by Sara Fields
“She’s the Ghost’s daughter,” Vikar whispered in my ear. My gaze whipped back to her and my mouth dropped open in shock. I’d seen Ariana in the city of Valgertha. She had been one of the many attendants who had nursed me back to health and she had served me even after I had recovered. Come to think of it, she’d been there quite a bit. She’d stayed back, mostly in the shadows, but she’d been watching me. I hadn’t recognized how much of a constant presence she’d been around me, but I certainly knew it now.
She smiled knowingly in my direction, as if she could read my mind and it was unnerving to say the least.
“I see,” I replied, not knowing what else to say. Her icy blue eyes appraised mine before she glanced into the trees toward Ravenrath.
“Let’s go. Ariana, lead the way,” Vikar instructed, his tone firm.
The trees rustled behind us and a menacing rumbling growl made the ground quake beneath our feet. Then there was another, followed by a third. All of them were distinctly different and that could only mean one thing. It was a skotaur, only this time, there was more than just one of them. There were several and the snarling that came with them rolled together into one terrifying cacophony of sound that made my blood run icy cold in my veins.
I tensed in Vikar’s arms, lifting my eyes to his. Of the two of us, he had far more experience with such dangerous beasts, but even he looked as anxious as I felt.
The city wasn’t far, but the skotaurs would be on us long before we reached it. I took a deep breath, preparing myself to run for my life.
“Move!” Vikar shouted. The five of us sprinted into the trees as fast as we could. It was dark and Vikar was the only one with a torch, so he pulled on ahead. He led the way and I sprinted through the brush as swiftly as I dared. The branches and thorns tore at my arms, scratching my skin and catching the fabric of Vikar’s shirt enough to shred it in several places and I ignored it. Clothes could be replaced. My life and the lives of the others couldn’t.
Digging deep, I pushed past the cramp in my stomach and the burning in my thighs. The skotaurs tore off behind us as if they could hear us running from them and it whipped them into a veritable frenzy that made my heart pound with fear. They hunted us like prey and in the span of several minutes, there were half a dozen of them nipping at our ankles. No matter how hard we ran, they drew in closer and closer. We were fighting a losing battle and I cried out in fear. I wasn’t ready to die. Not now. Not ever.
It was too late when I realized that they were herding us. I screamed for us to veer off in another direction, but at the very same moment another half dozen skotaurs stepped out of the smoky haze right in front of us, stopping us in our tracks. They had captured us in a viselike maneuver. We were trapped and no matter where I looked, there was no way out. The five of us circled around each other, safeguarding our backs as they prowled around us. Vikar quickly pushed me behind him, protecting me even in the face of such terrible danger.
“Don’t move,” Vikar whispered.
“You don’t happen to know all of these, do you?” I whispered back with impossible hope and he shook his head.
“No. This is a group of males,” he replied. “Highly territorial, aggressive, and under the orders of someone other than the Brotherhood. I can’t know for certain, but these are likely trained by the Cult to ferret out and hunt those looking to join the fight,” he answered quietly.
These skotaurs were all at least a third larger than the single female that Vikar had raised himself. There was one that appeared to be the leader and I watched him almost exclusively. He moved forward ahead of the others, swinging his head ominously from side to side like a snake and snarling at the group of us as he circled around us. His body glowed bright with the fire in his veins, pulsing vividly with the adrenaline of the hunt. It felt as though he was choosing who he was going to rip into first and a harsh shudder of fear raced down my spine.
Ivar, Dyna, and Ariana didn’t make a sound. They didn’t move either. We all waited for what felt like the inevitable. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, I watched the male lead slink back and forth and shivered with fear.
Dyna cleared her throat. Vikar tensed beside me and he let out a slow breath that said enough to make the hair stand straight up on the back of my neck.
“I’ve done my part, Vikar,” she said quietly. I turned to face her, not liking the way her voice quivered with defeat.
“You have, Dyna,” he answered.
