by Cheree Alsop
He pounded on Doyle’s door heedless of the pain to his burned hands.
“Doyle, I need you! Let me in!” he shouted.
Silence met his words. Aleric pounded again, desperation driving his strength so that the thick wooden door shook with his efforts. The thought of finding the Fourth Horseman’s house empty hadn’t occurred to him. Aleric didn’t know what to do. Death was his only hope. He hit the door so hard the pain brought tears to his eyes, but he didn’t stop.
“Don’t break the door down.”
Aleric pounded on the door two more times before the meaning behind the words sunk home. He paused, his fist raised and arm shaking from the pain.
“Just give me a minute,” the familiar voice grumbled.
The sound of several bolts sliding free reached the werewolf’s ears. Relief filled him when the door finally opened.
“What do you— Aleric!” Doyle said in surprise. “What are you doing in Blays?” The Horseman’s gaze shifted to Lilian. “What happened?”
“Drakathans, gorgons, and an Almedragon,” Aleric replied. “You’ve got to help me.”
Doyle stepped aside. “Come in. I never thought I’d see you back here.”
Aleric crossed the wooden floor of the single-room hut and set Lilian gently on the bed whose blankets had been tucked tightly at all corners.
“I never planned to come back,” Aleric said quietly. He kept his gaze on Lilian. “I’m here to fight for her life.”
He could feel the look the Horseman of Death gave him. “You know I don’t give people back.”
Aleric met the man’s eyes, his own bright with desperation. “I promised her I’d protect her, and I failed. It’s my fault she’s like this.”
“I doubt that,” Doyle replied, his voice low. “I know what you do over there in the human world. You save people, not hurt them. Those you’ve sent my way have deserved it.”
Aleric opened his mouth to argue, but Death lifted his hand, his gaze knowing.
“Those you’ve sent protecting the fae and humans, not in the name of the Drakathans. And where those darkest of the Dark fae are concerned, no one in their power is responsible for the lives they take.”
“That’s not true,” Aleric said, his voice just above a whisper. He lowered his gaze to avoid looking at the Horseman who knew far too much about the things he had done.
“It is true,” Doyle replied. “But you’re going to have to accept that yourself. Psychological counseling isn’t my specialty.”
“But taking lives is,” Aleric said, swiftly changing the subject to the one that mattered to him. “I need you to send her back. I can’t let her die like this.”
A pained expression crossed the Horseman’s face. There was kindness in Death’s pale gaze along with understanding. The lines of age that marked his skin told of things seen that could not be unseen. His eyes held a limitless depth that led into a different world, one that sent beckoning whispers through Aleric’s mind. The werewolf gave an inadvertent shudder.
“Please. Is there anything you can do?” he pleaded. He touched Lilian’s arm. “I can’t return without her. It would kill me.”
“I owe you for saving Haga. I’ll do what I can.” The faint greenish-yellow glow that surrounded the Horseman increased. He closed his eyes for a brief moment. Aleric held his breath, counting the seconds that ticked by.
“She’s not mine,” Death finally said. He opened his eyes and met the werewolf’s gaze. “Not yet.”
Aleric stared at him. “Then what do I do? I don’t know how to fight this!”
“But you know who does.”
Dread coursed through the werewolf. “I can’t trust them; not after last time.”
“Your blame is toward the wrong race, Aleric Bayne.”
Aleric lowered his head, watching Lilian’s still face. “They promised me they’d save Sherian.”
“But they weren’t the ones who wounded her past saving,” Doyle pointed out. “Trust me when I say I know what I’m talking about. They did the best they could. You have to trust them if you want to save Lilian.”
Aleric gathered her body back up in his arms. The chill of her skin ran through him. He listened for a heartbeat. It was only after holding his breath and willing his entire being to focus that he finally heard the faint flutter of her heart.
“Trust them, Aleric.”
He blinked back the tears that filled his eyes. “I don’t know if I can.”
