15. Willow
Willow
Help me, I plead with the entity in my head. Please, if you can hear me… please help us. I know you can use your power if I let you and I’m letting you! Just please, don’t let us die like this.
I wait, but no answer comes. We’re all alone. The only ones who can save us are us. And our odds don’t look very good.
Dagny plants herself at the mouth of the pit, her feathered wings snapping wide as Malice and Fenryr flank her on either side. Roark and Cyprien are there a beat later, followed by Kaebl and Lir at her back.
"Go!" Dagny shouts, not looking back. “We’ll hold them off! Take Willow and run!”
Rhune’s arm circles my waist, hauling me into his chest, and then we’re racing toward the mouth of the tunnel. I twist my head and see Nyx and Dravik lifting Cin between them, one arm slung over each shoulder to support his massive weight.
There’s another ear-shattering chorus of screams, and more creatures pour out of the pit. Their gray-black bodies scramble over the ledge in a wave of horror, their jaws snapping around nothing and everything.
Wind rushes past my face as Rhune enters the tunnel, and though I can’t see anything anymore, I’m haunted by the sounds that follow us up the passage—screams, snarls, crunching blows, and terrifying shrieks of agony. It’s almost too much.
“Don’t stop!” Dravik's voice booms from somewhere behind us. “Keep going! They’re right on us!”
Finally, the tunnel opens, and we stumble into the large chamber that leads to the surface.
Kevin is there, bleating his poor little head off, and Rhune quickly scoops him up before passing his gangly body over to me.
Kevin is a lot heavier than when I first met him, and my muscles ache from the added weight, but no way in hell am I letting my fluffy friend go.
Rhune's grip tightens on me as we cross the threshold, and behind us, Dagny's voice cuts through the chaos.
"Move, move, move!"
She and her mates spill into the chamber a half second later, followed closely by hundreds of screaming, horrifying abominations. The sound is deafening, filling the cavern and shuddering beneath my skin, filling me with its wrongness.
Not waiting for any further direction, Rhune flies into the tunnel, followed by my other three mates.
Cin is still held firmly between Nyx and Dravik, his head lolling with every jolt.
We shoot up toward the surface with Dagny and her mates close at our heels, all of us terrified and desperate to get away from those beasts.
As soon as we breach the surface, I notice the sky is bright red. Ominous. Wrong.
Still, we climb higher into the sky, because at least it’s safer than the horrors crawling out of the earth. Below us, the creatures spill out of the pit in a mass, clawing over each other to reach open ground.
When they can’t find the prey they’re searching for, they begin to turn on each other. One sinks its teeth into the back of another, tearing a chunk free before the wounded one even registers the pain. A third latches onto the first's leg mid-bite.
Within seconds, there's a knot of them thrashing together, teeth and claws working on whoever is closest. When there is nothing nearby, they turn those weapons on their own bodies.
My stomach twists as I witness one gnawing through the meat of its own arm, black blood oozing down its chin and covering the ice at its feet.
I can’t help but recall the words Cin said the other night. It’s hungry… so very, very hungry.
It makes me wonder… Is the world starving somehow?
I don’t have much time to think about it. Rhune’s arms tighten around me, and we bank sideways, heading toward the ocean cliffs.
“We’ll be safer there!” Rhune shouts over the roar of the wind. “We need to regroup and figure out what to do next!”
I nod, burying my face in his chest and holding tight, letting the comforting scent of my mate ease some of the anxiety tearing me up from the inside.
Rhune carries me to the far back of the cave and lowers us both onto the ice-rock floor, his arms locked around me and refusing to let go. Like he’s worried that if he does, those horrible creatures will show up and devour me whole.
Across the space, Dravik and Nyx set Cin down on one of the furs we left behind when we moved to Dagny's. His eyes are open now, but his body is completely limp, and he doesn’t do anything except stare blankly ahead.
“What’s wrong with him?” I ask, worry clenching my chest. “Why hasn’t he woken up?”
“I don’t know.” Rhune lays his chin on my shoulder. “I’ve never really seen him like this before.”
“Is it because of those creatures?”
“Maybe…” Rhune’s arms tighten around me. “He will wake up soon. He always does.”
I hope so…
Dagny straightens near the mouth of the cave, her wings folding tight against her back as she looks at her six mates.
“We should catch our breath and head back out.
Check the tunnel, check the land, see what's going on out there.
" Her voice is steady, but when her eyes meet mine, I catch a glimmer of unease. “It looked like they were chasing Willow, so we should make sure they didn’t follow us here.”
Her mates fall in line behind her without a word, spreading their wings in preparation for flight. Only Cyprien lingers, his bright yellow eyes still frozen on Cin's blank expression.
