Wynn scrambled through the woods, keeping sight of Mildred just ahead of her. The hen’s white legs flashed through the shadows as the chicken raced for the stormy gray shield. Wynn could see it through the leaves now. She could make it, she had to.
Wynn ran. Her foot hurt. Her breathing hurt. Mildred was just ahead of her, clucking encouraging noises.
Then Wynn heard a huffing behind her. She screamed and leaped forward, not daring to look behind her. She stumbled over a rock and fell on the hard ground.
Wynn rolled on her back and brought her arms up over her head as the monster bore down on her.
“Leave her be!” Hob yelled as he flew out of the brush. He caught the beast’s ear and chomped viciously until the black gooey ooze dripped down the beast’s face. Wynn bolted upright and backed away toward the shield. The monster shook its head, but Hob clung tight, still chewing on the reaper’s ear even though his body was thrown to one side of the monster’s skull, then the other.
“Enough!” It was the voice again. The terrible in-her-head voice.
The monster grabbed Hob around the middle and ripped him from its ear. Wynn watched in horror as the beast threw him as hard as he could.
Hob’s wiry body hit a tree trunk with a sickening smack, and fell down into the bushes.
“Hob!” Wynn screamed, and ran toward where he fell.
Strong, hairy gray arms gripped her around the middle and pulled her away.
“Hob!” she cried, her tears streaking down her cheeks as the monster’s claws dug into her sides.
“Scream all you want. You belong to the Grendel now.”
A dark and evil laugh sounded in Wynn’s mind. She felt the weight of it press down on her spirit. The beast dragged her away. Its arm wrapped tight around her middle, and she couldn’t breathe. It made her dizzy as she grabbed fistfuls of the monster’s hair. It was so coarse it cut through her hands like rough twine. Its claws dug into her sides, a stinging pain she couldn’t escape.
Wynn screamed and screamed. Tears streaked down her face. She pulled and pushed. Tugged on the monster’s shaggy hair until her palms were on fire from rope burns. Scratched, bit, kicked. She fought. Her other shoe came off. Her crown fell.
The monster ran and ran deep into the woods. Wynn couldn’t see. She couldn’t open her eyes. The claws digging into her side hurt. She tried to pull them out.
“I have her at last, Master.”
Wynn heard the laughing in her head. She screamed louder so she wouldn’t hear it. She pulled on its matted fur. It didn’t help. It didn’t stop running.
The reaper had her. It would take her to the Grendel and she would disappear. Elric wasn’t here. Hob was gone. She was scared. She hurt all over.
She felt dizzy. It was hard to breathe. The reaper held her too tightly around her middle. She couldn’t close her eyes. She had to fight.
She ripped a chunk of hair out of the beast’s side.
The creature snarled and winced. She was doing it. She had to hurt it. Wynn ripped harder at its hide.
The monster pulled her under its body, so her head was near its chin. She couldn’t reach its long hair on its shoulders and sides. Its skin was smooth and tough under its bare belly. It didn’t stop running. She kicked hard against its chest, ramming her head up under its chin. Her head hit its wolf-like jaw. Her teeth cracked together and a sharp burst of pain exploded in her head.
The monster flung its head up away from her blow. She heard a loud crack. Everything tumbled and fell.
The monster collapsed on top of her. It smelled like rotting meat. She choked, unable to breathe.
Pushing hard against its matted fur, she wriggled out from under it. She gasped as she struggled to her feet. The forest air smelled like moldy leaves, but that was much better than the stinky monster.
Wynn stumbled away from it. A low limb of a tree hung overhead. It must have hit its face on the wood.
Good.
Wynn kicked it and hurt her toes, that pain felt good. She turned and ran back the way the monster had come—at least, she thought she did. She had to get far away. Her heart pounded. She could hear the heavy thump, thump, thump in her ears. She could taste blood in her throat.
Behind her, she heard a growl.
The monster was waking up.
