Last Chance (DarkWorld: SkinWalker Book 3)

by Ayer, T. G.

  I heard the desperate rush of soldiers behind me but resolved to concentrate on my furry attacker. Beside me, Anjelo snarled, but I couldn’t afford to keep an eye on him. Unfortunately, he was on his own until I got this wolf off my back.

  He still had his eyes on me, despite his injuries. The skin on half his face hung loose, blood dripping slowly from the open wounds. Yet he still remained focused on me.

  Must really hate cats.

  I knew he would move before he twitched. The wolf launched himself at me again, a sinister growl leaving his throat as he flew at me. I scrambled to the side and swiped hard at his jugular. For all his lethality, the wolf was no match for a feline who’d trained in fighting for years, both in human and cat form.

  My claws struck home, plunged deep into flesh, then pulled free as the wolf’s momentum drew him past me and onto the ground. He squealed and grunted as he hit the dirt, and as I turned, I knew I had him. He writhed on the ground, the vein at his throat gushing steaming black liquid. His body spasmed one last time and stilled.

  But before the first wolf died, I was already turning to help Anjelo.

  And just in time.

  This remaining wolf must have been the wiliest of the three. He had Anjelo pinned to the ground. His lips lifted, baring his canines, preparing to rip out Anjelo’s throat. I didn’t give him the opportunity. I jumped, slamming into the wolf, landing paws to his shoulder. It startled him long enough that when he hit the ground, he didn’t immediately rise. Time enough for me to sink my teeth into the throat he left so vulnerable to attack.

  He died within seconds.

  The moment I pulled my teeth free from the wolf’s throat, another arrow landed beside me. This one hit so close to my face that it grazed my cheek. I felt the sting and the heat of the blood as I slipped back into human form. Fury rose within me, but it was hampered by arms that threw my thick fur cloak around my naked body.

  I glanced at Cassandra gratefully. She’d moved so fast I didn’t think any of the Wraiths had a chance to get much of an eyeful of bare ass. Cassandra drew away to throw Anjelo’s cloak around him. The cloak warmed me, but I didn’t need it. Adrenaline still surged through my veins, keeping my body temperature fairly high. I surveyed the area around us while I caught my breath. It looked like a massacre. More than half a dozen Wraiths lay dead, mauled, and bloody on the black soil.

  Anjelo was on his feet beside me, clutching the cloak around him. “What the bloody hell was that?”

  General Wren’do answered Anjelo, having appeared out of nowhere behind him. “That was a pack of wild Black Wolves.” Anjelo rolled his eyes as if to say, Tell me something I don’t know.

  “Was there a reason they seemed so intent on killing us? Or is that just their nature?” I asked the general, uncaring that he would likely not bother to look at me when he answered.

  Surprisingly, he did meet my gaze, although his expression was icy cold. “They are naturally of a violent nature, but we cannot be sure the odor of a feline did not draw their attention.” I bristled. Seemed he was trying to place the blame for the attack at our feet, but I didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction. The general’s face darkened, clearly unhappy that he hadn’t gotten a rise out of me. “I think it would be best if you hurry up and get your clothes back on. We need to get moving in case there are more of them lurking around.”

  I nodded stiffly and turned to Cassandra, who had her arms filled with clothing. She handed them out and I took each piece, dressing discreetly beneath the expansive folds of the heavy fur cloak. Minutes later, she moved on to hand Anjelo his clothing. Even before Anjelo was properly done dressing, the general gave the team the go-ahead to start moving again. I glared at him, furious that he couldn’t even give us a decent rest.

  But neither Anjelo nor I would ever ask for such a privilege.

  ***

  Once I’d transformed, the scrape on my cheek burned. I struggled to remove my glove, then traced the wound with the tip of my finger. And hissed with pain as my icy fingertip touched broken skin. My fingers were wet and sticky and bright red when I examined them.

