Chapter 28
Fallon
Ifollowed Ned deeper into the forest. The groan of crying trees wasn't exactly reassuring but I trusted that dog. More than that, the full force of Declan’s pain hit me through the bond now that we were closer together.
His agony almost swept me under. The Hollow Fever was nothing compared to his mourning.
My mind scrambled to understand why I had left him in the first place.
I blindly stumbled through the woods, magic pulsing deep inside. It was strange to be in a forest without any life until I realized everything was hiding. The mists curled around my ankles, drawing me forward.
This was Maggie’s sort of place. Skeletal tree branches and a witchling type of moonlight that only encouraged a creeping dread.
I was more kitchen fires and warm cups of mead.
I thought Declan was too, so I wasn’t exactly sure why he was out here in the howling winter wind.
Creepy as fuck was too kind a description, and the scream that rent the air rippled fear over my body in a chill.
I ran before reason caught up with me and Ned gamboled beside me, not even panting. Unfortunately, I wasn’t made for running, no matter how scary the woods, so despite my body’s every intention, I slowed after what seemed like 3 days but was probably only a few minutes.
“Declan!” I called out into the mist-shrouded night.
Then I realized I probably shouldn't be shouting into the uncanny wood with Godds knew what kind of creatures roaming it.
DECLAN! I shouted into his mind instead. Please come back to me.
The silence that followed gripped my heart.
I understood that this part of the Harrowlands was different, rawer with Old Magic but I felt it for the first time.
The darkness had weight. I tasted the bitter air left behind by a spell.
Surely, my best friend wouldn’t be here. This was the home of nightmares.
My mind flipped through fifteen lists of actions I could take and none of them would be worth a fistful of salt in this place.
And when I saw movement in the shadows, I had to accept that none of my lists, preparation, or hard work were going to save me from the horror that moved in the dark.
Because in this wood I didn't need to worry about a stray cougar or even a magical bear.
The thing that slithered through the gloam to my right didn't have much of a form other than ten gaping mouths twisted into the night itself.
Eyes blinked along a section of rising dark and then winked out.
I edged away, trying to pull Ned with me, but the stupid dog insisted on bristling up between me and the dark shape.
“We’re not heroes, Ned,” I whispered, hoping against hope the thing hadn’t seen us.
The dog’s huff would have done Noth justice.
DECLAN! I yelled again, now praying. Now’s the time to sweep me off my feet.
I looked for an escape path, and when I turned back, the writhing mouths were closer.
I couldn’t stand there, even if running made my knees feel like they were full of shards of ice.
My magic surged, closing the bushes around the monster and I took off.
A quick glance behind me showed the creature just poured through the branches like oil and smoke and now it was on the hunt if its slobbering tongues were any indication.
Fear soared white-hot into the back of my throat as my knees gave out and my elbows screamed as I hit them into the forest floor.
A whip-like sliver of darkness shot out and wrapped around my ankle.
My kitchen knife sliced through nothing.
I gripped a tree root. Anything to slow my slide toward the waiting mouths.
Ned’s barking grew to the force of a hurricane. My hands felt brittle enough to break.
DECLAN! I screamed into the night, now with the fear of certain death in my voice.
The monster licked its mouths with acid green tongues.
I’m sorry. I said to Declan as my final goodbye, just as my foot touched sharp teeth.
A tongue slithered up my calf before it ripped away.
Well, the tongue was still there, but the rest of the monster was suddenly gone, snapped into the jaws of a hulking darkness.
I peeled the severed tongue off my leg, regaining my breath to the sound of munching.
Acid green pops lit up the trees as the monster’s eyes burst in the even bigger maw.
No. It couldn’t be. Fear raised every hair on my body and heartbreak kept me in place.
Because the bone-crunching darkness before me was Declan.
I discerned him through the bond. Or at least part of him.
It just didn’t look like any Declan I had ever seen before.
Pants-wetting terror would be an accurate description seeing the stacked thing vaguely resembling a wolf.
The creature was ten times Declan at his largest size.
All teeth and claws and sleek muscle, the terror flickered in and out of the darkness as it ate.
