Hard Frost- Depths of Winter

by Thia Mackin

  Arms wrapped around me from behind, caging me in. Throwing my elbow into the side of the assailant, I heard an oomph as it collided with layers of fire protection. “You can’t go back inside, ma’am. Too dangerous.”

  Struggling toward the cries, I stepped forward despite the fireman’s hold. “Let go of me.”

  The stranger held tight. “Ma’am, the roof…”

  For just a moment, the flames froze in place. The dance and whooshing of the fire paused, as though for a picture. Then everything moved in fast forward. The loft collapsed. Cinders and smoke rose in a cloud, twice as tall as the building once was. Screams from inside caused the grip around me to falter a moment, but I was too shocked to take advantage. Before everything resettled, the roof caved. The firefighter pulled me, unresisting, backward toward the corral as falling debris burned my shoulders and bare arms.

  He released me, and I sank to the ground. Rendle knelt in front of me. “You’ve got some nice burns there, lass. How you feeling?”

  Tears filled my eyes as I looked into his concerned face. “I didn’t get them all out, Rendle.”

  Gingerly, he touched my chin. All the singe marks probably left him few options. “You saved all you could. You did good, lass. I am going to check the ones you saved and load them in the trailers to get them back to Asez Holding for treatment.”

  My eyes widened. “Pantheon!”

  He neighed from just above me, as though he stood guard despite my distraction. His muzzle brushed my shoulder, and the discomfort from the burns was worth the reassurance. My fingers caressed the soft skin.

  “I’ve already looked the boyo over. Just a few places to salve. He can even stay here tonight,” Rendle promised, patting the cloth of my shirt still wrapped around my hand. He stood and climbed into the corral, shouting directions to his hostlers.

  “Kinan!” Rankar’s voice cut through the cacophony of sounds. He had jumped out of an Asez Holding work truck before it stopped rolling, not even shutting the door behind him. “Kinan, where are you?”

  The panic in his voice brought me to my feet, but no sound emerged when I opened my mouth to call to him. He stared at the collapsed barn, and I hesitated, torn and ashamed. While I needed his strength, I couldn’t face condemnation from him for my failure. If I’d awakened sooner, I’d have had more time to get the last two out. If I’d moved faster… If… Sobbing, I threw myself into his arms.

  “Soldier-girl. Oh, God, Kinan!” he gasped, his hand fisting in my hair as I buried my face in the crook of his neck. “Eirlys, you’re hurt.”

  “I’m okay, Rank—” Remembering the crowd of unEnlightened, I tried again. “Randall, I’m okay, but I lost two of them. I couldn’t get them out. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  My ribs creaked beneath his grip. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  His heartbeat raced faster than I’d ever felt it. Placing my hand over it, I concentrated on slowing my own. Immediately, his pulse followed suit.

  “Mr. Simmons?” someone called from a short distance away.

  Exhaling roughly, he gentled his hold. “I’ll be right back.”

  I watched him walk away before scanning the surroundings. The firefighters divided their efforts between keeping the cinders from catching the dry grasses and the house on fire. Asher still knelt on the ground, though both dogs were gone. Walking quickly, I crouched beside him.

  “Hey, you okay?”

  He blinked twice, shifting his focus from the flames to my face. “Yes.”

  “Trouble? Cliff?” I asked, remembering the lifeless body he carried out.

  His hands opened and closed, like he needed to hold something. “A veterinarian from Asez took them to Mom’s stillroom. Cliff will be on IV fluids overnight, at least, and he plans to start them on antibiotics for the burns. Their pads are pretty bad, and their fur is gone in places. I…” He closed his eyes and hummed for a moment, the sound rougher than normal but still easing my anxiety. “I think I’m going to go take a shower. You should too. Nothing else we can do out here.”

  I straightened up, offering him a hand. He’d knelt much longer, and his legs would be stiffer. His fingers squeezed mine lightly as I steadied him before pulling him into a hug. “I’m glad you were here, Kinan.”

