by L Ward
“Here,” said Evan, handing over the camera.
Nath stared at it a moment. “I’ll have them developed and sent to the papers, and in the meantime I will be speaking to Gerard. I think it’s long past time we had a discussion about his future at the palace.”
∞∞∞
The deed was done by the time the sky turned a tragic shade of sable. Evan and Nath stood at the window of Nath’s office watching a dark figure laden with baggage disappear down the gravel path. Time seemed to stand still as the gates swung open and Gerard disappeared into the darkness of the night, his wife faithfully at his side.
“It had to be done,” said Nathaniel.
“I healed the guards,” said Evan.
“How badly injured?”
“Multiple fractures and burns, but nothing life threatening.”
Nath nodded once and sighed heavily.
“When’s he coming back?”
“He isn’t. I won’t have a man of such instability in my palace.”
“At least it puts an end to the worry over the mole.”
“On the contrary,” said Nath, “we’ve still no proof it was Gerard, however, there are multiple powerful charms placed on his private rooms and his office, I’ve a warlock working on them as we speak but from what I understand they’re no small matter.”
They stared at the gates long after they closed. An owl fluttered past the window and fireflies came out to play.
“Will went to check on Dante after you left. Someone tried to break in to his rooms,” said Evan.
Nath’s eyes shot to him, brows drawn. “Gerard?”
“The door had scorch marks. It’s lucky he was in the library all afternoon.”
“I dread to think what could’ve happened if he’d been home,” said Nath.
That was something Evan didn’t want to think about.
Chapter 42
Evan’s hands were like ice; dawn was bleeding across the inky-blue sky in gentle waves of violet, midsummer orange and new-life green. Stars speckled the expanse like quail eggs shattered open; a giant yolk peeking over the horizon. He closed his eyes, veins thrumming with anxiety and adrenaline. It was two days hence the full moon amd they were leaving with new plans and without Gerard.
Saddled, bridled and wedged behind Nath, he took what may well be their last look at the palace: the place he now called home.
“Everything is ready, Your Majesty,” said Officer Callum, perched atop a girthy onyx stallion. His face was set but pale, his small grey eyes glazed and ready for battle.
Nathaniel nodded once and they set off through the gates into the forest, cloaked in the same disturbing charms Elijah had been.
Evan couldn’t shake the anxiety, nor the dread that something was wrong. He remembered last night, hugging his family while they fought back tears. His sister, starting to show and painfully worried she’d never see him again. He felt awful for her.
April would be upon them in a matter of days, and the snowdrops sprang from the grassy verges lining the outskirts of the forest. Dark magic hadn’t tainted this place, not nearly this far inland. Such beauty seemed wasted when he thought of what was to come. Evan shook his head trying to dispel the fear, he felt Nath turn his head in askance of his welfare and he returned the gesture with a squeeze.
Soon the trees enclosed them in a canopy of malicious arms and dewy leaves. Turpentine scented the air and cleared their sinuses.
They moved in stealth for hours through the forest relishing the musky scent of leaf mould and bittersweet flora emerging from the loamy earth. The world was coming back to life after months of hibernation and Evan hoped they lived long enough to see summer.
They set up on the outskirts of the forest for lunch. The food was fine but he could barely taste anything. A few feet away, Will perched atop a fallen tree, splintered and shattered in a lightning storm. He looked strangely at ease. Whether it was due to the lack of Gerard’s presence, or his excellent acting skills, Evan couldn’t be sure. But the person he worried most about was Nath. If they made good time they’d arrive at the border tomorrow’s morn and the palace by nightfall. Nath wasn’t taking any chances and when lunch was over they galloped through sweet-scented meadows and mossy woods at a pace befitting an asteroid.
Conversation was minimal, understandingly so.
Nathaniel had been conniving, their alliance was small but he believed in them all. Three armed and thoroughly trained guards, Officer Callum and Will. The others would take to the air and the attack would begin tomorrow evening.