  Anjelo glanced at me over his shoulder, and I swore under my breath. I hadn’t wanted to bring attention to the wound, but it was now too late as I watched concern bring him to a halt.

  “Keep moving,” I growled at him. “I’m not letting anything slow us down.”

  “You know you can be so stubborn sometimes,” he growled, his face a dark cloud.

  “I’ll be however stubborn I want to be if it means we don’t have that overbearing creep of a general reprimand us for lagging behind or slowing everyone down.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled, keeping pace with me. “You got a first aid kit in your handbag?”

  “It’s not a handbag, you idiot. It’s a satchel, for your information, and the answer to your question is yes. You know I don’t go anywhere without it. Are you sure you won’t faint at the sight of my blood?”

  He snorted. “As long as you don’t expect me to dig more bullets out of you, I’ll be fine.” Over the next few minutes, he fiddled inside my satchel for the first aid kit and cleaned and medicated the wound, all while walking alongside me, keeping pace with the team.

  When he finished, he gave my cheek a worried glance. “Is that going to be okay?”

  I nodded. “It should heal soon enough. Give it a few hours.”

  “You’re gonna have a scar.”

  I nodded. “Tough bitches should have scars. Gives them character.”

  He snorted and moved ahead to get in line.

  Not two hours later, we reached the edge of the Dead Plains, and I had to admit I was pretty happy to have made it through alive, thrilled too that the wolves had left us alone for the rest of the trek. The plains ended in a low ridge not too different from the one from which the wolves had watched us. The front of the line snaked onward without stopping, and we followed, waiting our turn to see the ridge for ourselves.

  The closer we got, the more the reality of what we were looking at hit me. The ridge turned into a low mountain, and for a split second, I thought we’d reached Wrygos. But then I remembered we still had to fight our way through the Black Lake.

  I sighed as I followed the track up the side of the ridge. The climb taxed my strength, especially after the whole episode with the wolves. I’d kept an eye on Anjelo over the last few hours, worried his almost-end would be bugging him. He seemed fine, but I’d found Anjelo had always had the practiced ability to hide his feelings.

  Every now and then, I turned to surreptitiously examine his face. He bore a few scratches, but nothing as bad as my arrow-inflicted wound. I was still pissed off that the general had allowed his men to aim their arrows so close to me. It made me all the more suspicious of him.

  Once we reached the top of the ridge, we had a full view of the valley below us. The Black Lake was nothing more than one gigantic, iced-over lake. The entire floor of the valley was covered with hard, white ice, but even from where I was standing, I could see the spots, small darker areas, where the ice was clearly thinner.

  The team didn’t pause to take in the view. They walked over the spine of the ridge and continued to make their way down to the valley floor.

  Anjelo, Cassandra, and I were following the train of men probably three-quarters of the way down the line. As we descended, our position gave us a little bit of a vantage point. The Wraiths at the head of the line picked their way along the ice carefully. It was clear to me that they knew exactly where they were going. Their route meandered this way and that, a course that nobody could possibly have guessed. We were at the mercy of the Wraith Rebel army

  I glanced back at Anjelo and could see both he and Cassandra were feeling the same hint of trepidation I was. If the commander saw fit, he could ensure we walked right into a trap.

  Anjelo caught up with me. As I drew closer, I said, “I think it’s best if we stay close to the soldiers right in front of us. The biggest mistake we can make is to a
llow them to get too far ahead of us. We need to make sure we step where they step, and keep your eye out. You just never know which of these Wraiths is out to ensure we get ourselves killed.”

  Anjelo nodded. “It’s good to see you feel exactly the same way I do.”

  The team moved slowly. Each Wraith walked behind the other, leaving at least ten feet of space. It made complete sense. Nobody could assume how much weight the ice would carry, so minimizing the amount on any particular point was the best strategy.

  Anjelo, Cassandra, and I followed suit, walking where the Wraiths walked, following in their footsteps.

