Chapter 42

CHAPTER 42

We cannot outrun the lykin, so we must outsmart them. The moment Conri finds out we're gone, he's going to throw the entire might of the pack into finding us. So the first thing we must do is use the head start Evander is affording us to our advantage. We move quickly and stay out of sight—give them no reason to suspect us being out of place.

But our lead won't be enough alone. We have…half of an hour? An hour at most. Even without the time spent to save Farkolf, it wouldn't be enough. Conri will be able to make up for that gap in a third of the time. We have to do more.

I pull us behind a tree, both our chests heaving, and glance around. We're running in a wide arc around the camp of Den and haven't seen any sign of lykin coming out this far. But I know they're there. Conri's patrols around Den will only be waylaid by Evander for a short amount of time.

One hand holding Aurora, I grab with the other for a small embroidering of a tree on my cape. I close my eyes, squeezing both and sinking our magic deep into the earth. I hope she's had enough time to recover…

"Brundil, I beckon you. Come forth and lend us your aid," I say softly, curling my toes into the soles of my shoes as though they could sink into the soft soil underneath my boots.

The spirit of earth buds from the thick carpet of shining leaves. Tiny silver tendrils, like roots made of thread, grow in reverse—into the air, rather than the ground. Thousands of them weave and knot together. Thousands more stretch upward, looping and swirling. They take the shape of a living mass. A humanoid tree of silver and magic with wings like sapling boughs and horns of pure crystal.

"I was beginning to wonder if you would call again," Brundil says in her soft, rustling voice.

"I wanted you to save your strength for when the time was right," I say.

Brundil's head turns from me to Aurora. "My friend, are you certain of this path?"

"Only if you are the one to help lay it for me," Aurora says.

"We need to get to the great lake." I keep focused. It's too late now to go back. "If you can, clear the path ahead so we can move without any hindrances. And, when we are gone, churn the earth behind us to hide our scent."

" If I can," Brundil repeats with a scoff. "Remember to whom you speak." Brundil pauses, and contradicts herself slightly when she adds, "Though, to clear your scent from the air, you would need to speak with Zeeb."

"I was worried about that…" Aurora sighs. "He's so flighty."

I can only assume that this "Zeeb" is a spirit of air. "We can make do without him. Getting our scent off the ground will be enough. Scatter fresh leaves from the trees; that will help move the air."

"I will do this, but not for you, human."

"Thank you," Aurora whispers. "I merely want to be whole again."

"You will be." Brundil's optimism fills me with confidence. The spirit turns her attention west, in the direction we were running.

The ground ripples like water, tree roots and branches arching away to clear a path. The trees sway, as though a sudden wind has whipped through their branches. A rain of leaves cascades down, perfuming the air with earthy richness and providing an unexpected screen that will also help conceal our movements.

"Good luck." With the tired remark, Brundil sinks back into the earth.

"Thank you." Aurora and I both express our gratitude and we are off again.

I worry less about keeping our movements concealed with the cascade of leaves. I'm not staring at the ground, stumbling over root and snag. The forest moves around us—accommodating us. The path is laid and all we must do is take it.

As we run, I think of Aurora's first escape. She made it all the way past the Fade on her own. If she could make it so far with such little help, then surely the two of us together can make it to the land of the elves.

I glance her way. She's able to keep up with me without issue. We're both strong and powerful. We're going to make it out of here .

We don't slow as the lake comes into view. We race toward it, speeding into the water. My teeth chatter as I swim along the icy bank. The lake bed drops off precipitously from the shore, plunging into a yawning blackness so complete that it's impossible to see what might be lurking right beneath me.

Conri and Evander's stories of this lake fill my mind. Visions of ghosts and beasts plunged beneath its surface to a haunted, watery grave accompany the thoughts, prompting me to swim even faster. The pace keeps my blood moving and some sense of feeling in my limbs. Though my toes and fingers are almost completely numb.

Still, we swim on.

The magic of the lake makes the water heavy and potent. Our ripples don't reach much farther than ourselves. The splashes are muted. Both sound and sight are dulled from any lykin that could glance this way. I hope that whatever magic is in the water will also help hide our tracks and cover our scent when we finally emerge.

Aurora drags herself onto the distant shore. I drag my waterlogged boots up with heavy steps, turning back to see how far we've come. It's a far distance that we've swum around. We're nearly at the edge of Den. I can see where the silvery trees stop on the ridge high above. The sun has moved through the sky, dipping a bit lower.

"We need to keep going." I reach out a hand to Aurora.

"A moment." She pants, staring up at the sky. "I truly hate this place."

"Do you know what happened here?" I ask, continuing to scan the shores for any signs of lykin. I'll give her the answer before forcing her to move. "You've been around long enough that you would know those early times, right?" It's hard for me to speak, too. But I fight to get my breathing back under control.

