by Olivia Ash
“Thank you,” Sadie said.
Astrid hesitated, and her eyebrows knitted together. “Um… you’re welcome.”
That’s right. She was demon queen and still getting used to everyone thinking she was a badass with no manners and didn’t know how to show a lick of gratitude. So be it. She hoped kindness—a rarity in this world of greed—would make the creatures of the underworld more inclined to follow her. That had helped her princes fall for her. Instead of a show of force, having people see her as a compassionate ruler seemed a better idea and fell in line with the way Sadie really was. However, she wouldn’t take any crap and had showed that a number of times already.
“That should do it. It’ll take a while, but you’ll be good as new in no time.” Astrid slapped a lid onto the container and turned to walk away.
Sadie pulled herself into a seated position and said, “I appreciate your help. If you hold on a moment, we can walk together.” She grabbed her shirt—a simple t-shirt—and slipped it on.
“Sure.”
Sadie stood and stretched, reaching her arms behind her. There was no tenderness or pain. “Huh. That stuff is amazing.”
Astrid nodded. “It really works well for many injuries. I’m glad it’s helping.”
“Me too.” Sadie joined Astrid at the center of her room and said, “Ready?”
“About as ready as I’ll ever be,” she said.
The first part of their trek was silent. But Sadie could tell Astrid was working through something that puzzled her. She had an intense look on her face and a slight wrinkle formed just above the bridge of her nose. Sadie wanted to ask about that but decided that she would let Astrid speak when she was ready to.
And she did.
“You’re not what I expected,” she finally said.
Sadie laughed. “I get that a lot.”
“I bet.”
“I wasn’t sure what to expect when meeting you,” Sadie said. “I had never, to my knowledge, met a witch before. And Damien and Mordecai showed me the darker ones before we made it to you, so it was something of a relief to see how down to earth and real you are.”
“Real?” she laughed. “As opposed to fake?”
Sadie joined in on the laughter. “No, down to earth, relaxed, genuine. You know, that kind of stuff.”
Astrid nodded. “I guess we are alike in the sense we still maintain our human decency.”
“Yes,” Sadie said with a big smile. “Very much so.”
They rounded the corner of the hall that led into the foyer. Kaiser and Steele looked to them expectantly, like they had been waiting an obscene amount of time for them to finally show up.
Steele approached with a mischievous grin. “Are we ready, ladies?”
“I think so,” Astrid said. “But I’m not sure if we are talking about the same thing.”
“Trust me,” Sadie said. “We’re not.” She pointed a finger at Steele, “And that’s never gonna happen.”
“We’ll see,” he said and glided toward the door.
Sadie shook her head. Always the jokester. But she loved that about him. He made her relax more when things got a bit too serious. She appreciated that.
Kaiser opened the door and they all step outside. Just before they reached the gates, a sensation of warning, of someone having crossed her barrier, came over her. She and Kaiser exchanged knowing looks and prepared for a fight.
Once they neared the gates, deep within the shadows of the woods were a group of demons and witches. They stepped forward, seething and glaring between Sadie and Astrid.
“Zagan has a message for the one who claims herself queen, and for the witch that hides in her shadow.” A witch, mean looking, ugly, and possibly decaying a little, judging by the rotting flesh on her cheek, had spoken and pointed a finger at Sadie.
She arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, is that so? Is he quitting? Got his butt kicked and now he’s got his tail tucked between his legs, busying himself with licking his wounds?”
The group scoffed.
The witch said, “Funny. We have a clever one, boys.” She laughed and twisted to look at her backup who also chuckled with her. “Reconsider, or submit to the wrath he will bring upon you.”
“And what?” Sadie said. “I suppose you’re that wrath?”
Though she knew Zagan’s tactics were sometimes hard to follow, there was definitely something more to this visit. Sadie just couldn’t figure out what yet.
“Wanna find out?” the witch asked, her hands took on a green, smoky glow.
“Maybe. But here’s the thing—Zagan will never get my alliance. Come fire, brimstone, or anything else that he throws at us, I will never bow down to him. Got it? Now, before you die, you should consider returning to him with my response.”
“I was hoping you would say that,” the witch said. “Get ‘em!”
The group charged.
Kaiser stepped in front of Sadie and blocked the first demon that attempted to strike Sadie with his sword. It had a purplish-black aura and she wondered what power it had, how bad it would’ve hurt.
But that lasted a split-second as she summoned her shadow sword and went after the next demon that tried to disarm Kaiser while he fought the first one. She landed a killing blow on the first try then went for the witch who tried to conjure thick vines with bleeding thorns to capture Sadie.
She slashed at them as they grew and closed the space between the two of them. The witch smirked. Sadie had a few choice words on the tip of her tongue, but the glint in the witch’s eyes put her on high alert. She dodged the attack of vines that came up from behind her. She rolled behind the witch and impaled her with the sword in her back.
The vines withered into ashes.
When Sadie stood, she saw Astrid, Steele, and Kaiser had the other demons surrounded and clustered together. One of them screamed in agony.
Sadie smiled. That’s my Steele.