An enormous tongue licked its chops as it turned to me with those luminous blue eyes. They should have been reassuring. Except they looked dead. The gleam of his razor teeth and his sheer bulk didn’t help the fear clawing for escape in my chest.
Dec?
Its panting increased, puffing clouds into the air. As it rose to tower above me, I saw it was still partially man. A lupine head topped a muscular male torso that ended in wolf-jointed legs and a tail that swept back into the forest.
Run! It said into my mind.
I wanted to, I really did. My body even jolted at the command. “Not a chance, buster. Go chase Ned.” My joints wouldn’t take much more abuse.
Falling to his scythe-clawed hands, he shook the entire forest to make his point.
Run from the darkness, little creature.
My body flooded with adrenaline but I was used to ignoring it like the betrayer it was. I wouldn’t take off again. I had to face the fact that not everything could be solved by working it to death. A terrifying, drooling, scary-sized Declan was one of those things.
“I’m going to find a place where I can talk to your face.”
If there was anything left in there to communicate with.
The fact that he formed coherent words encouraged me up and out of the snow.
His breathing down my back was annoying, I decided, instead of terrifying.
The thing pacing behind me didn’t even feel like a shifter, let alone a human.
How did something as simple as leaving push Declan this far?
I came to a rocky clearing. A jagged set of boulders made a kind of natural ramp and I clambered up it to see if I could spot the terror Declan became.
I knew he followed, but he had melted back into the night.
Ned was right behind me. My fingers dug into his ruff and said, “Where is he, boy? Call him.”
Ned howled into the crisp winter air and the thing that answered made me grateful I was already half sitting down. Out of the mist a shape emerged, prowling around the rock I had trapped myself on. It could eat me for a snack and the glint in its eyes said it might.
Who summoned you, tiny creature?
I think I peed a little at the sound of the strange voice.
Where was my sweet Declan? This was all my fault.
If I had just allowed myself to be with Dec, it wouldn’t have come to this.
I had asked how bad it might get in a few hours and I guess I got my answer.
I swallowed hard, screwing up all my courage.
“Stop it. You’re scaring Ned.”
He scored the ground with his claws, leaving great furrows. Ned is lucky I have any fondness left in me. The abyss has no need of it. Be gone, creature, so that I may resume my hunt.
The dog nudged me like I should continue. Continue what, I wasn't quite sure. What in the seven hells was I supposed to do with this giant were-creature? How would I get my wolf back?
“Dec. I know you’re in there.” Please let him be in there. “I need to talk to you.”
A snarl and the stone around me scored with his wrath. Your words carry no weight in the dark. The time for speaking has passed.
That couldn't be true. My stubbornness kicked in. If he was still in my presence, I could persuade him.
So I plunked my ass down on the rock below me because at least that put me somewhat in line with Declan's hip and he wouldn't step on me. I took a deep breath to work some magic. Well, a whole lot of magic. Because I knew the one thing that always made everything better.
Ned lay at my back as a safety blanket, clearing my mind to work. The Locot was so simple. It didn’t take much time to summon the ingredients and focus on the perfect bake. No matter that I had no oven, no bowl, not even a fucking wooden spoon. Declan was at stake and I wouldn't fail him again.
As I worked my magic, I wasn’t trying to make it elaborate for once. I didn't have anything to set the cake on after it baked and there was no fancy cake knife or stand to make it look perfect. Just the heavenly aroma of a perfectly baked piece of his childhood wafting into the dark.
The snuffling above me was concerning, for sure, but I peeked up and some curiosity had returned to the creature's eyes.
With a healthy dose of please-let-me-keep-my-hand, I broke off a piece of cake and held it up to him.
A massive tongue engulfed my entire arm and I did my best not to pull away when my fingers touched teeth.
Not that I was sure he would even feel it, since every taste bud on his tongue was the size of a rock.
With a precision that belied his size, he tore off the arm of my coat, licking the length of my arm again to get to the last bits of cake.
Well, that's what I assumed anyway until he hummed in my mind.
Apples and cinnamon.
He licked all over my skin. I just hoped that I wasn't delicious enough to eat.
“I have some more if you can shift and sit next to me.”