Chapter 45
Chapter
Forty-Five
ALLIE
S olkar’s Reach was beautiful.
It had taken me weeks to see anything aside from my own sorrow, but now that my eyes were open, I couldn’t stop wondering at the crater which had accepted and embraced me like its leader.
They both had an attitude, but hid something radiant underneath.
And this crater, which had met me with hail and gale, now spread before me in all its glory. Snow shimmered underneath the crisp sun, broken now and then by crystal streams bubbling beneath old stone bridges.
Solkar’s Reach didn’t endure winter, it thrived in it.
Ryker guided us through neverending forests, where the trees seemed to spear the sky, and not even songbirds dared enter. Snow fell from the tops as we passed, falling over us in gentle waves.
The wolves seemed to enjoy it the most, opening their jaws and gulping up the snowflakes like treats, even as their paws hit the ground with unforgiving speed.
They didn’t tire, didn’t whine, didn’t even bark or growl as we passed herds of deer and elk, walking proudly among their territories.
These were no normal beings, that was sure.
The valleys dipped and peaked, the snow our constant companion. Every once in a while, I spotted small shrubs full of bloodred berries, shaken by the eager birds coming to feast.
This realm, isolated from the Clan greed commanding the rest of Malhaven, was like a fairytale come to life.
Peaceful, idyllic, and vast .
Even during that first day, when I’d watched the crater’s rim surround me, I hadn’t truly realized how big Solkar’s Reach truly was. Small miracle the honey cart had managed to traverse half of it in one day.
Every hour or so, I opened the palaver book, heart dropping each time Dax’s face didn't appear from between the blank pages.
He was just sleeping, I told myself.
Any other scenario was unthinkable–and I didn’t want to think it.
As if sensing my turmoil, Ryker slowed down a few times until he was visible, running alongside our sled for the briefest moments. Checking up on me. I smiled his way whenever I saw flashes of him, but he didn’t smile back.
Whatever he was doing to move so fast seemed to hurt. His face was set in a grimace, blue eyes sparking, and I could almost feel the throbbing from his legs thundering against the ground at such impossible speeds.
But then he’d be off to the head of the formation leading us deeper into the wilderness.
By the time the sun had begun to settle near the horizon, there were no more human-made bridges or structures around. Only nature, in all its unshakable glory.
Behind me, Nadya had relaxed completely, enjoying the ride. She’d even begun to hum a strange song underneath her breath, one I’d never heard a note of before. But it helped to focus on her chant while my spine rattled.
I’d definitely need a massage after this.
But before I did anything else, I knew that once we stopped, my time to sort my thoughts out would be over. Ryker deserved an explanation.
I had none–at least not one that didn’t make me feel deep shame, down to my marrow.
I was The Huntress. The past shouldn’t control me.
It turned out its claws were still embedded in my soul. More than I’d thought possible.
But if I didn’t wrangle it, that past which had left me with scars would screw up my future. That was the hardest part. It had hurt then and it hurt now, in a different, more pervasive way.
It wasn’t the hot rage that made me scream at the stars at night. It was the dull ache that hissed in my ear.
And I couldn’t let it win.
I hadn’t survived so much for so long to–
A terrifying roar splintered the peace.
It scraped against my bones and clawed at my muscles.
Every sense in my body knew the truth before my mind caught up.
Predator .
And I was the prey.
The sled jolted, my ribs slamming against the bench. Cold wind slashed against my cheeks and I tasted blood in my mouth from where my teeth had sunk into my lip.
I gripped the dagger and already had my hand raised above the furs, ready for an attack, when the sled began to sway.
Nadya cursed above me, yanking on the reins.
But no matter how hard she pulled on the leather straps, the wolves didn’t listen.
That roar had scared them into running off the snowy path.
“Shit!” Nadya yelled as the wolves dragged our sled through the deep forest. She hunched low to avoid the branches hitting against us with a vengeance. “They’re not listening!”
And neither one of us knew how to make them behave.
Another roar rattled the trees–and we were rushing straight toward it.
My hectic gaze darted around us, looking for any solution. It fell on the wooden hinge that held the wolves’ gangline to the sled. If I cut them loose, we would stop, and maybe they’d disperse enough to calm down–or until Ryker wrangled them back.
I kicked the furs away and with careful movements, crawled forward on the sled. The next roar almost stopped me, pure primal fear coursing through me.
But I pushed through.
It wasn’t just my life on the line.
Whatever had produced that bellow sounded big and dangerous and I was not about to face it.
As I reached the end of the sled, I embedded the tip of my new dagger into the hinge. The sled shook, almost throwing me off, but I held on with that famed Vegheara stubbornness.
The jolt didn’t stop the wolves. If anything, they ran faster, even as Nadya screamed at them in a language I didn’t understand and hadn’t heard in Solkar’s Reach so far.
I pressed the knife deeper into the wood. A few splinters detached and flew past my face in the wind, but the hinge had been carved with purpose.
Just as I called upon the well of power inside of me–still hazy, still not under my full control–the forest began to clear.
But instead of a peaceful valley, a cliff edge speared up in front of us.
My heart clenched.
“ Take the wind and soften our fall, no life lost, no bones undone ,” I chanted.
Just as blue tendrils burst from my hands, Nadya yanked harder on the reins and the wolves mercifully changed direction, running alongside the edge.
But the shift was too sudden.
The sled turned on its side right on the ledge. Gravity was too strong to hold on and it claimed me.
In a sea of blue light bursting out of my palms, I fell over the cliff.