So far, the trail wasn’t half-bad, as it wound through the boulders at a slight grade. Kylee was in the lead, followed by Kore. Merlin strode just in front of Willow, and Preik was to his rear. With Reyna and Jared watching their backs, they were more worried about what lay ahead—rather than behind.
“How’s she doing?” he asked Willow, nodding in the ranger’s direction. They hadn’t talked much since the night before and there was little else to do as they made their way forward.
“Clint killed your father, how are you doing?” she threw back.
“Whoa, I surrender,” he remarked, throwing his hands up in the air. He couldn’t explain the hostility that lined her voice. What’ve I done to deserve this?
She was furious as she spoke, and he cringed with each word, “she just found out that she’s within striking distance of the man that killed her mother, our brother, your parents, and she’s being told not to act on it. She’s spent her entire adult life hunting that butcher; dedicated her soul to that quest. Who are we to stand in her way?”
“So, we just let her run off to her death; tell her to have fun storming the castle? If Merlin says her time will come, I trust in his word,” he fired back, feeling his own anger rising. The mention of his parents stung.
“Since when?” she rounded on him. “You’ve been fighting this the whole way; never once trusting anything he says. You’ve had your doubts and stood up to him more than once. Now you’re his trusting lackey?”
“My father trusted—,” he tried.
“And where did that get him?” she cut him off quickly.
He unsheathed his sword and offered it to her hilt first. “You want to cut me some more—here. It’d be less painful.”
“Stop being dramatic,” she growled, ignoring the blade.
As he slowly slid his father’s sword back into its scabbard, he spoke to her in a soft and slow monotone voice. “I want nothing more than to kill that man, and not just for the death of my parents. I grew up with him, tutored under him, trusted him. The betrayal I feel seeks his blood upon my sword.”
“Then let’s turn around and end him,” she sneered. He had never in his life seen her this angry, this—blood-thirsty.
He thought long and hard before responding. He was on unfamiliar ground and it was shaking beneath his boots. “There are lives at stake and I have a responsibility to do what I can to preserve them. I didn’t ask to be here. It was thrust upon me; upon both of us. If we turn around, go back to the castle only to find him gone—what do we do then? We’ll be entrenched in a besieged castle; unable to give chase. Even if we survived that, where does this unending quest for vengeance lead us? To the gates of the Deadlands; to the Phoenix herself?”
“He is right there!” she yelled, pointing in the direction of the distant castle.
“Is he? How do you know? Sure, Clint was there when we left; he poisoned my father. But is he there now? Do you think he’ll stick around while the castle is under attack? Poison is a cowardly act; I don’t see him hanging out while the enemy horde comes knocking on the door,” he tried to reason with her. “I sent Windel with a message for my brother. If Clint is still there, then his corpse will be awaiting our return. If he’s not—then when we do it ourselves. I’ll help the two of you chase him to the ends of the Earth if that’s what it takes. But for now, we have to stay the course. Merlin promised Kylee would come face to face with the man. What if deviating from our quest prevents that from happening? Do you want to be responsible for that?”
“How can you trust him?” she asked weakly, the anger fleeing as reason began to take hold.
“He saved my life,” he answered simply
She shook her head. “No, I did. As did my sister. He just let you get shot.”
His shoulders slumped. He hated this. “Why are we fighting?” There were many things that could still be said, but he didn’t have the energy to say them. He had made his argument; tried to reason with her. If she still insisted on going back, what was he going to do—physically restrain her? The thought of doing so pained his heart; it wasn’t in him to do that.
Kylee had slowed and was now walking beside them. Kore had taken the lead with Merlin following close behind; as if he knew nothing of what was happening back here. He glared at the mage for leaving him alone with these women. He was defending the man, the least he could do was help. Preik had fallen back a bit, eyes watchful, but offering no assistance if things became physical.
Once again, he was on his own.
“Willow, he’s right,” the ranger stated, and his breath caught in his throat; the rebuttal quenched before given.
His fiancé was just as stunned. “What?”
“When I agreed to come along on this foolish crusade, I swore an oath to Merlin that I would stay by his side. He promised that by doing so, I’d come face to face with my family’s butcher and nothing has happened to change that,” the elder elf remarked coolly.
“How can you say that, last night you were so adamant—?” Willow stammered.
Kylee hadn’t stopped walking, but she did turn to look east, her eyes misting over. The trees had begun to recede, and the countryside was opening up the higher they went. He could see the fortress that was his home and his heart tugged with homesickness.
“Last night was full of revelations. You,” she nodded at Willow, “what happened to my mother, the name of the mercenary sent to hunt her down; it was a lot to take in. I acted impulsively. But I haven’t survived this long on my own by acting on rash impulses. They’re right; I’d never get close. And I’m a woman of my word. I told Merlin I would stay with him. I just have to trust that at some point I’ll face this man and have my revenge.”
“You’re no longer alone,” he told the white-haired elf. They were bonded now in numerous ways. Jenna, Willow, but most importantly, the ranger had saved his life. It was a debt he meant to repay.
