Chapter
37
“
You can help me,” he said, startling her. She’d been so absorbed in looking at the Wolves that she’d forgotten he was standing there.
“
How?” Val asked,
really
not wanting to know.
“
You are an Empath. You have power. Together we could begin to restore what has been lost.”
There were so many problems with that idea she didn’t know where to start. “I’m only half Empath. And I don’t know anything about it. It’s like asking someone to do Tae Kwan Doe just because they’re Korean.”
He looked at her blankly.
Dammit
. Couldn’t she talk with someone from the 21
st
century? If she ever made it out of here, maybe she should teach high school. Deal with people more on her level.
“
I mean, I haven’t been trained. I don’t know anything about it— power, energy, channeling, wolves. The whole enchil—
thing
is new to me.”
Cerdewellyn shook his head. “You have power. It does not matter if you know how to use it. Magic
is
. Unless one is a witch, the training is minimal.”
“
Okay. The next problem is that I’m weak.”
He smiled at her. “You may be…diluted, but the abilities I would call upon will be strong enough. Let us try. See how compatible we are. It will not hurt. Nor will it weaken you. But it would give me some idea if you can help me and my people.”
Truthfully, the fact that it wouldn’t hurt made her more willing to give it a shot. “What would we do?”
“
We will try to wake up the wolves.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she looked back to the huge beasts before the fire. They really looked like big dogs. “What kind of wolves are they? They’re huge.”
“
They are Werewolves.” He gave her that look again—the what-the-hell-has-the-world-come-to—look. At least that’s what she thought it was. “You have never even seen one?” He sounded very sad.
“
No. Sorry. Are these the only two left?” she asked.
“
No. There are more. But these two lead the pack. If they awaken, hopefully the others will as well. Do you not want to help them? Look at them. They are alive but unmoving. Their hearts beat, and yet, they are unaware. Your natural affinity for them should draw you to them. If you told me you didn’t want to help them, I would know you for a liar.”
Val chewed on her lip as she looked at the Werewolves. “So, there are people in there?” She crouched down next to the wolf, looking at its closed eyes, the long snout and its soft coat. She wanted to touch it. Her heart beat picked up a little, the desire to touch the wolf growing, as if acknowledging the desire gave it strength.
It was decision time. Her instincts told her that Cerdewellyn wanted what was best for his people. And they were here because Lucas wanted to make amends. He’d told her humanity was better off with the Fey back in the world. So perhaps she should help Cer a little. A show of good faith.
And you know what? I really don’t think Lucas is going to kill me.
Even if he was, it was not going to happen here, in Fey. So, if she could make a bargain here, she should. “I will try to help you if you promise not to kill Lucas and to hear what he has to say. We sought you out. You’ve been stuck down here for centuries and everyone thinks you’re extinct. I understand that you want vengeance…but I don’t think you’re in a situation to ask for it.”
“
Beautiful and demanding. Now I know why you still live.”
“
Flattery will get you everywhere. Oh! That was a joke.”
Cerdewellyn crouched down too and put a hand on the wolf’s neck. The animal seemed to sigh, a fleeting expression crossing its face. She’d never thought of a dog as particularly expressive. Not beyond ‘food’ and ‘out, ’ anyway.
“
They are people. With families and wives, a life dedicated to protecting your kind. To killing vampires. I—” His voice faltered a little. “I failed them. Lucas is their enemy, too. If I agree to keep Lucas alive, it would be another failure.”
“
Promise to hear him out and not kill him for 5 years, then I will help you.”
He’s Lucas, if he can’t talk this guy into giving up his vendetta or escaping in 5 years, I’d be shocked.
“
I promise to ‘hear him out’ and not kill him for a period of 2 years, But, if you ask me of your own volition to kill him before then, that promise is nullified.”
Damit! I don’t know if this is a good deal!
“
He responds to your touch,” Val said, almost expecting the wolf to open its eyes and wake up. Now
that
would be a good distraction.
“
The wolves are dependent upon my magic. They abandoned the mortal world and came with us hoping to start anew. Fey magic and sustenance kept them alive. But now my kingdom is so weak that there is not enough energy to keep them awake. It is as though my entire world is hibernating.”
She reached across the wolf and touched Cer’s hand in sympathy. He met her halfway, his warm hand clasping hers. The contact was hot. As though they were two electrical wires sparking off of each other. Val tried to let go, pull away from him, but he gripped her tighter.
“
Your power is based in life, instinct and emotion. My magic comes from life as well. So our power feeds each other, you see? We can give it to the wolves, and it will bring them back to us.”
Val wanted to ask lots of questions, but the words wouldn’t come out. She couldn’t speak or move, her focus narrowing down to the small contact with his hand. Her flesh was inconsequential, merely a container for her energy. The
real
her was a calm pool of power.
Cerdewellyn was the waterfall, pouring his own energy into her, breaking the still surface inside of her and churning her magic around, forcing it to overflow and spill outwards.
Her magic suddenly made sense. It was a revelation. Val knew, on an atomic level, what separated her from a normal human. It crystallized in her in a way it never had before.
He pushed her hand down onto the wolf’s back and the damn burst, power flowing from him, swirling in her and then out again, down into the wolf. Its coat was soft. An almost odd texture, like it wasn’t quite hair, but had the smoothness of skin as well.
The animal called out to her, not in words but in emotion. The wolf spoke to her soundlessly, and she wanted to listen, like a song she had once loved and then not heard for years. She wouldn’t try to move away again.
