“A little warning about our curse,” Phelon said, with a lisp. “Any transfer of our bodily fluids, say saliva, blood, urine, or whatever, can infect humans, and turn them into Wolfen. It’s hard for a Wolfen not to devour their lover after copulating with a human. But don’t get me wrong, that’s not what this is about. We dine on humans because we love the taste of blood—it’s in our nature. You already saw what happens when you get a little taste, Taliesin. My ear and tongue will regrow; that’s the benefit of being cursed, at least for us.” His eyes gleamed as he quivered with excitement. “When the tide comes in, it floods this particular room, because the drain in your cell and right outside your door allows the sea to enter the dungeon. Before morning, you’ll drown, unless you turn and free yourself from your chains. But if you turn, you’ll eat Orell and then you’ll eat your friends and then, if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to break through this door and free yourself.”
“I won’t turn,” Taliesin said. “I won’t do it!”
“Oh, yes, I forgot to mention I have Lenora locked in one of the towers. I’m going to eat her as a snack at midnight. You have until then to get out.” Phelon licked his lips as he stepped away from the door, and whistled a tune that faded along with the Wolfmen’s footsteps.
“You’re Wolfen,” Hawk said, once he thought it safe to speak. “You’ve been bitten and they made you drink human blood. Why aren’t you turning?”
“I was bitten yesterday,” Taliesin stated. “I haven’t turned yet.”
Rook turned toward Wren. “The tide comes in at early evening,” he said. “We won’t have long to wait. I’m so sorry, Wren. I should have told you who I was the first day we met; I should have told you then how much I love you, and every day after.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Wren said, in a tiny voice. “I love you, too.”
“You can’t let us drown, Taliesin,” Rook said. “Orell, get up and try to unlock the manacles. There has to be something sharp you can find to use.” The envoy got up, his robes drenched and heavy, and began searching the cell. Rook continued. “Taliesin, listen to me. You may be cursed, but you are still the Sha’tar, and that’s why you haven’t turned. Use that same power to break your chains and then free us. All you have to do is believe in yourself. If you believe you can do this, we can be out of the cell before the water is over our heads. Use your magic, not your anger. Just concentrate and use your will power to set us free. It can work. I know it can. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I know what a sha’tar can do, but you have to believe in yourself.”
“I knew it!” Hawk swore and cast his eyes to the ceiling. “Why didn’t you tell us this long ago, Rook? Instead of being silent, you should have been training Taliesin. Now my sister is pregnant with your child, and we’re going to die. Where is Zarnoc when you need him? If he was here, he could free us.”
“He went after Roland,” Taliesin said.
“I intend to marry your sister,” Rook said, his voice strong and steady. He gazed at Wren and tried to lean over far enough to be a little bit closer. “If you will have me as your husband, my dear Wren. Will you be my wife?”
“Yes. Of course,” Wren sobbed. “It’s not meant to end here. It can’t. I saw Jaelle holding our child in a royal court beside a throne. Our child must be born, for my visions never lie, Rook. They always come true. You know that they do.”
Jaelle gave Wren a reassuring smile. “Then it’s up to Taliesin to free us.” She looked at Taliesin. Orell had returned, unable to find anything useful, and gave them a frantic look, ran to the door, pressed his face against the bars, and shouted for help.
The water steadily flowed into the prison cell over the next hour, and crept up their legs to their waists. The water came in cold and fast as the sun started to set, and the moon began to rise. Taliesin watched the silver light stream through the window high above as the water washed in, rising fast. Her anger had faded. She tried to will herself to use her magic, but didn’t know how; nothing happened, and when her friends’ desperate looks turned to resentment, she’d stopped looking at them. She’d watched Orell scream himself hoarse, remaining at the door, never turning back to talk to anyone. There was nothing to say. Taliesin knew Wren would drown first; she was the shortest, and when she finally looked at her friends, the water had already reached the girl’s shoulders. Wren stared at Taliesin with tears in her eyes, and trembling from the cold and fear.
