by Tara Brown
The lanterns flickered in the clock tower, beacons calling to her. She mustered strength and energy from somewhere, stealing it from her soul perhaps, as she ran harder and harder, fighting the wind and the lupine that tried to pass her to get to the carriage.
As lightning began to strike, Lenny saw everything in blue flashes of bright light.
The carriage veered to the left, passed Main Street, and skidded onto Mason Street, coming to an abrupt stop.
Lord Ivor jumped from the carriage and ran at her.
Her father dragged the princesses to the doors of the hall.
Uncle Alek limped down and ran at Lenny.
The swords they carried glinted.
But she wasn't relieved to see them.
A lupine passed her wide, running on all fours, barreling toward Uncle Alek. Lenny ran harder, but the lupine would beat her.
As it leapt at her uncle, Ollie jumped from nowhere, grabbing the beast by the throat and bringing him down. He struck Ollie, throwing him off. Ollie cried out when he landed against the building with a thud. Lenny screamed, “No!” She ran at the lupine though her heart desperately wanted her to run for Ollie and save him.
Screaming with rage, she jumped at the lupine, bringing the blade down. He tried to swat it from her, but she moved it at the last second, bringing the hilt to her stomach and stabbing upward into the middle of his torso.
He wheezed and she twisted the blade, her face coming down on his wolf muzzle. She stared into his eyes, seeing the life leave in the flashes of lightning. Water and blood dripped from her, landing on him.
There was silence for a moment.
But she heard them coming.
She stood, grabbing the hilt from her uncle’s hand as he stared at her, mouth agape.
Lenny flexed her hands over the hilts, the dagger in her right and the sword in her left.
She turned to face the army of yellow eyes still coming. They rushed from the forest as she lifted her blades at the ready.
Lifting her face to the rain and wind, she screamed and ran at them as the wide berth they had sprinted in funneled into a straight line coming for her.
As she raged and screamed, lightning struck behind her, as though someone meant to hit her with it, but she moved too quickly.
Her blades moved as though part of her arms. She ducked and cut and weaved and sliced until all she saw was red rain and dead bodies.
“Lenny!” Amaya screamed from somewhere in the storm.
Lenny’s eyes tried to fix on her sister, but the lupine monsters were everywhere.
“Lenny!” she screamed again, forcing Lenny to turn. Amaya was with Ollie, sobbing over him.
Lenny’s heart twisted as tears tried to blind her. But the onslaught of death continued to assault her. Lord Ivor fought next to her. She couldn't see him, but she heard him grunting and screaming as she did. Her father too, stabbing and slicing his way through the small army.
She’d lost her dagger in a body somewhere and was pulling her sword from the lupine’s muzzle she had buried it to the hilt in, when she realized there were no others.
Lord Ivor was stabbing his sword into the heads of the fallen, a small militia of lupine who had become men again.
Some Lenny recognized as fishermen from the area, or merchants.
“What are you doing to them?” Alek asked angrily, rushing over.
“If they aren’t completely dead, they heal faster than anything you’ve ever seen. They’ll rise again.”
Lenny spun in a circle, lost in the whirl of the storm and chaos, trying to find where her sister’s voice had come from in the darkness. But she saw the yellow eyes first.
Everything moved slowly, again illuminated by the flashes of lightning and flickering lanterns that hadn’t been destroyed yet.
Wilfred appeared. He screamed at Lenny but he made no sound.
He flickered with the weather ripping around them.
The hall doors opened, her father stepped from them.
Lord Ivor stabbed a dead man in the head, making a sharp noise as his sword hit the cobblestone road.
The yellow eyes lowered, suggesting the lupine was readying to pounce.
Uncle Alek began to run alongside her, but his limp slowed him down.
Amaya’s mouth parted to scream.
Ollie moved his paw, scraping his claws over Amaya’s arm as if pushing her away.
Lightning flashed again and the lupine jumped from behind Amaya, mouth open, eyes glistening with fire.
Lenny ran faster but the wind pushed her back.
Amaya’s pale hair flittered about her, blinding her from what Ollie could see over her shoulder.