  I released him, touching his elbow lightly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”

  He shook his head. “You ran into a burning building. I think you did enough.”

  I grimaced at his back, unable to forget the screams of the horses left inside.

  A wave of warmth touched my back to match the fire in front, this heat somehow soothing the burns the other had made. Rankar’s arms wrapped around my waist. Together, we stood watching the emergency crews work as the hot mist from the hoses evaporated from our skin as fast as it fell. The flames retreated quicker than expected, and the firefighters appeared relieved, if curious.

  The veterinarian confirmed Rendle’s diagnosis of Pantheon before going back into the house to take care of the dogs. Multiple times, Rankar took calls—including from his parents. Ordinarily, they would have Gated home. However, knowing the situation was under control, Mycal had purchased tickets for the first flight home to keep any more suspicion from falling on the family. A firefighting team offered to stay in case a hot spot rekindled, but handshakes, water bottles, and profuse thanks sent them on their way. Though they didn’t know, the fire wouldn’t dare show its face again with Rankar present—his Gift had corralled it.

  Together, we showered. After a quick trip to Karyn’s stillroom, Rankar returned with aloe cream for my burns before taking the container to Asher. I climbed into bed alone as Rankar checked on his other siblings, who had arrived in vehicles or Gated directly into the house during the chaos. Wide awake when he entered, I burrowed into his embrace. His too-tight hold comforted me, as did his lips against the top of my head.

  “Kinan, please never do that again.” Beneath my cheek, his heartbeat picked up again.

  My fingers touched his neck, caressing the tanned skin. “Not on my top ten list of favorite things, but I can’t make that promise knowing I’d go back in right now if I could get those other two horses out.”

  His fingers tightened briefly. “I love you, Kinan, and I never want to be that scared of my Gift again in my life. My fear for you almost overwhelmed me as I fought against the accelerants used to fuel the fire. But I don’t want you to promise anything you can’t keep.”

  “I love you, too, Rankar.”

  We lay together in silence for long moments before Hypnos and Thanatos joined us, curling to either side of the mattress. Finally, my exhausted lover dozed off. At the back of my mind, though, my Gift seemed to warn that the worst was yet to come. Is this my fault? Had my curse caught up to me? Were these the flames Elie foretold would destroy me? Was I about to lose everything?

  Sleep took forever.

  With a sharp inhalation, I opened my eyes and studied the room around me. Rankar’d turned to his stomach sometime in the middle of the night, and I’d draped over his back like his personal blanket. His tense muscles weren’t a comfortable mattress, but the nightmare was what actually woke me.

  My subconscious had placed Rankar in the burning building, out cold and unable to control the fire consuming his clothes. However, a ward on the outside of the building kept me from going inside as the demons who’d chased me onto the property a year ago laughed maniacally. Their singsong voices taunted that their revenge was finally complete. “You killed them all!” they shouted. Then the roof caved in on him, waking me.

  After a few moments trying to match my breathing to his, I gave up. Perhaps moving away from him? Pantheon could probably use the company, too, being the only horse left on the property. One of the bandages had fallen off in my sleep, but the burn appeared mostly healed. I checked the others as I dressed and headed downstairs.

  Tier stood at the coffee pot in the kitchen, measuring out grounds. By his appearance, he might not have slept yet. “Goo
d morning, Kinan.”

  “Morning,” I greeted, checking the clock to see it was still the wee hours. A pause at the fridge let me grab a few carrots. With a conspiratorial grin, Tier handed me a few sugar cubes also. “I’m going to check on Pantheon. I’m not going to sleep another second if I don’t know he’s okay.”

  His nod told me he understood. “Do you want company?”

  Pausing, I considered. If he’d been Rankar or Asher, then yes. However, we didn’t know one another well enough to share a comfortable silence in the face of the nights’ events. “I think I’ll go it alone. I’m only going to be a minute anyway. Give him his treats and lie back down for a bit.”

