by Meg Anne
Helena’s eyes were still glowing, an invisible breeze lifting the strands of her hair until it flew around her face like a chestnut halo. She took two determined steps forward, her voice swollen with power as she said, “I may not have been here to stop it, but at least I can put it to rights.”
“Wait.” Effie stopped her with a hand on the wrist. She hadn’t realized she was going to speak until the word burst out of her. The weight of the stares the others leveled on her made it almost impossible to continue, but she couldn’t ignore the sudden pressure settling in her chest. “I think there’s something we need to do before you cleanse the land.”
Helena turned her brilliant eyes on Effie, and it was all she could do not to flinch. She’d come a long way from the mouse of a girl she used to be, but when faced with the other woman’s sheer power, it was really hard to remember that.
“What makes you say that?”
Effie placed a hand on her chest, just above her heart. “Just a feeling.”
Lucian cleared his throat. “If I may, Kiri?”
Helena nodded for him to continue.
“Effie’s sight has manifested as premonition in the past, the most recent happening right before the citadel was attacked. I think it would be wise to heed her warning.”
“Of course. It would be foolish to ignore any of those the Mother has blessed with such a gift.”
Lucian placed his hands on Effie’s shoulders, his thumbs brushing up and down the knotted muscles just below the base of her neck.
“I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do,” she admitted, feeling silly that they were taking her so seriously when she didn’t have anything more substantial to offer.
“Your instinct has always been a good guide. What is it telling you to do now?”
She chewed on the inside of her cheek as she considered the question. If cleansing the land would remove something crucial, then what could they do to find it first? The question hadn’t even fully formed in her mind before Effie had her answer.
Who better than a Guardian to search and see?
“We need to follow the threads.”
Lucian didn’t need to ask what that meant. From the flare of emerald in Kael’s eyes, neither did he. Almost as one, the three Guardians summoned their power.
In the same breath, Effie really wished she hadn’t.
Bile climbed up her throat and the acidic taste of it made her gag. She was grateful there hadn’t been time for her to break her fast that morning. If there’d been anything in her stomach, it would be littering the ground.
What she could only sense before as a prickly unease was now visible in all its horrific glory. The land was rotting. Like an overripe pumpkin that had caved in on itself and started to ooze. The extent of the decay was such that other than a few defiant strands there was nothing left for them to salvage.
Everywhere she looked, oily black fibers strangled anything that shone with feeble light. Even now, the darkness beneath their feet seemed to swell and grow, as if it was working its way up from the bowels of the earth to consume an unexpected treat. Them.
Not safe. Not safe. Not safe.
The need to run tore through her, but safe or not . . . they had a job to do. The only thing running would accomplish was sealing their fate.
Swallowing back her nausea, Effie released her power and turned to Lucian and Helena. “If we trace the corrupted threads, we can use them as a means of tracking the Shadows. They should lead us straight to one of their nests.”
Lucian was staring over her shoulder, his expression sending skitters of fear down her spine. “No need . . . they’re already here.”
Chapter 27
Effie didn’t need to bother turning around to see what Lucian was staring at. A quick glance at the horizon told her everything she needed to know. The Shadows and their Shadow-touched victims were swarming all around them.
They were surrounded and badly outnumbered. She watched in a sort of horrified awe as they crept out from behind the ruined buildings, their numbers multiplying faster than her brain could process. While the Keepers had been in hiding, the Shadows had been busy creating an army.
A part of her wished she could feign surprise at the ambush, but she’d known they were walking onto a battlefield before they even stepped foot on this cursed land. It had always been a matter of time.
Effie’s mouth went dry as she watched dozens more of the Shadow-touched crawl out from behind the wreckage.
“Is that . . .” The question died in her throat as her eyes widened in horror.
