Dark Echoes

by H B Lyne

  The whole affair was a tradition belonging to Odin's Warriors, and it was they who had made all of the arrangements. He looked through the crowd for familiar faces, other Berserkers mainly, and greeted them warmly as brothers and sisters. He saw Stalker-of-Night's-Shadow with her pack and made a bee line for her. She spotted him too and gave him a broad grin before embracing him.

  'How are you?' she asked him.

  'I'm very well, thank you. You?'

  'I'm great, thanks.'

  Fire Talon took her by the elbow and led her to one side. He knew that of all his allies, she was the one most likely to listen.

  'It's been a hard winter, I can't lie,' he said quietly. 'Something dark is coming. We have been fighting back hordes of walkers from the sea, the chosen of Poseidon, and it's been getting worse all winter. The storms have been unusually severe and I know that might be something your pack might understand.'

  She looked concerned and nodded.

  'Yes, of course. I can look into it, perhaps The-Lord-of-Storms-and-Rain can give us some information.'

  'Thor? Thor is on your territory?' He was taken aback. The gods didn't normally interact with shifters at all.

  'Yes, at the top of the telecoms tower. Best keep that one to yourself, I assumed others would know, but if not then it must be for a reason.' Stalker looked a little worried that she had said too much and Fire Talon gave her a reassuring smile.

  'I won't mention it. But look, seriously, Iron Sky has tried to warn the other alphas, but no one is listening to him. They all think he's lost his mind. But these creatures from the sea are real and they're dangerous. But more worryingly, we're sure they're just the first wave of the offensive. There are worse things to come, and without the King-of-Glass-and-Steel, well, I don't fancy our chances.'

  Stalker nodded solemnly.

  'Okay, I absolutely take your caution seriously and I'll talk to my Alpha. Thank you for talking to me about it.'

  'No problem. I honestly hope we're wrong by the way.' He tried to smile and she gave him a pat on the arm.

  'Me too. Have a good night, okay?' she said, smiling affectionately.

  'Yeah, for sure. You too.' He gave her another hug before heading back to his pack.

  5

  Spring finally found its way in to the city and as the days began to grow longer a calm settled over the coastal territory. Iron Sky didn't like it.

  'It's the calm before the storm,' he said ominously on the third day with no sightings of the sea shifters.

  'Clearly,' Fire Talon added. 'But still, I intend to take advantage of the respite.'

  He jumped down from his wall-top watch post on the docks and headed towards the city. He made his way to his old flat and took up a position a little further down the road, sitting down on a bench and hiding behind a discarded old newspaper.

  He sat for hours, waiting, but finally he was rewarded. Eva appeared from around a corner, wearing the baby in a sling on her chest. She was getting so big, he noticed, she jiggled her feet happily and Eva smiled down at her. Fire Talon longed to rush over to them, it burned him inside to stay away but he knew that it was for their protection.

  He watched as Eva walked to the door of her building and retrieved her keys from a pocket. It was getting late, it would be dark soon and they would be going to bed. Fire Talon thought of them snuggled in bed together and imagined himself with them.

  Anger flared up inside him and he threw the newspaper down before walking briskly away.

  *

  Fire Talon paced anxiously. Storm Dancer was supposed to meet him in the boat shed and she was an hour late. He went to the desk in the staff room and quickly wrote a note for her just in case she arrived.

  I've gone to check the other side for you. I hope you get this message, FT.

  He was nervous, very nervous and he crossed the veil into Hepethia knowing that he may never see his pack mate again. He left the shed and ran to the sea wall. The tide was low but the waves still reached half way up the wall. The sky was grey and he sensed rain was on its way. He had an odd feeling, something wasn't right.

  There was a caw above and he looked up to see a raven circling. He only ever saw ravens when Odin or one of the Berserkers sent one as a messenger. He heard footsteps running towards him and wheeled around to see Iron Sky charging up the road towards him, Sleet not far behind.

  'Come quickly!' Iron Sky yelled.

  Fire Talon ran back to the dock and leaped down from the wall. It was never a good idea to yell in Hepethia and draw attention to oneself. He ran to meet his pack mates.

  'What's going on?' he asked urgently. He glanced over Iron Sky's shoulder and saw a black shape against the clouds. It was moving quickly towards them, undulating and flexing. It wasn't a single object, but many hundreds of smaller ones. The sound that issued from it gave it away. It was a murder of crows.

  'Take flight,' Iron Sky ordered.

