Chapter 11: Rhys
I looked around the silent wood. It had been a while since I had last been here. Still, I knew exactly where to go. I launched into a sprint, whipping through the trees until they thinned and gave way to the foot of a large gray mountain. I had chosen this spot specifically because it was one of the least densely populated areas of the werewolf realm. I began my climb and stopped halfway up.
I pulled myself up on to a ledge and stared directly ahead of me at the rocky wall. To all appearances, this wall looked no different from the rest of the mountain. There were also plenty of ridges like the one I was standing on. The small octagonal mark inscribed in the center of the wall assured me that this was the right one.
I walked up and placed my palms against it. I pressed my right ear against the cool stone and listened. Then, when I uttered a charm, the wall gave way, swinging backward. Dust and small rocks loosened and fell on me as I stepped into a small cave. It was dark and musty—empty but for a long casket lining one wall. Manifesting a flame in my palm to shed light, I headed for the stone container. It was freezing cold to the touch—as it should be. Loosening the two clasps that held down the lid, I pulled it open.
My eyes widened, my mouth drying out.
It was empty.
What?
I looked around the cave again, half expecting to see the vampire stepping out from the shadows. Confusion fogged my brain.
Where is he?
How on earth could he have escaped?
There was no sign of any efforts to break out of this cave, and there were no holes or crannies that he could have escaped through. Besides, I had put him to sleep. How would he have even woken up?
None of it made any sense.
I could only assume that I had been careless in casting my spell upon him, and somehow he had gotten the wall to open. I had been a more inexperienced warlock at that time, after all. I had not yet undergone the sacrifices that had shaped my powers into what they were today.
Sweat formed on my forehead. Lilith was waiting for me to return before starting the ritual. I couldn’t keep her waiting much longer. I had to find this vampire.
At least I knew the first place that I needed to look.
If Magnus had indeed woken up and escaped, he would have been incredibly weak. It would have been a strain just to make it down the mountain. I couldn’t believe that he would’ve left this realm without werewolves coming across him. They would have detected the scent of a vampire from miles away. At least I knew for sure that he was still alive, otherwise Lilith would be gone by now. I just had to find him.
I rushed back down the mountain and through the woods toward the nearest werewolf habitation. It was still early morning, and most likely they would all still be in their wolf forms. It didn’t matter to me either way. I would get what I needed from them.
Approaching a more densely populated area, I could already smell wolf in the air. It wasn’t long before one of the beasts came into view. It was a mother and cub, bathing in a nearby stream. I remained within the shadows, drawing nearer and nearer. I had made sure to cover up my scent with a charm before I even entered this island.
By the time the mother noticed me, it was already too late. Brushing the cub aside, I leapt onto her back, wrapping my arms around her throat and bringing her into submission.
She thrashed beneath me, but I only closed down on her windpipe harder, until she couldn’t breathe at all.
“Listen carefully to me, dog,” I hissed into her ear. “If you ever want to see your child again, you will take me to your chieftain.”
“Run!” she choked to her cub.
The small wolf, his eyes lit with panic, began scampering away. Still holding onto his mother, I summoned him back toward me.
“Don’t mess with me,” I said, my voice soft and dangerous. “Take me to your chieftain now.”
Chapter 12: Rose
Before attempting to enter the realm of the werewolves, we headed back to the Tavern. Ibrahim and Corrine made us appear back on the beach, outside the walls lining the island. We hadn’t stayed long enough in The Cove for my mother, Kiev and Mona to recover. But now that we were out of danger, we laid them all down on the beach where Ibrahim and Corrine could work on them without worrying about another attack.
Our first priority was bringing them to consciousness before treating those who had been wounded during the fight. Now that Corrine and Ibrahim had removed the poison darts from their flesh, the process was faster. After only a quarter of an hour, my mother finally sat up. I wanted to leap at her, but I held myself back. Her eyelids were half closed as she looked around, frowning and looking bewildered. Her dry lips parted.
“Mom,” I said.
Her eyes fixed on me, widening.
“Rose,” she croaked.
She attempted to get to her feet, but her legs were still shaky. My father picked her up in his arms and kissed her.
“You’re safe now,” he said. I walked over to them. My mother reached down and touched my face, then pulled me closer so that she could kiss my forehead.
Kiev and Mona were now waking up too—both looking just as confused as my mother.
“Wh-Where am I?” Mona stuttered.
“You’ve just woken from a stupor induced by poison darts,” Corrine explained.
Kiev groaned, clutching his head.
Now that all three were clearly all right, I moved back over to Caleb sitting on the sand. Most of his cuts had closed up by now, but the gash in his leg was still having trouble healing. Corrine and Ibrahim were moving from person to person, and I was relieved when Corrine reached Caleb. It wasn’t long before his leg was patched up and he could stand normally. He headed straight for the ocean and dipped into the waves, cleaning off the bloodstains. Realizing that I too could use a wash, I joined him. Everyone else soon followed our lead. Once we were done refreshing ourselves as much as we could, we climbed out of the water and onto the sand.
