by Emma Hamm
The female was, perhaps, the ugliest of them all. Though Soldier had no scars on her body to claim rights to warring, her face was a mangled mess of breeding. She had no nose, only narrow slits, and her ears never grew in. She was one of the children the Dread had made, and something about her had never formed correctly.
“Emperor,” Soldier said, dropping into a curt bow. “You plan to bring a human into our home?”
“I do.”
Blacksmith snorted. “Is that wise?”
He didn’t like being questioned, particularly by his own people when there was much he had to plan for. “Whether it is wise or not, the Princess of Hollow Hill will set in motion our greatest revenge yet.”
“Do you plan on changing her?”
His fingertips ached with the need to do just that. He wanted to sink his claws into her delicate flesh and watch the ribbons fill with crimson blood. Her bones would quake beneath her skin, undulating with the power of the Dread. She would become one of them, dangerous, dark, powerful beyond all measure and yet still weak when it came to the affairs of man.
The Emperor swallowed hard and shook his head. “No, no we will not change her.”
“And the others?”
“Nothing has changed. If a human sees one of our kind, change them immediately.” His people were to remain a secret until the last second.
The last second of what, he did not know. However, he knew it was important they remain hidden from the world for now.
Soldier shifted forward, her grotesque face warping in confusion. “But why are you bringing her here?”
For revenge. To make her father fall onto his knees. To take back all the things he had lost, and if they were destroyed, to prove once and for all that he could still kill.
Before he could answer with all the dark plans in his head, a splitting headache spread between his eyes, as though someone had shoved an ice pick into his skull.
The pain faded a mere moment after and in its wake, a simple memory.
Blonde hair pooled across his chest. Hair like hers, corn silk and golden threads. Shimmering in the sunlight as though it were intertwined with metal. He lifted a hand to the silken threads that shimmered between his fingers.
Not his fingers. Those hands had no claws, only gold tipped fingernails and dark skin which he’d never seen before.
He didn’t think, at least.
But he remembered the cool strands of hair slipping through his fingers and lavender filling his lungs.
“Emperor?”
The words snapped him out of the strange memory that was his and not. He shook his head and snapped his wings tight to his shoulders. “Soldier?”
She stared at him with wide, concerned eyes. “Are you all right?”
He didn’t answer her question. Instead, he shoved them both of out his way and stared down at the endless tunnel where his people lived. Composure settled upon his shoulders like a fine layer of dust in a home which had not been used in centuries.
“I don’t know why I’m bringing her here, only that it is important to do so.” With that said, he spread his wings wide and let himself fall into the darkness.
Chapter 9
The Dread are monsters. Nothing more, nothing less.
The words played in her mind all morning. They whispered in her ears through breakfast and screamed in her head while she stole another horse.
Her sister’s voice shrieked when Danielle made it to the forest, but it didn’t matter. She could hear the words a thousand times and she would still make the same decision. Her father was hunting her now, after all.
He hadn’t come to the bedroom. And that could only mean his punishment would be worse than dragging her out of bed for a lashing.
Danielle didn’t want to think of what his wicked mind might have conjured up. He would tear her limb from limb if he could, and since he couldn’t… he’d break her spirit.
What did she have to lose by going into the forest?
Besides, if the beast was telling the truth, then she might defeat their father. And if it wasn’t telling the truth… Dark thoughts played through her mind. At least she wouldn’t have to face punishment any longer.
Her horse chuffed out a long breath, plodding through the forest at a slow gait now that they were away from the palace. It tried to lean down and grab a mouthful of grass but she wrenched its head back up.
Today felt different. The birds weren’t singing in the forest. The sun didn’t cast golden rays upon the emerald moss. Instead, clouds covered the sky and a thin layer of fog blanketed the forest.
Danielle shivered and pulled her shawl closer around her shoulders. She’d worn leather leggings and the same leather breastplate she used to practice. The material wasn’t made for warmth, and now she felt foolish for wearing it.
As she approached the meadow, her breath puffed in front of her face. The horse took one step into the meadow and then froze. It rolled its eyes and its flanks quivered in fear.
“What is it?” she whispered. “What do you see?”
She could see nothing. Only frozen droplets of water hanging on blades of grass, and an empty field.
The horse, however, would take no further step.
She swung her leg over its back and dismounted. Danielle tied the reins more comfortably for the poor beast and ran her palm over its velvety nose. “Go home,” she said. “You’ll be safe there.”
She didn’t have to say the words twice. The moment she released her hold on the reins, the horse wheeled around and galloped away.
Perhaps it was the scent of unknown beasts that had frightened her mount.
Danielle turned back toward the meadow and called out, “Dread?”
She didn’t know when the monster had wanted her to return. In fact, he’d just said he would teach her and then disappeared. How was she to know when her training would begin?
She stepped further into the meadow and added sarcastically, “Feared beast of the forest?”
The birds remained silent, but so did her quarry.
