Captain! Yaelic’s shout reverberates in his mind. Wake up. Come back to the present. Get out of Valkesta, there’s nothing left for him there.
But Yaelic’s voice is so loud in his mind, so real, so vivid. It thickens in his throat, their connection. It burns in his gut. Basuin tears out of his tent, chest heaving. His stomach is twisted, his lungs empty. Wake up. He ducks into the tent nearest to him, rubbing remnant tears from his eyes. Wake up!
It’s empty. Yaelic is missing. He’s not dreaming anymore.
“Yaelic!” he shouts into the woods. A shake rattles through his bones as he pulls back the flap of Ren’s tent. She’s there, Qia wrapped in her frail arms, sleeping on. Basuin pauses, waiting to see if she breathes. And she does—chest rising and falling slowly.
“Yaelic!” he calls out, standing in the middle of their camp. Then, he rushes to the edge of the forest. “Yaelic,” he warbles into the darkness.
A shadow moves through the trees and Basuin prays it’s his little wolf. But the figure is too tall, and when the light from the waxing moon hits his face, it’s only Ko.
“Am-ga?” he asks, nose wrinkled from being woken. “What is wrong?”
Bass’ eyes are wide and wild. “Have you seen Yaelic?”
Ko shakes his head and Bass paces. He has to find Yaelic. That dream—I’m in a cage, I can’t get out. It thrums through his head and he clutches his hair in his hands. He hears it, the same soft echoes he’s heard before. Before, when Yaelic bound himself as Basuin’s charge. How clearly he spoke to Bass without words at all.
Yaelic, he thinks. Yaelic! he shouts into the blackness of his mind, trying to reach the little wolf pup. Yaelic, where are you?
I’m here! Yaelic’s voice stretches across the blank space of Bass’ head. Captain, they have me—please, help me!
Where? Bass rushes to his tent, fumbling with his shirt and leather armor.
I don’t know. I snuck out and—and they found me and—I’m sorry, I’m sorry. His voice is a whine of fear. He can’t stand the sound of it. Yaelic whimpers again and it brings red magic to gather in Bass’ hands. Into the hole of his chest.
And in that hole, the wolf-man howls until there’s nothing but red left in Bass’ world. Nothing but red. There’s a thread of it, through the forest. The wolf-man paws at the ground and snarls against his ribcage.
Don’t worry, he tells Yaelic. I’ll find you.
Yaelic cries, I’m caged. Please, Captain.
Wait for me. I’m on my way.
He’s knotting his boots when Ko pushes his tent flap out of the way, revealing a half-woken Haaman still rubbing sleep from their eyes.
“What’s happened?” Ko asks, dark eyes weary and brows drawn in worry.
“Yaelic’s been captured.”
Haaman’s beady, gold-ringed eyes widen into pucks. “Where?”
Bass jerks his chin in the direction that the wolf-man pulls him toward. There’s no time for words. Then, he slings his harness on and buckles his sword to his back. There’s no time to waste. There’s no time when someone’s been captured, made a prisoner of war. Tomaas didn’t last. This could be a trap, just like Valkesta was.
But it didn’t matter then; it doesn’t matter now. Not for Yaelic’s life.
It will be different this time. Basuin is a god. He was deified to protect. It will be different.
Haaman shoves their feet into a pair of boots and ties their hair back, dagger already strapped to their ankle. As they head for the woods, Ko catches Haaman by the arm to pull them into his embrace. As quick as he can, Ko presses his lips to Haaman’s temple, then lets them go.
No words are shared. There is only silence. Bass walks, spine straight and marching the way he was taught to, trained to, toward Yaelic.
He flexes his hand. His nails have curved into claws.
Chapter 29
The camp where Yaelic was taken to is miles away. Basuin finds the tracks of horses leading through the forest, his hand lit with red magic. But wolves are faster than horses. And Basuin is faster, yet. He won’t let them have Yaelic.
Basuin runs like he ran in Valkesta. Like he’s running out of time. He sprints through the trees, breaks through the forest. Like Tomaas is already dead, Sa-cha help him. Aless’ head is seven feet away from her body, her blonde hair dyed red with her own blood. And Isaniel is—
