CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CAMBION
The Raven Forest,
Shadow Realm
I feel the bones in my cheek break under Dragan’s knuckles. There’s instant pain and I see him wince as his knuckles shatter in turn. Before I can take another breath, he’s on top of me, pounding me incessantly with his broken fists. I can’t see anything, and the only thing I can feel is pain echoing through my body as my ribs snap beneath his fury.
I’m not sure how it happens, but Thoradin dives between us and pulls the fucking barbarian away from me. I’m on all fours, watching the blood dripping from my broken nose and sinking into the black earth beneath me.
“You fucker,” Dragan seethes at me.
I ignore him and reach into myself, into the light that’s fading the longer we spend in this fucking forest. But the light is still there all the same and when I call it, it answers. I can feel my bones mending as my magic spins a healing web throughout my body. Another few seconds and I’m returned to myself, sans any pain.
That’s when I turn to face the man whom I once called friend. But those days were long ago, and now, he’s my enemy.
Dragan, too, is bleeding. Luckily, I was able to produce a few choice blows myself and, with Thoradin still restraining him, I watch as his Arcane Magic heals him just as my Light Magic did the same for me.
“You’ve gotten your answers,” Dragan says as he pushes Thoradin away and stands up straight. He walks over to the angel, then crouches beside her. The sprite is still standing there, with his hands still on her. The girl’s eyes are closed but she’s breathing.
“I got no answers,” I correct him. All I have now are more questions—namely, what did the girl mean when she admitted to being more than an angel?
“She’s an angel, you have to accept that now,” Dragan says, his gaze fixed on her. “And you’d better start treating her with the respect she deserves.”
I can’t argue with him. Even though I didn’t find out much, at least I know she wasn’t lying about what she is. When I walk over to them, he glares up at me, snarling as if to warn me not to come any closer to her.
“She needs healing,” I announce as I look down at her pale face.
Dragan nods and allows me to approach the beautiful girl. I place my hands on her naked shoulders and close my eyes, calling up the light that still remains inside me. I’m exhausted already. The energy it took just to heal myself is going to take a few days to replenish, at least. And that’s only if I get out of this fucking shadow forest.
I feel the crackle of electricity as it fans out through my fingers and enters the angel, lighting her from within. As she begins to glow, I watch her inhale deeply and continue to pump my life force into her until I grow so weak, I have to pull away.
“It will have to do,” I confess as I roll over and sit down, needing to catch my breath. I close my eyes and will the dizziness away. “I have nothing left to give.”
“We need to leave this forest,” Dragan says.
That’s when I realize there’s no escape, now. If I return to the Fae Realm, Variant will know I’ve been gone and I’ll be in a whole world of trouble for not immediately turning Dragan, Thoradin, Flumph, and the angel over when they first entered my realm.
I could stretch the truth, yes, perhaps play up the events leading to my capture. I could say Dragan threatened me, told me he’d kill me if I didn’t save her. Then, when it was over, he took me as his prisoner. But I know Variant would never believe it—even though parts of it are true. Variant knows Dragan as well as I do, and he knows the bounds of Dragan’s sense of honor. He would know I’m here because I agreed to help.
To be fair, I haven’t been entirely honest with Dragan. When I told him I had no desire to leave Geldingstock, it was a lie. Geldingstock is a comfortable prison, but a prison nonetheless. And I’m not accustomed to the role of prisoner. Dragan and I are immortal beings, protectors at one time of the realms of light and dark. We were kings of the highest order, elected by the Midnight Queen herself to serve the three realms and all within them. We were given magic of the highest order—power that no other creatures possessed. Over time, that power has faded and weakened, especially while we’re subject to realms that aren’t our own. But we’re still highly capable, all the same.
To go from Seelie King—Lord over the fae, eldest and most venerable among my people—to a lowly servant of a former equal, forced now to view him as my sovereign? It may be comfortable banishment, but to lie and say it suits me is a disservice to all beings of light. The truth is, that imprisonment is worse than any hell. It’s done nothing but make me despise the chains of my immortality.
Had I the choice, I would now jump at the opportunity to end my existence and dissolve into the nothingness of death. Numerous times have I envied Baron his death, envied the fact that he doesn’t have to face the agony of another day in a calendar chock-full of neverending days.
Variant destroyed everything when he took power; he destroyed the balance we’d been so careful about preserving. Dragan and I were forced to watch as stability and prosperity were stripped from our respective lands. And, forced into exile, we had no choice but to allow Variant to rule us, because we knew what would happen if we rebelled…
The same thing that happened to Baron more than a century ago.
I hate Variant as much as I hate the city of Grimreap: both are unnatural, vile, ill-omened. But defy Variant and what good are we? We’d find ourselves walking the same path as Baron, winding up six feet underground with worms feasting on our carcasses.
But now I wonder if I’d rather be alive and subservient than dead and free?
