Chapter Twenty-Nine

I don’t have the words to reply to that; at least, nothing that I feel would be enough. I know he’s seen some shit in his life, and I know he can remember it all vividly. He doesn’t get to view things through the hazy lens of time that the rest of us take for granted. So instead, I reach across the table and grasp his hand, surprised when he flips it over and threads his fingers through mine, squeezing tightly, and the fire that sparks between his horns does that slow smoulder thing that I have no idea what it means. After that, we finish the food quickly, all feeling tired thanks to the long journey and the excursion to kill my father. Not to mention that we were already running on empty before that, thanks to the assassination attempt and meeting Ryu.

By the time I get up to the room, any awkwardness that I felt at sharing a room with Loki and how it was going to work is completely dissipated, and I fall into bed. Lifting the covers when Loki stands there looking awkward and like he’s going to fall asleep at any moment as he sways on his feet. The bed bounces as he falls in and settles. I don’t even think of pretending to protest as he pulls me to his side, and I lay my head on his chest, falling asleep to the sound of his heartbeat below my ear. It fleetingly occurs to me that I should probably warn him that I have very loud nightmares, but I’m fast asleep before I can even get the words out.

**********

We start off early the next morning, early enough that the sun is only just starting to peak over the horizon, and although I slept well last night, I’m still yawning and wishing I had a second cup of coffee. I’m riding at the back of the procession today and turn around in my saddle to look back at the tavern longingly.

“What the fuck,” I loudly exclaim, causing Revel to shift underneath me thanks to the loud outburst.

“What’s happened? Are you alright?” Rival barks, turning his horse around and scanning the area for threats.

“The tavern’s gone,” I point to where the tavern we literally just left was and the empty field that now stands there.

“Erm, what the flying fuck?” Loki states eloquently.

“Where’s it gone?” Zev asks, looking around like he might find it.

“Maybe it was another one of those gifts from the Fae Realm?” Mayhem suggests sceptically.

“But wouldn’t that mean the people, the building, and everything that was in there weren’t actually real?” Rival asks.

“Well, they were but not in the same sense that we know them to be. It would explain why the cook could touch the envelope and why the horses so easily followed the stable boy. They recognised the place for what it was.” Mayhem suggests.

“That’s just . . . I don’t think I can wrap my head around that this early in the morning.” I reply, facing forward again.

“I think we might just have to get used to the Fae Realm doing strange things while we’re doing the games,” Mayhem theorises.

“Let’s set off and see if we can help this Void beast,” Storm suggests, and we start off again, my mind whirling with the possibilities and how real everything felt at the tavern. I suppose it was, just not in the way that we’re used to things being real. Now my brain hurts; I think I’ll just leave that as one of the things that simply is and not try to work out the how behind it. We travel for a while in silence, all of us lost in our own thoughts. I enjoy taking in the scenery as we travel past a vast river, following Storm as he leads us down the dirt tracks, seemingly taking turns at random. We come across a couple of merchants travelling in the opposite direction, but they ignore us, and we ignore them. Eventually, we come to a barely-there path leading into the dense forest. It’s tight enough that we can only just fit the horses down it and have to slow to a walk so that it's safe.

“What if we can’t subdue it?” Killian asks. “It’s beyond scared by this point, and we have no idea how long it’s been out here. We do know that since it’s arrived, it's pretty much been attacked continuously. The likelihood of it stopping and listening to us is pretty slim.”

“We need it to come willingly.” Rival answers in agreement, “We don’t even know how big it is or what it looks like; it could have any number of defensive mechanisms that we’ve never seen before. I don’t like the lack of information we have about it.”

“I think that’s the point, though. In our jobs, we aren’t always going to have all the information, and we’re going to have to work out with all the information we do have. The Warrior games are a test after all, and the Fae Realm wants the best of the best to help protect it, and the other Realm’s as well.” Loki suggests.

“You’re right. I just don’t like not having all the information, especially when it comes to unknown creatures,” Rival replies.

“We know, mate,” Reaper grins.

“We need to make sure that we try everything we can without harming it,” I start to explain, “as soon as one of us hurts it, we become as bad as all the other people who have done the same, and we have absolutely no chance of getting it to trust us.”

“That’s an excellent point. Everyone needs to be using as many of their evasive skills as possible.” He turns to look at Zev, “Don’t take this wrong, but I don’t know you well enough to know your strengths and weaknesses. How’re your evasive skills?”

