Moon Born (The Wolf Wars Series Book 3)

by H. D. Gordon

  I whipped my head back around and saw the soles of Asha’s boots disappearing into the crack between the rocks, and though I was not anxious about being in that tight space again, I dove in after her.

  My own boots were just disappearing into the hole when I felt the blast of heat from behind, and knew that the alcove we’d just been standing in had become an oven.

  28

  I shimmied forward on my stomach, trying to remember what it felt like not to be scared out of my mind.

  Behind me, the cries of the Firedrakes were still ringing, and the heat was enough to make it hard to breathe.

  Eventually, though, I tumbled out of the space I’d been crawling in, and found myself back in the tunnel that was at least big enough to walk through. Asha was ahead of me, blue sparking at her fingertips and lighting the way.

  The air was cooler here, and it felt like heaven on my sweaty skin, but I knew we were not out of the weeds yet. We still had to get back to the place where we’d been sent through the portal. Once we reached it, the Seers had promised they would open another to bring us back.

  There was way more room for doubt in that equation than I preferred, but there was nothing to be done about it now.

  Finally, a light appeared at the end of the passage, and we barreled toward it as our breathing tore in and out of our chests. A few heartbeats later, we were bursting out of the mountain, just in time to watch the last light of day disappear and give way to the darkness.

  Vega was waiting there, but he was not looking at us. Instead, the Valac warrior had his head tilted back, looking up at the new night sky… and the horde of Firedrakes that were flying out of the mountain, no doubt searching for the thieves who’d stolen from their fortress.

  For all of a split second, I stood gaping along with my two companions, watching as the enormous creatures spread their wings and filled the sky in a scaly flock of muscle and fire.

  Then, we were running. Down the rocky path that we’d climbed to get inside, and into the shadows of the jungle at the foot of the mountain.

  My eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness, thanks to my superior night vision, but the jungle was a maze of vines and bramble, a gauntlet of dangers that promised to only intensify under the veil of night.

  I pushed these thoughts away, concentrating on keeping my feet beneath me and reaching our destination.

  Vega and Asha tore through the trees alongside me, branches snapping and twigs popping beneath our boots as we thundered along. The screeches of the Firedrakes resounded from above, and I had to dive to the side when a blast of flame turned the trees ahead of me to ash in an instant, nearly singeing the hair off my eyebrows in the process.

  It was in this moment that the gravity of what I’d done hit me; these creatures would burn this entire jungle to ash in order to get back what I’d stolen, as if it were their divine duty to do so. Again, I wondered just what the consequences of this action would be, just what exactly was the stone that I currently carried in my pocket, and what did the Seers want to do with it?

  But things were moving much too fast to take a moment, and it was far too late to go regretting my actions now. So we continued running, following the direction in which we’d come, my nose picking up the scent of our trail and taking us back to the point of transport.

  The predator in me could sense the predators above, but also hidden in the jungle around me. Vega had been right about this place being more dangerous after nightfall, and I shuddered at the thought of having to spend an evening here. If I hadn’t already thought the Erl Queen was a total bitch, the fact that she sent her warriors here as punishment would have done it.

  “We’re almost there,” I gritted out.

  “Thank the Gods,” Asha panted.

  Almost as if to mock us, at that very moment, a Firedrake crashed through the trees right ahead, landing on its clawed feet hard enough to shake the earth beneath us.

  The three of us came skidding to a halt to avoid colliding with the beast, and as it whipped its head toward us, its diamond-shaped eyes pinning us where we stood, I reached into the pocket of my jacket.

  It was almost as if some compulsion had overcome me, and I might have actually handed over the stone had Asha not gripped my wrist, her nails digging into the skin as she brought her face close to mine.

  “Don’t,” she said. “We need it. Adriel needs it.”

  I blinked, shaking my head a little, and withdrew my hand from my jacket.

  As we did this, Vega charged at the Firedrake. It spun around to face the Valac warrior, its massive tail felling a couple weak trees in the process.

  “Go!” Vega told us, giving us a chance to escape that I would not have expected from him.

  Asha and I swerved around the drake and the warrior as we barreled toward the point of extraction, the air tearing in and out of our lungs.

  We were almost there when there was a terrible screech from behind, and I risked a look back to see that Vega had injured the drake he’d been facing, and was now sprinting toward us with a haste I felt in my heart.

  Ahead, the air swirled, forming a circle of magic that grew and grew—the opening of the portal that would transport us out of this place. This made me push harder, the finish line in sight, the end of this endless journey so very near.

  At that moment, a large tree came crashing down in front of me, and I had to leap out of the way to avoid being crushed by its massive trunk.

  Vega was far enough back to avoid the impact, and he jumped over the fallen tree and toward the portal, barking at me to get the hell up.

  The sound of thick tree branches snapping like twigs under the weight of the Firedrakes exploded throughout the jungle, and coupled with the screeches of the beasts, the effect was downright terrifying.

  I was on my feet in an instant, the pain of the lacerations on my shoulders having come to life with the fall. I grunted, blinking at the swirling circle just ahead of me as the Valac warrior jumped through it, disappearing in a flash.