Willow reached out and grasped her sister’s hand. “We’re in this together.”
Kylee nodded. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had a family, to have people care about me. For so long it was just me and Tuskar; now I have two sisters and two brothers.” She glanced in his direction, clearly meaning him. “I don’t know how to handle that.”
His fiancé chuckled, then slipped him a slight grin. Was the fight over? “I don’t either,” she said, “but we’ll work it out together.”
They were quiet for a few minutes as they walked, then the ranger turned and smirked. “Besides, has it occurred to you that anyone with an association with this one, might find their necks cracked at the end of the rope just because?” Kylee asked, nodding his way.
“What is that supposed to mean? I haven’t done anything,” he stammered, unsure of himself. Why was she suddenly bringing him into this? “I didn’t want to leave in the first place, my father ordered me to go.”
“And only those that left with you know that,” the ranger returned. “I know that I’m the outcast wanderer, the stalker of the forests, the bounty hunter with no home, but that doesn’t mean I’m not aware of the history of the regions I wander through, that I don’t hear things as I pass through. I’ve been in Lancaster before, multiple times, and you were always a popular topic amongst the bar patrons, especially when they were roaring drunk.”
He had always had his suspicions, had known that people whispered behind his back, but to hear it confirmed by someone outside the situation stung his heart. “I don’t see what that has to do with what’s going on right now.”
“Fear is hard to control. Even if it gets suppressed, it hangs out just below the surface, feeding our thoughts, biding its time until it can be loosed and roaming once more. Tell me, second born of Lancaster, what is the fear that dwells in every commoner’s heart?” Kylee asked him with a knowing smirk.
“He is nothing like his uncle!” Willow returned with vehemence. Understanding dawning on her before it had even occurred to him what the ranger was trying to say.
&n
bsp; “Says his fiancé,” Kylee returned. Then she held up a hand. “I’m not trying to start anything, just trying to point out the obvious. The king is dead, at the supposed hands of his younger son, who has now fled while a demonic army marches their way. Has he gone to join the enemy, are they there because of him? Is this Tristan’s attempt to overthrow his brother’s rule so he can establish himself on the throne, with a horde army to quell any resistance that should arise? Merlin and I, we stay off the grid the best we can, but that doesn’t mean our association has been completely hidden while traveling together. If he has been linked to you, then I am to him, and if I am recognized while entering the castle as one of your coconspirators, then your Guardians are right, I’d hang by nightfall.”
“This is insane,” he muttered, not able to wrap his mind around it. Anyone that knew him wouldn’t believe it for a second. He didn’t aspire to rule, he didn’t crave power, and he loved his father and brother, despite any argument they would occasionally get into. He wasn’t that kind of person and it hurt deep in his soul to think that people actually thought of him that way.
Kylee reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder, her eyes sympathetic to what he was feeling. “I’ve been there my whole life, I know. It’s not easy being misunderstood and on the outside of everything. You did me a great service when you stopped me from acting last night; I had not thought any of it through, I just wanted to act. Even if I had gotten into the palace and found that monster, there would have been no getting out. It was a suicide run, from start to finish. You think you owe me for yesterday, but I say we are even.”
He nodded, hearing but at the same time, not listening to any of it. They were good, he got that, but his mind was still wrangling with what she had said, and the truth behind every word. He knew the histories better than she did; she was right. That was exactly what people would think; the parallels too hard to ignore. Hell, even his own brother thought he had a hand in their father’s death; like it was his Uncle Richard’s betrayal all over again. Richard had raised an army, a bloody civil war had followed, and now an enemy horde was just days from laying siege after another fallen king and missing son; the doom they’d all felt finally realized.
“That is not what’s happening, and you are not the enemy; the Phoenix is,” Merlin’s voice said as he stopped and looked at them. “Time will reveal the truth of things, and if you want to help your people, if you want to expose the truth and save them from annihilation, then this is where you need to be, fighting for their future at my side. I promise you, by journey’s end, your strength of character will be revealed, and your honor restored.”
He shook his head and kept quiet, unable to do anything more as his heart wrestled with the world that had been thrust upon him. You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep, old man, the snarky part of his mind muttered as he turned his gaze away from all of them; guilt over events he had no hand in already weighing upon his troubled mind.
Willow reached over and gripped his forearm, trying to snap him out of it. “No matter what, I will be with you, all the way.”
“We both will,” Kylee added in as well.
He nodded, pushed it aside the best he could, then gave Merlin a menacing glare, “come on, daylight’s wasting. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can go home.” Yet, even as he said it, he saw the haunted look in the mage’s eyes and knew instantly that there would be no going home for any of them, not for a long, long while. Fuck it. I have nothing else to do anyways, might as well see this through and take it from there.
That’s the spirit, Merlin’s voice whispered within his mind as the man smirked, turned, and began walking once more.
II
Willow had broken away from the others; needing time to think. They’d been hiking all day, and as the afternoon light began to fade, she felt her strength going with it. The incline had increased, and it had taken more out of them with every step. She sat on a large rock overlooking the valley below and allowed the scenery to calm her mind. It had been chaotic since the night before, and she had a rollercoaster of emotions as a result.
