Chapter 31 #2
‘We’ll leave an offering,’ Kyor says, unperturbed. ‘I’m sure we have something in our bags we can give them. Maybe one of Rose’s tinctures. That’ll ensure they leave us alone.’
‘Why are you not listening to me, dog boy?’ Stide barks back. ‘It is not the v?tte you need to fear. It is their burrows.’ She waves around us. ‘Look at the size of the horses. The weight of you with your big-city belly. It is not safe to cross.’
Behind me, Ruben and Benny fail to stifle their laughs. I can’t imagine anyone has ever accused Kyor of having a big belly, let alone called him ‘dog boy’.
I feel the crackle of his annoyance in static against my skin, and yet he manages to keep it in. Stide, however, is clearly fuming at Kyor’s nonchalance.
‘She’s right.’ Thessa’s voice is far more measured than the other Sanning’s. ‘These lands are unstable. Can’t you feel it?’
She looks at me as she asks the question, though I’ve no idea what I’m meant to feel, not from up here on Elska.
‘So what do you suggest we do?’ Kyor asks in exasperation. ‘You want to turn around and find a different route?’
‘Yeah …’ Benny’s voice is low and wary. ‘I’m not sure that’s going to be possible.’
My stomach tightens as I twist around to see what he’s talking about, only for my jaw to drop.
‘Where in the Gods’ names did that come from?’ I stare at twelve feet of smooth stone wall – solid, opaque, and utterly impossible considering we just passed through that spot only moments ago.
‘V?tte magic,’ Stide hisses.
‘V?tte magic?’ Caz questions. I can tell from the tone of her voice that this is something she knows nothing about, and she doesn’t like that one bit.
‘Illusions, right?’ Benny asks. ‘That’s what I read.’
‘Fucking hell, are there any mythical creatures that are, well, myths?’ Ruben mutters.
None of us respond. We all know the answer.
I was so focused on finding the Issen that I neglected to worry about the dangers of the journey itself. Navigating land riddled with goblins’ burrows wasn’t something I’d anticipated.
Still, I’ve dealt with illusions before.
Seiren, one of the Rettlings from Dorain, was one of the most powerful illusionists I’ve ever come across.
Unfortunately, she was almost more unstable than Loch and would frequently plunge us into darkness, or storms, or some entirely unknown environment without warning.
Normally, when we were trying to relax and eat.
‘If it’s just an illusion, then can we walk straight through it?’ Ruben offers the exact same response that I was considering, and from the way Kyor turns Elska and stalks towards the wall, he’s thinking the same.
‘Come on, girl. Back we go then.’
Following his instructions, Elska moves towards the wall, only to stop with her nose six inches away.
‘Come on,’ he presses her forward, but she refuses to move.
‘It’s not there. It’s an illusion. Look.
’ He drops down to the ground and walks towards it.
Yet as his hand touches the stone, it transforms into a wall of flames.
Heat billows outwards as black smoke clogs my lungs, and the horses rear, their whinnying shrieks sending all the nearby birds flying from their roosts.
‘Do not let them near the burrows! They will fall,’ Stide yells out, but how the hell are we meant to tell where the burrows are when they’re underground?
As Ruben and Caz fight to keep their mounts from bolting, Kyor steps away from the wall of flames. The cold stone reforms, no hint of the treacherous flames remaining.
‘Fuck,’ Kyor swears. A crack of thunder rumbles above us, and I know it’s annoyance at himself more than anything else. With a tentative step, he edges back towards the wall, only to change his mind. With his jaw locked, he turns back to Stide.
‘What do we do?’ he asks. ‘We could blindfold the horses, right? Get them through the illusion that way. That’d work, wouldn’t it?’
I try to remember the last time I heard him so unsure, seeking the suggestions of another, and I come up empty.
‘Perhaps,’ Stide says noncommittally. ‘It may work. But the v?tte may follow us. They like their games. And you, I think, are fun to play with.’
Her eyes glint at Kyor, but I’m too busy thinking about the ramifications of these damn goblin games to care.
Exactly how long will these creatures find entertainment in toying with us, and how long can we travel with blindfolded horses and hope to get anywhere?
And as for their burrows, exactly how far do they stretch?
