Chapter 19
One is not simply born hating dogs; it is a learned behavior from years of malicious incidents with demon hounds from hell.
A sharp knock on our window startled us both awake. It was still dark outside, the room filled with a thick, creeping silence. The same silence that had come before Margast entered the wood days ago.
My heart stopped. If we brought darkness to this place, to this Haven, I’d never forgive myself.
Hesper threw open the window, letting Edge through.
“The Prince’s hounds are here,” he said in a low whisper.
“How many?” Hesper asked.
“Several. Water-drenched hounds. They came across the sea.” My Goddess.
“What? How?” I cut in.
“They were sent by boat,” Edge replied.
“I thought Marielle’s waters protected the Isles,” I said.
“They do,” Edge offered. “But only the water-touched. She cannot prevent boats from crossing above.”
“What do we do? And where is Warty?” I asked, looking between Hesper and Edge, my hedgehog nowhere to be seen.
“Do not fear, Madame. Warty elected to stay on the roof. He said he can better aim his quills at the hounds from high up, should something go awry.”
Since when had he ever done that? A snake in my garden once tried to attack me and all Warty did was scurry away, knocking over my tools stacked by the cottage door as he did so.
I almost asked Edge if he was teaching Warty some defensive strategies, but there were more pressing questions that needed answers.
“How did they find us?” I asked. We’d been tracked from Moss through Wormwood, but the entrance to Lore was little known. And underwater at that. How could they have found out where we were so soon?
“Not every shadow is as it seems, Madame.” Edge bowed his head low.
I looked around, as if I could see if any of the darkness seemed like more than it was. Goddess, if even the shadows were unsafe, how were we going to survive this?
“I don’t understand. I thought the light kept them at bay.” Panic laced its way up my spine.
“It seems the hounds are, indeed, growing more powerful as the Prince does,” Edge said grimly.
Before I could ask any more questions, Hesper cut me off.
“We need to leave.” She draped my new cloak around me and secured both of our travel packs to her back.
“But what about the boat?” I asked, thinking of the kind innkeeper who would be waiting for us to no avail when the sun arose.
“I have already left coin at his desk and a note explaining our earlier-than-planned departure. We will have to rather permanently borrow his boat, but I left enough for him to purchase another.” She had to have slipped out when I fell asleep to do that.
I realized she never planned for the innkeeper to ferry us anywhere; Hesper only wanted people to think that.
In case anyone listened, they’d lose our trail.
She adeptly slipped through the open window onto the roof below. I turned back to the bed, scanning the room for any forgotten items.
“The seed pack and your books are accounted for, Clara. We have to go.”
I hopped through the window, not caring to look back at the gathering darkness in the room.
I fumbled my landing, tripping down the steep, sloping shingles.
Hesper caught my arm, but not before a shingle broke off and shattered on the ground.
The silence of the night broke. We all waited with bated breath to see what would come next.
A low growl sounded from the distance. Edge whispered something to Hesper I couldn’t hear and flew off, presumably to get Warty and meet us elsewhere.
“Follow me,” Hesper whispered. She all but carried me off of the roof and onto the rain gutters, then motioned for me to hop onto her back. We were very high up, and the drainpipe we needed to scurry down was quite slender. But still, I could do it myself.
“I don’t need—”
“Do not finish that sentence,” She grabbed me by my waist before I could protest. Which was all well and good, seeing as our lives were in danger and, though my parents didn’t like me, I was still an only child and sometimes—apparently—I acted like it.
We landed on the ground without a sound, slinking back into the shadows. But they offered little comfort. Any piece of darkness could be something else.
We edged our way behind carts and through the empty market streets.
Thank the Goddess everyone was inside their homes, safe—for now.
The thought settled in my stomach like a rock.
We should have never come here. Sleeping in forests might have gotten us killed, but at least it didn’t put anyone else in danger.
Growls echoed in the night. Hesper and I stilled our walking.
We hid behind a cart that smelled like jasmine and sage, but even that couldn’t calm me.
Every breath felt like a nail in my own coffin.
Soft thuds rang through the street, inching closer with each moment.
Hesper was a skilled warrior, there was no doubt about that, but the thought of bloodshed in these streets felt like a desecration.
A loud squawk came from the skies. The hounds were still out of view but based on the slowing of their paws against the pavement, their pursuit had halted.
They were so close I could hear them sniffing the air.
The squawk then turned into a whisper. Edge was leading them away from us as best he could.
For a moment, I thought they wouldn’t take the bait.
But then a growl came from farther down the street.
The hounds raced forward, following the presumed leader.
How could they not have smelled us? If they could track a scent through a heavily wooded forest, they could do so in the market.
That’s when I noticed the smell surrounding me wasn’t from the market cart.
It was from my cloak. The seer, she must have laced this cloak with herbs that would hide my scent—possibly even Hesper’s, too, if she was close enough.
We made a run for the docks. The moonlight shone so bright that the entire street looked bathed in silver. The shoreline lay just ahead, no sign of the hounds at our backs yet. I could still hear Edge distantly, whispering through the skies. Maybe Warty was throwing his quills after all.
