Shadowlands (9781101597637)

by Malan, Violette

  “Dwells?”

  I’d taken my hand way. “That’s what I read. I’m afraid I can’t interpret it any further without more context, but it could be a metaphor, right? You know, if it’s a song lyric?”

  Both of them nodded, Moon with a pleased smile on her face, Wolf still frowning. I wondered if he now remembered something about the mountain range, or the Song he’d once known.

  “So what now?” I asked.

  “Now I will go to the Quartz Ring,” Moon said, then her face clouded. “I once promised Lightborn the Griffin Lord I would not go into danger without telling him.”

  But he’s dead. It was the kind of thought I’d learned the hard way to keep to myself. That was why she was wearing his pin on the collar of her shirt. And he was the father of her child, it was his dra’aj I’d felt, wrapped around the baby’s.

  “Okay, I’ve got it.” I raised my hands, palms out, as they both looked as though they’d like to interrupt. “Wolf’s the one who should go. He bears gra’if. Once he’s there, on the ground, he’s bound to remember more. Don’t you see? Think of all the time that would be saved if Wolf brings the High Prince the Horn.” Suddenly, I saw the whole thing clearly. “But I’m the one who should go with him, not you.”

  They looked at me openmouthed, and I sighed, stifling the urge to roll my eyes again. Sometimes you can be too close to a problem to see the solution. What I suggested would get Wolf away from his brother, and put him farther on the path to saving him at the same time.

  “It is too risky.” Wolf was shaking his head. You don’t know the half of it, I thought. My heart was thumping so loudly I could hardly hear myself think.

  “Look,” I said. “We’re depending on your knowledge, and I’ve already shown I’m the key to that.”

  “Then we will all go,” Moon said.

  “And who’ll explain it to your sister?” I clenched my teeth. I had to find a way to convince them. “How much time have we got? How long do we have to convince everyone else that this is the right thing to do?”

  “But once we are gone…” Wolf began, eyes focused on something far away.

  “It’s easier to be forgiven for it afterward than it is to ask for permission first,” I agreed.

  Moon still looked worried, but now Wolf was slowly nodding

  “If we had the Horn, we could bring the Hunt to be cured.” His eyes refocused on me. “The dra’aj they have taken would be returned to the Lands, as you said mine was.” Wolf snatched up his sword from where it was hanging openly in a bracket next to the fireplace. It turned into an umbrella as soon as he touched it. He turned it back and forth in his hand, as if he was examining a blade only he could see. “I had hoped we would not need to force them, but if the time is growing so short?”

  Now Moon was nodding, still with a frown, but at least she was getting to her feet.

  “Come on,” I said. “We have to hit a drugstore.

  Nighthawk came out of the revolving doors, shaking his head. Alejandro drew him down the sidewalk to where they would not be interrupted by offers of service from the doormen of the hotel.

  “I saw nothing untoward inside,” Hawk said. “But if they no longer look like Hounds, how can I be sure?”

  Alejandro thought back to his own experience in the train station, when he had followed what he’d thought to be a Rider. “You saw no other Riders?” But Hawk shook his head.

  “I am satisfied nothing lurks out here.” Alejandro scanned the street with narrowed eyes. “We should join Valory. Now is the time to speak with Stormwolf.” Alejandro pulled out his mobile. “Let me tell her we are coming. Stormwolf has done no harm, and we should approach him with courtesy as the emissary of the High Prince.”

  “Alejandro!”

  His phone to his ear, Alejandro turned to see Nik Polihronidis coming out of the revolving doors. He was wearing a tan suit, with a crisp blue shirt and tie, and looked as though he had just come from a corporate meeting.

  “I thought I recognized a Rider in the lobby,” he said, nodding at Hawk as he joined them. “I’ve been trying to get hold of you. Where have you been?”

  Close up, the Outsider looked tired. “Valory is upstairs with Stormwolf,” he said. “She reported seeing a Hound somewhere here,” Alejandro gestured at the street. “Have any of your people seen one earlier today?”

