by Ash, Leela
“Well, it will be over soon. Like, tomorrow,” Rhett said with a soft chuckle. Her body was once again awakened by the lilt of his voice and she looked into his brown eyes with a soft sigh.
“I don’t want to be the Maiden anymore,” she said. She was talking both about the ceremony and about real life. Her body was very insistent, telling her exactly what it wanted and with whom and it seemed cruel to rob herself any longer. Even if it ruined the ceremony, wouldn’t it be worth it to be able to be true to herself and her needs?
“That’s too bad,” Rhett said, gripping her by the hand and helping her out of bed, “because you’re stuck with it. After tomorrow, you’re going to wish you could have another chance like this someday. You’ll go back to your normal life with your family and never have to come back and see any of us again.”
The thought was crushing, and she frowned up at Rhett whose eyes flashed at her as if he could sense exactly what she was feeling. But if that were true then she was in big trouble, because nothing she had been feeling for him lately was very innocent.
“I guess,” she mumbled.
“Look, it’s time to get ready. They’re on my ass about this and it’s kind of important to me that we do everything right this last stretch. There’s a lot at stake here for me.”
Rhett stared into her eyes and Gael found herself lost in them, wondering just what might motivate a man like Rhett. What did he care about? What truly drove him onward? She would give anything to know.
However, he seemed more impatient than forthcoming about all his inner workings at the moment, and Gael sighed.
“All right. Give me some space and I’ll get dressed.”
Relief washed over Rhett and he smiled at her, his handsome face seeming lighter now than it had been when she had first opened her eyes to see him kneeling above her.
“Good. I’ll meet you outside.”
***
The trek to the elder’s encampment seemed even longer that day than it usually did. Maybe because they were being very quiet. Gael had been lost in thought, wondering why she had felt so lost and alone at the idea of going back to the state with her father. Sure, she cared about him, but maybe being at home wasn’t as comfortable as she had thought it was.
Now that she had been able to get a taste of what the world outside the estate was like, she was eager to learn more about it. The thought of going back made her feel suffocated, and the idea of leaving Rhett… she couldn’t even begin to process that one yet. It was too much.
“All right,” he said, cutting into her thoughts as they rounded the path to the elder’s camp. “Here we are. I’m supposed to drop you off with Shenar. We’ll see each other again at three AM tomorrow when the ceremony is supposed to begin.”
“Really?” she asked, unable to keep the disappointed whine out of her voice. Ever since they had dunked her in the pool in the middle of the forest, she hadn’t trusted them to be left alone with her. Rhett had seemed to understand this without ever having speaking of it, but somehow that didn’t seem to matter so much this time. She was being dropped off. That meant he was going to leave.
“I’m afraid so, but try not to worry. You’re in good hands. They will not harm the Maiden of the Harvest. That would be counterintuitive.”
“Are you leaving?” she asked, stopping before they entered the camp. “What are you supposed to be doing?”
Rhett sighed. “It’s top secret. Guardian stuff. Don’t worry about me. You just go in there and get this over with. I’ll come back for you. Everything will be fine and then after tomorrow, you’ll never have to deal with this again.”
Gael wished she could be relieved by the news, but somehow it only made her feel worse. It reminded her that Rhett was no longer going to be in her life, and even though all of these comings and goings were overwhelming, they were also kind of exciting in a way. She just wished her trust in the elders hadn’t been broken.
“All right,” she sighed. “Just a few hours.”
Rhett winked at her, a handsome grin on his face and then turned away, leaving her alone at the entrance of the Guardian’s encampment. Gael’s eyes lingered on his broad, muscular back for a few moments before Shenar’s voice broke into her thoughts.
“Come now, Maiden. There is much to be done.”
***
Shenar was being oddly quiet that day. Usually, he was talking quickly, almost like a salesman trying to get her to buy something as they headed through the camp, telling her all about what she should expect. Now, the entire camp felt somber in a way, and it left Gael feeling uneasy. It was already hard to trust these elders, but especially after they had left her freezing in the middle of the woods with only Rhett to help her.
“There are some preparations we must make. You will be in Ankar’s tent this morning where you will be briefed and prepared for what will follow,” Shenar said, stopping suddenly in front of a tent made of black canvas. There was an ancient bear symbol on it above the entry way that somehow frightened her enough to dig her heels in the dirt and look for a way out.
“Are you sure it’s that important? Gael asked, laughing nervously. “It’s just a little parade. What more could there be to it?”
Shenar turned to her, his eyes dull and serious. “You have come this far, human, have you not? It is just this final preparation, and then you will no longer need fret over these details. We understand these are not your customs, so please just have patience for now. All will become clear in time.”
Gael swallowed hard and nodded, following Shenar into Ankar’s tent. Inside, the strong scent of incense nearly made her light-headed and she took a deep breath. Nothing would happen to her. Everything was fine. She would be okay.
“There is another cleansing you must do,” Ankar said once Shenar disappeared from the tent. “Please remove your clothing.”
Gael’s heart thudded hard in her chest. “No way. That’s really not necessary.”
“Actually, it is,” Ankar said. “Your father told us you would abide by all customs in this matter. He knows in detail what is meant to happen and supports our cause completely. He thought you would be the same.”