“I dreamed of this,” Wren said. “I knew I would drown here.”
“You also said you saw yourself holding Rook’s baby,” snapped Hawk. He glared at Rook. “I swear, if you do not marry my sister when we get out of here, I am going to kill you. Somehow, this is your entire fault; you shouldn’t keep secrets from people.”
“I hate my father,” Rook said. “He’s a cruel man. I thought it best if none of you knew who I was, since I never intend to go home. My father has other sons to pick as his heir.”
“You never lived on the Isle of Valen,” Wren said. She lifted her chin, trying to keep it above water, and stood on her tiptoes. “I’d have liked to have lived there. You never said you came from Valen; we just assumed you did, because of your tattoos.”
Jaelle splashed about. “How long does it take the Wolfen to gain super-human strength? If we’re going to survive, Taliesin, you must turn and free us. I don’t believe you’ll eat us once you turn. You saw how strong Phelon is. You are that strong, too.”
“I don’t know,” Taliesin said. “I’ve been trying hard not to turn. I feel a tingle in my arms and legs. It might be because I’m cold. It might be because for the last hour I have thought of nothing but using my magic to release our chains. I want Rook to be right about me, but it feels otherwise. If I could lose my temper, if I could feel anger, then I think I may be able to break free. Maybe.”
“Say something to anger her,” Wren said, gulping. “Hurry!”
“I’ve never liked you, Taliesin. You’re ugly and stupid and shallow,” Hawk said, using his nastiest voice. “You found Ringerike, but you were too weak and girlish to put up a fight, and you let them capture you. Roland never loved you. He was using you from the start, just like we were, hoping we could make a profit selling magical swords. But you can’t even do that. You let Osprey die. You let our clan die. Now you’re going to let us die. You led us into this trap, and you’re the one responsible.”
Taliesin shook her head. She knew it was acting.
“And to think I loved you.” Jaelle glared at Taliesin, giving her the same murderous look she had at the gypsy camp, reminding Taliesin that she held her cards close and acted upon principles that were all her own. She was far more convincing than Hawk when she spoke in an accusatory tone. “I trusted you! We all did! I thought you were going to be our savior, but I couldn’t be more wrong. You are no sha’tar. You are not Wolfen. You are useless!”
“Yes. Useless,” Taliesin said, a growl rising in her throat. “Killing a snake god counts for nothing. Ringerike is surely at the bottom of the sea now. Our quest is a failure. Raven Clan is no more. Tell me how much you hate me. Say it and mean it!”
“I hate you,” Rook said. “You’ve killed us all. I curse the day you were ever born.”
“As do I,” Hawk said, in a savage voice. “You’re nothing but a coward. Too afraid to turn Wolfen. Afraid since you were a little girl. Afraid because the king ordered your father murdered. That’s what Grudge told me—the man you chose instead of me. He said the king sent knights to your home that night, and they slit your father’s throat and bled him dry. Grudge knows because he was there and saw it happen. He’s the one who slit your father’s...”
Taliesin felt rage wash over her. Mandrake murdered. The king had ordered it, and Grudge had slit his throat. She started to jerk at her chains. Grudge had done it. Not Roland, not the man she’d loved, but the man who had infiltrated their clan, lied to her, tricked her into being his friend, and all the while, he had blood on his hands. Mandrake’s blood. Blood, blood, b
lood. Her head throbbed and her heart pounded. She closed her eyes and summoned whatever power she possessed, willing herself to turn. She tasted again human blood and suddenly wanted to taste far more. She could see Wren going under the water, see it rising over her head. With a scream of rage, Taliesin pushed forward, pulling at the chains, and wanting to kill everyone who had ever kept a secret from her.
A giant spasm went through her body, and with a final tug Taliesin yanked one arm free and then the other. The chains on her legs came off easier. She dove under the water and swam to Wren. The girl had sunk to the floor, eyes closed and little bubbles rising from her mouth. Taliesin ripped the chains out of the wall, kicked off the floor, and swam to the surface with the limp girl. “Breathe! Breathe!” Taliesin gave Wren a squeeze. A burst of water shot from the girl’s mouth, and her eyelids flickered open. One look at Taliesin and she let out a hideous scream and nearly sank beneath the water again.
