Chapter 19
“Munch, stop provoking Fluffy.” My tone came out like one of my cranky tutors, frustrated with my lack of focus. “Stop tugging on his mane like they are reins.”
A twitter sang from the tiny creature positioned between the horse’s ears. Peering back at me, he kept his gaze on me as he slowly reached out his one arm, clutching more of the mane on top of the horse’s head.
“I can see you.” I motioned at him. “What did I just say?”
Fangs peeked out from Munch’s mouth before he yanked and whipped the hair like leads with excited clicking.
Fluffy shook his head violently, trying to dislodge the nuisance.
Munch hung on with a joyful peep like it was a fun ride, as Fluffy grew more and more agitated, biting back at me for retaliation.
“Both of you stop it.” I scolded.
“You all need to stop,” Onyx muttered in my ear with an exasperated sigh, his foul mood darker than the skies. This morning, he’d found Munch had eaten a hole through the saddlebag.
“Not housebroken your pets yet?” Bj?rn rode up next to us, chuckling.
“Which one?” Onyx grumbled.
Bj?rn’s gaze ran from the groundling, to me, to the large horse, standing over a foot taller than his own steed.
“Where the fuck did you find a draugrhest?” He motioned to the beast in awe. “And get it to obey you?”
“The same place I got this scythe.”
Brynn twisted around from her mount leading the pack, worry and adoration flickering in her eyes. “You could have been killed.”
“That fucker die?” Renyx snorted derisively from behind us. His mood was reserved, but I could feel his spikes of anger and grief ready to drive into someone. And that someone seemed to be me and Onyx. “I think he’s immune.”
“You are a fucking legend, man.” Bj?rn shook his head with a chuckle. “How did you cross paths with cannibals and survive? I mean, the Jackals are ruthless. Notorious for not letting anyone escape them.”
Onyx shrugged, but his hand pressed down on my waist, like he understood it was a hard memory for me to relive. “We survived and I was able to kill two of them, steal their horse and leave with their weapon.”
“They’re not gonna take that lightly,” Bj?rn replied. “They will be hunting for you.”
“Good thing they will no longer be a problem once we cross the border.” He nodded at the fading twilight. The darkness folding in around me was like another cage, as the light along the horizon grew to a slim line. The murky air almost hiding the sign: Carrion Crow - five miles.
My throat tightened, forcing my lungs to pump harder for oxygen, panic dotting the edges of my vision. I was going into the Night Realm. A place I had been told was so brutal and cruel, life was looked upon as a frivolity.
“Huginn and Muninn punished them with darkness,” my father would tell me.
“Reflecting their barbaric ways and cold hearts. Why we must protect our people, the power of the White Raven, with everything we have. Because death would be better than letting the Night King have control. We are the true leaders, Wrennlyn. It is our destiny to rule this realm. Huginn and Muninn have chosen us.”
There was no sign, no marker to indicate when we departed one territory and arrived in the other, but the last of the light dissolved, plunging us completely into darkness. My chest tightened, my lids blinking frantically, trying to adjust.
“Breathe, kanin.” His raspy voice spoke into my ear, sensing my panic attack. His hand spread out over my ribs, pulling me back into his torso. “Breathe in and out with me.”
“I can’t see . . .” I gasped for air.
“You can,” he muttered. “Just breathe.”
Part of me wanted to fight against him, run back to the Shadow Rift, cling to the last threads of light.
Scramble back from the ledge before I plunged into the abyss.
But my body obeyed him, leaning back into him, syncing our breaths, trying to swallow back the instinct to curl into a ball and allow the anxiety to take over.
Focusing on the rhythm of his chest, the heat of his body, I mimicked his inhalation and exhalation, the dots taking my vision retreating.
“Good girl.” He rumbled against my neck, his thumb rubbing over my diaphragm. “Again.”
My nerves sparked at his words, at his touch, submitting to his request again, sinking further into his frame.
The trail broke through the heavy canopy of trees, stepping the horses out onto a rolling valley.
My gaze was drawn to the large glowing orange-yellow light suspended above the horizon, reflecting off a small lake between the gentle hills.
“Huginn-Muninn!” I sucked in sharply and I pulled away from Onyx, my mouth parting as I blinked up.
The dark blanket covering the sky had a million tears in the fabric, seeping in light, sparkling and twinkling in the darkness like diamonds.
The night sun glowed, like it was too selfish to light the sky, keeping it all for itself, upstaging the rest of the sparks with its size and beauty.
