Promise of Wrath (The Hellequin Chronicles Book 6) (10 page)

“There’s a cut on her hand,” Remy reminded her. “But she told us about that earlier. I don’t see anything else.”

“The cut will fade in time, although it is deep,” Diane said as Chloe began to stir, much to everyone’s relief. “My guess is she’s just exhausted from the jump. She’s only human, yes?”

“A witch,” Kasey clarified.

Diane nodded. “Okay, she just needs rest. We’ll take shifts keeping an eye on her. Once this meat is cooked, everyone eats. I don’t care if you have a problem eating meat; you’ll have more of a problem passing out, because the next few days are going to be intense.”

I didn’t think anyone was a vegetarian, but she made a good point. Morals are great and all, but surviving is a bit more important.

It wasn’t the greatest night’s sleep I’d ever had, what with the wind howling outside and the frequent claps of thunder, but I’ve slept through worse storms. What made it difficult was knowing that Mordred was only a few feet away. While one of us stayed up at all times—discounting Mordred and Morgan, because no one in their right minds trusted them—I still woke on a regular basis to look over at them both and make sure they hadn’t moved.

Daybreak brought a respite from bad weather, and although the smell of wet grass permeated everything, it wasn’t the worst thing to wake up to.

“There’s some deer left,” Diane said once everyone was up. “Everyone should eat something. I’ve been out already. There’s a stream close by; I think the rainfall made it bigger than it usually is, but the water smells okay.”

“It should be fine,” Mordred agreed. “The rain here is clean and drinkable. Or it was centuries ago.”

“Well, I don’t feel sick,” Diane said. “And I saw animals drinking from it. That’s usually a good sign. What isn’t a good sign was what those animals were.”

“Local carnivores?” Remy suggested.

“Some big ones too.”

“Cave bears and saber-toothed panthers,” Mordred suggested. “They were both pretty abundant back in the day.”

“I saw two bears and a panther,” Diane said. “That’s not good for us.”

“The bears will be fine,” Mordred told everyone and grabbed a piece of meat from the fire I’d restarted. “They were hunted by the dwarves, and were a handful from what I remember, but they don’t hunt people. Certainly don’t eat them unless they’re already dead. They’re mostly scavengers, not hunters—despite the fact they’re the size of a large car.”

“And the panthers?” Diane asked.

“That’s a big problem. They’ll hunt anything that isn’t bear. And I do mean
anything
. They’re solitary hunters, but that was a long time ago and my memory of them is a little foggy. I know they used to kill townsfolk; took a few dwarves, too. If we have one on our trail, it will hunt us for miles. And they take a lot to put down.”

“Between the seven of us, I’m sure we’ll be okay,” Diane said.

“There are some things you should know about this place. Some of our magics won’t have the same effect on the creatures that live in this realm as it does in ours.”

“Meaning what?” I asked.

“Meaning, in the earth realm, you could use your air magic to blow a panther back a hundred feet, but the same amount of magic used here might only cause it to be pushed back a fraction of that. Magic will still be able to hurt anything that attacks us, but you’ll need to use
a lot
of it to have even a little of the impact you might expect. Flinging a boulder at something is still going to knock it back, but it might not do any actual damage to it. It might not be a good idea to rely on your magic for fighting. It’s something to do with the crystals in the mountains. It doesn’t affect the plants, which is why you were able to start a fire on those branches earlier, but it does have an effect on the creatures that live here. And that includes some things that you really don’t want to get close to without your magic at your disposal.”

“Crystals?” I asked. “Small pink-purple ones?”

Mordred nodded slowly.

“I’ve seen them before,” I told everyone. “They tend to explode when magic is used on them. I once rode a motorbike that was powered by them.”

“Why?” Chloe asked. She’d made a good improvement throughout the night, and was eating with everyone else.

“I didn’t exactly have a lot of choice at the time. It was mostly that or let an exceptionally bad man get away. Anyway, these things are volatile, to say the least.”

“You’re talking about Shadow Falls,” Mordred said, naming another realm free from the influence of Avalon and its rulers. “It’s a bit different there; particles of the stuff get into the air and it makes our magic unstable. A small amount will cause a big explosion. That doesn’t happen here; the crystals are more stable, and there’s less leaking, less pollution. I can only imagine that over the last few millennia those creatures are even more immune than they were back then. Essentially, don’t count on your magic being able to do an awful lot.”