Mona, Kiev and my mother had apparently already been filled in on what had happened since they’d lost consciousness.
“So,” my mother said, looking nervous, “we head to the Woodlands now?”
Mona nodded. “Hopefully Magnus’ trail will be hotter there.”
“You will need to make me invisible and also hide my scent,” Micah said.
“Why?” Ibrahim asked.
“Because I’m not welcome there.”
“What did you do?” I asked, raising a brow. I recalled the story that Rhys had told me about Micah—how he had been banished for falling in love with a chieftain’s daughter while she was betrothed to another. I wondered whether there was any truth in that at all.
“I clashed with the chieftain who ruled my pack. I didn’t agree with many of the decisions he made, and I was vocal about it. He thought that it would be easier to get rid of me. So I was banished from his pack. I moved to another, then another, but I couldn’t find a chieftain I could respect enough to submit to. In the end, I just left. I preferred a life of freedom.”
“I see,” Mona said. “Well, we will be sure to cover you up.”
“We should leave now,” my father said.
We gathered together and I braced myself for my stomach to lurch once again as we hurtled through the air at lightning speed.
When I opened my eyes, I was clutching Caleb tight. We were standing on a cluster of giant boulders, the waves lapping at our feet.
“Now would be a good time to disguise me,” Micah said. “Someone might have sensed me already. I also suggest that you all do the same. Vampires and witches are anything but welcome here, while humans”—his eyes fell on my father and me—“are considered a delicacy by wolves.”
Mona, Ibrahim and Corrine set about following Micah’s suggestion.
Once Corrine had finished with Caleb and me, I looked down at my hands. They had disappeared. It wasn’t long before everyone was invisible. I caught Caleb’s hand.
“Now, Micah, wh
ere would you suggest we start?” my father asked.
“Hmm. Well, let’s think,” the werewolf replied. “Unless Magnus had the help of witches to cover his scent, I’m sure that the wolves would have detected the vampire’s presence sooner or later. So if he stayed for a stretch of time, the wolves would have known about it. That brings two options. Either they caught him and threw him straight out—or perhaps murdered him—or they allowed him to stay. If we assume the second option, then Magnus would have needed permission from a chieftain.”
“So we need to seek out chieftains?” Ashley asked.
“Yes,” Micah replied.
“You can’t sense any vampires now?” Aiden asked.
“I can only sense you guys,” Micah replied. “It could be that we’re not close enough to Magnus for me to sense him yet. The Woodlands is a massive place.”
“So where do we go first?” Corrine asked.
“To the woods,” Micah said.
My eyes traveled past the rocky shore we were standing on, and toward the dark forest that lined it. Although day was close to breaking, the trees were so thick, I was sure that it would be almost as dark walking beneath them as if it were night.
We hurried away from the rocks and approached the entrance to the woods.
“It’s bizarre to be back here. It’s been so long,” Micah murmured.
We began walking along the winding forest path. The noises around us gave me chills—shrill chirping and the occasional grunting of an animal. Boughs creaked and the wind rustled the leaves of the trees.
Perhaps half an hour passed before it appeared that the trees were beginning to thin. I thought at first that it might just be my imagination, but then I could make out an opening in the distance. We reached it quickly and found ourselves stepping onto the edge of a cliff. The landscape before us took my breath away. The cliff dropped sharply downward toward a sea of trees and surrounding the area were endless mountain ranges. I realized that this place reminded me a little of The Shade, albeit on a much grander scale.
“Do you see that mountain far in the distance, directly in front of us?” Micah asked. “It’s probably the tallest in sight.”
There was a veil of mist in the distance, and since it wasn’t even fully daylight yet, I struggled to see what Micah was pointing to.
“I see it,” several vampires replied.
“That is where my pack used to live,” Micah said.
“How many packs are there in this realm?” Caleb asked.
Micah scoffed. “Too many to count. The Woodlands is a divided realm—centuries of disagreements have caused much discord and separation.”
“So how do we know which chieftain to approach?”
“We don’t. But let’s try here first. The shore we arrived on is the primary way into this realm,” Micah said. “And this chieftain’s territory spans—or at least used to span—many miles from here, so if Magnus arrived, it’s likely that he would have been detected by one of the werewolves of this chieftain’s pack before he made it into another area.”
“Okay,” my father said.
“Ibrahim, Corrine and Mona,” Micah said, “you can magick us there now.”
We all felt our way toward each other, and disappeared once the witches were sure that everyone was touching. The temperature dropped sharply as we reappeared at the base of a mountain. It was only now that we were here that I realized the sheer scale of it. It made me dizzy just craning my head upward and trying to see the top. It was certainly taller than any skyscraper I had seen. The tip disappeared into the clouds.
I looked back behind us, trying to see where we had just been standing, and even now I could barely make it out through the fog.
“Now what?” I asked.
“I suggest that you and your father head up the mountain alone and try to get a meeting with the chieftain,” Micah said.
