Belis cradled my head in her hands. “Mallt, why did you do it? I could have held him off!”
I smiled, feeling the life blood bubble at my lips. “It was only a little time we had together. I would have liked to be human with you a while longer.”
Her tears dropped onto my face and her hands dug into my shoulders, willing my heart not to stop beating. I could hear the soldiers approaching. Above us Cati clenched her fist around the knife, ready to give the last of herself to protect her sister. I could hear Dormath snarling; the soldier who had grabbed me was now coming towards us. I kept my eyes open, wanting to see Belis as long as I could, wrapping my hand around the hilt of the centurion’s sword.
Then I wrenched it from my chest. Blood poured out from my body, letting the last of my life go with it.
In death I felt my soul rise, detaching from the empty shell that had been my body. I stretched wide, hugging the whole world to my chest. I had not lost my powers, I realised, they had been hidden inside me all along. Belis’s spell had trapped me in a human body but now I was free again. I was Mallt Y Nos, Mallt Nightshade, just as I had always been.
I felt myself sink back into my body, the wounds healing,limbs lengthening and filling with new strength, with old strength. My eyes flickered open as my vision sharpened, bringing the scene into focus. My ears picked up the thrumming of four human heartbeats. I stepped out of my boots and stood proud on the floor of the glade.
I shimmered back into view, standing between the two sisters and the advancing legionaries. I was taller now, towering over them. I called the night wind to me and on it rode my hounds, the Cwn Annwn, baying and barking at the prospect of a chase. Dormath bounded from behind me, almost bowling my coalescing form over as he took his rightful place by my side.
The soldiers stopped short, terror blooming on their faces. I smiled at them, scenting their fear on the air.
“Run!” I hissed at them.
They did not hesitate, spinning like tops and sprinting back into the darkness. I watched them go, swallowed by the night. I watched them go and found I wished them no ill will. The dogs whined beside me but I hushed them. The Nightshade must have no quarrel with the living.
I could sense Belis behind me but found I couldn’t bear to look at her just yet. I bent to embrace my dogs, finding a cwtch, a pat and a kind word for each of them. Dormath pushed his way to the front of the pack and I buried my face in his fur, letting go of the last of my human grief. When I could delay no longer, I turned. Belis was still sitting on the ground, hands stained with the blood that was all that remained of the mortal she had loved so tenderly. Cati had crouched beside her. As I stepped forward the younger girl held out her knife to block my path.
“We want no trouble, lady,” she said, her voice trembling. I bent, batting her knife away as if it was a feather. I reached out to lift Belis’s chin up, meeting those beautiful grey-green eyes.
“So we have finally kept our promises to each other, Princess Beliscena,” I said.
“Mallt?” she said, her eyes full of wonder. “But how…”
“It seems the only thing keeping me from life was death.”
I dropped my hand and straightened up. I still had businessto attend to. I stepped over to where the centurion was lying, choking on his own blood. I could feel the fury within him, and, beneath that, the fear and pain. I understood that better now, carrying the memories of the human feelings with me into my immortal body. I took his hand then laid my palm on his chest. He seemed so very small, just another man dying far from home.
“Time to let go, centurion,” I said and I sank my hand into his chest, pulling out his soul.
His body stiffened and was still. The centurion’s soul sat in the hollow of my hand, twisted and rent with months of grief. I raised it up to my lips, turning to the east.
“Go home, centurion. Your family waits for you on the banks of the Styx,” I whispered, and blew. His soul tumbled away from me, like a leaf on the wind. I watched as it lifted above the trees and was lost from my view.
Chapter 22
The firelight danced over the dogs’ fur as they lay sprawled on the ground. In the centre of the circle of canines lay Belis and Cati, sleeping back-to-back. They had barely been apart since we had left the clearing and it brought joy to my heart to see. Cati was a sweet girl, and though I would have loved her anyway as Belis’s sister, I was growing increasingly fond of her in her own right.
We were up on the hills to the east of Lindum, perhaps a day’s walk from the little port I was leading them to. The horses had recovered from the desperate ride through the rain to the clearing, but we’d had to go slow, only covering a few miles a day. That had suited the Iceni girls, both battered from the fight, but the dogs were desperate for a good run. I hadn’t minded the delay. It had taken me a while to readjust to my old form and I liked to walk beside Belis and Cati as they rode, talking and reminiscing. There had been many tears – Cati was still reckoning with her mother’s death – but some laughter as well and I found the sound of Belis’s voice just as sweet as I had through mortal ears.
Now that I was myself again I could hunt, so we ate well on roasted rabbit and partridge to supplement Belis’s terrible stews. Cati even joined in as I teased her sister, giggling as Belis pretended to take offence. Best of all, restored to my strength, wecould travel without fear. I led the way through the secret woods and paths I had learned through a thousand years of wandering. We stopped to bathe in hidden pools, to pray at long-forgotten holy sites and sleep in sacred groves. With the dogs to stand guard, Belis and I could slip away for a few hours while Cati slept. We didn’t talk much, just held each other in the cool dark of the night.
I knew what she was thinking, that what had happened in the glade had split us apart forever, but I still held onto a tiny kernel of hope, the words I had whispered to the wind seven days ago. Tonight, with the dogs keeping guard over the two precious humans, it was time to chase that hope.
Belis snorted a little in her sleep and huddled deeper under her cloak. For a moment I wanted nothing more than to join her, curling my body around hers and winding a hand in her hair. I turned away; I had much to do tonight. I waded through the pile of dogs and traced her cheek with one hand, the freckled skin soft under my fingers. Then I leapt forward and set off along the spine of the wolds.
Winter had tightened its grip on the uplands and I knew that the air was bitter cold but I could no longer feel it as I once had. The physical memory of freezing blood, of a chill that dug its way into my bones so that I woke cloudy-breathed and shivering was already fading, leaving only the idea of discomfort. Further still was the remembrance of fatigue. Now reborn, I felt I could run forever, could ride the winds to the end of the island.
I slowed to a walk at the south of the wolds, beside a long, low mound of earth. I had been here when it was raised from the ground, to cover a king whose name I had forgotten centuries ago. Another lord now stood atop the barrow.
“Gwyn,” I called out, striding up the slope in a few bounds.
The Lord of the Wild Hunt bowed his great antlered head towards me.
“Well met, Lady Nightshade, I have come alone, as you requested.” His dark eyes glittered in the moonlight as he rose again. “It is unlike you to engage in intrigue. I have not seenyou for months and you send a message on the wind to meet at this deserted heath. I’ll wager there’s a good story behind it?”
