The back of my shirt was scorched and was hot to the touch as I found my feet unsteadily.
“Are you insane?” Lucy was yelling as she came running toward us. “I told you that was a last resort.”
“Yeah, well it worked,” Craig argued with a shrug. He kicked at a huge hunk of roasted snake. “Hungry?” He smirked as I glowered at him, sheathing my sword and looking around at the damage. The entire field was nothing, but blackened ruin now, a few small fires burning here and there.
“Think they saw that back at the castle?”
“Possible.”
“Boris, send a messenger back and let the castle know we’re alive and there’s no need to send a party to check on us.” I turned to another of my guard. “How many did we lose?”
Craig’s somber face matched my own as we walked down the road, seeing the dead and dying lined up. We hadn’t even reached Baladon’s dimension yet, and we had dead to burn.
Three demons were succumbing to the venom of those snakes. They would be dead in minutes. Five of my own were dead, two still shifted in wolf form. I closed their eyes, laying my hand on their foreheads and saying the blessings of our pack before rising, praying for our ancestors to guide them home, and asking those still alive to load the dead into the supply wagon and return to the castle with the messenger Boris was to send.
The supplies we still needed we divided amongst the surviving horses. I helped carry the dead, and once they were on their way back, and the last of the fires had died out, Craig and I stood shoulder to shoulder watching until the wagon disappeared around the bend in the road.
Lucy had tried to stop the venom from spreading, but it moved too quickly. The demons had passed painfully, but at least it was over quickly. She hung her head, wiping a tear from her cheek before she cleared her throat loudly and mounted back up.
“We need to keep going,” Craig said.
“This is not how I hoped to start this trip,” I muttered, finding my horse amongst the others and pulling myself up into the saddle. “Stay alert. I doubt this is the only surprise Baladon has for us.”
Craig and I led the column of riders, and we set off into the darkness once again, leaving behind a trail of snake corpses and a field that would forever be poisoned by their evil existence.
“We’ll make camp here,” I told Boris as we dismounted and stared into the trees where Lucy said the seam was still intact. “Let everyone get a few hours of sleep and then we’ll find out if the god of monsters is home or not.”
“You think he’s got any more guardians in there?” Craig asked.
“Only one way to find out. Get some rest.”
I helped set up camp, took my few furs and my saddle, propped them up in front of a small fire, and rested my hands behind my head. My eyes closed, and I started to drift off to sleep, more exhausted than I thought I’d be from the fight. I imagined I was back at the castle with Sabella curled up at my side as we talked about nothing that really mattered…
“What are you so worried about?”
I blinked and found myself sitting in my chambers with Sabella resting her head on my chest. We were lying in bed, and she stared up at me, running her fingers over the worry lines on my forehead.
“This is a dream, right?”
“Probably. Why are you so worried?” she asked again.
I caught her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Why am I not is the better question,” I sighed. “What am I supposed to do?”
“You’re asking the crazy person for advice? Wow, good thing this is a dream.”
“Why do you think I don’t trust you?” I whispered.
“I can’t answer that.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because I am you right now, this is all up here,” she said, poking me in the forehead. “You’ll have to ask the real Sabella that question when you get back.”
“If she’ll talk to me.”
“She will, but right now you need to focus on the fight ahead.”
“I don’t want to wake up from this moment.” I hugged her closer and would’ve sworn it was really Sabella I held in my arms. “Promise me you’ll be there waiting for me.”
“Tristan?”
I frowned, staring into those eyes.
The surprised look on her face said this was no longer just a dream.
“You’re really here?”
She glanced around and started to pull back, but I held onto her. “I hurt you, I can’t be here.”
“It was an accident. You weren’t yourself.” I cupped her face gently in my hands, forcing her to look at me and hated the guilt I saw staring back at me. “You and I are far from over with, you know that, right?”
She leaned into my touch, kissing my palm. “I wish it was that easy…” Her words trailed away and then she was gone, and the dream shattered.
I opened my eyes, the warmth of her body pressed against mine, but she wasn’t here.
The small fire crackled away at my feet, and I hunkered down for a few more hours of restless sleep.
“Wait for me,” I whispered to the night one more time as I shut my eyes again, willing the breeze to carry my words back to Sabella.
6
Sabella
Tristan.”
His hands. I felt them holding my face, but he wasn’t here. He was gone, and it was nothing more than a dream.
I rolled over on the large bed, reaching out for a warm body that I’d gotten used to falling asleep next to. The silence pressed in around me, and I finally gave up, climbed out of bed, and paced out onto the balcony.
We’d seen the explosion, Kate and I. We’d been standing on my balcony when those flames erupted, and both of us clung to the other, wondering if we’d just lost the two people we cared for most. That we loved.
Hank had come up to check on us and say he was about to ride out with the rest of my guard to see what happened. I’d told him to be careful, and then he was off.
