I don't know what to do. I can't leave him here, but I have to get the girl to safety. The city is burning.
I check Daison's pulse three times. Then I cover his face with my cloak and look at the girl. He died trying to save her. And I will die too, if I must.
I stand, tears staining my face, and grab the girl into my arms. I carry her past the smoke and rubble. I carry her to the waterfall by the castle. I do not know how long it takes. I only know that I must succeed. When I reach the stone steps, I glance down and see Daison in my arms. But it is just a vision. A trick cast by madness and sorrow.
This world cares nothing for me.
It cared nothing for Daison.
I am half conscious. Half mad.
And then I hear it.
Water. Splashing.
I fall to my knees behind the waterfall, and the girl drops to the ground. Someone takes her hand and pulls her toward the tunnel. They try to lift me up. They cannot. They yell. They take the girl and disappear. I sit there for minutes, hours, eternity.
Something licks my hand. Nudges my head.
"Baron?"
He growls.
Slowly, my head grows clearer. "What's going on, boy?"
Baron whines in a way I've never heard before. He scratches his paws on the ground. "I don't understand what you want me to do, buddy. Is it Fen? Is he okay?"
War cries bleed through the wails of wind and snow. A bluster of snow swirls around me and Baron. I shiver and try to pull my cloak tighter. It's no longer there. It's still wrapped around Daison.
Baron takes a few steps towards the gate.
I hesitate.
He looks over his shoulders, checking to see if I'm coming, then walks again. I have no idea where he wishes to go, but I know in my gut I must follow.
Chapter 13
STORM OF BLOOD
––––––––
"I would have gone with Dragonslayer or Heartbreaker personally."
—Daison
Baron leads me higher up the mountain, to a small tunnel in the stone. "I really hope you know what you're doing, Baron."
I have to hold onto him and let him guide me in the darkness. My mind flashes with images of Daison, where I left him by the waterfall.
I push away the memory and focus on my steps, on the sound of dripping water. We step out of the tunnel and into a graveyard. The dead litter the ground: the soldiers of Stonehill clad in white and red armor, the raiders covered in brown and grey furs. In the distance, past a fog of white snow, Fen's soldiers chase the Fae through the forest. We won, and yet the city is destroyed.
Baron guides me through the red snow, away from the city. We enter a forest, where the branches are thick and the sky is dark though there are no more leaves. I have never been here before.
The sun is setting now. Twilight is descending upon us, bringing with it more snow and sub-zero temperatures. Baron seems fine with the cold. I'm freezing, but I keep moving. Something is wrong. I can feel it like a shackle around my gut.
Twenty minutes into our hike, Baron's ears twitch and he stops, a low growl in his throat. A moment later, I hear what the wolf heard first.
Men. Talking. I crouch next to Baron and listen.
"He'll tell us soon enough. Lester here, can get anyone talking. Even a prince." My stomach drops.
And then I smell flesh burning, and I turn and release whatever was in my stomach as silently as I can.
"Why don't he yell? Anyone else would be screaming!" A different voice.
"Would you both shut the hell up?" A third voice says. "I'm trying to work. He'll scream eventually. They always do."
A picture forms in my mind. I want to reject the images. It can't be true. I creep closer, fear knotting my gut. Three men bundled in furs sit by a fire. In front of them stands a large rock. A man is chained to the stone, his mouth gagged with a rag.
The man is Fen.
I can't breathe. Can't see straight. I want to charge right forward and save him, but I have to be smart. Even Baron knew he couldn't take on all three armed men at once and live.
So I take a deep breath and observe as many details as possible.
The three are armed. One of them, Lester, I presume, has a sharp prong that he sticks in the fire and brings to Fen's bare chest. He yanks the cloth from Fen's mouth. "Do you want to tell me now? If not we can keep going. I'm enjoying this a lot more than you are, right about now."
Fen spits on his face, and the man scowls and lays iron on skin, leaving a burning red mark. Fen's face twitches, but he doesn't make a sound.
"It's like he's made of marble. What the hell?" That's the second man I heard speaking. He's lanky with red hair and a red beard.
"Settle yourself, Cliff. Have some patience." The man speaking is big and tall, a brutish man with thick orange hair.
Lester is the most refined of the bunch. Slender with cropped white hair and a handsome face. They are all Fae.
I know you can't judge an entire people by a few—the girls who work for me are Fae and lovely—but these men... I want to skewer them all for what they are doing to Fen.