Taliesin pushed Wren to the wall where she grasped a protruding rock to hold her head above water. Taliesin saw the water cover Jaelle’s head and went to help her. The ease with which she yanked the chains out of the wall filled her with a feeling of invincibility. Taliesin pushed the gypsy girl to the surface where she also found a rock in the wall to hold on to. The next person she freed was Hawk; it was a decision she consciously made, not caring if an Erindor duke’s son died or not, but she did care about Hawk. Whatever Hawk saw frightened him, and he pushed away from Taliesin and swam toward the door. She found Rook submerged as the water surged in. She braced a foot against the wall, yanked off two chains at a time, and thrust Rook upwards, seeing him break the surface as she followed him. Once on the surface, she saw Orell swimming beside her friends, while his dead brother lay face down on the surface of the water, drifting toward the wall and drifting away again.
“Stay away from us,” Hawk shouted.
Ignoring the urge to tear his head off, Taliesin dove underwater and swam to the door. She braced herself and kicked the door, buckling it in the middle. Pulling it inward, she entered the corridor and swam to the surface. Two feet of air space was left. Diving, she grabbed the large iron grate. It had to weigh over five hundred pounds, yet with a slight tug, she tore it off the opening and dropped it to the floor. Seeing clearly through the seawater, she spotted eight kicking legs; the swimmers had helped the non-swimmers through the cell door, but one person hadn’t made it out. Orell. She saw his drowned body slowly drifting to the floor. Able to discern the people above her by their footwear, Taliesin chose the weakest to take out the underwater tunnel. One clawed hand closed around Wren’s ankle, and the kicking that ensued resulted in a fierce tug that submerged the girl completely. Taliesin wrapping her furry arms around the smaller girl’s body and swam through the drain with the speed of a shark, passing under the wall through a large opening and surfacing in seconds.
Taliesin towed Wren until her feet touched bottom, released her, swam a few feet away, and pointed at the shoreline with a long finger that sported a yellow claw. The girl mouthed the words ‘thank you’ and started to wade to shore. Two heads breached the surface, gasped for breath, and headed toward dry land as Rook again assisted Jaelle in the water. Hawk was nowhere to be seen.
Taliesin knew he hadn’t followed. She dove and headed back to the dark tunnel, the bright blue water turning murky as she entered the moss-lined opening. She looked through the tunnel and into the water-filled corridor and saw a body was pressed against the ceiling with its head in a rapidly-shrinking air bubble. It was Hawk, and he didn’t have much air left. She grabbed him around the middle with a hairy arm and yanked his body against her own. Clawed fingers pinched his nose and a monstrous palm covered his mouth. With a hard push off against the wall, she swam through the tunnel.
Surfacing from the tunnel, Taliesin held Hawk’s head above the water as she swam through the waves and glided onto the warm, dry sand. Her friends hurried over and pulled Hawk away from Taliesin as she crouched on all fours, stretched her spine, and gave a loud growl.
“Hawk’s not breathing!” Wren cried.
The girl pounded on her brother’s chest, only to be pushed aside by Taliesin, now returned to human form. Rook, Jaelle, and Wren watched as she placed her hands on Hawk’s chest, pushed three times, paused, and breathed into his mouth. She repeated the maneuver several times and breathed life into his body. Energy flowed from her body and entering Hawk’s through her hands pressed against his chest—the magic of the sha’tar—and a white glimmer appeared around his body. Hawk responded in an instant. Seawater gurgled out of his mouth, and he coughed hard, his eyes catching hold of Taliesin’s gaze.
“You saved me,” Hawk whispered.
Taliesin gave a nod and stood as a strange feeling grew in the pit of her stomach, something akin to being ravenous. Her attention turned to the castle as a trumpet blared, and she was vaguely aware of troops landing on the beach. Countless boats pulled onto the sand and armored men shouted as they ran along a paved road toward the castle doors. As she stared at the banners rippling in the breeze, a hand touched her bare shoulder.