Doyle set a pale hand gently on Lilian’s cheek. “Place her fate in their hands with the knowledge that they have done no wrong. That’s the only way.”
He took his hand away and led Aleric to the door. “Duffy will take you. Release him when you reach the nymphs; he knows the way home.”
The horse was already waiting when Aleric stepped out. Doyle took Lilian from the werewolf. Aleric eyed the glowing, pale horse with uncertainty. Animals seldom trusted a predator on their backs. Aleric’s few experiences with horses had not been favorable. He held out a hand. Duffy sniffed it, then turned to the Horseman of Death with barely more than a twitch of his ear.
Aleric clumsily grabbed a handful of the horse’s mane and swung onto his wide, bare back. With surprising strength given the Horseman’s tall, thin form, Doyle handed Lilian up.
“Take care of you both,” the Horseman said.
“I’ll try,” Aleric replied. “Thank you for your help.”
Doyle put a hand on the horse’s nose. Duffy gave a quiet wicker and snuffed the Horseman’s face.
“Ride swift and true, Duff my boy. See that they get to the wood nymphs safely.”
The horse snorted and stomped a hoof as if in reply. Death stepped back and gave Aleric a half-smile. “Hold on,” the Horseman suggested.
Aleric barely had a chance to grab the horse’s mane in a weak hold before the animal leaped forward into a gallop. The forest raced past in a blur.
Chapter Eleven
Lilian’s head lolled back. Aleric bent over the horse, willing the animal to run faster as trees flew by and he had to duck to avoid being swept off by branches. Howls and bellows sounded and then were left far behind by the horse’s heedless flight. Aleric swore once he heard a Drakathan’s high-pitched voice in his mind. A shudder racked his body and he shielded his thoughts the best he could. It had never been enough to prevent the Drakathan from giving commands in his mind, but the horse’s swift flight proved a better shield as distance broke the connection.
Memories swarmed Aleric as soon as they reached the clearing. The trees, the shadows thrown by the moonlight, the faint glow of the flowers that wrapped the trees in a loving embrace, and the figures who whispered from the branches; it triggered the memory of one of his worst days in Blays.
“Help her!” he had called. He remembered how slow his feet had felt when he ran through the Drake Woods with Sherian in his arms. Her blood felt so warm as it seeped through his tattered shirt. When he looked down at her gaping stomach, the sight of her insides visible through the wound made him nauseous with fear for her life.
“Help her!” he repeated, falling to his knees in the middle of the clearing.
Sherian’s face was still as it had never been. She had been one to never hide how she felt, her face as expressive as a minky’s tail. The fact that it showed no emotion now, her eyes half-closed, bruises beneath them and showing in the hollow of her cheeks, let Aleric know how much he was asking. Yet he had to fight.
“Please, please try,” he pleaded.
“Take her,” a calm female voice said.
“Gently,” another echoed.
Hands touched young Aleric’s shoulders, willing him to let Sherian go. It took everything he could muster to open his hands and allow them to take her. He wasn’t sure how long he knelt there on the soft, mossy ground with his head bowed and his gaze on the blood that stained his hands, her blood. They had to save her; they just had to.
Aleric broke free of the memory and his eyes fell on the robed fo
rms that surrounded the horse. The cloth of their robes matched the bark of the trees they so loved.
“Dr. Wolf,” one of the nymphs said. “Dr. Wolf, look at me.”
He willed his thoughts to focus. The fact that he was in shock, either from his aching hands, the thought of losing Lilian, or the agony of returning to the place where he had seen Sherian for the last time was obvious to him. He stared at the nymph, all sense of time lost to him as her unfamiliar face became that of Vinca. Next to her was Valerian, the wood nymph he had saved in Edge City after she had been shot.
“Dr. Wolf,” Vinca repeated. “Why are you here?”
“T-to save Lilian,” he said, his voice raw past the knot in his throat. “But I-I don’t know how.”