“You will tell the Ghost for me, yes?” she added next. I furrowed my brow and tried to sidestep toward her, but Vikar held me back.
“Wait,” I exclaimed in confusion. “What are you going to do?”
“Hush now, Luna. Your best chance at rescuing your daughter is with Ariana and two alphas at your side. You don’t need me. I’ll only slow you down. Take your child back. Do it for me,” she whispered hoarsely and Vikar’s arm wound around me so tightly that it hurt. I pushed against it, trying to turn back and stop my friend from doing whatever she had in mind, but he wouldn’t let me go. It was as if his arm was made of stone and nothing I did would loosen his grip. I kicked and tried to propel myself off of the ground, but then he threw me over his shoulder and took all semblance of control away from me. I lifted my head and desperately watched my friend for any clue as to what she was planning to do.
Dyna took one step out of the circle and met my eyes. In that moment, her saddened gaze said all I needed to know, and I renewed my struggles to escape Vikar’s grasp. Dyna reached in her pocket and took out a small bottle full of bright green liquid.
My stomach dropped down to the tips of my toes. I saw nothing but the white sheen of sorrow, fear, and the boundless pit of helplessness. Held captive by my alpha, I couldn’t run after her. I couldn’t stop what was about to happen. I fought it anyway.
“Don’t!” I cried out, but it was too late. She lobbed the bottle upward, throwing it so that it landed just behind the line of skotaurs. The sound of the glass shattering was loud and then immediately, bright green fire licked hot at their heels before it burst upward in a plume of flames that seared at their backs. Furious snarls of agony roared throughout the clearing and when Dyna burst back into the trees, the entire gathering of skotaurs tore off after her.
Just as she planned.
A diversion so that all of us could escape. Except her.
I wailed, reaching for her even as I lost sight of her in the darkness.
Without pause, Vikar flew in the opposite direction. I was vaguely aware of the fact that Ivar and Ariana followed, but my gaze was focused on the place where my lifelong friend Dyna had disappeared. The green flame never stopped burning and soon, there were an eruption of fire that could have only originated from the beasts that chased her. I watched as the fiery embers rose up on the wind and amidst the snarls and rumble of the skotaurs, I heard something else even more chilling than the terrifying beasts.
I heard the scream of a woman.
I struggled, wanting to go back, wanting to rescue her, but that choice had been taken away from me. With a shriek of pain, I curled around Vikar as if he was a lifeline and his grip tightened around me. Then all at once, it went quiet.
There were no more shrieks, no yelling. No more growling. No more snarling. It was as the world had gone silent all at once.
There was absolutely nothing at all.
I started to sob.
She’d sacrificed herself for us. For me. For my daughter.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to kill every last skotaur that had taken her from me and rescue my friend from her terrible fate, but even I knew it was too late for that.
Vikar kept running.
I was grateful for it.
I pressed my face against him and cried, using him to mute my screams of sorrow as we tore off into the night.
Chapter Eleven
Luna
“Shhhh, little omega. It’s going to be alright. Focus on what’s ahead. Focus on your daughter,” Vikar whispered. I shook ag
ainst him as tears poured down my face at the sudden terrible loss of my friend. My entire body trembled, but I knew that his words rang true.
There would be time to grieve and now was not it. I had to pull myself together for my daughter’s sake.
I had to. For Dyna. For Esme. For all of us.
The noise of battle grew louder. I could hear swords clashing and men screaming. Deafening popping noises fractured the very air surrounding us and the roars of beasts reverberated long into the night. The closer we drew to the city, the more my heart began to pound with adrenaline. I closed my eyes and took several deep calming breaths before I opened them once more, bringing forth the protective nature of my inner omega. I was a fighter and I held onto that with everything left in me.
I would not allow Dyna’s sacrifice to be in vain.
I would honor her by rescuing my daughter. I would fulfill her final wish, no matter what it took.