The Chosen were no longer the Shadow’s meal of choice. Half-decomposed creatures—which had already been terrifying in their own right—were now slithering among their ranks. Effie could make out a caebris, one of the gray and lavender striped jungle cats that could turn itself invisible, as well as the scaled body and sharp-toothed maw of a crokolisk.
“What are they waiting for?” Ronan bit out, an ax in each of his hands.
The sky ripped in two, seeming to respond to his question, the crack of thunder making the earth shudder.
“Whatever it is, I don’t intend to stand around and find out,” Lucian growled, his own weapon drawn, its edges blurred with tendrils of smoke.
Clouds rolled across the sky, angry and black, turning day to night. It was an unnatural storm, fueled entirely by the woman who ruled them. Effie could feel the pulse of the Kiri’s anger in the air, pushing her, driving her to answer its call. It tasted of soot and smelled of smoke. It promised vengeance . . . and death.
Effie pulled her sword free, just barely making out the silvery-blue markings as she slid into a defensive stance. Beside her, Helena lifted her hands, orbs of Fire blazing brightly in her palms. She looked like a warrior goddess with the flickering flames reflected in her eyes and embers crackling at the ends of her hair. “This ends here,” she cried, her voice a layered chorus as it boomed all around them.
There was flash of lightning, so bright that for one frozen moment they were cast back into day before the growl of thunder joined in and all hell broke loose.
The Shadows surged forth, moving with an inhuman speed as they broke ranks. Effie felt Lucian beside her, and she could just make out some of her friends in her periphery, but she was wholly focused on the abomination heading straight for her.
It had been human . . . once. Now it was a creature that existed only in nightmares. There were more bones visible than flesh, one slinking eye was hanging from its socket, and it walked with a distinctive lurch, although that didn’t seem to slow it down at all. Its tattered black robes filled in the rest. This thing had once been a Keeper, but the Shadows had managed to keep the poor soul alive long enough to turn it. Given the state of its appearance . . . the Keeper had likely been begging to die long before they were done with him.
Effie tightened her grip on the pommel of her sword and charged. The Shadows may not have put the poor man out of his misery, but she would.
Its sibilant voice reached her before she was within striking range. “He wakes.”
“Yeah? Tell me something I don’t know,” Effie replied, her blade already swinging high as she prepared for a killing blow.
The Shadow reached for her, bony fingers curled into claws. “There is a traitor in your midst. One who aligns themselves with the darkness.”
That gave Effie pause.
“Effie, look out!”
While the Shadow had been distracting her, two more had snuck up behind her. She hissed in pain as razor-sharp nails raked down the back of her right arm. As she turned to deal with the threat, Lucian beheaded them both with one powerful swing of his blade.
Knowing he would protect her from further sneak attacks, Effie twisted back to face her enemy, her eyes narrowed into slits. “If we have a traitor, I’ll gladly show them the same courtesy I’m going to give you.” Her blade was already moving, looking like a beam of light as it arced through the air. Before the Shadow could speak further, she was s
licing through his neck with no more effort than one would use to spread jam on toast. As his mangled head fell from his body, Effie wiped her blade on the side of her pants. “Even an enemy should appreciate a quick death.”
She looked away from her kill to see that the rest of the mass had met up with them. Sliding into position, she was lost to the dance of the blade. Effie was covered in ichor and filth, but she only stopped long enough to identify her next target. If she’d realized how far away she’d gotten from the others, she might not have allowed herself to become so lost to the battle.
But by the time she noticed, it was too late.
Lucian moved with a warrior’s grace, the act of battle so finely ingrained in him he was reacting without conscious thought. Around him others hurled balls of fire and ice, using their magic in combination with their weapons. For all that they were outnumbered, it was a slaughter. Helena alone managed to cull half the enemy’s force by raining fire from the sky.
But still the Shadow army came, undaunted by the ease with which their fellows had been dispatched.
The air was thick with smoke and the smell of rotting flesh. Lucian’s eyes watered, but his steps were sure. The ring of Kael’s blade met his ears. They fought as they had for centuries: back to back. From the sound of it, his blade brother was doing just fine.