“Are you all right?” Jaelle asked.
Taliesin let out a soft growl and pushed Jaelle aside. A strong urge to sink her teeth into Jaelle’s throat fought to take control of her senses. “Don’t touch me,” she groaned. “For the love of Navenna, don’t touch me, Jaelle. I’m dangerous. You saw me turn. I’m a monster. I can’t be around any of you. Not anymore. I’m sorry, but I must go.”
Somewhere along the shoreline, as she ran along the sand on bare feet, she morphed into a giant red wolf, the sea spray on her furry back and the scent of fish and ocean strong in her nostrils. Ringerike no longer seemed important, no more than Thalagar, her friends, or Roland. Taliesin had to keep going, to find a safe place to hide; she didn’t care if it was a forest, a mountain, or anywhere else, as long as it was far away from Caladonia.
* * * * *
Epilogue
Unaware of the distance traveled, Taliesin stopped running when she spotted the white-capped mountains that bordered the kingdoms of Caladonia and Gorum. A winding road seen in the pale moonlight led to a small ruin of a shack that lay at the base of a rocky cliff. The shack was in poor condition, and a single yellow light appeared in the window, a flickering flame from a slender candle, as a face peered through the dirty panes. She loped toward the shack on all fours, but as the door opened, she morphed into a human. Still on all fours, she lifted her head as a familiar figure appeared in the threshold. Her long hair was gray, her eyes pale, her face that of a crone.
Ysemay the Beguiling laughed as Taliesin stood and walked toward her.
“Now that you have found me, Raven Mistress, we will begin your training in earnest,” the witch said. “I shall either make a sha’tar out of you, my dear, or find a collar and chain strong enough to hold you.”
“Why do you help me?” Taliesin asked. She heard her voice, human, but still it seemed strange to her ears. She lifted her hands to her face. Human hands, at least for now.
“Two women alone cannot fare well in a man’s world,” Ysemay replied. “But the two of us together could make a difference. I would take revenge on those men who brought me harm in the past, and I think you are like me, and you want to do the same. Your clan must be avenged, Raven Mistress. Are we not of the same mind? Shall we help one another, for the night is cold and dark, and only one light offers you welcome; mine.”
“Yes,” Taliesin said. “I accept your offer, Ysemay.”
Weariness settled in her muscles and bones as Taliesin spread out on the floor beside a barren fireplace that sparked to life, warm and golden, and closed her eyes. A blanket was thrown over her slender, nude form, and she wondered what morning would bring. But her sleep was harrowed by images of the past; a clan devoured by wolves, a tall knight fighting zombie lizard men, a dark-haired prince with an infectious smile, and an old wizard, holding an orange cat, who laughed when he caught her gaze.
�
��Fear not,” Zarnoc said, “for we will meet again—very soon.”
* * * * *
About the Author
Susanne L. Lambdin is the author of the Dead Hearts series of novels. A Trekkie at heart, she received a ‘based in part’ screen credit for writing a portion of Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 4, Episode 76, titled ‘Family’. She is passionate about all things science fiction, horror, and high fantasy. Susanne is an expert on the subject of zombies, and is affectionately known by many of her fans as ‘The Zombie Lady.’ She lives in Kansas with her family and two dogs.
To contact Susanne and to learn more about her current and upcoming projects, visit www.SusanneLambdin.com or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susanne.lambdin
For more information about forthcoming releases from Theogony Books, join the mailing list at http://chriskennedypublishing.com.
ALSO BY SUSANNE L. LAMBDIN
REALM OF MAGIC SERIES:
Seeker of Magic
Mistress of Magic (Coming Soon)
Queen of Magic (Coming Soon)
THE DEAD HEARTS SERIES:
Morbid Hearts
Forsaken Hearts
Vengeful Hearts
Defiant Hearts
Immortal Hearts (Coming Soon)
Seeker of Magic Page 47
