Silver's Redemption (Soul Merge Saga Book 3)

by M. P. A. Hanson

  “Leave.” She growled. “Keep away.”

  Keep away? Surely the hound would want her to come closer so she could heal herself.

  “What happened here?” Silver asked.

  “Why should I tell you?” She panted. “Leave.”

  There was a slight mewling sound and the hound growled, trying to cover the sound.

  “You have pups.” Silver stood motionless, realising the danger. “Were you defending them from the hounds?”

  A deadly glint entered the hound’s eye, and Silver slowly backed off, giving her some breathing room.

  “I mean you and your children no harm; I vow it to the Ancients.” Maybe the hound wouldn’t know who the Ancients were, but she would surely catch the meaning.

  There was a tense silence as the female gauged Silver’s sincerity before with a sigh she gave in.

  “These males wished to kill me for having pups without a mate. They were sent by my sire.” She explained with weariness in her voice as she lowered her head. “I killed the males and then gave birth. It has proved too much for my body. Even if I had a human now it would not make any difference.”

  “Did you have a plan for what would happen to your pups?” Silver asked, wondering if the dog actually planned to just die while lying on top of them.

  “If I had one, do you think I would be laying on them to hide them?” The hound looked annoyed, yet she was so completely exhausted that the emotion barely registered on her surprisingly expressive face. “I –” She spluttered, blood foaming at her muzzle, obscuring what she was going to say.

  She spat it out, drawing in a last rattling breath which she used to say two fateful words. “Save them.” Then there was only the mewling of the puppies as their mother died, leaving them at Silver’s mercy.

  “Wonderful.” Silver muttered as she pushed the mother’s body off of them with her foot. What was she supposed to do with a load of fur balls? She had a king to murder in a few hours.

  But as she looked down at the six wriggling fluffy things, she felt a connection slam into her that was so powerful it brought her to her knees. The runt of the litter, its fur a brilliant shining black marked by blood, was her familiar.

  Her familiar, her wytch’s familiar. Well hell.

  The one being that anchored her powers and kept them stable was right in front of her, and now bound to her in a way that was indescribable.

  Fire, the pups looked freezing, she’d have to make a fire. Suddenly the need to protect not just her familiar, but its siblings as well became over powering. She used her speed and strength to haul branches and twigs to the clearing. A few minutes of hard effort later and the small flicker of flame appeared. It wasn’t long after that before she’d made them all a shelter a safe distance away; camouflaged for safety, and close enough that it would be warm.

  How did she end up in situations like this? Silver wondered about it as she sat by the fire, looking at the litter she seemed to have adopted. Her familiar was the only one with black fur. Three shared the mother’s russet brown fur and of the other two, one was grey and the other a startling white that hadn’t been visible under the blood until Silver had carefully washed each of them. They looked almost identical to normal puppies, their scales and teeth clearly didn’t grow until later, but their tails had the same skeletal nature of the adults. It was perhaps only that which distinguished them from a normal dog.

  They were too damned defenceless, all fluff and puppy fat with no defence whatsoever. What was she supposed to feed them? Milk? Steak? Or human souls?

  Naphulan would probably have some clue how to proceed. She wasn’t worried about leaving the pups, her bond to her hellhound was complete and there was nothing she could do to hide them any better. But she was still hesitant about approaching anyone for help. What if they betrayed her? Usually she expected betrayal at every turn, that way she was prepared. But if she didn’t find them something to eat, surely they would starve. She couldn’t let the being that anchored her magic die.

  The decision was made for her when the hound in question appeared from the bus.

  “Taking in stays? I can smell the pups.” Naphulan’s sarcastic remark preceded him as he strutted from the bushes.

  Damn, she’d forgotten their sense of smell. Silver froze, her mind calculating the possible ways that Naphulan could attempt to attack the pups. Everything from an ambush by fifty hellhounds to a one on one fight went running through her head. Strategies formed as her knives dropped soundlessly from within her arm sheaths and she hid them behind her palms, ready for combat if need be.

  Naphulan moved, but towards the dead hellhounds, not the pups.

  “Lukshi,” he muttered. “She was a member of the upper tier, are those her children?”

  “She said the males were a punishment from her father for having them while unmated.” Silver edged towards a spot between the pups and Naphulan.

  “An honour squad; she was unmated so all her actions reflected back upon her father. These were her brother and uncles, charged with saving the family honour by ridding the world of her.”

  “The pups are mine.” Silver left no room for argument. “I will raise them myself.”

  “They’re bastards.” The honour squad removed them from any family. A bloody waste if you ask me.” He leant down to the corpse of the mother and dragged it towards the fire with his powerful jaws.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Better flame should consume her than those scavengers above us.” He looked pointedly at the circling demons in the sky.

  “What was your relationship like with Lukshi?” Silver asked.

  Naphulan glared. “If you’re trying to find out if I will guard the pups while you attempt to kill the king, the answer is yes. Lukshi was my aunt. These are my family, though I have no objection with you raising them. I have no intention of ever being a guardian.”

  Silver nodded, she understood the pesky bond of family even as she despised it. She gazed at the now dark sky.