Wynn scrambled over a large tree branch. There was a deep ditch on the other side. She had to jump. She swung her hands back and leaned forward, but she just couldn’t make herself jump. She didn’t want to fall. The monster howled. Wynn flung herself forward, but she didn’t jump far enough.
She landed hard in the ditch.
Trapped.
She saw the beast’s long clawed fingers first, then its horrible monster face with its wolf snout and big ugly bat ears. She looked up at it from the bottom of the ditch as it loomed over her. Its slimy drool dripped from its sharp fangs.
It reached down for her.
“I have you now. You cannot escape.”
She tucked herself down into the ditch so it couldn’t reach her, but its claw scraped across her cheek.
Wynn screamed again. This time it was answered with a roar. Wynn felt it roll over her like thunder.
A flash of shimmering light and dark stripes crashed into the monster, knocking it back. Wynn turned to the side of the ditch. Using the roots and rocks, she climbed out.
On the other side of the ditch, a furious and beautiful creature was fighting with the monster. It looked like a cat, but bigger, so much bigger. It was nearly the size of the reaper. Its long, striped tail lashed at the ground as it slashed at the creature with fearsome claws. Dark stripes covered its coat, but the light stripes between them changed color, shifting from blue to green to white.
Both beasts had reared up on their hind legs. The big cat moved so quickly Wynn could barely see its paws as it struck the other beast. They fell back to the ground and circled each other. The cat kept its enormous fangs bared as the monster’s eyes glowed red. The cat’s coat changed to the same fiery red. The cat arched its back and tucked its strong hips low.
Suddenly it exploded from the ground, leaping on the reaper’s back.
The reaper tried to shake the cat off. The cat slipped to the side but held on, its hooked claws cutting through the thick gray ruff of the reaper and staining its pale fur with its murky black blood. With an angry snarl, the cat grabbed the underside of the reaper’s throat.
The cat held fast, pushing the reaper’s head and shoulders to the ground until no more sound came out of the horrible monster and it lay still. Slowly the big striped cat let go of the monster and hissed, baring its knife-like teeth. It turned to Wynn. Its eyes glowed in the darkness, a pure shimmering gold.
It stalked forward. Wynn liked cats, but this one had paws the size of her head. She backed up, holding her hands out as the big cat stared at her. It never blinked.
A low rumble sounded in its throat. It was both beautiful and terrifying.
The light stripes changed color again, fading to a deep violet-blue like the night sky just after the sun set. Wynn could barely see the darker stripes. The glowing yellow eyes seemed to float in the air, stalking toward her.
Wynn backed up. She didn’t like these monsters. She wanted to go home.
Her heel hit a rock and she stumbled backward. Wynn screamed as the great striped cat charged forward.
“Hold!” a voice called from the shadows between two tall trees.
Wynn turned, hoping it was someone that could help.
She screamed again as she looked up at a tall silhouette surrounded by billowing curls of thick black smoke.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Elric
ELRIC RUSHED TO THE FALLEN queen’s side.
She looked lifeless. He lifted her hand and his fingers looked ghostly against hers, taking on a bluish tinge as the temperature in the room plummeted. The other fairies rushed forward. He hadn’t ever seen his birth mother ill. He never saw her dying. This terrified him. The crystal abo
ve him continued to bleed and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
“My queen,” he said. “Wake up.” He shook her gently as snow fell. It settled on the curls of her snow-white hair and didn’t melt.
Lord Raven drew Elric back with a firm hand. Elric fought against Raven’s grip. He didn’t know what he could do, but he felt like he had to do something. Lord Raven conjured a bed of mist beneath the queen. She lay on it, blanketed in a soft fog. He didn’t even try to wake her.
The crystal above them glowed with a cold blue light that made the cracked scars within it seem that much more pronounced. The largest one was so deep it cut through the very center of the stone. It continued to bleed even as a group of fairies poured their magic into the crystal’s wounds. It didn’t help.
Raven stood. “The queen is dying,” he declared. His words boomed through the chamber. “We must make her comfortable and do all we can to strengthen the shield on our own.”
