Chapter 12 #2
Wraith’s emotions were like a storm churning behind his chest. How could a monster feel so much at once?
I’d assumed they existed off instinct and need, much like the beasts I hunted for meat, but this…
this was startling. Fury rippled alongside a deep, horrific grief.
He felt as if he’d lost a brother. He felt regret for their last few exchanges, a fight, or something.
The wither was warring within himself, partly wanting to roar and rage and another part heavy with responsibility to lead the village of maidens and monsters who stood before him.
Women looked up at him with misty eyes. Withers met his gaze with a knowing glance.
As if they knew his rage and sorrow and felt the same.
How could this be?
Wraith spoke again. “As the second strongest… now the strongest… amongst us. I will find Prism and bring her home, where we can care for Vore’s mate in her grief.
You all know I lost the battle for her, and with Vore’s passing, the responsibility to care for her becomes my own.
I will guard her as if she were my own mate and ensure nothing evil befalls her. ”
A gray wither asked lowly as he gently caressed his crying maiden’s hair, “What about the dark witch that is her sister? What of her?”
A woman asked, “Will we just let Willowspire and the Blackthorne Lords get away with this?”
Wraith’s fists clenched at his sides at mention of the Blackthornes. Memories of bright lights, darkness like a void, and flashes of pain and power went through his thoughts, but he regained his composure and answered.
“We are all in mourning. Nisse has lost a great deal, and we will all be in sorrow for lifetimes to come. However, for now, we focus on securing our borders against any Blackthorne or Asunder attacks. The battle in Willowspire will unlikely be overlooked. And secondly, we find and return Vore’s widow.
It is what he would have wanted… and perhaps it is what he needs in order to let his soul move on. ”
The gray wither spoke up. “You should not journey through Willowspire alone. I will join you.”
“No,” he answered, much to the relief of the woman the gray wither held. “I will go alone. You are needed here. I will not return without Prism.”
The gray wither jerked a nod, turning his attention back to his maiden, as did the others.
I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing—of what I was feeling through Wraith. Wraith? I mean, the big crimson monster… monsters… they were monsters. So how did they speak so surely? How did I feel so many emotions? What was this town of unharmed women and monsters coexisting side by side?
A wither gently sat his maiden down, and I couldn’t suppress my own shock and horror at the sight of her rounded belly.
They had… oh, no… surely not? The woman spoke, addressing the small crowd of monsters and maidens as Wraith watched on.
No spark of annoyance at a woman speaking, no harmed pride at allowing her a voice, only listening with openness.
How very strange.
“We will mourn our sister’s loss…” A small fearcat sat at the woman’s feet, and she regarded it for a moment, her lip quivering as she dried another tear with her sleeve.
Her wither tenderly offered her his hand and she took it.
Though it was so large, she only grasped a finger.
The scene was so disorienting and peculiar.
A wither and a woman… a pregnancy between them…
shared affection. It was all too much to take in.
“We love you, Fable. Take your time,” a woman in the crowd said.
Fable took a breath and continued, holding her monster for support.
“Sisters of Nisse, my friends, my family. We will care for Vore’s body in all the ways of old magic.
When she returns, she can decide what is to be done from there.
When our sister returns, we will nurture her, care for her, attend to her every need.
This is a time we must be strong and rally around one of us in her time of great need. ”
With splotchy faces of cried and dried tears, the women nodded their agreements. They all knew Prism. She’d been here amongst them in her time away. My sister had made friends and coexisted with monsters.
Wraith’s sense of duty swelled in his chest as he exchanged subtle glances with the other withers. A little later, he and the grey wither spoke.
Wraith ordered, “In my absence, double our watch on the borders.”
“Do you think they’d try to come here?” the gray wither asked cautiously.
“I do not know. However… if you see a Blackthorne or the dark witch anywhere near Nisse… kill on sight.”
“The dark witch who slayed Vore is Prism’s sister,” the gray wither said.
“Yes, and Vore was Prism’s mate. My command remains.”
The gray wither nodded before slinking away into the night.
A slideshow of recollections played before me.
The crimson wither and the onyx wither building a house together.
They were laughing and joyful. Another memory of the two of them taking down a giant boar and returning it to the village.
The boar was roasted on a giant stick as a bonfire raged.
Women danced, played music, and sang, twirling around the monsters with flowers in their hair.
An overwhelming sense of home rushed through me. When I thought I couldn’t take a second longer inside the crimson wither’s mind—one more memory solidified.
My sister. Her long blonde hair shone in the sunlight as she picked lemons from a tree.
The onyx wither sitting casually next to her.
She smiled at him before leaning into his embrace.
His arms wrapped around her, his claws not cutting her skin, and they kissed.
Prism’s cheeks were rosier than I’d ever seen them.
Her eyes were bright, and her smile was so big it wrinkled her nose. I’d never seen her so… happy.
I wanted out.
Let me out, let me out, now! I screamed in my mind. Whatever magic had sucked me into this wither’s mind, I wanted far away from it. I needed time to think. I needed… I don’t know what I needed, but I wouldn’t find it inside this monster’s thoughts.
My magic crawled over my skin, and suddenly I was back in my body—staring up at the red wither’s horrible face. My brow furrowed in confusion, and I jerked my palm away from his. “H-how?” I stammered out.
The wither eyed me a moment longer before sparing a glance over my shoulder where Spade had come to stand behind me.
Taking a thunderous step backwards, as if wary to turn his back to us, the wither retreated into the forest. Even as large and red as he was, somehow he blended in, disappearing between branches.
Spade turned me around by my shoulders just as a sharp pain hammered into my temple.
“Are you alright? What the hell were you thinking?”
“Ouch.” I raised my palm to my forehead.
“No, no, no, not now,” I pleaded with my own body.
The spider was back—maybe I’d used too much magic unprotected, or maybe it was just a part of me now, but the spider was back.
Sinking its legs into my skull, gripping tight, and blurring my vision.
The last thing I remember before I went unconscious from the pain was falling into Spade’s arms.