Harbinger: Fate's Forsaken: Book One (23 page)

He let out an
involuntary howl as his legs bent under the weight of his collar. He fought
against it for the first time in years. But it didn’t matter how much he
struggled: the spell binding him to the word of the King was powerful magic. It
controlled his shape, stole his thoughts, and moved his legs. There was nothing
he could do to stop himself once the King had spoken.

When the
beastkeeper opened the door, Bloodfang leapt out. He dropped down on all fours
and his legs galloped beneath him. He followed Eveningwing through the murky
tunnels, the excited barks of his pack bouncing off the walls around him.

They didn’t
remember her face. How could they? Magic took their minds years ago. They were
like pups once again: so blinded by their lust for the hunt that they couldn’t
see the certain death that awaited them. For she would surely kill them all.

When the tunnel
sloped upward, they dug their claws into the slippery moss and climbed. They
escaped through a small hole in the castle wall and the fresh scent of night
air filled Bloodfang’s nose.

The great walls
of Midlan disappeared behind them as they ran. He followed Eveningwing, a small
dot high above them, concentrating on the sound of his claws as they beat the earth.
All the while they traveled, he tried to keep his mind away from the prey … he
didn’t want the King to find out what he knew.

*******

For days on end,
Kael woke and immediately peered back the way they’d come. He scanned the
hills, watched for the cloud of dust that meant the army of Midlan was on their
heels, but it never came.

Ahead of them,
the western range of the Unforgivable Mountains loomed ever closer. They were
no longer purplish shadows in the distance, but the very large, very craggily image
of their eastern brothers.

He didn’t see
how Garron planned to drag six carts over the top of them. Most of the trails
would be carved by deer and not even close to wide enough for a wagon. Yet no
one else seemed worried. The caravan plodded on like the mountains were no more
treacherous than the gentle green hills of the Valley. He didn’t think they
realized just how impossible the weeks-long journey ahead of them was. In fact,
he thought they were all thoroughly mad.

It wasn’t until
they were nearly at the base of the first mountain that he realized —
with no small amount of horror — how they planned to cross it.

The smallest
peak did not stand like its brothers: it was split directly in half, like some
great axe in the sky had mistaken it for a log and chopped it precisely down
the middle. Between the two halves was a narrow crack. It bent into the center
of the mountain and disappeared through the towering shadow cast by the peak.

“It’s
Bartholomew’s Pass,” Aerilyn said when he pointed it out. “A hundred years ago,
Bartholomew the Inventor set up shop in that very mountain. But one of his
experiments went horribly wrong, and he blew the whole thing clean in half!
Poor man — one just doesn’t come back from a blast like that.”

Bartholomew’s
Pass
? Did the merchants have their heads
so full of coin that they’d forgotten to pack their common sense? He left
Aerilyn and went for Kyleigh at a jog. “Did you see this?” he said when he
reached her.

She looked in
the direction he pointed, and shrugged. “Sure, I’d have to be blind to miss
it.”

“We aren’t going
through there, are we?”

“Of course we’re
going through it. The Pass is the quickest way to the coast.” She put an arm
around his shoulder, like he was a panicked child who needed comforting. “Don’t
worry — I doubt we’ll be crushed to death.”

He jerked out
from under her arm. “You
doubt
it?”

“Very
seriously.”

“Well I don’t
doubt it, not for a second,” he hissed, keeping his voice low enough that the
people around them couldn’t hear. “I’ve seen rockslides in the mountains. I
know how quickly they happen. And I tell you, if so much as a
pebble
shifts while we’re in there, they
won’t find us for at least another hundred years — when the next
Bartholomew comes along and decides it’s a fantastic idea to blow things up.
Why
are you laughing?”

But she was too
doubled over to answer him. Her face was red and her breath came out in gasps.
A few times she seemed to collect herself enough to say something, but when she
looked at him, the laughter started all over again.

He was sick of
her giggling, of all her nonsense in general. He turned on his heel and marched
away, ignoring her pleas for him to come back. When the mountain caved in on
them, he’d turn around and ask her if she still thought it was funny —
provided he had the time.

