37. Chapter Thirty-Seven #2
I meet a panting Zenn at the entrance, his eyes blown wide in terror as he drops my boots and demands, "Are you ok?
" He scans me from head to toe before stripping off his jacket to drape around my shoulders, wrapping his arms around me, tugging me against his chest in a tight squeeze that has me choking back tears again.
Inhaling deeply, I let his warmth ground me for the briefest of seconds as he whispers into my hair, "Thank you.
" Letting go, he sinks to Willa's side. "How is she? " he asks in a voice thick with dread.
"She's been run through with something. We need to keep that pressure on her wounds and get her to Lira as quickly as possible," I reply, meeting his exhausted gaze while I shove my socks and boots on.
"Even then, she's going to need more than we can provide out here.
Likely sutures, complex tonics, and plenty of good food and rest." I don't have to specify there's no way she's going to be able to hike down mountains and shouldn’t be sleeping in a tent.
"Fuck," Zenn swears, angrily kicking at a loose rock near his sister's feet. "How could I let this happen to her?"
The rock skitters over the edge, disappearing beneath the thick layer of obsidian mist. A resounding crack, louder than a thunderclap, rattles my teeth, and the inky black substance shatters, revealing an unimaginable hellscape below.
Ash drifts up, carried on waves of intense heat blasting my exposed skin, followed by the reek of sulfur and rot.
Where I expect to see more steep, forested mountainside, instead, it’s an endless barren plain of rolling, charred white earth stretching for miles.
Patches of vivid orange striations glow through the cracks spreading over the surface, obscured by occasional plumes of dark smoke and a mountainous volcano spewing lava in the distance.
Cursed stars. This has to be Envenar.
There are no trees or plants of any kind, no signs of life at all.
"Holy fuck," Zenn hisses, drawing my line of sight to where his is locked on a kneeling form, surrounded by three men and several of those Pavor wolves on a slab of dark glassy rock.
At least, I think they're men, it's hard to be sure from up here with the heat stinging our eyes.
"NO! Xaavi," he bellows, starting forward before seeming to remember he's standing on a narrow ledge and jerking himself back. As one, the men look up at us, grabbing the kneeling figure and dragging him over to the edge of the slab, legs trailing behind, as if it's too hard or painful to walk.
"What do we do?" I know it's pointless asking. There's no way to get to him, and I'd be worse than useless in any kind of fight.
"There's nothing we can do. We'll never find a way down in time," Zenn replies flatly, face devoid of all emotion as one of the men shoves Xaavi, and he stumbles toward the chalky earth, the group moving with him. Dread fills me. Nothing good can come of stepping on that twisted soil. But with blades at his back, there’s no choice.
Cracks form in my soul like the ones littering the lands below as Xaavi tips his head in our direction.
I wish I could see him properly, wish I could offer any kind of comfort.
Tears blur my vision, and as I wipe them away, my wish is granted, and I regret it instantly at the sight of his grim face streaked with soot and blood.
I know the haunting fear and sorrow I see in place of his usual warmth will stay with me forever.
In unison, the men step closer and grab Xaavi, shoving again so he stumbles off the raised rock, screaming as his boots touch the fiery earth and instantly melt to liquid with a horrifying sizzle.
I'm desperate to look away but force myself to stay, to witness something I don't understand but know is monumental.
Leathers crumbling, he drops to his hands and knees.
The men sink with him, never losing contact as he howls and shakes, though none of them burn.
The physical and emotional agony is apparent, a brutal pain of deep grief, loss, and distress.
Even more disturbing is that the two and four-legged beasts surrounding him are relishing it, shredding and feasting on whatever pieces they can get to.
Every ounce of color slowly fades from Xaavi's once rich brown skin and midnight eyes until they're completely transparent. The collective finally disbands, heading back up the rock, and Xaavi lies completely still in the dirt, not even breathing from what I can tell. And yet, somehow, I know he’s changed, not dead.
I suck in a sharp breath and hear Zenn do the same when Xaavi's head rotates at an impossible angle, and he twists to look directly at us with a hollow grin, billowing dark smoke clearly visible beneath his skin.
"Pavor," Zenn whispers as Xaavi springs to his bare, filthy feet, not even flinching when they meet the molten, orange-threaded soil and joins the men at the top of the rocky slab.
My thoughts tumble and crash over each other, fighting to make sense of this.
Those people all have the same translucent skin and pale eyes, and they're looking at us like they're starving.
"What the fuck was that?" I demand, knowing full well I should be more sensitive when Zenn just watched that happen to a friend. The Commander has taken over, cold and shut down, not saying anything, just staring at his squadmate, who’s still grinning maniacally as he follows the others behind a pile of blackened boulders.
I grab Zenn's arm, damp with sweat through the thick fabric of his undershirt, and the contact seems to jar him back into his body. "What was that?" I repeat, more gently this time.
"His magic and lifeforce being stripped away," Zenn replies, eyes closing as he lets out a shuddering breath.
"We're right on the border of Envenar. Nobody can touch that soil without losing their power and their freedom.
There's nothing I can do for him now." He turns back to his sister, still unconscious behind us. "Is it safe to move her?"
Rushing to check on Willa, I'm terrified to find her pulse erratic.
She's freezing, despite the waves of heat still rising from the fiery lands below.
I strip off Zenn's much too big jacket and drape it over Willa's torso, moving mine to cover her legs.
"We don’t have a choice. We have to get her back to camp.
Just be as gentle as you can—the worst of her wounds will likely start bleeding again, and she can't afford to lose much more. "
He hands me a light stick from his pocket and bends to carefully scoop up his sister, nodding for me to start up the passageway.
It's a tight squeeze in places, low enough that even I have to duck in others, but Zenn carries Willa the whole way without complaint.
There's nothing to do except get to the top of the cliff.
When we make it back, Felix, Drea, and Jeska rush to meet us, clearly having seen at least some of what just happened. "Is she going to be ok?" Felix's frantic red-rimmed eyes flick between his twin's pallid face and mine.
"I think so. We need to get her to Lira as soon as possible," I try to reassure him.
"And you guys, are you ok?" Drea comes to my side and surprises me by wrapping a strong arm around my shoulders.
"You're freezing and look like hell. We wanted to help but had no idea how you guys got down there.
" I glance at the ledge, shocked to see the swirling black mist is back in place, hiding Envenar again.
"I'm fine," I reply quietly. The lie burns against my tongue. I'm not sure I'll ever be fine again.