"Vaguely. The world was very young then. And I didn't pay much attention to mortals." She stares up at the sky, as if remembering looking down upon the world in those early years. I step into Aurora's field of view and hold out my hand. She stares at it for another few breaths. "Should we stay here tonight? Use the water to our advantage? The banks get steep here…we could find a sheltered, out-of-the-way spot."

"No." I shake my head. The question is genuine enough that I know it's not just exhaustion talking. "It impacts our magic as much as the lykin's." I say "our" but I'm not completely sure if it has any effect on my magic. I do know, however, that it seems to have some impact on Aurora's. "We can't risk being caught at all, but especially not with diminished powers. Moreover, there's the town of Holfast not far from here. Conri will likely have them mobilize first on the roads—watching for us. We need to get across the main road and to the woods before they have a chance to establish proper patrols."

Aurora sits with a nod. She's lived with the lykin long enough to know their ways and all the places I'm mentioning. "Our best bet is through the forest," she says, repeating what we had all agreed upon in the grove.

"With luck, we'll make it before the moon is high." I hold my hand out to her again. It trembles as it hovers in the air.

She stares at it for a moment. "Are you scared?"

"Of course I am." I know what Conri can do—what he will do if we're caught. I am scared for Evander, who is back there with the wolf king, trying to buy us time, trying to navigate the first to be sent out for the woods since he is the one who "knows them best." He was the one who showed me the paths and could suspect where I might go. He'll have the rest of them go to the road and patrol the forest's edge while he escapes to meet us. "I'm also freezing."

"The water is never much warmer than that, winter or summer. But the farther we get from the northern tundra and scars of the ancient battles, the better we'll feel." Aurora takes my hand and I help her up.

"Once more into the water, then we run again."

Dripping wet, we scramble up the steep bank of the hills that lead to the Lykin Plains. We stay low until I have a chance to stand and scan the horizon for signs of movement. The breezes across the grasses trick my eyes three times, causing me to suck in my breath and drop to the ground. But when I dare to stand again, I don't see movement in the same place twice.

"All right, Mary." I kneel to meet the marigold that buds up, turning its petals toward me. "I need your help." I'm leveraging every spirit I have. And none are more loyal than Folost and Mary. "Track ahead of us—we're going to the forest. Warn us if there are any patrols or lykin ahead."

The flower folds back into the earth and then a single one appears beyond where the first was. I stand and approach it. The second flower collapses back under the soil and a third pops up.

"Just ahead, not behind?" Aurora asks.

"We know they're coming from behind. And if they catch up to us, no amount of warning will help us." Though I still have Folost and Devlan I could try and summon, if we had to fight… But my preference is to avoid combat. Not just because I know I am no trained fighter. But also because I still feel Grandma's teaching in my marrow.

The spirits are here to help us—to join our mortal souls with this world. They are stewards of the old gods, their first loyal subjects. Not tools or weapons.

"Right." Aurora nods and looks back toward Den. The silver trees still seem alarmingly close. "Lead on, then."

I follow the path that was seared into my memory, but also the path that Mary leads us on with every bud and bloom. We start off trying to jog at a steady pace, but are eventually forced to slow into a fast walk. Twilight is hazy in the fog of the plains when a line of marigolds stretches before us. I drop instantly, bringing Aurora down with me. Bellies against the grass, we don't move—we hardly breathe—and simply listen.

"…speak to the messenger?" an unfamiliar male voice asks.

"Of course not," a woman scoffs. "I'm not high enough in the pack for that."

"We're looking for a human though?"

"I guess his bride got cold feet." It is clear that the woman thinks my mental state is questionable for not eagerly jumping at the opportunity to marry Conri.

"What else can you expect from a fangless human?"

The voices draw near and swing past. Judging from the sound of boots on hard earth, we're right near the road Evander pointed out to me on our path to Den. I close my eyes and slowly suck in a breath, holding it until their footsteps and voices disappear completely.

Opening my eyes, I meet Aurora's waiting gaze. I give a slow nod. She knows to be even more careful now. Slow and steady. No sudden movements that could make noise. And no talking.

The line of marigolds sinks back into the earth. A single one appears ahead. Safe again…for now.

We move between patrols, crossing the hard-packed earth that's more of a glorified path than a road, and into the tall grasses beyond. I stay bent over and hunched, trying to crawl more than walk so that my head remains below the tips of the tall grasses. But as the land slopes down into the woods darkened with night, my feet begin to quicken their pace. I find energy I didn't know I still had, dredged by hope.

The moment we cross under the boughs of the trees, magic sizzles around my left ring finger. I pick up the invisible thread I laid previously in an instant and follow it like a tether deeper and deeper into the forest. The moon is still two weeks from full, but I don't need much light to see by. I'm drawn by my senses.

