by Apollo Surge
"Sawyer, we're not just going to let you go out there alone," Alicia said, horrified.
"You can't talk me out of this. I need to-"
"No, I mean, we're going with you." Alicia cut him off before he could argue his case, turning to look at Jacob and Mateo and Paul. "You guys are coming too, right?"
"Of course," Jacob said without hesitation.
"Even if you try to talk us out of it, we will just follow you anyway," Mateo said casually.
"The Moon wants me to go," Paul said, unconvincingly. "Honestly. She said so."
"Don't they need you here?" Sawyer asked, looking at the crowd of frightened people.
"The pack comes first," Alicia replied with calm certainty. "And like you said. Either this will save everyone, or in an hour none of it will matter anyway. Just give me a minute to tell Serena."
Serena tried to insist that she also be allowed to come along, and Sawyer was tempted to let her. He knew she could hold her own in a magic fight. But the coven needed her to support the protections around the cave, and if Sawyer's plan didn't work she and the magic users were everyone's only slim chance of surviving. After a tearful goodbye, Alicia met them at the entrance to the cave.
"All right Elliot," Alicia said, shaking herself off. "You're Alpha. Lead the way."
Elliot considered it for a moment, then shook his head.
"If I was ever Alpha, I gave that up," he said. "You've always been the leader this pack needed, Alicia. Alpha or not."
Sawyer felt the slow glow of pride from Alicia through the pack bond.
"Fuck it," she said after a moment. "Who needs an Alpha anyway? Sawyer, you're the one who knows where we're going. Take point."
Sawyer nodded and stepped out ahead of the others. The pack ran from the cave, out of season snow under their paws one moment, moss and fallen flowers the next. The moved like a single organism, bounding up the mountain, feeding sensory information through the pack bond to Sawyer. They hadn't moved like this since before Duncan and Antonia died. The sudden sense of unity caused a bittersweet ache in Sawyer's chest.
Sawyer ran with his nose to the wind, paying careful attention to the scents picked up by the rest of the pack. He needed six noses to track in the crazy weather. But soon enough he caught the familiar scent he was looking for, in just the direction he expected. He put on a fresh burst of speed, though his body howled at him to stop. He was running out of time.
"Back! Back you scoundrels! You'll have them over my stony hide!"
Sawyer heard Jagger's voice up ahead and felt a rush of simultaneous fear and relief.
"As though taking your hide would be any difficulty," an airy, giggling voice declared. "I could snap my fingers and it would jump from your bones to my hand in an instant."
Sawyer and the pack burst through a gale of autumn leaves and saw Jagger, standing boldly in front of Mike and Rita. Three Seelie Fae, each more willowy and graceful than the last, circled him. Rita had a big stick in one hand and an iron horseshoe in the other and looked like she had every intention of fist fighting the fae next to Jagger. Mike, slightly less confident, brandished a wrought iron fire poker.
"And yet I notice you haven't!" Jagger taunted the Fae to keep them focused on him and not the wolves. "You're no fool! I'm the guardian of this mountain, and that means its power is my power! Come for me together and you may kill me, but I'll obliterate at least one of the three of you first!"
The Seelie traded suspicious looks with one another, none willing to risk being the one that got killed for the sake of calling Jagger's bluff.
Unfortunately, before they could make a decision or turn on one another, Rita spotted Sawyer through the ice spitting wind.
"Black Wolf!" she shouted in triumphant delight. "You creeps are going to get it now! The Black Wolf will fight all of you! He killed the fairy king with his own teeth!"
Sawyer bared his teeth, not in threat, but in reaction to a powerful contraction ripping through him, strong enough this time to make his vision blur. Though it was easier to hide his discomfort as a wolf than it would be as a human, he doubted he was in fighting shape.
The Seelie Fae looked unimpressed regardless.
"What king did this pack of mutts kill?" One of them wondered. "A king of rats? A king of rabbits? A king of pussy cats?"
"I'd tell you to fight me and find out," Sawyer growled, the pack bracing for a fight behind him, their growls echoing his own. "But I think you have bigger things to worry about."
The Fae did not have time to ask what Sawyer meant before a rusted iron bar slammed into the side of its head, crushing it like an insect.
