Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Godric and I made it to the tunnel in record time.
We’d both traveled in wolf form, Godric with a custom pack balanced over his shoulders to contain his disguise and the other things we needed, including the coins we’d stolen last time.
Human again, Godric’s disguise fully on, a rough cloak pulled up so he looked like a merchant instead of a warrior wolf, the air in the tunnel tasted damp.
My mind jumped from detail to detail, rehearsing the plan and assembling backups.
Valkaryn was the strategic mind; I missed her orders and her quiet certainty.
We had traveled all day and night, and now more than ever, I had to focus.
Val still hadn’t contacted me. That silence was a living thing crawling along my spine. It meant they were still searching for her, or worse, had her in a place where she couldn’t speak. That thought caused my hands to tremble, and I had to tamp them down.
“What’s the plan, Brynn?” Godric asked, voice low.
“How are you and I going to fight off an Elite who can control metal in order to get to Valkaryn? I understand once you have her in your hands, you will be powerful, but until then…” The question hung between us, and I swallowed.
The tunnel echoed with our breaths. “We need to create a distraction that gets me closer to the courtyard of the tavern so Val can pull on my power to get herself out of there.”
I kept my voice steady, though my heart hammered in my throat.
“Okay… and then once you get her and you’re standing before an Elite with metal magic…?” Godric’s brow creased in the half-light.
I let out a shaky breath. “I have to kill him.” Saying it aloud made the plan sharp and real. The words were heavy.
Even in the dark, I sensed his recoil. “And what if King Harrow himself is there, and Mind Render?”
That was Plan B. I could feel Valkaryn’s impatience in my bones. “You create a distraction that will draw him away. A fire. Light his damn castle on fire for all I care.” My voice barely held in a quiver.
“That’s dark, Brynn,” Godric said softly, but the flicker in his eyes held the trace of approval I needed.
It was dark, and it was desperate, and for a moment, I saw the palace turning to ash in the worst way. I didn’t want it; I didn’t want to scorch Kaelric’s birthplace. But if a wall burned and saved a life, I could live with it.
“I like it,” Godric concluded, clapping his hand to my shoulder in that old, solid way of his. I grinned, despite the dread.
I kept hoping for Plan A, the clean, clever step that let us take Valkaryn without destroying a place of precious memories. When we reached the end of the tunnel where the trap door met the market, Godric slipped forward to check the seam first, fingers carefully probing.
‘We’re here. We’re coming,’ I told Val in a tight whisper, throat raw with the words.
No response.
Godric inched the door open. Pale moonlight bled into the dark like a slow tide. After a moment, he threw the door wide.
After he stepped out, I followed him only to hear him mutter a curse. The sudden sound in the marketplace made my whole body freeze with a sick sense of wrongness.
“Brynn, run!” he bellowed, and then lunged forward with his sword raised.
My heart dropped out of my chest. The world erupted into motion around us.
Oh crap.
We were surrounded by guards. They’d been lying in wait for us.
Plan C.
I leaped out of the garlic stall and went left, blasting right into a Lunaria soldier.
His armor clanked as he toppled backward, crying out in shock while I sprinted for the opening in the market-stall tent.
Footfalls thundered behind me, boots scraping stone, and I knew I was being chased.
For a split second, pure terror ripped through me.
I was a human being chased by a wolfkin. I was so dead.
Then I remembered I wasn’t fully human anymore. A strange confidence, sharp and electric, flooded my limbs.
I slammed to a stop and pivoted just as the guard lunged.
His sword whistled through the air, but I kicked it aside with brutal force, the metal clattering across the cobblestones.
I snapped out and cracked him right in the nose.
The crunch of breaking bone rent the air; he screamed, and blood rushed down his lips.
The coppery scent hit my nostrils, and I growled, instinct prickling down my spine.
Using my elbow, I slammed the soldier in the side of the head, and he crumbled, dazed, to the ground.
‘Godric says to keep going. Meet up with him later. Dammit, Brynn, I’m worried about you.’ Kaelric’s message told me that Godric had reached out to fill him in.
I didn’t wait. I took off running again, knowing Godric would want me to get away, get Val, and then come back for him. There was no sense in both of us being captured. I only hoped they would choose to capture him and not kill him. If they killed him… I would never live with myself.
