He was only vaguely aware of Chris standing over him, staring down at him. Then the lights and colors took him away.
* * *
On a hilltop clearing, surrounded by dense forest, red forks of lightning sizzled and flared, hitting the ground again and again. Nearby aspen trees erupted in flames, jumping from one tree to another and spreading outward in a ring. Then, from out of nothing, a glowing red circle of translucent energy appeared in the air above the smoking, charred surface of the hilltop. The circle of fire throbbed and grew, spreading to the size of a small house. Air blew outward from the fiery sphere with a tremendous hissing as a giant form hurtled out of its center.
Maelhrandia and Gazekiller landed on the hilltop. The basilisk, more than thirty feet long from his head to the end of his spiked tail, reared up on his back legs. His horned head whipped back and forth as he searched for threats. Sitting on his back, Maelhrandia stroked his scaly hide, her gaze also sweeping the terrain.
Nothing. Where were the gwyllgi? They had gone through first.
She had half expected to need to fight the moment she arrived, but she was alone. Her mother must have sent the gwyllgi to a different location as a distraction. This was the Old World, though; she was sure of that. She had studied the ancient texts describing their ancient home. This looked… right. Behind her, the Rift-Ring collapsed back in upon itself, disappearing in a moment. Maelhrandia dropped from her mount and gasped. So cold!
Goose bumps pebbled her arms beneath her armor, which was even now changing color, becoming lighter. Now, terror gripped her. There was so little magic in the air.
She opened herself to the magic, feeling the instant comfort of it coursing through her body. There was magic here, just not as much as she was used to. She felt giddy with relief. Without magic, she would be defenseless.
Despite their fire-weapons, none of the manling spies had been mages. It seemed impossible that they would send a war party to spy upon the fae seelie and yet not bring a mage with them. Perhaps they had no gift for magic. Some creatures were entirely mundane.
The mundane ones are the easiest to drain.
Gazekiller hissed, steam hurtling from his nostrils, as his blue eyes scanned the trees in the forest below the hilltop. She sensed the basilisk’s unease; he wanted to move on, to leave this exposed hilltop and hide amongst the trees. Filling herself with what little magic there was, she bent the light around her, casting Shadow-Soul, disappearing from sight atop her mount. Gazekiller trotted down the still-smoking hilltop and into the dense cover of trees. Gazekiller was fast and far more agile than a creature his size had any right to be. Maelhrandia leaned over his back as they ran through the forest.
Her nose wrinkled in distaste. Something stank—a foul, sulfur-like odor similar to a dwarven forge. She directed Gazekiller in the direction of the stench. After some minutes, she heard a bizarre sound, one she had never heard before: a dull thrumming. Was she moving too quickly, too recklessly? Her sisters would rejoice if she were to die within moments of beginning her mission. Her eyes scanned the alien trees, so different from the jungles of her holdfast.
The basilisk burst out of the woods and onto a road—but what a road! Far wider than any she had ever seen before, this one was constructed from stone but seemingly all of one piece and as black as the Spider Mother’s heart. Her head whipped back and forth. The road ran as far as she could see in either direction. This is the source of the stench.
Then, behind her, she saw bright lights and heard an ear-piercing screech of torment coming from the same direction. With reflexes superior to that of a manticore, she leapt from the back of Gazekiller and away, hitting the ground in a roll and coming upright again in the trees along the side of the road. The basilisk, nowhere near as agile, spun about on his eight legs and hissed in challenge.
About twenty paces away from her mount was the most wondrous thing: a steel carriage, one with no mounts pulling it. It was bright yellow with four black wheels that still smoked from the friction of its sudden stop. The brightest lights she had ever seen, glowing eyes almost blinding in their intensity, lit up the carriage. Gazekiller shrieked in rage. At the front of the carriage was a single piece of curved glass, and Maelhrandia saw a female manling sitting within the carriage behind the glass. The eyes of the female were wide with terror and disbelief.
Now, she ordered.
Gazekiller lowered his head and glared at the female, and then the glow in his blue eyes pulsed with arcane energy, becoming bright. The female’s mouth opened in horror and then stayed open. Her skin hardened and cracked.
