Promise of Wrath (The Hellequin Chronicles Book 6)

by Steve McHugh

  “Teleporting is a little out of my depth. But I have something that might help.” She raised her sleeve on her right arm, revealing the tattoos she’d put there.

  Witch magic is different to sorcerers’ magic. Whereas we are born with an innate ability to tap into the magic, witches have to read grimoires and tattoo runes onto their bodies to allow them to access magic—magic that is literally powered with their own life energy. Essentially, witches use their own lives to create magic; the more powerful the magic, the more life they ebb away. It’s a pretty dangerous way to access some incredible power, and some, like Chloe’s mother, want to gain more and more power for themselves, and end up turning to evil to get it.

  Mist left Chloe’s fingers, traveling out in front of her, putting a dense fog between us and the panthers.

  “They can still smell us,” I pointed out.

  “I know. That’s not what I’m doing. When I say go, throw a fireball.”

  I smiled, aware of what Chloe wanted to happen, and readied a ball of fire in my hand, pouring more and more magic into it until it was white-hot. The soft rumble of a purr from the panthers made me aware that they were now inside the mist that was obscuring our vision as much as theirs.

  “Now!” Chloe shouted.

  I flung the ball of flame and turned to run, not wanting to be close to the vapor as it ignited. I remembered what Mordred had said about my magic not having as much of an effect on the things that lived here, but I hoped it had enough effect to keep Chloe and me safe.

  The vapor exploded like a bomb, making a truly horrific noise and shaking the ground beneath our feet. Something inside the cloud screamed, although whether in pain or confusion I couldn’t tell. If witch magic was from a different place to sorcerer magic, then it stood to reason it might well be able to do more harm to the panthers, too.

  Chloe and I ran as fast as possible, but I could still hear the great cats coming after us. I caught a glimpse of one of them and pushed Chloe aside as it sailed over where she’d been standing. Unfortunately, this left me in the path of the same panther, who appeared to have a lot less fur on its body and smelled of burning, but considering the amount of magic I’d used, it should have been turned into jerky. Apparently, Mordred hadn’t been lying when he’d said magic wasn’t as powerful here.

  The panther opened its mouth, showing me the sharp teeth inside, none of which I wanted to get anywhere near.

  While enough of my magic could hurt the creatures, it wasn’t going to be the easiest battle. I had no weapons, and was going up against a master predator in its own environment. It wasn’t going to be a fun afternoon.

  I heard Chloe say something and a shimmering mass shot up from where she lay, slamming into the panther, taking it off its feet, and throwing it into a nearby tree stump.

  “What was that?” I asked, as the panther lay dazed, shaking its head from side to side.

  “Jedi magic, according to Tommy,” she said with a forced smile. “Something similar to your air magic, but a lot more localized. And a lot more painful for me.”

  I turned just in time to see the second panther leap toward me. And for a second I thought, I’m dead.

  And then Chloe and I vanished.

  It was as if we sank into the ground itself, coming up several yards away beside a different tree.

  “What just happened?” she asked.

  I looked down at the gray glyphs that adorned my arms. They were definitely new. “Shadow magic,” I said. “Apparently I can do shadow magic.”

  “Can that help us?”

  From what I knew, shadow magic wasn’t usually used in an offensive way; it was more for defense, for getting away and manipulating shadows to aid in escape and hiding.

  “Hold on to me,” I said. “I’m not sure how this works, and I don’t want us to get separated.”

  Chloe hugged me tight and I saw the two panthers turn toward us and begin running. We vanished from view again, and this time I could feel areas of exit all around me. It was as if I’d stepped into a world exactly mapped over the normal one, but this one was just one large shadow, with the shadows themselves being more gray in color. Instead of moving to one of the shadows, I was able to bring it to me, which took only seconds. We jumped into that gray shadow and found ourselves back in the forest.

  The panthers were several dozen yards away, appearing confused as their prey continued to vanish and reappear further and further away.

