Bloodrose (11 page)

The bear struggled to roll over, but Sabine’s attack had been fatal. Blood and gore spilled onto the ice, creating a river of crimson that flowed over the edge of the cliff. The bear groaned once before going still.

Any more?
Mason lifted his muzzle to the wind.

Not that I can tell.
I turned to Sabine.
Nice work.

She sniffed.
Whatever.

We trotted back up the slope.

“We clear?” Ethan asked.

I shifted forms. “That was the only one.”

“Good.” He slung his crossbow over his shoulder. “Though I’m not surprised. Pascal’s team isn’t sloppy. He’ll be furious even one got away from them.”

“They might have thought he wouldn’t get far,” I said. “The bear was already injured. Sabine just finished the job.”

“She sure did,” Connor said, leaning over and whispering loudly to Ethan, “Hey, man, your girlfriend is kind of scary.”

Ethan glared at him and Sabine snarled.

Connor pointed at her bared teeth. “See. Look at that.”

“You’re asking to get bitten,” Adne said, grabbing the back of his duster and pulling him out of range of Sabine’s muzzle. “Let’s get on with this.”

Ethan laughed and slid back into the cavern.

Sabine followed the Searcher, while Mason took up a position at her flank. I kept a few feet back from her and could feel Shay following close beside me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Connor, Silas, and Adne at the rear of our group.

The darkness glowed red as Ethan set off a flare, basking the walls in crimson light so that it looked like the rock had begun to bleed. The tunnel was narrow. We squeezed our way through a passage barely wide enough for Ethan to fit through. I held my breath as he grunted and pushed his way forward. We had to shift into human form to wriggle sideways between the rough walls of the cave.

A constant sighing of wind moved through the cavern, mournful and unsettling. Ethan’s flare sputtered out, but instead of that plunging us back into darkness, the passage remained illuminated. No longer red, the walls took on a soft, opalescent hue. I heard Ethan’s breath catch.

He looked at us over his shoulder. “We’re not alone.”

“Guardians?” Connor asked.

Ethan nodded. “Three of them. Still human.”

I crept up beside him, peering into the light. The tunnel opened up to a snow-covered hollow, nearly a perfect circle cut out of the mountain. The space was hidden from the outside world, accessible only through the narrow passage we’d scuttled through. On the other side of the open space an immense glacial wall covered the mountainside. Sunlight struck its surface, making the innumerable shades of blue sparkle like gemstones. The bright reflection made it almost impossible to see the outline of an opening in the ice, but I knew that Tordis lay within that glacier.

But between Tordis and our party, smoke was rising toward the sky. Three people huddled around a small campfire. They were outfitted in full winter gear, enough to withstand sudden, harsh weather shifts on the mountain.

“We’d better attack while we still have the advantage of surprise,” Connor said.

“I don’t think we do,” Ethan said. “I’d bet they’re just waiting for us to show. We’ve scouted this area in the past and haven’t encountered Guardians beyond the first passage in. This group is new.”

“The Keepers are tightening their watch on the sites,” Shay said. “They know we’re going for the pieces.”

“Not much we can do about that now, is there?” Connor said, drawing his swords.

“Wait.” I put my hand on his arm.

“Wait for what?” Connor said.

“They’re Guardians,” I said. “Like us.”

“Sort of.” Ethan was frowning.

“Let me talk to them.”

“Are you insane?” Ethan said. He’d unshouldered his crossbow.

“She’s not,” Shay said. “The more allies the better. Maybe the bears are disgruntled employees too.”

Ethan shot him a withering glance.

“You’ll be right behind me,” I said. “Anything goes wrong and you attack. I’ll be okay.”

Connor looked at Ethan, who shrugged. “She’s the alpha.”

“Okay, Calla,” Connor said. “If you think it’s worth a try, go ahead. Just keep in mind bears are grumpy, stubborn animals.”

“And they smell bad,” Ethan said.

“You want me to go with you?” Mason asked.

“No,” I said. “I’ll be less threatening on my own.”

“Good luck,” Shay said as I slid out of the narrow passage into the sunlight.

The moment I stepped into the open, the three Guardians were on their feet, watching me approach. I lifted my hand, waving, walking steadily forward. They didn’t shift, which I clung to as a hopeful sign. The unmistakable fragrance of bear musk hit me and I wrinkled my nose. Ethan wasn’t wrong about their scent. Not pleasant.

One of the Guardians stepped forward, pushing back the hood of its parka. A woman with dark eyes and braided copper hair stared at me.

My three-and-a-half years of French class got me that much. Wolf. She knew what I was. But there was no way I’d be able to answer her in French.

“My friends and I are searching for something,” I said, hoping she spoke English.

She smiled. “You have friends who search.” Even her heavy French accent didn’t mask the spiteful emphasis she placed on the word
search.

“The Searchers are friends to our kind.” I kept walking forward. The other two Guardians had taken flanking positions close to the first woman. “Our masters made us believe otherwise, to our detriment.”

“These are broad claims for one who is but a child,” she said. “Perhaps you have been misled because of your youth.”

“I learned the truth about the war,” I said. “And we’ve been fighting on the wrong side.”

She laughed, tossing a glance at her companions, who grinned. “No,
petite loup,
your friends are only more desperate to trick you because they know they will lose this battle.”

I didn’t know if I shuddered because of the blast of icy wind that hit me or from the harshness of her tone.

“The wolves may be fools.” She lifted her hand, and I watched her nails lengthen into claws.
“Mais nous ne craignons pas la guerre.”
In the next moment the shadow of a giant beast blocked the sun from view. I staggered back.

“Calla!” I heard Shay shout as the immense she-bear swiped at me, but I was already rolling along the snow, shifting into wolf form as I tumbled.

