Chapter 40 #2
Lucy was clearly weighing what to share.
Then she sighed, resigned. “They’re gathering in Noreya.
Have been for years, apparently. Small groups, careful movements, nothing that would draw attention individually.
But collectively?” She met my eyes. “There are witches coming from all over the world. Eventually, my country won’t only belong to the shifter kings.
It’ll belong to the witches who’ve banded together there. ”
“A witch nation,” I breathed. “In Noreya.”
“Not a nation. Not yet. But something. One of the shifter kings started offering sanctuary in quiet circles. He’s looking for answers to the shiftlock plaguing our kind.
I think he believes witches will find the answer.
My brother knew about it. Mentioned it once when he was drinking too much, talking about places where shifters and witches actually coexisted instead of just..
. tolerating each other under threat of execution. ”
“And you never thought to mention this?”
“What would it change? We’re still bound by oath. Still hunting Vitoria.” But her voice was softer now. “Though I suppose if we survive, it’s nice knowing there’s somewhere you could go.”
Aureth made a small sound of satisfaction. Lucy had given exactly the answer she’d been hoping for.
We sat for another two hours, watching the sun climb higher, listening to the haunted sounds of the Ash and the creatures that lived here. Quieter than nighttime, a little less dangerous.
Riot stirred, his massive form uncoiling carefully to avoid crushing anyone still sleeping inside his protective circle.
Everyone woke at the movement, looking rumpled and still exhausted but functional. Calder pulled provisions from his pack with practiced efficiency. Dried meat, hard bread, cheese that was probably questionable but still edible. Likely stolen from Lucy. We ate quickly.
The deep timbre of Riot’s voice in dragon form was terrifying. “We should cover a lot of ground tonight if the winds cooperate. We’ll get over the mountains and find a cave for shelter. Should be close to our target by then.”
We mounted up. Wickett refused to be carried and took to dragon-back with the others.
I stepped to Silas, completely unbothered by whatever Wickett was doing.
Paying absolutely no attention to the way he retied his hair back.
To the way he triple-checked his weapons.
I practically didn’t even notice the heat in his eyes when he looked back at me before Riot launched with a powerful downstroke.
“Ready?” I asked Si.
He huffed and crouched low enough for me to climb onto his back.
The griffin’s shoulders were broader than yesterday, his wings powerful enough that I could feel the strength coiled beneath feathers and fur. I settled as best I could, finding handholds in his coat, trying not to think about how high we were about to go.
“Adhesio levis,” I said, tugging on fire.
Seconds later, the ground fell away.
From the moment we landed, the cave felt wrong.
Too big. Too quiet.
Our footsteps echoed off walls that disappeared into darkness above us, the ceiling so high even Riot’s flames couldn’t reach it when he exhaled upward to test the space.
The cavern stretched back farther than our light could penetrate, opening into what might have been tunnels or just deeper shadows.
Stalactites hung like broken teeth, some thicker than any tree trunk I’d ever seen, and the floor was uneven, covered in loose rock that shifted and clattered with every step we took.
“Stay together,” Wickett said, his voice bouncing off stone and coming back distorted.
Lucy ran her hand along the wall, frowning. “These aren’t natural formations. Look.” She pointed to score marks in the stone, deep gouges that ran parallel to each other. “Claws. Something carved this out.”
Silas growled, the sound reverberating through the space until it seemed to come from everywhere at once. I picked up a rock and tossed it toward what I thought was the back of the cave. It clattered and rolled for far too long before finally going silent.
“I don’t like this,” Pip whispered from where she’d burrowed into Calder’s pocket, refusing to come out even when Riot heated a few stones for her with dragon fire. “It feels bad in here.”
“It’s shelter,” Wickett said. “We need rest. This will do.”
But even he sounded uncertain, his instincts clearly screaming the same warnings mine were.
Aureth lifted her arm, and Corvus soared ahead of us.
The Oracle didn’t move, none of us did. The only sound was the flapping of wings as the bird scanned the shadows and returned, obviously alive, and with no warning.
“That’s a good sign, right?” I asked, feeling no comfort from the collective response of silence.
A sound came from outside the cave entrance.
Not wind. Not settling rock. Something moving.
“Back,” Calder said quietly, already moving deeper into the cave. “Slowly.”
We retreated as a unit, weapons drawn, every sense on high alert. Silas moved to our flank, closer to Lucy, making it clear he would guard the entrance. But the darkness swallowed us as we moved deeper in, away from the daylight that had felt like safety just moments ago.
“Stop.” Riot’s voice cut through the tension, sharp with warning. “We shouldn’t go so far back. The cave isn’t stable—”
A growl erupted from the darkness ahead of us.
Something rose in the back of the cave, massive and wrong.
Eyes like burning coals ignited in the blackness, amber hatred fixed on us with terrifying intelligence.
The creature’s head emerged first. It was a nightmare of matted fur and twisted horns that curved like scythes from an elongated lupine skull.
Its maw split open in a roar, revealing rows of fangs meant for tearing.
Its body unfolded as it lurched forward on muscular limbs, each movement accompanied by the scrape of claws against stone.
Embers seemed to drift from its dark fur like dying stars, and the stench.
Furies, the smell was rot and sulfur and something long dead. The beast filled the passage.
“Shit. Shit. It’s a Night Eater! Go back toward the entrance. Go back!” Wickett commanded.
Silas hissed a warning, and I hated how far he was from me. It didn’t matter that I was sandwiched between Wickett and Calder. I needed him beside me. But Lucy needed him at the other end of the line too. I fought every instinct I had, urging me to summon him to my side.
Wickett’s voice cracked with command. “Riot, you should shift. Now!”
Then he turned, whispering something to himself as he drew his twin blades. My eyes locked on him, only then understanding what I should have realized ages ago. The signs were all there, but I hadn’t connected them.
“I can’t. The cave isn’t that big!” Riot shouted back.
Wickett roared, his blades singing as he moved in a blur. “Shift, or we’re all dead!”
Another snarl came from the entrance, a second beast, just as massive as the first, blocking our escape route. Panic flooded me. The thing was headed straight for Lucy and Silas’s end of the line.
I whipped my head between the two beasts, desperately trying to find a path out for us, but the new beast was different.
It was sleeker and built for speed instead of brute horror.
Dark fur covered its lean frame, and beneath the surface, its core glowed like a forge, as if the creature burned from within.
Smoke rose from its back in thick, curling plumes.
Long, curved horns swept back from its narrow skull, and its limbs were elongated and sinewy, ending in wicked talons.
Where the first Night Eater was a battering ram of muscle and fury, this one was a blade.
Its head tilted, eyes bright with hunger and intelligence both.
Calder’s gasp was barely audible. “A Stalker.”
We were trapped between them.