12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

A few times, Zylah thought she heard Raif call her name, pain lacing the word, but each time, it was carried away with the wind.

Nothing would make her turn back and help him. Not when Holt was out there, somewhere, and every stumbling step she took was one step closer to him.

But moving was difficult. Zylah didn’t dare reach up to her face to feel for damage, the loss of vision told her enough. All she could make out was light and shadow; twice she had stumbled and rolled and it was a wonder she hadn’t broken her neck. Adrenaline kept her moving, because once the light faded, there would be no distinguishing between anything.

I’ll find you , she promised Holt silently, even though their bond remained silent. A flicker of warmth followed her vow, and though Zylah knew she was imagining things, it urged her on all the same.

She was going to need a plan, to find her friends somehow. Contact her brother in Virian. Rin and Kej and Nye, if they’d survived the mine. The thoughts were sluggish, but they forced her to keep going, to not let her brain catch up with her exhausted body. The shadows had begun to change, still white, snow covered, but as they rose up before her, Zylah slowed. It could take hours to find a way through, or worse, over, and she didn’t have hours until darkness fell.

Snow crunched at her back and Zylah whirled, sword drawn. A glimmer of yellow amongst grey. A puff of breath. The cyon wolf. Caught between exhaustion and delirium, Zylah sheathed her weapon. There would be no winning if the beast wanted to attack; she could see nothing but shadows, the day drawing to a close.

“I’m sorry,” she told it quietly. “About your friend.” Its mate, some quiet part of her suspected, her heart squeezing at the thought. She sagged to her knees, fingers sinking into cold snow. “I can’t see,” she said weakly as the shadow approached, her body aching with the effort of staying upright. “I can’t fucking see, and my”—a shiver cut through her—“ my …” Zylah’s voice broke on the word. The wolf stalked closer, close enough she could feel its hot breath huff over her skin. “Holt,” she breathed, sagging into the snow, eyes falling shut.

Icy wetness pressed into her cheek; wind blew the hair from her face. Get up. Get up. Get —something nudged her, and Zylah mumbled as it did it again. The cyon wolf. Not eating her. Prodding her, gently but firmly, urging her to rise.

“Okay,” Zylah croaked warily. Another prod. “Okay, okay, alright.”

It tugged at her cloak this time, pulling her to her feet. Zylah swayed, fingers grasping for purchase and finding soft fur. The wolf remained a firm presence at her side, even when she leaned into it to keep from falling back to her knees. When it seemed satisfied she was standing, it moved slowly, just enough for Zylah to stumble along beside it.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

Her thoughts drifted to Pallia. Her grandmother. Ranon seemed convinced she was alive, had all but confessed he’d been able to see the world somehow from the confines of his tomb. All that power at his fingertips, and he needed Pallia. It didn’t add up.

Zylah half stumbled, half propped herself up against the wolf’s flank, following alongside it for what felt like hours before the shadows seemed to swallow them whole. Daylight had gone, and she knew she probably wouldn’t make it through the night. But almost as soon as she’d finished the thought, the wind stopped, the air stilling and changing, her feet pressing against rock. Another cave.

If she had the strength, she would have laughed with relief. The wolf led her deeper into the cave, but the frigid air still followed them. Zylah was far too weak to call anything to her, a change of clothes, a blanket. And there was no chance of making a fire. But there was no sense in voicing any of those concerns.

She slumped to the ground, hands wrapped around herself as if they might stave away the cold that had her body trembling. A blur of yellow filled her vision. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save her,” she whispered.

The wolf whined, and Zylah blinked against the sting of hot tears pressing against the corners of her eyes. Violent shivers shook her body and she rubbed her hands together, blowing weakly against her fingers. The wolf padded around her, whined softly, and then curled its body around hers.

Warmth seeped into her until she stopped shaking, the wolf’s breaths steadying as it seemed to fall asleep. “Thank you,” Zylah murmured again, before sleep pulled her under, too.

Sharp pain snapped Zylah from her slumber, a whine she felt in her bones, and a soft blanket tickling her face. She sat up, hands clutched to her chest, breaths short and sharp, and remembered she couldn’t see.