***
FLUMPH
My head hurt like I been gettin’ into Anona’s wine too much agin, but I know that ain’t why I feel like somethin’ one o’ her guards shit out.
It’s this place. It’s dark, like it could be night if a full moon were out but there ain’t no moon. Just clouds, like thunder ‘bout to start rippin’ a new one ‘cross the sky. The clouds circle each other, like a giant whirlpool o’ gray darkness. Not ‘xactly the cure for an angry gut.
This forest got scary-ass trees all over. The ground’s gray or black, I can’t tell. An’ not a hundred yards from us is a huge wall. ‘Course, most things are huge to a sprite, but I’m thinkin’ this wall be considered big to them others in my group, also. It go up an’ up, like it stretchin’ to meet the clouds. An’ it’s made completely outta stone.
This place’s cold, too. An’ the trees look like somethin’ out one o’ my nightmares—like they about to develop mean-ass faces an’ start screamin’ at you, tryin’ ta grab you with them prickly-ass branches. An’ if there’s an owl in one of them tree-holes, I’m gonna jist fuckin’ die right here. Probly shit myself, first, an’ then die.
I don’t like it here. Not one bit. But seein’ as how my wagon’s hitched to theirs, there ain’t a whole lot I can do ‘bout it.
It’s quiet for a long time. I stay next to the angel an’ just watch her sleep. Whatever the fuck Cambion did to her, she almost unconscious-like. An’ Dragan real worried ‘bout her. He won’t leave her side, neither.
That’s when it starts. From over the walls o’ the city, we start hearin’ screams an’ yells an’ I ain’t got no idea what the hell’s goin’ on. It’s enough to make me start shiverin’ again, even with the fire toastin’ my tender bits. My brain start thinkin’ ‘bout those corn-cobs and shitter-cats agin, or whatever they was called. I don’t suppose their names’d matter too much as they snackin’ on your liver.
Dragan look worried, too, an’ even though I hate all these tall assholes equally, somethin’ ‘bout his expression gets me to thinkin’ maybe he ain’t all dick.
He turn to the girl an’ sigh as he look at her. As weird as it sound, it’s like he care ‘bout her. It’s in the way he look at her—all that macho shit, like, melts away. Kinda crazy, considerin’ the guy’s, like, a wild beast.
He’ll take first watch, he says. He tell the elf king the same, but when he look at Cambion, his eyes are real angry-like.
“Elves don’t sleep,” Cambion say coldly, his eyes stayin’ fixed on the fire.
“Fine. Then you take first watch.”
Cambion nod an’ Dragan leave the camp in search o’ more firewood, I’m guessin’. Or maybe’s he gotta shit? I ain’t even sure if gargoyles shit. I means, I’m guessin’ they gotta ‘cause they eats…
Guess I’ll ask him when he get back.
The elf king just stare into the fire, not sayin’ nothin’. For someone that don’t sleep, he look bone tired. Probly owin’ to all that healin’ he had ta do recently. An’ that fucked up spell he put on the angel that wore her out almost as bad as the Atacomite did.
“Maybe you should give sleepin’ a shot,” I venture at the elf. He cuts me off with an icy look, but I finish my sentence anyway. “You look like shit.”
“Elves don’t sleep,” he repeat. “They meditate.”
“What’s that mean?”
He seem surprised I don’t know. “It’s when you focus on focusing on nothing.”
“What?” Still, I don’t get it, so’s I hope the next explanation’s a bit clearer.
“Usually four hours meditation is as good as a full eight hours sleep for most creatures,” he continue, apparently not interested in enlightenin’ me as to what the fuck he be talkin’ about. “But I may need more than the usual to recover, owing to that asshole.” Then he wave in Dragan’s direction. “I don’t belong here,” he say, and it sounds like he’s talkin’ to hisself again but then he adds, “none of us do.”
The fire crackles.
Cambion walk a handful o’ paces away from the fire an’ sits cross-legged on the ground. His eyes don’t close—instead, they just roll back in his head, leavin’ only white an’ scarin’ the livin’ bejeezus outta me. Combined with the howls, the night is startin’ to look like one o’ my nightmares.
I hear the girl besides me start to breathe funny an’ when I look over at her, her eyes are open an’ she be awake. But she lies there on her back, just starin’ up at the sky like she wonderin’ if gargoyles shit too.
“It’s just us,” I say to her.
She rolls her head in my direction an’ smiles, real pretty-like. “Thank you, Flumph.”
“Fers what?” I ask, all confused.
“For everything you’ve done for me,” she answer an’ sigh. “I owe you a debt I can never repay.”
“Fers what?”
“For helping me get away from Anona.”
“Oh, that,” I say an’ get to start thinkin’ ‘bout it. “Wells, you could set up a payment plan.”
She laugh. “Once I have some money, it’s yours.”
Then she get real quiet while I start thinkin’ ‘bout bein’ rich. Then I realize we basically all alone. “You got left with the wrong guy to stay awake an’ protect you,” I say ‘cause I’m the only one left awake, seems like. Thoradin disappeared with Dragan when he went off ta take him a nice ripe stone shit.