I rubbed my temples. “Okay, that makes things more complicated. Anything else we should know?”

“That city you want to go to: Darim. I don’t think we’re going to find a lot there.”

“Why?”

“Bad things happened here, Nate. The dwarves didn’t leave for no reason. And their departure left something much worse in charge.”

“What things?” I asked, slightly annoyed that he hadn’t bothered to mention any of this the night before.

“I call them Evil Bastards, and if we come across them, we will be in trouble.”

“Do we actually have a plan?” Remy asked. “I mean, apart from wander through the forest to a city that may—or may not—be overrun by . . . things?”

“There has to be a realm gate there,” I said.

“But we don’t have a guardian,” Remy pointed out.

“There wasn’t a guardian who sent us here either,” I said. “Maybe we can figure something out. It has to be better than sitting here.”

I didn’t want to say that I agreed with Remy’s assessment, mostly because I didn’t want to put a damper on the only hope we had. Realms, like the one we found ourselves in, needed gates for travel. Gates were operated and protected by guardians. No guardian, and the gate won’t open. Except that to send us here in the first place, we didn’t have a guardian, or even a realm gate. Which meant there really was a way to send people to realms without the use of gates, and apparently that way involved tablets covered in runes, and blood.

CHAPTER
11

T
he next day we marched through the forest, stopping periodically to drink from one of the many freshwater streams, eat the berries that were safe, and rest. There was an abundance of caves, and most of them contained nothing more than a few birds. Although one cave was home to about a thousand bats, who we left alone and trundled on elsewhere rather than deal with the stench they managed to create.

Apart from being weak during the morning, Chloe managed to improve steadily over the rest of the day. She needed a little more rest, but was otherwise okay. It was just coming up to the evening of the first day when I found her a few hundred yards from the rest of the group, sitting on a rock next to a small stream, dangling her feet into the cool water.

“How are you feeling?”

She shrugged. “Weird. We’re basically in paradise—so long as you ignore everything that wants to eat us.”

“That small matter.” I sat down beside her.

She flicked a small pebble into the stream. “I miss training. I liked the routine.”

As well as training Kasey, I’d been giving Chloe lessons too. She probably benefited more from having something to take her mind off her home life, although it certainly seemed to me that she’d all but moved in with Kasey and her family. “I think you can forgo it for a few more days.”

“I haven’t spoken to my mum in six months,” she said out of the blue. “Had barely even thought about her until we got here.”

Kasey’s mum was a witch, and frankly, one of the most unpleasant people I’d ever met. Not speaking to her for six months—or six years—sounded like my idea of heaven.

“It’s weird; she used me, she almost got me killed, and she showed no remorse over either, but she’s still my mum, you know?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I know. It took me a long time to get over knowing that Merlin was, in fact, a colossal asshole. But eventually the realization just stopped hurting and I did something about it. Took me a lot longer than it took you, though.”

“The last time I spoke to her, we fought. I’d called to give her important news, and she managed to disappoint me yet again.”

“I’m sorry she sucks so very, very hard at being there for you.”

Chloe shrugged. “I’ve gotten used to it. I’m seventeen. I’ve had my naming day at Avalon. I’m a relatively powerful witch. I don’t need her or her negativity in my life. But part of me says, ‘She’s your mum, the only one you’ve got. Try.’ I’m just so fed up of trying. You’d have thought almost getting me killed would have made me give up having anything to do with her.”

“Maybe your time here will do you some good. You can relax, enjoy the scenery, run from anything with sharper teeth than you have: good, wholesome fun.”

Chloe laughed. “Someone really wanted Diane out of the picture, and didn’t care who got taken with her.”

“Yep. Kay’s grubby little mitts are all over it.”

“Could just be a coincidence.”

“Could be, but the fact that it all happened on the same day, and that Jerry admitted to having people in Brutus’s organization who work for them, makes me think otherwise.”

“Maybe they’re going after people you care about?”

“If that’s the case, there would be a lot more people here. No, this has been kept small for a reason. There’s something I’m missing, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

“Could Mordred be behind it all?”

“No. He couldn’t fake how scared he was when he realized where we are. I still catch him looking around. He’s nervous, and worried, and that’s keeping him pretty subdued. Something is wrong with this place, and he knows it. He either doesn’t want to talk about it, or doesn’t want us to know. Probably the former, as the latter would mean he’d intentionally try to sabotage his own escape.”

