by H. D. Gordon
Something was here with us. Something was watching, and whatever or whoever it was, it was not a friendly visitor.
My deep growl echoed off the rocks surrounding us, and the muscles in my body tensed as I waited for an inevitable attack. I searched the darkness, but could see nothing. There was only the ten-by-ten space in which the three of us were crouched, and beyond that, a sky of endless black.
Asha and Vega stirred at this, and though I’d dragged them out of sleep with my warning, neither of them made a sound or asked a question. Both of them were predators in their own rights, and predators know when they are being hunted.
Seconds passed, the wind howling beyond the outcropping of rock, the cold creeping in around the edges. My ears were flat on my head, my eyes glowing Wolf-gold as they sought to pierce the darkness.
And just when I was beginning to doubt my instincts, a voice spoke from out of the shadows.
“Look at the tasty morsels who have wandered my way,” it said. “Rhea has blessed me with such succulent prey.”
The fur on my back stood on end, and I released another growl, my teeth bared as I stared into the darkness.
Asha was crouched on her feet, her hand gripping that curved blade. Even Vega had taken up a ready position, and the warrior also gripped a long blade that looked to weigh as much as I did.
The voice that spoke out of the shadows let out a sultry laugh, and the chill that raced down my spine then had nothing to do with the cold.
In that moment, two diamond-shaped eyes appeared in the opening of the outcropping, blocking out the night sky as they stared unblinkingly at my little party huddled within.
It took my brain a few heartbeats to process what it was seeing, and when I did, I could only stare in horror at the creature that was trapping us within the outcropping.
A serpent, its head as big as my entire body in Wolf form, plenty big enough to swallow all three of us whole.
Its golden, diamond-shaped eyes reflected the moonlight, and though they were cold and emotionless, I could see the hunger inside them.
Its forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air, and its neck coiled in a way that I knew predestined a strike.
9
No sooner had this thought entered my mind before the serpent struck out as fast as lightning.
Its enormous head flashed into the little cavern created by the outcropping of rock on the side of the mountain—an outcropping, I realized with no small amount of horror, that was perfect for a snake—aimed directly for me.
I was able to dart out of the way without an inch to spare, and the serpent struck the rock wall behind where I’d been only seconds ago hard enough to make dust and rocks crumble off the mountain.
There wasn’t to think, only act, and Asha and Vega wasted no time slashing at the snake as she reared her head back again, her neck cocking in that unmistakable manner.
The serpent was fast; she moved with an otherworldly fluidity. She struck again, this time going for Asha, who had managed to draw a thin line of scarlet on the snake’s neck with her curved blade.
“You will pay for that, Demon,” the serpent spat, and struck once again, this time nearly catching Asha before she could move.
The space we were in was too tight, and I knew we would not be able to keep slashing and evading forever. The serpent’s body was blocking the exit, and even if we could get past it, the ledge that prefaced the outcropping was prone to dropping us right over the edge.
My heart was pounding so hard and fast that I thought it might burst right out of my ribs, and the sound of hissing filled the night, echoing off the rocks all around us. Ahead of me, Asha had sheathed her blade in favor of her magic, and blue and white sparks danced between her fingertips, flashing in the whites of her eyes.
Asha thrust her hands forward and sent duel bolts of lightning at the serpent, but the snake easily adjusted its position, and the bolts missed their target. There was no time to process this before the bitch struck again.
This time, she aimed for Vega, maw widening enough that I could see the hole where her air pathway led down her throat, that forked tongue tucked in and sharp fangs dripping what I was positive was venom.
One drop of that stuff, and we would fall like flies.
To mine and Asha’s utter amazement, the masked warrior caught the snake with its mouth open, one enormous hand braced on the top of the serpent’s mouth, and the other braced on the bottom.
The snake hissed, trying to jerk its head back and shake free of the Valac’s hold, but Vega held tight, deep grunts escaping him as he battled against the snake’s tremendous strength.
Asha and I stood gaping before an idea struck me, and another precious second or two passed before I could force my body to act upon it.
Vega and the serpent continued their battle of strengths, the snake thrashing its head and body this way and that. Around us, the rocks rumbled and groaned, and the very real possibility of an avalanche from above struck me, adding more urgency to the situation, as if that were even possible.
I dodged the tussle, shifting into my mortal form in the blink of an eye, using a good amount of energy to do so, and hoping that the expenditure would be worth it. Once I had hands again, I scooped up one of the larger rocks that had crumbled off of the mountain, and waited for my opening.
At last, Vega was tossed free of his grip on the jaws of the great snake, his huge body sailing to the side and making impact with the wall right beside me. Beneath the force of the Valac’s substantial weight, the mountain groaned around us.
I put thoughts that might have paralyzed me into inaction out of my head, watching the serpent with tunneled vision. Its neck cocked back, its forked tongue flicking out, the look in its golden, diamond-shaped eyes downright terrifying.
It struck, as I’d known it would, and I launched the rock into its throat the moment its mouth opened.
