She ran against the swarm, following the trail of destruction. They would have come after her, and they did. But Red Highland found them first.
Dyna shouted louder for them, but with no reply. She coughed on smoke and covered her mouth with her sleeve as she kept searching. “Lucenna! Klyde!”
They had to be here.
But if they were, they would have reunited with her by now. Dyna tried to connect with Lucenna’s Essence, but she didn’t know that spell, and the barrier had already fallen into place. Stamping down her panic, she kept going.
Her feet skid to a halt when she came across the body of a massive doglike creature in the middle of the street. Many more of them lay dead, either with missing heads, torn out throats, or gutted. Blood leaked fromtheir brown fur where claws had slashed through them. She looked down at the puddles of blood and noticed the tuffs of black fur and arrows at her feet.
“Zev!” Dyna called again, her voice breaking. “Where are you?”
Black smoke spiraled from the sky as rain came down hard on her, slowly putting out the fires. She kept running and calling for her Guardians.
It was raining so hard it was impossible to know if she was blinded by her tears or the rain. Fear of what she would find made her hands shake as she kept running. The town had been destroyed by spell and fire.
A unit of Shieldmen in their orange cloaks had gathered ahead. She ran toward them, catching their voices.
“Damn elves.”
“They disregard our laws and tear apart our town without a care.”
“All of this to capture one elf?”
“Excuse me.” She pushed past them. “Please let me through!”
Dyna made it through the wall of spectators and came out into the crossroads. She stilled at the destruction. At the blood painting the streets. It poured from the one left lying there.
“No…” She stumbled toward the white horse. “It’s not him. It’s not…”
But Dyna already knew.
She came around and choked back a cry at the sight of Fair. Blood still leaked from the gaping hole in his chest.
Her legs gave out, and she fell beside him. “Fair…”
Dyna shook her head and reached out shakily for her dear friend, but she already knew Fair was gone. Tears rolled down her nose as she brushed his mane away from his blank eyes.
“Is this your horse?” one of the Shieldmen asked. “Do you need help to move it? We must clear the road.”
Help? There was no one to help her. Dyna trembled as she at last met her reflection in the puddle of blood and rain at her feet. And she couldn’t stand what she saw.
Clutching Fair’s head on her lap, Dyna held him as she sobbed.
Every action has consequences.
This one was hers.
PART II
DREAMS
CHAPTER 38
Zev
He was dead. That was Zev’s first thought when he found himself in a white forest. It was perfectly serene. Everything seemed to glow in a soft, silvery light. He winced against the stinging in his eyes and shut them again. But his body ached too much to be dead.
How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was telling Rawn to run before he let the Other take over. He wasn’t sure if it could come out that way without the full moon, but he had done it before.
