Destiny Forgiven (Shadows of Destiny) (6 page)

_{The prison had been built on a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by a drop to a stormy sea at least a hundred feet down. It was magically shrouded from humans so they didn’t stumble upon it. That it sat in an uninhabited part of Wales helped too.}

_{He gazed at the black ocean, crashing angrily against the rocks. Wind whipped his new hair around his face and he pushed it back. Staying close to the building, he walked the perimeter until he reached the final security gate. A wall, hundreds of feet high, guarded twenty-four-seven by soldiers. No one got into
Marwolaeth Du
who wasn’t supposed to, and enemies certainly didn’t get out.}

_{He climbed the ladder that brought him to the top of the wall. The top resembled crenellated parapet walls, leftover from medieval castle designs. There was room enough for a soldier to walk, move weapons, defend the place if needed, though they hadn’t been attacked in over a hundred years. Or so he’d been told. Maddox was on the young side for his rank. But his rank had more to do with his father’s position in the Sorcery
Council than actual skill – though he had that too.}

_{He nodded to a couple of the guards as he walked to the final stairwell. Two more security doors then he was on the other side. He took the folded map he’d grabbed before he’d left out of his pocket and opened it. When he had an idea of which way to start, he folded it again and slipped it back in his pocket. The garage of military vehicles sat to the right, also heavily guarded. He scanned his badge at the garage door then took a motorbike from the compound and headed into the woods.}

_{The small bike handled well over the rough terrain. If he were the type to take enjoyment in something, it would be this – off-roading on a cloudy afternoon. For some reason, it was always cloudy at
Marwolaeth Du.
There was a peace about the forest he rarely found elsewhere. How long had it been since he’d left the prison? How long since he’d breathed fresh air?}

_{He smiled despite himself. The map was unneeded. He knew how to get to the falls, whether by instinct or memorizing the map, he wasn’t sure. The closer he got to the location, the stronger the pull. Memories invaded him. Running through the woods with a flashlight. Singing. Bare feet in the moss. He tried to push them away. Twisting the handgrip, he rode faster, hoping to leave the visions behind.}

_{The terrain became too rough for the bike so he stopped and continued on foot. The scent of water filled the air. Stale though. Not fresh. And he couldn’t hear the sound of rushing water. Following the scent and his own instincts, he climbed over roots and boulders, his heart pounding harder and harder each moment. Anticipation shot through him. But why? Why this random place a stranger mentioned? Were these memories his or some kind of trick?}

_{The trees thinned as he approached a clearing. A dried-up basin with a rock bottom greeted him. Above it, a chute that looked like it had once been alive with fresh water, moss, and plants now sat desolate and ignored. This was not how he’d pictured it.}

_{A twig snapped to the right. He spun toward the noise and placed his hand on the gun at his side. A flash of pale skin ducked behind a tree. With a big leap, he cleared two boulders then landed at the tree. He smelled shifter – earthy human skin mixed with the musk of animal. Hands placed softly on the tree trunk, he prepared to slide behind it and grab the spy.}

_{Something stopped him. A mark. An etching in the tree trunk sent a cold chill down his spine.}

MB & FV

_{Another branch snapped. A rabbit took off across the forest floor. He ran after it, ducking and dodging low branches. In only a few moments, he’d caught the rabbit by the ears. Gun at the ready, he gave it a shake.}

_“Shift!”

_{The animal morphed quickly. Fuzz turned to skin. Muscle and bone grew thicker and longer. When it was over, Maddox held a small, yellow-haired boy by the scruff of his neck.}

_{“
Ska’linta kai!”
The boy trembled as he stared wide-eyed at Maddox’s gun.}

_{He lowered it but tightened his grip on the child. “I won’t hurt you. Just answer my questions.”}

_{The boy nodded.}

_{Before he put the gun back in its holster, he scanned the area, looking for signs of others. “Are you here alone?”}

_{He nodded again.}

_{That seemed to be the truth. He didn’t see signs of anyone else. But this child was no older than seven or eight. What was he doing here alone in the woods?}

_{“Where is your family?”}

_{“
Kalma
dead.
Kalpa
taken. I hide here.” Broken English. The boy probably spoke Shifter Tongue. Recently, the population had gone back to the ancient language as a way to keep sorcerers from knowing their plans. Were they even teaching them English anymore?}

_{“Taken?” He released the child and stepped back, though he stayed on alert in case he tried to run.}

_{“
Sfeeta,”
he spit with a look of disgust. It was a derogatory term for the Sorcerer’s army. The boy looked him over slowly then seemed to come to some conclusion. “You stay with me. You old but
Sfeeta
take you too.” He pointed to Maddox’s gun. “Use that. Kill
Sfeeta
.”}

_{Maddox glared at the child. Old? He didn’t often spend time with young children. Now he knew why.}