The effect was immediate, and my survival was proof of that, because the snake’s jaws snapped shut a hair’s width in front of my face, so close that I could feel the air around me stir with the motion. It let out a choking noise that I had not been aware snakes were capable of making, and its long, scaly, and muscled body whipped this way and that.
Asha and Vega darted forward in unison, and both gave the snake a shove that almost sent them tumbling over the edge of the mountain cliff right along with the giant serpent.
Its choking hisses echoed up the side of the mountain as it tumbled down and down and down.
For a moment, all the three of us could do was stare at each other in horrified silence, or at least, I think Vega was staring, as I couldn’t see his face behind that damn mask. The quiet that fell over the scene was cold and stunned, laced with the tension of a near-death escape.
When I looked down at my hands, I noticed that they were shaking. I could not even blame it on the cold, because at the same moment, a bead of sweat trickled down my brow. My heart was hammering so fast that I could feel it in my throat, and for a handful of seconds, none of us seemed to even breathe.
Then, out of nowhere, Asha threw her head back and busted out into laughter.
I looked at the Demon as though she had lost her damn mind, and Vega stood watching in his annoyingly mysterious manner.
But Asha’s laughter dried up like rain in the desert when a deep rumbling issued on the mountain above us.
A heartbeat or two following that, the sound of large amounts of shifting snow filled the outcropping, loud enough to seem as though the world itself were crumbling around us.
The sound was magnificent.
It was as though we were sitting right behind a waterfall. Or better yet, inside a waterfall. The three of us had jumped back into the recesses of the outcropping, and despite the power between us as supernatural creatures, we were absolutely cowed beneath the mighty force of Mother Nature.
The world went black entirely, the massive amounts of cascading snow blocking out the opening and the night sky beyond, casting
us into blindness while that roaring went on and on around us.
This would mark the first of many occasions when I would seriously question this crazy mission I’d agreed to come on, not because I didn’t care enough about Adriel to face such peril, but because I doubted the people who’d sent me on this trip in the first place. It was no secret that Asha was not my biggest fan, and as for the Erl Queen, I didn’t trust that tentacle-having bitch any further than I could throw her.
But I bit down on the fear, the same way I’d bitten down on it all those times before stepping into The Ring. Still, there was nothing I could do to keep my hands from shaking as we waited for the avalanche to end.
Eventually, it did, and when it was over, another thick silence fell. This time, Asha did not follow it up with laughter.
Instead, she said, “Let’s get off this fucking mountain.”
And, that, we both very much agreed upon.
Down.
Down the mountain. This time, I stayed in my human form, because I needed my hands to lower me to the cliffs below, and because that instantaneous shift and rush of adrenaline had drained my energy big time.
As we picked our way down the jagged rocks, and the sun slowly began to lighten the sky in the east, I kept expecting that snake to reappear and eat us whole.
Eventually, though, by midday, we made it down to the summit. When we were finally on flat ground again, I had to resist the urge to kiss the earth in gratitude. My legs were still shaking from the hike, my mouth dry and my heartbeat finally slowing now that I wasn’t thousands of feet in the air.
“I didn’t know you were afraid of heights,” Asha said, and her tone was amused enough that I deemed not responding at all the best choice.
If the other creatures and dangers we were yet to encounter on this journey didn’t kill her, I thought that I just might.
Vega, as usual, said nothing. He had not slowed us down in the least, despite the size of him and the weight of his armor, and watching him battle that snake had added a dose of respect in my estimation, because I had never seen anything like that in my life, and I had seen some things.
That didn’t mean I trusted him, of course. The Erl Queen had surely picked him to accompany us for a reason, and I had a feeling that reason was not because she wanted us to become best friends.
“What now?” I said, swiping a hand over my forehead and looking into the distance. There was an open valley that stretched on for a handful of miles, and beyond that, I’d glimpsed water from the top of the mountain.
“Ask your bloody map,” Asha suggested.
I wandered over to a large boulder and took the map out of my pocket, unrolling it atop the rock and holding down the edges.
“I’ll donate this time,” Asha said.
Removing her own dagger from her boot, she sliced her palm and fed the map the same way I had.
Asha’s blood was a lighter color scarlet than mine, and shimmering with what looked to be tiny lightning bolts, but the scroll absorbed the payment in the same disturbing fashion as it had mine.
After a moment, it read: Head west
Asha released a curse, and I squinted into the distance in the direction it had indicated. The land there was just a dark blue line without distinguishable details, but looking at it, the same feeling of dread settled in my gut. Standing at the top of the mountain had revealed a sea there, and how far that sea stretched was anyone’s guess.
“What is west?” I asked. “Other than the water?”
I didn’t know much about the Between Realms where I’d made my home. I knew Mina, and some of the surrounding forests, but that was the extent. The warnings I’d received from Adriel and the others had successfully tempered any curiosity I’d had.
Asha followed my line of sight, all humor having been erased from her face after that giant mountain snake had tried to eat us.
“We’ll be crossing out of the Between if we keep heading that way,” she said.
