I shifted immediately. Barely even comprehending that I’d changed from my human form and was standing there ready. My mind changed, my senses changed. Suddenly I felt the wind blowing on the wind, knew the direction of the sun and the moon, and could hear low murmurs on the horizon. Other wolves and companions.
More importantly, I heard the monster’s heart beating in its chest. A thunderous drum readying itself for battle.
The monster squatted to pounce, marked the earth with its wings… then lunged forward!
Agatha screamed as I launched back at it.
Chapter 16
DION
It was dawn and the sun was readying to rise. We’d been running most of the night following the girls’ trail up the mountain, they’d escaped hours earlier, before we realized they’d gone. Their head start wasn’t too big, but in our haste to follow them, we lost their trail.
Roman sniffed the air, his wolf was off the track and among the rocks. We’d back tracked for half an hour now, having made our way back down the mountain. The only thing for it was that the scent must have blown further up the mountain in the morning breeze.
I could feel the frustration rolling off him. If there was one thing Roman held pride in, it was his tracking.They never went further up the mountain,he growled.He gestured with his head to the side.They left the trail here.
Why?
Roman didn’t reply, but we left the trail. We followed a rock formation that was above us on a jutting peak. A little jagged point that the mountain had pushed out when it was young, it looked like a wolf’s head. It had probably been here when the land was green. When Jebra was known asMahlwreithand the Wolf’s Paw seal flew the winds. When foresight was used to tell the prophecies of all, and the heavens were sung down to the Gardens of the Half Moon. I smiled to myself, despite the damn situation we were in. The tales Roman had told me when I was young were coming alive. Even when we’d come out this far in the Warlands, I hadn’t believed him in all the stories. But now, caught up in my own adventure, I could feel them in my blood. Feel them becoming real.
Which was just as troubling as it was awe inspiring. We’d found Feyra’s letter when looking after her things. It had fallen out one day as we rode and Agatha missed it.
It was then, I realized, that we doubted her. Something in her reaction…Our wolves had both spoken and we’d not listened.
Well we were listening now.
The trail was patchy, uneven and would’ve been hard walking had we been human. But as wolves we traveled easily. Soon a distinctive path came and turned up into a deep cut in the mountain peak. Like a valley, but–
Roman stopped before me, staring at the division in the mountain. His eyes rolled into his skull, showing only the white’s of his eyes. He began frothing at the mouth and his lips curled back in a rictus grin.
Roman!
But he growled, then began speaking.
Sabre’s cleaver clove the mountain in two,
so that my love could travel through.
And when the stars shone down the gap,
Mahlwreith opened up in my lap.
The evil that had lain there long,
Now spread out fingers strong–
A screech rang out into the air!
Then everything went wrong. My hair stood on end and I felt the surge of a powerful wolf shifting.Feyra!Roman went limp and fell to his chest. His eyes roved the interior of his skull as he finished his foresight, but I couldn’t hear him for all the screeching.
Because out of the horizon, and higher up on the mountain, dozens of Merls soared.
Roman!I nuzzled him with my jaw, and nipped his neck. He snapped out of it, his eyes rolling down unnaturally.I’d never seen him gripped by the foresight like this! But he jumped to his feet, his hair standing into the wind and his nose scenting deeply.
Through the gap!
He bounded forward and I followed. I ignored the screeching Merls and only focused on the immense power that I could feel emanating from Feyra. She was pumping out sheer anger and rage. Fear. A feeling of protection. Which meant Agatha was still with her.
