Fear.
It loped, charging into the fields of tall wheat, following the scent. Prey.
Feed.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kane opened his eyes. He looked around him, the world dark. Blind. He was blind. He put his hands to his eyes, rubbed them.
Nothing.
Kane felt like his body was waking up, gained control of his muscles, his arms and legs. He could move freely, his body his own again. He felt himself all over. No hair, no antlers. He licked his teeth. Molars, fronts, nothing strange.
A low growl echoed around him, warned him.
Kane felt around in the black as the creature moved, the air around him tense with feral hunger and insanity. He tried to reach out, but something pushed back at him, forced him deeper into the hollow darkness.
He groped around, his hands finding nothing but thin air. Kane closed his eyes, tried to collect himself. He breathed out, then opened them slowly as his mind was hit with a rush of imagery and sound.
Tabitha ran through the trees, the creature close behind her, keeping up easily. Toying with her. It swiped out lazily with its claws, barely missed her as she ducked under a fallen log and kept going. It leapt the log, hit the ground solidly on the other side.
“Leave her alone, you bastard!” Kane called out in the dark.
A loud, low growl echoed back at him. It could hear him.
It lashed out again, this time catching her shirt, a row of tears opening in the back.
Christ, it’s like my dream, Kane thought. It’s going to kill her. I’m going to kill her.
Kane pushed back the dread in his chest as he reached out again. The thing controlled him, pulled at him by grabbing his spine. It was his only shot.
His fingers brushed something solid, a jagged column slick and dense, moving with each step and motion. Kane grabbed it, pulled as the Wendigo roared in the dark, shouting him away. He saw the beast falter in his mind, stumble as his grasp sent sharp pain up its back. Something smacked at him, almost knocked him away, but Kane held fast to the spine and squeezed.
He saw Tabitha trip in his mind’s eye, saw her go down hard on her shoulder. She spun onto her back, sat up on her elbows as the Wendigo slowed, stopping in front of her. She backpedaled until she was against the trunk of a large tree. She held her hands out as if to defend herself.
“Kane,” she called out. “I know you’re in there, Kane! Fight it!”
Kane grasped the spine and jerked, fighting against the force trying to push him away. The Wendigo howled in pain, shook itself violently. Kane almost lost his grip on the spine, wrapped his arms around it as the Wendigo sent another force against him, stronger this time. One word sounded in Kane’s mind, one desire.
Feed.
The Wendigo lunged at Tabitha, claws slashing, teeth bared. Kane jerked on the spine again, and the teeth clamped shut inches from her face.
A blast knocked the beast off balance, the light blinding. Another square in the side. Kane felt the burning in his own side, the burn and sting strong enough to make him limp for a short time. The Wendigo looked in the direction of the blast, snarling as Nick emerged from the trees, another sack in his hand ready to throw. He shouted to Tabitha, but she stayed motionless, shouting to Kane to fight.
Kane grabbed the thing’s spine and yanked savagely, felt the Wendigo’s pain in his own back as the beast took a knee, leaning forward on its long hairy arms. It looked up at Tabitha as she edged closer, her hand out.
“Get away,” Kane said, trying to yell. “Tabitha, get away!”
She hesitated, then backed away a few steps as the Wendigo rose to its feet.
A root shot from the ground, wrapped itself round the Wendigo’s waist. Kane felt it writhe in anger, flailing at the root as more erupted from the ground, holding its arms and legs, even its neck, pulled it to the ground. It looked up as Wil stepped out of the brush, her hand out, her other arm pushing Tabitha to the side. The woman stared at the Wendigo with hatred and disgust, brought her other hand up. More roots came forth, wrapped themselves tight around its body.
“You can’t go yet, Kane Shepherd,” Wil said. “You got answers. Startin’ with ‘where my sister?’ Now fight, white man!”
The Wendigo lashed at at Kane, the blow like a savage wind. Kane held on to the spine, began to climb slowly as the wind picked up into a howl. He found footholds in each vertebra, hanging on to unseen crevices as he made his way North. The Wendigo twisted, flailed an arm out as Kane held on. He began again once the Wendigo went still, the wind subsiding. Nick’s voice sounded in the distance.