I stared at that dark blue line in the distance. “And whose Territory is that?”
“Officially, I think it was claimed by the magic users,” Asha said. “But, unofficially, I’m pretty sure the Dead Pirates rule those seas.”
“The Dead Pirates,” I repeated, my brows raised high.
Asha nodded, not waiting for Vega and I before adjusting her pack on her shoulders and heading in the direction of that vast ocean.
Vega jerked his chin and grunted for me to get a move on, and I made my feet move as I mumbled, “They sound like wonderful people.”
10
The hike toward the water was much longer than it had looked when standing up on the mountain, and Asha and Vega were quite possibly the worst travel companions to ever have existed.
With the former, it was the snarky and rude comments she gave to any of my questions, until I eventually just gave up and stopped posing them. With the latter, it was like traveling with an enormous, hovering statue whose expressions beneath the armor I could only guess at.
We stopped only to eat some of the food we’d brought with us and evacuate, and then we were on the move again. The land between the mountain and the water was blessedly flat, but my body was already drained from the hike, and when we finally made camp for the night, still having yet to reach that dark blue water line in the distance, I very nearly collapsed on the spot.
Conveniently, I’d spent most of my eighteen or so years of life sleeping on hard surfaces, without the luxury of a bed or even a blanket. I simply shifted into my Wolf form and passed out, thinking that if some hideous creature wanted to stalk out of its hole and eat me, then it could just go right on ahead.
This time, however, I was not pulled out of sleep by an instinctual alarm bell, but rather, by Asha. I bared my teeth at her and rolled over onto my other side. Vega came over and stared down at me like a total weirdo before I finally peeled my eyes back open and climbed to my paws.
Asha laughed at this, though the sound had lost some of the luster it had carried just yesterday. “I think I’m starting to like this oaf,” she said.
Vega’s masked face turned toward her, but other than that, he gave no indication that he cared at all about what she’d said.
“What do we know about the Dead Pirates?” I asked, after I’d shifted back into my mortal form and dug some dried meat out of my bag. The sun had yet to rise on day two, and I already felt stiff and dirty and over this entire expedition.
Asha shrugged. Her dark curly hair stood out in every direction atop her head, and she looked as enthused about the rest of the trip as I felt. “They’re cursed,” she said. “Legends claim they made a deal with a Sea Demon, and now they are forced to roam the seas in a suspended state. Alive, but not.”
I loosed a sigh. “That sucks.”
Asha snorted. “They’re also liars and cheats. They’ll gut you and feed you to the sharks for the fun of it.”
I stared at her. “Anyone ever tell you that you have such a poetic way of delivering information?”
Asha rolled her eyes and began heading off again without waiting for me. “No,” she said, “but it is a talent that I’ve always recognized in myself.”
“How are we going to cross the sea when we get there?” I asked.
With a glance back at me, Asha said, “Anyone ever tell you that you ask too many damn questions?”
I just glared at her, an image of me punching her in the throat passing through my mind and appealing to me greatly.
After rolling her eyes, she said, “I guess we’ll have to make a deal with the pirates, so maybe you should just let me do the talking.”
“Right,” I said, pushing past her for once and stalking off ahead, “because you are the most diplomatic person I’ve ever met.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
When I just kept walking, Asha called me an unflattering name for a female dog and kept pace behind me. That was the first time on this journey that I started to wonder if perhaps the big
gest threat to our success was the relationship between the Demon female and me. We’d only been at this for a little over a day, and already I was fantasizing about throttling her. I didn’t trust her, and I sure as shit didn’t trust Vega, so how could I count on them to back me up the next time we faced danger?
The truth was, I couldn’t.
In fact, I thought just then that I may as well have been on this crazy mission on my own.
At least then I wouldn’t have to worry about being stabbed in the back.
The smell of salt on the air hit me a moment before the border between realms came into view.
I stopped in my tracks. My companions stopped along with me, and the three of us stood staring up at the shimmering air just before our faces.
I’d travelled across realms with Adriel when I’d come here, and I knew the histories as well as any common person, but seeing the borders in real life was another thing entirely.
The land we’d been traveling across was green and flat, the mountain we’d climbed over having disappeared behind us miles ago. Before us, there was the shoreline of the water I’d glimpsed from atop the mountain, outlining a sea so vast that one could not see the ends of it.
Directly in front of us was the magical border that had been erected between the Territories. The air around it shimmered, giving the illusion that we were looking through a wall of water that stretched from the ground all the way up to the heavens. My hand came up and tried to push against it, but it felt like nothing at all, save for a slightly cold sensation where my skin met the shimmer.
I looked over at Asha, and the Demon smirked back at me. “After you, Rukiya dearest,” she crooned, using Adriel’s name for me, and making me again consider just fighting it out with her.
Instead, I took a deep breath, said a silent prayer, and walked through the magical border.
My body felt a rush of cold, and then… nothing. I glanced around, then behind me, where Asha and Vega were blurry figures on the other side. Shrugging, I waved them through, and they followed, the looks on their faces as suspicious as mine.