“No!” Elric shouted. “We just need to find Wynn. If we can find Wynn, she can heal the queen. She did it before. Send everyone out into the woods at once. We will find her.” Each minute lost was another moment the reaper could find his sister. “She’s out there somewhere, alone and scared.”
Raven looked at him with pity, and Elric hated it. His black eyes reflected the light of the bleeding crystal as he said, “You have no idea the dangers of the wood. She couldn’t survive without protection, not for a moment.”
Elric glared at him. “You don’t know my sister. None of you do. Wynn is strong. She never gives up. I won’t give up either, not yet.” His voice broke. “You have to help me save her.”
Raven swept his hand over the queen, thickening the veil of fog over her until it looked like a shroud.
“Wynn is still out there!” Elric shouted. He turned around to the crowd of dumbstruck fairies. “Doesn’t anyone care that she is in danger?”
Fox came forward and tried to place a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not that we don’t care,” she said. “It’s just that this has happened before. The first princess was stolen from her bed by someone that we all trusted. She was only a baby. Her body was still flesh and blood, like your kind. Her magic hadn’t come in yet. The queen nearly died of her broken heart then. She survived with her grief for decades as the crystal slowly bled. She traveled to the Otherworld to die, to ensure the Grendel could never find her diminished form. But while wandering the woods, she found her first changeling son and took him into her heart. Her health was restored, though it didn’t return completely.”
Master Elk nodded. “Unfortunately the last prince was much like you. He wanted to be a warrior, to fight the darkness. One night he disappeared. The queen tried to use the amulet she gave him to call him back, but he was gone without a trace. The amulet went dark, and we knew he was no longer a part of this world.”
Fox placed a hand on Elk’s arm and supported him as he swayed on his feet. “The queen used all the magic she had to return to the Otherworld. That’s when she found Wynn. She immediately bonded with the baby, but your mother found the queen before she could bring Wynn here. The queen let your mother keep your sister, but the tie to her heart remained, and a strange magic formed between them linking the Otherworld and Between. Now the queen has lost everyone she has ever loved. Her heart will never be whole. Sidian, Oberon, Estaria, Osmund, and now Princess Wynn.”
“Osmund?” Elric repeated. They had met a man named Osmund on their journey to find the Silver Gate. He seemed to know things about the Between that were more than just legend. He had been kind to them, though he discouraged Elric from seeking the gate. “Was he this tall, shaggy brown hair?” Elric indicated Osmund’s height with his hand at mid-chest, and a hushed but frantic murmur swept around the room. Osmund’s uncommon stature made it difficult to mistake him for another of that name.
“This cannot be.” Raven looked at him, confused. “He disappeared twelve years ago. How could you possibly know of him? Did someone tell you about him?”
“He’s alive!” Elric said. “He is in the Otherworld. He lives in a hut near the fairy circle where Wynn healed my wounds after we met trouble in the village. He took us in. He knew the way to the Silver Gate.” Elric looked down at the enormous seal at his feet. “He didn’t think I would be able to make it through. He knew I didn’t really believe.” Elric swallowed the lump in his throat. “Wynn had to teach me how. She taught me how to hope. I’m holding on to that now.” Wynn never gave up, and neither would he. “There is always hope.”
Raven stepped forward. “Prove what you say is true.”
Elric thought for a moment, trying to remember every detail he could about the man. “Osmund wore a medallion around his neck. A medallion with this seal on it.” Elric pointed at the floor, surprised he had never made that connection before. He had only caught a glimpse of the medallion, but now that he’d made the connection, the memory of the brief second he saw it felt like it had burned into his mind. He knew he was not mistaken in this. “He’s alive, and Wynn could be too.”
“There is one way to tell if what you say is true.” Raven threw his cloak around himself and transformed into his bird form. He flew up through the tree and returned a minute later with a medallion in his beak. In a flash he became a man again. A gust of wind swirled over the seal, scattering the flurries off the great mark. Silver light from the crystal showered down on the seal and spread out like mist. He nodded to the fairies around him and they encircled the seal on the floor and held out their hands. A silver ring of light formed between them, then a narrow band of glowing light rose up from the edges of the seal.
