by Laken Cane
Cree held her pale, knotted hand to her chest and panted as she stumbled along at Rune’s side.
“Z,” Rune muttered. “Z, and kill the witch.”
Tracking the witch shouldn’t be hard. It was Skyll she walked upon, after all. It was Skyll inside her.
Skyll would know where the witch was.
But when she reached the top and glanced back over her shoulder, she sank to the ground, the witch forgotten.
“Oh,” she whispered, and pressed her hand to her mouth. “Oh, my God.”
Below her, in the midst of the valiantly fighting guards and newly released prisoners, Strad Matheson wielded his spear like the mad, raging berserker he was.
And Lex was right beside him.
Part Four
No One
Chapter Forty-Two
“Berserker,” she whispered. Then, louder, until she was screaming his name. Screaming the name of the one with whom she found the silence. “Berserker!”
She stood, somehow, but her legs were like water and her heart was in her throat.
He knocked people out of his way, his mind on nothing but getting to her. Getting to her. He ran, streaking through the fighters like lightning through a dark, cloudy sky, his big body moving faster than one would have believed possible.
And she knew why.
He was Other.
Her berserker was fucking Other.
Hadn’t she always known it, really?
Had he?
Cree Stark stepped up beside her.
Rune turned back to Strad. He would reach her in a few short minutes, but it seemed like an eternity. She wanted to run to meet him but she could not move.
Lex broke free of the fighters, yelling with joy, and chased after Strad.
Lex, healthy, fighting, and alive.
“Strad,” Cree whispered, her voice so full of heartache and regret Rune could not stand close to her.
So she stepped away, waiting, watching.
Her berserker.
When he was mere yards away and she opened her arms, ready for him.
He yanked her to him, wrapped his arms around her, and murmured her name.
Over and over.
Much as Z had done.
Had she been a weaker woman he would have crushed her, such was his embrace.
She closed her eyes and lay against him, inhaling his warm, familiar scent, something inside her easing.
Berserker.
“They hurt you,” he said, his voice at once rough and soft and overjoyed and dismayed.
“God,” she said. “Berserker.”
“Strad,” Cree whispered, holding out a tentative hand. “They hurt me, too.”
Then Lex barreled into Rune and Strad, sobbing and laughing at the same time. “We found you. Oh, God, we found you.”
Rune closed her eyes, wrapped up in the berserker and Lex, and let herself believe for a second that she was back in her world and her crew surrounded her.
They smelled of home.
She wept with joy, with pure, unadulterated joy, and dug her clawless fingers into their warm, real flesh.
She could easily have stood there all day.
But she got herself under control and pulled away from them. There was no time to fall apart in the warm circle of the berserker’s arms. “Damascus is still out there. I have to find her and end this now.”
“Let’s go,” Lex said. “Let’s end that bitch.”
The berserker nodded, his stare eating up her face.
“Lex,” Rune said suddenly. “You’re alive. You’re fucking alive. How?”
“We’ve been searching for you,” Lex said. “I was…” she glanced at Strad.
“She was pretty much dead,” he said. “I was sure she was gone.” His tone was expressionless. His eyes were not.
“When we were thrown off the path, I was cured. It took a little while because I was so very sick. But I could feel it spreading through me, killing the rot.” She pressed her fist to her lips as tears sprang to her eyes.
Rune squeezed her hand. “We have to find the witch. Then there will be time for catching up.” She looked at Strad. “You never rotted?”
He shook his head. “Rune, I—”
“Time for that later. It doesn’t matter right now.”
Standing before her were two more reasons for her to never leave. To begin all over in a new world. A world meant for her.
Strad.
Lex.
And…
“Z is here,” she said. “Z is in Skyll.”
“Rune,” Strad said. There was nothing in his eyes but a quiet gladness.