“Kanin?” Onyx called for me as I slipped off the horse, running to the edge of the road like I could reach out and touch the huge luminous orb floating in the velvet sky.
“What is she doing?” I could hear Sven’s puzzled tone.
“Hold on.” The leather saddle protested Onyx’s weight as he slipped off, his boots hitting the dirt, coming up behind me.
“I forgot.” Onyx’s low voice spoke, his arms folded. “You’ve never seen the moon and stars before.”
I had read about them, but my mind could never conjure up what I was seeing now from the simple description.
It always sounded so frightening and horrible, making me grateful I never had to suffer the dreadfulness of the dark, while I spent my life in the magnificence of the sun.
I truly believed we were the chosen ones by Huginn and Muninn.
Night was for those they wanted to suffer.
Except when I glanced up at the thousands and thousands of twinkling diamonds dancing above my head in a tapestry of the darkest chocolate, a seed of doubt flowered in my stomach.
“It’s . . .” I swallowed, bewildered by the view. “So beautiful.”
“Yes, kanin.” He spoke only loud enough for me to hear. “There is a lot of beauty in darkness.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Renyx trotted his horse up to us, frowning. “We’re less than five miles from Carrion Crow. I need a fucking drink.”
“Like you haven’t been drinking this whole ride, Ren.” Brynn scoffed, nodding at the flask on his hip.
“I seem to be the only one mourning my brother.” He shot her a look, his hands gripping the reins, and spurred his horse on. The steed took off down the road, the rider not looking back.
Bj?rn’s ride sauntered up, the big man exhaling. “He’s itching for a fight.” He directed his statement to Onyx. “You know his temper. He needs to let it out. You remember the last time he was in a mood like this around the king.”
Onyx exhaled, bobbing his head. “Yeah.” He put his hands on his hips. “We’ll stay in Carrion Crow for the night. Head to a Hólmganga . . . let him get some of it out.”
“Hólmganga?” Sven’s brows furrowed, glancing between the group.
All of them except Sven clearly knew each other well, like they had been together for a long time. He seemed to be the odd one out. Besides his young age, he seemed far too na?ve and sweet to be a notorious Night Hunter. It made me curious how and why he became one.
“Oh gutt.” Kid. “You will get a lesson tonight. Maybe it will grow some hair on those balls of yours, if they even dropped yet.” Bj?rn winked at him with a grin.
Sven narrowed his eyes, but boyish excitement skipped around him.
“How do I put up with you assholes?” Brynn peered up at the sky.
“Please!” Bj?rn and Onyx both laughed. “You are just as bad! Wasn’t it you last time letting off steam?”
She rolled her eyes, turning her horse for the road and galloping after Renyx. Bj?rn and Sven trailed after.
“Come on.” Onyx’s hand went to my lower back, nudging me back to Fluffy, Munch curled up between his ears sound asleep.
Nerves hopped around in my stomach, my heels digging into the ground.
“What?” Onyx peered back at me.
In Shadow Rift I had stood out enough with my silver hair, but here I was truly an outsider. The one who didn’t belong.
Onyx stepped up to me, his eyes tracking mine like he was picking the thoughts from my head.
He reached over, pulling the hood up around my face.
“Keep your hood up and stay close to me.” His knuckles brushed over the tie that now closed my cloak.
“No one here will touch you with my mark—they wouldn’t dare touch the property of a Night Hunter—but I still don’t want to take any chances with you. ”
A shiver ran over my spine, and I was afraid it wasn’t all from fear or anger at his demeaning declaration.
As he pulled me to the horse and the sleeping groundling, I glanced over my shoulder at the moon.
The force it drew from within itself was the opposite of how the sun burned from the outside, yet it felt just as powerful.
As though at one time the moon and sun had worked together.
They were counterparts, not enemies of night and day.
As Fluffy trotted into Carrion Crow, my mouth parted again in shock. My mind was ready to see something similar if not worse to Blackwater. Rundown buildings caked in grime, criminals and charlatans infesting the lawless town.
That was not at all what I saw.
Rows and rows of painted buildings in soft colors of pinks, salmons, greens, blues, and yellows, trimmed in white, reflected off the darkness and mirrored the brightness of the moon, glowing under the dozens of torches lighting the lane.
People milled around, packing up from the market or heading into a pub, going about their business, their outfits replicating the colors of their homes, bringing a subtle vivacity to the dark.