Raven motioned to Elric. “Take the medallion and stand in the center of the seal.” Elric stepped over to him and gently took the medallion from Lord Raven’s hand. His stomach churned with nerves as he crossed over the edge of the seal and stood directly in the center.
The medallion glowed bright gold in his hand. Elric didn’t know what it meant, but he held it up for all the fairies to see. He heard their murmuring voices, but he didn’t turn from Raven.
“Bring Osmund back, and there may be a chance to save us all. We cannot hold the portal open for long, not with the queen so ill. You must return before the medallion stops glowing or you will not make it back.” Raven swept his hands up, his robes looking like enormous violet wings. “Good luck.”
Elric felt the floor drop out from under him. He shouted as his stomach rose up into his throat and he fell. He landed with a thud on soft mossy ground. Elric blinked and shook his head. A flock of birds took to wing from the branches of an ordinary tree. A creek bubbled nearby. Set around him in a perfect ring were several mossy stones.
He was back in the Otherworld, and he knew this place.
He had been terribly injured when Wynn had carried him to this clearing. She had started a fire all on her own, cleaned and dressed his wounds, and cared for him through the night. He repaid her care by lashing out at her in frustration over his pain. And still she had forgiven him and tried to make things right between them, when he was the one who should have gone to her and begged for her forgiveness.
Osmund helped him see that.
He had to find Osmund.
Elric looked down at the glowing amulet in his hand. It was already beginning to fade. He didn’t have much time. Looping it over his neck, he turned around in the circle, unsure of which way to go. Last time, Mildred had led him through the woods. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the moment exactly. She had hopped over a stone with a cracked top. He found the stone and set off at a run through the woods.
His feet seemed to fly over the ground as his desperation drove him through the forest. He came to a bank and climbed it. There he found the felled tree where he had met Osmund in these woods. There was significantly less of it than the last time he had seen it. Osmund’s woodcutter’s ax was lodged firmly in the heavy trunk.
Elric followed a narrow path to a squat little hut. Its walls were made of stacke
d logs with mud filling the cracks, and the earthen roof was overgrown. Where was Osmund’s goat, Burghild?
“Osmund!” Elric called. He ran to the door of the hut and swung open the door. He thrust his head in the low doorway, knocking his forehead on the low log. Elric winced and backed up, holding his forehead. No fire crackled in the hearth, and the small house felt dead inside. Sinking dread filled him.
“Elric, is that you?” a familiar, gruff voice said from behind him. Elric spun around, knocking the top of his head on the overhanging roof. He fell on his backside in front of the door and sat there holding the stinging knot forming under his scalp.
Osmund stepped forward carrying turnips in a woven net. His hair was overgrown, and his face looked haggard.
“Osmund!” Elric jumped up again, this time more carefully. “Osmund, I’m so glad you are here. We found it. Wynn and I found the gate. You have to come with me, quickly.” Elric reached out and grabbed Osmund by the shoulder to drag him forward.
Osmund slapped his hand away. “You found it?” He looked at Elric in shock. Then he reached into his shirt and drew out his medallion. It, too, glowed bright gold. He blinked as he looked up again. “I can’t believe you found it.”
“We have to go back. They can’t keep the fairy ring open very long.” Elric took two long half-running steps back toward the felled tree.
“No,” Osmund said.
Elric stopped and turned. “What?”
“I don’t want to go back,” he said. “I have my life here. I prefer it this way.”
“Alone in these miserable woods?” Elric said in disbelief.
“It’s better than a gilded cage.” Osmund turned toward the door. “Why don’t you stay here with me? No one is looking for you anymore. You will be safe. It’s been too quiet since Burghild . . .” His face fell, but then he managed a smile. “Where is your sister? Is she inside? Wynn!” he called.
“Wynn is lost in the Nightfell Wood,” Elric said, and pulled out his fading medallion. “And I need you to help me save her.”
Into the Nightfell Wood Page 6