  Brow furrowed, Nik pulled out his own phone and hit a single button. “Any activity around the station?” As he spoke, he looked over Alejandro’s shoulder, and froze, lifting his free hand to point. “Hang on,” he said. “There she is, there. Valory!”

  Alejandro and Hawk both spun around to look. The girl in the gray linen dress at the far corner was Valory; there could be no doubt. Walking with her was a Starward female, and on her other side, Stormwolf. They had crossed the street at the southeast end of the hotel, and were heading for the entrance to the train station. Alejandro saw Valory glance over her shoulder at the pavement behind them.

  But she was not looking in the right direction, he realized.

  “Oh, crap.” Nik dashed across the street, ignoring the horns and cars screeching to avoid him. Nighthawk, his Rider reflexes so much faster, reached the opposite sidewalk before Nik was halfway across.

  The danger was coming from below, Alejandro saw, from the stairs to the subway.

  He Moved.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I COULDN’T HELP MYSELF. I kept looking over my shoulder as we crossed Front Street, checking if Wolf’s brother—or some other Hound—was still there, still watching for me. I couldn’t see him, or anyone else that looked wrong or out of place, but the hairs kept rising on the back of my neck. I could have called Alejandro back, let him know what I was doing, but I wanted to wait until it was too late for him to stop us. It was Alejandro who’d first told me that it was easier to get forgiveness than permission.

  And when Wolf and I came back with the Horn, for sure everything would be forgiven.

  The two Riders were intent on getting across the street, Moon shying a little and looking sideways as cars passed in front or behind her. She was between me and Wolf, and every now and then Wolf reached over and took her elbow. She needed the reassurance, I thought, more than she needed a helping hand.

  We’d reached the curb when Wolf stiffened. “Walk faster,” he said.

  I didn’t argue with him, and though I looked, I didn’t see anything. Moon was doing her best to speed up as well, but she was in front now, and didn’t know where we were going. I sped up to get ahead of her and our pace increased a little more.

  We were about a third of the way down the departure concourse and the Panorama Lounge was in sight—fortunately in a train station, people running are so common that no one tried to either stop or help us—when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Movement that was cutting across the orderly lines of waiting people at an angle that would intersect with ours before we reached the Portal.

  “Run,” Wolf called, but we were already running. Just as we got to the doors of the lounge, I sensed that Moon was no longer just behind me, and I turned. No point in my going on, I wouldn’t be able to pass through the Portal, or even the crossroads, by myself. I was frantically trying to get my mobile out—how can everything always be at the bottom of your bag?—but except for the hand reaching behind her, Moon was standing still, lower lip between her teeth. Her hand waved at me, and I realized she meant me to take it. If the worst came, she could Move us out of here. I closed the gap between us, though I hesitated to actually take her hand. I didn’t think I could afford to be distracted by what touching her would show me. Then I really registered what the glint of metal on her wrist meant. Gra’if. I wrapped my hand around it.

  Wolf was only a long stride in front of Moon, his back to us, facing a much younger version of the man who’d pretended to stumble on the street. Facing his brother. Now that he wasn’t pretending to be an old man, Fox’s resemblance to Wolf was more noticeable. Or did I just think so beca
use now I knew?

  “Go,” Wolf said to us, speaking over his shoulder without taking his eyes from his brother. “Now.”

  I wasn’t sure where he expected me to go, and evidently neither was Moon. We both took a step back toward the lounge, but then we hesitated, reluctant to go any farther.

  “More may come,” Wolf said.

  “All the more reason not to leave you alone.” Brave words, but even I could hear the tremor in Moon’s voice. I tried to tell myself that I had less reason to be worried than either of them. Riders drained of dra’aj would fade, their essences gone. The worst that could happen to me was that I’d become an Outsider and I’d have to get regular infusions of dra’aj for the rest of my life. Don’t get me wrong, I’d touched both Nik and Elaine, and theirs weren’t lives I’d choose happily, but at least it was life.

  Not that I found the thought very comforting. I started to breathe easier when it seemed that no one else, and therefore no other Hound, seemed to be taking an interest in us. At least, until I saw what might be others, people heading toward us, cutting through the crowds and lines of passengers, people not carrying bags or luggage of any kind.

