Cadan crept through the forest, silent as he kept to the perimeter of the clearing. The air smelled vaguely of dust and mold, with an underlying scent of decay. Erebus was one of the most fucked-up places he’d ever been. Dark, dank, and depressing; who the hell envisioned this place as an afterworld for warriors? The Vikings had it right with Valhalla—partying, fighting, women. This hole, with its endless gloom and misery, seemed like pretty poor recompense for a life of war.
Leaving Diana on the other side had been one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do. His bones had ached with the need to grab her and take her back to the portal. But he’d sworn an oath. An oath that—intellectually, at least—he understood the need for.
She had a point—she didn’t want him making her decisions for her—but damn, he wanted to. Stepping back was something that he never would have been able to do the first time around, and even now he fought his instinct to return to her.
But he had to have faith in her plan. This was her fight. And she truly was the only one who could kill Paulinus. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t fix this for her.
He paused, stopping to watch her as she crept toward the harpy. With her pale skin and shining hair, she was like an angel in this hell. She was dressed simply for battle, in pants and boots, with Andrasta’s breastplate for protection. She moved gracefully despite it, stopping to crouch at the very edge of the clearing behind a bush.
Taking one last look, he began to move again. He’d counted four harpies when they’d neared the clearing, each positioned vaguely at the noon, three, six, and nine points to act as sentries. The first was left alive for Diana, but he would be nearing the second soon. It took him little time to find it, leaning against a boulder, dead asleep.
He didn’t bother to wake the thing—just leaned down, slit its throat, and continued on. He had to reach the boy, but first, he needed to take care of the two other sentries.
The ghostly sound of an owl broke the silence of the night. He crept around the perimeter toward the third and fourth sentries, careful to stay quiet but not needing the charm to help him sneak up on them. It was nothing to slit their throats from behind. He laid them gently on the ground so that their crashing bodies wouldn’t alert Paulinus.
He raced on silent feet back toward the boy and Diana’s friend, both of whom sat against trees. Quickly, quietly, he slipped his hand over the boy’s mouth and dragged him behind the trunk of the oak and out of sight of Vivienne, whom he didn’t want to startle into screaming. His hand muffled the boy’s shout and he quickly gagged him with a bit of cloth he’d brought along, suppressing a shudder at the tingling sensation he felt wherever he touched the boy’s skin.
There was something not right about touching someone else’s soul. He wrapped the Maoin straps around the boy’s wrists to hold him steady. They hadn’t been sure if regular materials could hold a soul captive, but the straps seemed to be working.
The boy couldn’t see what was abducting him and fear had him struggling harder to get away from the unknown threat. But he was small for his age and Cadan had no trouble holding on to him.
“Settle down, lad,” he whispered. “You’re no’ gettin’ away.”
He quickly tied the boy’s ankles and placed him at the roots of the towering dead oak that rose above them. They were just behind the first line of trees and couldn’t be seen by anyone inside the circle.
Paulinus hadn’t noticed his son’s disappearance yet, and Cadan glanced down to meet the boy’s frightened eyes, which were searching blindly in his general direction. He was pale and blond, with dirt marring his translucent skin. Not a full Roman. He might even be part Celt. The thought of the union between the bastard Roman general and a Celtic woman made him grimace. But that wasn’t the boy’s fault.
He almost offered words of assurance, but since the boy couldn’t see him and he didn’t know what to say, he turned back toward the circle and peered out between the trees, searching for Diana.
There. She stepped toward the harpy he’d left alive, then reached up to remove her charm. With one last glance at the boy to make sure he was gagged and secure, he removed his invisibility charm, crept up behind Vivienne and placed a hand over her mouth.
“I’m Cadan. I’ve come with Diana to save you.”
She jerked, then nodded against his hand.
“I’m going to undo the ropes around your wrists and ankles. Follow me and stay very close. And doona make a sound.” She’d need to be near him when they made their escape.
She nodded again and he unbound her wrists and feet. He reached out for her hand, shuddered at the feel of her, and helped her rise.