Maelhrandia always wondered if a basilisk’s victims could still be alive at this point. Could they see the fate that was about to befall them although helpless to do anything to stop it?
No matter. That was a question for sages, not mage-scouts.
Gazekiller’s head darted forward. In a moment, his powerful jaws ripped into the steel carriage, tearing it open and exposing the petrified female. A moment later, his teeth ripped into her torso, biting it completely in half. Blood splattered the interior of the carriage as it dripped off Gazekiller’s mouth. The war had begun.
Chapter 8
Once again, as she had so often before, Cassie dreamed of that night.
Rain had pelted the windshield of her parents’ Honda Civic, obscuring the dark highway that climbed through the forested cliffs of the Peace River Valley. Her father had set the wipers to the fastest setting, but they barely kept up with the constant deluge of rain. Cassie sat in the back seat, still a little drunk, still angry about how the night had turned out. She didn’t like calling her parents for help, but when she did, they were supposed to just help, not beat her up over having needed them. This is bullshit, she thought. Maybe I should have just taken my chances with Allister. No, she knew she couldn’t have done that. She was tipsy, but Allister was hammered.
“It’s not that we’re angry, Cassie.” The tone in her father’s voice underscored the fact that he was angry. “It’s just that… well, you’re too smart to be pulling a stunt like this. And you dragged Ginny into it as well.”
“Sure, you’re not angry.” Cassie looked out the rain-covered passenger window of the car although she couldn’t see anything but dark trees and the never-ending deluge.
“Don’t, young lady. Just don’t,” her father said.
Her mother placed a hand on his arm. “We’ve been telling her for years to call us in an emergency. That’s what she did. No guilt, remember?”
“I know but—”
“We told her to call us.”
“I know. It’s just…”
“It’s two a.m., and you’re not in bed. How awful for you,” Cassie said.
“Cassie. You’re not helping,” said her mother with exasperation. She turned in her seat and faced Cassie. “It’s hard for us, okay? We’re not used to getting frantic phone calls waking us up, asking us to come and get you from some bar in Fort St. John. Especially when you’re supposed to be at Ginny’s. You lied to us.”
Cassie looked away. “I just wanted to have some fun… for once in my life.”
“Oh, please,” said her father, shaking his head. “Your life is so hard, isn’t it, Cassie? You have things so rough, a roof over your head, plenty of food and activities, friends, clean air, and beautiful forests.”
“You really think I want to spend all my time in the middle of nowhere? Butthole, British Columbia? With nothing to do? Nothing to see?” Cassie leaned forward against her seat belt. “I’m sorry, all right? I didn’t ask for those guys to start causing trouble. Allister said he was okay to drive, and he wasn’t going to drink very much. But then he starts doing shooters, and the next thing I know, he’s wasted and picking fights.”
“And that’s another thing,” said her father. “What the hell are you doing with him? Where’s Lee? He’d never pull a stunt like this.”
“Like you care,” said Cassie.
“Honey,” said her mother, “not toni
ght, okay?”
Her father sighed. “Let’s have this discussion after some sleep. Maybe we’ll all be less irritable.”
“Whatever,” said Cassie.
An uncomfortable silence settled over them, broken only by the sheets of rain gusting against the windshield. This was a crappy night to be out on the highway, but Cassie wasn’t that concerned. Her father knew every inch of this route, had driven it hundreds of times in the past. After all, it was the only way to get to the civilization of Fort St. John.
“Oh, my,” said her mother. “Have you ever seen this much rain?”
“It’ll blow over,” answered her father. “Besides, we’re not that far from—”
“What’s that noise?” her mother asked.
Cassie looked out her window, staring into the mass of trees and steeply rising terrain on their right. On their left, the road cut off abruptly into a deep embankment. She frowned, now clearly hearing what her mother had. Her father turned off the radio. There was definitely a rumbling sound outside, gaining quickly in intensity.
“Stop the car,” said her mother. “Something’s wrong.”
“I don’t—”
“Stop the car!”