We’d waited impatiently for them to return, but then they were back, the supply wagon that had left with Tristan bumbling along behind. Their heads hung, and my heart had dropped to the floor. Kate and I raced out the door and down the stairs, needing to see who was dead.
Craig and Tristan were alive, but we had lost more warriors.
Hank, and the rest of the shifters suddenly turned to me about what to do.
“They need pyres,” Danielle whispered helpfully in my ear. “And the demons, they’re for Kate to see to.”
I’d nodded and gave the order, my first true order as queen and beta while Tristan was gone.
The one shifter who returned alive told us what transpired on the road.
I’d walked to the gate, Hank right behind me, and stared down the road.
Tristan was alive. For now.
And as I stood on the balcony again, his touch lingering and his words ringing in my ears, I clutched at my arms and sent my own message to him, hoping he would forgive me for what I was about to do.
I was not going to risk hurting him again, or anyone else for that matter. “I’m sorry,” I said to the night then turned around and hurried back to my rooms. I changed into more comfortable riding clothes and grabbed a leather saddle bag from the wardrobe. I threw in an extra pair of boots, breeches, two shirts, and made sure the dagger I had was at my hip. I braided my hair back and crossed through the hall to Tristan’s rooms. I searched around for the map I’d seen and as I rolled it up, realized I had to at least leave him a note of some kind. Leaving without saying anything was wrong.
“What are you doing?”
I jumped and spun around.
Kate stood in the adjoining doorway.
“Nothing.”
“Liar. You’re leaving, aren’t you?”
I tucked the map at my waist and picked up a quill and a piece of scrap parchment from the table. “I don’t have a choice, and you know it. I have to figure out how to control these visions. And this Hansi, he might know something about Baladon
. And, well, Tristan… it’s just better if I’m not here when he gets back.”
“You almost sound like you believe those words,” she said as she walked into the room.
My hand with the quill froze. “I do believe them.”
“No, you don’t. He’s going to be pissed when he gets back and realizes you’ve left.”
“Yeah, well, this was never going to work out. He’s just too stubborn to say it himself,” I mumbled. “This is what’s best for both of us. Trust me.” I tried not to meet her gaze as she walked around the table. “I can’t drag him down with me.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded. “Sabella, look at me.”
I did, and she flinched at whatever she saw on my face.
“You saw something, didn’t you,” she whispered. “It can’t be that bad, can it?”
“It’s nothing.”
“That’s bullshit. Who did you see?” When I didn’t answer, she snatched the parchment away from me. “Did you see Tristan?”
“Don’t make this difficult,” I muttered.
“What did you see that’s making you run away?”
“I’m running to save him,” I shouted. “I won’t… I won’t be the reason he falls apart. I can’t. If I leave now, if I make him see we aren’t meant to be together, then when… when it happens, when the end comes…” I couldn’t get the rest of the words out and fell into the nearest chair, holding my head in my hands.
Kate crouched in front of me. “You saw your own death? Is that what you’re telling me?”
I sat back, running my hands down my face, annoyed. “I don’t know what I saw exactly, but I was dead, and Tristan… he let the curse take him, but Kate… I wasn’t the only one I saw dead,” I whispered. “But that’s why I’m leaving. If I’m not here, if I can find a way to stop Baladon, then no one else has to get hurt.”
“Tell me what you saw.”
“No.”
“Sabella, please, I think I have a right to know.”
I took a deep breath then relayed everything I saw in that vision. When I finished, she was handing the parchment back to me, a dark look in her eyes.
“What are you doing?”
“Write your letter to Tristan, and then I’m going to have to borrow that quill. I’m coming with you.”
“Kate—”
She held up her hand. “No, the second Tristan or Craig catch wind of what you saw, we’ll both be on lockdown. We’ll sneak out tonight, head to Silver Valley, and find this Hansi. If he can help you with your visions, get you to tap into your power, then we’ll have a few shreds of hope, right?” She sat in the other chair as I put the quill back to the page and pondered over what to tell Tristan.
I settled on the simplest version of what I was feeling and folded the letter, writing his name on it, then handed Kate the quill.
She took her letter and said she was going to leave it in her and Craig’s room and she’d meet me down at the stables.
I set the letter for Tristan on his pillow and walked back to my chambers, grabbed my saddle bag, and left my room.
I was halfway toward the main stairs when Hank called out to me.
“What are you doing?” he asked, running to catch up. He spied the saddle bag and tried to reach for it.
I yanked it away.
“Sabella.”
“Don’t. You can either come with me or stay here, but I have to do this, alright?”
“You expect me to just let you leave alone?”
“Who said I was going alone?” I started for the stairs again. “Kate’s coming with me.”
“Are you two insane? The second Craig and Tristan return they’ll go after you both.”
“Yeah, I know, but it’s worth the risk right now.”
“You’re killing me,” he grumbled, but followed along behind. “I’m coming with you both.”
“Fine, but don’t be a pain. We’re doing this whether you like it or not.”