The lupine’s mouth widened as he soared through the air behind her.
Amaya spun, her hair whipping in her face.
The jaws bore down on her arm as Lenny reached her, stabbing the sword over her sister’s arm and into the beast’s neck.
Amaya screamed, Ollie yelped, Uncle Alek shouted, and the lupine roared in pain. It slumped over Amaya but Lenny drove it back, forcing it on its back. She pulled the sword from it and stabbed again and again and again, screaming into the rain and wind that washed her tears.
When it was dead, she slumped, scared to look behind her. Scared to see the severity of Amaya’s and Ollie’s injuries.
Tears flooded her face as she heaved and forced herself to spin.
Wilfred was there, he sat next to Amaya.
Lord Ivor rushed them, touching Amaya’s bloody arm and shoulder, making her cry out. His eyes were wide and glistening.
Edwin scooped Amaya up, lifting her and carrying her into the hall.
Lord Ivor did the same to Ollie.
Lenny stood, following them inside as Uncle Alek forcibly dragged her.
Everything sped up, moving faster than Lenny could cope with.
She was in a daze.
She had no idea how any of it had happened.
Her mother’s eyes were wide as they entered the lantern-lit hall.
She screamed and ran at Amaya, Josu right behind her, and Wen on his heels.
Hilde found them. Everyone surrounded Amaya, blocking Lenny out. Amaya was sobbing and bleeding, but she was sitting up and cradling the injured shoulder. She would survive, making Lenny’s main worry Ollie. Her gaze stayed with him.
Uncle Alek and Lenny followed him in Lord Ivor’s arms.
He gently laid him down on a wooden table. Ollie whimpered and Lenny reached for him, her hands bloody and cut.
Scar rushed over, panicking and sniffing. She whined and jumped, trying to see better. Lenny sobbed, shaking and trembling as she reached for her beloved and stroked his face. He licked her wounded hands, cleaning them and nuzzling against her.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered to him, “I didn't see in time.”
“He saved me,” Uncle Alek said with sorrow flooding from him.
“My brave boy.” Lenny ran her hands down his body, feeling for the wounds. She didn't know what she was doing, but her hands knew the way. Wilfred stood next to her, his eyes on Ollie’s body. As she ran her hand over a hind leg, Wilf grimaced as Ollie whimpered.
“That’s broken,” Lenny spoke softly.
James rushed over, kneeling next to Lenny and inspecting Ollie. He lifted his lips and checked his mouth. “No blood, that’s a good sign, Lenny.” He ran his hands over the dog carefully touching and feeling. Ollie whimpered a couple of times. James rested his head against Ollie’s torso in different places, listening with one ear and plugging the other with his fingers. “No rattling. That’s good too.” He stood and patted Ollie gently. “I’d say a couple of bruised ribs and that hind leg isn’t broken. It’s a dislocated hip.”
“How do you know this?” Uncle Alek asked.
“I’ve worked in animal husbandry my whole life for extra money, at my aunt’s farm. I’ll get it back in, but he’s not going to like it. Then we have to wrap it so he can’t move it too much. He’ll be a couple of weeks
resting it and it should take.”
“Okay,” Lenny agreed and lowered her face to Ollie’s. Scar licked him and whimpered more. Ollie breathed with a soft whine. “I need you to be a good boy, Ollie, a brave boy. Just one more bit of pain and then it’s fine. It’s all over.”
Lord Ivor got to his knees next to Lenny and caressed Ollie’s face softly. He rubbed his ears in long strokes and ran his thumbs across Ollie’s eyebrows. The hound closed his eyes, calming as James moved fast, feeling the spot and manipulating it back into place with a horrendous noise. Ollie sprang to life, snarling and trying to bite James, but Lenny wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
“It’s okay, boy. It’s okay.”
James pulled his damp shirt off, dragging his undershirt off as well. He stood magnificent, naked, and covered in scars Lenny had no idea he had. He passed her the undershirt and pulled on the damp outer one again. When he was dressed, he took the undershirt and used it to make a sling on Ollie. It held his leg in an odd position against Ollie’s body, pulled in and wrapped snuggly.