Danielle stomped her feet on the ground. If he was in his tunnels, perhaps that would shake him out of his troll home. “I’ve arrived to train with you!”
Nothing, again.
She blew out a frustrated breath. “You didn’t tell me when to come back,” she muttered.
“And yet, somehow, you think you can summon me as if I were one of your subjects.”
Danielle flinched, turned and stared up at the voice from within the trees. He perched in the branches, lighter than she would have thought possible. His wings were tucked against his spine, the long leathery tips visible behind him and stretching toward the ground. Claws dug into the bark of the branch he crouched upon.
“You,” she whispered.
“Were you looking for someone else?”
“Your instructions weren’t exactly clear.”
He grinned and revealed sharp fangs. His feet shifted on the branch and bark rained down. “They will never be very clear, princess. You should get used to that.” The Dread dropped from the branch and landed hard.
Danielle forced herself to remain still. She could feel the shock wave blast of air from when he struck the ground and her hair blew back from her face. But she was not some frightened beast like her horse.
The Dread strode toward her, shoulders square and hips swaying in a swagger she’d only seen in foreign princes. He seemed to think rather highly of himself.
He reached out as if to catch a lock of her hair with a claw, but then dropped his hand at the last second. “I’m surprised you’re here, princess.”
“Why is that?”
“I tried to kill you in our first meeting. I doubt that makes me very trustworthy.”
Danielle blew out a long breath, then laced her hands behind her back. “I don’t trust you. But I’m not required to tell you why I came. I want to be a warrior, and you have offered your services.”
“Services?” He chuckled, and she noticed one
of his fangs was chipped like his horn. “You must truly be mad to seek me out.”
She bristled at the choice of words. Madness was not something to jest about, especially when it was he who had caused her family so much grief.
Her mother…
Her mother wouldn’t want her here. Danielle was certain the mad woman would claw her way out the window if she knew her daughter was talking to a monster who had tried to kill them both.
She cleared her throat. “Don’t use that word with me, beast.”
“Ah,” he said. “Madness is a sensitive subject, isn’t it?”
The Dread circled her, wings opening and closing. He reached out and tucked a claw underneath the braid of her hair, lifting it, then letting it drop with a thump against her spine. He surveyed her like a horse he wanted to buy at auction.
Although, he’d likely never been to an auction. She couldn’t imagine the beast got out of the forest much.
Danielle’s hands would have shaken if they weren’t clasped behind her back. As it was, her lower lip trembled.
This is the lesser of two evils, she told herself. Better the unknown.
“Madness is always a sensitive subject,” she replied.
“But more so for you. The Mad Queen of Hollow Hill has made a name for herself, even among my people.” He tapped a claw against the back of her neck and leaned so close his next words were whispered in her ear. “We liked her, when we first met.”
If he thought to surprise her, then he would be sorely disappointed. Danielle stared straight ahead. “My mother still has nightmares about your people. You will not convince me you were friendly.”
“Friendly? I didn’t say that. I said the Dread liked her, but I didn’t say she liked us.”
Danielle’s mind whirled with the possibilities. Had her mother found the Dread as she had? Had he attacked her?
Had they dragged her mother away to whatever kingdom he came from?
She didn’t want to know the truth, and yet, questions burned in her throat. Questions that would give her answers to her own mother’s madness, and perhaps answers to her own.
“They say you aren’t real,” she said. Danielle squeezed her hands together tighter until she could barely feel them. “Everyone in the kingdom believes my mother is a liar.”
“Ah, but you know she’s not. Your father knows she’s not.” He growled the last words.
“You know my father?” Danielle asked, although she already knew the answer. Her father’s response to the name of the Dread had been enough. He knew of the Dread. And considering the way this one said her father’s name… The Dread knew him as well.
The beast returned in front of her and narrowed his gaze. “You came here to learn, yes? Not to talk about your family.”
“I want to learn to fight.”
“Then why are you still talking?”
She didn’t know. She couldn’t keep her mouth shut when anxiety ran through her veins like the current of a river. It carried upon its waves fear, guilt, and so much pain she didn’t know how to stop words from pouring between her lips.
Fighting didn’t require words. Fighting was physical. Fists. Swords. Screams of rage.
Danielle knew this. She’d seen the soldiers practicing in the yard, even if she hadn’t ever seen a real fight in her life.
Slowly, she nodded. “Words are not deadly. I will keep my mouth shut from now on.”
The Dread chuckled. “Words are the most deadly weapons of all, princess. But they’re the most difficult to master.”
What did this beast know of words? Of the politics as someone played with another person’s emotions?
Her father used his words like a sword. Could this beast do so as well?
She knew better than to argue. Danielle stayed silent and kept her spine straight as an arrow. Whatever it took for the beast to train her, that’s what she would do.
For a moment, the sun broke through the thick layer of clouds in the sky. The beam of light illuminated the Dread from behind. It caught in his wings, turning the pale leather to violet. She could see the delicate webbing of veins, and the thick scars around the holes. His long, tangled hair was so dark it was almost blue. The ragged edge of his horn had been filed down but there were still pieces that looked raw and aching.