“Take hands!”
Kane saw them form a circle, the three clasping hands, Nick said something to them, the women nodding in understanding. Tabitha dropped Kane’s hat to the ground as she took Wil’s hand. Nick’s voice was drowned out by the Wendigo’s roar as it pulled against the roots, the binds snapping and reforming slower and slower. The three magic users closed their eyes, chanting as their hands began to glow a low amber color. Blue light etched in frost began to form from Tabitha’s hands, mixing with Nick’s blood red and Wilhelmina’s a bright green. The Wendigo roared again, and Kane braced for another wind to try to knock him off the spine.
Something yanked at him, pulled him forwards. The spine shook underneath him, forcing a pained yowl from the creature. It struggled again, its fury growing as it broke roots and vines, the growth becoming too slow to keep up. Wilhelmina’s binds were failing.
“Hurry!” Kane shouted into the void.
The force grew stronger, pulling at him. Another came back and pushed against him, the two forces causing a swirl of wind, the roar of the tornado deafening in his ears. He didn’t want to let go, holding onto the spine with every bit of his strength. It was far too risky. Their pull wasn’t as strong as the Wendigo’s. If Kane lost his grip, all three of them would die while he watched.
The Wendigo broke free of Wil’s trap, charged the group. The three of them stood still, their faces up at the sky, their eyes closed as they chanted. Their hands glowed brighter as the Wendigo bared down, coming at them like a runaway steam engine. Kane pulled at the spine, fighting against the opposing winds as he tried to stop the thing. His arms were on fire, his muscles strained, the pain white hot as he ignored it and yanked over and over. The Wendigo faltered only a little, but not enough. Closer. Almost there. The titan reached out with a decayed, clawed hand aimed at Tabitha’s head. Kane felt the sting of tears in his eyes as the hand came down.
He braced himself for her end.
Tabitha spun, ducked the hand as she thrust her own hand out. A spear made of ice blew through the Wendigo. Kane felt the searing cold in his chest, his lungs heavy from the frost as he and the Wendigo screamed in unison. He put a hand to his chest, pulling it back expecting to see frozen blood.
Nothing.
The Wendigo staggered back as Tabitha fired another spear at it, the second one stabbing through the beast’s right breast, impaling it. The Wendigo went down to its knees. Kane looked out through the monster’s eyes, saw Tabitha coming toward it, a look on her face he’d never seen before. A look that, only on her, unnerved him. Her eyes were hard, her jaw set, her teeth grit.
Raw, wild fury.
She knelt in front of the Wendigo. It howled in her face, jaws snapping weakly as she glared into its eyes. The creature tried to move, the spear in its breast hindering. She formed a knife made of ice in her hands, her eyes never leaving the Wendigo’s as she spoke.
“Let. Him. Go!”
She slashed up with the shard. Kane felt cool air rush in, his ears popping from the shriek in the air as the Wendigo reared back, its arms outwards as Tabitha jabbed her hand into the wound. Kane felt it grasp his hand and pull, her touch cold as if he’d been grabbed by a living ice sculpture. He let go of the spine, let her pull him away and toward the cold air. The Wendigo tried to grab at him, its grip only glancing off his boot as the air got cooler.
Kane inhaled sharply as
he erupted from the Wendigo, the smell of rotted meat and rancid blood causing him to gag as he pushed against the gaping wound, pulled himself from the bloody mess of writhing and yowling meat. The Wendigo fell backward as Kane hit the ground on his shoulder. He rolled over to get up, saw the Wendigo trying to do the same, the ice spear still stuck in its chest, its stomach spilling its rotted guts out onto the ground.
Kane got to his feet, facing the Wendigo as it looked up at him. It snapped its jaws at him, its eyes two glowing diamonds in dark voids. Kane’s hands began to warm, his chest swelled with fury as he grit his teeth.
“I’ve had enough of you. Ethereal Infernus!” Ethereal Hellfire!
A spout of fire blew from the ground beneath the Wendigo, burning a hole in the writhing beast. It screamed into the night as the fire burned away decayed flesh, charred broken and jagged bones. It spread, covering the entire creature as it frantically tried to roll over and stand, its legs giving away to the flames. The air reeked of burning meat and fur as the Wendigo went still, slumping to the ground. Kane stood over it, watching the body go to char and ash as the flames died away.
