“Aye. We think so.” Bayne clasped Roxen on the shoulder.
A caustic laugh answered his words as Nero shoved to the front of the crowd. “You think so? Thousands of us are dead or worse, but you think you've found a way to prevent them taking our minds and bodies? Why should we listen to you and your theories, Bayne? After everything you’ve done these last few weeks?”
“Nero, I will say this once. Now is not the time to list your grievances against me,” Bayne growled.
“I say now is the time. If we listen to you, you will get us all killed, just like your precious Rayna!”
“Nero, please!” Roxen and Silver said together. It was too late. Nero's insult snapped something inside Bayne. He launched forward. With a peal of laughter, Nero transformed, and they met in midair. Fenearens scrambled out of the way, forming a circle around the combatants.
Their collision resounded through the site as they repelled each other by their own strength. Bayne met Nero's pale amber gaze. Again they collided, rolling in the dirt, tearing fur and flesh from any exposed region. Nero's powerful hind legs propelled Bayne and his gnashing teeth away. Bayne rammed into a tree stump, reverting to his weaker human form on impact. Nero raced toward him. Bayne rolled to the side, dodging Nero's jaws. Gathering his strength, he shifted and crashed into Nero, knocking him off balance.
Nero recovered, ripping into Bayne’s right shoulder. Bayne roared with agony, but Nero had him pinned. Nero went for his throat. Bayne slashed his claws across Nero's snout. Nero recoiled. Free, Bayne leaped onto a log, staring at Nero.
Had enough? Nero taunted him, licking blood from his cheek.
I've tolerated your pathetic challenges before, Nero. But when you bring my niece into this–
Your dead niece, Nero barked.
–then it is unforgivable! Bayne dove from the log, slamming once more into the other wolf. Nero clawed at Bayne’s face, narrowly missing his left eye. As blood and exhaustion clouded his vision, Bayne found a velvet ear and bit it, ripping the tender flesh to ribbons. The pain must have been too much. Nero yelped in agony, his body returning to two-legged form. Bayne formed as well, crushing his boot into Nero’s throat.
A shout came from the crowd. “Finish it!”
“Kill the miserable beast!” cried another.
Bayne’s chest heaved as he stared into Nero’s pale eyes. He pushed his boot down harder, a small measure from cutting off Nero’s air.
“Bayne!” Roxen called from where he stood in front of the extinguished fire pit. He shook his head. Bayne looked from Roxen to Nero and back.
Slowly, he removed his foot. “Nero Geddeont, you are hereby banished from the pack and named a lone wolf. If you ever set paw or foot onto this Densite again, you will be killed on sight. Get out!” With a hard kick to Nero’s injured side, Bayne stood back and allowed the defeated man to struggle to his feet.
“Now!” Bayne roared, his voice resounding across the Densite. Nero shot one last hateful glance at Bayne and Roxen before scampering into the woods.
After Nero had disappeared, Bayne fell to the ground. Blood seeped through his shirt.
“Bayne!” Roxen was beside him. “Are you all right?”
Bayne nodded, but his head swam from blood loss.
Silver was on his other side. “Why did you have to fight him, Bayne? Why now?”
“I-I’m sorry, dove…I…”
“Damn it, he needs a healer!” Roxen shouted.
Thera cut through the crowd, falling to her knees by her son's side in an instant. She tore away Bayne's shirt. Pulling a set of bandages and vial of liquid from her medicine bag, she cleaned and bandaged his wounds. Roxen turned to the Fenearens still watching.
“Everyone, back to your duties!” The crowd dispersed and the next time Bayne looked up, only he, Silver, Roxen, and Thera occupied the site’s center. Bayne placed his hands on Thera's before tying his own bandage across his stomach.
“Thank you, but I’ll be fine. We need to make sure Nero leaves and…” His words stumbled to a halt as he groaned, falling back again. Roxen, Silver, and Thera were speaking, but he could not understand them. He stared at the canopy of trees. A raven soared overhead, and darkness took him.
When Bayne woke, he was in his own bed. Silver gazed at him. He reached for her, and she took his hand.
“Welcome back, my love.”
