She stood frozen, staring back at the cyclops. It grumbled something she didn’t understand and then its massive face disappeared. Seconds later its fingers poked inside. This forest was a nightmare, a terrifying nightmare. Layala drove her dagger into its flesh. It howled and jerked its hand back. The entire tree shook over and over as the beast slammed into it. The roots snapped and tore as it began to lift free of the ground. Dirt and debris and insects landed on her head. She squealed, batting the crawling things away and darted between the cyclops’s legs. In a full sprint she ran, no destination in mind just to get away. I have to get out of here! She risked a glance back. The eleven-foot cyclops was still fighting against the tree. The breath stole from Layala’s lungs when she slammed into something hard.
Hands wrapped around her arms and held her steady. “It’s me. Fennan!”
Wild-eyed she stared at him, hardly believing it. “Fennan?” she touched his face and then pulled away. “Oh, thank the Maker. I got lost then there was this huge scorpion and then a cyclops and I had to use my magic.”
He nodded. “I’ve seen them. We need to get out of this forest.”
Piper came into view holding the reins to Midnight; Tif sat on his back. “We thought you could use some help,” Piper said. Layala ran to her and wrapped her arms so tightly around her, Piper wheezed, “Can’t breathe.”
With a smile she looked around expecting to see Thane. She missed him. The constant ache had yet to yield. She needed to apologize to him, beg for his forgiveness. It was wrong of her to leave him like she did. After days alone to think, she understood why he lied. A sinking feeling intensified the longer she searched and found no one else.
“He’s not here,” Fennan said gently.
“Oh,” she breathed. A dull ache began throbbing in her chest.
The forest floor shook when the tree the cyclops fought with hit the ground. It sniffed and bent down.
“It’s realized you’re not in there. We need to go,” Piper said. “Get on your horse. We’ll come back when it’s light.”
Fennan put his hands out for her to step and mount Midnight. “What about you two? I’m not leaving you.”
The cyclops turned and narrowed its one eye on them, speaking inaudible jargon.
“We have horses,” Piper shouted as she ran. Fennan smacked Midnight’s hindquarter and started running beside them. A pair of horses grazed next to a tree ahead. Both Fennan and Piper leapt and kicked their horses into a gallop in one easy fluid motion. Holding tight to the reins, she followed them, trusting Midnight to see any protruding roots or rocks. When they burst through the edge of the forest and into the open, Fennan and Piper pulled their horses to a stop. “Why are we stopping?” Layala asked, tugging back on Midnight. “They could follow us.”
Fennan stood in his stirrups and looked back. “They can’t leave the forest’s edge. It’s enchanted. We’re safe here.”
“I didn’t see anything like that when Thane and I went last time.” It struck a chord in her to even say his name so casually. To think of the time they spent together and she threw it in his face as if it meant nothing. “Also, in case you’ve forgotten…” Layala looked around worried. “I used my magic. We’re not safe.”
Piper pushed wild red hair out of her face. “The creatures of this place were cursed to die by sunlight, so it is only the dark we fear when going inside. But we could go back to the castle to avoid pale ones. It’s not far.”
Fennan groaned, running his hand down his face. “Then we’d have to deal with Orlandia and explain why we left Thane.”
“We make camp here then,” Piper said, dropping to the ground.
“Is she not better than facing pale ones?” Layala stayed firmly in her seat, eyes searching the dark around them.
“No,” they said in unison.
Even Tifapine joined in on that statement. “She’s mean, most especially when it comes to King Thane and his safety.”
Layala couldn’t help but laugh and she slid off Midnight. “You three are more afraid of Thane’s mother than pale ones? That’s saying something.”
“Not afraid of dying but you haven’t seen her angry.” Piper sat in the grass and laid back. “I’d rather fight pale ones. Besides, we only killed two on the road. I doubt there are any nearby here. They don’t come this far north.”
Still on his horse, Fennan trotted over to the old tree and hacked at some branches.
“I’m exhausted.” Piper crossed her ankles and kept her arms flat against the grass at her sides. “Layala, you are relentless. We followed your trail. Did you even sleep in the last two days?”
Sitting cross-legged in the grass, Layala glanced back at the forest, not trusting that something might not come out. She’d been scared many times in her life but fighting a giant scorpion was at the top of that list. Just the look of its beady black eyes and those pincers, she shuddered. Nightmarish. “I don’t have time to sleep. We have three days.”
Piper closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. “We have less than three days. Thane will take his own life on the morning of the third day. He won’t risk turning into a pale one.”