  A shout up ahead made my heart trip, but I noticed the line of men in front of us came to a slow halt. The commotion made me more than sure that one of the soldiers had fallen in. There was nothing we could do other than wait in silence. Peering around the bodies in front of us made little difference because the path curved so much that even if we were able to see past the soldiers, the view of what was happening was well hidden from us.

  At last, the noise died down, but there was no way of telling whether the Wraith soldier had been saved or swallowed by the black waters.

  Behind me, I heard Anjelo say, “Even though I’ve been on this route before, I can honestly say I would rather be somewhere else right now.”

  I knew exactly what he meant. All this trekking over wild lands was testing my patience. Part of me wondered whether we were being led on a wild goose chase, yet another part of me insisted I had to follow every lead if I was ever to find my mother.

  ***

  Chapter 19

  We were almost halfway across the frozen lake when I heard the distinct sound of cracking. But it wasn’t the crack itself that worried me. It was the reverberations that ran through my feet and up the bones of my leg. Instinct told me to run, but common sense said stay where you are.

  I stopped in my tracks and turned my head to look over my shoulder at Anjelo. He was strutting toward me, head down, paying little attention to what I was doing. “Anjelo, stop.”

  It must’ve been something in the sound of my voice, but Anjelo’s head jerked up and he halted instantly. He stared at me, eyes wide, and said, “Please don’t tell me…” He didn’t bother to finish the sentence, seeing as the expression on my face already confirmed his suspicion. Over his shoulder, I could see Cassandra staring at us, fear filling her eyes. She looked like a frightened rabbit, but she knew, much like we knew, that right here right now there was nowhere to run.

  Up ahead, the line continued to snake away, widening the distance between us and the soldiers in front. We had no choice but to get their attention, and as Anjelo shouted for them, I heard another crack. This one was louder and nearer. My heart thudded so hard against my ribs that it hurt.

  The column in front of us came to a slow halt. From the shuffling up ahead, I knew Wren’do was coming back to check on the delay. The closer he came, the clearer it was that he was furious. But I couldn’t care less for his anger. If I had been one of his men in danger, he certainly would not be reacting this way. His first duty would be to do whatever necessary to save the man. But because it was me, the silly, weak human female, he came strolling in like a thundering storm cloud.

  “What is it now?” he growled, his dark eyes flashing, his posture stiff and angry.

  As if to answer his question, another crack sounded, reverberating ominously across the ice. I stayed as stiff as I could and tried not to move. The expression on his face told me he had heard the crack as well.

  He looked down at the ice at my feet, and I followed his gaze.

  Beneath my boots, the ice was thick and white, what should have been comparatively safe to walk on. But around the area of solid ice, the dark shadows indicated the more dangerous, warmer areas.

  It was clear I had stepped in the right place, having followed the trail of the men in front of me. The problem was the area around me had been weakened by the soldiers who’d gone through before us. It was only by chance that I was the one to step on it at its weakest moment. When I looked up and met the general’s eyes, it was clear too that he could see the fault did not lie with me. There was a softening in his demeanor that should’ve made me happy. But at this point, I didn’t have time to bask in the knowledge that I was faultless. My only need right now was to get out of this mess before I too sank into the dark waters and disappeared forever.

  “Whatever you do, do not move,” said Wren as he scanned the area around me. He glanced over his shoulder and snapped, “Get me the equipment.” To the team behind me, he said, “Find another route out to the left and keep moving. I don’t want anyone else sitting there weighing down this area and causing more stress on the ice. That means you too, Anjelo.”

  Despite the concern for the dangerous ice beneath my feet, I still bristled. The commander hadn’t bothered to address Cassandra.

  Although I felt movement behind me, I knew neither Cassandra nor Anjelo had moved. The look on the general’s face as he glared over my shoulder confirmed it. I didn’t wait for the Wraith leader to demand that Anjelo leave. I tipped my head to the right and said, “Go, Anjelo. I’m sure the general has things under control here.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Anjelo, his voice still hesitant despite my request.