_{Exhaustion swept over him. He sat down on a nearby rock. What the hell was he doing here? Visiting a dried up waterfall that haunted him, talking to a shifter? If the boy lived in the colony, his fate would be sealed in just a few short years. A group of soldiers would steal him as soon as he set foot outside the protection of the colony. They’d bring him to
Marwolaeth Du
in chains that would suppress his magic – the magic given to him by the gods – then spend months turning him into a fighting machine. The Council’s fighting machine. For a war the sorcerers had begun with the Underworld.}

_{Funny. It had never seemed wrong before.}

_{As the boy moved closer, scrunching his nose as he sniffed at Maddox, he was struck with a deep sense of guilt. A boy not much higher than his waist lived alone in the wilderness because of
his
army? Because of
him
? He didn’t often think about the other side of things. This was war. Casualties happened. It was the way of the world. But….}

_{A head full of blond curls was beginning to make him rethink that.}

_{“You not shifter.” The boy gave him a suspicious look. “How you speak Shifter?”}

_{“I don’t.”}

_{Big brown eyes squinted as he cocked his head to the side. “I say
ska’linta kai
. You say
nyet ska’linta kei.
I not hurt you.”}

_{“No. I said that in English.” But as he denied it, the words came back to him.
Nyet ska’linta kei.
The boy was right. He’d said it. And he knew what it meant too. But that couldn’t be right. He didn’t speak Shifter Tongue.}

_{Fuck. This was just another piece of a growing puzzle that was becoming his life.}

_{“What happened to the water?” he asked the boy, scrambling for a topic change.}

_{He blinked at him in surprise. “Water come back with rain. When sun move under trees.”}

_{Ah. So it dried up in the summer then filled again in the fall. The season had been especially dry and Maddox was thankful it was coming to an end. Though the temperatures would stay warm, the rainy season was almost upon them. Where would the boy find shelter?}

_{He rubbed a hand over his face. Why did he care about a shifter child? Resolved not to give it another thought, he stood and took a last look around. The etching in the tree trunk beckoned him to take another look but he turned away. He needed to go back home. Back to the familiar. He needed to clear his fucking head.}

_{The boy stared up at him with curiosity.}

_{Maddox pointed to him. “Be careful,” he said in the shifter language. Then he walked away.}

_{The boy yelled after him but didn’t follow when Maddox ignored him. He let his mind drift with the noise of the motorbike. By the time he returned home, he felt queasy. A stiff drink helped him relax, but later that night, a small shifter boy haunted his dreams.}

_{It’s not like you to lose hope. You used to say hope is the last defense against evil.}

_{Felicity to Maddox
in a letter, September 2003}
 

_{“You lied!”}

_{The roar startled Felicity out of a deep sleep. She shot up on her cot and came face to face with Maddox heaving angry breaths as he glared at her.}

_Crap.

_{She figured the lies from the day before would afford her a bit of time to come up with another strategy. But Maddox had her moved to a nicer cell for the night. A cot, blanket, and a full belly made slipping into a dreamless sleep too easy. She hadn’t thought of a plan and now she was staring terror in the face and only managed to mumble a series of incoherent vowels.}

_{“Uhh,” she said for the fourth time.}

_{With a growl, he stood
and grabbed her by the arm. A squeak escaped her before she could stop it. He yanked her out the door and down the hallway at a pace she could barely keep up with. She tripped and stumbled but he only gripped her harder and kept walking.}

_{Where was he taking her? Was he going to actually torture her? Flashes of ugly medieval devices rotated in her mind like a sick horror movie. Was she strong enough to take it?}

_{They made so many twists and turns through the dim hallways there was no way she could find her way back to her cell. Though guards passed them, no one stopped to question him. They went through a door that led to a darker, narrower hallway. He marched onward, slower now, and her stomach dropped with each step. There were no guards here. Just emptiness. Silent horror. She shuddered.}

_{They stopped in front of what looked like a service elevator. Maddox slammed his hand into the button. The doors opened and he shoved her inside. She cowered against the wall furthest from him then
checked herself. What the hell? She wasn’t acting like a proud rebellion leader. When had she turned into chickenshit?}

_{Maddox fixed his dark gaze on her. He scared her. Probably more than any other sadistic guard or torturer in this prison. The Inkman had turned her into a coward.}

_{She willed herself to think, to brainstorm, to fucking do something other than tremble and stare. His nostrils flared as he heaved in breaths. The elevator moved.}

_{They watched each other warily until it stopped and the doors opened. Training kicked in. As she walked by him, she threw an elbow into his chest then ran as fast as she could down the hallway. It didn’t take long for him to catch her. He snagged her arm and threw her against the wall, holding her there with his forearm across her chest. She yelped as her still sore head banged into the wall.}

_{“You think you can run from me?” he whispered harshly in her ear.}

_{Too afraid to look
into his cold eyes, she stared at the floor.}