” Shade gripped his shoulders to keep him from sliding onto the floor and cracking his head open.
Sarn licked lips that had gone suddenly dry. “Something grabbed hold of my magic. I don’t know what.”
But he damn well could find out. His mental map was already unspooling, and his sixth sense was extending out of the hand he’d planted on the bare stone floor to hold him up. His sixth sense cascaded out in a series of interconnected green-glowing rings.
They passed over two men conversing with a woman in the tunnel leading out of the mountain. Her icon kept changing from a woman to a dog, but that couldn’t be right. His map must be addled by the tug of war for control of his magic. A war he had to win, or his magic might bring down the mountain and kill everyone. Sarn couldn’t let that happen. Never again. Find the person pulling on your magic and make him stop.
One man’s icon flipped to an archer, marking him as a Ranger. He tasted like flint to his magic. So that meant he was the mercurial day scout named Darcien. The other man’s icon changed to two crossed short swords under a helm with a Y-shaped slit marking him as a Guard but not one who regularly worked with the Rangers, so Sarn couldn’t put a name to his icon.
His magic sped through the rest of the maze of tunnels to the enormous lumir crystal doors. They glowed a burnished gold, which was visible for miles around at night. His magic lingered over them, tasting the wardens. Neither were Rangers, so they weren’t known to Sarn. Their icons stayed the crossed swords and helm icon of the Guards. Beyond them, a wide precipice spread out. It ran for a couple of hundred feet to the trailhead where a switchback pathway descended the mountain’s south face.
His map re-centered, focusing in on the precipice several hundred feet down and several bends from the main doors into the mountain. Eleven figures populated it. Five women, six men. Seven of the eleven people kept flipping between human icons and dogs. There was something around their necks that flickered in and out of view.
Was that a collar and there, was that a leash? Green lines curved away from all seven of the man/woman-wolf icons into the enchanted forest, but Sarn pulled his gaze back to the precipice. That was interesting but those lines weren’t what was pulling on his magic.
Something else on that cliff was. He had to find it. Sarn focused in on the four icons that weren’t constantly changing—three women and one archer icon, a Ranger named Fenton. But it was one of the women his map focused in on. She glowed as green as his eyes.
“She glows,” Sarn repeated still unable to believe it.
“Who glows?” Shade shook him.
“She does.”
Those rings of sensing washed over her, and his magic snapped back to him. All was that perfect green light, and he was the shadow marring it.
“Sarn? Sarn?” Shade shook his shoulders, but his friend's voice sounded so very small and distant. “Sarn? Speak to me. Tell me you’re alright.”
“Shade? Is my brother okay?” Miren asked as the world blurred and darkened. Not again. Not another blackout.
“I don’t want to black out. I hate when that happens.” Sarn tried to stop it, but the darkness was ink spilling everywhere. It was indelible, inevitable, and it swept him under for a while, and he started to shake.
&n
bsp; Chapter 20
“Well, it looks like it’s up to me now,” Strella muttered as Robin writhed on the ground, trying and failing to free herself from those glowing threads. Only her face was visible, and it was scrunched up in either anger or intense concentration. It was probably both because who wouldn’t be angry about being trussed up like that?
In her place, Strella would be pissed too. But magic wasn’t her cross to bear, thank Fate. She had enough of her own problems without that added to the pile. Strella sloughed off all thoughts of that and concentrated on the problem at hand. At least those lupine creatures had lost interest in her. They were a problem though.
So far, they’d shown no interest in her beyond keeping her away from Robin, but that could change at any moment, especially if Strella did what she was thinking of doing. But she needed their attention to stay on Robin.
“How do I get you to keep ignoring me?” Strella wondered that aloud by mistake.
“That's easy enough. Just don't move,” the surly Ranger said. A lot of help he had been. Since making his acquaintance, he'd done nothing to inspire trust.
“Obviously, that’s not an option. My friend’s in trouble.”
What Strella needed was a distraction, but that was Cat’s thing, not hers, and Cat was still out of the fight. Strella glanced over her shoulder to check on Cat. The sled was right where she'd left it wedged against a rock, so it didn't slide back down the incline. It didn't look like anything had touched it either, thank Fate for that miracle.
Those lupine things were below them on the trail, but they had Robin completely surrounded, and that was a problem. Strella cast about for something she could use to distract those lupine creatures. Unless she wanted to throw gravel at them, there wasn't anything immediately to hand.
Robin thrashed against her bindings and muttered something about light. Now that would be useful. Strella studied Robin. Were her bonds glowing brighter than before?
Yes, indeed they were. Perhaps she’d found that distraction. The last time Robin had messed with those strings, they’d flared up and nearly blinded her. Was there any chance of that happening anytime soon?
Strella regarded Robin speculatively and wished she had some way of gauging that, so she’d know when to put her gifts to good use. Belatedly, she remembered they weren’t alone and glanced around for their Ranger guide. He was edging away from them up the trail toward the entrance to Mount Eredren.
Strella caught his eye and nodded to the rope attached to the sled. He'd better take that with him. If he knew what was good for him, he would. If not, she'd make sure he never left a woman down ever again.
He glanced at the sled. She slowly worked the ropes over her head. None of the wolves reacted, so Strella tossed the rope down onto the gravel between her and the Ranger. It was a challenge. Would he pick it up?
“Take her with you.”
“I’ll get help.”
“Take her with you,” Strella said in an undertone and this time, she packed those four words with all the menace she could stuff into them and followed it up with a glare that could have peeled the skin from his bones if she had magic. Luckily for him, she didn’t.
