The maid left.
My mother continued to grip my hand just the way she had when I was a frightened boy, afraid of the monsters that wanted to wipe our existence from history.
A moment later, the maid returned and resumed her care, trying to suck the sickness out of the wound, even though she knew it wouldn’t work. Even on a minor cut, it wouldn’t work, not without the medicine that had been taken from us.
Liam came into the room. “Morco, you’re awake.”
“Caius.” I’d said the correct name…or did I hallucinate that?
Liam pulled up a chair and came closer to my side, and as if I had years to live, he took his time giving me the information I sought. “Caius left with Hanne.”
“No.” It was exactly what I’d feared when I didn’t see her at my bedside.
“She said she knows what will save you.”
“I told Caius…” I didn’t have the energy to fight this. They were already gone. It was done. Even if I could get out of bed right now, I couldn’t change what had already come to pass. “How long have they been gone?”
“A day,” Liam answered.
I inhaled a painful breath, hoping they would come back empty-handed, as long they came back at all.
My mother pressed her hand to my chest. “Sleep, Morco. We need you to stay alive long enough for them to return.”
10
HANNE
Slowly and carefully, I removed my sword from the sheath, careful not to let the steel of the blade drag against the exterior and make an audible scratch. My breaths increased, and I tried to slow them as I removed it from its casing, scared these breaths would be my last.
I pulled it free and held it aloft, the blade rusted and ordinary, not adorned with rubies or plated with gold like my father’s. He’d been buried with it, and now I wished I had it with me. I slowly rose to my feet and gripped the hilt of the blade so hard it made my fingers ache. I held it to my chest as I rested my back against the tree, knowing a monster was just on the other side, a creature so foul that it scared a grown man like Caius.
With the weapon clutched to my chest, I breathed, feeling the fear cycle through my body over and over, the rush of adrenaline so heavy it felt like poison in my blood. My entire body trembled, and the terror was so paramount I almost changed my mind.
But then I turned to look at the flowers—and I was so damn close.
I peeked around the tree again, and the creature was still there, its back to me, facing toward the base, seeming to be alone. I took one step and then the next, coming out from safety behind the tree, and I aimed my sword at the back of his neck.
He wore no armor, so if I used all the strength I had, I should be able to impale him through the spine and kill him instantly—so quickly, he wouldn’t be able to make a sound. It was a straightforward plan, but it could still go wrong.
Very wrong.
I gripped the hilt in both hands and raised the sword, the sharp point aimed in the center of his sea of hair. My lungs pulled in the biggest gulp of air I could handle, and I tensed before I launched my attack.
“ROOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR.”
Loud and piercing, the sound echoed through the chasm, bouncing off all the pointed crags and the emptiness between. I gave a gasp of surprise as I stepped back, unsure where else to look but the sky.
The creature’s head turned up.
I should dodge back behind the tree, but I looked up instead and saw a flying creature through the branches. The being was a deep-green color, with razor-sharp points along its back. It was very long and had several sets of wings down its dark body.
Mesmerized by the sight, I was frozen in place, unsure of what I was looking at.
It passed overhead, passed over their base, and continued on.
The creature in front of me moved forward, as if in pursuit of the creature so high in the sky it was untouchable. The sound of the roar must have been so loud that it drowned out my voice and hid my presence. I watched the creature’s heavy body move as it stomped over the roots and the rocks, a massive form packed with muscle and strength, the skin appearing far thicker than my own.
So shocked, all I did was stand and watch him go.
