I am instantly in my Brag form and galloping to where I last saw her, pounding down the passage.
But there is no sign of my lady.
“Hazel?”
“Here.” Her voice comes from right next to me, but there is only a blank wall.
“I can’t see you,” I growl.
“No.” The twisted form of the Thegn pushes through the stone into the passage. “You can’t see her,” he says. “She belongs to me now, along with the amulet and the sword she carries.”
I lash out a kick at the creature, but it does not connect, instead going straight through.
“When are you going to learn, Warden? I took what I needed from you, and in return you got what you wanted. You don’t get anything else.”
“That wasn’t the deal,” I snarl, attempting, again, to lash out at him with the sharp edge of my front hoof.
The Thegn is not here. It is somewhere else and it has taken Hazel.
“Now, now, Warden. I’m sure you don’t want your pretty mate knowing the truth, do you? And you can keep your secret if you don’t pursue me.” Its shadow face becomes filled with irregular teeth, ones which belong to all the animals in the Yeavering. “I can keep a secret from her, for all eternity.” He laughs, a wheezing and a snorting I had hoped to never hear again. “You’re good at picking powerful beings to become involved with. I will enjoy Hazel very much.”
I launch myself at the Thegn with a roar. It pops out of existence, but above, I hear the sounds of the Barghests howling out a warning.
My hooves are like thunder as I pound out of the dungeon, up into the courtyard, where there is an incredible commotion.
“Warden!” Reavely bellows at me from the steps of his castle keep. I know I agreed not to be in Brag form, but I no longer have a care for what he thinks.
“It has Hazel,” I shout. “The Thegn has my mate.”
A number of the Barghest warriors are looking skyward, and I follow their gaze. On the top of the turret, the Thegn is framed, dark against the sunset. In its claws is my Hazel. She’s limp, like she might already be dead.
All I hear is the thumping of hooves on stone, blood rushing in my head as I race up and up the turret to the windswept top. Behind me are the shouts of the Barghest, which are whipped away as I burst out of the wooden door to find the place empty.
Empty save for the hollow, choking laughter of the Thegn.
WARDEN
It would appear the dungeon in the Barghest’s castle is still a dungeon. It doesn’t matter how much I roar, how many times I strike the iron door with my hooves, I am unable to escape.
Reavely, it would seem, takes a bond very seriously.
My flanks are white with sweat. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t shift back to my more human form. I’m only marginally able to hold onto my Brag form, rather than becoming the Warhorse.
And I want to be the Warhorse more than anything. Feral, wild, uncontrollable. My rage has no bounds. The second I get hold of a Barghest, any Barghest, I will rip them to pieces and stamp those pieces into nothingness.
The Thegn took my mate, and Reavely is preventing me from going after her. From going after it. The longer we are apart, the more my heart cracks into all the pieces.
If only I had never taken what it offered. If only I had been stronger…
“Are you ever going to shut up, Warden?” Reavely asks through a grate in the wall at waist height.
“Come in here and make me,” I snarl, slamming my hoof into the metal grill and getting only a little satisfaction from the fact it moves a bit. “You are keeping me from going after the Thegn.”
“It came for the damned amulet, you horse-headed idiot. It followed you here. Why would I let you go after it? To make things worse?”
“Because it has my Hazel.” My voice cracks. “It has my mate, and she is all that matters. She is everything, the sweetness of a ripe apple, the scent of a summer pasture, the…”
The iron door scrapes open and Reavely fills the empty doorway. He inspects the damage I’ve already done to the stone surround.