At least Garron
partly made up for his foolishness by announcing that they wouldn’t stop to
make camp: they’d march straight through the Pass and only rest when they were
safely on the other side. He led the way in, the feather on his grass-green cap
bouncing with the trot of his horse.

As the caravan
entered the Pass, their chatter slowly fizzled out. The pressure of being
trapped in the middle of a mountain was not unlike having a hand clamped around
their throats. With every step, the grip got tighter: the air was too thick to
breathe and the silence nearly crushed them. Slowly, the towering walls of rock
and dirt strangled the sun and finally snuffed it out, forcing them to travel
by torchlight.

Having nothing
to do but walk and worry sent Kael’s imagination running wild. Darkness made
every sound more sinister. A horse whinnied, and he stopped. He held his breath
and listened. Pebbles skittered down the walls — the first ominous drops
of a deadly storm, he was certain of it. He strained his ears for the deep
rumble that meant the mountain was crumbling down … but it never came.

Roots of ancient
trees snaked out from the walls, reaching for him, elongated in the shadows.
They clawed at his face, warning him:
Turn
back now
, they said.
Turn back, or
we’ll devour you. Your flesh will make us strong, your blood will grow us tall
.

Though his heart
railed against his chest, Kyleigh seemed completely untroubled. She walked
confidently ahead of him; the light from her torch made her more a shadow than
darkness ever could, etching the straight lines of her shoulders against the
flames.

An eternity
passed before someone finally shouted that they could see the end. He looked up
and breathed a sigh of relief. The small pinpoint of gray light in the distance
grew larger with every step. Soon, they would be able to put this miserable,
dark place behind them.

Just when he
thought he might survive Bartholomew’s Pass, Kyleigh stopped. Her arm shot out
across his chest and when he tried to get by, she pushed him back. “What are
you doing? Keep moving, we’re almost —”

“Shut up.”

Her words were
so abrupt, so sharp that they stunned him into silence. She had her head cocked
to the side with her dark brows bent low as her eyes scanned the walls above
them, looking for something he couldn’t see.

Finally, she
dropped her arm. “Maybe it was nothing. But I thought I heard —”

Then a hawk’s
screech ripped through the air, followed by a cry so horrible that it made his
blood run cold.

It sounded like the shrieks of a man having a limb cut off. It was
anguish, the call of a tortured soul who was helpless to stop the pain —
a man trapped in some cycle of agony with no beginning, and no end. He covered
his ears and ground his teeth against it.

Then a creature burst from the cliff side, following its cry, and lunged
for Kyleigh.

It was a monster — one of the monsters the innkeeper had warned
them about. He never would have believed it if he hadn’t seen it for himself,
but its body looked exactly how he’d described it: like a man who’d swallowed a
wolf. Only now it seemed that wolf was fighting its way out.

Patches of coarse gray fur burst through the gaps in human skin, nearly
covering its long snout and sunken cheeks. Black, deranged eyes gaped out from
their sockets and locked onto Kyleigh. Its pointed claws stretched for her
throat.

Kael didn’t even
have time to be properly terrified before she knocked him to the ground. She
stood over him and, as the monster sailed by, she ducked under its claws. There
was a flash of white and then a
thud
as its lifeless body struck the wall. She turned, and he saw Harbinger gripped
in her hand. Its blade glistened wetly in the torchlight.

More howling
tore through the Pass, more monsters erupted from the cliff side and fell upon
the merchants. Garron bellowed above the shouts of his men, trying to bring
some order to the chaos. Aerilyn’s screams cut over the top of everything,
piercing their ears.

The creatures
must have been stalking them all night, lurking in the shadows, watching with their
unfeeling eyes as worry and fatigue took their toll. They’d been waiting for
this moment to attack, and they attacked like wolves — with the full
force of their pack and with their minds consumed by a single goal:

To kill.

Another monster
came after Kyleigh. It snapped for her neck and its deadly pointed teeth
crunched shut on themselves as she leapt away. She cracked it over the head
with her torch and ran it through. Grabbing Kael by the arm, she yanked him
onto his feet. “Follow me!”

