Chapter 51
Fifty-One
One Last Push
The trio that Eberon had brought with him pulled supplies from their packs and made harnesses for the three of us.
The cloth and ropes were wrapped in a way that allowed each of the newcomers to carry an injured one.
Our injuries were tended to as well as they could be on a cave floor.
My leg, which I was told had been broken in two places, was set and tightly wrapped.
I passed out the moment they pushed my bones together.
A small blessing that I wasn’t conscious for the remainder of my treatments, because I was told there were a lot of them.
I finally came to when we were being situated in the harnesses. I glanced over at Schula, whose brow was slick with sweat, her face scrunched in discomfort, despite the fact that we had been given a thick, sweet syrup to numb the pain.
As soon as they were done with us, we fled the mountain. With the help of a few scouts Eberon had also brought with him, we dodged any more Winter Court fae as we proceeded. We went as fast as possible, trying to get out of the Winter Lands as soon as we could.
Despite the luck we’d had at the start, eventually we heard the distant sounds of yelling. I supposed that was bound to happen: our group was far too big to hide all of us. When a scout caught up with us, I knew things were turning for the worse.
“A large unit is on your tail. How do you want to proceed?” a lanky fae asked Eberon.
I might have been a bit delirious from everything, but a stray thought trailed into my mind.
“Are we passing by the crater?” I asked.
Eberon looked at me softly. “We’ll be not too far from it; it’s the straightest route.”
“Keep the course straight,” Thain suggested. “Send scouts to weave footprints around, away, and through our path. It won’t fool them, but it might slow them down.”
Eberon gave a curt nod to the scouts who were listening. “Do it.”
The fae sprang into action.
I, on the other hand, meditated.
I did what I could to bring myself to my safe place, to my little cabin.
I let myself idle there. Recover. Grow strong. If I was counting our distance correctly, I had only a few hours to build up strength for one last push of magic.
The journey was bumpy, and long, and tiring. I was vaguely aware of orders being given, unseelie creatures being fought, and the occasional quick stop to check our bandages.
I was pretty sure I even fell asleep a few times.
But my sleep and meditation was interrupted when an arrow whizzed by my ear.
Eberon let out a string of curses. Thain, finally fed up with the harness, climbed out of it against Eberon’s protests.
“Bring in the scouts leaving false trails,” Thain said. “Focus on movement. Switch out the ones carrying injured and get fresh legs to do the carrying. Make a straight line for the closest reach of the Unclaimed Wyldes.”
No one even looked to Eb; they all deferred to the most notable and senior warrior. We paused immediately, and I was transferred to the back of an impish-looking sprite with a little black beard and sly yellow eyes. But he was big, and strong, and carried me easily.
It was all done as quickly as the fae could go. As the scouts were being called back in, there was an exchange of arrows, then we were off again.
Ahead of our group, ahead of the trees, was an expanse of ice and emptiness. We were getting closer, but not quite close enough.
A scream behind us bounced off the trees as one of our fae was hit.
“At the tree break, we head south!” Eberon called.
“No!” I yelled. “Please, stay straight.”
“We need to at least try to shake them,” Eberon said, but he drew closer to me with a frown, carrying the injured fae on his shoulder.
“Please trust me.” I looked at him, then at Thain, hoping the blue warrior would take my side. “Please. Just take us by the crater. If it doesn’t work, I’ll shut up, and we can go wherever you want. Please, Eberon.”
It was Thain who spoke first. “Go straight.”
I sighed, relieved, then sank into my mind immediately to reach out again.
As soon as I reached a state of meditation, I threw myself forward, reaching for the crater. Reaching under it. Reaching.
An ancient presence sat under the ice, which had partially refrozen but was not fully back to the way it had been before I’d melted most of it. It was old. It was furious. It was terrifying.
It was perfect.
It had chased me under the ice when I’d scrambled out of the crater before, and I’d been afraid it would break the surface and devour me. Hells, it almost had. But I’d gotten away once, and chances were it was still hungry. I was counting on it.