Kane felt a slight fatigue as if he’d sprinted for a bit longer than he should have. The feeling dissipated once the last bit of fire was gone.
He heard Tabitha’s voice, weak and strained.
“Ka…Kane,”
He turned away from the burned coals that had once been his curse. His heart stopped in his chest, sank to his stomach. Tabitha lay on the ground, reaching for him, her tattered shirt soaked in blood. The Wendigo struck her. When?
Kane went to her, covered in the Wendigo’s gore, and rolled her gently so he could take a closer look at the wound. The gashes were deep, some of her ribcage exposed at the bottom of the bloody ditches dug in her side. She coughed, blood pouring from her mouth.
“Tabitha,” he said, her name catching in his throat. He held her close, his breathing heavy as he brushed her hair out of her face. Her eyes were sleepy, her mouth moving as she tried to speak. “Stay with me. Tabitha!” Kane looked up at Nick and Wil, his voice strained as he shouted at them. “Help her! Please!”
“It all have a price, Kane Shepherd,” Wil said. “You gonna pay a high price to save this one.”
“It can be done,” said Nick, stepping forward. “But you have to be willing.”
“Someone must die,” Wil said. “Someone of your choosin’. Someone you care about.”
“And you have to choose quickly,” Nick said, nodding to Tabitha. “Her life is fading.”
Kane’s mind whirled. An image came to mind, a name. He shook his head. No.
He shook his head again. He couldn’t give someone else’s life. And he couldn’t risk losing Tabitha.
His life. He would give his life.
“Ain’t no quickly here,” Wil said, grinning as she knelt down next to Kane, placing her hand on Tabitha’s forehead. “Him chose already. It’s done.”
“Wait,” Kane said.
“Wait, nothin’,” Wil said. “The first one you think of is it. Is done. Them spirits don’ play, Kane Shepherd. They told on you long before you considered yourself.”
Wil reached down, ripped Tabitha’s shirt apart, fully exposing the wound. The cuts went from the side of her breast down her ribs and into her lower back. Her bra and shirt were tatters, clawed and destroyed like her flesh. Tabitha winced in pain, her breath a shudder. Kane could feel her heartbeat slowing, her grip on him weakening.
Dying.
“I do this now, or it dont happen,” the Conjure-Lady said, looking up at him expectantly.
Kane looked back at her, his features hard, his eyes stinging as tears wet his face, ran through the stubble.
“Do it.”
Wilhelmina dug a large patch of soil from the ground with a clawed hand and pressed it onto the wound. Tabitha cried out, the sound weak as her body shuddered. Wilhelmina pressed the soil into the wound, closed her eyes as she chanted in the language she’d used before. Nick stood over them, keeping watch. Wilhelmina’s brow furrowed, her mouth tight as she grimaced, straining as if she were trying to lift something far too heavy.
She looked up at Nick.
“I need you, Voodoo man,” she said bitterly. “This girl gonna die.”
Nick nodded, knelt down and put his hand over hers on Tabitha’s wound. A greenish glow emanated from the dirt and grass under their hands. Wilhelmina chanted in the language again, pressed harder, the pressure making Tabitha cry out again, this time louder. Her body gave a jolt, bluish ice glowing with energy seeping from her hands, up her arms, and down to the wound beneath Wilhelmina’s soil compress. The cold burned Kane’s skin, chilled him to his core, but he ignored it as he waited for Tabitha to open her eyes.
The soil under Wilhelmina’s hands hardened to a thick shell. The glow stopped instantly. She let go, pulling Nick away as well. Wilhelmina reached down and pulled the shell away easily.
Tabitha’s skin was unscathed. Not even a red mark where the wound had been. Every inch of her was perfect.
“Like it never happen,” Wil said. “She’ll wake soon.” Kane looked up at her. She gave him a smirk. “Your weak, Kane Shepherd. Weaker than most give you credit for. But you noble. Got a good heart. You didn’t condemn your trade on purpose. You don’t mean ill. But it’s gonnna happen.”
Kane looked at her.