All are questions I have no way of answering. So maybe I need to ask a different one.
‘If we go around, back across the hill path, how much longer will it take us?’ I ask Kyor.
The last thing I want to do is put any of us at risk, but I can’t forget the icy patterns that stole my vision when I placed the ring on my finger.
If Caz is right and everything that’s happening is trying to tell me something, then maybe it’s telling me I need to move faster. That William is running out of time.
‘It’ll add at least half a day,’ Kyor tells me. ‘Maybe longer, depending on the state of the hills.’
As I draw in a long breath, I become acutely aware of all the pairs of eyes watching me, waiting for my response.
‘What are you thinking, Rose?’ Benny asks. ‘What do you want to do?’
I remain silent as I cast my gaze across the expanse in front of us. How far is it? A mile at most?
Still not sure which way my decision is going to land, I turn to look at the Sanning.
‘You could tell the burrows were here. The v?tte. Can you tell where the land is thickest? See where it is safe to walk?’
‘You want to go across the hule?’ Stide questions.
‘Only if you think you can. If you don’t think you’re able—’
‘Huh.’ The snort that comes from Stide is almost loud enough to drown out Thessa’s chuckle. Clearly the Sanning and Kyor have more in common than they’d like to believe. ‘I can walk across it. It is you who will have to follow what I say. That, I think, will be harder.’
‘What do you all think?’ I turn my eyes to the rest of the group. I don’t want to make a decision like this without their input, but the reality is that, even blindfolded, I’m not sure we could get the horses through the illusions.
Not if the v?tte continue to torment us. Not with the way the heat billowed from the wall of flames.
So much for imagining the v?tte are nothing more than mischievous but lovable sock-stealing critters. These things are really fucking with my plans.
Ruben’s reply comes instantly. ‘I’ll follow wherever you want to go.’
‘Stide thinks she can make it. We should believe her. It’s why they came with us after all. To guide us,’ Caz adds.
I look to Benny, the last one who needs to weigh in, not only for him but also for Loch.
‘Well, I’ll just look like a dick if I say no, won’t I?’ he replies. ‘Besides, I want to see one of the v?tte fuckers. They’re a mainland thing. Might as well come out of the trip with a few stories, right?’
Next to him Loch is rocking and nodding. I’ll take that as his acquiescence.
All except Kyor have agreed. I look at him, already knowing there’s only one answer he can give.
He nods tightly. ‘Fine.’ He glares at Stide. ‘If you deliberately lead us into peril, know that I’ll kill you first.’
She smirks. ‘You’ll try, dog boy.’
I stifle a smile at her new nickname for Kyor. Honestly, his ego could do with being taken down a peg or two, and it actually makes me like the wicked Sanning just a little. She’s not intimidated by the Prince of Morathka.
I wonder what she’d call Korvane.
‘All right,’ I say aloud. ‘So that’s it then. We all agree. We’re crossing the burrows.’
As we begin our walk, it is clear that Stide is happy to have her position as group leader, and it takes her no time at all to adapt to barking orders at us. Particularly Kyor.
‘Your wolf is moving too fast,’ she snaps at him. ‘If you do not make her listen, she will fall.’
‘She knows what she’s doing,’ Kyor responds curtly, only for a patch of land to give way beneath Elska’s paw. The wolf leaps forward to safety, but the prince pales notably.
My eyes, like those of the others in the group, are drawn down to the exposed pathways.
‘These burrows are incredible,’ Caz says.
She’s right. Even though we can only see a section, the intricacy is incredible. Like a rabbit’s warren, only with hints of sapience hidden in the maze. A scrap of fabric. Etchings of creatures made on the walls. Whittled wood.
‘If the hule is deserted, how come they’re still doing this?
’ I ask as another illusion appears in front of us.
A waterfall this time, although thankfully the horses are happy to be led through this one as we walk single file, following Stide, who is using her spear to tap at the earth, sounding out the hollowness before she decides where to take her next step.
‘There are always scavengers,’ Thessa tells us. ‘Making sure nothing has been left. It will be one of them. Maybe more,’ she adds as a writhing mass of snakes appears on the earth in front of us.
Elska snaps helplessly at the creatures, tossing her head as if she might be able to flick them away from her. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work.