Chapter 10
Darrow
We’d been travelling for a couple of days through storms and unseasonably cool nights while avoiding danger as much as possible.
Most of our journey had been on horses we’d acquired soon after we’d begun, but we’d lost them that morning when we encountered a large group of dark elves ravaging a sizeable town.
It took all of us to counter the attack while our mounts fled in fear.
Not that I could blame them, considering the sheer number of fire spells and other magical attacks flying through the air.
For the last few hours, we’d been skirting around an area devoid of life and magic. The land was completely barren of vegetation, homes, animals, or even insects, and ranged past our ability to see where it ended. Of course, it blocked our way to the Andalagar tribal lands we sought.
As a result, we had to stay just north of it, heading east toward the sea.
Even the trail we followed showed clear signs of being the next section to die as the blight spread.
The trees still stood, but the leaves had turned black, with many having fallen to litter the forest floor.
Brittle bushes dotted the area, slowly disintegrating.
We’d walked past dead animals that hadn’t fled in time, and now appeared as dry husks—well preserved except for their dark gray coloring.
My stomach was in knots, my head hurt, and even the God of Wrath’s magic struggled to flow into me within this dying land.
It would likely be impassible in the next week or two, like the patch next to it.
If not for the fact that it would have created an even longer detour, we would have gone farther north to avoid it.
Hadrien sniffled behind me. “Mother, how long do we have to stay in this place? It’s awful, and I feel sick.”
“I know, dear,” Princess Lillian replied in a soothing tone. “It shouldn’t be much longer.”
Jacthor grunted. “We need that fountain back. A few months ago, this area was in perfect condition. The blight is spreading faster than ever, but everyone I’ve contacted has said there’s nothing they can do.”
“I’m working on it,” I said, deciding to let him in on my plan. “We believe my new wife is strong enough to open a portal to where the fountain is hidden.”
The Frostdar swung his head toward me, surprise written all over his blue-gray features. “Why am I just hearing of this?”
“We only began putting the pieces together in the last couple of weeks, but too much has happened since then to concentrate on it,” I explained. It was frustrating that Karganoth was distracting us when we could have been working toward opening the interdimensional portal.
“What sort of plan do you have?” he asked.
I went on to inform him of some details, but I left out key pieces since we were out in the open. Everyone here was trustworthy, but if the dark elves captured them, they could have the information pulled from their minds. The fewer who knew everything, the better.
He gestured toward the death and decay surrounding us.
“The rate of the blight is growing faster. I have a theory that the more magic we use, the swifter it spreads because the fountain can’t cleanse the land anymore.
Our enemies are pushing for war because it intensifies the effects, though I can’t imagine why they want Paxia to die while we’re all still here. ”
It was actually a compelling theory I hadn’t heard before, and it made sense.
“I have sources who suggest that the Unseelie want their fae counterparts to return, and this is their way of forcing us back there.” I rubbed the back of my neck where my curse mark was located. “Others say they simply want us all dead except those who are loyal to them.”
“We must save Paxia before it’s too late. As soon as you’re able, return to your efforts with the fountain,” Jacthor urged.
I nodded, in complete agreement with him. “That is the plan.”
“But perhaps, get some rest first. You look terrible, Darrow—even worse than the rest of us.”
I didn’t doubt it. To say exhaustion wore me down would have been putting it mildly.
Every part of my body ached as if my muscles were on fire.
Why the god kept his power flowing for this long, I didn’t know, but with all the magic I’d used recently, I should have crashed long before now.
He’d never kept it going beyond a day before, and now, it had been three.
The two times we’d stopped for a handful of hours to rest hadn’t proven nearly enough to help.
My exhaustion even overrode the rage I’d been feeling, and I suspected once we did reach safety, I’d fall into unconsciousness for quite a while.
What would happen during my sleep terrified me.
That would be when the wrathful deity exacted his price, and it would undoubtedly be tenfold what I’d experienced before.