And because she
seemed to know what she was doing, he didn’t argue.

Garron had the
merchants rallied together in less than a minute. He organized them into
circles and ordered them to stand back to back. They swung their blades and
fired arrows, defending their manmade keeps while Garron and his mount charged
through the fray. He hewed the monsters with his sword and bellowed: “Hold
fast, men! With all that you are — hold fast!”

They found
Aerilyn crouched on the ground next to the jewelry cart. The hem of her skirt was
filthy and her eyes were red with tears. All the curl in her hair had gone
limp. Kyleigh grabbed her and tossed her — skirts and all — over
her shoulder. She kicked the jewelry cart’s door open and flung her inside.

Kael had an
arrow knocked and was ready to step out into battle when she grabbed him by the
belt and tossed him in next to Aerilyn. He flipped himself on his feet and made
a dash for the door, but she shoved him back.

“You’re to stay
right here, understood? Don’t move!” she growled, green eyes blazing as she
slammed the door in his face.

He was furious.
He may not have been the strongest man in the Kingdom, but he was no coward: he
wouldn’t hide while the other men fought. Grunting, he drew his bow and pushed
the door open with his foot.

A group of
merchants were fighting a losing battle. They managed to bring down two wolf
monsters before a third dropped right in the middle of them, breaking their
circle. It batted one man down with the back of its claw and sent the second
flying with a kick in the gut. The third man countered, swinging his sword
until he got the monster back against a wall — and then lunged for its
chest.

The monster’s
claw swooped under his jab, cuffing him in the chin. He went flying and landed
hard on his ankle. It crunched as he collapsed.

The monster
advanced, sensing its prey was cornered. Its nostrils flared when the man tried
to back away, like it could smell his fear. Drool spilled from its snout as the
monster leapt for the kill. Its long claws were nearly at the man’s throat when
Kael’s arrow hit it directly in the side.

It flew off
course and landed hard on the ground, but didn’t stay down long. No sooner did
it fall than the monster rolled back on its feet. Its head swiveled on its
furry neck; its black eyes found Kael.

While he
watched, it wrapped its claw around the arrow and yanked it free. Hot blood
poured out of the wound. Then with a snarl, it charged.

He dove out of
the way and slammed the door behind him. The monster crashed into the cart and
bounced backwards, giving him enough time to fire another arrow. It let out a
furious howl as the shot buried itself in its shoulder. Then the monster lunged
again, and this time Kael didn’t move fast enough.

Its claw clamped
down on his leg and dragged him backwards, tearing through his boot, pants leg,
and a layer of skin. He gasped as it pulled him in by his hooked flesh. Pain
seized his whole leg, throbbing and stabbing and burning all at once. He
groaned and the monster inhaled, feeding on his torment.

Then it arched
its back and yelped in pain. It twisted around, claws scrabbling madly for the
arrow lodged in its back. That’s when Kael saw Chaney over its shoulder,
lowering his bow.

“No!”

But it was too
late.

The monster
forgot about him and barreled towards Chaney — whose eyes widened as he
fumbled with his quiver. His hands shook too badly to knock an arrow. He
couldn’t seem to get it locked. The monster leapt.

Kael bit his lip
and forced his wounded leg to bend beneath him. Those dagger claws strained for
Chaney at the creeping pace of a slug. The monster’s jaw opened like a chasm in
the center of the earth — a chasm ringed by skull-crushing teeth. He felt
nothing but the arrow under his chin as he found his target. Then his fingers
slipped from the string.

He blinked, and
the monster was dead.

The arrow stuck
out from the base of its skull, having cleaved through layers of fur and skin
and finally found its mark. It was an impossible shot. He would’ve marveled
over it all day, if he hadn’t been so worried about Chaney. He hobbled closer,
fearing the worse, and Chaney’s head popped out from beneath the monster’s
torso. He looked shocked to be alive.

“I’m stuck,” he
muttered, trying to haul the monster’s body off of him. Kael pulled while
Chaney pushed. Together, they got absolutely nowhere.