Her insides churned and nausea rose in her throat. Layala looked at the forest once again, this time with different eyes. Perhaps it was worth risking to gain more time. The sun wouldn’t rise for six more hours.
“Don’t even think about it.” Fennan approached with an arm full of branches. “We could spend all night fighting our way to the portal. We wait until first light. You should sleep. I’ll stay awake.”
“He would do that? He would really—kill himself?” she whispered.
“Wouldn’t you?” Fennan asked. “It won’t matter. I have faith that the Maker will lead us to our salvation. We will find a way to save both of you. Thane is the closest friend I have left. Osric is gone. I won’t lose my other brother.”
They were both quiet as Fennan hit two stones together creating sparks. One caught and flames slowly grew among the dry grass and branches.
“Is he upset?”
Fennan gave her a long hard stare. “What do you think? You told him you didn’t love him and left on what he believes is a fool’s errand. He thinks you left him to die alone.”
Her chin trembled. “That’s not what I did. I want to save him. I—I didn’t want him to follow me. He’s done enough, sacrificed enough for me. I don’t deserve it.”
“So, you wounded him more deeply than anyone ever could have, instead.”
A tear trickled down her cheek. Tif put her tiny hand on Layala’s knee and patted gently.
Fennan walked over and put an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t cry. I know why you did it. He’s too close to the situation to be able to see it clearly.”
“When we break this bond,” Piper sat up and pulled dry grass from her already unruly hair, “will you come back with us?”
Layala shrugged. “I don’t know.” She wanted to but it would be impossibly hard to face Thane and never get to be with him.
“Because it isn’t only Thane you’d be leaving. You’d leave the Ravens and us. You’d be leaving our people.” Piper’s eyes were filled with emotion. “And the pale ones will never stop hunting you.”
Sometimes she wondered if it would be better if she died, as long as she didn’t take Thane with her. The groups who wanted her dead weren’t entirely wrong. She was the weapon that could be used to bring back the Black Mage. “What did you find out about the person who shot me?”
As he dug through the pack on his horse’s backside Fennan answered, “At first, I thought the assassin was one of ours. It was one of our own arrows. But Aldrich found a tree broach, a type of tree that only grows in Calladira. I think it was a woodland elf. And I believe Thane was the end target. With Tenebris dead and Thane having no heir, they know if he died, we’d be vulnerable. They would try to take Palenor.”
She thought back to when they’d come up against the group of them after meeting with Mage Vesstan. One had been scared enough to piss his pants. It made sense they’d want him dead. “Even with the war against pale ones?”
“Even then.”
“But why did they leave me there alone? Why did it look like they wanted to kill Talon?”
“Aldrich was scouting the woods around you two and said he chased the shooter but lost him,” Piper answered. “And the assassin probably wanted to kill both of you, given that Talon is an heir too. I was a little too harsh to blame her so quickly.”
“So, we are at war with Mathekis and the pale ones, and Calladira,” Layala sighed as anxiety crept up in.
“It’s no longer small squabbles over land,” Fennan said darkly. “They tried to assassinate our High King and you. They will pay dearly.”
The conversation ended on that note and Layala allowed herself to doze off again. Her dreams were filled with the many ways Thane could kill himself and each time, she was there as the knife plunged or as he drank the poison but never in time to stop him. But she was there to watch him die in her arms where she’d soon follow him to the afterlife.
Even as she rode behind Piper and Fennan into the terrifying woods, all she could think about was the horrid dreams she had. She was so caught up in her thoughts it wasn’t until they reached the portal that she realized how far they’d gone. Piper and Fennan dismounted and waited on her. “You’ll have to activate it. Only a mage can,” Piper said.
Tif whimpered as she poked her head out of the bag. “Be careful.”
Remembering what it was like the time before, Layala tentatively touched the rounded stone archway. It stirred with a soft voice and a quiet wind picked up. “Hello again, Layala Lightbringer.”
“Can you take us to the Sederac Mountains?”
“Perhaps,” it cooed. “What for?”
“To find the dragon shifter Varlett. Please, it’s to save Thane.”
“She will not willingly give you what you seek,” the soothing voice said, as if it could read her mind.
“She doesn’t need to be willing. I will get it.”
There was a long pause and then the pull of the portal draining her magic activated with a swirling pool that looked similar to water in the center of the stone ring. “Good luck.”
The four of them stepped through into a wind so cold it burned Layala’s lungs.
