The king rose from his makeshift seat made from a fallen pine. “Is it time?”
The shaman nodded, and the air grew hotter as the karls pressed in, while the royals moved to stand behind him. As the shaman began a low, rhythmic chanting, a haunting awareness rushed over my skin, and I wasn’t the only one who shifted.
As I pulled my legs close, the air flickered, and gasps were heard all around us when the aurora exploded across the sky, our five colors flickering in equal strength. The shaman’s eyes rolled back into his skull, and the words that spilled from his lips became more urgent, louder, until they beat against my eardrums.
I must have moved closer to Darcke, because he gave me a furious look.
As I was about to return it, the world went silent.
The shaman’s chanting, the restless shifting of the crowd, even the wind: all of it vanished as if a heavy curtain had been dropped over the realm.
Then came the darkness. It was so thick, pressing against my eyelids, searching for a way in. I tried fighting it, but it was useless.
My mouth rounded in a silent scream as I fell into a dark void, my stomach surging as I tumbled into nothing and everything at the same time, feeling as if I was drawn down into the crushing black of the sea.
Twenty-Four
Bright light fluttered over my eyelids, and I pried them open to a wide, empty beach where white sand was spread out in each direction, the cerulean sea lapping its shore with soft waves. Summer sun beat down on my skin, and droplets of sweat ran from my temple down my cheek and neck when I pushed myself up.
The smell of salt and wood and flowers filled my nose, and my lips pulled into a smile when one beautiful white fox chased another across the beach, sprinting into the lush woods that stood tall where sand met forest bed.
A groan that didn’t match the calm, gentle nature of wherever I was ripped through the whirling breeze. I spun to find Darcke lying on his back, his eyelids crushed shut and face contorted as if in pain.
Dropping to my knees beside him, I asked, “Are you hurt?”
I searched him for injuries but found none. He didn’t respond, only let out that sound again—a muted cry of fury and despair.
“Darcke!” I shook him. “You need to tell me if you’re hurt.”
“Go away,” he hissed as his features twisted further. “Leave.”
“What’s happened?” I couldn’t remember anything after theshaman’s chanting, but I felt fine—there were no injuries covering my body, apart from the ones I’d caused when Geord and the others tried to come after me.
“I said go,” he replied through clenched teeth.
“I don’t think that’s an option.” I searched the area around us, but apart from the sound of birds’ wings, animal paws crunching leaves, and the wind whistling, it appeared we were alone here.
Something shiny caught my eye. I twisted my body to find one of the chalices the shaman had placed before us burrowed down in the sand. There was a liquid inside, entirely clear, as if it was only water.
As I reached for it, something made the hair on my arms rise, and I closed my hand in the air before touching the gilded object. I tried again, but as soon as I came within an inch of the chalice, my arm jerked back.
“Weird,” I mumbled.
“This has to be wrong,” Darcke said to himself. “This is wrong.”
“What is wrong?” I turned to him again as the sand beneath us shifted at how fiercely his muscles coiled and uncoiled, his body tensing before me like an arrow strung up on a bow.
“This! Everything,” he snarled, before his voice changed and he started speaking in his own language, the words knitting together as if he were singing. His eyes remained shut as sentences spilled from his lips, wrapping around us until they almost mimicked the way the shaman’s chanting had taken over the night.
When his forehead creased, his teeth grinding together, I reached out to touch his face.
Perhaps he had a fever?
Right before my fingers brushed his skin, his hand fisted around my jacket, and the air was forced out of my lungs as he slammed me into the ground, him straddling me, eyes wild as he pressed me down in the sand.
“How did we get here?” Darcke snarled as he leaned in.
My mouth opened and closed a few times as I tried to catch my breath, and my eyes glossed as my body fought for survival.