Although she should have been frightened of this beast, all Danielle felt was pity. He’d clearly fought his entire life. The scars on his face and body were proof.
She was making the right decision. He was a fighter, a survivor. He could teach her to survive until she was finally queen.
She met his gaze with determination in her own. Again, she repeated. “I want to learn how to fight. I will be queen of this kingdom someday and I will not rule it in the same way as my father.”
“Is that so?” The Dread lifted a brow.
“It is. And I want you to teach me how to stand up to him. I need to take my kingdom back.”
The Dread opened his wings wide. “A noble cause, little princess. But we are not noble creatures, not at our core. Neither human nor Dread. We make choices for ourselves and not for others.”
“I make this choice for everyone.”
His lips twisted to the side in a snarl. “We shall see.”
He strode away from her. All the way to the stone which had hidden her sword. Past where he had tried to kill her.
It felt like years ago when he had tried to take her life.
Hurrying to catch up with him, she called out, “Why did you try to kill me in our first meeting?”
“Because you are human.”
“So?”
The Dread paused. The muscles in his back rippled. With frustration? “Humans have not been kind to the Dread.”
“But most humans don’t even know the Dread exist.”
He glanced over his shoulder. “How much do you know of Hollow Hill’s history?”
She could recite many books which had covered such a thing. Danielle didn’t remember all of them, she’d grown rather bored with her tutor blathering on about crops and wealthy years. She shrugged. “Enough to know that the history books are tiring. Hollow Hill has always been…” Her sister’s voice ghosted in her memory. Claiming that Hollow Hill was at war. Danielle continued, “Perhaps I don’t know as much as I thought I did.”
The Dread turned halfway toward her and reached out a hand. “Then perhaps we shall start by educating you, princess.”
“I am educated.” She eyed his hand as though it were a trap. The sharpened tips of claws were enough of a threat to worry her.
“Are you now?” He waved his hand in the air. “Why is your kingdom named Hollow Hill?”
This was the easiest question in the book. Children were taught this. Instead of taking his hand, she crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. “The palace was built upon a hill, and the first king was Lyon Hollows. The kingdom is named after him.”
“Was it? Or is it, perhaps, because this kingdom is actually hollow?” The Dread unfurled his fingers like the petals of a flower. “Take my hand, princess. Let me show you the truth.”
A hollow kingdom? How was that even possible?
Danielle’s heartbeat thundered in her ears. Slowly, she reached out and placed her hand in his. Claws closed around her wrist, and the Dread dragged her deep into the caverns of the earth.
Chapter 10
She might have worn different clothing if she had known the journey would be so muddy. Danielle wiggled through the tunnel after the Dread, amazed at how quickly he moved.
The tunnel was large enough to fit the Dread, but was still claustrophobic. She felt as though at any moment the walls would cave in on her, drowning her in earth and mud. Buried alive. No one could even hear her scream, because if she opened her mouth it would fill with sludge until she became little more than a golem.
A woman filled with earth. Dug up centuries later by someone who wished to build a home on the edge of a river in a beautiful meadow.
&nbs
p; Danielle told herself not to think such dark thoughts. She would only find herself buried even faster. But her breathing still picked up and her lungs felt tight. Squeezed, as though the earth already pressed down upon her.
The Dread appeared to have no issues at all. He wiggled through the tunnel with surprising efficiency and little hesitation.
At times, the tunnel went straight down. She had to turn around just so she could control her sliding. The Dread did no such thing. Instead, he slid face first into the darkness.
Soon, she could see nothing at all. There was no light here, just black ink in front of her eyes. She swore she could see things moving in that darkness. But the tunnel wasn’t any larger.
Her mind played tricks on her. Nothing was here except the Dread.
A monster in the tunnels deep underneath her kingdom, which he claimed was hollow. A kingdom she had grown up in and knew so much about.
And so little.
“Dread?” she asked, wiggling in the mud and trying to get onto her hands and knees so she could push forward. Unfortunately, that meant her back pressed against the top of the tunnel. It gave a groan and Danielle stopped breathing.
“Yes, princess?”
She shouldn’t be so relieved to hear his voice. “I can’t see anything.”
“That is not a surprise. Human eyes don’t see well in the dark.”
“And you do?”
She stared forward blindly until she saw his eyes reflecting in the darkness even though there was no light.
He growled, “I see perfectly.”
With a shaky inhalation, she continued forward. Her guide moved with a rapid pace until she realized there was the smallest light up ahead.
How could there be light this deep in the earth? Her mind must play tricks on her again, or her mother’s madness had awoken.
And yet, they continued toward the burning light until the Dread dropped out of sight. Danielle frantically followed him and stopped short at the end of the tunnel which dropped away into nothing.
Except, there wasn’t nothing in the massive crater beyond. It was full of life.