The children and Sawyer's pack recoiled in horror as the Nuckelavee, gory flesh gleaming, turned with an equine scream to strike out at the second of the three Fae. It and its companion flew at him in a flurry of angry buzzing and flashing stingers, but Nicholas was too fast, and utterly ruthless. It dashed the second like a mosquito on a windshield, then pinned the third with the end of the iron bar. It writhed in the dirt, screaming as the metal burned it.
"You have returned," Nicholas said, changing shape without removing his weapon from the Seelie's throat. "Then there is still time to escape."
"Sorry Nick," Sawyer replied. "I'm not running anymore. I've come to put an end to this."
"As long as there are Seelie between us," Nicholas said. "I will defend you with my life. But you must be prepared for what will happen when only you and I remain."
"Don't worry," Sawyer said. "That won't happen. In case the world doesn't end, stay alive, all right?"
"I make no promises," Nicholas replied, but Sawyer saw the ghost of a smile on his stoic face. "Now run, before this insect expires and I must pursue you."
Sawyer nodded.
"Isn't that the knuckle thing?" Rita asked, stunned and awed, as Sawyer nudged her onto Elliot's back, while Mike climbed onto Jacob's. "The one that tried to kill you?"
"Yeah, he's still trying to kill me," Sawyer said. "But we're cool now."
"Do you make a habit of going around befriending murderous Unseelie sea spirits?" Jagger asked, looking somewhere between disgusted and impressed.
"Only the one."
"Should we try to bring them back to the cave?" Elliot asked.
Sawyer started to reply, then stumbled, struck dizzy by another powerful contraction. They were coming faster now.
"No time," he said when he could speak, ignoring Elliot's worried whines. "We need to get to the peak, while I can still walk."
"What's wrong with him?" Mike asked, worried, as Sawyer shook himself off and took point again. Sawyer and the rest of the pack unanimously agreed to ignore the question.
They began to run again and Sawyer clung to the knowledge that the peak wasn't far. But as another wave of contractions hit him he tripped, falling into a bank of snow that melted a moment later and left pollen clinging to his fur.
"A little further mutt," Jagger said, pushing Sawyer's shoulder as Elliot nudged him back to his feet. "You can make it."
"I'm not sure I can keep going," Sawyer confessed, shuddering as the contraction passed through him in waves, feeling like his insides were coiling and uncoiling. It wasn't quite pain, but a discomfort so persistent and intense it might as well have been.
Then Jagger took Sawyer's head in both hands, and suddenly the pain dulled back to being barely noticeable. Still there at the edge of his awareness, but no longer whiting out his vision and scrambling his thoughts.
"That should hold you long enough," Jagger said, shaking his hands as he let go. "Now up you get!"
Sawyer climbed obediently to his feet, shook himself, and led the pack on, quietly promising himself that if the world didn't end he would be bringing Jagger offerings twice a month for the rest of his life.
The peak came at last into view just as Sawyer became certain that, even with Jagger's help, he couldn't keep going. He limped the last few steps onto the plateau.
Above them, the night sky roiled, flashin
g with heat lightning, twisters, snow and ice. The aurora borealis twisted like a banner over a battlefield through the madness of the sky. The earth rumbled under their feet. Among the clouds, Sawyer could see two armies gathering, the ribbon of the aurora flowing between them.
"Is that them?" Mike whispered, staring in awe.
"Yeah," Sawyer confirmed, his voice strained and tired.
"Are you going to fight them?" Rita asked.
"No. Even I couldn't fight that many. But I know someone who can. You remember how I told you I didn't kill the Erlking? I just locked him down in the mountain?"
The kids nodded while Sawyer's pack looked on in worry. Elliot butted his head against Sawyer's shoulder in support.
"Well, I think it's time to let him out."
Ahead of them, the door into the hall under the mountain had appeared, as though waiting for him. Is this what the Moon had planned all along, he wondered?
"Isn't he dangerous?" Rita asked.
"Won't he kill us?" added Mike.
"Nah. I've got something he wants. Something he's been hunting for, for a long, long time."
Sawyer stepped toward the door, then stumbled again, falling onto the stone. Elliot whined and the kids slid off his back as the pack gathered around Sawyer. Alicia pressed at his sides with her paw, ears pinned back in worry.