“I did not know I had gone.” His voice cracked.
“You've been out the whole night and this morning.” She traced designs on his palm.
“Only that long?” His muscles felt tight, as if he had not used them in days.
“I was beginning to worry. But we knew you were still with us, because you kept talking in your sleep.”
“We?”
“You have had a great many visitors,” she said. “Roxen, Daria, and the other Den Alphen, Gar, and that young refugee, Katrine.” Silver handed him a cask of water. As he drank it, he could feel his wounds spring to life once more.
“I’m sorry, Silver. I hated to hear him speak about Rayna like that.”
“I know, Bayne.” She squeezed his hand.
“We cannot go on like this,” Bayne whispered. “Crammed together like this, we’ll strip the forests of food, and stress and tension will tear us apart. We have to end this war.”
“Will Alvorn still not help?”
“I have sent countless messages and have received no reply, except for one from Pheros. He said our alliance was broken when I'd entertained Rhael as my guest. They have fortified their borders, and are not concerned about what will happen if Rhael takes us over. He’s a fool if he thinks he can stop Rhael without our help.”
“Then what can we do?”
“I don’t know. Surrendering is not an option. He would kill us anyway. We have to end this on the battlefield.”
“Do you mean fight his main army?”
“As soon as we can. The food is already running low. With careful rationing, we may have a month or two, if that. But it won't be long before Rhael comes, now that the other Densites are abandoned or destroyed.”
Silver thought for a long moment. “What if we can’t beat him?”
Bayne stared at the roof of their den, but did not answer. He had hoped to end six hundred years of war. But he had never imagined it would end like this.
Chapter Eighteen
Rayna blinked, wondering if she were imagining the revealing outfit, the heavy make-up, and Mina's playful smile. But the bar patrons’ reactions confirmed that they saw her, too. Their blood pumped faster, and each face was plastered with a vile leer. Nothing like this happened in Fenear. Rayna jumped to her feet. “Mina, what are you doing?”
“Working?” Mina shrugged, stepping farther out onto the platform. Her painted lips glistened in the torchlight.
“Get on with it!” Joss said, coming out the side door.
“Seconded,” the hooded man beside Rayna said.
“Be quiet,” Rayna snapped without looking away from Mina.
“Just go upstairs. I’ll be up in a few hours. I’ll be fine,” Mina said.
Rayna shook her head. “If you could just smell these people–it's revolting!”
“Please, Rayna!” Mina blew a kiss to the audience.
“Rayna. Now that is a beautiful name,” the man in black interjected.
“Will you stay out of this, please?”
“Rayna, go upstairs!”
Defeated, Rayna crossed her arms. “All right, I’ll go.”
The man in black stood as she did. “Until next we meet, Rayna,” he said with a wink and mock bow.
She scowled at him before striding to the door and up the stairs. Finding the first empty room, she collapsed onto the straw-filled bed.
Rayna’s hands slipped as she grasped at the slick, cave wall. She stumbled blindly through the dark, humid air clogging her lungs. She cast her gaze from side-to-side, but neither Alvo nor Lumae appeared. She was alone. A whimper, like that of a frightened pup, cau
ght her ear. She followed it, patting the walls to guide her way. The cries grew louder, and deeper. Not the cries of a child, but of a man. She picked up her speed as the cries turned to screams.
The walls gave way to empty air, and she fell forward. A huddled shape, dark, yet lighter than the blackness, lay crumpled in front of her. The screams had stopped. The shape moved, revealing a beaten, swollen face. A face with eyes the color of cornflowers.
“Channon!” Rayna screamed, reaching out for him.
When she woke, it was still dark. Mina rested cross-legged by the hearth, staring at the fire. Rayna sat up on the edge of the bed. She was sweating, and her eyes burned as if she had been crying.
“Rayna, who’s Channon?” Mina asked. She did not turn her attention from the dying embers, as though to give Rayna privacy to collect herself. “You were talking in your sleep again. Tonight’s not the first time you’ve said the name.”
“He’s my friend.” The word sounded so inadequate. It did not capture what Channon was to her, but it was all she had.
