“Well, I don’t know the way back.”
He scowled and sped onward across the plains. I willed my horse to match his speed and we ran together, side by side. My hair ripped from its tie and I laughed at the speed we travelled at, cheering and whooping as we thundered across the ground. His frown quickly transformed into a smirk, though he tried hiding it for an embarrassingly long time. Eventually he, too, laughed alongside me and it was as though the rest of the world didn’t exist.
It was him and me, the wind and thunder of hooves. Nothing else mattered.
CHAPTE R THIRTY-SEVEN
THE FADING LIGHT shimmered across the stirred grass and we slowed in front of a large cliff face before the sun set completely. Behind it the Ironslade Mountains loomed, grand and somewhat eerie in their silent state. Up toward the north, the mountains were harsh and unforgiving, but those in the vicinity of the Lunar Valley held a different quality altogether. Not a whisper of wind or shift of ice, rock or snow. It was as though time had simply stopped.
We panted together, neither of us in the best of health but both equally exhilarated from the journey. It had taken almost two days to get here. It should have taken longer, but Ava being as stubborn as she was decided that she was strong enough to ride fast and hard, cutting our journey time in half and depleting her strength while she was at it. Though, she hadn’t quite been herself. She seemed distracted.
My heart thundered like a war drum and I slipped from the horse’s back, stumbling as I landed. I cursed and ground my teeth. Before at the House of Adrian, when the fighting started, the Berserkers were easy to flank and pick off. They were untrained, brainless and weak. I’d go so far as to call them an offering instead of an ambush, but that wasn’t what disturbed me. After seeing how quickly I’d taken down the others, one of the young ones retreated into the old battlefield. He found a blade to match mine. He must have been a soldier of relative quality and rank in his old life from the way he fought with it, each movement perfectly counteracting my own. Whether it was muscle memory or something else, it was a problem. In all my years I’d never come across a young one who could think for himself. In some way, it was a shame to kill him. My injury was a papercut compared to the others I’d sustained but it didn’t heal. A blade laced with our only poison. I’d only ever seen that type of injury once before.
Ava slipped from her horse with surprising grace and she patted the creature’s speckled grey pelt. I echoed her movements and removed both of our horses’ bridles, hanging them on a tree near the rocks. The grey beast chomped his teeth together happily and bounded off into the valley to rest and graze while mine stared back at me, waiting to be dismissed.
“Try not to change, Theron,” I said, patting him on the muzzle. “I’m not putting your saddle on again.”
“Lucky for you, it’s much warmer this way.” He trotted off to join the other horse.
I looked at Ava, expecting some confusion on the matter but she was unreadable as she watched them frolic together. She caught me staring and scoffed.
“What? Did you expect me to be surprised? I’d recognise those eyes anywhere.” She smiled. “Will they be alright?”
“They won’t go far,” I reassured her. “Creatures are drawn to Theron like an organic magnet. He was a nightmare when I first found him.”
We walked along the base of the cliff, searching for a tell-tale sign I’d left there many years before. Ahead of us, carved into the white stone, a large ‘X’ sat jagged above a chaos of thorns. I braced myself. Even though I’d heal almost instantly it didn’t mean that I enjoyed unnecessary pain. I pushed my hand inside the mass and grasped the thickest branch, wincing as its thorns bit into my flesh, and pulled it aside. Ava protested at the sight of my blood but I pushed her ahead with the toe of my boot. The longer she hesitated, the longer I had to hold the branch and the bloody thing hurt like Gehn. Eventually I slipped into the fissure behind her and hissed as the brambles lashed at the back of me on release.
It wasn’t entirely dark in the cave. Growing moonlight crept in from the other end of the tunnel and highlighted the tops of distant rocks with light greys and greens. I grabbed Ava’s arm with my good hand as her foot slipped on one of the mossy stones. Then, after I’d caught my foot and jarred my arm, I clicked my fingers and a small flame sprang into my hands, washing our side of the tunnel with light.
“Are Theron’s kind easy to come by?” she asked, her eyes still firmly trained on the flame.
“Not particularly.” I boosted her up onto a rocky platform, careful not to set her dress alight, and followed her up. “I came across him a long time ago. He was this scrawny, little thing stuck in a marsh. He struggled on the way back to Willow’s – I really didn’t think he’d make it at all – but sure enough he had his leg patched up, his infected wounds cleaned out and he was back on his feet in no time. After that he followed me around like a chick to a hen. I don’t think he’ll ever see it that way though.”
Her grip grew stronger around my shoulders as I helped her down on the other side and together we hobbled toward the cavern mouth. Ava blinked, her eyes adjusting to the collision of sunlight and moonlight, and her grip tightened on my arm.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Somewhere normal people aren’t allowed to be,” I said, wobbling. “I haven’t been back here for a while.”
We climbed a grassy knoll and Ava practically tiptoed to the top. She lay down on the edge of the bank and stared across at the sky. Only at this time of day, and only in this valley did the sun and the moon sit together. That’s what made this place special. I took a breath and began my descent while Ava followed closely behind. I’d decided weeks ago to accept my fate but my mind and my heart wanted two different things. It was hard to stand so close to that when I was still conflicted. In all honesty I just wanted to run as fast and as far away as I could. Perhaps it was a good thing Ava came in the end. She was the only thing stopping me from abandoning my task.
“Welcome to Miah’s Garden.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
MIAH’S GARDEN? THAT didn’t make any sense. The valley was not particularly big when I considered it but it was beautiful. A small glen trickled along the centre of the grounds and was lined with hundreds of lazy bluebells and royal-headed snowdrops. The trees that grew on the edges of the basin were unlike any I’d seen before; ancient and regal like they had been around since the beginning of time. They grew tall enough to clear the natural-made wall, the bark patterned and awash with streaks and swirls that I could stare at forever, and their long, green leaves hung like a royal’s cloak.