  Fox shifted to stand apparently relaxed, with his hands clasped together in front of him. If he’d been human, I would have said the look on his face was one of pleasure and anticipation.

  “It is you, brother,” he said. “River wasn’t lying.”

  “That would depend on what more she told you.” Wolf held his umbrella as though it was a sword—which of course it was—though it wasn’t up in an offensive position, or even a defensive one, but hanging point down in front of him. His shoulders were a little raised, but I thought it was with tension, not anticipation. I’d seen Alejandro poised to attack with his sword many times, and Wolf didn’t look like that at all.

  “Has she done this to you? Is this what her touch does?” Fox pointed at me with his chin, and lifted his eyebrows.

  “Done what to me?”

  I realized that Wolf was stalling, buying time for Moon and me to go. All the time they were talking, the three of us were inching backward, closer to the lounge entrance, but Moon wasn’t moving very fast, unwilling, I guessed, to leave Wolf and lose the chance of finding the Horn. As for me, right then I was busy listening to Wolf and his brother.

  “Finished the job that the human dra’aj starts. Made you whole again.”

  Wolf was shaking his head. “So she did not tell you all,” he said. Who was she, I wondered? “Or did you simply choose not to believe her? My condition has nothing to do with any human, not even this one. I am free, and myself once more.”

  “Free of what?” Fox took another step forward, and we took another step back. We were at the door of the lounge now, and beginning to attract the curious attention of the first-class passengers inside, waiting for their trains. “Why didn’t you come back to the Pack if you were free?”

  I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but there was some genuine hurt in the Hound’s voice.

  “It is the Pack I’m free of. Free of the hunger, free of need. I am not merely stable, I am whole, and no longer part of the Hunt.” Wolf drew himself up slightly. “Once again I am Stormwolf, my mother was Rain at Sunset, and the Chimera guides me.”

  (flicker) For a second there I glimpsed the Guidebeast I’d only sensed before, and realized that Fox, when he was a Rider, must have been guided by a Unicorn. What I’d seen, in that eye blink, was a limping, twisted, scaly parody of one. Had its front feet even been hooved? Or had they been flippers?

  “Who’re you trying to kid? That’s impossible.” Fox’s tone was dark.

  “It is possible. Here I am.” Now Wolf actually took a step forward, reaching out with his free hand. I had put out my own hand to draw him back toward us, but froze when Fox’s glance flicked over to me. “Did we not often wish for this?” Wolf continued, as if no one had moved. “An end to our need, to our miserable craving? Miserable we called it, and misery it is.”

  Fox shook his head and waved Wolf’s words away. “Then! Maybe in a weak moment. Sure, then we might have wanted to end it, but now we don’t have to. Now we can control it; we’re our own masters.” Funny how all addicts think they’re in control, was the useless thought that spun through my head. “With the human dra’aj, everything’s changed. We don’t need the People.” His tone took on a hint of wheedling, just like a younger brother who’s trying to coax an older sibling into letting him have his way. “You never wanted this! This freedom.” His tone left no doubt what he thought of it. “You were Pack Leader, not some errand boy. You never looked for this.”

  “No, I did not. Not even in what you call our weak moments did I ever allow myself to desire what I never believed could come to pass. Never tortured myself with the possibility. But it is more than a possibility now, it is real. It is before you. A Healing. An end to our long days of hunting.”

  “Don’t be so soft. Why would we want to end the hunting?” Fox’s smile was still gentle, though his tone was beginning to harden. “That doesn’t sound like my brother at all, not the brother I knew. Come on, don’t be foolish. You belong with us, with me.”

  Wolf took in a deep breath, and again I wanted to touch him, to find out what was really going on in his head. I thought I knew what he would want, but I wasn’t one hundred percent sure.

  “You are right,” he said finally. I thought my heart would stop. “We do belong together. You followed me before, follow me now. Come with me now. I can take you to the High Prince. She has promised she will Heal any who come to her.”