“Come on, Cyprien.” Dagny rests a hand on his arm. “We can’t help him.”
“I know. It’s just… so sad.” He frowns, then turns and launches himself into the sky with his brothers. Dagny gives me a brief wave goodbye, then jumps off the cliff, her glorious feathered wings taking her high into the sky.
Then it's just us.
I press closer to Rhune, and he tightens his hold, his chin resting on top of my head. Nyx and Dravik move closer, settling in on either side of me. Nobody talks about what happened in the tunnel. Nobody says anything. I think we’re all too scared. I know I am, at least.
So instead of talking, we sit, and we wait. For whatever comes next.
Dagny and her mates land at the mouth of the cave, their wings rustling in the wind. Her jaw is tight, and she doesn't look at any of us right away.
“They’re gone,” she says. “The creatures. They’re just… gone.”
"Where did they go?" Dravik asks, his voice low.
"We don't know," Malice says from behind her. “Our best guess is they headed toward the forest. For why, we also have no idea.”
“To feed.” My voice cracks around the last word. “The world… it’s cannibalizing itself. It’s so hungry that it can’t control it…” I shudder as the memory of those horrible creatures surfaces again. Then, I remember the words of the serafyn. “It’s sick. Dying. If we don’t do something, and soon…”
No one speaks for a long while.
Finally, Dagny is brave enough to make her thoughts known. “If that’s the case, then we better get moving.” She looks at me, her eyes dark and serious. “You really think there’s something in the core that will help fix this sickness?”
“I don’t know,” I answer truthfully. “But I know there’s something important there. It’s our only option.”
She sighs, nodding in resigned acceptance. “If we’re going to travel to the core, we’re going to need reinforcements. The twelve of us will not survive alone.”
“Who else is supposed to help us?” I ask, genuinely curious.
Dagny looks at her mates, sharing a conversation I’m not privy to.
After a while, she nods, then turns her attention back to me.
“I am able to… control creatures of The Far Place. I could easily have an army to protect us, but… since that pit showed up, since the world started feeling wrong… I have been unable to tap into the power that lets me control the beings of this world. In that regard, I am useless. However… a handful of kingdoms are still standing south of The Far Place. It is warmer there, more mild, and they have soldiers to spare.”
She continues, “Over the past few decades, my mates and I have been growing our relations with them. We are fairly good friends with King Vhalthor, and I know he will help us if we explain what is happening to The Far Place.” Her expression turns grave.
“At least, I hope he will be wise enough to help. We are all lost if he doesn’t. ”
Dagny presses the heels of her hands against her eyes for a moment, then drops them.
“We’ll leave now. If we fly hard, we should be able to make it there and back in three cycles.
That will give you time to prepare supplies for Willow.
It will be harder on her body than any of ours, and she needs to be prepared with plenty of clothes, food, and protective equipment. ”
Everyone nods in agreement. There's no better option, and we don’t have time to come up with a better one if it does exist.
“Okay.” She turns to her mates, looking every bit the warrior she is. “Are you ready?”
“We are,” Malice says. “Where you go, we follow.”
Dagny stops at the ledge, turning her head over her shoulder and looking me directly in the eyes. “Three cycles. We’ll be back,” she says. “Hopefully with company.”
For our sake, I hope so too.
She and her mates launch into the sky and bank hard to the side, their powerful wings pumping the air as they head south. I watch until they're just small dark shapes against the vast horizon, then turn and walk back into the cave.
I settle back on Rhune’s lap, pressing my head against his chest and listening to the steady thud of his heart.
“It’s going to be okay, pup.” He runs his palm soothingly down my hair. “Everything is going to be okay.”
I really, truly want to believe that.
Dravik and Nyx settle down at Rhune’s side, both reaching out to touch me. Dravik's palm lands heavy and warm against my shoulder, while Nyx’s hand curls around my ankle, gentle yet possessive.
"We should rest while we can." Dravik’s voice is low. "There is much to do, and even more that we will have to face.”
“Agreed,” Nyx says. “Though I do not like it.”
“Me either.” A deep whine builds in Rhune’s chest. “I do not like the thought that you will be in danger, pup.”
“I know.” I reach up to touch his cheek. “But I have you and Nyx and Dravik. I have Cin. And I know I am safe as long as I am with you.”
“You are,” he promises. “We will always protect you, Willow.”
“I know.” I close my eyes, a small smile tugging at my lips despite everything that’s happened. “I know.”
I close my eyes, hoping sleep eventually claims me. Wishing this moment would never end.
I don’t know if either will come true.