  “I’m going, if anything happens to those pups, I will make a coat out of your pelt, while you are still breathing and then I will let the scavengers feed on your still shivering corpse.”

  Naphulan snapped at her, but then bared his throat like before.

  “Why do you do that?” Silver was struck by both curiosity and impatience at the same time.

  “It is a sign of being completely under the command of the other person. All hounds must do it before the king; you saved my life and then won against me in battle. I owe you my allegiance.”

  Silver didn’t bother saying goodbye, or even acknowledging that he had said anything. She merely launched into the sky, blending with the inky darkness perfectly.

  Getting into the Black Castle was so simple it was laughable. The vents were large, relatively unguarded and easy to access. But finding the king was far harder. She must have lain in silence for over an hour just listening to the conversations of different hounds before she discovered a single clue. Of course, he was in the deepest room in the entire palace; surrounded by what she presumed must be the grand tier, only seven of them in all. Easy.

  She stamped down hard on the metal vent, causing it to collapse beneath her, landing her onto the stone floor in a crouch.

  Two of the hounds had their throats slit before they could reach her; another two bared their fangs but did no damage before she killed them. Two of them moved to defend the king, but it only took a few swipes and then they too fell, yet she didn’t have time to deliver the final blow to them as the king attacked with a roar.

  Though he was clearly unused to having to dodge swords, he soon realised Silver’s were no ordinary blades and concentrated on avoiding them at all costs. She decided to trick him, feigning left, then swiping right, but he was too fast. Even with her wings adding to her speed.

  His tail came swinging around her and she dodged it, barely, parrying with one sword and stabbing outwards at his flank with the other. His speed taken care o
f, it was a simple matter of finishing him off.

  She stood dispassionately over the king’s dead body, mildly annoyed with herself for killing off the strongest member of her army. Oh well, her familiar would soon be taking that role.

  Hellhound guards, too late to be of any use to their fallen sovereign, raced into the room, growling and snapping at her.

  “Sit.” She ordered, and watched their surprise as they were forced to do what she asked. “There are going to be a few changes around here.” She smiled a cruel smile that promised trouble.

  Chapter Fourteen

  ARROGANCE

  She had done it, Kate marvelled at the image before her. Silver was ordering beings which Kate’s own kind feared into a new system of doing things. Gaillean had been willing to leave her on the fifth world for weeks to consolidate her rule, yet Silver seemed to be close to doing so in a few short days.

  Kate silently admitted that it was a good thing Silver was working so quickly. Romana’s life had been in peril twice from Alda’s assassins, if not for the feud between her and Issart’e, the attempts on Kate’s daughter’s life may have worked.

  But Issart’e would stop unintentionally aiding them soon, and as much as she regretted it, Kate knew they needed Silver for when that time came.

  She looked down at Silver once again, when she had left the fourth world it had been obvious that the Night Angel’s familiar would be a hellhound, and Kate had been coming to terms with that when Silver had taken not just her familiar under her wing by the other five puppies as well. Kate had seen the merciless killer carefully wash the puppies with a damp cloth and then seen with her own eyes that same woman carefully arranging the sleeping infants in a shelter made to protect them.

  But this meant that six deadly predators would be coming to her world from the demonic realm. It was good that hellhounds didn’t eat souls till they were adults, and even then they only used the ability to heal or against opponents in battle. Unfortunately for the humans in the demonic realm, they often battled amongst themselves and thus needed to feed often in order to maintain their healing ability.

  Kate shook off her daydream and forced herself to focus on what she was seeing.

  Silver was sat on a throne made for the hellhound king. She looked bored – never a good thing – as she dispensed orders to her new subjects. She was a queen of demons and she hated it. Silver had been born and molded into a weapon used for battle, not politics. Fortunately for her, so were hellhounds, so there were very few laws for Silver to rewrite.

  And rewriting it she was. Gaillean’s second daughter had overthrown the system, setting up her own system in which hellhounds were loyal to their king or in this case, queen, then to their families. She was even changing their perception of honour to make it more like the elven version, and the ranking system of tiers had been scrapped. Silver had created a senate that was a kind of go between for the general hellhounds and herself. And the hellhound she had saved, Naphulan, had become something like her second in command.

  Her familiar was guarded at all times, along with its siblings. Silver hadn’t named them; none of them had matured enough for her to communicate with them. Romana’s familiars were dragons, and had been born with magical abilities and more advanced intelligence. Silver’s hellhounds would have to grow for another few weeks before they could speak, and it would be about six months before they reached their full size. That was, if the Council didn’t interfere for the sake of saving the realm.

  Kate had a feeling Silver would object to the Ancient’s interfering with her familiar in any way. Knowing the stubbornness of the forgotten princess she may refuse to help if pushed too far, and the Council had been pushing her, especially Gaillean, who had almost robbed her of her free will.

  Silver was never going to forgive them for this. What had been meant as aid had come across as orders and they would be lucky if Silver didn’t just take Romana and her familiar and barricade them all inside her caves for the duration of this war.