She smiled, then lost her smile just as quickly. “I can’t find him. The witch had him in a cage before she captured me. I don’t know where he is or if he’s…”
“First we’ll deal with that ugly bitch Damascus,” Lex said, “then we’ll find Z.”
“Lex.” Rune frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Lex nodded, but looked away.
Strad squeezed her shoulder, gently. “Are you? What the fuck did they do to you?” But he kept his voice calm. The rage was in his eyes. “Who hurt you?”
“She spent some time with the crawlers,” Cree murmured. “The witch’s crawlers.”
Rune shuddered at the sudden, vivid image, then leaned forward and put her hands on her knees.
Strad blew out a deep breath and walked to Cree, who stood apart from them, her head down. She couldn’t hide what had been done to her, and she couldn’t hide what was in her eyes.
No matter what she’d gone through, she hadn’t lost her love for the berserker.
And Rune couldn’t blame her for that.
Strad waited until Cree looked up at him. His expression didn’t change, but Rune knew what that calmness cost him. “Cree,” he said. The pity was there, in his voice. The horror.
She ducked her head again, quickly, and said nothing.
“Fin?” he asked.
“I saw him,” Rune said. “He gave me a ride to the Flesh Shimmer.”
Neither Lex nor Strad looked confused. Obviously they’d been there long enough to learn about shimmers.
“Rune,” a familiar voice called, and Rune saw Olson running up the hill toward her.
The berserker stepped in front of her.
“He’s a friend, Strad.”
Olson tripped and nearly fell in his hurry to get to her. “Here, Princess.” He thrust a shotgun at her. “I retrieved Ian’s gun. It’s…you should have it.”
She grabbed it. “I never thought I’d see you again. How did it survive the blast?” Ian had been decimated, after all.
“Our guns don’t die,” Olson said.
She gave him a nod. “Thank you. Jim?”
He shrugged. “We were separated in the fight. He’s down there…somewhere.”
Then he turned around and ran, but not back to the battle below. Olson was done fighting.
She slipped the shotgun strap over her head so the weapon lay across her back, a warm weight of added protection. “These are the best fucking guns.”
Then without guile or hesitation or any worry of how it made her look—weak, clingy, or whatever else she’d promised herself she’d never be—she threw herself into the berserker’s arms.
“I missed you,” she said. “I missed you all so fucking much.”
“Rune,” Lex said, quietly. “The battle is climbing the hill. We’re going to have to go or fight.”
Rune pulled away from the berserker, but her stare clung to his for a long, long moment. “Let’s go. We have a bigger battle to fight.”
“What about Cree?” Strad asked.
“She can’t walk far,” Rune said. “We’ll grab a horse for her as soon as we can find one.”
“Let’s stash her somewhere away from the fight,” Lex said, glancing at Cree. “There are houses. Huts, more like. We passed them on our way here.”
“Fuck me,” Rune said. “I just realized…you can see.
Lex, you can see?”
Lex’s smile lit up her face. Her eyes still looked the same, still danced like black lights in her face, but she could see. “I can,” she whispered. “Oh Rune, it’s like…” But she shook her head, unable to find the words. “You look exactly like I knew you would.”
But even in the joy, there was something else. Something terrible was wrong. Rune would have rather have yanked out her own eyes than ask.
Right then was not the time to find out something had happened to Jack, or Raze, or the twins.
Or, God forbid, her Ellie.
She couldn’t even ask after them for fear of what she’d learn.
“The witch,” she said. “Let’s get the witch, and we’ll deal with everything else later.” But still, before she went, she jogged to the edge of the hill and screamed Z’s name. Just to be sure.
He never answered.
And she hadn’t really expected him to.
Z wasn’t there.
Chapter Forty-Three
The berserker jogged beside her, a question in his eyes when she used her blade to kill an enemy instead of using her claws.
“The witch stole my fucking monster,” she said. “But I’m going to get it back.”
He just nodded.