Vinca nodded in understanding. “We’ll do what we can. Let us take her.”
Aleric shook his head. He wouldn’t do it again. He wouldn’t let the girl he cared about out of his sight. He needed to be there in case…. He swallowed; he could barely breathe.
“Trust us,” Valerian reassured him. “She’s in good hands.”
“That’s what you said about Sherian,” he replied to no one in particular.
Silence filled the clearing.
“He’s in pain,” an older woman’s voice said. “His hands; I can feel the agony they radiate.”
“We can help,” another replied.
Aleric turned his head to gaze at the woman who had noticed his hands. He couldn’t help but wonder if she was the one who had let Sherian’s life slip between her fingers.
Your blame has no place here.
Aleric shied back, but the voice in his mind wasn’t harsh or scratching like the Drakathans. This voice was quiet, calm, and soothing. It beckoned to him, settling his raging heart.
Blame helps no one.
“But she died.” Aleric’s voice cracked at the last word.
The older woman nodded. She spoke again in his mind.
I am Vey. You know that was no fault of myself or my sisters. It is natural to want to blame someone who can’t fight back, but you will only harm the one you are trying to save.
Aleric shook his head. His words were broken when he said, “I want her to be healed.”
Then trust us, Vey replied.
Aleric bowed his head. The rest of the wood nymphs waited as though they knew the battle he raged. As much as Sherian’s blood had stained his clothes, he felt Lilian’s life slipping through his hands. He swallowed and made the hardest decision of his life.
“Save her,” he pleaded.
Gentle hands took Lilian from his arms. They carried her away from the horse and through the trees on feet so quiet he couldn’t hear their footsteps across the thick moss that carpeted the moonlit clearing.
Aleric slid off the horse with the intention of following Lilian, but his legs gave out and he sank to his knees on the mossy ground.
Duffy glanced at him with one dark eye, gave a quiet wicker, and the softly glowing horse trotted out of the clearing.
“Come with us, Dr. Wolf,” Valerian said. “We’ll tend to your hands.”
Aleric shook his head. “Lilian needs your help.”
“The elders will attend to her,” Vinca replied. “You saved my sister’s life. Let us help you in repayment.”
Aleric didn’t have the strength to protest when they assisted him to his feet and led him in the direction Lilian had gone. He was vaguely aware of being seated at the base of a tree, having warm furs wrapped around his shoulders, and tasting a goblet of thick liquid that was pressed to his lips. His head tipped forward and he didn’t have the will to protest when his hands were tenderly unwrapped.
The intake of breaths from the wood nymphs reached his ears.
“How did this happen?” Vinca asked.
“He can’t answer,” Valerian replied. “He’s numb now. It won’t hurt.”
Something was pressed against his hands. His eyes closed.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he felt a gentle probing in his mind. He recognized the brush of the older wood nymph’s thoughts, but didn’t have the ability to put up any shields.
Vey searched his thoughts as if looking for something.
I didn’t realize you were aware, she said with apology warm in her voice. Most are far past this realm with the amount of Vycian’s brew you drank. Give me some sign if you feel pain. In order to heal you, I have to know how these injuries happened. Pardon me.
She sorted through his memories with an efficiency that would have amazed Aleric if he was anywhere near able to feel amazement. As it was, he felt her assessment of his loss of his mother, living in the streets, and losing Sherian which brought a pang of regret from the old woman. She moved quickly past his time with the Drakathan and his first weeks at Edge City Hospital.
Vey’s searching slowed at the introduction of the ifrits and Aleric’s battle to save Danjin’s life. The memory felt like the present as he held the ifrit’s head, willing the blood to slow despite the burning that melted his flesh. She watched him tell Starija and her mother about the loss of their loved one.
You poor thing, her voice said in his head. Such sacrifice. You did all you could.
Aleric wished he could tell her it wasn’t enough, that he regretted her wasn’t able to do more, that he should have been able to save the ifrit instead of telling his wife and daughter he had failed.