When I scrambled to my feet, she roared, clawing at the crossbow bolts that protruded from her dark fur. The bear’s fury filled her deafening bellows.

Crossbow bolts buzzed through the air. The she-bear ignored them, charging me instead. I braced myself for her attack, catching a glimpse of Mason and Sabine flashing past to meet the onslaught of the other Guardians.

A flash of golden brown fur caught my eye and I knew I wasn’t alone in the fight. Shay struck at the bear’s flank just before she reached me. The blow caught her off guard. She turned her head and I lunged, locking my jaws around her neck. My teeth tore through thick tendons, but I couldn’t get a strong enough grip to crush her windpipe.

She rose onto her hind legs. Still clinging to her, I swung from her neck like a rag doll. I heard Shay barking below me; the bear grunted in pain and I knew he’d attacked again. Kicking up with my back legs, I propelled myself away from her, releasing my grip and flipping through the air. While it wasn’t graceful, I managed to twist around and land on my feet.

The bear was bleeding profusely from the wound I’d left on her neck and bites Shay had inflicted on her flank. Connor was beside him now, wielding a sword in one hand and the short, wide blade of a katara in the other. While Shay kept the bear’s attention, Connor stalked close. With incredible speed he slashed the wound at her neck, widening it, and then plunged the katara into her chest. The bear shuddered. Connor had just enough time to spin away, pulling his blade free, before she collapsed.

“Let’s go,” Connor said, bolting toward the others.

We reached Sabine just as she leapt aside while two bears, one black and one ash brown, lumbered after her. The shaggy black bear roared, dropping lifeless to the ground. Ethan’s bolt protruded from its left eye.

The brown bear gave what appeared to be a casual bat of its paw, but the blow sent Sabine sprawling. Ethan shouted, running to her side. The bear roared, charging at the shaken wolf. Mason stood his ground between the bear and Sabine.

A blade whirled past Shay and me. The sharp steel of Connor’s sword sank into the bear’s side. It roared but didn’t falter. Connor swore. I threw myself at the bear’s hind legs, snapping at its hamstring, but I missed, crashing to the ground. Shay caught the bear’s left heel in his jaws. It kicked hard, shaking him loose, leaving Shay on the ground beside me.

The bear suddenly stumbled, its right front leg jerking out at an awkward angle. A silver rope stretched from the bear’s shoulder, pulling it off balance. It took me a minute to recognize Adne’s spiked chain whip. Silas had his arms around her waist. The two of them hauled on the whip, dragging the bear onto its side. It roared in pain, swatting at the whip’s length.

“Connor!” Adne’s knuckles were white as she clung to the other end of the whip, and Silas’s face was as pale as her bloodless hands.

Connor dove forward, his left arm pulled back. While the bear fixed its gaze on Adne and Silas, Connor punched the katara’s blade into the wound at its neck, driving the steel deep into the bear’s throat. The beast’s roar became a gurgle and it slumped into stillness.

Connor grunted as he pulled the blade from the bear’s throat, wiping it clean on the snow. “Some fight.”

“So much for alliances,” Ethan said. Sabine had shifted to human form. He helped her to her feet and was studying her face.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Not my first fight.”

“That bear hit you hard.” He touched her cheek.

“I can take it.”

He smiled. “I’d rather you didn’t.”

Shay’s nose pressed against my jaw.
You okay?

Yeah.
I shouldered into him as we stood up.
Thanks for the help.

My pleasure.
His green eyes sparkled with mischief.
I’ve been looking for some bear-type payback for a while now.

I wagged my tail, sending my laughter into his mind.

“Time for the main feature.” Connor was standing beside us. He looked at Shay. “I think you’ll need your hands for this.”

Guess the fun’s over.
Shay licked my jaw and I laughed again.

He was still watching me when he shifted into human form. I rested my chin against his palm, licking his fingers. Fighting with Shay at my side was more than fun. It was everything.

“SO THIS IS TORDIS,”
Shay murmured as if we’d entered a holy place.

Haldis had always been imposing. Its maw-like opening acted as a warning, never inviting exploration. Tordis couldn’t have been more different. The claustrophobia-inducing, dark passageway into the mountain kept a secret carved into the silver-blue glacial wall before us. A secret that might have been the most exquisite place I’d ever seen. The ice-filled cavern wasn’t just beautiful, it was breathtaking. Each frost-covered surface captured light, reflecting it back into the space. The tunnel was bright, covered by a glimmering net of sunbeams, delicate as lace but far more captivating to the eye. The dancing web of light was broken only by a small, dark opening on the far side of the cavern.

Shay pointed at the crawl space. “Looks like that’s where we’re headed.”

“How do you know?” Ethan asked.

“Haldis was in an antechamber off the main cavern,” Shay said. “I’m guessing Tordis is the same.”

“Fair enough,” Connor said, despite Ethan’s deepening frown. “Let’s go.”

I lifted my muzzle, opening my jaws to let the frigid air slide over my tongue. Nothing. No alarming scents. No off-putting tastes that might alert me to danger.

Shay was watching me. “Any sign of mutant spiders, Cal?”

I barked and wagged my tail.

He frowned. “Really? Are you sure?”

It does seem awfully appealing for a Keeper lair.
Sabine’s voice carried an edge.

I know.
I glanced at her, then back at the cave.
But I can’t pick up anything.

So what now?
Mason asked, pawing at the ice.

We keep going.
I trotted forward.

“I don’t like it,” I heard Ethan grumbling. “Something’s in here. It has to be.”

“Yeah . . .” Connor drew a long breath. “But if there’s no creature feature waiting . . .”