He’d scooped Cree up and carried her as they left the hilltop. Cree didn’t argue. Lex unscrewed the cap from a small, transparent container of water and offered it to Cree, and Rune could see in the bird’s eyes that she gave the water back long before she’d slaked her thirst.
Cree had changed.
“Did you make it into the Flesh Shimmer?” Rune asked, keeping her voice casual.
Lex was the one to answer. “I don’t think so but I’m not sure. Why?”
“I wondered if you’d met Brasque Dray.”
“What do you need to tell us, Rune?” Strad asked.
She couldn’t just blurt out that his son was there. “Probably a lot of things.”
He was staring at her with narrowed eyes when she glanced at him, but Lex changed the subject. “So how do we find the witch?”
“I’ve been told I am the daughter of Skyll,” Rune said. “Part of Mother Skyll lives inside me…” she shook her head. “I know it’s crazy, but some fucked-up shit has gone on in this world. Anyway, she should be able to track Damascus. At least that’s what I’m hoping.”
“Are you picking up her trail?” Strad asked.
“No. But that doesn’t mean I won’t.”
“Tell us everything,” Lex requested.
So while they ran, she told them as much as she could. She started with her reunion with Z, and ended with her time in the witch’s dim.
“We knew who the princess was as soon as we heard the word uttered.” Lex grinned, then dropped her smile. “Sucks about Damascus being…you know. Part of you.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Rune said. “It did for a little while, but now she’s just the evil I have to put down to protect the worlds. Nothing more.”
“We,” Strad said.
But Rune shook her head. “I don’t know, Berserker. I have a feeling when it comes down to it, it’s going to be me against the witch.”
But he was there. Lex was there.
“How did you two get here?”
“Gunnar sent Dawn to lead us. He said you were going to need our help.” Strad swiveled his head, watching for threats, and didn’t look at her.
Lex glared. “Yeah, after you nearly destroyed the poor old guy.”
“You were dying and Rune was gone.” Strad’s voice was hard. “He was going to help us get here or he was going to suffer until I killed him.”
“Where’s Dawn?” Rune asked.
“When we…landed, she wasn’t there. Maybe she didn’t make it off the path.”
“You don’t look like you’re having a hard time with withdrawals,” Rune said, a question in her voice.
“It’s been less than a week,” Lex replied. “The twins are good, also. Much more worried about you than about the withdrawals they may get.”
Rune stumbled. “Less than a week? What do you mean, a week?”
“You left six days ago,” Lex answered.
“Then there’s something fucked up about time,” Rune said. “I’ve been here for a hell of a lot longer than a week.” Every day on Skyll was like a fucking week.
But she relaxed a little more. The twins were okay.
Then she had to ask. “How is everyone? What’s happening with the rotters?”
“Ellis is fine, Rune.” Lex smiled. “Oh! I almost forgot.” She sheathed her blades and pulled something from around her neck. “Ellie said to give you this, and he wouldn’t listen to arguments. So here. Put it on.” She tossed the object to Rune.
Rune held it up. “Fuck me,” she whispered. “Oh, Ellie, you crazy little shit.”
It was the fang—his only protection against the final bite that would turn him. Nothing frightened him more than turning.
And he’d sent his protection to her.
“He thought it might have more defense than just against vampires, and he wanted to do what he could to help you. He said…”
“Yes?” Rune prompted, her heart aching.
“He said he didn’t really want to live in a world without his heart anyway.”
Rune couldn’t speak. She missed him and his sweet innocence so badly she could barely breathe. “I need to see him,” she murmured.
“Of course you do,” Lex said. “And you will. Soon as you go back.”
“Yeah.” Rune’s voice was grim. “Yeah. Maybe.”
“You’re thinking about staying?” Strad’s eyes showed nothing.
“Z is here.” But her voice was so low she wasn’t sure they could hear her.
And just then, Grim stepped into her path.
“What the fuck?” Lex yelled, and they all skidded to a quick halt.
Rune grinned. “That’s my dog.”