  I had almost reached it when I looked back and saw that Asha was trapped beneath the trunk of the fallen tree, her legs pinned and her face straining as she tried to struggle free.

  She looked up and saw me, and through gritted teeth said, “Rook, go!”

  The portal loomed right before me. With two steps, I could be through it, safe on the other side. I had the stone tucked safely in my pocket, and it was all I needed to make a deal with the Seers.

  “Go, Gods damn it!” Asha shouted from behind me, the words swallowed up by the calls of the drakes as another came crashing down from the sky.

  It landed right between Asha and me, cutting off my view of the Demon female altogether.

  I looked over at the waiting portal, then cursed the Gods above as I shifted into my Wolf form and turned back toward the chaos of the jungle.

  The shift was instant, and as such, it took a toll on my wavering energy stores. But I was much bigger in this form, and I was able to tackle the Firedrake that was two seconds away from eating the top half of Asha’s body while she struggled with her legs pinned beneath that massive trunk.

  The impact with the drake was teeth rattling. Its body was hard, made of thick scales and muscle, and I had to put all my force into my bite just to break the surface.

  The Firedrake screeched as I bit and locked, my fangs finding weak purchase on its rear flank. It flapped its wings, rising off the ground of the jungle and taking me with it. I released my hold before my paws were too far off the ground, not at all eager to go for another flight.

  Before I even hit the jungle floor, I’d shifted back into my mortal state, because I needed hands if I hoped to lift the damn tree off of Asha.

  I rushed over to her, and her eyes widened in both relief and confusion when she saw me.

  “You fucking idiot,” she shouted, as I squatted down, preparing to lift the log.

  My teeth gritted together hard enough to ache as I used my supernatural strength to heave the tree up
ward. It was not a feat someone without enhanced muscles would have been able to accomplish, and even so, it took an enormous amount of effort on my part. There were still deep cuts in my shoulders from where that drake had grabbed me, and I felt the skin split further as I lifted.

  But I managed to lift it up enough so that Asha could struggle free, though I had to drop it and take her under the shoulders just so she could stand. I’d sustained enough injuries in my lifetime to know that one of her legs was broken, and the other didn’t look to be in great condition, either.

  As we limped toward the swirling portal, Asha said, “I told you to leave me.”

  A harsh laugh bubbled up my throat, and I pulled her along faster. “Yeah, well, I’m a fucking idiot, remember?”

  We were so close, near enough that I felt the pull of the portal. It lifted my hair off my shoulders, ready to receive us as soon as we jumped through.

  But because of Asha’s injuries, we were not fast enough. There was only ten feet between the portal and us, but another Firedrake came crashing down through the trees, and landed between us and our escape. Without thinking, I removed the stone from my pocket and slipped it into Asha’s.

  Then, I grabbed the female Demon by the back of her jacket, and launched her over the beast’s back.

  I watched as her flailing form disappeared through the portal, a look of surprise written on her face that reflected my own feelings. There was no time to dwell on them, however, because the Firedrake whipped its head toward me, and I glanced around for a way to get past it.

  The drake stood up on its two rear legs, and I paused for a moment as I recognized the scarring around its neck. As I’d only ever come into contact with one such beast in all my life, I placed it immediately.

  “It’s you,” I whispered, my voice so small with all the various sounds going on around me.

  The Firedrake I’d freed from the Arena in Marisol. The one that Reagan Ramsey had chained up and enslaved much in the same manner as he had me.

  The drake dropped down from its hind legs to all fours, and two rows of razor sharp teeth filled my vision as breath as hot as fire blew the hair back off my shoulders. It met my eyes, and as it did so, I realized that it recognized me also. There was a marked intelligence in the creature’s diamond gaze, an intellect that was notable.

  “The stone is already gone,” I told it, my hands trembling as I held them up before me. “Please, just let me go.”

  Then, because the world could not get any stranger, the dragon actually spoke. I’d read in a book in the library back in Mina that legends claimed the beasts were capable of doing so, but only ever chose to communicate with their riders. But it was still a flooring experience, something I would look back on and never be quite sure if I had imagined it.

  The Firedrake raised its massive head, its gaze still holding mine, its forked tongue flicking out as it spoke in a voice that was rich and deep and rumbling. “Consider my life debt paid, wolf daughter,” it said.

  Then, to my utter amazement, it stepped to the side, giving me silent permission to pass.

  I might be a fucking idiot, but I was no fool. I jumped through the portal as fast as I could, but the Firedrake had one more thing to say before I was swallowed by the swirling magic.

  “You have no idea what you have done,” it said.

  And then I was falling.

  29

  Or flying. Or whatever the hell happened when the portal magic pulled me across time and space, the jungle disappearing around me.

  It spit me out back in the City of the Seers, which I recognized immediately for the specific blue of the sky and the citrus-salt scent that filled the air.

  My body struck the paved street hard enough to make a grunt of pain escape me, and I collapsed to my back, sucking down air as I squeezed my eyes shut against the glare of the sun, which had apparently risen again in my absence.

