Chapter 9
My brain misfired and an image invaded my mind of the ethereal white unicorn with a feather mane that sparkled with colours of the rainbow. “The unicorn?”
“You know of whom I speak,” Hecate said, still petting my familiar.
Magic stirred in the air and Nala closed her eyes, apparently in complete bliss while my mind scrambled to remain intact.
The witch’s gaze flicked to my quiver where the unicorn’s feathers used for fletching gently pulsed with their subtle magic.
“Her name is Medoria, though I suppose not a lot of people know that name anymore.”
“The unicorn of the forbidden forest?” I repeated.
“Yes, yes. You heard me right the first time. I want you to kill her and bring me her horn.”
By hunting the very forest I usually protected, I’d become the villain I detested.
“The poison is working its way through her system,” Hecate said.
“I can feel it shutting everything down. She rallies against it, drawing from her bond with you, but there’s not enough magic between you to save her.
It will come in waves, punctuated by moments of healing, especially with you nearby, followed by rapid decline.
The choice is yours, of course, but you need to decide sooner than later.
” Hecate continued to run her hand along Nala’s neck and back.
My familiar sighed and closed her eyes, resting more of her weight on Hecate’s lap.
“Is there another payment you’d accept?”
“No,” she said.
The bond between Nala and I still thrummed with love, but it had weakened, deteriorated, not in feeling but the sense of connection.
I would do anything for Nala. She was more than just a wolf or a familiar.
She was my connection to the forest and to everything good in this life.
I would become the villain for her. I would do everything and anything within my power to see her whole.
It was my fault she was injured. I had placed her in danger.
I swallowed and nodded.
“Yes,” I said, my voice coming out scratchy and dry. It felt like someone else whispered the word instead of myself.
“I'll need more than your word,” Hecate said.
Careful not to disturb Nala, who now appeared to be sleeping upright, Hecate reached into her cloak and pulled out a dagger.
She must have had it sheathed on a belt.
Without a word, she drew the edge of the blade along the tip of her finger until blood pebbled out and ran down her hand.
She held out the dagger to me. I repeated her actions, the sharp edge of the weapon biting into my skin. The cut stung as blood welled up.
“I promise to save your familiar from death. In exchange, you will retrieve the horn from the forbidden forest unicorn.”
I swallowed again and reached out to press my bloody fingertip to Hecate’s. I'd only ever heard of phaanon oaths and never dreamed I’d have to use the limited knowledge to make my own promise. Magic shot down my arm, and I jerked back.
Hecate narrowed her eyes.
“Sorry.” I leaned forward and pressed my finger to hers again. The shock of power still made me jump, but I managed not to leap out of my chair or break contact the second time. “I promise to retrieve the horn of the forbidden forest unicorn in exchange for you saving my familiar’s life.”
Magic snapped in the air and forced me back in my seat.
Nala’s head popped up, and she opened her eyes to pant at me.
Hecate had a different reaction. She settled back in her rocking chair, a small smile lifted to the corners of her lips. She continued to pat Nala’s head.
“You did the right thing,” Hecate said.
“When can you start?” I asked.
Hecate opened her mouth to answer when she suddenly froze. An eerie silence settled over the cabin. Hecate shut her mouth and jabbed the air between us with her finger. “Who did you bring with you?”
“No one,” Ace said, finally speaking since entering the cabin. “I know the rules. We came alone.”
Hecate narrowed her eyes again and power surged up around us.
The front door slammed open, and men poured into the cabin. We leapt from our seats and turned to the entrance. The men wore tan leather pants and vests for hunting. They wielded bows with arrows nocked and ready.
No one spoke. No one moved. The door behind the newcomers swung back, inch by inch. The hinges cried out, the sound dragging on until the door came to a rest, half-shut.
I turned to Hecate to find the rocking chair empty. She was gone. Where the phaan did she go and how did she just disappear? Why didn’t she take us, or at least Nala? Did she heal Nala before she left? Or was all this for nothing?
“Don't make any sudden movements,” one of the men said. He was tall, broad shouldered and had a strong build, short black hair, pale skin and dark brown eyes. He might have been handsome if he wasn’t ordering me around and pointing an arrow at me. “Don’t move and we won’t shoot you,” he said.
I glanced at my bow nestled on the wall by the door along with my quiver. Ace had rested his on the end of this loveseat, but they were just as out of reach as mine. That left only the daggers strapped to our bodies and we’d have a couple arrows in our chest before we got the chance to use them.
“Don’t,” the man with a wiry build and sandy hair warned.
Nala whined and sat down. She kept glancing in my direction, waiting for my signal to attack. Even when feeling unwell, my familiar had my back. My chest warmed. I would never ask her to risk herself like that. Not when we didn’t stand a chance.
The tallest hunter had a wicked scar running down one side of his face.
The two closest to the door had sandier coloured hair and darker skin tones.
With the same brown eyes and thinner lips, they could be brothers or fraternal twins.
The hunter closest to us should’ve stood out the most with his flaming red hair, piercing blue eyes and pale skin, but that honour went to their apparent leader who’d already spoken to us.
None of his features set him apart, at least not significantly, but he had a presence that drew all the attention to him.
