Chapter 25 Odessa
Twenty-Five
Odessa
The skeleton forest.
As far as I could see, there was nothing but black, leafless trees and scorched earth.
When Thora mentioned it yesterday, I’d thought maybe the road would be made of bones. But now I understood.
The skeletons were the trees themselves, entirely lifeless and dead. They stood like giant, charred sticks stuck in the dirt. Only a few had branches, as black as their trunks. The rest had probably been singed away.
The ground was mottled with black and gray patches. Flecks of white ash floated on the breeze. The storm clouds above blotted out any sliver of blue sky. It was as if all color had been leached from this place.
There wasn’t a road that cut through the forest. We didn’t need a road. We could weave in and out of the trees without bushes or branches getting in the way.
I reached out and brushed my fingers along a nearby trunk. It was as hard as stone and as cold as ice. My hand came away clean, not covered in soot or ash as I’d expected.
“What happened here?” I asked Jodhi.
He rode by my side, his posture stiff and his jaw clenched.
“Some say it was an ancient fire. Others think it was a curse from Izzac himself. That the God of Death used the trees from this forest to build his throne in the shades, and when he left, he took all the life with him to hell. No matter how much rain comes, no matter how many seeds are planted, nothing here survives.”
A shiver ran down my spine, like I could feel Izzac’s gaze on the nape of my neck. I glanced over my shoulder, searching the trees, but beyond the Mavins riding at our backs, there was nothing but skeletons.
We’d left the cave at dawn after the Mavins had gone out to search for signs of the bariwolves. Other than the one instance, we’d heard nothing else during the night. But wherever that pack had gone, they’d left no tracks to follow.
Still, I rode with the crossbow Sryker had given me tucked under my arm.
There was no chatter or laughter with the group this morning. Not that the Mavins were ever a rowdy bunch, but everyone seemed on edge, speaking in hushed voices.
Thora rode alone at the front of the group. Her white hair, gray clothes, and steel armor blended in with the black-and-white surroundings.
Evie was shivering and had been since we woke up this morning. I couldn’t tell if it was from the morning chill or this eerie forest. Probably both.
I kissed her hair. “How about a story?”
She nodded, reaching inside Faze’s carrier. This was a new habit of hers, holding his paw as we rode.
I let the crossbow hang by its strap as I pulled Luella’s journal from my satchel. Then I opened it to a page and passage I’d read by firelight last night in the cave when I hadn’t been able to sleep.
“‘A woman with long black hair threaded with silver sits at a little girl’s bedside,’” the story began.
…
T he girl wears white casts on both of her arms. The woman wears a layer of colorful necklaces around her throat and stacks of bright bracelets on her wrists. Her beaded earrings are so long they brush the tops of her shoulders.
She has a pair of turquoise glasses in her hair.
A pair of red glasses perched on her nose.
And three pairs tucked into the neckline of her dress.
White. Yellow. And pink. She dips a brush into a pot of purple ink and dabs it on one of the girl’s casts, adding to the flowers she’s already painted.
A garden for the little girl to help take away the pain.
…
“What do you think happened to the girl’s arms?” Evie asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe we’ll meet her someday and you can ask.” I flipped the page. “The next one is about a boy. Want to hear it?”
“Sure.” She nodded, hand still locked on Faze’s paw. Body still shaking.
…
A boy with light hair holds tight to a roll of string that stretches into the sky. At the other end is a paper bird with orange feathers and a long tail of blue, green, red, and yellow. He laughs as he releases more string, letting the bird fly higher.
The trees around him do not rustle or shake. The grass blades at his ankles are still and straight. The wind blows only for his colorful bird.
He lets out the rest of the line, and when he reaches the end, he blows a kiss to the bird and sets it free. It soars, disappearing from sight. The boy is sad for only a moment.
A puppy with curly black hair and floppy ears races to him, wagging his tail as he licks the boy’s face. “I decided on your name,” the boy says to the dog. “I am going to name you Telvi’i-telfus.”
…
“Telvi’i-telfus?” Evie laughed. “That’s a silly name.”
It was in the old language. “I guess it should be—”
“Titus,” Jodhi said.
When I glanced over, his eyes were locked on the journal. He knew the old language?
“Interesting book, doll. Where did you get it?”
“Um, a friend of mine found it in an apothecary.” I closed the cover and tucked it into my satchel, not liking the way he looked at the book.
“Which friend?” he asked, gaze finally lifting.