She’d finally made up with Tristan, but he was still giving her some space. Probably worried she’d go off on him again. Her earlier tirade had been out of character; she was usually the calm and collected one. But the revealing of a sister and an assassin had sent her reeling. She had heard the whispers about her father’s indiscretions, but she’d never given them any credence. Now, she had an older sister, a product of a hidden affair with a palace maid, and it made her wonder how many other things she believed would soon to be revealed as false. How much more of her life would be ripped out from under her?
She looked at the cliff face to her left.
Merlin had taken hiking equipment out of that bag of his, and in the morning, they would begin to scale their way upwards. The path had ended at the base of the cliff, and though there might be another on a different side of the mountain, they didn’t have a way of getting to it.
She sighed.
What was the point to this climb? What was so important that they’d risk their lives to reach the mountainous heights? As ever, the mage had been secretive about their purpose, and it was starting to grate on her nerves. Were they all in this together or not?
Intense pain erupted from her hand. She screamed as a fierce burning began spreading through her palm and up her arm. A snake had buried its fangs in her exposed flesh. She’d been sitting there, hands on her knees, lost in thought, not paying attention to her surroundings, and got bit for it. She jerked it away, but the snake refused to dislodge.
A vicious growl erupted on her left. She was still trying to get the creature off, but the pain had immobilized her arm as it spread towards her right shoulder. Her vision began to throb. There was a blur of motion, another growl, and the fangs of the snake were pulled out of her hand with a loud crunch. She fell backwards, landing hard on her back, her head lolling to the side. There were fuzzy figures running her way, familiar voices shouting in alarm, but none of that mattered.
The darkness called to her, beckoning her to follow it; her soul answered.
III
Her scream tore through his thoughts and propelled him to his feet. In panic, he twisted and almost tripped as he plunged forward. Kylee was bounding past, her long feet carrying her swiftly to Willow’s side. Merlin rushed by and he wondered why he was moving in slow motion while the rest of the world sped by? Her sister was sucking on Willow’s hand and fear leapt in his heart; had something bit her?
“Is she okay?” he asked, skidding to a halt by Merlin’s side. He crouched down and tried to lift Willow’s head. Her eyes were closed, her face had grown pale, and she hadn’t responded to his touch.
Kylee spit on the ground and it hissed when the liquid struck the soil. The hand had swollen; black lines streaking up her wrist and disappearing under her armor. “This shit isn’t natural!”
Kore was poking his way through the short grass but had yet to come up with the creature that had done this. His red eyes bore into the ground, searching.
Merlin was bending over Willow, his hand over her heart. “She’s fading.”
“Please,” he begged the mage, “don’t let her die.”
The older man’s eyes turned on him. “I’ll do what I can, but whether she lives or dies is up to her.” Then the mage’s hand began to glow, white light spreading forth and flowing into his fiancé’s chest. The light began to throb, to be invaded by a gray mist. It spread across the white, eating away at it, and Merlin’s face began to show signs of strain. Black whirls appeared and started to attack the source of the magic. Merlin grunted but pushed harder, white light pulsing to push it back. “I need your help, both of you,” he spoke, face contorted, a grimace upon his face.
On instinct, he reached out and put his hand on top of Merlin’s. Then Kylee laid hers on his and gripped them both. He jerked forward as his life force joined with theirs. He could feel his energy being funneled
through his palm and into the white light below. Weakening, he tried to imagine the last time he and Willow had truly been happy together, to use that memory to sustain the flow.
They’d been on that balcony, having just made love and basking in the moon light. The touch of her hands, her lips, he recalled her voice whispering softly that she loved him. His heart swelled at the memory and he allowed all of the love he had for her to rush out all at once.
The light had grown so intense that it filled the entire cliff side with its glow.
There was a squeal in his head as the black tendrils of smoke whirled and suddenly evaporated. Unabated, the energy pushed through the gray mist, utterly destroying it, and flowing unhindered into the elven woman he loved. Her whole body began to emanate a white green mist and he knew without being told that it was burning the venom out of her. He didn’t know how long they’d been at it, but his body was exhausted, and he didn’t have much more to give. The green tint was gone; all that was left was the white pulsing energy that flowed through her body. Slowly, it died, and the three of them held hands over the fallen girl; praying it had been enough.
He broke away and fell hard on his ass. Knees trembling, lips chapped and withered, he felt a severe drowsiness hit and threw up. Leaning over to retch, his arm couldn’t sustain his weight. His head hit the ground and stars floated above him. “What was that?” he moaned.
Kylee had also fallen and though she tried, she was unable to sit up. “Is she going to be okay?”
“Dark magic,” the mage told them. “Vile and treacherous. Had we been a few seconds later, she would never have had a chance.”
“Kore no find,” the orc stated grimly.
“You won’t,” Merlin replied after a pause. “The cat’s got it. Hopefully he knows better than to eat a creature that’s been tainted by the Phoenix’s evil.”
The New Age Saga Box Set Page 25