Whatever his species, he was powerful. It lay over him like a mantle, boiling with a quiet ferocity.
There was something else there, gossamer-thin strands wrapped around his antlers, barely visible as they shifted in and out of sight.
I hurried over, looking closer. They weren’t just around his antlers. They were everywhere, the rest of his body as well.I’d missed it because they blended into his coat, thinner than any fishermen’s net or spiderweb.
Realization turned my insides cold. He was caught like all the rest, bound to Niamh’s bidding whether he wanted to be or not.
He looked over his shoulder at me, the odd blue eyes sorrowful as if he’d guessed exactly whatI’d seen.
I stepped closer, lifting one hand to touch the strands, half-expecting the stag to shy away. He remained in place, allowing me to touch him without protest. My hand slid through the strands.
Magic,I’d learned, was formed by intent. Shaped by will and then molded by the universe. It was in everything we did, everything we were. In the big moments and the small ones.
Our perceptions influenced how we perceived it. When the sorcerer had taken my eye, it had done something, opened me up to a world that should have taken much longer to access. It left me exposed to possibilities but danger too.
Magic, especially of the type riding the night, was wild and unruly, as likely to burn you up as warm your bones. Mistreat it and it’d break you in half.
Stare too long into the abyss and you might lose yourself to the wonder and terror, the chaotic order.
I’d tried ignoring it, pretending it didn’t exist, and it’d gotten me nowhere except fleeing from the people who were my friends.
Time to change the story.
The stag, as if sensing what I was considering, stamped his hoof and lifted his head. He wanted this. Needed it.
“Will freeing you help us?” I asked him.
Normally, I would never consider it, but even if I made it to dawn, I would still be vulnerable. I didn’t trust Niamh would obey the rules of her people and let me live. Once the sun crossed that horizon, I would be vulnerable. There’d be nothing and no one to save me.
He moved his head in an up and down motion.
I’d take that as a yes.
“Alright,I’ll do my best,” I told him.
The world faded around me as I sank into the magic. This left me vulnerable. One of the hunters could approach andI’d never know it. Still,I’d rather go down trying than run until my heart burst and my feet were ragged, only to be shot down like some damn deer.
Niamh’s magic had a stranglehold on him. It delved deep into his essence, an insidious web burrowing where it had no business being. It sickened me. Her hold took violation to a whole new level.
It was a wonder he had any independent thought given how deeply her roots were embedded.
His power fluttered at the heart of it all. If I ever freed him, Niamh would need to watch out. His was a bottomless ocean, deep and cool.
I stared into it, losing myself for a moment as I admired its beauty before moving on.
This was no hasty construct like what had been on Hector. It had been reinforced and retooled countless times until there was no sign of weakness, no easy chink to exploit.
I pulled hard on it, calling threads of it to me, stopping when the stag let out a low sound of pain.
“This is going to take time,” I told him, fighting dizziness and a headache.
Time we didn’t necessarily have.
He grunted.
I prepared to dive deep. A creature stumbled out of the woods just then. It ran on all fours, its nose lifted to the air.
I couldn’t say what it was, though it looked vaguely like a wolf, a coat as dark as night and vivid green eyes in a face that was a cross between canine and human.