“No one you know.” I faced forward, wishing I had left that book in the satchel. I was about to urge Freya forward, to move up to ride beside Golding, when Faze growled.
“What’s wrong?” Evie asked him, reaching into the carrier with her other hand, like she was about to lift him out.
“Wait.” I put my hand on hers just as Thora held up an arm.
We all slowed as she turned, staring into the trees. Slowly, she took her ax from where it was strapped across her back.
My breath lodged in my throat as I followed her gaze, searching through the tree husks.
I heard them before I saw them. Five sharp clicks. Then a bariwolf stepped out from behind a trunk.
“No.” My body went rigid.
Our entire group went still, frozen in a moment of shared terror.
Three other bariwolves emerged, each prowling our way, fangs bared. With every step, their large feet and white claws sent up small puffs of ashen dust.
If this place was cursed by the God of Death, then these monsters must be Izzac’s creation. The fur on the front half of their bodies seemed darker in this forest. Their pointed scales shone in the morning light, glinting like a thousand silver blades.
Five more wolves came into sight, spread out through the forest.
A pack of nine hunting their prey.
“Fuck,” Jodhi hissed, taking his sword from its scabbard.
I fumbled to grab a bolt from the pouch and fit it into the crossbow.
Evie whimpered, gripping the saddle’s horn with all her might. I hated that she knew her life was in danger. That her survival depended on how hard she clung to this horse.
Thora snarled and steered her horse toward the bariwolves. She swung her ax in two circles, the blade cutting through the air with a resounding whoosh.
Jodhi rode past me as the other Mavins followed, the warriors forming a line.
A barricade.
“Golding and Dair, you’ve got the four on the left,” Thora said. “Jodhi and I have the five on the right. Mathias, nothing gets through the middle.”
Mathias spat on the ground, nocking an arrow into his longbow. “Good hunting, Mavins.”
“To bloody blades,” the others said in chorus.
My hands were shaking so badly I feared I’d drop the crossbow.
One of the bariwolves growled, a sound so loud and ominous it sank into my skin.
Evie’s shoulders shook as she cried.
“Be brave, little star.”
“If I say ride, then you ride,” Mathias ordered, sparing me a quick glance. “Understood?”
I gulped and nodded.
The tension in the air coiled tighter and tighter, like a string being pulled too tight, and before I was ready, it snapped.
The monsters lunged in unison as the Mavins surged ahead, blades swinging to strike.
Thora was the first to kill by throwing her ax at a charging wolf. She released the weapon so quickly, the heavy handle and steel head were only a streak before it cleaved the beast’s snout down the center. Exactly how she’d killed the alligask.
Even if the bariwolf had tried to dodge the ax, it happened in a blink.
She pulled a scimitar from a sheath on her belt and lifted out of her saddle, rising so that as the next bariwolf leaped and lunged, her blade was already coming down onto its neck.
The beast landed with a sickening thud in the dirt.
Jodhi killed a wolf at the same time Golding cut down another.
But Golding had turned his back to a different beast, and the moment the monster saw its chance to strike, it came at him with open jaws, leaping into the air as it tried to sink its teeth into his broad shoulders.
One moment, I was sure we’d watch Golding fall. The next, the beast yelped as an arrow shot through its neck.
Golding startled, eyes wide as he stared at the monster. Then he turned to Mathias, offering a quick bow of gratitude before he spurred his horse to go after the two wolves converging on Dair.
But Dair didn’t seem to need much help. He used a crossbow to fire at one monster while using a broadsword to slice at another. Neither hit took down the wolves, but it slowed them enough that Dair could slice and hack at them until they were black heaps on the ground.
When I looked to Jodhi and Thora again, they’d already killed the last of the wolves.
“By the mother,” I murmured.
Nine monsters dead in a moment.
The Mavins were as lethal as the monsters they were slaughtering. For a heartbeat, I relaxed. I breathed and lowered my crossbow, thinking we would survive this attack.
I should have known better.
A series of clicks mingled with the chaos as a dozen other monsters emerged from the trees, every bariwolf sprinting for the Mavins.
“Fuck me.” Mathias raised his fingers to his lips and let out a whistle to alert the others. “Ride. Now.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. With a shout, I gave Freya the reins, and my darling, terrified horse tore off through the trees.
Clinging to Evie, holding on for our lives, it was like being back in a dark forest with the Voster. Like being chased by a pack of wolves with Brother Skore. But this time, there was no magic to keep us safe.