  “Kate.” Gaillean appeared behind her. What did the blasted man want now?

  “Yes.” She did not, would not, turn.

  “There are only a few hours until Silver’s return to our realm.” Gaillean spoke softly, aware of the stress he was causing her. “I wished to ask if there was anything you wished to add to my conditions of her bringing the hellhounds back.”

  “I believe you are ordering her too much, taking her compliance for granted. You must stop, or her rebellion could lead to our destruction.” Kate voiced her thoughts. “Bringing all of the pups back with you may ease her wrath. You must understand that the beings on my world must believe they have free will in order to function correctly. Silver is no exception.”

  “But you also said that allowing her to run free was dangerous.” Gaillean prompted. “There is no middle ground, she either follows our rules or doesn’t.”

  “There must be a middle ground.” Kate argued. “Once her training is over, we should leave her to her own devices. Steer her a little if necessary, but no more compulsion.” She whirled to face him. He looked shocked at her outburst, but he nodded all the same.

  “How is she doing? I have not checked on her since she became queen.” He broached another subject.

  “She has overhauled the entire of hellhound civilization.” Kate muttered. “Now hellhounds keep humans in dungeons for emergencies, and fights to the death are prohibited exactly the same as with the other demons.”

  “She’s organizing them like an army.” Gaillean noticed. “Is that how she thinks of them do you think?”

  “I don’t want to know.” Kate shuddered. “If she summoned the capable ones of each species, she would be the commander of an army nothing could stand against. Not men, nor elves, dwarves or even wytches. She may even come after us.”

  “The arrogance of the Council is such that they would never discuss that as an issue.” Gaillean admitted. “They are used to the power they have enjoyed over the other species since the beginning.”

  Kate nodded, not wanting to discuss it anymore. “When you fetch her back we will inform the Council of our no-interference policy regarding her. They will wish to know.”

  “You may have to do that; I will stay on your world to teach her what she needs to know.”

  Kate bristled at his overconfident assumption that she would just let him stay, but yet she couldn’t say anything against it, especially considering that no other Ancient besides herself was as well equipped to teach Silver, and Silver hated Kate with a passion for her part in sealing her away in her past life. Really, Gaillean was the only option.

  “You may stay on my world until she knows everything.” She confirmed. “But afterwards I would prefer you did not interfere. If the Council found out about the blades our daughters now carry, we would be severely punished; any more interference and we may as well sign our death warrants.”

  Gaillean nodded, “Until the next time we speak.” He said before teleporting away only to appear next to Silver in the image on the water.

  The Silver Eyed Wytch was coming back to Kate’s world, more powerful than ever.

  Chapter Fifteen

  A PROMISE IS A PROMISE

  The sunlight, brighter than that on the hellhound’s world, assailed her eyes as she sat in the branches of the trees bordering her caves. This was as far as she could go. Gaillean had removed his earlier compulsion, changing it for a new, laxer system. She was allowed above ground, but she could only step on land directly above her caves. She wasn’t allowed to use the secret passageways, but she could speak with her brownies, her familiars and the centaurs, who had returned upon Lena’s summons a year ago, and never left for fear of missing her.

  Leigh and Miria had grown. The elder centaur was now fully matured, larger than she had been before. Miria still had three more phases of growth to go through before she would reach the same size, and though they were vastly different, both of them still called her Night Angel, and neither of them wo
uld stop looking at her like she was some kind of miracle. When Gaillean had finally seen fit to return her to her caves, he had just left her. Weeks later, and she was bored. She couldn’t figure out how to summon demons to this plane, she’d tried everything from calling Naphulan’s name to focusing really hard in a meditative trance. The puppies had only just stopped sleeping for the majority of the time, and were now the size of small terriers.

  But the only demons on this world were Silver’s familiar and her siblings.

  Lena had become overbearing when Silver had muttered guiltily that she didn’t even know the gender of her own familiar. The brownie’s yells had made the walls shake. Now Silver was supposed to be coming up with a name for each of the puppies. What was she supposed to call them? Lassie, Rocky or Spike?

  Her familiar was the only girl of the litter, and her brothers were far better behaved. The pup would constantly attempt to escape from whatever enclosure she was in and head for Silver’s lap. Sometimes she made it, which surprisingly Silver didn’t mind. Other times she was caught by Lena or Miria, who returned her promptly to the pen.

  Silver looked down at the piece of paper Lena had given her. On it was a list of names that the brownies and centaurs had compiled. She could find the boys’ names easily and right now Lena was probably feeding Cicero, Bran, Willem, Loke, Lucan and their sister tiny strips of steak. But the shorter list of girls’ names irritated her. None of them fit.

  Romana had thought of her two familiar’s names in seconds.

  Silver growled and then raised her head, had she just heard something mewling?

  No, surely the pup wouldn’t have made it outside.

  She dropped down lightly from the tree to find the tiny ball of black fur attempting to scrabble its way up the trunk. Fortunately, she didn’t have the claws to manage it.

  Silver sighed and scooped up the puppy. She was only a few days old but she had grown enormously. Hopefully soon she would be able to speak, and then she could choose her own name.