  “Yes,” I snapped, feeling all the more impatient, what with the general staring me down. “Go now, before you bring down this entire piece of ice and kill all of us in the process.” It was probably unfair to bite his head off, but Anjelo should have heeded the general’s command in the first place. I just hoped his stubbornness hadn’t put me in more trouble.

  At last, I heard Anjelo and Cassandra back away from me. Wren snorted as he watched them with disdain. I could see he had very little respect for Anjelo, especially now that my young friend had proved I was boss as far as he was concerned. It was a strange thing considering the general himself also answered to a female. I honestly did not understand him.

  As Wren studied the ice again, another crack reverberated along the surface and through my legs. Suddenly I felt a little weak, as if my limbs were refusing to carry me any longer.

  “Try not to move,” said the general. He turned around and held out his hand. The Wraith who stood behind him handed him a coil of rope. The general took it and wrapped it around his waist. Then he nodded at the soldier who uncoiled another stack of rope. One end of it was tied around a hook, which he now fastened onto the rope around the general’s waist. He then proceeded to walk away until the rope was straight but not taut. Then he tied the end around his own waist. Behind him, another Wraith repeated the whole process until the weight of three individual soldiers was evenly distributed across the safe area of the ice to support the weight of both Wren and myself.

  “I have to be quite honest with you,” he said to me. “It is quite likely that as we try to save you, you may fall into the water. Should that happen, the only thing I can suggest is that you close your eyes, nose, and mouth. Do not breathe in any of the water. Most non-Wraiths die almost immediately once they enter the water. The poisons enter through the skin itself, and death comes quickly.”

  I nodded and said, “I understand.”

  I couldn’t decipher the look he gave me, but at this point, I didn’t care. I just remained very, very still. Another sharp snapping emanated from the ice. I knew there was little time left for them to save me. I hoped they would get on with it before it was too late.

  The general tossed the end of the rope at me. I held up my hand and grabbed it as it flew in my direction. I knew I couldn’t step forward or lean in any direction to assist me in catching the rope. Fortunately, it landed safely in the middle of my palm and I grabbed ahold of. “Tie that tightly around your waist,” the general said.

  He stood very still, as if waiting patiently for me to complete his instructions, but knowing the general, he would have little patience for me. I ignored my thoughts and tied the rope around my waist, knotting it as tightly as I could.

&n
bsp; As soon as I was done, he said, “Hold on to the rope in front of you. I’m going to walk back until it is taut. When I say so, you need to begin to walk across the ice. It will most likely be shaky beneath your feet, but try to keep your balance as long as possible.” He stared at my face as if waiting for an answer.

  “Okay,” was all I was capable of saying. I cleared my throat as an idea occurred to me. “Would it help if I took off my cloak?” I asked.

  The general merely nodded, his expression inscrutable.

  A gust of wind slammed into me and I was aware that the chill of it had no effect on me. Strange the things you are aware of when you face the possibility of imminent death. I slowly untied the straps at my neck. As I prepared to remove the cloak, the general waved a hand behind him. A Wraith came running and halted beside him, awaiting instructions. “As soon as she removes her cloak and drops it to the ice, grab it and pull it toward you. Use one of the small grappling hooks. And work fast.”

  Immediately, the soldier felt for something inside the bag at his waist. He removed a small grappling hook and tied it to a piece of rope. He stood at the ready, his eyes on me, waiting for me to make my move. I had to admit it was a smart idea. They were being careful not to lose the cloak, and the method they used would not endanger them in any way.

  It was a good thing too, because I preferred to have my cloak back when all this was done.

  The general nodded, and I dropped the cloak slowly to the ice. As soon as it fell into a soft heap at my feet, the soldier beside him sank to his knees and threw the grappling hook. When the claws snagged securely among the voluminous folds of the fabric, he began to pull it slowly toward him. It was slow going, and I wondered if the general would, in the end, blame me for delaying the whole process. I tried to calm my breathing and remain still.