  Then someone was yanking me up to my feet, and wrapping me in an embrace tight enough to restrict my breathing. My head was so fuzzy from all that had happened that it took me longer than it should have to realize that it was Asha who was holding me—holding me as though she would never let me go.

  My arms went around her as well, and I realized that the Demon female was crying only as I felt her body shudder and heard her sniffle in my ear.

  “You Gods damned fucking idiot,” she said, still not releasing me.

  I grimaced at the pain in my body, and a laugh actually bubbled out of me. “I love you too, Asha,” I said.

  And then she laughed too. Even Vega tipped his mask up and grinned at us, the three of us sharing in a moment of survivorship that had looked highly unlikely only moments before.

  Asha finally loosened her hold, but I kept my arm around her when she almost fell on her face. She’d been standing on her unbroken leg, but it had buckled beneath her.

  “We need to get you to a medic,” I said, and took note of my own pain. “I could use one as well.”

  Asha swiped away the tears that had escaped her eyes swiftly, and opened her mouth as if to say something, but someone spoke instead, beating her to the punch.

  “You made it back,” said the Seer, and I swiveled on my heels to see all one hundred of the bald-headed bastards lined up down the street, milky eyes turned in our direction. “Did you retrieve the stone?”

  I swallowed, recalling the Firedrake’s words to me.

  You have no idea what you have done.

  I reached into Asha’s pocket and removed the ruby stone. As one hundred Seers caught sight of it, they issued a small hiss that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and a knot form in the base of my stomach.

  The Seer who had spoken grinned widely, black-stained lips stretching. “You have exceeded our expectations, moonchild,” he said, and took a step toward me. He held out his hand. “Now give it to us.”

  I took a step backward, clutching the stone to my chest, my eyes narrowing as I felt the attention of the Seers go from expectant to hostile. I handed Asha off to Vega, so that I could stand on my own, as if I thought I might run away or something.

  “What is it?” I asked. “Why do you want it so badly?”

  The grin on the Seer’s lips melted like snow in spring.

  “We had a deal,” he said. “Give us the stone, and we’ll tell you how to free the Dogs from their collars.”

  The tension grew, as was evident in the way that Asha and Vega held perfectly still. Both of them were fighters, and as such, they knew instinctively when things were getting ready to take a turn for the worst.

  “I want to know what it is before I hand it over,” I said.

  The Seers went silent, and I could tell that they were using their freakish hive mind to discuss their next course of action with one another. I prepared myself for some kind of attack, but to my surprise, the one who had been doing the speaking nodded his head once.

  “Very well,” he said. “The object you are holding is called the Savior’s Stone, and its uses vary. What we intend to do with it is our business, the same as whatever you intend to do with the information we give you is yours.” His tongue snaked out over his stained lips, and he took another step forward. “Now, please. Hand it over.”

  “How do we remove the collars?” Asha said. “You hand over the information first. Then Rook will give you your precious stone.”

  I glanced over at her, not at all sure I would do any such thing, but did not argue.

  With a dismissive glance at her, the Seer hissed slightly and snapped his fingers. An acolyte came scuttling forward and held out a scroll to Asha. She snatched it from him, broke the seal closing it, and scanned whatever was written there. Her dark eyes widened slowly, her free hand coming up to cover her mouth.

  When she looked up at my questioning face, she only nodded.

  “There,” the Seer said. “You’ve got your answer. Now give us the stone.”

  I looked down at the scarlet object in my hand, and with more effort than i
t should have required, handed it over.

  The Seer took it and tucked it away quickly, all the others leaning a tad closer in excitement.

  “You’ve gotten what you came for,” the Seer said, and waved a hand. “Now be on your way.”

  A golden door appeared that I recognized as the one that led down the cloud staircase and out of this plane, and when I looked back at the spot where the Seers had been a moment ago, I saw that they had all disappeared.

  The paved street slowly began to disappear, too, along with the buildings and statues, the columns and gold domes, the turquoise sea and blue sky, all of it receding toward the door.

  Vega opened it, and we stepped through, the white staircase stretching down to the earth before us. When I looked back, the door was gone, and only open air greeted us.

  Vega was still holding up Asha, and the staircase was just wide enough for me to grab her under her other arm. Then, we started the climb down.

  Asha gripped my waist as I helped support her, and gave me a grin that I didn’t want to slap off her face for once.

  “Let’s go home,” she said.

  We agreed upon that as well.

  We stood at the edge of the water, side by side, our bodies battered from all they’d endured.

  “You think it will work?” Asha asked, nodding toward the conch shell in my hands.

  I shrugged, studying the small waves as they rolled in toward the shore. “Only one way to know,” I replied.

  Placing the pointed tip of the shell to my mouth, I blew into it. The only noise it made was the sound of my breath against its smooth surface.

  Asha gave the shell an incredulous look, which she then transferred to me. “Anti-climatic,” she said.

  My head tilted as I looked out over the water. “Captain Amadika said only she could hear the shell. Now all we have to do is wait.”

  Asha plunked down on the sand and began to unburden herself of various weapons and items, arranging them on the beach beside her.