Her father began to slow the vehicle down. There were no other cars on the twisting mountain road and hadn’t been for at least the last fifteen minutes. They pretty much had the road to themselves. Cassie cracked her window open to listen better. Instantly, her face was pelted with cold wind and raindrops. Now, she could hear loud cracking noises interspersed with the growing rumbling. Terror spiked through her, and she jabbed at the window’s button as if the glass could protect her.
The cracking noises were trees above them—snapping and breaking!
“Dad! It’s a—”
Cassie’s words were lost in the roar of the mudslide. The ground shook as a flowing river of mud, rock, shattered trees, and debris fell upon them. The trunk of a massive tree smashed into the road just in front of them, barely missing the car. A moment later, the slurry of mud did hit their car, sweeping it off the road and down the embankment. Cassie was jerked about, violently thrown against her seat belt. The car flipped, then flipped again, before stopping with a bone-shattering jolt against a tree trunk near the bottom of the ravine. The Honda Civic was almost standing on its hood; only her seat belt kept her from falling forward into the front seat and windshield.
Cassie screamed—and bolted upright in bed, her skin drenched in sweat, her breathing wild. A nightmare. It was only another nightmare. Goddamn it—when is it ever going to stop?
And where am I? She was in a spacious, well-lit room with cream-colored walls. Bright sunlight poured through the open curtains of a large window. Through the room’s open door, she saw hospital beds. There was another bed in the room with a vaguely familiar-looking young woman with long raven-dark hair sitting up in it. Beautiful, in an entirely too wholesome sort of way, she looked to be about the same age as Cassie. On her lap, she held a hardcover Bible.
A Bible?
Their eyes met, and once again, Cassie felt certain she knew her from somewhere. But then memories of the campsite and the bear attack rushed back upon her, overwhelming all other thoughts. A hospital! Oh my God! Have I been mauled?
Her hands flew to her face. The skin felt normal—clammy and sweaty, maybe, but intact. She ripped away the bedsheets, exposing both legs, feeling immense relief. She didn’t seem to be hurt, at least as far as she could tell, but something felt… different. It was hard to describe the feeling, but it was as though something that had been missing all her life was now there, filling her. She felt… energized, like a battery. It was the most amazing feeling.
I have to be stoned. They must have me on something.
“Hey, you’re awake finally,” the young woman said. “I’m Elizabeth. Your family is here. Your sister just stepped out.”
Cassie stared at her in confusion. “What?”
“Everyone was wondering when you’d wake up. If you’d wake up. Thank the Lord.”
What was she talking about?
The dark-haired woman—Elizabeth—picked up what looked like a small television remote control attached to a long cord. There was a prominent red button on the end of the device, and she pushed it with her thumb.
“Your sister’s been here pretty much since I’ve been here, off and on.”
“What happened to me? There was a bear, but… I don’t think I’m hurt. Am I okay?”
“Yeah, I guess. A bear? Really?”
Cassie looked about, bewildered. The panic from her dream began to subside, but now a new fear built within her. What the hell was going on?
She saw trees outside and cars moving along a busy road. This had to be Fort St. John. A thin, middle-aged redheaded nurse came through the room’s doorway and smiled when she saw Cassie sitting up in bed. Bending over to examine Cassie’s eyes, she said, “Morning, hon.”
“What’s going on?”
“Everything’s fine, hon.” The nurse placed a warm hand against Cassie’s cheek. “You’re in the hospital in Fort St. John. You’ve been here for almost three days now.”
“Three days?” Cassie’s stomach lurched.
There was a cry from the doorway, and Cassie looked over just in time to see Alice rushing toward her. Her sister nearly knocked down the nurse as she leaped onto the bed and embraced Cassie, hugging her so hard she had trouble breathing. Relief rushed through Cassie, and she hugged her sister back.
“How’s Vicky? Did the bear hurt anyone?”
“No, baby,” her sister gushed, still hugging her. “It ran away. The lightning strike chased it off.” Her sister let go of her, pulled back, and held her shoulders as she stared into her face.
