“Feel that?” Carmilla murmurs at my side. Her fingers twitch rune near hip. “Ley resonance climbing.”
Before I answer, thunderclap cracks overhead, but no lightning follows. Instead, pouch at my side flares magma-red. Heat bites through coat. I swear, ripping pouch free. The cloth charrs, falls away like burnt petals. Shard levitates above palm, veins pulsing in frantic rhythm.
A heartbeat later it detonates—silent flash, wave of force slamming outward. Elk scream, sledges buck. Shard fragments whirl, coalescing into vapor that condenses into lupine silhouette twice the size of any living wolf. It hovers three spans above glassy ground, formed of iridescent smoke laced with starlight sparks, eyes molten brass. Recognizable and not: proportions match Yarrow’s adolescent frame, but stretched by anguish.
Shock freezes me less than half-second. “YARROW!” The name tears free before reason, a wound reopened. Ghost-wolf’s head tilts at voice—dead eyes warming with sorrow, then scorching rage.
Caravan guard draws crossbow, fires. Bolt passes through specter, clattering harmlessly off shard behind. The apparition roars—a sound like wind through broken reeds—then lunges at nearest elk, jaws snapping. Vapour fangs shred harness, no blood drawn, but elk collapses, hindquarters petrified into glass instantly. Beast trumpets final cry, shatters into shards.
Drivers scatter, curses flying. Carmilla raises both hands, weaving sigil bright blue. “The soul remembers you,” she warns me. “You must answer it.”
I shift partial—claws lengthen, amber flooding vision. I plant feet, arms wide. “Yarrow, hear your Alpha.” My voice rolls across valley, amplified by pack command magic. “Stand down!”
Ghost-wolf pauses mid-charge, form flickering. For breath, silence hangs. Then figure distorts, new tendrils of smoke lashing, more monstrous. Grief made nightmare. It bounds straight for me.
I sprint, meet leap full on, tackling mid-air. Impact scatters smoke, but core of spirit—glowing shard containing essence—pushes against my chest like blazing coal. We smash into ground, skidding through ash. I grapple shape though hands sink through half-solid mist. Heat sears arms, but I clamp around spectral neck, drive knees beneath translucent ribs. Ghost-wolf convulses, trying to dissolve then reform behind me; I maintain hold, bury face into its ruff, voice choked.
“Forgive me,” I whisper, rasp torn out by grief and grit. “Run free, little fang.”
Carmilla’s chant rises behind. Light blooms—cool, lunar, enveloping both of us. Runes spiral from her palms, stitching netwoven of starlight. She casts it; strands wrap ghost-wolf, bind but do not crush. She steps closer, eyes gleaming silver. “Kylan, offer peace token,” she commands.
I fumble pouch inside coat, retrieve twig flute Yarrow loved. Music stick miraculously unburnt. I raise it between us. “Your song waits, pup.”
Ghost-wolf’s brass eyes soften, form shrinking until child-sized shape kneels before me, mouth forming silent howl. I hold flute up, channel pack memory—laughing under aurora, cub tooth budding. Emotion floods net. Carmilla gestures; net tightens, merges into specter, dissolving bitter shape, leaving only pinpoint of pale light. It floats to flute, sinks in. Wood glows, then dims.
I fall to knees, clutching flute. Wind kicks again, scattering last smoke. Where demon stood, only ash swirl remains. Carmilla kneels, wraps arms round me from side. I lean into her, letting tears slip—two, maybe three—but enough.
Caravan emerges, shaken but alive. Shattered elk pieces gleam obsidian, chilling testament. Carmilla rises, examines glass carcass. “Spore residue negligible,” she assures drivers. “But bury shards beyond farming earth.” They nod rapidly.
I stand, legs trembling yet unbroken. The pouch that once contained shard now ashes. I let them sift through fingers, drifting on gust.
Carmilla touches flute. “He’s free,” she says softly.
“Finally.” Guilt loosens clawing talons inside chest, replaced by ache less sharp. “No more ghost cough for him.”
A roll of thunder booms overhead—real this time. Obsidian thunderheads roil, opening to reveal faint purple lightning lacing across. But valley feels lighter.
“Your grief fed shadow,” Carmilla notes. “Now starvation begins.”
I meet her eyes. “Ready to feed fury into fight instead.”
She smiles—a tired, proud curve. “Council will feel that.”
We spend hour helping caravan salvage cargo. I shift bear-form to drag remaining sledges around glass field. Drivers gift dried peaches in gratitude; sweet taste half-reminds me of summer festivals with Yarrow. Pain flares, then eases—memory stable, not weapon.
As we depart valley, obsidian shards catch stray shafts of sunlight breaking cloud, glinting like dark mirrors. Carmilla walks close, elbow brushing mine intermittently. No words needed. Bond hums steady, anchored by ordeal shared. Every inhale feels deeper.
At ridge crest I glance back one last time. Wind sweeps ash swirl over glass plains, tracing wide arc that looks eerily like child’s grin before dispersing. I lift flute to lips, blow soft note—the tune Yarrow mangled happily. Sound floats, thin yet clear, across valley. Echo returns faint, then subsides.
Carmilla twines fingers with mine for heartbeat, then releases. Ahead, council banners finally rise above tree crowns, green against ominous sky. My shoulders straighten. Grief loop closed, path forward unblocks. War still looms, but ghost has been laid to rest.
We walk, strides synchronized, thunder growling approval overhead.
15
CARMILLA
Twilight Forest earns its name twice: once for the hour-long dusk that seems to linger here regardless of sun’s position, and again for the nacreous haze that filters downward from the canopy, turning every breath violet-tinged. Kylan and I step beneath the living archway of silverwood trunks just as the first council horn calls vespers, the low note rolling through ever-dim corridors like a summons from the marrow of the world.
