Chapter 19 #3
Kyor speaks with utter certainty. It’s the voice of experience, the voice of a commander. I wish to hell I didn’t find it as sexy as I do, but it’s hard not to imagine him ordering me around in different ways.
He left you, I remind myself.
Despite Kyor’s clear knowledge, Ruben begins to argue again and this time Benny wades in to mediate, though I don’t listen to which option he’s sided with. I don’t want to listen to this anymore.
I move away, trying to clear my thoughts, but their voices continue around and around my head, each speaking over one another, louder and louder, so that I can barely hear.
The noise is resonating through my skull and pounding behind my ears. My mind doesn’t want me here, listening to this. This endless fucking bickering. Gods, I want to be anywhere but here.
And as an odd feeling washes down my body, I realise I’ve got my wish.
I open my eyes, and I don’t know where I am, but it’s a long way from Wrohelm, I can tell that much.
I am flying, soaring high in the sky. Below me, trees stretch, sparse and leafless, their bare branches swaying in the wind that seems to batter me just as fiercely. I duck down, trying to find a little cover from the blustering breeze, when I catch sight of something beneath the dark thicket.
People? Dancing?
Howls cut through the quiet. Is it some kind of ritual, perhaps? Some kind of ritual dance?
Intrigue – and a desire to avoid the wind’s wrath – takes hold of me as I dip lower to get a better look. That’s my immediate thought. A dance.
But as I get closer, I realise that’s not the case at all.
They’re not dancing. They’re fighting. And they’re not people. They’re wolves.
Red wolves? No, not wolves. Foxes, maybe.
What I’m seeing makes no sense. All I know for sure is that they’re feral, snarling creatures and they’re fighting with spears. But fighting what? I assumed it was one another, but now I’m not so sure.
With the desire to know more growing constantly stronger, I try to get closer, but something swipes at me.
Or at least swipes in my direction. Though I somehow know it’s not one of the foxes, I can’t tell what it is.
I avoid the strike, but I’m still none the wiser as to who – or what – the foxes’ opponents are.
Getting closer’s not an option, not when the next strike might hit, so I back away a little, circling around.
As I move upwards, the wind buffets me harder than before, shaking me from side to side, back and forth. I try to steady myself – to find a way to hide from its effects – but it only grows stronger, picking me up with a howl so resonant it feels like it’s calling out my name.
‘Rose! Rose!’
Another swipe comes out of nowhere and I twist and turn, trying to find the source. If I can see it, then maybe I can fight it. But I can’t. I can’t. I try swooping down again, willing to risk the spears of the fox folk, but the wind follows me, this time shaking me so hard I flinch.
The light changes. An instant brightness strikes for only a second, but then it’s gone again, and I’m back.
I’m back fighting the wind and the enemy and the fox folk.
‘Rose!’ The howls of the creatures shriek through the dark.
These are not the type of beings who take prisoners – I know that – but I can’t die.
Not now. Not when I’ve just got my brother back.
The thought of William bolsters a new strength within me, a new desperation to get back, to help him, but it’s not enough.
This wind is too strong. I twist and turn, writhing in its grip as I try to get away, only for my entire body to lurch to the side.
A gasp flies from my lungs as I sit bolt upright, squinting at the light that is now bright enough to blind.
‘Rosey? Rose! Thank fuck.’ Benny’s voice cuts through the haze, though I’m still trying to shake those howls from my ears. The screaming. What kind of animal screams like that?
‘Rose, what happened? Are you okay?’ Benny’s question hangs in the air until I realise it’s me who needs to answer.
Blinking, I turn to look at him. Only it’s not just Benny who is standing there.
Caz’s face is streaked with tears as Ruben holds her close to him, while Kyor is kneeling next to me on the icy ground, eyes sharp with concern.
‘I’m fine,’ I say.
We all know I’m lying.
‘Your eyes were white,’ Kyor murmurs. The tone in his voice is somehow even more disconcerting than the feel of his magic against my inner thighs used to be. His power, I knew what to do with. His fear, on the other hand …
Dryness fills my throat, and I lick my lips, trying to alleviate it. ‘I’m fine,’ I repeat, continuing to swallow. ‘Or I will be once we get going. Did we decide where we’re going?’
‘Galreck,’ Kyor says, and no one gainsays him.
‘Right.’ I offer a flimsy smile, my heart still pattering in my chest.
This is why I needed out of Wrohelm. This is why I have to find a way to control this magic before I get myself or my friends killed.
‘I’ll ride with Caz,’ I blurt out, just to break the uncomfortable silence that has formed. Everyone is looking at me with concern, and I hate it. Hate being a damned liability.
Thankfully, just like with Kyor’s suggestion, no one disagrees.