  Fire Talon nodded and leaped into the air, shifting seamlessly into his eagle form. It was foolish for a lone eagle to take on a murder this big, but he had to take to the air and do something if they were coming in for an attack. He rose at a sharp angle to get the height, soaring up higher than the approaching crows. He had a size advantage, but there were hundreds of them, they could easily swarm him.

  He took a moment to look around and assess the situation. There was the oncoming murder of crows, but he saw something out to sea that troubled him far more. The Dreadnought was steaming rapidly out to sea towards a cluster of strange, dark shapes emerging from the water just near the horizon. Fire Talon didn't have time to get a closer look, the crows were seconds away and began their descent towards Iron Sky and Sleet.

  He swooped over them and dove into the swarm. He snatched two of the crows in his massive talons, crushing them instantly. The birds erupted in a foul chorus of caws and dispersed suddenly. A moment later they had reformed and circled around to attack Fire Talon. He ducked underneath them and quickly swooped to the back of the murder. He came up behind them and snatched another two in his talons, crushing them and dropping them to the ground.

  Below, Iron Sky and Sleet were racing towards the docks. Fire Talon ducked under the crows and circled them, following his grounded pack mates. He could see something in the water by the sea wall and as he got closer he could hear a knocking sound as it bumped against the stone each time it was brought back in on a wave. He flew towards it, taking out as many crows as he could on his way.

  Swooping low over the sea, Fire Talon saw what it was and a sickening sensation settled in his gut. It was Storm Dancer's staff. Anger swelled in him and he forced his way through the centre of the murder, crashing into many and crushing more in his talons. He soared higher and looked out to sea, searching for her body. She had to still be alive, he hadn't felt the bond with her break.

  As he searched, the black shapes further out to sea caught his eye and they were now approaching the shore. His eagle eyes afforded him a clear view of them and as recognition dawned he was filled with dread. They were wrecked ships, resurrected from their graves. Dozens of them were being forced up to the surface, and they moved swiftly towards the coast.

  Fire Talon gave a warning cry and swooped down through the crows, killing as many as he could on his way. They pecked at him and one of his wings was grabbed by one crow who didn't let go. He shook his wing with all his might but the crow clung tightly with its claws and beak.

  As Fire Talon neared the ground he shifted into his human form and landed hard, his knees buckled and slammed into the ground. The crow squawked and released his arm, which fell limp to his side. Deep cuts covered his skin and blood poured from them, some chunks of flesh were missing. He spared a moment to look at it and wince before lurching to his feet and running towards Iron Sky and Sleet, who were doing their best to fight off the aerial assault.

  'Ships!' he yelled, breathless.

  Iron Sky looked out to sea and his face fell.

  The crows gave one sharp ca
w before suddenly swarming together and shooting up into the sky and away inland. The three shifters stood still for a moment, watching them fly away.

  A loud honk from the sea grabbed their attention. The Dreadnought was steaming swiftly out to meet the oncoming ghost ships. A moment later the cannons started firing. The great booms echoed for miles and the Storm Riders watched as their patron managed to sink the first of the oncoming ships.

  Fire Talon's arm was healing quickly and he flexed his fingers to restore sensation to them. He looked around to assess the immediate surroundings. The crows had disappeared but out of the water a few shambling sea shifters were emerging. He nodded in their direction, and the three Storm Riders ran to the beach to head them off.

  As he leaped down from the road onto the pebbles below, Fire Talon caught sight of a small animal pressed against the wall, it was a cat and at once he realised that it was Storm Dancer in her cat form. He ran to her and crouched to examine her. She was unconscious and limp, but still breathing. It was odd that she had not slipped back into her human form, as usually happened to their kind upon falling unconscious. She had a deep wound on her flank and her fur was matted with blood.

  'Why aren't you healing?' he muttered, knowing she couldn't reply. 'I'll come back to you as soon as I can, I promise.' He gave her a gentle stroke then turned and ran towards the fight that had begun without him.

  There were hordes of them coming now, more than he had seen before. He shifted to his Agrius form and began attacking them. His bestial fists smashed through soft flesh, ripped heads from necks and his talons tore through stray tentacles. He took on a dozen or more, barely taking a hit. The others were doing well too and they held the beach against the onslaught.

  In the distance, the Dreadnought fired relentlessly, but some of the resurrected ships had cannons of their own and they returned fire. Fire Talon was just vaguely aware of the relentless explosions; he was occupied with three sea shifters. In amongst the cacophony was a terrible ripping sound as an ancient cannonball tore through steel, and the Dreadnought was split in two.

