The Raven Queen leaned forward and pressed her palm flat against Dorka’s neck. The clag-doo’s tail lashed, fighting the connection. A yowl ripped from her throat as she submitted and lunged forward, vanishing into the mist with Mor. Vyr and Sablebane plunged after her.
“Lara.” Alar appeared at her side.His hand clamped around her arm, and the contact jolted through her. The crushing dread pulled back. Just slightly. Just enough to breathe. His eyes burned into hers. “Ride!”
“The others—”
“Mor will find them. We cross the summit now, or the fear takes us all.”
He released her arm, grabbed her reins, and urged his stag forward. They surged up the path. Shapes blurred past—Shee on their elks and stags, phantoms in the fog.
Lara’s heart hammered against her ribs, as if it were trying to break free.
Shouts echoed through the grey. Weeping. Cursing. Prayers.
She twisted in the saddle. Bree rode right behind her, face set and pale. Cailean had caught Annis’s reins and was dragging her forward. The counselor clung to her horse’s mane, tears streaming down her cheeks. Behind them, Roth wrestled with Duana. She snarled and clawed at him, desperate to chase after her sister, but he was bigger, stronger, and he held on.
Terror tightened like cruel fingers around Lara’s throat.
Even through the thunder of hooves, she could hear the heavy footsteps.
Patient. Relentless. Inevitable.
Cold air rushed past her burning face. A sob tore itself from her chest.
Panic took her then.There is no escape.They could run until their horses collapsed, until their hearts burst, and that thing would still be there. Their journey ended here on this fog-shrouded mountain. None of them would see the other side.
They galloped blind into the mist. Madness—for the drop was right there, just yards away, waiting to swallow them. But staying would have been worse. Staying meant the fear wouldburrow so deep they’d throw themselves off the mountainside just to make it stop.
22: HIS GAME
NO ONE HAD much to say when they finally made camp for the night, yet the relief was palpable. They’d left the terror behind on the mountain’s summit, where it belonged.
Roth went to light a fire, his face pale and strained. He bore livid scratch marks upon his left cheek, where Duana had raked him in her panic to get to her sister. Like the night before, grimlochs gave him trouble, and Lara eventually knelt by the smoking hearth to help. A short while later, a fire crackled merrily.
They’d stopped halfway down the other side of the mountain, far from the summit. The gloaming had grown deepby the time they halted upon a ledge that looked west. Below them stretched the dark carpet of the Hallow Woods. Tendrils of milky mist drifted above the treetops.
Mor, Vyr, and Sablebane had caught them up not long before they made camp. Eithne perched in front of Vyr, eyes red-rimmed and tearstains upon her cheeks, while Mor and Sablebane towed two ponies with the druids behind them.
There had been no time to hunt, although there were slabs of boar meat left over from the previous night’s supper. They sat around the fire pit, chewing in silence. Lara surveyed her companions’ faces, marking their haunted gazes and tense faces. Even the Shee looked shaken by their encounter with The Grey Ghost.
“Mark me,” she said to Cailean then, breaking the heavy silence. “If we survive this, I’mnottaking this road home.”
“Thank the Gods,” he replied with a rueful shake of his head.
Lara’s gaze flicked between the chief-enforcer and Alar. She recalled the look they’d shared that evening—just before the Slew attacked. They’d both known what awaited them up here.
“Have either of you seen that wraith before?”
Alar grimaced. “Almost,” he admitted. “I didn’t actuallyseeit, but I was near the summit of the pass when I heard dragging footsteps crunching on gravel behind me. I kept turning, but there was nothing but swirling mist.” His mouth twisted then. “I’ll admit, I broke into a run … and didn’t slow my pace until I’d passed the summit and was far down the other side.”
“I saw it,” Cailean answered quietly. “A tall dark shape advancing through the mist.” He paused then, discomfort flickering over his face. “I’m not easily scared … but there’s something about its presence that strips the flesh off your bones.”
A brittle silence fell after this admission.
Aye, they’d all felt it. Thank the Five, The Grey Ghost was behind them now. The Hog’s Back wasn’t an easy road, but if they survived it, they’d cut precious days off their journey. Gateway inched ever closer. Lara was aware of time slipping through her fingers now, like dry sand.
“Just one more night up here,” Alar said as he reached for a skin of water. He then took a measured sip. Their supplies were running low. There were few burns or rivers on this path. “We should reach the end of The Hog’s Back by dusk tomorrow.”
Sighs of relief rippled around the fireside. Ren sat, shoulders rounded, head low, while a nerve twitched in Ruari’s cheek. Duana glanced over at Roth then, her features tightening. “Sorry about your face.”
