The shadowy mist clings to us as we hurry up the steepening incline, and I hope we’re nearing the outpost. Open fighting is better than the dread that creeps up my spine like so many spiders.
The wagon creaks, and I rise in my saddle and stare ahead. Two horses, both riderless, are approaching through the fog.
“The scouts.” Chastain grips up on his reins and surges through the crowd of unicorns.
Baralja eases his mount next to mine, but he keeps looking behind us. “You slew the creature Subcinctus, right?”
“Subcinctus?”
“The gaping maw of angry teeth.” He forms a cage with his fingers and clamps down as if it’s a hungry mouth.
“Yes. Dead and gone.”
“Good.” He rests one hand on the hilt of his blade. “At least we know that isn’t what’s chasing us.”
I don’t mention the pack of spiders that could be charging toward us, all of them riled over the deaths of their comrades. But sometimes, silence is the best policy.
Iridiel turns and looks at me with one big blue eye. “Tell him about the giant spiders.”
“Spiders?” Baralja rubs the black stubble on his brown cheeks. “Is he serious?”
“Just stay sharp.” I give Iridiel a warning look and pull him around to face forward again.
Baralja keeps pace with me as word filters back that the scouts are nowhere to be found.
“The slavers know.” I draw my blade as the mist begins to finally lighten, the way ahead taking on a gray glow. “Everyone, eyes wide open,” I call. The Abyss falls away on either side of us now, but that doesn’t mean soldiers aren’t hiding in the inky darkness.
“Gareth?” Beth is awake, her tired eyes on me as I try to decide on the best course of action.
“You will be safe, my love.”
“I can fight.” She yawns, her body drained from too much strain over the past few days. Fragile. Fleeting. Human lives are fairy kisses—barely felt before they’re gone.
“Rest now.” I keep my tone as warm as I can.
She squints at me but settles down again.
The feeling of something approaching from behind only grows stronger. This is the worst possible battle situation. Nowhere to fall back and no room to maneuver. I learned in the last war with Shathinor that a battle fought on two sides is quickly lost.
Chastain rides up front with a contingent of fighters, so I call for the others and the wagon to halt. Keeping Beth near, I order the company to turn and face the Abyss, to greet whatever is coming at us with zero mercy.
Parnon stomps to my side as the unicorns whinny. “You go.” He pulls up his fist and plants himself behind the wagon. “I won’t let anything touch her. I swear by the magic.”
A blue flash erupts between us, his word binding itself to me.
Even so, leaving my mate is hard. But watching her die would be far, far harder. So I go. Leading my company of warriors down into the hungry depths once more, I ready myself for battle, no matter what approaches.
6
Beth
Iwake with a jolt, my mind clearing only a little from my too-deep sleep. The wagon is tearing up the incline, and I hold onto the side. Someone’s stretched a rope across the back to keep me and the supplies from falling out, but the pace is so harsh that I bounce and curse as a pot lands on my foot.
I claw past a half-empty sack of grain and see Parnon ahead of me driving us onward. “Hey?” I don’t know what else to say.
He grunts and whips the mule hard enough it makes me cringe. “Trouble. Trouble everywhere.”
“What’s new?”