“All is calm near the border,” said Officer Callum. “They’ve no reason to wait when His Majesty has been invited, but we should prepare as we draw closer for there are known rogues patrolling their inner villages.”
“We never saw a single settlement when we went before,” said Will.
“They’re few and far between, most beings confined themselves to the dangerous wilderness. The country is overrun with dark beings and experiments.”
“Don’t we know it.”
“The ones we know of are inhabited by warlocks and their minions,” Officer Callum continued.
“There are experiments up for sale and abducted cursed humans enslaved in their homes,” Nath said coldly.
Evan could feel his anger like a warm fire on a cold night. “Not for much longer though.”
∞∞∞
Evening drew in and they walked through hills and galloped across endless twilight fields. The horses didn't seem to tire, sides never heaving with strain. Whatever Freya did to them was incredible, he’d have to ask her if they ever made it back.
Eventually the darkness crept in and their cloaking made it near impossible to see save the sprinkling of starlight Nath dusted the earth with.
His legs were bent and stiff by the time he slid from the horse’s back and waddled to the campfire for dinner. It felt surreal, they were camping in a forest a couple hours from the border, the earth was loamy but dusted with soot and a distinct smell of wood fire caught the breeze.
Nath was paler than moonlight, eyes shadowed and pupils dilated. A flicker of worry cursed Evan’s soul, Nath shouldn’t be entering the Dead Country this close to his transformation, but he’d promised they’d leave by tomorrow night. This whole situation would be over until the day Artemis returned. He peered through the dense overhang and glimpsed the enormous moon glaring down on them. Less than forty-eight hours and it would rise. He could only pray that Nath made it out and into his confinement in time.
“I will retire,” said Nath, touching his knee and bringing him back to earth. His skin was silvery and the shadows beneath his eyes had deepened, his transformation was too close for Evan’s liking. He slipped into their tent, shoulders sagging. He wasn’t in pain, Evan ensured that, but the moon was calling and he was fighting its response.
He sat staring after Nath until the darkness crept in on his vision and the campfire danced a meagre pinpoint in his peripheral.
“Your Majesty?” Officer Callum’s voice derailed his train of thought. “A spellogram has arrived.”
“News?”
“It’s Narelia, she and Officer Jacobs have spotted troops lining up near the southern border.”
“They’re expecting us.”
The elderly man nodded once, face lined and pinched. “They don’t know our point of entry, but this is a direct threat. Narelia believes they’re lying in wait to capture us when we enter the country, they want to ensure the King reaches the palace without a fight.”
Evan swallowed. “Is the plan still going ahead?”
“His Majesty prepared for this and, yes, the plan will be executed accordingly.”
He made a small noise of assent and silence fell between them, unspoken words dying in the night air. On the other side of the fire he saw Will sitting on a log, eyes buried in a steaming mug of tea. He’d barely spoken all afternoon and not at all as night fell. In fact, he’d barely uttered a word since the other night.
Morning brought a sky of crushed orange, opal and gold. The woods were ethereal, treetops dipped in gold and a faint pinkish mist swept through the trees.
Nathaniel stretched in a patch of sun, barefoot and luminous like a statue.
He saw the others looking at him, the way members of council back at the palace had spared him their questioning, worried glances when they realised they had no choice but to go so late in the moon cycle. How they’d wished they could bring allies in sooner but they'd needed time. A small military had formed and the fleet were on their way. Attack at nightfall, that’s what Nath had said.
The horses were hobbled, grazing as they were tacked, and in no time at all they galloped through the whispering fields, the sun arced across the skyline and the smoky air soon became sour. Sun turned to darkness mid-afternoon and the purple barrier rose high into the sky, ominous as death.
Nobody spoke as they trotted through the valleys, hills rising either side and rock faces leering like demons. The sight was something to behold, but Evan was struggling to contain his anxiety.