  The smell of charred wood and damp ash hit me the moment I stepped outside, settling the weight of failure back on my chest. Smoke drifted up from hot spots where the barn used to be. However, a cheerful neigh greeted me. Avoiding as much of the mud as possible, I picked my way past the blackened skeleton of the building and climbed over the top rail of the corral.

  Immediately, Pantheon’s head dipped toward my pocket. I grinned, offering him the first carrot as I checked his burns. Gently, he accepted. However, he had to earn the second. A high-pitched whistle held three seconds caused him to flick his ears forward, eyes on me. Two quick whistles followed by a longer one caused him to kick backwards, as though taking down an enemy coming up on his hindquarters. Three short whistles in a row caused him to heel with his shoulder to mine. “Good job, boyo,” I murmured, handing him a sugar cube. The unexpected delicacy caused him to huff, the sound so low that no one more than a few steps away would have heard the noise.

  A long whistle, starting quiet and trilling high, sent him to the ground—low enough to allow an injured rider onto his back. The same call reversed brought him to his feet again. He didn’t seem to enjoy this carrot quite as much after the sweet. Still, we worked through the nonverbal and verbal commands until I ran out of both kinds of treats.

  Petting his shoulder, I glanced up at movement from the corner of my eye. Adrenaline pumping, my hand fell to my sword belt and grasped air. The dream had distracted me to the point of leaving the house unarmed. Luckily, the threat was nothing more than the wind moving a soot-blackened board. Somehow, it still hung onto a skeletal framing wall, both too stubborn to admit defeat. Like the demons from my nightmare.

  But they won in the end. Killed Rankar. Defeated you.

  The odd thought brought the image of Rankar unconscious and surrounded by fire to the forefront of my mind, like an active vision. Chill bumps rose on my arms, enhancing the unease, and I gave Pantheon the command to watch. My eyes scanned the horizon, searching for anything to explain the panic filling me. The voice had sounded like my own but was almost imperceptibly different.

  As I turned, watching and waiting for any sign of trouble, Pantheon kept step. His breaths increased as his own adrenaline spiked. Yet the enemy couldn’t be seen.

  It’s you. You kill everything you touch.

  My feet stopped moving, and the words echoed in my brain. Goddess, the voice spoke truth. A year ago, trouble had followed me here and planned to burn the family out to get to me. But the Sirachs had been too strong. However, time had worn down their defenses. Though the loss of life this time had been limited to the horses, it was only a matter of time. Next time, it might be Rankar.

  If I lost Rankar… If I got him killed…

  My thighs gripped Pantheon’s barrel as I landed on his back. I couldn’t go to Mystor unarmed. The Gate opened to Bretinoc’s land, and Pantheon moved toward it. However, as soon as the darkness of the Void surrounded us, reason returned.

  “I need you to try to believe that my family knows how to survive,” Rankar had said. And I had promised to try. Panicking then running away was not trying. We needed to talk about it, see if I could have done anything to incite or prevent it.

  My hand twisted in Pantheon’s mane, but the instinct to exit instead of turning around overrode the feeling in my gut. If the Void accidentally closed, I’d be trapped for eternity to regret the choice. Once we stepped out, I’d create a new Gate back to the Sirach ranch. Hypnos could take an apology letter to Bret for setting his wards off for no reason.

  Chapter 25

  Hands gripped my shirt, jerking me sideways as I grunted in surprise. With no tack to balance me, the unexpected move unseated me. Worse, the attack nearly caused me to release the Gate before Pantheon had stepped completely free. Then I hit the ground, dropped the Gate, and reinforced the shields around Pantheon with that energy.

  People crowded around me, their bodies blocking out the light. Using my arms to push myself up to sitting, I tried to see Pantheon while holding back the panic. Someone placed a foot in the center of my chest, applying pressure until I lay flat on my back. Pantheon screamed angrily. I struggled to stand. Hands joined the foot to push me back to the ground. The point of someone’s boot stabbed my legs as the person kicked me. A grunt escaped, but mob mentality ruled. They could kill a person, so an animal no doubt fell lower on their list. I poured as much energy as I could into the shields protecting my companion.