Zev smiles, unbothered by the question, “They’re one of my biggest strengths. I’m sure Farren has told you how I use my sight in a fight to predict my opponent's next move? Well, along the same lines, I use the same method but to avoid attacks rather than plan my own.”

“That’s seriously impressive,” Killian compliments.

“It’s even more so when you’re actually in a fight with him, I can change my mind halfway through a move, and he’ll mostly still catch it,” I add.

“I can see how you got into the academy,” Reaper says, looking impressed.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how having a Head Seer trained as an Enforcer is going to work out. I don’t think there has ever been one before.” Mayhem ponders.

“I have a feeling that there’s a reason why there is one now,” Killian interjects, in a way that lets us know that he has seen something.

“We got off track. Farren, am I right to assume that you need the Void beast compliant in order to take it back to the Void?” Storm asks, steering the conversation back on track as we take a turn and end up walking through a wide cavern cut straight into the base of what I’m assuming is a mountain.

Up until this point, we’ve been walking through dense forests hence why we’ve been able to talk because we can’t have the horses go any faster than a walk. The trees are packed so closely together that I can’t see the tell-tale sign of the mountain, just the vegetation all around us and the opening to the cavern. It doesn’t look like it leads anywhere, but I’ve followed Storm enough times now that I trust his judgement. He throws a couple of witch lights into the air, the glowing orbs helping to guide our way through the dark cavern and casting a soft glow around us.

As we follow him into the wide opening, I answer, “Obviously, I’d prefer that it came willingly. It would make it a hell of a lot easier, but I think I should be able to pull it into the Void with me so long as I’m touching it. As Rival said before though, it could have defensive mechanisms that we know nothing about, including ones on its skin, so it would be easier if we can get it to listen and follow me willingly back into the Void.”

“We’ll consider that the last resort then. We also don’t know how it will react to being forced to travel somewhere. If it doesn’t recognise where it is straight away, then it will most likely attack, and I’m not willing to risk you.” Killian replies firmly.

“Sounds good to me,” I reply.

I have absolutely no issue in not getting eaten by a Void beast. I’m kind of hoping that because the creatures I encounter leave me alone when I’m in the Void, it will somehow recognise me and not attack, but that’s a really big what if, and we aren’t going to know how it will react until we actually come to face to face with it.

“How long until we get to the other side?” Loki asks.

The cavern and tunnels leading off it are wide enough that two of us can ride side by side down it. The walls are rough grey and white stone with veins of black and red running through them. Storm is picking the tunnels with a precision that only he seems to understand, and I wonder if maybe it was depicted on the map that only he got to see before it burned up in Killian’s hand.

“We’re not going out the other side,” Storm answers distractedly as we get to an intersection of tunnels, and he looks either way before deciding, pulling gently on the reins and guiding his horse down the left one, which slopes down.

“What?” Loki asks.

“According to the map we got at the tavern last night, the Void beast is in these tunnels somewhere.”

“That makes sense. These tunnels probably remind it of home,” I mutter.

“Any idea how much further we’ve got to go?” Zev asks.

“No, but I’m guessing it's not too far,” Storm says grimly as he guides his horse around something on the floor, and we all follow single file.

“Oh, gross. Are those bodies?” Loki asks.

I look down as I pass the pile of licked-clean bones on the floor with fairly large teeth marks in them.

“Looks like it. From the teeth marks, I think it's safe to assume the Void beast is fairly large.” I reply.

“I know it might’ve been unlikely, but I was kind of hoping it would be the size of a cat or something,” Loki replies wistfully, and I chuckle.

The tunnel is still sloping downwards slightly and beginning to get narrower.

“Maybe we should’ve left the horses at the entrance?” Mayhem mutters into the silence.

“It’s too late now, they won’t be able to turn around in this tunnel, and we all know they aren’t great at walking backwards.” Rival points out.

“Hopefully, it’ll open up into a cavern or something, and they can turn around and escape back out before the Void beast decides to snack on them,” Reaper adds.

“Silence from now on; I think we’re getting close.” Storm orders before turning to look at Reaper, “does Ryu understand that he’s not to interfere unless given a direct order?”

“Yes, he’s not happy about it, but he’s been listening. He understands the reasons why.” Reaper replies with surety.

“Good,” Storm nods.

“I think we should dismount while we can and leave the horses here. We can come back for them and turn them around after we’ve dealt with the Void beast. I don’t want to risk it eating Revel.” I suggest. “I also don’t think we should throw up any more of the witch lights than we have now when we’re with the Void beast unless we really have to. Remember it’s used to living in the dark, and too much light could aggravate it even more.”