My body jolted as the sprite carrying me leaped over a fallen tree. Puko puffed out his feathers and took to the skies ahead of us. I could tell he didn’t care for the creature I had just found. I blinked and saw another arrow fly dangerously close to one of the fae helping us.
I gritted my teeth and threw everything forward, determined to get the thing’s attention. I felt it stir, and my heart thundered in my rib cage. It turned its attention to me, and it roared, shaking the ice, shaking the ground, throwing me back into my mind.
I slammed back into the real world and looked around. Eyes were wide, looking around for an unknown assailant. Its presence was thick in the air. Old, cold, and angry.
Thain’s eyes found mine, knowing immediately. “What have you done?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but a loud snap covered up my words. The creature was ramming the ice, and some of it was breaking.
I looked forward. The crater was coming into view, and we had to act now.
“Eberon, take us to the back side of the crater. Do not set foot on the ice inside the crater, whatever you do.”
“I hope you’re right about this, little bird.” Eberon sighed and gave the orders.
I dove back down into my mind.
The thing was close now. It was hungry, and it wanted my fire. Not just my fire, any fire. It was almost through the surface. I couldn’t gauge the size of it, or the shape, but it was massive.
While we were on this side of the crater, I threw everything I had at it. The tiny reserve of magic I had built up made a meaningless flame, but it was enough to get its attention.
It roared, furious and hungry. Perfect.
I made sure to use every drop I had. Every tiny ember I could muster.
Now I was well and truly spent, and the thing couldn’t find me by my magic any longer.
I blinked my eyes, my real eyes, and looked around. We were rounding the back side of the crater now, and the creature was slamming itself into the ice.
“Run!” I cried out, my throat dry. “Get out, it’s almost here!”
Our group pressed on harder, creating space between us and the crater.
Our pursuers were doing the same, or trying to, but they were much closer to it than we were, just at the front of the crater now.
I gasped, looking back at the huge group of Winter fae that had come after us. If they caught up, we would be vastly outnumbered. DuVarick must have sent all his soldiers who had survived the collapse of the barracks.
There, in the front, was Asher. His injuries were minimal enough that he could lead this charge. He looked like a rabid animal, crazed and deadly.
If he caught up to us now, I had no doubt my death would not be quick.
CRACK.
SPLASH.
In one earth-shattering moment, the surface broke, and all hells broke loose with it.
I sucked in a breath, craning my neck painfully and watching as a smooth, black head threw itself out of the water.
It was serpent-like in shape, but with the slick, wet body of an eel or a worm.
It had no eyes; it didn’t need them in the dark depths of the crater.
What it did have was a maw full of teeth that could swallow an army. I couldn’t look away.
It thrashed, sending huge ice shards from the surface of the crater’s underground lake flying through the air. Several landed just behind the fae bringing up our rear. Several more splintered into the Winter army behind us.
Asher roared as a shard of ice sliced into his leg, but he charged at the thing, blinded by rage.
My newly elven eyes were a curse as I watched the horror and dismemberment the great serpent inflicted on the army. It flailed its body, landing on several fae and snapping its huge jaw and rows of blade-like teeth into them.
Asher was nothing before it, barely a morsel between its teeth as in one massive bite, he disappeared into the depths of the serpent. And he didn’t come back out.
The serpent snapped its jaw, and each time bursts of blood splattered in the white snow as it devoured more and more.
Some got away, but not many.
We continued our retreat across the Sangolins, but the screams of the Winter Court followed us.
Long after I stopped hearing them, they rang in my memory.
Icehold’s army was now in shambles.
Asher was no more.
If I was certain of nothing else after today, I was certain that DuVarick would hunt me down to the ends of the earth.
I didn’t remember much of the rest of the journey after that. I was spent and injured, and it wasn’t long before shadows took over and I passed out.