I skidded right and leaped into the first gated courtyard I could find, landing hard and crouching behind a wall of ivy. The shouts of soldiers echoed down the lane, boots striking stone, voices overlapping. I pressed myself lower, forcing my breath to quiet.
‘What’s going on now? Are you okay?’ Kaelric had the absolute worst timing ever.
‘I’m fine. Just a lot going on. Will check in when I get Val. Love you.’
As I sent the thought, a tiny movement beside me made my heart leap into my throat. A small feathery thing popped up beside me, and I slapped both hands over my mouth to muffle the scream trying to tear free.
A chicken.
A black and white speckled hen.
She pecked lazily at the grass, utterly unbothered by my presence.
A variation of my original Plan A crept into my thoughts like a sly fox.
I waited a full ten minutes until the guards’ voices faded.
Every heartbeat felt like a drum in my ears.
I’d never actually asked Valkaryn about how her power worked with our bond.
I wondered how much power she could draw from me at a distance?
Could she incinerate the Elite hunting her from where she was without me?
Obviously not, or she already would have.
That meant proximity mattered. I had to get closer. Instinct told me that.
“Hey, I need you to come with me,” I whispered to the hen, and gently scooped her up. She squawked once, wings flapping, but settled once I tucked her firmly under my arm. Her feathers were surprisingly warm. I hoped she didn’t peck my eyes out before this was over.
I waited another full minute, then peeked over the stone ledge.
The road was deserted, lanterns swaying in the night breeze.
Quietly unlatching the gate, I slipped out with the hen tight beneath my elbow.
Moving low and fast, I made my way toward the tavern by memory, sticking to shadows, letting the dim moonlight paint my path.
‘Godric’s been caught,’ I told Val. ‘I’m almost to you. Get ready to fight.’
A sudden drain hit me, like someone had unplugged my soul. My knees nearly buckled, and across the street I heard a male groan, low and pained.
The Elite.
The tavern swam into view at the end of the lane, warm light spilling from shutter cracks. Half a dozen soldiers stood at the perimeter, hands on hilts, eyes sweeping the street.
Damn.
‘Six soldiers outside, and whatever you are dealing with in the back,’ I told her.
‘Take any metal off your body, now,’ Val sent sharply
I opened my mouth to say I didn’t have any metal when my gaze caught on the Aerlyn wedding band gleaming on my finger. My breath hitched. I slid it off and tossed it into the flowerpot beside the front door of the blue house. The metal clinked against stone and disappeared beneath the leaves.
Then I whispered to the chicken: “I’m sorry for this.”
I yanked out one of her feathers, and the hen exploded in my arms, screeching with the fury of a thousand dying souls, wings beating my ribs. She launched away from me, screaming like she’d been stabbed, and I tore after her.
Every single soldier snapped their head toward the noise at once, helmets tilting, hands rising.
Perfect.
“Josie, get back here! Mother will kill me if I lose you again.”
I opened my arms and charged after the hen, which only caused her to run harder, wings flapping as she bolted straight toward the tavern.
My feet slapped stone as I chased her, heart hammering.
The guards jerked their swords up, looking between the shrieking chicken and me like they were witnessing the most confusing battle of their lives.
With a burst of chaotic flapping, the hen, now named Josie, launched herself over the four-foot wall edging the tavern courtyard. I didn’t have time to think. I hurdled after her, fingers grazing the stone as I vaulted over.
“Stop, you can’t go back there!” a guard shouted behind me.
I pretended not to hear, landing hard on the packed dirt and taking off again.
“My mother will kill me if I lose this hen!” I yelled over my shoulder.
The courtyard air smelled faintly of spilled ale. I sprinted toward the back, where the well sat like a forgotten mouth in the stone. The moment I saw it, every hair on my arms lifted.
An Elite stood over the well, framed in a swirling bubble of blue magic. The dome shimmered like heated glass, vibrating with power. He growled and groaned, shooting jagged lightning-like bolts down into the well. Sparks danced along the stone lip, lighting the courtyard in stuttering flashes.
The guard had followed me, boots pounding, so I spun toward him, eyes wide in feigned fascination.
“What’s going on here?” I asked. “That looks cool.”
I layered my voice with airy innocence, really leaning into the dumb, too-curious girl act.
The guard cocked his head at an unnatural angle. It was like watching a puppet twist the wrong way. Before I could react, pressure clamped over my mind, heavy and suffocating.