Storm nods his agreement, and we all dismount, giving the orders to our horses to stay put.

We stay silent as we move forward. Our weapons are drawn. I jump slightly when I feel something touch my leg but quickly realise that it’s just Kill’s tail taking advantage of my proximity to touch me. He likes to make out like his tail is an entirely different entity when it does things like this, but I think he uses that as an excuse just so he can touch me at every opportunity, and I think it’s cute as fuck, so I’ve never bothered to call him out on it. I don’t plan to.

My nose wrinkles as we get near the end of the tunnel, and I can just about make out an enormous cavern beyond the end. It smells rancid down here, like rotting meat, faeces and something sweet that is turning my stomach. I have a feeling it's going to be even more challenging than we thought to get this creature to believe that we’re not here to harm it.

We slowly approach the cavern at the end of the tunnel and send the witches' lights ahead to light up the space just a tiny amount. We stay silent as we look around. I don’t see anything, no movement, just black shadows. Intuition sparks, and I call my magic forward to give me the same sight that I have when I’m in the Void. It automatically switches on when I’m in the Void, but maybe it needs to be activated when I’m outside of it. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the Void beast had magic of its own.

I feel my magic move to my eyes just in time to see something rush towards us from the other end of the cavern.

“Fuck guys, scatter!” I yell and then fling my magic at them all in the hopes that they’ll be able to see what I can.

“Thanks, Love!” Loki yells, diving out of the way as a giant paw, the size of his torso, swings towards him.

I’m guessing that means that it worked.

As it tries to figure out which one of us it wants to follow, I study it as best I can while not staying still. Thanks to my Void sight, I can see it well enough. It's bigger than a carriage and kind of canine shaped, except it’s got six legs and not four, with enormous paws. It also has two heads and four eyes on each one; its snout is long and filled the teeth that have jagged edges. It certainly looks terrifying, and I can understand why people were wary of it, but I still think it deserves to be taken home and not killed.

We’re all dodging the attacks that it’s trying to get us with, but everyone is also throwing distraction spells around and trying not to harm it still.

“We’re not here to hurt you!” I hear Storm yell, and it’s completely unheard by the beast.

It swings around and swipes a paw at Loki, who gets pushed back several feet from the force of it. He winces in pain and looks at the claw mark slicing his side. Appearing to shake off as the others continue to distract the beast, he quickly jumps back into the fray. I dart around it, watching it and the others and throwing rapid-fire distraction spells when it gets too close to hurting one of them. We won’t be able to get it to listen until it calms down, and I’m hoping it’s going to realise that we aren’t actually hurting it soon and start to listen.

“We want to help!” Storm yells again, and the beast turns its attention to him.

It starts barrelling towards him, and there’s nowhere for Storm to go. He’s somehow managed to get himself blocked into a corner. At the last minute, he slides through the Void beast’s legs and comes out the other side. Why didn’t he use his wings? It would’ve been far quicker for him to escape and a hell of a lot less risky. The beast immediately turns on him again, batting him with its spiked tail that Storm barely manages to dodge in time.

The rest of us continue trying to distract it, but nothing seems to be working. It seems to have become singularly focused on Storm. Maybe it thought he was shouting insults at it or something. We have no idea if it can actually understand us. This is falling apart quickly, and I can see the plan of us getting through this without hurting the beast fading just as fast.

Storm darts around the cavern, the beast hot on his heels and gaining quickly.

“For fuck sake, Storm, fly!!” Killian screams at his brother, a desperation in his voice.

Storm ignores him though, and pushes himself harder, gaining only a few precious feet. He’s tiring, I can see it, and I’m starting to panic. Why the fuck won’t he use his wings? It’s practically his only chance now.

“Farren, tell him it’s okay to use his wings!” Mayhem yells at me from across the cavern.

“What?” I ask, knowing it’s not the time to be confused, but that’s thrown me.

“He won't fucking use them because he knows they scare you!” Reaper yells.

My heart sinks and swells all at the same time as I start to feel sick. He’s risking his life, so he doesn’t fucking frighten me.

“Storm, use your wings! I promise I’ll be fine!” I practically scream.

He hesitates for a mere second before his wings snap open behind him, and he catapults himself up into the air with one powerful leap.

My breath leaves me in a relieved whoosh. He’s safe now he’s flying. The Void beast can’t get him, and we might actually have a chance of switching his attention away from Storm.

My heart hits my boots, and I let out a scream as the Void beast jumps higher than it should be able to, and Storm starts to plummet towards the floor.