“What happened to him?” Mina came to sit beside Rayna on the bed.
“He tried to save me from Rhael. But Rhael used him against me.” Rayna’s hands twisted in the scratchy wool blanket.
“Did Rhael kill him?”
Rayna shook her head. “He hexed him. Rhael sent him to the Mouth of Hell, and I’m trying to save him.”
“That’s why you want to go to the Sylrian Provinces? I don’t understand, if he was sent to another realm…” Realization flickered over Mina’s features. “Mount Keleapath! But those stories aren’t true are they?”
“Mount Keleapath? You mean the Eye of Heaven, the mountain where the veil between worlds is thinnest?”
“Must be different names for the same place. My mom told me bedtime stories about Mount Keleapath, but that’s all they were. Stories.” Mina’s voice held pity, as if she thought Rayna was chasing an impossible quest.
“I thought so, too, but after Rhael hexed Channon and woke the Da’ Gammorn, I think the world holds more magic than I realized.”
Mina laughed. “That's saying something, coming from a girl who can turn into a wolf. So what happens if you reach the mountain? My mom's stories said it’s defended. Not everyone can climb it, but if you could, how are you supposed to reach your friend?”
“I don’t know, but I’m working on it.”
Mina did not ask further questions, waiting in silence for Rayna to expand. There was no point in hiding any of it now. Alvo had said she would need friends, and if her dreams were the key, then she had better heed his words. So Rayna explained all she knew about her dreams, and how her mother and Thera had hidden them from her. She told of Coer and the Maenoren Resistance, and how he'd found the name of the hex that had taken Channon from her. Mina did not scoff or laugh listening instead with interest and an encouraging smile. Confiding in her felt like talking to Coer, or even Channon. It felt safe.
“So,” Mina's smile turned mischievous, “you’re a wolf and a seer?”
Rayna laughed. “So it seems. Let me ask you something then, Mina. Since you know my secrets now.”
“Sure.” Mina shrugged. “What do you want to know?”
“You're comfortable with your bow. Skill like yours only comes with seasons of training, not necessarily what you'd find in your quiet village, so what aren't you telling me?”
“It's not as mysterious as you think. When I was eight, my mother took me aside and stressed how the women in our family needed to know how to defend ourselves and others in need. I didn't know what she was talking about, and now I never will. But she taught me archery, knife fighting, even how to use a sword, though that was never my favorite. Just as her mother had taught her.”
“Your father accepted this? From what you told me, I would have thought him more,” Rayna searched for the right word, “traditional.”
“Oh, gods no. We kept it secret. If he had known I'm sure he would have been furious.” Mina forced an empty laugh.
“Why did your mother marry him? Was she forced?”
“I never asked her. It's not the kind of question a child asks their parents, you know? Maybe he used to be different, or maybe she had no choice. I remember once after a fight, my father told her she should be more grateful that someone had married her at all. I don't know, Wolfie. My mother died; may she rest in peace. There's no point asking questions when I should be sleeping. We've still got a few hours before we’ll sneak out to get our supplies for the journey north.”
This time, her dreamscape was quiet, peaceful. She trotted along the path that led south of her Densite, toward the ocean. It was past dawn, and she was on a hare's trail. The familiar, sweet scents of sassafras trees and honeysuckle tickled her nose. But as she rounded the corner, Alvo blocked her way. He knelt in front of her, ocean water eyes fierce.
“Wake up, Rayna. Wake up now!”
When Rayna's eyes fluttered open, Mina slept next to her, a slight snore whistling through her teeth. Rayna sat up and stumbled toward the window without any true awareness of what she was doing. Near the entrance to the tavern, a group of six well-armored men had gathered, black ravens adorning their chests. She pushed the pane ajar.
“Oh, aye, she’s here.” Joss spoke from inside the front door. “Red hair, taller than most men, and she’s Fenearen. I heard the wench growl like an animal.”
The leading soldier spoke. He was the only one without a helmet, revealing his short-cropped graying hair. Everything about him, from his posture to his scent, screamed he was in charge. “Wonderful. If you’re correct, then you’re about to become a very rich man.”