Despite that looming battle axe, I needed to concentrate on my mission—to get the princess and her family to safety—before worrying about myself.
I continued to scan our surroundings for danger, relieved when we finally made it past the dead zone thirty minutes later into a dense forest. Everyone let out a sigh of relief. We settled on the ground to rest in a small clearing and allow our bodies to absorb pure, healthy magic.
My stomach settled, and relief washed over me as I took a deep breath of fresh air.
Even the sun managed to peek from the clouds and shine its warm rays upon us.
It had stopped raining in the early afternoon, but the gray pall had lingered for most of the day.
Our group shared chunks of bread saved from the last untouched village we’d come across yesterday, greedily eating them since we’d had nothing since dawn.
After fifteen minutes, Jacthor and I ordered everyone back onto their feet. We couldn’t afford to waste time with only two hours of daylight left. Also, a familiar sound thrummed through the forest, alerting us to approaching danger—chiggarbats.
When a cloud of them appeared through the trees, I used my powers to divert them, but the moment I let them go, they spun back around again.
Curse the nameless ones. My patience was at its limit, so I cracked their necks and killed them.
Some fell on the narrow trail we followed, and others in the thick brush.
My Aunt Durelle would have given me a long lecture if she’d been here, reminding me about the ugly creatures’ usefulness to the environment, but she wasn’t here.
Too exhausted to care about them, everyone stepped over the black, scaly bodies with fluffy heads. I’d also crushed the tiny mites that inhabited the creatures’ fur since a bite from those could make us ill. We didn’t need that trouble on top of everything else.
That was one more reason most people didn’t like traveling through Zadrya on foot.
It was hazardous and tedious at the best of times, but especially now.
We had to avoid dark elves, skirt around magical dead zones, and deal with dangerous creatures fleeing the aforementioned problems. If we hadn’t been pushing ourselves and using horses for much of the journey, we wouldn’t have crossed the distance so quickly.
As we broke through the trees a little while later and entered a field of swaying golden grass, I spotted the border ahead.
The Andalagar marked the edges of their territory with large, rust-colored boulders spaced about a hundred feet apart.
Each one was nearly as tall as a person.
They came from a small mountain range between Hartoll and Raumandia alongside the Carsiyan Sea.
The peaks were known to appear blood red at sunrise and sunset during the warmer months when snow didn’t cap them. We could see their crimson glint now that the trees didn’t block our view.
I couldn’t imagine how the tribes moved so many massive stones from the mountains to distances of twenty to thirty miles at the farthest points.
Still, I’d heard their ancestors managed it centuries ago when the fae drew the official borders after the great wars.
Magic thrummed from them—ancient spells that warded the land against anyone crossing with ill intentions.
They reverberated far enough that I could sense them hundreds of feet away.
The land was completely open between the tree line and the boulders.
I didn’t like being exposed, especially when I had a bad feeling snaking up my spine.
Whether it was natural instinct or the God of Wrath subtly warning me, I couldn’t say.
Jacthor and I exchanged looks. He was nervous as well, but we had no way around it. I shrugged, and he nodded.
Drawing in deep breaths, we rushed across the field covered with knee-high blue-green grass, fading as winter approached. Shouts sounded off to our left with barely visible figures moving toward us. We pushed as hard as we could through the thick vegetation.
Bright orange balls appeared in the sky, flying our way, with the first ones extinguishing in the air a hundred feet from us.
Most range spells sputtered out after a couple of hundred feet.
As the dark elves came close enough to identify with their sharp, black ears, more and more flaming spheres came closer.
One sizzled through the air as it flew straight for the princess. I grabbed her and jerked her out of the way. It sailed inches from her arm, but would have killed her if I hadn’t moved her in time.
“Thank you,” she said, breathing heavily as she regained her balance. She’d been concentrating on moving her daughter along, who struggled through the thick grass in her dress.
I dipped my chin. “Of course.”