“Lightning strike?” Once again, just for a moment, Cassie saw the grizzly’s enraged face, the massive teeth and paws. She remembered the fire, twisting and turning on its own as it wrapped about the bear. Had it been lightning? Had a bolt somehow struck the bonfire, throwing the flames? That made no sense. “I’m okay, right? I don’t feel any injuries.”
“You’re fine. But you’ve been in a coma… or something.” Alice’s voice broke, and tears appeared in her eyes. “I’ve been so scared, baby. Most of the others didn’t wake up.”
Others? Cassie’s eyes tightened in confusion. “I don’t—”
“You’ve been chosen,” Elizabeth said, her eyes filled with an intensity that could only be born of religion. “It’s the Rapture, or maybe just the beginning of the Rapture.”
Cassie stared at her in bewilderment. Alice’s expression darkened for just a moment as she glanced at the other woman.
“How do you feel, Cassie?” the nurse asked, putting her hand on Cassie’s forehead. “Are you in any pain?”
“I feel… different,” Cassie mumbled. “Like something’s wrong. No, not wrong. New.”
Another woman walked through the doorway, this one wearing a doctor’s white tunic and a stethoscope around her neck. She was about the same age as Alice and looked to be of Asian descent or maybe native. A small woman, she wore glasses, and her hair was cut short, just above her ears, giving her an elf-like appearance. “Hello, sleepyhead,” she said as she shook Cassie’s hand. “I’m Dr.Ireland. We’ve all been waiting to meet you. We thought your sister was going to move in and start living here.”
“Doctor,” Cassie said, “what the hell’s going on? What is this Rapture shit?”
Dr. Ireland’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and her smile faltered only for a moment. “Can everyone step back and give Cassie some room, please?”
Wordlessly, the redheaded nurse backed off and exited the room. Alice gave Cassie one last quick squeeze and then moved back away from the bed, clasping her hands in front of her as she stood only feet away, waiting.
Dr. Ireland sat down on the edge of the bed. “Cassie, I need to check your pupils. Is that okay?”
Cassie nodded, and the other woman removed a penlight from her tunic pocket and very softly
opened Cassie’s eyelid a fraction more before shining the light into her eye. “Here’s the thing, Cassie,” she said as she moved the penlight back and forth. “You’re going to hear about this soon enough anyhow, so you might as well know what we know—and don’t know—right away. Three days ago, during a bizarre storm, you and Elizabeth lost consciousness.”
“What do you mean? I was attacked by a bear. At least, that’s the last thing I remember.”
“And that, young lady, is a small miracle just by itself. Whatever else that storm did, it also scared off that bear. Very lucky for you.”
“I’m not following you,” Cassie said. “We both passed out during the storm?”
“I was in the Campus Library,” Elizabeth said. “The Lord was watching over me because I would have been alone otherwise. No one would have seen.”
“Seen what? What campus?” Cassie asked.
“At first we thought you had been hit by the lightning bolt that chased off the bear, but that wasn’t the case,” Dr. Ireland continued. “There would have been burns. There are always burns with lightning strikes.”
Cassie blinked rapidly, before looking away from the light. It was becoming uncomfortable.
“You both passed out at exactly the same time,” Alice blurted.
Cassie turned and stared at her sister. “What?”
Dr. Ireland sat back and lowered her penlight. “Here’s where it gets really weird, Cassie. It wasn’t just you and Elizabeth.”
Cassie ran her fingers through her hair as she looked from face to face, trying to make sense of what the doctor was saying. “I… I don’t really… understand.”
Dr. Ireland reached out and took both of Cassie’s hands in hers and squeezed them until Cassie met her gaze once more. “Listen very carefully, Cassie. I don’t want you to stress, but I’m going to tell you the truth as I know it, and there’s still a great deal we don’t understand yet.”
“Doctor.” Cassie heard the panic in her own voice. “You’re starting to scare the shit out of me.”
The doctor nodded and tried to smile reassuringly, but Cassie could see the discomfort in her eyes. “At 20:25 on Saturday night, during a really, really strange lightning storm—so strange the provincial weather office still can’t describe what happened—you and Elizabeth passed out at, as far as we can tell, the exact same moment.”
Starlight (The Dark Elf War Book 1) Page 7