Lucian spared a second to eye the battlefield, searching for the familiar blonde head that was supposed to be just in front of him.
Effie was nowhere to be found.
Jaw clenched, Lucian tightened his hold on his blade and became a flurry of movement, working his way through the sea of bodies to the place he’d last seen her. He’d almost lost her once. There was no way he was going to allow it to happen again.
“Lucian, hold on. Luc, wait!” Kael’s frustrated shouts sounded behind him, but Lucian didn’t stop. Kael was a warrior born and bred; he could hold his own.
He ducked as a ball of sickly green acid was lobbed his way, and then dodged as one of the Shadow-touched caebris appeared directly in his path. The beast bared its teeth, saliva dripping from its long fangs as it let out a deep growl.
Lucian bared his teeth and returned the growl with a roar of his own. The beast lunged, claws extended as it sprang toward him. Lucian was ready, his blade sinking clean into the massive cat’s belly and then up through its chest, cleaving it in two. Warm blood spurted on his hands and face, but still he did not stop.
As he raced ahead, he caught brief flashes of the others. Helena and her Mate were wielding Fire, creating a smoldering wall of flame that cut off the Shadows on two sides. It provided Joquil a safer place to stand while he called forth his own powerful magic. Ronan was pulling an ax free from some furred beast Lucian didn’t recognize while Reyna hurled dagger after dagger into the throat of an approaching Shadow. Kragen was crushing the skull of one of the fiends between his massive hands.
But still no sign of Effie.
He hesitated to call out to her through their mental link, lest it startle her during a crucial moment. For any of the other Guardians, there would have been no hesitation. They had spent years preparing for those exact circumstances in order to coordinate with each other during attacks without being overhead. Effie had yet to venture into that level of training, and Lucian refused to be the liability that saw her harmed.
That didn’t stop him from muttering a string of stinging expletives as he imagined with crystalline clarity all of the horrific things that could have happened to her. He used his fear to stoke his rage and swung his weapon with brutal force. Lucian could just make out a distinctive sizzle over the screams of the fallen when his sword connected with flesh, cauterizing wounds as it created them.
Lucian let out a low grunt as he pulled his weapon free from another caebris when a flash of wheat-colored hair caught his eye. His relief was so potent he was momentarily lightheaded. Effie was using her height to her advantage, easily ducking beneath one of the Shadows’ arms as he attempted to strike, darting around him to land her own deadly blow. Lucian recognized the move. He’d taught it to her.
Effie caught his eye and gave him an impish grin.
He returned it with one of his own, pride swelling inside of him just as the ground began to shake. There wasn’t even time for Lucian to catch his balance before the world dropped out from beneath him.
The earth groaned as it was bent in two. Effie could only watch in stunned disbelief as Lucian disappeared into a sinkhole that had grown right where the citadel once stood.
“Lucian!” she screamed, running forward to be stopped short by an arm around the waist.
“Effie, damn it, wait.”
“Kael, let me go,” she gasped, struggling in his hold. “He could be hurt. He needs me.”
“It’s not safe. If you get too close, you could fall in too.”
Effie twisted in Kael’s arms, her voice feral as she spat her words at him. “No matter the danger he would never give up on me, nor I him. Now, let. Me. GO!” With the last word, she shoved his arm away, finding a strength she didn’t know she possessed.
As soon as she was free she was sprinting forward. The ground was continuing to quake, more dirt and rubble falling into the ever-growing hole. Reaching the edge, she began to slow, dropping to her knees when she’d gotten as close as she dared.
“Lucian?” she called as she risked a look down into the massive pit.
For one terrible moment there was nothing, and then a labored, “I’m here!”
Her relief was so intense it was almost painful. She may not know the state of his injuries but at least he was conscious. “I’m going to get you out of there!”
