Chapter Twenty-Two
The swarm was easy to keep track of, even with their limited visibility, so they didn’t need to rush after the beetles. Occasionally, a few would come back to Florian, and he would have to re-up the magic that kept them from swarming him instead.
The hill the city was built upon sloped gently into a long valley, where the swarm led them in a meandering path that first headed south, then looped back in the direction of the high hill, moving a bit more west where there was a cluster of smaller hills. Here the soil was rocky and crumbled under their feet, Florian noticed—it was strange, the small things that differed when so much of the biodiversity had been wiped out by the Blight. He could conjure some vague images of different kinds of plants and animals that had once filled their surroundings, but he got the impression that Thaddeus had not committed much about the Summer Court’s flora and fauna to memory.
In the cluster of hills up ahead, Florian could see some beetles disappearing into a deep crack in the earth. As they moved, he thought he could see a golden flicker from within, too. He paused, and the others came to a stop beside him.
“Do you see that?” he said, pointing. “They’re going into a cave or something.”
With their sun-goggles, it was hard to read anyone’s expression, but they were all silent as they looked in that direction. After a beat, Kade nodded.
“I see it,” he said. “We need to be careful. There could be anything in there.”
Florian bit his lip, studying the distant cave. It truly could be anything—probably another Blight monster, considering their suspicion that this last Arrow was on a living creature. Maybe they would be lucky, and it would just be a swarm of those beetles, which seemed pretty harmless and easy to work around, considering how large they were. Somehow, though, he didn’t quite believe it would be so simple.
“How should we do this?” he asked. “I mean, we can try and sneak around the side, but... It’s not like there’s much to hide behind.”
“Definitely come at it from the side,” Koji agreed. “If there is anything in there, at least it won’t see us coming.”
“And we can get a surprise attack off,” Rune added. Florian snorted, glad his sun goggles hid him rolling his eyes.
“Maybe let’s hold off on an attack,” he said. “We don’t even know what’s there.”
“I agree,” Kade replied evenly. “We should be prepared for anything, but an attack might be too much.”
Rune shrugged. “Your call.”
Florian considered for a moment, but before he could say anything else, Kade spoke.
“Let’s all move around to the side and I’ll peek in,” he said, gesturing to the cave opening. “That way, if it is anything dangerous, I can still be the first line of defense.”
“Okay,” Florian agreed, and the others nodded. Kade took the lead as they gave the cluster of hills a wide berth, approaching the cave from the left. When they were only about twenty feet from the opening, Kade held up his hand, and the three of them waited as the wolf shifter continued to creep forward, his steps slow and careful.
As he reached the edge of the cave, one hand settled on the hilt of his sword, he leaned his head forward to peer inside. Florian watched him for any reaction, but with his sun-goggles, he couldn’t make out any changes in Kade’s expression from this distance.
Kade pulled away and turned back to them, opening his mouth as if to speak, but a thunderous roar from within the cave cut him off. All at once, light burst from the cave entrance, more of the golden beetles flying out as if blown back by a heavy gust of wind. Kade jumped away from the mouth of the cave, pressing himself close to the wall even as he drew his sword.
Adrenaline sent a spike through Florian’s chest, and he realized that he’d drawn his sword as well. Then the creature appeared, galloping out from the cave. Even in the blur of movement, Florian could make out three things for certain: the creature was a centaur, it was absolutely massive, and it had the final Arrow sticking out of some part of its face.
He had no frame of reference as to how large a centaur might be, of course, but even so the creature seemed unnaturally large: its lower half was larger than any horse that Florian had ever seen, and its upper half was much longer than a normal human’s torso. Its hooves pounded the ground as it burst out from the cave, drowning out all other noise. For a moment, Florianthought maybe it hadn’t seen them; but it bucked and cantered in a wide circle, turning so Florian could see its face clearly.
He thought the creature was male, judging from its muscled torso and wild mane-like beard, but its face seemed utterly inhuman. The centaur was snarling with rage, but the most prominent feature of its face was the glowing Golden Arrow, sticking out of his left eye socket. Even through his fear of the massive creature, the sight of the Arrow through his eye made Florian shudder. Had it been like that for the past hundred years or more? The pain must have been unfathomable.
“Who are you?!” the centaur snarled, making Florian leap with shock all over again. Of all the Blighted creatures they’d encountered, even the half-shifted panthers, none had ever spoken—and worse, this one sounded clear and lucid. “How did you get here?!”
The centaur had no weapons, but his very presence felt dangerous, and every inch of his body rippled with hard muscle; he may as well have been a tank. Florian’s mouth worked wordlessly as he tried to process what the creature was demanding, and how to answer—all while remaining painfully aware that the creature seemed right on the verge of violence.
“Are you Aderus?” Florian blurted out. He didn’t even remember the name until he’d said it: Aderus had been the representative of the horse shifters, whom Soleil had mentioned in the memory he had of Thaddeus and Soleil in the pond.
The centaur cocked his head, and even with the Arrow in his eye, Florian could see shock cross his face. The creature recognized the name, and that had to be worth something. Hopefully.
The centaur stared at him for a long moment, long enough that Kade leaned closer to Florian and whispered, “What are we doing?”
“Hold on,” he whispered back.
“Stop that,” the centaur snarled, taking a step closer to them. “I am not Aderus. How do you know his name? Who are you?”
“My name is Florian,” he replied, trying to keep his voice cool and even. “I’m the king of the Winter Court. These are my friends from the other kingdoms. King Kade of the wolf kingdom, Prince Koji from the dragon kingdom, and Princess Rune from the kraken kingdom. We’re here to…” He trailed off as the centaur’s expression became enraged again.
