Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Thalia stared at the closed citadel gates.
She swallowed, checking the dagger she’d strapped to her side.
“You don’t have to go out there.” Cassius’s low words brought her back. She glanced at him.
His face was in shadows, the strands of his long hair pulled back from his face.
He held his sword loosely in his hands, but he’d strapped daggers to every place on his body.
Fifty soldiers were lined up above her, all carrying arrows dripped in oil, ready to be placed in the flaming braziers if things turned ugly.
She just hoped Lady Decima was right about the soul bond.
Thalia shook her head. “No. It’s fine.” She fumbled with one of her straps, trying to tighten it.
Cassius’s hands closed over hers. She glanced up, and he said nothing as he tightened the strap for her, checking the other straps along her arms.
They’d dressed quickly, but Camilla had given her some light armor made of pliable leather to cover her chest and braces for her arms. Thalia wasn’t sure what it would do against the razor-sharp teeth of the creature, but she was grateful for any sort of extra protection.
“The creature’s about halfway down the bridge,” Keegan called softly above them. He stood with the rest of the archers, his own bow within easy reach.
Despite her initial reaction, Thalia was glad she had Cassius by her side, watching her back.
She nodded, and one of the guards stepped forward, grabbing the large iron latch that secured the gate.
It creaked open, and Thalia took another grounding breath before she and Cassius slipped onto the bridge.
The gate closed behind them as they walked, and Thalia spotted the creature standing in the middle of the bridge, its hide gleaming in the moonlight.
Thalia glanced back at Cassius, but true to their agreement, he stayed back.
She kept walking, her boots clipping along the stone bridge, the sound near deafening in her ears. The roar of the waterfall echoed, and Thalia stopped not twenty feet from the creature.
She swallowed, sweat dripping down her spine and working into the leather of her armor.
The creature seemed to sense her then.
She hadn’t realized it had been lying in wait, because suddenly it stood, rising to its full height.
Fuck.
It’d grown from the size of a dog to the size of a wolf, its head having fully formed back into its strange oblong shape. Its maw was full of wickedly sharp teeth glowing an eerie green color.
Tension radiated from behind her, but she held up a hand, urging Cassius to stay back without turning to face him.
“Did you come for me?” she asked the creature.
It scented the air, its strange nostrils flaring. It took a step toward her.
Thalia held her breath as it took step after step, its claws scraping against the stone like a knife.
Finally it stopped, face inches from her chest.
Thalia stared, trying not to look too long at the rows of teeth or the foaming green saliva dripping from its maw.
It let out a strange chortle in the back of its throat, the same noise she’d heard in the forest.
Then it touched its nose to her chest.
Thalia refused to tremble as it took a deep breath, inhaling her scent deeper.
She raised a tentative hand, placing her fingers on the side of its strange head.
Thalia was suddenly pulled outside her body. Her mind flashed, images taking shape that were not her own. Her mind blurred, flying through the creature’s memories, each one passing across her mind faster than she could blink.
She saw herself through the creature’s eyes, saw her standing on the bridge, approaching.
The memory moved and the creature watched Thalia from the edge of the lake, unable to push past the barrier.
Another blink and it was fleeing a burning castle, and then it stood over Thalia as she slept, her features smoothed over by sleep.
They were in the woods, the creature touching her chest for the first time. Another flash had her watching the terror in her own face when the creature knocked her from her horse.
Then the memories moved faster, like sands slipping through an hourglass. Thalia tried to latch on to them.
She saw crimson leaves and gray trunks.
Thalia lunged for the memory, holding on with all her might.
The creature was in Chaménos, staring into a set of corrupted pools. No water flowed into them; no life-giving force bubbled out of them. The springs were covered in a thick layer of bubbling goop.
Thalia would have gagged if she’d actually been there. The steam rising from the pools burped sulfuric acid into the air. Greenish orbs were buried under the slippery, tar-like grime. And there were hundreds of them, all seeming to nestle in the pockets of the corrupted pools.
The creature moved nearer to the cesspits, peering deeper.
Thalia wished she could scream.
The greenish orbs were eggs.
Hundreds and hundreds of eggs, all waiting to hatch in Chaménos. A dark presence came up behind the creature, and Thalia felt the creature bend in submission, turning—
Thalia was yanked from the creature’s memories.
She fell down, her heart pounding in her throat, and the creature roared, shaking its head.
Thalia scrambled backward as the creature turned its attention on her. All traces of soul bond extinguished as it opened its gaping maw, ready to devour her whole—
A scream rent the air, and the creature’s head was swiftly severed from its neck. It rolled a couple of feet, landing next to Thalia’s sprawled form. Its body fell into a twitching, lifeless heap.
Thalia stared in shock at Larellia, the Mage’s face set in a deep snarl, the glint of a double-bladed scythe flashing in the moonlight.
Cassius shouted from behind her, and Thalia froze as Larellia pointed her scythe right at her chest. “I’m going to ask you this once, girl. What are you, and how did you create those creatures?”