You need to stop blaming yourself for what fate decides, the woman said as if she read the regret in his thoughts. You need to understand that sometimes what happens isn’t fair. It’s not our job to explain it or stop it, only to continue to live for those who were taken too soon. It is by our actions that we honor them. You honor the ifrit girl who died to bind you to the Drakathans by the fae you help in the human world, just as you honor the ifrit man by saving his wife and daughter. He is grateful for your efforts.
Aleric’s heart gave a painful thump he wasn’t supposed to feel. He wanted to ask her how she knew all of that. He wanted to deny himself the relief her words brought because he told himself he didn’t deserve it; yet relief came just the same, an easing of the burdens he carried on his shoulders. He wondered if she knew how he felt. He guessed that she did because he was bathed by the feeling of her smile before she continued to sort through his thoughts.
I found what I need to know, she told him. Yet something tells me to keep going. Pardon my invasion into your memories. I must keep searching.
After his loss of the ifrit man, she followed his journey to the police, his want to fight, and his path through the alleys behind the hound dog.
Her searching stopped at the sight of the black dragon sleeping in the warehouse.
“You have an Almedragon,” Vey said aloud with shock in her voice.
Aleric wanted to point out that he didn’t exactly have an Almedragon. It may have been briefly in his possession when he wrapped it with the cord, but he was under no pretense that he had any control over the beast.
“You can save Drake City,” the wood nymph continued.
He had no idea what she was talking about. One of his hands was lifted, then the other. He felt the effects of the drought he had taken muffle his thoughts and chase away any feeling.
Sleep, Doctor of fae. You deserve it.
Aleric gave in to the comfort promised in the woman’s words and allowed the warm darkness to overtake him.
***
“He’s got to awaken!”
“He’s our only chance!”
Hands shook Aleric’s shoulders. It felt like part of a dream, his thoughts working sluggishly and his mind loath to give up the worry-free sleep.
“Please wake up, Dr. Wolf. Please!”
The panic in Valerian’s voice broke through the werewolf’s haze. He opened his eyes to see wood nymphs surrounding him.
“Lilian?” he asked.
“Time will tell,” Vinca said. “The city needs your help.”
Aleric raised a hand to rub the sleep from his eyes
and realized that they were no longer bandaged. He glanced down, then stared at the fully healed flesh that had been burned to the point of permanent damage. He flexed his fingers, gazing at them in incomprehension.
“What did you do?” he asked.
Valerian gave him a warm smile that belied the worry on her face. “We repaid a debt,” she replied.
“But now we have something to ask of you.”
Aleric met the older woman’s gaze. “Save Lilian and I’ll do anything you ask.”
“She’s on Death’s door,” Vey replied honestly. “We’ve done all we can. We can only wait and hope. Even now, my sisters surround her and offer her all of the healing energy they possess.”
“I appreciate that,” Aleric said quietly, humbled by the amount of effort they put into saving Lilian. “What can I do for you?”
“Bring us the dragon,” Vey replied immediately.
Aleric stared at her. “It kills humans like they’re fairy mice. It’ll soon breathe fire and destroy anything it wants. Why would you wish for that here?”
“It’s the only thing that can stop the zilants,” the woman replied, her voice wavering with age. “While you slept, a banshee came looking for you.”
“He came to the wood nymphs?” Aleric repeated in amazement.
Vey gave a small smile. “He conquered his fear in the face of a greater need to protect his family. The city is overrun and the zilants will soon spread to the forest. All of Drake City is in trouble. The banshee’s children said he had to find you; that you would be the one to stop the killing.”
“With the Almedragon?” Aleric asked.
Vey gave a single nod.
Aleric felt as though he was missing something entirely. “How am I supposed to control it?”
“You’ve seen the power of the minky.”
A laugh escaped Aleric. “You want me to use the kitten to control it?”