Two of us and a sick wolf pitted against five hunters of unknown skill-level in a cabin barely big enough to breathe in. There was no room to run or hide. If their arrows hadn’t already been nocked and trained on us, we might’ve stood a chance.
Even now, part of me itched for the fight.
I’d survive. I’d done it before. Pain was temporary and meant nothing to me. I wouldn’t die from an arrow. Immortality was a curse with few benefits, but this was one of them.
My gaze flicked to Nala, pressed weakly against my legs, her breathing still shallow. She was supposed to be immortal like me, but was she? Could she survive?
I glanced at Ace next. Strong, broad-shouldered and silent, he stood with his limbs loose, his jaw tight, and his dark gaze locked on the hunters. He was ready to fight.
But he was mortal.
He wouldn’t survive an arrow to the chest. At least I didn’t think he would—he said he wasn’t an immortal phaanon like me.
And suddenly the fire in my blood turned to ice.
If I moved, they would shoot, and it wouldn’t be me who paid the price. It would be Ace. Maybe even Nala. My immortality couldn’t shield them, and the thought of watching either die made my hands tremble.
“If you come peacefully, you won’t be harmed,” the leader broke the silence. “We have orders to try to keep you alive.”
“You have orders?” My eyebrows rose. It didn’t feel like this guy would take orders from anyone. His lips quirked up at the corners. “Everyone takes orders from someone, love, even you.”'
“Debatable,” Ace muttered behind me. If he stood closer, I would’ve elbowed him in the gut.
“How does this work?” I asked, trying to peer around the group. “Where are the whips and chains?”
Ace grumbled behind me.
The leader swayed back on his heels. “Do you want whips and chains?”
“Don’t answer that, Mouse,” Ace growled.
The leader raised his eyebrows and waited.
“No,” I said. “I don’t want whips and chains.”
“Pity,” he said. Amusement glinted in his dark gaze.
Ace growled some more.
I didn’t like standing between these two. “So, we just follow you to an undisclosed location?”
“That’s generally how it works when you’re the captured party,” the leader said. “If you fail to comply, attack us, try to run away or any combination of those things, one of us will shoot you.”
“Lovely,” I said.
“My name is Darius. This is Grog.” He nodded at the tall hunter. He jerked his chin at the hunter with red hair. “This is Teo, and those two…” He waved at the remaining two hunters. “Are Raner and Roy.”
“Very courteous of you to make introductions.” I glanced at my bow and quiver. Darius had already taken them. He ran a hand along the iridescent fletching with a flicker of curiosity before handing it off to Teo. Raner stepped forward and plucked Ace’s bow and arrows from the floor.
“I want you to know the names of the people who will shoot you if you try to escape.” Darius smiled widely, but it did little to put me at ease.
“Here I was thinking you wanted to ensure we spoke your final rites correctly when we leave you for dead.”
“A bit inappropriate to issue baseless threats when we have you surrounded,” he said. “Now, step forward. Time to leave this place.”
We were herded out of the cabin. The door creaked as Raner flung it open, and cold air bit at my skin. Nala whimpered beside me, her paws dragging through the dirt with every step, too weak to resist, too proud to collapse. My heart clenched at the sound.
Hecate hadn’t healed her or if she had, the cure was taking time to make any noticeable improvements.
The hunters were smart about exiting the cabin and removed any possibility of a strategic escape.
Raner and Rory took the lead, their matching strides eerily in sync.
Once they exited, they turned and trained their arrows on us while we moved into the more open space.
They didn’t smile and their expressions remained hard.
The others followed behind us, fanning out after they stepped away from the cabin. They kept a safe distance away, eliminating the possibility of either of us using close proximity to attack.
Teo kept to the left, his red hair catching the fractured sunlight.
He kept glancing toward Nala with something that might’ve been pity.
Grog loomed like a shadow to my right, the scar on his face catching in the golden sunlight.
He wasn’t pointing an arrow at us, but his hand never strayed far from the hilt of his blade.
“We need to remove all your additional weapons,” Darius stated. “Don’t try anything. Teo has excellent aim.”
He only named only one of the archers, when three still pointed arrows at us. Interesting. Did that mean the other two were crap with a bow?
I logged the information for later.
Ace didn’t say a word as Darius stepped forward and started removing all his daggers and knives.
Ace glared at him, jaw set, his gaze piercing, while fury radiated off him like heat.
When Darius yanked Ace’s last dagger free from its sheath, Ace’s shoulders tensed, and for a heartbeat, he looked poised to strike. But he glanced at me instead.
His normally warm gaze had cooled with steady calculation. He was angry, furious, but he wouldn’t attack now. He’d wait.
Darius moved to me next, his hand brushing my side as he reached for the sheath at my hip. I bit down the instinct to twist his wrist until he screamed. Instead, I forced stillness into my limbs and lifted my chin as Darius slid my blade free.
“Time to walk.” Darius nodded at a path and the men moved out, placing us in the middle of the procession.
We walked in tense silence. Every crunch of leaves beneath our boots felt too loud. The hunters appeared relaxed and confident. They had no idea what I was capable of. They had no idea what I would do to protect those I cared for.
I just needed time to plan.