The blanket moved, just as another stab of pain twisted through her heart. Holt. The wolf whined again at Zylah’s gasp, a nose nudging her arm. “I’m alright,” she told it. “Thank you.” Alright was a stretch. She still couldn’t see. Everything ached. But at least she still had all ten fingers and toes; her clothes were dry. Thanks to the cyon wolf curled around her, the soft lapping sounds telling her it was licking at its paws as if it didn’t have a care in the world.

She reached a hand to her face, fingers tentatively touching at the wounded skin and sucked in a breath. Nothing good came of her investigation. If she could only evanesce, but nothing responded within her when she tried. It was too much magic. Zylah rested her fingers against her marred skin, willing her healing magic to pour from her fingertips. But nothing happened. Her vision remained unchanged and she tried to smother the flare of panic that threatened to rise to the surface, the possibility that she might be permanently blind.

Summoning she could manage, so she stole once more from the Aquaris Court, sending a silent apology to its High Lord and Lady for the theft. A hunk of bread, a few pieces of brin fruit for the wolf. It sniffed at them a few times until the rhythmic sound of chewing filled the cave.

There was no doubting she wouldn’t have made it without the beast. With little magic and barely any provisions, her prospects were bleak. That was before she considered her fractured vision. But Zylah wouldn’t let it deter her. Not now. Not when she’d come so far.

She took stock of what she had. Her sword, though it would do little good to steady her. The spear she’d shoved into the water serpent’s scales, however, would suffice. The gloves a friend had gifted her once. Zylah crawled from the wolf’s flank to summon them, pulling on the scraps of fabric, and reaching for the spear for support.

Behind her, more shadows. Ahead, light. Zylah stood at the mouth of the cave, dragging the spear across the ground before her as she moved. She couldn’t risk going back in the direction she’d come, but there was no way of knowing which way that was now.

Sunlight warmed her skin and Zylah closed her eyes against it, her thoughts focused entirely on Holt. “Where are you?” she murmured, turning slowly, hoping to feel something, anything to guide her in the right direction. Nothing answered. Zylah sucked in a deep breath, checked her step, and set out slowly into the snow.

A nose nudged at her elbow.

“I have to find him,” she told the wolf, even though she knew it couldn’t understand her. It tugged at her cloak, pulling her in the opposite direction to the one she’d set off in. Zylah loosed a sigh. “Fine.” This was going to be damned near impossible. And the moment the wolf got bored, she’d be on her own. Still, Zylah offered it another quiet thank you, nonetheless.

They walked for hours, the wolf a steady presence at her side the entire time. There had been no change in her vision, no change in her magic, no reassuring feeling within her that Holt was alive somewhere. Just the wind roaring in her ears, the wolf’s steady breaths mingling with her laboured ones, and the occasional bird cry. Not Kopi’s, though. Mercifully, no fresh snow fell, the sun’s gentle rays softly warming her cheeks.

She stopped only to eat a brin fruit, offering another to the wolf before pressing on. Moving with the spear became easier, her movements more confident with each stumble, and her stance adjusted. Zylah worked on her plan as she moved: first, she would find out where the fuck she was. Then she would find a way to travel to whichever was nearest: Virian or the Aquaris Court.

Laydan had stolen both the key and a book from the Aquaris Court: the key to Ranon’s tomb, and the book… it was clear now that it belonged to Ranon, that Aurelia had used it to set him free… but perhaps there was more to it. Pallia tied into all of it, and for the first time, Zylah questioned why it had been her grandmother to seal Ranon in his tomb and not any of the other original Fae.

The sun had long since fallen too low in the sky to offer any warmth, and when the shadows began to lengthen and the day again slipped away from them, a distant sound had the wolf pausing beside her.

“What is it?” Zylah murmured, her grip tightening on the spear. The wolf growled almost inaudibly, and then it was gone, a shadow bounding away from her against the stark white snow.

Zylah gripped the spear with two hands, a shrill cry in the air that sounded too much like an Aster. Shit. She stood no chance against an Aster like this. The cyon wolf snarled, and then a rhythmic sound drew closer, something that was almost like—Zylah whirled. Wings.