  “You okay?” I asked as Chloe’s breathing appeared to be getting shallow.

  “It feels like all the air gets sucked out of me when I go in there,” she said, her voice raspy. “I’m not sure I can do another one.”

  Maybe only the person using the magic was immune to those effects, as my breathing appeared to be okay. It was something to figure out another time.

  “The camp is close by. Do you think you can make it?”

  Chloe nodded.

  The panthers continued to pace around the tree they’d last seen us in front of, sniffing the surrounding area. One of them raised their head and turned it toward us.

  “Let’s go.”

  I picked Chloe up in my arms and ran back toward the camp, getting there just as a roar escaped the forest behind me. Diane was first out of the cave we’d set up in, helping me lay Chloe down so she could check her over.

  “What happened?”

  I explained about the magic and panthers, while Chloe’s breathing improved, and by the time I finished, her breathing sounded normal again.

  “Saber-toothed panthers?” Remy asked from beside me. “I’ll go check. We don’t want them tracking us for another day. Kasey, you feel like pissing off some big cats?”

  The two of them set out to drive the cats away, hopefully without killing them. The cats weren’t doing anything wrong, but if it came down to it, I knew they’d end the problem permanently. We couldn’t risk those things coming after us again.

  “So, omega magic then?” Mordred said, a slight smile on his face as he leaned against the cave wall.

  “Not the time,” I told him.

  He ignored me. “Shadow magic is rare; much rarer than light. And you used it to escape—that’s quite impressive for a first-time use.”

  “My list of reasons for impressing you is so small you could put it on a pinhead,” I informed him. “Now piss off or go help track the panthers, but don’t bother me.”

  Mordred wandered off, humming the same tune I’d heard from him earlier, and I sat with Chloe while she recovered.

  “That wasn’t fun,” she said.

  “You feeling okay now?”

  “Tired. Wiped out, actually. Like I did when I first got here.”

  A bad feeling settled inside of my gut. “Can I see your hand again? Nice move with the magic, by the way.”

  She showed me the hand that had been cut. The wound was scabbing over, but it was still sore and didn’t look comfortable.

  “Thanks. I’ve been practicing.”

  “It shows. Although the fact that you’re using your own life force to do those things concerns me.”

  “I know. Olivia and Tommy said the same thing. I can’t practice my magic without using it, though. It’s not possible.”

  “Just be careful.”

  “I will. Thanks for earlier. And for saving my life and all of that.”

  “My pleasure. Let’s never have to do it again.”

  “Being chased through a forest by two massive cats is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, I hope.”

  I left Chloe to rest and found Diane snacking on some leftover rabbit. “There’s venom in her blood,” she said. “I can smell it in the wound.”

  “I figured it must be something along those lines,” I said.

  “My guess is that the tablet was coated in the stuff. She gets cut, and the venom is quickly in her body. Someone really did not want me to be around.”

  “You think it’ll get worse?”

  Diane shrugged. “Depends what the venom was. R
ight now, it’s making her tire quickly and giving her breathing difficulties. I assume her going through your shadow magic was exhausting for her, more so than you. Probably exacerbated the effects of the poison.”

  “We need to get her some help. And then when we get back, I’m going to find out who sent the tablet and feed about a gallon of that poison to them.”

  “Get in line.” Diane looked past me to Chloe. “That girl has been through more than most. Father vanishes, mother a psycho who nearly gets her killed. I’m amazed she’s as together as she is.”

  “I think having Kasey, Tommy, and Olivia in her life helps.”

  “And you, Nate. I think you underestimate just how much those kids look up to you.”

  “I am a fountain of knowledge.”

  “Oh, shut up,” Diane said with a chuckle. “They respect you, and value your opinion. I’ve seen you around Kasey, Chloe, and some of their friends. I think maybe you’re closer to having your own little squad of Hellequins than you ever realized.”

  “I’m training Kasey, and occasionally Chloe. That’s it.”