“What?” my mother said, alarm in her voice. “But they are humans. I thought you said—”
“Of all of us, Rose and Derek will get these wolves’ backs up the least. Humans are not intimidating to werewolves as vampires and witches are. Wolves are distrustful of intruders enough as it is. I think I can speak for all of us in saying that we don’t want to cause another showdown here like we had in The Cove.”
“But why does Rose need to come?” my father said. “I’ll go alone. I can wield fire if something goes wrong. I will be able to manage even if a whole pack of wolves launches an attack on me. In any case”—he looked toward the brightening sky—“they will be in their human forms anytime now.”
“Derek,” Micah said, “you’re an intimidating guy, to put it mildly. Having a young woman like Rose next to you will help to soften things a little.”
“All right,” my father said after a pause, reluctance in his tone. “So, Corrine, you will need to remove Rose’s and my invisibility now.”
“Also, Corrine, stop suppressing their scent,” Micah said. “If the wolves can’t smell them, that will also make them distrustful.”
My father appeared before me, and then I became visible as well. I walked toward him, but bumped into someone.
“It’s me,” Corrine said.
“Sorry,” I said, closing the distance between me and my father. He held out his hand for me to take.
“Micah,” my father said, looking around, unsure of where to focus his attention. “Where is the entrance to the chieftain’s quarters?”
“Make it halfway up,” Micah said, “and you will see a number of open tunnels. Start walking down one, and it will lead you toward the center of the mountain. By the time you reach the first chamber… well, you should have met with a wolf already. As soon as you see one, start explaining your reason for being here. Their first instinct will be to attack you, but do all you can to avoid shooting flames.”
“Understood,” my father said. He looked down at me and nodded.
A cold hand squeezed my arm. Then lips brushed against my cheek. “Be careful.” Caleb’s voice.
“I will,” I said.
Then a pair of cold arms wrapped around me. My mother this time.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s okay,” I said. “I’m going with Dad. I would probably manage even by myself.”
My father tugged on me and we hurried toward the mountain. We looked around, wondering how to even start climbing up it.
“Look to your left,” Micah called behind us.
We did, and that was when we spotted the beginning of a wide jagged staircase, etched into the side of the mountain. The steps were wide and very thick—clearly designed for wolves. My father’s legs were long enough to climb them, but I found myself climbing them on all fours, as a toddler would. My father offered to carry me on his back, but I declined. I spent too much time on other people’s backs.
I was feeling breathless by the time we were a quarter of the way up, despite my father and me having superhuman speed.
We paused, looking downward. My stomach lurched at how high up we were. The wind was harsher; it seemed to be getting stronger and stronger the higher we climbed. As a particularly strong gust passed by us, I was afraid that I might be blown away. I gripped the rocks so tight my knuckles grew white.
It was clear when we’d made it halfway up. The stairs gave way to a wide ridge and, as Micah had said, there were tunnels—lots of dark tunnels. I counted seven of them on our side of the mountain.
“Which do you think we should enter?” I asked.
My father pointed to the one nearest to us and led me through it. It was winding and narrow, though not too narrow for a wolf to comfortably travel down. The light outside of the tunnel soon disappeared as we traveled down several twists and turns.
The silence was eerie, the sound of my uneven breathing only adding to my nervousness. I clutched my father’s hand tighter. The tunnel gave way to a large circular chamber with a high ceiling. It was dark, though unlike the tunnel we had just passed through, there were dim lanterns lining the walls. There was
a strange musty smell that could only be described as wolf.
“Hello?” my father called out. When nobody responded, he called out again louder this time. Still no sign of anybody approaching.
“Micah said that we should have met one of the wolves by now,” I said.
“We just need to keep looking,” my father replied.
He pointed to the tunnel opposite us. I followed him as he crossed the chamber and entered through it. We passed along more twists and turns until we reached yet another, larger chamber. I could feel the damp of the walls, and it was colder here. I wondered how much further we would have to travel before we reached the center of the mountain.
“Hello?” we called out together.
Silence.
“Perhaps they are all out hunting,” I murmured.
My father seemed to be distracted by something in the corner of the chamber. I followed his gaze. He was staring at a dark form crumpled on the ground. We moved toward it cautiously. It was a werewolf—in human form. That meant that the sun had risen on the horizon outside. He was a dark-skinned man, thickly built. The expression on his face looked like he was in pain.
“Excuse me,” my father said, his mouth right above the man’s ear.
The werewolf didn’t budge. My father gripped one of his shoulders and shook him. Still no response.
“Odd,” he said.
We continued along another tunnel. The chamber we arrived in this time was filled with more werewolves—men and women alike, all strewn on the floor and unresponsive to anything my father and I did to wake them. We even tried applying heat to their skin. After checking their pulses, we were certain that they were not dead, just in some kind of profound sleep.
I glanced up toward the ceiling, noticing that there was a level above us, lined with a low stone railing.
“Hey,” I said suddenly.
“What?” my father asked, frowning.
“I swear I just saw something stir up there in the shadows,” I said.
My father headed straight for the wall beneath the spot I was staring at. The wall’s surface was rocky and jagged, allowing him to climb up toward the railing easily. He pulled himself over it with a thud and looked around.
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