"Faelyn." Aurora's voice is distant. It isn't until she grabs my hand that I'm fully aware of her whisper. "Faelyn, we need to rest."

"No," I say restlessly, "We have to keep going until dawn."

"You're shaking. Your lips are blue." She tugs on my hand as if she's pulling my mind back into my body, making me aware of the chill that has soaked through my clothes and into my bones. "We need to get you warm."

"Being warm won't matter if Conri catches us." I shake my head. "And we can't risk a fire tonight. Not this close."

Aurora purses her lips then looks behind us. There's nothing there. There hasn't been for hours. "All right, we don't stop for the night, but we do rest for a little. And you call on Folost; if Conri is close enough to see him, then we've bigger problems."

"Deal. There's a shelter not far from here." I lead us deeper into the woods, angling away from Holfast and toward one of the first ruins Evander and I passed.

The collapsed house feels more like a wooden cave on the inside. It's little more than a nook for us to tuck into. But it gets us out of sight and will hide Folost's flame. I take the scrap of brick that is his anchor from my bag, calling him to us. I swear I can see worry in his golden eyes as I cradle him in my frozen fingers. Aurora leans against me, snuggling close. Between her and Folost, warmth gains purchase in me once more.

I let out a soft sigh. "What was it like?" I whisper. "When you did this on your own."

"Scarier," she readily admits. "I was alone for the first time in centuries. It was as freeing as it was terrifying."

"I'm glad I could be some comfort, then," I say sincerely.

"You and Evander…" She draws her knees to her chest and rests her chin on them. "The first people I could consider friends in years." Aurora laughs softly. "You make me remember why I fell in love with a mortal in the first place. You almost make it hard to leave this world."

Folost seems to lean toward her as his little flame hovers over the stone I still hold above my lap.

"Let's hope not." I stare at the small flame. If I look at Aurora, emotions might take me by the throat. "You're not made for this world—not as you are presently. We must put you back in your rightful place, Aurora. You deserve your power, all of it. To be whole and free."

"I know. But I'll come and visit you." That simple statement draws my attention to her. Aurora stares out into the dark forest.

"What?" I breathe.

She brings her eyes to me with a playful quirk of her lips. "You've interacted with spirits for months here in Midscape and yet you seem surprised? You're right, I wouldn't be as I am now, but I could visit you at first moonlight. I could stroll with you in Den, jumping from beam to beam that pierces the canopies."

"And if I'm back in the Natural World?"

"The moon also rises in the Natural World. It might be harder for my magic to sustain there, but it would not kill me to pay a visit now and again." She pauses. "Do you honestly think you will go back?"

"I don't know," I admit. So much depends on how gaining Aurora's freedom goes. "Would I be able to understand you, then?" I stare at Folost, thinking of how limited our communication was before Aurora's power. When I return the magic in me to her, I'll no longer speak the language of the spirits. Unless…somehow I've learned it after all this time?

Judging from her silence, I probably haven't.

"We will have to see," she admits. "But there are many ways to communicate and only one involves words. You have understood me from the moment we met. I doubt anything will change that."

A smile curves my lips. It's sincere and sad. "Once all this is over, I'd like to see you again. I don't want it to be goodbye between us."

"Then it will be so."

The declaration hangs in the air and we spend a moment sitting shoulder to shoulder, enjoying the comfortable silence and reassurance that the other will be there.

"So much of my life was spent with the love of my family—the love of a soulmate," I whisper. "I never realized how good it felt to have the love of a friend." It is a different balm to the loneliness I felt and feared. One I wish I'd had years sooner.

"That is a lesson we both learned." Aurora tilts her face to the sky. "As long as the moon shines, Faelyn, you will never be alone."

My chest squeezes and I hang my head a moment as the emotions weigh on me. I shift my grip on Folost. Everything I ever wanted is in my grasp. Now I have to make sure no one will take it from me. Ever.

"We should get going again. Thank you, Folost." I dismiss my fiery little friend, pocketing his scrap of brick. Aurora stands also and we begin moving through the woods.

There's no more running. We walk with determination and comfortable silence. But I'm constantly straining my hearing. Aurora's attention continues to dart around, looking for potential threats.

That's why we both glance behind us at the same time the moment we hear the rustle of trees and fallen branches. The heavy footfalls of a wolf's paws are noticeable in an instant. I step in front of Aurora and grab for the brick, ready to call Folost. To fight the only way I know how.

"If this isn't?—"

"I'm not leaving you." Aurora knows what I'm going to say before I do. "We're doing this together, Faelyn. Until the very end."

Please , my heart begs, Please be him.

A dark wolf cuts through a beam of moonlight. A flash of its silver eyes, locking with mine. I inhale sharply and exhale a slight squeak of emotion.

Evander.