Chloe got down from the rock she’d been sitting on and shook her feet dry, using her red hoodie to finish off before putting her socks and trainers back on. “That thing I told my mum,” she said without looking back at me as she tied her laces.

“Yeah?”

“I told her I like girls.”

“So do I. Welcome to the club. We have cookies.”

She looked back at me. “I mean, I’m gay.”

“I know what you mean, Chloe. I’m just trying to be funny and failing. Thank you for sharing it with me.”

“My mum asked me if I was sure, and then told me it was a phase I’d grow out of.”

“Your mum’s a dick.”

Chloe’s laugh was from the belly, full of actual humor. It was nice to hear. There’d been precious little laughter since arriving here. “Yes, yes she is. It would have been nice if she’d given me a better response, though. When I told her that, she flipped out. Haven’t spoken to her since.”

“If she can’t support you, don’t worry about it. Did you tell Kase?”

“Kase has known for years. Tommy and Olivia thanked me for telling them and didn’t bat an eye. It’s weird that they’d have a better reaction than my own blood. Especially to something so important to me.”

I put my hand on Chloe’s shoulder, squeezing slightly. “When we get back, I’ll make sure you have a good punch-bag session. You can pretend it’s whoever you like—no judgments from me.”

Chloe smiled. “Thanks, Nate. It felt like something I should tell you since you’re so important to Kase.” She paused. “And to me. You’re like an older brother or something.”

“I’ve never been an older anything. Do I need to do anything?”

Chloe shook her head. “Bring me ice cream when I’m upset. Get me alcohol.”

“I think I can do both of those things, so long as you like vodka or whiskey, because I’m not buying that swill people your age call beer.”

We were both still laughing when we heard the growl coming from the darkness of the woods nearby. I turned slightly and saw a saber-toothed panther pad out of the woods onto a large rock formation a dozen yards upstream, before launching itself into the water below.

The panther was bigger than any cats we had back on our realm, tigers and lions included. Even on all fours, its head probably came up to my shoulder. The cat’s fur appeared to be black, but as it moved it seemed to shimmer under the sunlight, turning almost dark blue on occasion. Two gray stripes ran from its nose up over its muzzle and finished just behind both ears, which were twitching as it moved in the water.

“Move slowly,” I whispered, and we both took a step away from the stream.

The large cat watched us and took a step forward, mirroring us. I didn’t know much about panthers, saber varieties or otherwise, but I vaguely remembered that big cats don’t usually like to have their prey watch them as they attack.

I heard a rustle in the leaves, and spun toward it, casting a jet of flame at a second panther that was sneaking up behind us. The animal ran back several yards, its fur slightly singed from the heat, but otherwise unhurt.

“Any chance you have a weapon?” I asked.

“Spells. I have magic. But magic might not do a lot. And witch magic isn’t exactly fireballs and lightning.”

“Any chance you know something a little more subversive? Like making us disappear?” We continued to back away, until both saber-toothed panthers were directly in front of us.

“Teleporting is a little out of my depth. But I have something that might help.” She raised her sleeve on her right arm, revealing the tattoos she’d put there.

Witch magic is different to sorcerers’ magic. Whereas we are born with an innate ability to tap into the magic, witches have to read grimoires and tattoo runes onto their bodies to allow them to access magic—magic that is literally powered with their own life energy. Essentially, witches use their own lives to create magic; the more powerful the magic, the more life they ebb away. It’s a pretty dangerous way to access some incredible power, and some, like Chloe’s mother, want to gain more and more power for themselves, and end up turning to evil to get it.

Mist left Chloe’s fingers, traveling out in front of her, putting a dense fog between us and the panthers.

“They can still smell us,” I pointed out.

“I know. That’s not what I’m doing. When I say go, throw a fireball.”

I smiled, aware of what Chloe wanted to happen, and readied a ball of fire in my hand, pouring more and more magic into it until it was white-hot. The soft rumble of a purr from the panthers made me aware that they were now inside the mist that was obscuring our vision as much as theirs.

“Now!” Chloe shouted.

I flung the ball of flame and turned to run, not wanting to be close to the vapor as it ignited. I remembered what Mordred had said about my magic not having as much of an effect on the things that lived here, but I hoped it had enough effect to keep Chloe and me safe.

The vapor exploded like a bomb, making a truly horrific noise and shaking the ground beneath our feet. Something inside the cloud screamed, although whether in pain or confusion I couldn’t tell. If witch magic was from a different place to sorcerer magic, then it stood to reason it might well be able to do more harm to the panthers, too.