“Why would I mean ill on myself?”
Wil laughed, shaking her head.
“Silly boy,” she said. “You can’t choose yourself! That too easy! Too simple! Them spirits don’t let you get away with that, white boy!”
Kane blinked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean they pick for you. Someone you respect. Someone you see equal. You done sealed her fate, boy!”
It came together in Kane’s mind easily. Anderson. They’d picked Anderson.
“I’ll find a way to stop it.”
Nick knelt next to Wil, looked at Kane in earnest.
“No, you won’t,” he said. “You can’t stop fate. It was meant to be this way. You were meant to pick your trade, just as she was meant to knock on Death’s Door tonight.” He nodded to Tabitha. “She lives. But the price must be paid. If she had died, fate would’ve decided differently. You chose this path. You chose to pay the price.”
Kane looked down as Tabitha said his name, her voice a faint whisper. Her eyes flitted open.
“Tabitha, can you hear me?” he said. “I’m here.”
She reached up, touched his face as she smiled.
“Kane, why am I half-naked in front of other people?”
Kane helped her sit up as he looked up at Nick and Wilhelmina. He began to pull at his own shirt, then made a face at the bloody rag sticking to his skin.
Nick chuckled as Tabitha covered her chest with her arms, looking at them shyly. She looked at Kane, her eyes wide as she blushed.
“Kane, I’m actually a bit modest. I can’t run around topless.”
Wilhelmina stood, her face suddenly dark as if her world had come to a halt. She looked back in the direction of Harbor Plantation, then into Kane’s eyes as she spoke, her tone sarcastic and bitter.
“You can have my sister’s clothes. She no longer need them.”
Kane sat up straight in surprise. Tabitha kept her arms across her chest, covering herself as Kane helped her to her feet, keeping her back to Nick and Wil as he spoke.
“You knew?”
“I know when they did it,” she said, her voice thick with anger. She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’ blame you. I ask you to find my sister, and you done that which I ask. It’s fate, she died helpin’’ you.” Wil pulled a small pouch from her dress and handed it to Kane. “I do what I say I’ll do, Kane Shepherd.”
Kane upturned the pouch, his eyes widening as his amulet fell into his palm.
“You Magicians gave up on payin’ your price ages ago,” said the Mambo. “And I ain’t sayin’ no more. Ain’t my place or my busin
ess.”
Kane looked at the amulet, the amber surface perfect, the small gears inside clean and new. He looked back up at Wil and Nick.
“Let’s go,” he said. “We have to get to the city and warn the Revolution.”
Nick shook his head.
“This isn’t our fight,” he said. “We helped you with the zombies because I am to blame for that. It was my powder Richard stole. The plague is no more. My debt is paid.”
“And my purpose is fulfilled,” said Wilhelmina. “That bastard, Douglas, dead as hell. My sister avenged.” She looked up at Nick and nodded. “We go.”
“The Special Forces don’t care who you fight for,” Kane said, stepping forward, his fists clenched. “They’ll come for you.”
Wilhelmina snarled at him.
“We can defend ourselves. But your fight back in the North. They follow you here, they follow you back up there. Go, Kane Shepherd. And never come back.”
* * *
The cold swirling around Kane stopped as quickly as it started. He looked around, blinked as he realized he was standing in Tabitha’s room at Anderson’s house. Tabitha broke away quickly, going to the closet as she spoke.
“Give me a second to get dressed,” she said. “I’ll get us to the airship field. And go change. Gods, you stink.”
“Anderson and Farnsworth should be downstairs,” Kane said.
Tabitha shook her head, looked over her bare shoulder as she pulled a shirt and bra from the top drawer of the dresser. Her eyes had gone solid white.
“They’re not here. Wilson too. The house is empty.” She turned back to the dresser, closed the drawer, and began to put her clothes on.
“Then we need to move fast.”
Tabitha giggled as she stopped moving, the bra clips in her hands as she was about to fasten the clasp behind her back. She looked over her shoulder again, her eyes blue, her lips turned up in a wry smile.
“Well, we could always take advantage of some alone time.”
Kane raised an eyebrow.
Gaslit Armageddon (Clockworks of War Book 2) Page 23