Beside us, Ivar had thrown Ariana on his back in order to keep up with Vikar and me. When we finally reached the city walls, the four of us slowed down to a steady pace as we cased along for an optimal entry point. The majority of the wall was rebuilt even more so than I’d seen before, but as we went on, it seemed that a few segments were done with such haste that they would be easily broken with enough force. Vikar paused when he reached a section built solely with planks of wood, studying it closely before placing me down on the ground beside him.
He gripped my chin firmly in his fingers. His eyes searched mine, trying to gauge where my mind was, and I met his gaze with the fiery determination. I would show him he could count on me.
“You will remain by my side and you will obey my every word the entire time we are inside the city. It is going to be dangerous and you are not practiced in battle as I am. If I say to jump, you will jump. If I tell you to hide, you will hide. If I command you to run, you run. Do you understand me, omega?” he snarled, and I shivered by his side. My omega cowed to his alpha and I knew in the end that obeying him would make getting through this that much easier. I held onto it like a lifeline.
“Yes, Alpha,” I answered. I knew how serious this was. All our lives depended on it.
“If I need to tell you to do something twice, I will ensure that you sincerely regret it when I finally have you safely away from the throes of battle,” he warned. “I will punish you, omega, and I promise you that you won’t enjoy it.”
“I understand, Alpha,” I responded. I meant every word. He was my best chance at finally rescuing my daughter and I knew it.
“Good,” he answered.
He grasped a wooden plank that appeared to be placed rather crookedly and yanked it once, then twice before it creaked noisily and the nails holding it in place gave way. He tossed it aside as if it weighed nothing at all and then he grabbed another that had been right beside it. Swiftly, he exposed a hole in the wall that would be just large enough for the four of us to climb through. Ivar rushed to his side and removed a few more wooden planks himself before the four of us slipped inside the city.
It soon became clear that this section was mostly abandoned as much of the action was taking place in the southern half. I noticed that the buildings all around us were dark. A few were burning and as I looked up into the sky, I saw the dragon swooping low overhead. I squeaked nervously and slapped my hand over my lips, not wanting to needlessly give away our position. The whooshing sound of the ginormous wings sent a cold shiver down my spine and I unconsciously moved closer to Vikar.
I felt his palm spread out across my lower back. At once, a small sense of comfort washed over me and I took a deep breath.
“We have to move. I want to get in and out as quickly as possible. If our entry point is found, they might start patrolling the roads,” he said quietly.
“This way,” Ivar offered. “I know the fastest path to the castle from here. Once inside, Ariana can lead the way to the omega chambers.”
Ariana nodded in agreement and both Vikar and I fell behind the other two. We journeyed through the dark, mostly abandoned streets. I kept my eyes open to ensure that no one followed us. Upon closer inspection of the city streets, I saw movements in the shadows, and I realized that this area wasn’t as deserted as I originally thought. There were people moving in and out of the decrepit buildings all along the road. There were some hidden in the dark alleys between them and still more peering out of the broken windows with obvious fear. I caught the eyes of an elderly women crouching low and saw that she was keeping a young child close to her chest. She nodded once before continuing on. There were more refugees sneaking along with her and I hoped that they would all find their way to safety before the night was over.
I stuck close to the group as we ducked along the edges of the streets, into dark alleys and through long abandoned factories that hadn’t been used in at least fifty years. Here on the outskirts of the city seemed to be where the poor and the homeless survived and it saddened me a little, but I didn’t take much time to dwell on it.
Instead, I put my entire focus on slinking through the city unnoticed on my way to finally take back my daughter.
My heart pounded and blood rushed through my veins with every last step. Again, and again, we surged forward in the shadows until at long last, the king’s castle came into view. I wondered who the Cult had instilled as king after Thranar’s death, but it didn’t much matter now.
I sincerely doubted the city would survive the night. If the king was unfortunate enough to still be in the city by dawn, he would likely be as good as dead.