He wisely picked up the rope and gave it an experimental tug. Strella stepped behind the sled to cover his retreat and protect Cat, but she needn’t have bothered. Those wolves were staring intently at Robin, who was still not getting anywhere with those threads. Strella divided her attention between the retreating sled and Robin, who’d started muttering again about light.
“Just a little longer, girl. Keep them occupied,” Strella said sotto voce.
Robin strained to reach something with her bound hands only she could see. Maybe those wolves could see it too. Their eyes followed the movements of her hands, and they hung on every gesture. Robin shifted her grip and seemed to be tugging on an invisible rope.
The sled vanished around another bend, but Strella could still hear it dragging over gravel and a light dusting of snow. It must be almost to the doors by now unless those doors were located higher up the mountainside. Let’s hope whoever was manning them could close them in a hurry because her plan hinged on that.
Strella tensed and waited as those dragging sounds ceased. When they didn’t come again, she smiled. Cat must be inside by now and was hopefully on her way to the infirmary.
“Okay, Robin, any time you want to light up my life, go for it.”
But if Robin heard she gave no sign. It didn’t matter. Strella fixed in her mind where Robin was in relation to those lupine creatures, and the steep drop off at the edge of this lovely cliff and closed her eyes against the coming brightness. Any minute now it would arrive. She didn’t have long to wait.
Light exploded out of Robin and something shot past Strella’s shoulder as that green light winked out. Strella waited a moment to ensure those lupine creatures were blinded, then she leaped over them, scooped up the no longer bound Robin, and rushed around the next bend in the trail. Damn, there was one more bend ahead then hopefully the doors to the mountain.
Strella took those remaining yards to the golden doors standing open to receive visitors to Mount Eredren at a dead run. Her long legs devoured the trail, but her feet stuck every step, never missing a single one as she counted off the seconds until those lupine creatures noticed the object of their fascination was gone.
Growls sounded behind her along with the padding of many paws. Here, they come.
“Shut those doors!” Stella bellowed as she barreled through the opening into a dark tunnel.
“Hey, you’re supposed to stop and state your business with the mountain,” one of the wardens called after her.
“My friend needs a healer. Does that suffice?” Strella called back then she had to stop because Robin was thrashing, and she had to set her down before she dropped the girl.
“Robin, calm down. It’s only me.”
“Strella?”
“In the flesh.”
“Put me down.”
“Okay, but we need to close those doors to keep your furry friends out.”
Strella lowered Robin to the ground. As soon as her feet hit the stone floor, Robin took off like a shot. Strella glanced at Cat. She lay as still as death on the sled, but she was inside now and safe from the elements. That was progress at least.
“The things I do for friends.” Strella shook her head then followed Robin out.
Her calf twinged where that lupine creature had bitten her, but the wound was already half-healed and didn’t really need any external help to finish that job. But she affected a limp just before she exited because she didn’t want those lupine creatures to know that.
“What are you going to do?” she asked, but Robin didn’t answer. She hoped that girl knew what she was doing.
* * *
Robin rushed toward that gold glow ahead and marveled at her freedom. That other mage had pulled the remnants of his magic back, freeing her. But for some reason, not all of his magic had left her. The chain around her neck was thicker and full of his magic, and there was a matching one around her waist.
Robin pushed past the two men in blue uniforms who leaped into her path. Where had they come from? She didn’t remember seeing them before, then again, she didn’t remember Strella picking her up and carrying her either. How the hell had Strella managed it with that wound in her leg?
Robin had lost some of the weight she’d gained during her pregnancy. But she didn’t have time to wonder about that now because all seven wolves rushed her. Robin grabbed the green-glowing chain around her neck and hoped it would protect her. It had more heft now and was a comforting weight against her palm.
All the wolves slammed to a halt as if they’d hit an invisible wall as that green flowed over her again, but this time, she wasn't bound. They backed away, even the alpha as that chain glowed a bright and cheerful green, warming her hands.
Crazy ideas skittered around the dark corners of her mind while Robin stood there holding the necklace.
There was something strange going on here, and Robin was determined to stop being a pawn and start being a player. To do that, she needed to figure out what the hell was going on. No more running, no more hiding. She was done with that.
“What don't you like about this?” Robin pulled the chain up, but it constricted when she tried to take it off.
Well, that was interesting but not unexpected. Maybe the necklace sensed the danger rolling off those wolves in waves. Seven of them stood in a semicircle growling at her. Their backs were up, and their teeth were bared.
Robin let go of the chain, and it expanded back to its previous length. She relaxed. The chain hadn't been trying to choke her. It just hadn't wanted her to remove it, and that was more than a little creepy.
As it settled back against her skin, she saw those green lines curving away from those wolves. They must be the leashes she'd sensed earlier. They were generated by the wolves' collars, and they pointed back to their owner. Robin fumbled one-handed for her compass.
“What are you doing?” Strella asked from behind her.
She hadn’t even heard Strella approach. “Their collars have leashes. I’m trying to figure out which way those leashes point.”
“You think those are the hounds of the Wild Hunt?”
“Who did you think they were?”
“Obviously not the same hounds you’re thinking of.” But Strella sounded relieved that these weren’t the hounds she’d thought they were.
Now, Robin really wanted to know which hounds Strella had thought they were, and why she’d thought that. But that was a mystery for another time if their paths crossed again. Robin hoped they would.
“But they have to be the hounds of the Wild Hunt. It’s the only answer that fits.”
But doubts were creeping in. What if she was wrong? What if their master was some other supernatural creature? She could be haring off on a wild goose chase. Robin glanced over her shoulder at Strella who looked as pensive as she felt.
“Why else would they be chasing us?”
Hunter's Night Page 15