  “Pantheon!” I prayed that he heard me. Then I whistled, five consecutive short sounds—like a siren. Immediately, energy built and a Gate opened. “Exeatis.” Seconds later, all eyes turned on me. However, the hum of magic had left the air. Pantheon wouldn’t die for my stupidity, not like Romtal.

  “She’s one of them,” a woman whispered, likely unnecessary after we’d stepped out of nothing and the horse had returned to it. Maybe it made her feel better about what they were doing here on Bretinoc’s lands if they reminded themselves.

  “Tie her up. We’ll put her with the other,” a man ordered, probably too chickenshit to do it himself.

  Closing my eyes, I pulled my center around me. The cold of the Void felt like ice slowly coating my skin.

  “She’s tryin’ to turn into a werewolf!” the original woman shrieked, and I looked in her direction in time to see the booted foot snap forward toward my face.

  The hum of an engine annoyed me until I opened my eyes. Sitting upright with my back against something hard and metal, only darkness filled my vision. Even with the ability to see perfectly at night, no shapes or light could be found. I tried to touch my face, but my arms were bound behind me and hooked to something. The burning metal encased my hand to mid-wrist, the shackles no doubt containing iron. I checked my shields. Nothing. And my energy seemed to be just out of reach. However, the anxiety from earlier settled on my chest.

  The person beside me shifted as I squirmed and jerked in panic. “The cuffs are warded. They’ve got witches working with them,” Bretinoc Eshrai whispered. The words broke, as though he’d been crying. “I think they have our heads covered, because I can’t see anything.”

  “Me neither,” I admitted. “And the angle is too awkward for me to even try to break the chains.”

  “Kinan?” His voice sounded shocked, sharp. He kept his words low, though. “What are you doing here?”

  Slumping slightly, I pictured Rankar. Dammit, he was going to wake up and think I ran away. Because you did. “I started the day making a stupid, snap decision. Looks like I’m ending it with being kidnapped.”

  “They killed Eveline and little Yeali.” The broken words cut his throat like shards of glass. His sobs filled the space, and I hunkered lower. His daughter had only been four last I saw her, maybe six now. His wife had hair like the flames that so often threatened their California home and a temper that was only surpassed by her giving nature. Gone. For being Tuatha de Danaan. Something they were born as. Nothing they could change.

  “They’re monsters.” I barely heard myself speak above the ambient noise.

  “I want them to kill me too.”

  The harder I tried not to let his sobs draw me into hopelessness, the more I heard other noise around us. By the odd echo, we were in a small bus or large van. Someone’s shoulders touched mine on each side, so they’d packed us in tightly. M
ore than twenty people, if the shifting and coughing and crying were any indicators. Time, though, couldn’t be judged.

  Seconds turned to minutes to hours as I pictured the night before. Relived the moment Rankar wrapped his arms around me, somehow soothing the burns on my skin with his touch. Imagined the relief on his face as he stared into my eyes in the shower. All the way to the moment where panic sent me directly into the arms of the enemy.

  I had forgotten to trust him, to believe in his family.

  This was my own fault.

  My fears won.

  I lost.

  The vehicle stopped moving, and I awoke from the light doze immediately. Then it eased forward, moving slowly. Metal clanked as something slammed closed. After long seconds, a beep-beep-beep noise started, and we were going backwards. The entire vehicle rocked to a stop as we hit something. Clang. Clang. The door opened, popping my ears with the pressure release. Instead of fresh air, though, the odors of dozens of people crammed into a small space with no bathrooms stirred up. Only practice from breathing scents of a battlefield kept me from vomiting into the hood and possibly drowning myself.

  Someone gave military-terse orders, and the sounds of chains rattling echoed in the metal box. For a moment, silence. Then the crying intensified as prisoners moved out of the back. Finally, hands touched the small of my back. For a second, the tightness in my shoulders eased. Another person gripped my arms, lifting me to my feet. Gritted teeth and force of will kept me from crying out at the sudden pain in my limbs from the abrupt change after what might have been days sitting.