  Now Fox’s lip curled back. “Has she now? She promised you? And you fell for it? Is that why Riders have been killing Hounds? Tell it to Stump, to Claw. Tell me, brother, haven’t we dealt with Princes before? And how do their promises normally work? Is she even real, this one that’s making promises now?”

  Moon pushed forward at these words. Wolf put out an arm to keep her back, and though I still had hold of her wrist, I grabbed the tail of her blouse, getting a good grip. “She is more real than you, foul, broken travesty. She is the Dragonborn High Prince of the Lands, of all the People. She is the Sword of Truth and brings Healing wherever she goes. And she would Heal even you, wretch.”

  “Which you wouldn’t, I think. I believe what you’re saying all right, you call me ‘foul’ and ‘wretch’ with such conviction. I spit on you. And I spit on your Prince. As for you, brother, I’m sorry you’ve become so weak, I’m sorry you’ve let prey rule you. Tell them we don’t want their Healing, and we don’t want them. We’ll take this world instead.”

  A blur of motion and Alejandro appeared, shouldering Wolf to one side, raising his sword against Fox. Suddenly the other Hounds were there, and I realized they had only been holding off while Wolf and Fox spoke. Just as Wolf and Alejandro were being forced to stand back-to-back, Hawk came out of nowhere, roaring out a challenge and drawing off some of the attackers. But there were other Riders there as well, I saw, not just Hounds, and these new Riders weren’t on our side.

  “Don’t touch my brother!” I heard Fox call out, though I couldn’t see him clearly.

  Moon’s grip on my arm was bruisingly painful, but I didn’t shake her off. I wasn’t worried at first because none of the Hounds or the other Riders bore gra’if, and the brightness of those blades—Wolf’s, Alejandro’s, and Hawk’s—seemed to be everywhere. Then I realized that the points of brightness were farther and farther apart, and that the enemy might overwhelm us by sheer numbers.

  One of the Hounds came straight for us, closer than we’d thought one to be, and Moon and I rushed back again to the relative shelter of the lounge doorway. Then Wolf was there, slashing at the thing.

  “Go! Run!” he shouted. “Take Valory and go.”

  I don’t know whether Moon would have obeyed him or not. Just as he spoke, two Riders flanked him, one diving for his legs as the other clung to his sword arm. The Hound in front of him looked like he’d forgotten his Pack Leader’s
order not to touch Wolf. Momentum was forcing them all back toward us. Moon gripped me around the waist with one arm, and took hold of Wolf’s jacket with her free hand. The next thing I knew, the air was being sucked out of my lungs, and the blackness roared around me and through me, and I hit the ground hard.

  I knew what it was this time and maybe that, along with the Gravol I’d picked up in the drugstore, helped a little, because I thought I was going to be able to raise my own head. There was a new smell, however, a smell of cold, uncooked meat, and a howling, followed by cursing in a language I didn’t quite catch, and the brightness of gra’if weapons flashing in the incredible light of a cool dawn. Another lurching, a CRACK! a FLASH! and all was still and dark.

  At first I thought I’d passed out again, but except for the queasiness in my stomach and the feeling that I was off balance, I seemed to be conscious. I’d heard voices in there somewhere, whispering and urgent, but everything was quiet now. I sat up and my head wobbled. I tried holding it still using both hands, with only marginal success. There were stars overhead. More stars than I had ever seen before in my life. I swallowed and brought my eyes down again, blinking. I wasn’t sure whether looking up made my stomach feel better or worse. Still, the Gravol was clearly starting to work. I looked around, trying to move only my eyes, afraid to turn my head. It was another one of those stone rings that reminded me of Stonehenge, or maybe the same one I’d seen before. Great rectangular stones, as big as buildings, set on their ends, with their tops silhouetted against the stars.

  Though the temperature was comfortable, the whole place had that kind of sharp beauty that somehow made it feel cold. At least, it would have been beautiful, if only it would hold still, and if I didn’t feel as though I was going to be sick again.

  “Is this the sickness you spoke of? You were not bitten?” Wolf was kneeling beside me. The moonlight was strong enough that I could make out the colors of his clothes. Black jeans, dark red shirt, silvery tweed jacket. “Are you certain you do not require a Healer?”