Gael looked down at her chest, where the locket her father had sent her was resting. If she didn’t do what the elders asked of her, he would never forgive her. It was his one chance to feel like a part of something greater than himself. He resented the fact that it was Gael who inherited the shifter estate, not he, so doing this and showing what a proud, noble family he was a part of seemed to mean everything to him. She could not let him down.
“All right,” Gael said, taking a deep breath. “But please do not touch me.”
Ankar shot her a twisted smile. “Of course not, my dear. All will be well. This is just ceremonial. Nobody will see your body but I.”
With a sharp flick of the wrist, Ankar unleashed a dark bolt of magic that darkened the room and lit all the candles in the tent. It was disconcerting, and a wave of fear washed over Gael. Something was off here, but there was no going back now. She had to do right by her father. Besides, Rhett said he would be there to protect her and that the elders would not harm her. She had to believe in somebody. She just hoped that he was right about this.
“And now,” Ankar said, his voice deep and disembodied. “We will begin. Do not speak, even if you should feel the urge to scream. Everything is going to be all right.”
A shocking wave of energy struck Gael and suddenly her world went black. She slumped onto the ground, her final conscious thought on Rhett and what he was going to do to these old bastards once he saw what they had done.
She slipped into unconsciousness just as she heard the other elders in the camp file into the tent and begin to whisper about what they were going to do with her. But their voices were hushed and she lost consciousness not knowing what was going to happen.
“Now,” Shenar said, beaming at Ankar. “The real fun can begin.”
19.
“Axel. Thank you for meetin
g me here.”
Rhett had been waiting outside of Stonybrooke nervously ever since he had parted ways with Gael. She had been so upset he almost hadn’t wanted to go but he knew he had to meet with Axel. He had been doing some research after what had happened with Gael at the colosseum, and he wasn’t liking what he found.
“Yeah, man. No problem. So, what’s this about?” Axel asked, his deep blue eyes boring into Rhett’s.
Rhett sighed. “To start with, I wanted to tell you I’m sorry about how I acted before. I know I can be kind of an ass, and that gets me into trouble sometimes. It’s not natural for a wolf to apologize for being a wolf but since I’ve already been exiled and everything, you should know. I regret my actions and even though I’m sure you don’t want to help me, I need to know what you were saying. Finish telling me what you tried to tell me earlier.”
Axel surprised Rhett by smiling.
“All right, but not here. Come on, let’s go somewhere where the bears can’t listen in.”
Rhett was startled. “You mean in Stonybrooke?”
Axel shook his head. “No, but close. On the outskirts. There’s some heavy magic that protects us from the bear magic. You’ve been entrenched in their world for too long to take any chances. Come with me.”
Rhett followed Axel for a few miles, walking quickly until they reached a small grove of trees. The familiar feeling of shifter-magic nearly choked Rhett. He had been away from his own kind far too long and all of the memories he’d had that were involving shifter-magic had to do with his childhood. He tried not to think much about it; the memories of his parents were distant and painful.
But here, he had no choice. He was on his home turf with another wolf-shifter, and they were about to discuss some very serious matters.
“All right,” Axel said, once he was certain that they were safe. “Here’s the thing. Nobody knows for sure whether it will open the portals. The ancients used the sacrifice of the Maiden to try it and a few people disappeared into it but were never heard from again. At least, according to legend. Even if it works, it’s dangerous to the people who go through it and—”
“Wait. Sacrifice?!”
Rhett was stunned. Sure, he had read some horrible things about the ceremony involving the Maiden of the Harvest. Gael had tons of books, most she admitted she hadn’t read yet, and he had stayed up late during the night long after she had fallen asleep to read about the ancient bear-shifter customs.
He hadn’t liked what he’d read about how the Maiden was often burned by the forces of the dark magic as the bear-shifters did their best to pull enough of the power gained from her purity out of her and use her body as a channel for their magic. He knew it was a little dangerous, but he hadn’t heard anything about a sacrifice.
“Yeah. After the elders desecrate the virgin, her body is sacrificed. Her blood will open the portal.”
Rhett’s hackles rose and the wolf within him nearly came out right then and there. “You don’t think they would go that far, do you?”
“That’s why we approached you, Rhett. We do think they would go that far and you do too, or else you wouldn’t be here.”
“Shit,” Rhett growled to himself. “The ceremony is tonight… well, technically early in the morning tomorrow. I have to make sure nothing happens to her.”
“Do you need any reinforcements?” Axel asked, his eyes serious. “I know you haven’t been able to count much on your pack in the past, but if you need us, we’ll be there. Just tell us where to go.”
Rhett’s eyes darkened. “Are you sure anybody would even care? The Maiden is a human descended from bear-shifter royals, and everybody in Stonybrooke hates me after what I did.”
“Look, even if they did hate you, and they don’t, not really, they would still do the right thing when it comes to the human. What they’re planning for tonight isn’t right, no matter which way you look at it and only you can stop it. If you need us, we’ll be ready just in case things go south. We won’t let the human be hurt if there is anything we can do about it. However, only our own elders can combat the dark magic of the bear shifter-elders and they’re not capable of fighting. That means we’ll have to guard the elders. You will have to take care of the rest.”