  “And don’t be surprised if that number grows over time. After Brutus, you’re probably one of the few people I’d follow into the deepest pits of hell itself if you asked. Just be careful. When you told the Avalon world that you’d train Kasey, that raised a lot of eyebrows. Not many people want two of you, Nate. One is usually enough.”

  “Yeah, I know. I don’t want to paint a bullseye on their heads, but some bad people are going to start making their move. Hell, some bad people have already begun. Kay is still out there. And if he comes for me, it’s going to be through the people I care about. I need to make sure people are prepared.”

  “We drove them off,” Remy said as they returned from their hunt.

  “They don’t like to be threatened,” Kasey said. “I tracked them for about half a mile. I doubt they’ll be coming back.”

  “We should still leave, just in case,” Remy chimed in.

  “How’s Chloe?” Kasey asked me, her voice low. “No bullshit.”

  “She’s got venom in her bloodstream,” I told her. “It’s not life-threatening, but I think that tablet had something on it that was meant to make Diane weak. Unfortunately, Chloe was the recipient. And considering Asag is still alive, it’s more than possible that the venom is from him. He’s certainly a much easier source of the stuff than trying to acquire it from elsewhere. If it is Asag, I’ve been affected by the same toxin in the past. She just needs rest and it should flush out of her system in a few days.”

  “And rest is the one thing we can’t give her until we get home,” Remy said. “We should get to the city quickly. We’d stand a better chance of fortifying ourselves against whatever is out there.”

  “I think there’s something at the city that Mordred doesn’t want to talk about,” I told them all, relaying my concern. “He’s a lot more skittish and preoccupied than usual. And Morgan won’t leave his side for long.”

  “Anything else you want to share?” Mordred asked as he left the cave. “And to answer your concern, yes, I’m worried about what’s up ahead, and no, I can’t tell you because I don’t know. I only know what was here when I was a resident.”

  “You want to tell us that, then?” Remy asked. “I know you’re evil and all, but getting us all killed is probably going to lower your own rate of survivability.”

  “Blood elves,” he said, the words full of fear.

  “What the hell are blood elves?” Kasey asked.

  Mordred shook his head and walked away.

  “Mordred, you need to tell us,” I called after him.

  He turned back to me, a smile on his face. “I didn’t like Final Fantasy X. It was too boring. Nine was good though, wasn’t it? So was seven, and there are seven of us. I like the number seven. It’s a good number.”

  I looked at everyone else. “What the hell are you talking about? The blood elves, Mordred. Concentrate on me, not on video games.”

  “I don’t know where they came from,” he almost shouted. “I don’t know why the dwarves fled from them. I don’t know anything about them. All I know is I was tortured by them every single day for a century. I was here, in the realm, for one hundred and thirty-three years, Nate. For a hundred and eighteen years I was in a dark cell, and for a hundred and twelve of those I was broken and healed every day. Without fail.

  “I didn’t even remember my own name by the time I escaped. And I don’t actually know how I did that, either. I don’t even know how I survived. I can’t remember if they asked me questions, or what they brutalized me for. All I remember is screaming and begging them to stop, and the laughter of those creatures as I did. And if those things—those utter, fucking monsters—are between us and home, then we might as well kill ourselves now, because it’ll be a damn sight quicker than what they’ll do to us.”

  CHAPTER 12

  After Mordred’s fear-filled outburst, it was decided to get to the city of Darim as quickly as possible, so we set off as soon as Chloe felt well enough to do so. Chloe took the news of her poisoning well, especially considering she was in the wrong realm to positively identify the poison or poisoner. She appeared even more determined not to let it stop her.

  The plan had been to get to Darim before nightfall, primarily because Mordred informed everyone that if we thought those panthers were bad, they were nothing compared to what hunted in the forest at night. I remembered some of the tales I’d heard when I was last here. I didn’t want to find out how true all of that was.