“If he can stay off it for a couple of weeks, the area around the joint will heal and he’ll be right as rain. But he needs limited activity,” James said. “Shall we tend to your wounds then?”
“No, they’re just minor cuts and scratches.” She continued hugging and kissing her dog. “You should see about Amaya’s. The Brothers aren’t here to help.”
She aided Scar so she could jump up carefully and see Ollie was all right. She licked her brother’s face and whimpered.
He licked her back and Lenny helped her down from the wooden table.
Wilfred’s eyebrows knit as he peered over her shoulder to Amaya.
Lenny noticed Lord Ivor wore the same expression.
She followed their gaze to Amaya. She was no longer sobbing, just sitting and holding the shoulder as their mother and father fussed over it.
Gran stood off to the side, next to the queen. They both had the same strange look as Lord Ivor and Wilfred.
Gran’s eyes met Lenny’s. She realized something was terribly wrong, but she didn't know what.
She turned to Lord Ivor. “Why are you making that face?”
He placed a hand on the small of Lenny’s back and led her away from her uncle, James, and Ollie. Scar followed, torn as to which spot to be. Her head twitched back and forth from Ollie to Lenny.
When they were pressed against the wall and alone, Lord Ivor whispered, “You saw me stab those men who were infected with the lupine disease?”
“Yes.” Her stomach tensed into a ball.
“What you didn't see in Pyle was my men stabbing and killing every single person bit by the lupine.”
“Oh gods,” she muttered in disbelief. “No.”
“The bite is how the infection is spread. Their disease, their magic, is spread through their blood and spit.” His whisper was filled with dread, “I’m so sorry, Lenny.”
“Is there a cure?”
“No.”
“Maybe she won’t turn.” Lenny couldn't believe she’d fought so hard to get them there and keep them safe, and her sister had ended up bitten anyway.
“We need to prepare if she does. She won’t recognize any of us the moment the disease takes her.”
Lenny’s stare stayed on Amaya.
There had to be something else that could be done.
Her eyes flickered to Gran. If anyone knew the old lore well enough to find a solution, it was her.
Chapter 29
“What do you mean there’s nothing, Gran? It’s Amaya,” Lenny whispered from the corner of the hall and watched her sisters and mother and father.
“There’s no hope, Lenny,” Gran’s voice cracked.
“You’re wrong,” Queen Saleen said softly. “There’s one hope.”
Gran wrinkled her nose. “You can’t be serious.”
“What?” Lenny asked desperately.
“Hithu and Isil,” the queen mouthed, her gaze darting to Amaya. “She’s beautiful. A prize. Something the gods care about.”
“What?” Lenny asked.
“Take her to the sea and offer her to Hithu and Isil. Their magic can save her from the lupine disease. They will change her to a mermaid and save her.” It was ridiculous but the queen of all Dahleigh sounded perfectly serious.
“That’s an ancient legend,” Lenny said.
“You don't believe in it?” Queen Saleen eyed her suspiciously.
“I don't know. There’s no magic in Dahleigh. What if she just drowns?” It was Lenny’s turn for her voice to crack.
“Two summer storms in one year is unheard of. The lupine coming back from nowhere. Your ability to fight though you have no training.” The queen took Lenny’s hands in hers and squeezed, her eyes wide and passionate. “You are proof there is magic in Dahleigh. Save your sister.”
Lenny’s stare flickered to Gran who nodded after a moment.
Lenny’s heart fluttered in her chest.
“But—”
“There’s no time. The change doesn't take long. She will begin sweating and shaking soon. Then it’s too late. They won’t take her.” The queen pointed at Amaya.
Lenny followed her finger to where Elsie stared at her daughter and the queen. Her eyes were glossy, shining with tears she hadn’t cried. She nodded once at Lenny, her lip quivering.
It dawned on Lenny her mother understood what was being suggested.
She understood that Amaya wouldn’t die from these injuries, but she would change. Hilde stared at Amaya, her eyes leaking tears but her face expressionless, reminding Lenny of a doll.
Lord Ivor’s heartbreak for Lenny and her family was visible with just one glance.