"It's starting," she said.
"I just need to go a little further," Sawyer said, groaning as the worst contraction yet tore through him, like someone was gutting him with a sharpened spoon.
"No," Paul replied, his silver eyes shining. "You've come exactly as far as you needed to, Black Wolf. Rest. Your part is almost done."
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Moon glowed, illuminating the clouds behind the two armies overhead. Sawyer, panting and shaking, watched as they rushed toward one another in slow motion, like waves on the sea, and crashed into one another. While he struggled below, surrounded by his pack, Elliot curled up around him, the titanic upheaval continued above. A war over the end of the world. Beneath that tumultuous sky, Sawyer lost all track of time.
"Here comes the second one," Alicia said, the first time anyone had spoken in a while. "Kids! Come see!"
"No way!" Rita declared, shaking her head. "Way too gross."
Mike peered curiously from a distance but wouldn't come any closer.
"Wait, that isn't-" Alicia murmured in concern. Sawyer blinked himself back to awareness, turning his head to look back at himself though part of him was with Rita on this and had no interest in seeing it. But most of the work was already done. Alicia was pulling the amniotic sac away from the second baby, where they both lay against Sawyer's stomach. One, a pup with fur black as Sawyer's, was already squirming and making small, curious peeping noises. The second had not yet moved, and Sawyer leaned closer, worried, only to realize why Alicia had sounded so confused.
The second baby was not a wolf. It was a deer. A newborn fawn. It lay curled up, completely still. Feeling like his heart would burst, Sawyer pressed his nose to the little creature's cold fur.
As he breathed out, it breathed in. Sawyer shuddered with relief. The deer moved, uncurling its long, spindly legs and blinking its large, wet eyes. Sawyer and the pack watched, mystified, as it stretched and wobbled, and then climbed to its feet to take its first stumbling steps. With every step it moved more confidently, and Sawyer realized it was also growing larger as he watched. With every step it matured further, and its fur grew brighter, its eyes deeper and stranger. It walked away from him, toward the door in the mountain, and by the time it was halfway there it was fully grown and almost too bright to look at. Sawyer stared in awe and understanding.
The door in the mountain opened as the Golden Hart approached it, swinging slowly inward, where the light of the Hall spilled out. The Hart threw back its head and let out a high, bugling cry. From within the Hall, the sound of hunting horns rose, and with them the sound of galloping horses and baying hounds.
The battle above them froze at the sound. All at once, Sawyer saw panic sweep over both armies, who turned to run. Too late.
The Wild Hunt exploded out of the mountain like water bursting from a dam, the Erlking at the front, holding a glorious sword. The Hunt rode on the air, galloping into the sky at terrible speed. It cut swathes through both armies, like a shark through a school of fish. They scattered at the Erlking's coming and fell by the thousands. More than half of each army simply abandoned their weapons and fell in with the Hunt immediately- Wild Fae who had been bound to the Courts, answering the call of the Erlking. The pack watched as the Hunt decimated both armies in a matter of moments.
"Yeah, take that!" Rita shouted suddenly, waving her fists at the sky. "Fuck you, fairies!"
"Rita!" Mike said, scandalized. "We're not allowed to say that word! Casey said-"
"Just this once," Sawyer interrupted. "It's fine."
Mike considered this for a moment, then joined Rita in shouting at the sky, both of them shouting 'fuck you' like they had to get a lifetime's worth of uses out in the next five minutes.
Sawyer was distracted by the urgent whining of the wolf pup. He curled up around it, licking it comfortingly on some instinct. It was nosing at his side in search of something and he felt a stab of awkward guilt as he realized what it probably was.
"Sorry buddy," he said. "I don't think I have the equipment for that."
"Yeah, I'm afraid he'll have to be a formula baby," Alicia confirmed.
"She," Sawyer corrected with a tired canine smile. "It's a girl."
Elliot was still curled around him, looking over his shoulder in quiet awe.
"Still thinking Penny?" he asked.
"I don't know," Sawyer said, looking away. "What do you think, Paul? Does it suit her?"
But Paul wasn't looking at them. Paul was still staring at the sky, his ears alert and his hackles raised.
"Something's coming."