She lashed out with her weapon as a shadow approached from the air, something shrieking as the tip of the spear struck true. There was no hesitation as she slammed it into the snow, yanking her spear free as another shadow swung for her with a screech.

Wings beat around her, claws tore at her clothes, her hair, her face, but Zylah fought back at each shadow, slashing at some, missing others entirely. Two more she impaled in the snow, her grip on the spear slipping as warm liquid dripped over her hands. Blood. Hers or theirs, Zylah wasn’t sure as another of the things swiped at her cloak and she drew her sword, slashing at the shadow until it fell.

Shadows marred the snow and Zylah pivoted, sword raised to search for any more in the skies, to listen for the steady beat of wings. But all she heard was a howl. The cyon wolf called out, and then another, farther away, answered.

A shadow thudded towards her, a blur of yellow as the cyon wolf stalked around her and stood close. Zylah called her spear to her hand to steady herself, the other firm around her sword. Whatever was coming, she’d give it her best fucking shot.

The wolf snarled at her side in warning. And then more of the things descended.

Zylah thrust her spear into the first shadow that approached, slashed her sword at the second. The wolf whined somewhere nearby, but Zylah didn’t falter, couldn’t when there were so many of them. So many all she could do was slash and strike, slash and strike. Another growl sounded, but it wasn’t the wolf, something more feline, and it took Zylah a moment to realise it fought at the flying shadows with them until there were no more around her but the ones lying still in the snow.

The cyon wolf whined and a hiss answered. Like the one a very large cat might make, followed by a burst of light and—“Imala’s tits, Zylah, look at you.”

Zylah almost dropped her sword. Choked back a sob as she took a tentative step towards the voice. “Kej?” Her stay at the Aquaris Court had not been a long one, but Kej and his twin sister Rin, even their stern cousin, Nye, had all been kind to her.

“What have they done to you, Zy?”

The nickname had a laugh bubbling up from her as she sheathed her sword and held out a hand to her friend. “You should see the other guy.”

Kej slammed into her, strong arms banding her waist, and Zylah let her friend sweep her off her feet. “We thought you were fucking dead.”

“So did I,” she admitted. “How did you find me?”

“Kopi.”

Zylah smiled at the thought. “Rin, Nye, they’re alright?”

Kej rumbled an affirmation. “Two days south from here. Daizin and I went on ahead to follow Kopi’s trail as soon as he found us.”

“The other wolf,” Zylah mused.

The Fae made a shocked sound. “Dee won’t like you referring to him as the other wolf.” A bemused tone edged her friend’s words.

Zylah wished she could see Kej’s face in that moment, see a warm smile. “Are there more of those things?” she asked as the adrenaline from fighting began to wear off, wounds making themselves known with stabs of pain.

“They’re all very dead at your feet, Zylah. Daizin’s running a perimeter check, I took out a few, and you and your friend here made short work of the rest.” Another whine sounded from the wolf.

“Where is he?” Zylah asked, her voice trembling. So many shadows at her feet, and something told her one of them was the wolf.

Kej’s fingers curled gently around her elbow. “Here.” He led her a few steps, then tugged her down beside him.

“How bad is it?” she whispered, dread coiling in her gut as her fingers curled in the wolf’s fur.

“Bad,” Kej said softly. He didn’t ask if she could heal it the way she’d healed Rin back at the Aquaris Court; it would have only taken one look at her to know she lacked the ability she’d once possessed.

She couldn’t see anything other than the dark expanse that was no doubt fur matted with blood, but she knew that yellow eye watched her, just as its mate’s had. “Go and be with her,” Zylah told it gently. The wolf whined, his breaths rasping, heartbeat slowing.

She knew the moment it stopped beating, whispered her quiet thanks as she stroked its fur.

Kej rested a hand on her shoulder. “We need to get out of here.”

The cyon wolf had watched Rhaznia tear out its mate’s heart and kept fighting anyway. Fought until it’s very last. Zylah staggered to her feet, warm tears trailing down her cheeks and blew out a breath. She offered her friend a nod and let him quietly lead her away from the shadows at their feet.