He kept mumbling under his breath, but I kept my gaze focused straight ahead, hurrying to the stables, where I saddled up on one of the few remaining horses.
Hank did the same, and I heard footsteps coming not too long after. Kate stepped into the barn and right behind her was Greyson.
“I hear you are taking my advice after all,” the sorcerer said. “And I’m also going to assume King Tristan has no knowledge of your leaving.”
“No, not even close,” I said. “Still want to come?”
“You are the daughter of Crane, a man I was close to for a very long time. What kind of man would I be if I did not aid you in your time of need?”
“Tristan’s not going to be happy.”
“Then I suggest we leave before he comes back,” Greyson said with a wink.
The four of us mounted up and filed out of the stables behind Hank, one by one.
I waited for another shifter to call us back, but then we were out the gate, and on the road, headed toward Silver Valley.
I thought of the words I left for Tristan and willed him to understand why I left him. My chest ached horribly. Kate assumed I was merely leaving him to figure out about my visions and find out what we could about Baladon.
In truth, the pack life and I did not go well together, and as much as I’d come to love Tristan, I couldn’t keep making his life miserable, no matter how much leaving hurt me.
One day, he’d understand.
If he was still alive.
7
Tristan
Lucy had another crystal trap set and ready to go just outside where the seam to the pocket dimension resided.
I left six shifters behind to guard her while the rest of us, after tying a rope to a tree, took the other end and stepped into the stone maze once again. As soon as we were through, I crouched low beside Craig, our fighters doing the same behind us.
“You remember how to get there?” he asked me.
“Sadly,” I replied, and after listening intently for a few minutes, started forward.
The stone maze hadn’t changed from the last time we were here.
I stepped carefully around the destroyed columns from when Forrest and I had tried to take down the stone statue, then continued onward. I waited to hear that dreadful dragging sound of bone whips on stone, but the maze was eerily silent.
Craig followed me without question as I sniffed the air and wove us through the columns, deeper into the maze.
“We never did figure out what those symbols meant,” I said, pointing out the writings on one of the actual walls in this place. “Nor did we see what was inside the ruins.”
“If Baladon is here, why don’t we just ask him?”
“Oh, yeah, that’d be a great conversation to have. I’m sure he’d love to tell us everything,” I muttered.
I paused suddenly, glancing back through the stone columns.
Lilac. I sniffed the air more intently, but then it was gone.
“Tristan?”
“Sorry, it’s nothing.”
The dream I had last night had seemed so real. I half-expected to see Sabella show up anyway, despite what I ordered her to do, but when I opened my eyes, it was Boris nudging me awake. No sign of Sabella anywhere. I hated myself for wishing she would’ve defied me again and shown up anyway, just so I could have her by my side. As much trouble as she seemed to get herself into, she was a welcome presence when there was I chance I was walking into danger.
“There it is,” Craig whispered behind me.
I glanced up.
The ruined castle stood silent, but the front door was hanging open, and there was no guardian standing outside it this time. We hung back for a few moments before I motioned for Craig and I to go first and check it out. Cautiously, we crept closer then climbed the stairs and reached the front door. He peered inside then nodded, and I rushed in, turning to the right as he took the left, putting our bodies back to back. I sniffed the air, but all I smelled was staleness and dust.
“Clear the
main level first,” I said.
Craig nodded as he turned.
Together, we moved into the room that Baladon had been in when Sabella tried to destroy him.
The doorway was destroyed, nothing but a massive hole in the wall. A giant, iron cage was in the center of the room, and Craig growled when he saw it. Thankfully, it was empty this time, and there appeared to be no sign of Baladon or any of his shadow minions here.
We cleared the entire first level then darted upstairs to the only room holding more cells. The place had been vacated.
Craig said he was going to go call in the others as I headed back to the room with the cage. There were more writings carved into the walls there. I ran my fingers over them, but the language was beyond me. It was probably the language of the gods, and the only half god I knew was not here to help us translate.
Lucy might be able to help a bit, but she told me when this all started their knowledge of Baladon was slim to nothing.
The floor was covered in dust and dirt, dead leaves, and spatters of dark, black blood. I reached to press my fingers to some of it, but it was only stained into the stone. Nothing fresh. Still, it gave me hope that Baladon could be wounded. This had to be from the attack Sabella made against him. I followed the trail around the cage toward the stone archway that led into a smaller room we already cleared. Here, I found nothing but a pedestal with a metal tripod, as if something had sat atop it until it was taken away. I waved my hand through the empty air just in case, but that’s all there was, air.
“Find anything?” Craig asked, walking around the room the opposite direction.
“What do you think was here?” I asked him.
“Dunno, but I doubt whatever it was bodes good news for us.”
I studied the tripod a few minutes longer before I turned back to investigate the rest of the room. Aside from more dead leaves and dirt, there was nothing but that pedestal.
“What’s this?”
Visions (Dragon Reign Book 7) Page 6