“We’ll be safe tonight,” she tells me in her low voice. I eye her like I ain’t buyin’ what she sellin’.
“How’s you so sure?”
She opens her mouth like she’s gonna say somethin’, then stops. A second later, she says, “I trust Dragan.”
“Wish I did, too,” I grumble. Then I remember something. “What’d ya mean, when you said you was more’n just an angel?”
“I said that?” she asks, surprised.
“You don’t remember?” I ask, and she shake her head. “When Cambion was doin’ the Enchantment of True Seeing on ya, he asked if you was angel an’ you said yes, but you was more.”
“I don’t remember,” she say an’ look like she lost in her thoughts for a while. “I don’t remember any of it, actually.”
“Well, you looked like you was in a lot o’ pain, so can’t say I blame ya.” Then I look at her closer. “I gotta wonder what else you is, though. I’m hopin’ it ain’t some demon that’s gonna show up when them shadow dicks are out playin’ in the forest an’ that elf king got his eyes rolled back in his head.”
She laughs and it sounds like the tinklin’ o’ a bell. Real nice-like. Then she look real tired again. “I don’t know what I meant by that, Flumph,” she says an’ sound frustrated ‘bout it. Then she take a real deep breath. “Tell me about Anona,” she say, changing the subject. “And the precincts.”
Hearin’ the bitch’s name makes me feel like some o’ that fire is burnin’ inside me. My wings start goin’ an’ I feel myself lift up off the forest floor.
“Well, we ain’t got enough firewood for me to tell ya all the names I got for Anona. But the precincts are easy ‘nough. Hundred years ago—way before I was born—when Variant took control, he divided the kingdom, light an’ dark, into seven precincts an’ picked seven lords to watch over ‘em. People who were loyal an’ what not. Most o’ them are rough places. Filled with all the forgotten junk the mortals left behind. It’s good for the lords, though, ‘cause all they gotta do is follow all Variant’s edicts. ‘Course, they don’t. Anona’s been in trouble more’n once for disobeyin’ King Variant.”
“How did Variant win?” she asks as she look over at Cambion. “One king against two…”
“Three,” I correct her. “Baron.”
“Baron?” she repeat.
I nod. “Yessiree. Vampire king. Two kings o’ dark. Two kings o’ light. He’s dead now, though.”
“Dead?”
“Oh, that’s right—you was passed out when we was talkin’ ‘bout it. Accordin’ to Cambion, Variant killed Baron—don’t go sayin’ that out loud, mind ya. Round here, you’d get demons sent after ya for talkin’ heresy like that.”
Eilish is quiet for a long time, as if her mind is workin’ real hard on somethin’.
“Baron was his name?” she ask finally.
“You got dirt in your ears? That’s what I said, ain’t it?”
“And you’re sure he’s dead?”
She actin’ real dumb an’ I’m figurin’ everythin’ she just went through is fuckin’ with her head. “Cambion seemed real sure.”
“Hmm,” she says an’ drums her fingers on her thigh before she look up at me agin. “What if he’s not?” she ask, her voice all thoughtful-like.
“Not what?” Girl has finally lost it, she’s once again makin’ no sense. It happen sometimes with addicts, when they go past the point o’ no return. Senseless babble. But I’m lookin’ at her veins, an’ I don’t see no green. Maybe the cold worked its way up to her brain an’ is, like, short circuitin’ it or some shit.
“Not dead,” she say. “My memory… I don’t know… Flumph. But I have a feeling I came here for… a reason.” She’s strugglin’ to speak. “And we need all of them. Dragan and Cambion… and Baron.”
“I told you, Baron’s dead. Dead as they get. Floppy dick, worms in his eyes, bone snacks for the dogs, D-E-D, dead.”
She shake her head again. “Maybe he was, yes, but…” She look all confused. “I have this feeling that… that he’s not dead.”
“What?”
She swallow an’ look all kinds o’ confused. “I can’t explain it. I don’t know how I know Baron’s not dead; I just do.” Then, she look at me an’ her eyes go all wide an’ I’m thinkin’, like, she definitely crazy. “I just know… Baron’s alive.”
“Look, angel. Your head ain’t screwed on straight. Baron’s gone.”
She nod but she don’t seem convinced. “Angel,” she say like she ain’t never heard the word before.
“Why don’t you show ‘em your wings, anyway? It’d make things lots easier for me… well, for us.” I move closer to the fire, the air ‘round us feelin’ colder still. The warmth starts to make my eyes droop.
“I can’t,” she say. I notice her eyelids startin’ to droop, too. Her breath gets real slow.
I feel like I could fall asleep, but even though I can’t see it no more, I know that big tall wall o’ the city is right behind us. And maybe it’s jist on account o’ my overactive imagination, but I can’t help but feel like that howlin’ is gettin’ louder.