  Fire Talon came to a stuttering halt as he felt his connection to his pack patron break. He looked around frantically and saw the front half of the mighty battleship going under. The back half tipped over slowly before being dragged under.

  'No!' he roared with what little vocal ability he had in this form.

  He had no chance to pause though, sea shifters were everywhere, surrounding him and his pack mates. Iron Sky was wielding his great sword, cutting them down just fast enough to avoid them taking him out. Sleet ducked and weaved around lashing tentacles and poisonous teeth, but she wasn't fast enough and Fire Talon felt it when she was cut down, sliced in two by a serrated fin.

  Stings covered Fire Talon and something took a bite out of his leg, causing him to buckle and fall to his knees. Tentacles caught his wrists and something slithered up behind him and held him by his neck. His body started shifting back into his human form against his will, some effect of one of the poisons he had been stung with.

  There was a clattering sound as Iron Sky's sword fell to the pebbles, his wrist caught by a tentacle too. Fire Talon watched in horror as a large, sea shifter with ugly, pointed fins for hands loped towards the Alpha and swiftly gutted him.

  For the first time, Fire Talon saw intelligence and coordination in these vile creatures. A shadow fell across the beach and he looked up to see one of the drowned ships drawing close, too close for such shallow waters. But these ghost ships did not obey the normal laws of physics, any more than any creature of Hepethia did. It grounded itself just a few feet from Fire Talon and he shuddered, it exuded fear and power.

  His pack mates were gone, he could feel Storm Dancer slipping away too. Lost was still there on the periphery, just as she always was. Alive, and vaguely connected to the pack, but no longer one of them. She had sacrificed her entire identity in exchange for information. That knowledge had changed the Storm Riders forever, it led them away from the other shifters of Caerton, knowing that they could no longer trust the motivations of an unknown enemy moving amongst them. They had also learned what was coming from the east, the army amassing just beyond the city. Here it was, the first open assault of the great war with the Furies.

  He felt despair seeping into every muscle as he hung there, restrained by these foul sea creatures. Movement from the grounded ship caught his eye and he squinted to see what it was. There was someone on board and they were coming ashore. The figure swung on a wet and scaly rope and slid nimbly down onto the beach, landing with a crunch in front of him. The figure was shrouded in dark shadow from the looming ship, but Fire Talon smelled shifter blood, one of his own kind.

  'This isn't the Alpha,' a cool voice stated with derision. 'I told you to save me the leader. No matter.'

  Fire Talon twisted against his restraints, confusion filling his mind. He wanted a better look at this shifter, whose scent he couldn't make out over the stench of the sea shifters all around them but whose voice was all too familiar. The figure drew closer, almost nose to nose with him and his face and scent became clear. Fire Talon groaned.

  'I should have known it would be you,' he snarled. 'Why do this? Why take us out?'

  'You know my plans. It's only a matter of time before the others start believing you. Don't worry,' the dark figure said softly. 'I won't draw this out. I just need a little of your living blood.' He sliced into Fire Talon's forearm with a sharp claw and caught the blood that trickled from the cut in a small vial. 'Sleep now, brave brother.'

  'You are no brother of mine,' Fire Talon spat.

  He felt the blade enter his chest and his breath caught in his throat. Everything stopped. There was no sound, no movement and nothing in his mind but one thing, one last word on his dying lips. His daughter's name. 'Freya.'

  'Clean this mess up!' barked the voice. 'I want no trace of any of this business.'

  Fire Talon fell to the floor and then there was nothing but silence and shadow.

  About the Author

  H. B. Lyne has always lived close to the dark side, never quite mastering the ability to force choke, but contemplating it during dark times. Black eye liner was a permanent fixture in her bag or back pocket during the goth years. Lighter moments have included a fascination with unicorns and firm belief in faeries well into adulthood. Jotting down these observations in multiple forms has always been a habit.

  Juggling bean bags, fluffy poi and an adult-weighted hula hoop have all had their brief place in recreation, but all are now consigned to the land of lost treasures/box room. These days, when not chasing two chaotic munchkins around, Holly somehow engineers time to write fantasy.

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  - H. B. Lyne

  Other Titles in the Series:

  Seeds of Autumn

  Ghosts of Winter

  Tides of Spring

  Coming Soon, the final instalment of

  Echoes of the Past