Kaiser set fire to another, and Astrid simply held her hands in front of her as bolts of electricity danced between her splayed out fingers. She had a devious smile tugging on her lips and sent out pulses of electricity to zap the other demon who didn’t seem to see that coming.
Sadie realized Steele had each demon under a different illusion.
The screaming demon collapsed on the ground dead, leaving his comrades alone. Steele broke his illusion and asked, “Shall I continue with more fun ways of torture, or have you had enough?”
The demons stuttered and sputtered out incoherent words as they took steps backward to get away from the three. Astrid sent another zap to one of the demons and they stumbled over themselves, falling to the ground, and scrambling to get back to their feet.
They took off running in the direction they came from as one promised they would return.
“We’ll get our revenge on the battle field,” he promised.
Sadie watched them run away like the cowards they were. Fat chance.
As the others joined Sadie, she exchanged glances with each of them, and they simultaneously busted out in laughter.
Between bouts of laughter and gasps for air, Sadie asked, “Think you could portal us from here?”
Kaiser nodded and wiped his eyes. He took a few calming breaths and focused himself. A ball of light formed, and the portal widened to allow all of them through. Joining hands, they jumped through. The sensation of falling made the pit of Sadie’s stomach clench.
That was always the worst part of portals.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Sadie
As soon as they landed, the ground shook violently beneath their feet. Kaiser and Steele instinctively covered Sadie and Astrid until the vibrations stopped. Once they did, Sadie stood straight and looked around them. The ceiling was rotted away like holes had eaten into the stone, and many larger pieces had collapsed to the ground. Rocks tremored and fell around them ever so often.
The life around them seemed faded and dulled. This place was dying. No wonder
Kaiser suggested landing farther away from the caverns. If the terrain was anything near what they stood on now, they would need the extra time to plan and carefully consider where they placed their feet.
“What happened here?” Sadie asked.
Kaiser shrugged. “It’s just a part of the world that is dangerous and unstable.”
“Yeah, but,” Steele said, “it hadn’t always been that way. Word is, Hecate had found something powerful here. Darkest of dark magic. It pooled here and collected, and when she took the power, it sucked the life from the place and made it as it is today.”
Sadie nodded. “Guess we know why the staff was hidden here now. She probably thought no one would try to get it. Or die trying.”
Kaiser shook his head. “This is worse than I thought. We may need to reconsider the trip in.”
“No,” Sadie said firmly. “We go in as planned. We can adjust the course as we go. But we are getting that staff.”
“I only meant that Steele and I could go after it.” He stepped closer to her. “If anything were to happen to you…”
Sadie softly smiled at him and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. “I appreciate the concern, but I’m going.”
He shook his head and Steele muttered something about being stubborn, to which Sadie gave him a reproachful look. He laughed under his breath and she turned to Astrid who had the stone in her hand. It had taken on a turquoise blue glow.
“Does that mean we are close?” she asked.
Astrid nodded. “Yes. We are on the right track.”
“All right, watch your footing. We’ll follow you.”
Astrid nodded once and then headed toward the direction of the staff.
They walked a short distance before having to find cover from another tremor. Once it ended, they came to a cliff with a narrow stone bridge that closed the gap between them and the caverns on the other side. Ice covered everything Sadie could see. Her breath came out in small clouds.
“Almost there,” Astrid said. “It looks like those caves up ahead are where we need to go.” She twisted in place, and the stone’s light either dimmed as she twisted away from the caves or brightened as she got closer. She pocketed the stone and said, “Now what?”
“I don’t trust the bridge,” Kaiser said.
“Going through a portal isn’t much safer, brother,” Steele said. “This could be fun.”
Kaiser leveled his gaze on his brother and shook his head. Steele shrugged.
“You both have wings. You can fly over there. If anything, Steele, you have Astrid’s back, and Kaiser, you can have mine. We’ll do this one step at a time. If it comes down to it, you both could fly us the rest of the way.”
“One problem to that brilliant plan of yours,” Steele said and pointed to the ceiling. “We get hit by one of those constantly falling rocks, we’ll be knocked into oblivion.”
“Then what would be your suggestion?” she asked.
Steele said, “A path that doesn’t lead to almost certain death.”
“Hey,” Kaiser said and tapped his brother on the arm with the back of his fingers. He pointed toward the caverns. “You see what I am seeing?”
Steele narrowed his eyes on the spot. Sadie strained to see but couldn’t really see much in the way of cave openings scattered along the rockface of the cliff in front of them.
“Yes,” Steele said and crossed his arms over his chest. “This makes things more interesting.”
“What?” Sadie asked.
Astrid muttered something under her breath and said clearer, “Wraiths.”
“So… that means…” Sadie said.
“We have to get extremely creative. Wraiths are vengeful, soulless creatures bent out of shape with their circumstances.” Steele shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “They will see us, hate that we’re alive and they aren’t, and attack us.”
“Not only that,” Kaiser added, “But they cause an enormity of dread and hopelessness around them, making it incredibly hard to set up defense against them.”
“Great. So, how do you kill them?” Sadie asked.