Chloe and I ran as fast as possible, but I could still hear the great cats coming after us. I caught a glimpse of one of them and pushed Chloe aside as it sailed over where she’d been standing. Unfortunately, this left me in the path of the same panther, who appeared to have a lot less fur on its body and smelled of burning, but considering the amount of magic I’d used, it should have been turned into jerky. Apparently, Mordred hadn’t been lying when he’d said magic wasn’t as powerful here.

The panther opened its mouth, showing me the sharp teeth inside, none of which I wanted to get anywhere near.

While enough of my magic could hurt the creatures, it wasn’t going to be the easiest battle. I had no weapons, and was going up against a master predator in its own environment. It wasn’t going to be a fun afternoon.

I heard Chloe say something and a shimmering mass shot up from where she lay, slamming into the panther, taking it off its feet, and throwing it into a nearby tree stump.

“What was that?” I asked, as the panther lay dazed, shaking its head from side to side.

“Jedi magic, according to Tommy,” she said with a forced smile. “Something similar to your air magic, but a lot more localized. And a lot more painful for me.”

I turned just in time to see the second panther leap toward me. And for a second I thought,
I’m dead
.

And then Chloe and I vanished.

It was as if we sank into the ground itself, coming up several yards away beside a different tree.

“What just happened?” she asked.

I looked down at the gray glyphs that adorned my arms. They were definitely new. “Shadow magic,” I said. “Apparently I can do shadow magic.”

“Can that help us?”

From what I knew, shadow magic wasn’t usually used in an offensive way; it was more for defense, for getting away and manipulating shadows to aid in escape and hiding.

“Hold on to me,” I said. “I’m not sure how this works, and I don’t want us to get separated.”

Chloe hugged me tight and I saw the two panthers turn toward us and begin running. We vanished from view again, and this time I could feel areas of exit all around me. It was as if I’d stepped into a world exactly mapped over the normal one, but this one was just one large shadow, with the shadows themselves being more gray in color. Instead of moving to one of the shadows, I was able to bring it to me, which took only seconds. We jumped into that gray shadow and found ourselves back in the forest.

The panthers were several dozen yards away, appearing confused as their prey continued to vanish and reappear further and further away.

“You okay?” I asked as Chloe’s breathing appeared to be getting shallow.

“It feels like all the air gets sucked out of me when I go in there,” she said, her voice raspy. “I’m not sure I can do another one.”

Maybe only the person using the magic was immune to those effects, as my breathing appeared to be okay. It was something to figure out another time.

“The camp is close by. Do you think you can make it?”

Chloe nodded.

The panthers continued to pace around the tree they’d last seen us in front of, sniffing the surrounding area. One of them raised their head and turned it toward us.

“Let’s go.”

I picked Chloe up in my arms and ran back toward the camp, getting there just as a roar escaped the forest behind me. Diane was first out of the cave we’d set up in, helping me lay Chloe down so she could check her over.

“What happened?”

I explained about the magic and panthers, while Chloe’s breathing improved, and by the time I finished, her breathing sounded normal again.

“Saber-toothed panthers?” Remy asked from beside me. “I’ll go check. We don’t want them tracking us for another day. Kasey, you feel like pissing off some big cats?”

The two of them set out to drive the cats away, hopefully without killing them. The cats weren’t doing anything wrong, but if it came down to it, I knew they’d end the problem permanently. We couldn’t risk those things coming after us again.

“So, omega magic then?” Mordred said, a slight smile on his face as he leaned against the cave wall.

“Not the time,” I told him.

He ignored me. “Shadow magic is rare; much rarer than light. And you used it to escape—that’s quite impressive for a first-time use.”

“My list of reasons for impressing you is so small you could put it on a pinhead,” I informed him. “Now piss off or go help track the panthers, but don’t bother me.”

Mordred wandered off, humming the same tune I’d heard from him earlier, and I sat with Chloe while she recovered.

“That wasn’t fun,” she said.

“You feeling okay now?”

“Tired. Wiped out, actually. Like I did when I first got here.”

A bad feeling settled inside of my gut. “Can I see your hand again? Nice move with the magic, by the way.”

She showed me the hand that had been cut. The wound was scabbing over, but it was still sore and didn’t look comfortable.

“Thanks. I’ve been practicing.”

“It shows. Although the fact that you’re using your own life force to do those things concerns me.”