Lenny scanned the crowd, observing the knowledge lingering there on the faces around her. People whispered and watched Amaya who lay on the table, Wen on one side and Josu on the other.
“It’s too much, Gran. You can’t ask this of me,” Lenny said.
“You’re the only chance. If not, she will die by a blade. Is it not worth the try?” her gran asked.
Lenny thought for a moment. She processed everything as best she could. “I’ll do it,” Lenny whispered.
The storm raged outside, the wind and rain trying to destroy the small town.
Lenny walked from her gran and the queen to Lord Ivor. She stared up into his eyes, feeling tears slip from hers and run down her cheeks. “Take care of my dogs if I don't return,” she spoke softly.
“I’m coming with you.”
“You’re not. I’m going in a rowboat and I’m taking only Amaya. The storm will tear the boat apart, and if I’m lucky, I will be able to swim to shore. No one else will make that distance.” Lenny’s words were laden with fear and defeat. She had fought so hard and was exhausted, but she had one last thing to do. “Take care of my dogs. I am trusting you with them because I know you will care for them and ensure they’re loved, like Henry. I’m going to the docks to get a boat. Have my father bring Amaya down to me.”
His eyes glistened and after a moment he nodded. The battalion leader in him realized quickly that going with her would only create a burden. Eventually, the sea would destroy the boat and Lenny would be faced with the choice of saving him or herself. “You remember when I told you to never hold your breath or stay under water that long again?”
She nodded.
“Forget what I said. Stay under as long as you need. Just come back to me.”
She tried to say something but could promise nothing so she pressed her lips together and faked a smile. She turned and walked to her hounds, Scar was now guarding Ollie. She patted them both. “I love you.”
She didn't say goodbye to anyone.
Instead, she walked to the entrance, giving her family one last look.
She opened the door, not bothering with her sword, and stepped into the darkness.
The torches were gone.
The lightning had ended.
The sweet voice that rode t
he winds was still there, faintly.
Lenny walked, hugging herself as she passed the naked dead bodies that lined the cobbled streets. She wanted to feel nauseated or guilty or sad, but her already destroyed heart was crumbling.
The wind tried to direct her or force her away from the water. But she pushed on, wiping her face so she might see.
She flipped over one of the rowboats that lined the boardwalk and dragged it to the sandy shore. She pushed it out into the choppy waves and held it, standing in the water. The swells weren’t as big here in the protected harbor, but they were big enough that she struggled with holding it in place. The ocean was cold and wild, moving her and the rowboat in all directions as she waited for Amaya.
Wilfred appeared, his eyes leaking silvery tears that splashed down his cheeks and disappeared into the storm.
The waves rolled through him and he didn't jostle the way Lenny and the boat did.
He stared at her as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't. He couldn't.
A moment later she heard a sound, a woman crying. It was Aunt Mildred. She raced to the shores where Lenny and Wilfred stood. Lenny struggled to keep the boat and its oars with her.
“You can’t do this! She’ll be fine!” Mildred screamed at her. Elsie chased after Mildred, grabbing her. She held the raging woman in her arms but it didn't stop her mouth. “You are the worst, Lenny. You want your sister to die! You cold-hearted creature. It’s you who should die! You are cursed. And you are the reason they’re all dying. You’re a witch! We’re being punished by the gods because of you. First Wilfred and now Amaya!”
Lenny flinched but she didn't move. She couldn't.
Silent tears streamed her cheeks, though the rain and wind tried to carry them away.
“You will not speak to her that way!” Elsie spun and shoved Mildred, facing her and turning her back to Lenny. “She saved us all. She brought Wilfred home, Alek has seen his ghost. He told me. Wilf is here, my boy found his way home because of Lenny.”
“Mildred!” Alek shouted, storming with his hobble down to the shore, bracing against the wind.
“No, you’re to blame too! You coddle her and allow her to do everything, and she’s become a witch under your nose! Are my boys next? Hilde? Do you not hear that foul song on the wind? That’s Lenny’s doing!” Mildred threw her arms into the air. “None of you see it, but if she dies, this ends. I know it in my heart!”