  “So how old were you when you were here?” Kasey asked as we reached the apex of a hill that led down to the town. The sun was beginning to set, and it felt like we were making good time, although Chloe was being carried by Diane so that the young witch could rest.

  “About thirty-five,” I told her. “I came to talk to some of the blacksmiths here; Merlin wanted to use their arms to supply Avalon. Dwarvish steel is stronger than titanium, and only they know how they make it.”

  “What made them so special?”

  “Dwarves? They were alchemists. All of them. But to a level I’ve never seen in any non-dwarf alchemist. The dwarves didn’t just manipulate matter; they improved it, and were able to craft items, imbuing them with magical abilities. Merlin wanted to know how, and we never got an answer. Presumably it’s the crystals that allow it to happen.”

  “Maybe we can find one of them and ask.”

  I shook my head. “The dwarves vanished en masse about fourteen hundred years ago. They just all upped and left. The realm gates that did work on earth no longer work, or were broken—which isn’t even meant to be possible. The guardians vanished, too. No one knows where the dwarves went, or why, or even how. There were at least a million dwarves living in this realm, across seven massive dwarven cities. Being able to move so many people must have taken planning, and a big effort. But it was as if they just disappeared. It’s a mystery that a lot of people in Avalon have tried to solve, and no one has ever gotten close to figuring it out.”

  “Maybe we will,” Kasey said with glee. “We could be the first people to truly know what happened.”

  “Unless some people don’t want anyone else to know what happened.”

  Kasey’s brow furrowed. “Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe the dwarves never left?”

  “They definitely left,” Mordred said as he walked past us. “Trust me on that.”

  Mordred had gotten a few more steps in front when Kasey said, “Why do you hate Nate so much? Why do you want him dead?”

  “It’s a long story,” Mordred replied.

  “You’re never going to be able to kill him. You know that, right?”

  Mordred briefly looked back at Kasey and me. “Child, you have no idea. I know you think you’re going to protect Nate from me, from whatever I do to him, but you won’t. So, don’t get hurt, and just stay out of things you don’t need to be involved in.”

  A low growl emanated from Kasey’s th
roat, and I placed a hand on her arm to calm her, while every part of me wanted to grab Mordred and tear his head clean off.

  Mordred stopped walking, and turned to Kasey. “You’re still young. You don’t understand.”

  “I understand you’re a monster.”

  He nodded. “Yes. That’s true. I am a monster—have been for a long time. Will be for a long time to come. Nate and I have done this dance for centuries, one always getting the upper hand on the other, and vice versa. The dance has to finish sometime. We can’t go on like this forever. I refuse to allow that to happen. But not now, and not here. So stop trying to bait me, stop trying to get under my skin. Better people than you have tried, trust me. Better people than you have failed.”

  “I really don’t like him,” Kasey said as Mordred walked off.

  Remy stood beside me. “Trust me, you’re not alone in that opinion. The man is the walking, talking equivalent of a gaping dick-hole.”

  Kasey tried to stop her laughter, but ended up having some sort of mild coughing fit.

  “Really?” I said to Remy.

  “When the word fits, my friend. When the word fits.”

  “I think we have a problem,” Diane said as she left the trees surrounding us to join the path we were walking on.

  “What is it?” Mordred asked, having stopped walking and turned back to us.

  “I didn’t see anyone in the town.”

  “As expected.” Mordred began walking off again.

  “As expected?” I asked as I caught him up, with everyone else behind me.

  “Did you think that whatever drove the dwarves away wouldn’t attack other cities and settlements?”

  “Blood elves?”

  Mordred looked at each person in the group before settling his gaze back on me. “Yes.”

  “Can you tell us anything else about them? Do they fly? Do they shoot lightning bolts? Anything?”

  “Don’t mock me, Nathan. This is neither the time nor the place for it.”

  “You should tell us when the time and place is,” Remy said, “because we’d quite like to write it down so we remember.”

  Mordred gave Remy a look of pure malevolence before starting his journey down the hill.