Grim had grown. A lot.
He sat in front of them, a youthful gleam in his eye, his tongue lolling playfully, but his body was the size of a pony.
His coat was smooth, short, and black, with a patch of silver on his front right paw. He did not look grim.
“Where did you get him?” Lex asked. “You seriously got a dog?”
“He’s a special pup,” Rune said. “His mom insisted I take him.”
“His mom…” Lex paused. “His mom is a dog?”
“Of course his mom is a dog,” Rune said.
Lex walked to Grim then leaned over and started to pat him on the head. The pup jumped up, snarling like a rabid wolf.
“Huh,” Rune said. “His mom didn’t like to be touched either.” She grinned.
Grim snorted and trotted away, tail in the air, then looked back at her.
When nobody moved, he sniffed the ground, walked in a little circle, then once again trotted away.
“He wants us to follow him,” Strad said, his low voice rumbling.
Grim stopped walking and glanced back over his shoulder. Waiting.
“It would appear so,” Rune agreed. “I haven’t caught a scent of the witch’s trail. Maybe he’s tracking her.”
“Then yes, that would make him a special dog,” Lex said.
“Told you.”
Grim gave a mighty shake, scratched his ear, then took off. And that time, they followed.
He led them off the dirt road and into the woods, and seconds later it began to snow. The temperature began to drop.
“Crazy weather they have up here,” Lex said.
“Everything about this place is crazy.” Rune was silent for a moment. “Z is forgetting us. Those who arrive here forget the people who came before. It’s a defense mechanism.”
“Pretty damn good one,” Lex said.
Yeah.
“Rune,” Strad said. “Back home…”
“Not sure I can handle it right now, Berserker.”
He continued anyway. “The Others are nearly wiped out. Their bo
dies are piling up. Do you have the antidote?”
She nodded. “It’s inside me. All I have to do is return, and the cure will spread. That’s why Lex was cured—I’ve been spreading it here. Have you seen Simon Kelic?”
“Once,” he said. “A couple of days ago. He looked bad. I don’t know if he is still alive.”
“My boys?” She almost whispered the question, her heart pounding.
“Raze and Jack are okay but Jack is…he’s drinking a lot,” Lex blurted. “He’s been drunk since you left. You need to know.”
“Nothing I can do about it from here,” Rune murmured, but she pressed her palm to her stomach. Dammit, Jack.
“He needs you,” Strad said. “Just like the rest of us.”
“Things are falling apart back there,” Lex said. “The world has gone crazy.”
“I have to kill Damascus,” Rune said, her voice low. “Then I’ll think about everything else.”
Grim gave a loud, sharp bark, and dashed out of sight.
“Strad, put Cree down and both of you get ready. It could be a trap.”
Grim sat beside an overturned cart, his tongue out, waiting for them. When he spotted Rune, he gave another bark, as though urging her to hurry.
Strad placed Cree gently on her feet, pulled his spear, and strode toward the cart. “Stay back,” he ordered, as though either Rune or Lex would listen.
It wasn’t a trap, and it wasn’t the witch.
She’d lost her speed, so Strad reached the cart before she did.
He cursed, once, then pulled a body from behind the cart. “Rune,” he said, shock in his voice. He stood just as Rune reached him.
“No,” she said. Then louder, harder, “No!”
Owen Five lay in Strad’s arms, his battered body cut and bare, his lids closed over his terrible, empty eye sockets.
“Who is he?” Lex asked.
“Lex.” Rune gentled her voice despite the fury in her heart. “It’s the cowboy.”
Lex’s mouth opened but nothing came out. She strode to Strad and pressed her palm against Owen’s stomach. “I gained my sight and lost my sight.”
Lex could no longer feel things.
Having lost her monster, Rune knew how agonizing Lex’s loss was to her.
“Is that all that happens here?” Lex asked, mournfully. “Abuse? Horror? Torture?”