They paused beneath a cliff waiting as the guards rode ahead, checking the coast was clear before they pressed forward. The barrier was before them in seconds, Evan felt the burn, tasted the acrid rot of death sprinkled with potpourri as they passed its field.
The landscape was in near total darkness; the triple moons bore down on them with luminous purple glare, each a fraction from doomsday.
Evan felt Nath stiffen, the movement was subtle, but there. The horse’s hooves made heavy, low thumps on the floor like a drum beat. Everything felt different, even the atmosphere was stagnant. Across the border they’d felt breeze, here they felt nothing.
The guards rode on, seeking the final vantage point for the attack to make contact with their comrades.
“We are safe here,” said Nath, leading them into the shelter of a scorched wood, the trees were cracked and embers still drifted from spontaneous fires that never seemed to cease despite the world being charred to coal already.
The others may be wary but Evan trusted Nath’s judgement. There was something stirring deep inside him that he couldn’t put his finger on, something in Nath’s glittering eyes. The change was coming, that much was obvious, but this was different.
“What worries me is the silence,” said Nath. “There is nothing nearby, neither bird nor insect, human nor monster.”
Will was staring at him, expression unreadable.
They waited a stretch of time, Evan couldn’t be sure how long, until the hazy clouds briefly shielded the moon and a tiny purple glimmer appeared overhead.
“They’ve reached the facility, our comrades will attack the palace within the hour, that’s when we make our move,” said Nath. “It appears Undermouth has withdrawn forces from these areas.”
“He likely considers them a poor choice of entry, considering we are quite a distance from the palace and this is where we were ambushed before,” said Will.
“Precisely, we’d have little reason to be here and he will be prepared.”
“So how do we surprise him?”
“Launch the attack and while they are occupied we enter the palace and kill Undermouth under his guard’s noses. It’s the only way. The place is heavily guarded but it’s ancient and vulnerable to aerial attacks because in its core there's an enormous crystal ceiling,” said Nath.
“I wrote the Governor before we left, I invited him to take one last chance to concede and he refused. He’s the man who orchestrated the attack on my father and for that he’ll burn in Hell,” Nath’s eyes flashed, bladed in the dark.
Evan exhaled slowly as the horses set off again, this time at pace. Nath summoned his powers and plunged them into galactic darkness, rifts glinted around them, the tears like glimpses of dreamworlds he couldn’t tell if they were real or imaginary. It was immense magic, beyond the cloaking he’d done before, and when Evan looked down he couldn’t see the floor. The horses were galloping through space and time at breakneck speed.
The atmosphere changed when they popped through the space rift and Evan sucked a large breath and tasted spent magic. They were on a hillside and along the skyline rose Undermouth’s ancient stone palace, a monument which once belonged to the crown. It was a fortress of grey laced with moss and glowing a sinister red from deep within the battlements providing a little extra light.
Evan saw movement along the tops, slow, weighty steps as huge beings moved along the walkways.
“Guards,” said Nath. “I can sense a lot of activity in the palace, warlock and monster.”
“How are we gonna get in?” Evan whispered, watching a hulking great figure slouch along a battlement, scratching its big, bald head.
Nath sighed softly and pointed towards the towering front gates, great sheets of jagged black metal, humming with curses and glowing a wispy purple. “Through the front door, of course.”
Evan and Will stared at him in amazement.
“For now, we wait,” he said and perched on a boulder, glaring at the formidable castle.
Time passed and the air grew chilly. Will lit a small black fire in his palm and held it between them for warmth. Nath searched the bruised skies and through the dense, murky clouds the treble moons shone vividly.
Somewhere in the distance a wolf howled, long and guttural.
Nath’s ears pricked and he turned his head slightly in that direction, eyes still on the castle. Lights had come on, popping to life in tiny bursts of amber. The guards never changed shift and continued their slow progress around the castle.