Hesper hopped onto a small sailboat, barely big enough for two. She hauled me up and over the side of the boat before I could even get my boots wet.
Finally, the hounds came.
Their racing paws sounded like thunder, the whole pack cloistered together. Hesper whipped out a blade, cut the rope from the docks, and began to set sail. But not before she whistled out to the racing hounds, taunting them.
“What the hell are you doing?” I spat.
The hounds came into full view, the moonlight highlighting every gruesome part of them.
They were larger than wolves, with inky-black matted fur and maws with teeth so hooked and jagged, they couldn’t close their own mouths without cutting into their jaws.
They were something out of a nightmare. Margast still took the cake for most terrifying, but several small Margasts could do as much mental damage to my dreams.
We were well into the water now, not that it would make much difference. The hounds splashed into the sea, paddling faster than seemed possible.
Which must have been Hesper’s plan all along. She didn’t want to leave these hounds here, either. No, she would let Marielle’s waterways do the dirty work, ensuring Lore was safe from the hounds and their blood.
A low, earth-rumbling moan came from beneath our boat. My heart leapt into my throat.
The boat caught a night breeze, and we cut through the water. The sound emanating from below was so loud that even the waves were sloshing oddly at the disruption. The hounds ignored it, gaining on us despite the wind in our sails.
A pink tail flipped out of the water to our left. We both ran over to it so quickly, the boat tipped dangerously.
Marielle’s head popped out, a wicked grin on her face.
“Thanks for the late-night snack,” she said, razor-sharp teeth now glimmering in the moonlight.
Growls turned into yelps. A flash of green in the moonlight, and a hound disappeared. Another flash of purple and two more hounds were gone. Soon, a frenzy of vicious mermaids took each hound under until only the leader pursued us. His eyes burned coal red, just like Margast’s.
The leader was larger and faster than the rest. His head sliced through the water like a shark’s fin, intent on its prey.
The moonlight glinting off the lapping waves brought the leader into full view.
Margast was terrible, yes. But this leader, this thing, was raw and pure hunger.
He left his legion behind, intent on tearing into Hesper and me, not caring that his fellows met their end right in front of him.
He licked his maw, deeply slicing open his tongue on his own jagged teeth. Blood and gore dribbled into the water—dark, swirling pools of it clouding around the monster.
“One moment,” Marielle sang as she dove into the water, the final hound mere feet away from our boat.
I grabbed onto Hesper, who already had her crossbow aimed at the beast. Just as he closed in enough for her to shoot down his bloodied throat, he sank into the inky black water.
A single bubble rose to the surface, the only hint at the fight raging beneath us.
Marielle reappeared, blood now staining her lips.
“We couldn’t stop the boats in time. There were hundreds, some of which we managed to sink, but not all. I tried to send warning, but my power is useless on land. Your bird caught sight of them, though.”
Hundreds? They would have slaughtered the entire town overnight.
“Do you know how they got here?” Hesper asked.
“My sentinels reported a large, black ship patrolling the isles north of here. I’d assume that same boat sailed them as far as they could before the reefs prevented it from going farther. Most likely pirates for the Prince.”
“Are there more coming?” Hesper asked, her eyes now scanning the horizon.
“No, those were the last of his hounds. We interrogated a few before we… took care of matters.” A small trickle of blood dripped down her chin.
She licked it and let out a satiated sigh.
I wasn’t sure what was more terrifying: a pack of demon hounds or Marielle in kill mode.
Then she added, “You will be safe from here to Irk. I know not what will follow you on the Road, but the waters are secure.” And with a pat on the side of our boat, she elegantly flipped back into the water.
Her pink tail disappeared into the darkness beneath.
“That was a close one,” Hesper said before smiling. “Oh, and I found this—”
She pulled out one of the syrupy pastries I thought we had to leave behind. “Don’t want you getting peckish.” She set to readjusting the sails. I popped the delicious pastry in my mouth, savoring the sticky-sweet delight.
“One more thing.” Hesper took a flower from the inside of her cloak and placed it behind my ear. “There were several blooms all over the floor as I packed up. Figured you might like it. I think I remember one of those plants in Patti’s shoppe?”
“Blooms?” I asked, my mouth still full of food. Sure enough, the delicate flower I held in my hand was a blood-ruby bloom. Each petal was shaped like a gem, the glossy outside shining so brightly in the moonlight, it looked fit for a queen. “That should be impossible.”
“Huh, I wonder if we know someone with a proclivity for magic that might…”
“Enough,” I bit back. “Please don’t poke fun at me after everything you heard tonight. Lore Isles must have the right climate.”
“Sure,” Hesper mumbled to herself. “Or maybe it’s something else entirely.” She pulled on a rope that lurched the boat forward a bit.
Something else indeed. There was that kernel when Hesper and I almost…
But surely not.
The sails caught the wind just right, and we careened forward.
Hesper heaved a sigh of relief just as I heaved over the side of the boat.