Rayna rushed back to the bed and shook Mina. “Mina, wake up!”
“What?”
“Men are coming. They’re looking for me.”
Mina sat up. “How many? Who do they work for?”
“Half a dozen. I don’t know who they're working for. They had armor and black birds painted on their breastplates.”
“Those are the Council Guard. Terayan’s men.” She hopped out of the bed and grabbed her pack as Rayna did the same. “There’s an exit to the back alley if we hurry–”
The door slammed open. “It is a little late for that.” The soldiers' scents that crowded the room shocked Rayna. The one without the helmet spoke.
“What do you want?” Rayna tried to sound as innocent as possible. If the men would lower their guard, she could take them all.
“Oh, you know...” The leader sat by the fire, the other five men behind him, swords drawn. “The usual.”
Mina rolled for her daggers, but as her hands closed over them, the men moved forward, their swords pointing at her head.
“Bind the brunette,” the leader said with a lazy flick of his hand toward Mina.
“Don't touch her. It's me you want.” Rayna lifted her hands as she approached the men.
“Ah,” he jumped up and took Mina’s daggers, “I've touched a nerve.” He pushed a dagger against her throat. “Does this mean you will come quietly?”
“Yes,” Rayna said, not taking her attention from the blade. She was fast, but she would never reach Mina before the knife pierced her skin.
“Beautiful. Fallon, give me the Monil.”
A tall blond soldier took out a black metallic band. Rayna did not recognize the writing etched on it. The odd metal band seemed familiar, as if she had seen it before, but she could not think where.
“What is that?” Rayna growled as the tall man restrained her.
“Be honest.” The commander took the band and unlatched it. “Ropes would not hold you long, would they?” He pressed his cold thumbs into her neck, clasping the band at her nape. The pain was instantaneous. Rayna collapsed in the soldier's arms as shock ran through her body. Her muscles and bones felt torn asunder.
Then it stopped. The Monil had locked away her double awareness. The wolf was trapped, and she was weak.
“I can’t shift.” She felt blinded by her lack
of acute hearing and scent.
“That is the idea.” The man bound her hands as well. “I'm Captain Gabriel Garrison, but you can call me Gabriel, love,” he whispered into her ear. Garrison snapped his fingers, and his men dragged Rayna and Mina down the stairs. Joss stood behind the bar, his back turned to them.
“Joss!” Mina screamed, fighting toward him. “Joss! Why? You're helping the Council? Joss!” He said nothing, disappearing into the kitchen as the soldiers dragged the girls into the streets.
Rayna hit the ground hard next to Mina as they were kicked out the tavern door.
“Rayna. I’m sorry. I knew he was angry, but Joss hates the Council. I never thought he'd contact them,” Mina said as two soldiers forced her to her feet.
“It’s not your fault. Terayan wants me.” She shouted at Garrison’s back, “Why is he doing this? What does he want?”
Garrison turned, grabbed her arms, and dragged her to her feet. “I’ve no idea,” he said with a wink and a smile, “but I expect it will be painful.”
Though she could see, Rayna was blind. Her nose was a useless lump of flesh, telling her almost nothing about her surroundings. Her ears felt as if they had cotton stuffed in them. Was this what is was like for non-Fenearens? How could they live like this? Every twig snap was a shock; every change in the weather caught her off-guard. The Monil did not affect her breathing, yet it choked the life from her.
The days passed in a blur after she and Mina were taken from Kanton. Either she was towed along, feeling the frailty of her human, exhausted, and starving body, or tied on the back of a horse. When the soldiers did feed them, they laced the moldy bread or cheese with essence of mandrake, keeping them both in a haze of confusion. In Rayna’s case, the herbs were not necessary; her lack of wolf senses kept her disoriented.
Garrison did nothing but talk or whistle while they traveled farther north. He sometimes spoke of Fenear and Rayna clung to each word despite the horror they instilled. Rhael had invaded as Coer had said he would. According to Garrison, thousands of her people were dead. She did not want to believe him, but in her heart she feared he told the truth.
Hex Breaker (The Fenearen Chronicles Book 1) Page 20