They waited for so long Evan was beginning to wonder if they’d made a mistake, or perhaps their teammates had been captured, God forbid. He swallowed the bitter taste of nerves and tried to soothe his tumultuous thoughts by looking at Nath, trying to suss his thoughts, and that’s when he noticed something. Nath was beautiful, glowing a translucent opal under the skylight. His pointed ears were sharp and elf-like but the most devastating thing was the shadow cast behind him depicting a werewolf.
Evan swallowed. They needed to be home by tomorrow.
“They should’ve shown by now,” said Nath.
“You think something’s happened?” said Will.
Nath pursed his lips and gazed off into the distance, searching the jagged blackness and smoking craters for miles hoping to see some glimmer of hope in this derelict place. “I hope not. A storm is coming and we shouldn’t be outside when it strikes.”
Will looked up at the sky wearing a worried frown.
It was more than an hour before the moons vacated behind dense clouds and the air thickened with moisture and stank of jungle. Nath had sensed it long before it arrived, something he never usually did. He gestured for them to follow him into a dense, sooty woodland and into some sort of enclosure. A shiver ran down Evan’s spine.
“This place was once and enchanted grotto,” said Nath.
Will lit a small fire and they blocked off the entrance. The horses stood guard, fortresses in their own right, and lay down behind the fallen trees. The trio gathered around the fire, sharing small amounts of food and silence.
Thunder boomed way overhead and a glimmer of magenta lightning winked through the grotto’s covering: a dense layer of trees and tumbled rock. The water was thick enough to taste and nearly hydrating in its own right. The temperature rose as Will tossed a splintered log on his fire watching it crack and blacken.
“We should’ve moved by now, but there isn’t much we can do in this,” said Nath. Heavy sheets of rain pummeled the earth outside and pitter-pattered through cracks in their shelter.
Something shot through the branches, fizzing and hissing wildly. Evan jumped to his feet, heart in his throat and it appeared Will had the same idea.
“It’s fine,” said Nath. He dislodged a tiny black spellogram and unfurled it’s charred note. His eyes darted back and forth and he tossed the remains quickly on the fire, they incinerated with a pop. “There’s
an army waiting for us, the guards encountered them but they changed course to evade a patrol regiment, and now the storms have halted their progress,” Nath said tightly. “They’re safe.”
“For now,” said Will. “Where are they?”
“Somewhere to the east, far away,” said Nath. “Undermouth's minions are searching for them; they know we’re in the country.”
“They’ll find us,” said Evan.
“I will know long before they reach us if they’re coming,” Nath said softly. “It appears Undermouth has rallied as many forces as possible into his palace.”
Evan swallowed.
Nath paced in time to the heavy rain thuds, stars glittering about the grotto.
Evan wasn’t sure of the time but he knew it was getting very late and, despite the circumstances, his eyelids drooped with exhaustion.
Nath stopped pacing and moved to Evan’s side. “We should rest, this storm won’t stop for some hours yet,” he said, drawing Evan flush against him. He hadn’t removed the dragonhide armour, but he was still warm and huggable. Evan willingly relaxed and didn’t stir when he felt Will plop down behind him keeping a foot of distance between them just close enough to share warmth.
He closed his eyes anticipating sleep, but time rolled by and Nath couldn’t seem to lay still. He twitched and nuzzled under his chin, relentlessly shuffling his legs.
It continued for quite some time until Will sat up, frowning. “Nath it’s the middle of the night.”
“I’m sorry,” he replied and the movements stopped.
“Need some help falling asleep?” Evan asked.
Silence.
“Nath?”
“Yes please.”
Evan’s magic trickled into the recesses of his mind, pressing all the right buttons to help him drift, but he felt the resistance of lycanthropy ramming into his magic with brute force and snapping jaws. Surprise drenched him and his eyes snapped wide. He’d felt this before but nowhere near as strong, it was as though the wolf was just below the surface, fighting to get out. “We need to get you out of here.”