Steele and Kaiser both turned to Astrid who stood with her arms crossed over her chest. She shifted her gaze between the two and unfolded her arms to hold her hands in the air. “I never agreed to being savior. Stop looking at me like that, the both of you.”
“I don’t understand,” Sadie said. “Why are you staring at Astrid?”
Kaiser said, “She’s good. And only good can kill them.”
“Do you think you could take care of them?” Sadie asked Astrid.
She sighed and looked toward the direction of the creatures. “I may. How many are there?”
Steele narrowed his gaze. “Three.”
Astrid nodded.
“That’s it?” Sadie asked. She was shocked because in every other instance of fighting to get something they needed or hurdle in their way was large groups of demons or creatures. Not three.
“Don’t underestimate them, Sadie,” Kaiser said, voice thick with warning. “They are extremely powerful.”
“I think I can do it with a particular spell,” Astrid said. “However, it would take a large amount of concentration and I can’t be disturbed, or I run the risk of over exhausting myself.”
“Great,” Sadie said. “We’ll keep them distracted while you prepare. How much time do you think you will need?”
“With them?” She nodded her head toward the direction of the wraiths. “Hard to say.”
Sadie nodded. “Very well. Let’s get this show on the road.”
“I’ll take the back,” Astrid said. “I’ll need to remain a fair distance from them until I’m ready. I’ll just hang on to Kaiser or Steele’s tail.”
The men exchanged worried glances and Sadie giggled at the image of her holding the tail of one of the men. The two eventually shrugged, and Sadie stepped up to the stone bridge.
She took a deep breath as she set her eyes on the narrow walkway and focused on each crack in the stone and the patches of ice or moss. Letting a breath out, she took a careful step onto the bridge, pressing her toes on it to test the sturdiness. It held firm. Nodding to herself, she took another, repeating the same steps as before.
The ground rumbled around them and the bridge shook. Sadie held her arms out for balance and waited for the tremor to stop, all the while hoping nothing came crashing down from above them.
As she reached the middle of the bridge, the coldness and wet feel of the air blanketed her, and a small sensation of complete dread came over her. She swallowed hard and forced back that feeling. She wasn’t going to let these creatures stand in the way of her and the staff. Not when so much of the fight with Zagan rested on having it.
By the time she made it most of the way across, the feeling had increased, and the wraiths had set their attentions on her. They were black like ink and floated through the air as though they were wisps of smoke. They blocked the end of the bridge, forcing Sadie into no other way across but to jump. As she considered the distance and the depth, all the while fighting off the urge to fall, Kaiser slipped his hands under her arms and locked his fingers on her chest. He lifted her into the air and flew her to the other side of the bridge, behind the creatures.
Sadie’s legs nearly gave out from underneath her as she fought against the waves of hopelessness and dread. Once she regained her footing, she conjured her shadow sword and readied herself for the attack. She glanced behind them as Astrid continued to make her way across with Steele in front of her. Her lips were set into a grim line and a wrinkle of concentration pinched her brow. Steele also took on a look of focus. Sadie knew he was creating an illusion for the wraiths to help further distract them.
As it was, they had turned and faced Sadie, whispering dark words and begging her to kill herself.
She shuddered as the air continued to chill her skin and she struggled to maintain focus.
Kaiser stood beside her, his arms consumed in flames. Beads of sweat covere
d his forehead as he fought against the same sensations she did.
The wraiths attacked, slashing out with their hands that ended in sharp blades of bone. One caught Sadie on the arm, and that startled her with a rush of clarity. She needed to fight against their magic and against them so that Astrid could pull off the spell. The third one floated off to the side and slashed out, then turned and moved, slashing out again. Both times at nothing.
Steele’s illusion worked.
Kaiser fought the other, fending him off the best he could and keeping up the distraction.
Good. Now the third.
Sadie focused on the outlines of the creature as she found it easier to ignore the effects of the creatures if she didn’t look at them directly. She slashed with her sword and used her magic to shoot out a ball of fire with her hands. She thought about the purple energy she used against Hecate and summoned that from her amulet.
The creature slashed out at her again, and Sadie released the energy. It hit the wraith in the torso, sending it back a few feet.
Astrid moved into the center and she looked to the sky as a bright beam of light grew from her torso and then shot out. The wraiths screamed, causing Sadie to cover her ears. The sound was worse than nails on a chalkboard.
Once the light faded and the wraiths were gone, Astrid was barely standing on her feet. Kaiser rushed to her side and helped her stay upright.
“Are you okay,” Sadie asked?
She nodded. Sadie sighed with relief.
“Give me a few moments to rest and I’ll be good as new,” she said and pulled on the stone in her pocket. It glowed even brighter. “This is it. This is the place.”
Sadie stared into the cavern and its deep darkness stared back. Everything she fought for was in that cavern. She lit a fire in her hand and said, “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
She entered the cavern with Steele on her heels. She rolled her eyes. Why can’t they ever let her have some space? She wanted to turn around and demand that he go back with Astrid and his brother, but she knew full and well that would never happen. Her men, especially Steele, were incredibly stubborn. She needed to save her energy for fights she could win. So, she huffed out a sigh and continued through the stone cave.