It hit the ground like a meteor, scattering them. Sawyer curled up around the baby, teeth bared in panic. Elliot stood over him protectively, but as a familiar shape rose from the cloud of dust Sawyer realized their teeth would not be enough.
"I see that other option you wanted to explore worked out," Goldenrod snarled. He was battered and bloody, a crumpled iridescent wing dragging behind him. "But we still have business, mutt. Here I am, as promised, when all is lost, to make you my offer one final time."
"I'm not interested," Sawyer snapped, growling ferociously. "Get lost!"
"Oh, I am not so easy to dismiss," Goldenrod laughed. "For the sake of politeness, I will ask one more time. And then I will not be asking."
"Go fuck yourself," Sawyer replied, protective anger burning like a furnace within him.
"Idiot," Goldenrod scoffed. "Do you really believe you can deny me when you have given me your true name? Sawyer, of Conner's Pack, the Black Wolf. I command you to give yourself and your child to me."
A moment ticked past as they all waited to see what would happen. If Sawyer had lips he would have grinned.
"That's not my name, dumbass."
Goldenrod's eyes widened as he realized he'd been tricked. Elliot was the only one who knew that Sawyer was a nickname he'd been given in foster care. But Goldenrod hadn't asked for his true name. He'd asked for what Elliot called him. And Elliot, like everyone else, had always called him Sawyer.
"Fine," Goldenrod snarled, spitting blood. "There are plenty of ways to skin a cat."
With the most casual of gestures he flung Elliot in one direction and Sawyer in another. Sawyer hit the ground human, skidding on the stone, and scrambled to get to his feet, though his legs shook under him and his body felt gutted.
"No!" he shouted, his voice raw with horror as he saw Goldenrod bending down to pick up the baby. Jacob, Mateo, Alicia and Paul all leaped at the Fae at once, and were swatted away as casually as flies. They too, were knocked clear out of their wolf shapes.
Sawyer scrambled for something to help pull himself to his fe
et, and his heart stopped as he felt his fingers connect with the iron fire poker Mike had brought. Good enough.
"What is this?" Goldenrod complained as he lifted the newborn wolf, nose wrinkled in distaste. "This is not the child I was promised. It was overflowing with power. This thing is barely more special than any mundane mongrel. Where have you hidden the child I was promised?"
"Over here!" Sawyer shouted, and as Goldenrod turned his head to look, Sawyer smashed the iron fire poker into his jaw. The Seelie reeled backwards, an angry red welt already rising on his skin, and Elliot, already back in wolf shape, darted forward to snatch the baby from Goldenrod's arms.
"How dare you!" Goldenrod shrieked, but had no time to say more as Sawyer was already swinging at his head with the fire poker. Sawyer howled like a mad man, swinging wildly with no strategy or skill, but it seemed none was required. It appeared no one had ever attacked Goldenrod with a fire poker before. He stumbled backwards trying and often failing to dodge Sawyer's blows, which left blistering burns everywhere they struck.
"Enough!" he screamed as Sawyer wailed on him relentlessly. "Enough!"
Another wave of magic threw Sawyer backwards again, and this time Sawyer knew he wasn't getting back up.
"I have never been so humiliated," Goldenrod complained, straightening his clothes and wincing as they rubbed against his many new raw and bleeding burns. Then he turned to Elliot, who still held the baby in his jaws, backing away warily. With a twitch of his finger, Goldenrod slammed Elliot to the ground with his magic and casually strolled forward to take the baby. "You may have forestalled the end of the world, but you will never hear the end of me, I can promise you. I will haunt every moment of the rest of your lives for this indignity. I don't care if this mutt is useless. Taking it is but the first installment in the years, the centuries, of vengeance that I am owed. It will never be over. I will never be done. I will-"
His declaration was cut abruptly short as his head was removed from his shoulders.
The Erlking withdrew his sword and took the baby from Goldenrod's arms in the same motion, not even looking as the dead Seelie fell. The leader of the Wild Hunt turned his great mount to where Sawyer was struggling to sit up, in pain and drained of all energy. With great care, the Erlking placed the baby in Sawyer's arms. Then, after a moment of thought, removed his heavy cloak from his shoulders and settled it around Sawyer and the child like a quilt. It appeared to be made of rustling leaves from the outside, but the inside was as soft and warm as fur.