Cerdewellyn let go of her hand and stood, walking around her and the wolves slowly. Then he lifted her up into his arms, shifting her down between the two furred bodies, snuggling her close and tight between them.
Sweat slid down her temple, and she wanted him to both stop and continue running his power through her. Cerdewellyn’s energy was overwhelming.
Stop fighting and the hurt will go away
. He said, and she didn’t know if he said it aloud or if she heard his voice in her head.
He was right, she was fighting it, trying to control the influx of energy from Cerdewellyn, rationing it out to the wolves. She needed to be open, let it pass through her instead of trying to control it.
She relaxed, stopped clenching her muscles and let the energy rush over her instead. The moment she did, the pain disappeared. The wolf was with her, his mind and thoughts close enough to touch.
“
My wolf…my wolf I call you,” Cer said.
Why is it
his
wolf, she wondered. What did that mean? The animal tried to tell her, offering up the story in pictures, memories, scents and feelings. Willing to let her see the memory of how the wolf became bound to Cerdewellyn.
Snippets of the wolf’s past rushed by her, like riding in a speeding car and looking out a window. A village. A hut. A fire. A woman in homespun garb. A baby. A pup. Wolves around a fire. The vision slowed down, rotated around her like the world was spinning. It slowed and finally stopped. She could smell the forest as the wolf did, hear people speaking through the wolf’s ears…feel the wolf’s fear.
She and the wolf were one. She knew his name— Ajax. That he had a wife and children and that he did not expect to survive the night.
Ajax padded into the dark night. He could hear the paws of other Wolves beside him as they went towards the glowing orange light. A clearing had been made, and a fire was shifting in the wind, the flames flickering high.
Friends and family were here, the children more subdued than usual as everyone waited anxiously around the fire. The women chanted, and those that were of breeding-age were stripped naked, dancing around the fire while the young girls and the old women made a circle, hands clasped, heads bent as they invoked Cerdewellyn’s name and begged him to come to them.
The fire blazed, and a black shape appeared inside the flames. As if someone had been burned at the stake and was now being rebuilt from the inside out. The flames parted as he solidified. The wolf’s heart stuttered at the awesome display of power.
He is strong enough to keep us safe, Ajax thought.
Cerdewellyn was in the fire, whole and unblemished. As he stepped out of the flames, the women scattered, giving him a wide berth.
The wolves leader dropped down onto one knee. “My Liege. We have summoned you here in order to seek your protection. The horde is near. Villages in all directions have been wiped out. Will you shield us?”
Ajax heard the fire crackle, saw the women shuffle, all of them waiting with baited breath to know if Cerdewellyn would save them. And at what price.
“
I will take you from here and claim you as my own,” Cerdewellyn said. “But you must bind you and all of your people to me. Know that you are given my name and shall work for my will alone from this day forth. Do you accept?”
Their leader licked his lips and made eye contact—not with the men but the women. Were they willing to offer their children up to Cerdewellyn? Safety in exchange for binding to the Fey King? The women nodded, clutching the children tight. Cerdewellyn or death.
Their leader opened his mouth, ready to agree when Cerdewellyn spoke, “I hear them—the horde. He has come. Does Lucas know you have called me? For his vengeance will be twice as harsh for those that remain.”
“
He will kill us all anyway, should we still be here by the time he arrives. It makes no difference.”
Cerdewellyn laughed. “The difference is in the means of execution. The length of time it takes to die and the horrors he can make one endure before he finishes playing with you and yours. I demand the binding first. It is the only way to take you through the fire. He is close now. Be quick.”
Ajax turned and looked into the dark beyond. He couldn’t see the vampires coming, but could smell blood and death upon the wind. His leader sent the strongest wolves into the night to meet the horde, trying to delay them until the women and children were safe. Howls rent the air as Ajax and his brothers dashed into the night.
The smell of decay and iron grew. Rot and corruption coming closer.
The vampires stalked down the streets, dipping into houses, searching everywhere for the villagers. At the head of them all was their Dark Lord. He didn’t stop and he didn’t hesitate, but moved steadily forward, not looking for those that hid but for the group.
His hair was dark, coated in blood. Ajax had been told that the blackness was not the Dark Lord’s natural color. That his hair changed from the brightest gold to the dark of the dead when he went to war. The blood stained him and he gloried in it—kept it to inspire fear into the hearts of his prey.
The face of an angel and the soul of the devil.
He wore armor. An armor so black it absorbed the light and a cape of pelts that billowed out behind him. His steel shoes rang through the night, a chime of death approaching with each step. His sword was out, the blade dull with gore. And in his other hand was an axe, the head massive and weighted so that it could break through an opponent’s shield from a distance— taking any advantage away before the fight began.
For Lucas, the Dark Lord, fighting was not about honor, conquest or faith. It was not even about the heartless joy one could find in proving one’s strength against another. His purpose was carnage. How many dead in how short a period of time. That was what spread his name in dreaded whispers from village to village. No mercy. No pity. No desire beyond unending slaughter. Ajax growled and felt his hackles rise.
He knew the moment his leader bound them to Cerdewellyn. The cool, detached strength of the Fey, filled his mind like a tangible shadow. The wolf’s natural blood lust and urge to rush forward and attack Lucas receded slightly. The calm intellect of Cerdewellyn tempering the beasts’ basest instincts.
Ajax knew he only needed to bide his time, delay the horde so that their loved ones could get to Cerdewellyn’s realm. They would all walk into the fire, a portal to the Fey realm. The children first, walking into the fire and vanishing to the Land of Fey. Then the women. Stay in the shadows, do not encounter the horde.