“I can do that,” Rhett said, nodding grimly. “Thank you, Axel.”
Axel smiled. “You’ll always be family to me. Now go. The Maiden needs you.”
Rhett nodded, his chest tight. Who knew what kinds of things they were doing to Gael right now in preparation of their dark ceremony? He had to hurry.
Without another word, he shifted into his wolf form and took off down the pathway, back to Tanka. Back to where Gael was waiting for him.
***
When Rhett arrived back in Tanka, he went immediately to the elder’s encampment in search of Gael. What he found there chilled him. The place was completely deserted. He sniffed the ground, following Gael’s scent to the dark tent in the center of the camp. It stopped there. Something terrible was going on. Gael and the elders were gone.
“Back so soon?”
Rhett whipped around, growling at Shenar who was smiling deviously at him. Before he could lunge at the man, Shenar snapped a collar around Rhett’s neck and he felt all his strength melting away. What the hell was going on?
“This is quite a special little device, Rhett. It helps us to keep the circus beasts trained. We had figured you to be the stupid type, not likely to catch on to our little plan, but apparently you have… and so we must conduct the ceremony without your consent. Of course, you will still participate. It is customary to have a wolf sacrificed with the Maiden. How else do you think the portal is able to be opened?”
Rhett did his best to fight against the power of the collar, but it was enchanted. Shenar’s smile widened.
“It is no use fighting this,” he said, snapping a leash onto the collar and chuckling. “It is enchanted. Now, you must come with me. There is much work to be done and so little time in which to do it.”
***
Shenar led Rhett through the camp and into the back woods where they bypassed the main street of the town. At first he thought they were going to the colosseum, but it turned out there was somewhere else that Shenar had in mind. When they halted, Rhett’s stomach dropped.
Gael was lying on a flat slab of stone, her body nude and only barely concealed in white ceremonial gown of gossamer. He could sense that nothing had been done to her yet, but the implication that something would happen was clear. His blood boiled and once again he tried everything within his power to escape the clutches of his collar. The magic on it was strong though, and he was utterly helpless as the bear-shifter elders surrounded the woman he loved and began to chant.
Love?
But he didn’t have time to second guess the thought. His hackles raised as their gaze turned to him and a jolt of energy caused him to lose his balance. He, too, fell on the ground and yelped out in pain. This seemed to amuse them and he sensed a spike of energy from Gael, as if some part of her had heard his pain and wanted to come to him. It fueled his rage and he did everything in his power to get back on his feet. It worked for a moment, but they hit him again with another bolt of energy and he dropped back down to the ground. His legs were shaking on his second attempt, but the last attack left him powerless and panting.
The elders seemed peeved by this development and shook their heads, speaking amongst themselves in disgust before turning their attention back to Gael, whose chest was rising and falling rapidly now as the magic that surrounded her began to become more sinister. Rhett watched helplessly as the magic grew more intense and Gael’s body began to rise in the air. He was horrified, wondering if the sacrifice was going to happen now and he would be powerless to stop it.
However, almost as quickly as it happened, it ended, and Gael was placed back on the stone slab.
“Her body, and the wolf’s, have located the portal. Their vital energies combined created the pathway for the magic to flow. The c
eremony may commence!”
With that, Shenar tugged his leash and Rhett was forced to follow along behind him, his tail between his legs as the other elders transported Gael back to the encampment to prepare for the rest of the night’s festivities.
***
Rhett had spent the majority of the day miserable and locked in a cage, with Shenar and his cronies pacing back and forth, consumed by the ceremony’s preparations. Nobody in the town knew that anything was amiss and Rhett couldn’t sense any of the other shifters out in the outskirts of Tanka. He was alone.
Gael was in the same room, though instead of being caged, she was bound to a chair in the middle of the room. She had since regained consciousness and stared at Rhett with crystal clear eyes full of concern and fear. Her mouth was gagged and she was struggling against her confines, certain she would find a way to get out of this mess. Rhett still hadn’t been able to shapeshift back into his human form, and resented the hell out of the elders. They had just been playing him from the start. He should have known. Why had he been so stupid?
“All right, you two,” Shenar said finally, fixing a cool smile on Gael who abruptly stopped struggling against her confines. “It is time for the ceremony to begin. Remember, there is no good to be had in trying to escape. You are vastly outnumbered and anybody who causes a disturbance here is going to face serious consequences. Is that understood?”
Rhett’s stomach sank as Gael was forced to nod to Shenar, who then clapped his hands together and laughed gleefully. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun! We have been waiting for our opportunity to do this for decades!”
Rhett growled deeply and Shenar chuckled again, shaking his head before stepping back from the cage as two young, buff bear-shifters came inside, unlocking the cage and putting the leash onto the collar around Rhett’s neck. Shenar released Gael, who was too afraid to move, and took her to the corner where he draped a gown of white silk upon her. When that was completed, he walked with her to the edge of the camp and Rhett begrudgingly followed along behind her, his hackles raised despite his lack of will. All he could do was follow. It was the angriest he had ever been in his life.