A large booming crash reverberated in the distance and I worried about the tide of battle. Who was winning and how many were dead? I prayed to the gods that the Brotherhood would prevail, but without being in the midst of it, I wouldn’t know until morning.
Ariana took the lead now and guided us through an entryway that was only used by the servants. Tonight though, there was no one guarding it and we slipped inside undetected. We climbed several flights of stairs until we approached the king’s chambers. I didn’t see a single person and I wondered if they had all abandoned their posts in the midst of battle.
The small blonde omega took a right-hand turn, taking us to a dead end with several tall rounded bricked-up decorative entryways that were embellished with several colorful vases of flowers. She moved one aside and pushed down on a single brick at the center. The bricks lurched within the archway and I watched in disbelief as what I once thought was a solid wall clicked open. It was a hidden doorway to a part of the castle that I had never known existed. I swallowed my shock and moved behind her, knowing now was the time to focus on the end goal. Ariana pushed at the doorway and it hardly moved. She struggled to open it, and Ivar joined her in forcing it to move enough so that the four of us could fit through before it clicked shut behind us.
It was dark inside, but my eyes quickly adjusted to the dim light. There was a soft glow not far ahead and as we slowly made our way down the hallway and turned a corner, I saw that there was a series of candles meant to light the way. There were a number of closed doors that lined the hall, but Ariana walked past them all. We followed her until she came to the very end where there was a lone door that was suspiciously cracked open. She pushed it open and the door creaked loudly, revealing our presence to whoever was waiting inside.
There was a single bed and directly in the center was a young girl.
My heart burst with love.
My daughter.
Esme.
Her gorgeous green eyes met mine. She’d grown so much since I saw her last. It had been six years since I’d given birth to her and she’d been taken from me the very next day. I hadn’t been allowed to raise her as my own and I’d only been afforded the chance to visit her from time to time if Thranar was feeling generous. The length between each visit grew as the years went on until he eventually decided not to let me see her at all. It had been at least two years since I’d seen her last and she’d grown several inches since then.
I raced forward, but Vikar caught me by the belt around my waist. He stopped me in my tracks, and I grunted in surprise. Quickly, he pushed me back behind him and instructed me to wait.
Another man cleared his throat and stepped out of the darkness.
I snarled openly when I saw that it was my father.
He laughed at my challenge. I growled even more fiercely after that.
“I knew you’d come for her,” he began, and I struggled to hold back my fury. Vikar pressed his palm against the back of my neck, a silent warning that it wasn’t yet time for me to act and I froze in acquiescence, trusting in him to make that call. His fingers tightened just a bit and I stood entirely still as I evaluated the situation before me.
Esme looked healthy. She was a little pale, likely after being cloistered in the depths of the castle for so long, but otherwise looked perfectly fine. She looked innocently to my father who strode toward her at the same time that he kept his menacing gaze locked on me.
“How did you know I was coming?” I asked him quietly when I finally felt gathered enough to speak without threatening to rip his head from his shoulders.
He cocked his head arrogantly to the side.
“I went to visit you in the dungeons yesterday when word arrived that Ravenrath would soon be under attack. I wanted to find out what you knew about those that were coming for us and from the looks of those with you right now, I would assume that you know exactly who they are,” he began.
I gritted my teeth, deciding it would be best if I didn’t respond at all.
“I knew you’d never leave the city of your own free will though without Esme, so it was only a matter of time before you revealed yourself to me here,” he continued. “Tell me, how is it you found this place?”
“We have our ways,” Ivar answered. Ariana was careful to stay silent beside us.
Vikar growled softly in warning at my father.
Two other large men came out of the shadows and joined my father by his side. Both Ivar and Vikar bristled at the challenge and behind us, more men moved in to block the doorway. I heard Ariana yelp in surprise and my father grinned knowingly. I turned, seeing her struggling in the arms of a rather large man dressed in dark combat gear and I whipped my head back around.