Tears stung her eyes as she tried to figure out a way to follow through on her promise. Think, Effie. Think. As it was, Lucian was so far down she could barely make him out in the gaping darkness. Even then he was only a ripple in the gloom.
Around her the battle raged, but it felt muted now. Her entire being was focused on the man below. And then her heart stopped beating as a terror she’d only experienced during two of the worst moments of her life took hold of her.
“Effie . . . I don’t think . . . I’m alone down here.”
The darkness seemed to slither and grow, coiling in on itself even as it stretched higher. Icy sweat rolled down her back as a high-pitched shriek of absolute fury swelled from below. The sound grew in intensity as the darkness climbed higher, its formless mass taking shape.
Effie barely scrambled back in time as a monster surged up out of the hole, Lucian dangling from one of the scales on its back, his weapon nowhere in sight.
She had no name for the creature towering above her. It looked like some kind of corruption-mutated wyrm. The monstrosity was the color of midnight, its cylindered body covered in blue-tinged scales. Its eyes were red slits on either side of its narrow head, and its mouth was pointed. When it opened it up to shriek again, Effie noticed row after row of deadly teeth and a long gray tongue that dripped with slimy black saliva. A drop of the acidic spit fell and Effie dodged just as the vicious black fluid splashed on the ground, melting through the debris.
The wyrm began to buck, clearly not appreciating the man hanging from its back. If the wyrm hadn’t been so tall, Lucian could have easily dropped to the floor, but stretched as it was, Lucian was four or five stories high. A drop from that height could be fatal.
“Lucian, hang on!”
That he didn’t bother with a smart-ass reply only emphasized how much effort it was taking him to cling onto the writhing creature.
Her mind was racing, frantically seeking some vulnerability they could exploit to slay the monster without risking Lucian. There was no obvious answer.
In an act more desperate than brave, Effie swung her sword, praying it was sharp enough to cut through the body of the beast. Her arms vibrated from the force of the blow, but she didn’t so much as scratch it. She did, however, piss it off even more.
No longer worried about Lucian, the wyrm’s head swivele
d and its mouth opened on another petrifying shriek. Effie was blasted with a wave of breath so hot and putrid it must have come straight from the bowels of hell.
Mother, if you have any tips to share, now would be a really great time to enlighten me.
Effie was frozen as the monstrous head began to dip down in her direction. “Oh no, I didn’t get this far just to become wyrm food,” she muttered, starting to run.
The creature gave chase, slithering along behind her with more speed than anything that size had a right to. She risked a glance over her shoulder and almost stumbled as she noticed Lucian shimmying up the thing’s back.
“What in the Mother’s name are you doing?”
“Trying to save your life!”
“Maybe you should be more worried about your own.”
“Speak for yourself.”
Effie bit off a curse and kept running, heading straight for a wall of Shadows. If it came down to fighting them or the thing chasing her, she’d much rather test her luck with the plague bringers. At least she knew how to kill them.
“Effie!” Ronan roared.
She didn’t dare look back. She pumped her legs harder, jumping over piles of rubble and bodies like she’d been doing it her entire life. Effie had no clue where she was running, but she knew as soon as she stopped that thing would strike. Maybe if she kept it distracted long enough the others could figure out a way to put it down.
The Shadows snickered as she drew near them. She was close enough now to make out the snaking black lines in their eyes.
Sudden instinct told her to dodge left, so she did.
The ground trembled as the wyrm cried out. Effie threw her body over a half-crumbled wall and landed in a graceless heap. She’d just managed to cover her head with her arms when more of the deadly black spittle flew from its mouth, landing right where she’d been heading—right where the Shadows were still standing.
Their wails of pain were a deafening chorus as the acid ate through their skin. Effie stared in horrified fascination as what was left of their flesh and bones melted away. One by one the group of Shadows dropped to the ground, their bodies writhing in pain until their cries grew silent and their bodies still.
