Chapter Two

Through ribbons of darkness and bursts of lightning, Althea Embervale glimpsed the vast tempestuous sea and the forlorn island emerging from the mist below. It was no ordinary isle, no common landmass, but rather a place that existed on the fringes of the Veil, where the Scarlet Tower protruded like a shard of bone through flesh.

Wilder. Wilder was somewhere in there.

She was going to get him out, and then unleash a reckoning upon those who'd held him captive.

Thea's boots hit the black sand with a soft thud. A great pair of wings beat once, twice, before dematerialising behind the famous Warsword at her side.

‘This is probably a trap,' Talemir Starling offered, scanning the jagged shore around them.

‘Probably.' Thea didn't take her eyes off the dark tower in the distance, resting her hand on the hilt of her sword as she absorbed the uncanny energy toying with her power, hinting at an otherworldly force. ‘Does it make a difference?'

There hadn't been much opportunity for strategising as they travelled, nor had Thea had the chance to test her newly won Warsword strength and agility. They had flown through clouds and walked through shadows, but it hadn't been fast enough. Every second Wilder spent in that place was a knife to her heart.

Talemir's dark power flickered, as though he sensed Thea's impatience, and felt the strange presence permeating the island. ‘Fuck no.'

‘Good.'

They left the shore behind and made their way through the dunes, waist-high grass brushing against them as they moved. The screams and shrieks of howlers and wraiths echoed across the foul place.

Wilder's former mentor, and the man known as the Shadow Prince, turned to Thea, shadows swirling at his fingertips. ‘Shall I?'

Without a second thought, she nodded. ‘I think that would be wise.'

Darkness bloomed around them and a cloak fell in place. It matched the lay of the land, but offered something warmer, kinder: protection. Hope.

‘Stay close,' the shadow-touched Warsword told her. ‘They can't tell the difference between our brands of darkness. We should be able to walk right up to the perimeter undetected.'

Thea simply nodded and matched Talemir stride for stride. It was still surreal to think that the man who walked beside her was the dual wielding champion of Thezmarr, the warrior whose records she'd revered in the trophy room of the fortress all her life.

‘You're truly here to help me break Wilder out of the Scarlet Tower?'she had asked him on Aveum soil two weeks before.

‘I can't do it alone. And nor can you,'he had replied.

And so here they were together, ready to take on the Scarlet Tower, and all the monsters within it. Warsword strength itched at her fingertips. With the way she was feeling, she could crush a wraith skull with her bare hands. The thought was bittersweet, for she'd won the Great Rite and achieved what she'd always wanted, only to have lost something more precious when she emerged.

As they trudged through the dunes and beyond, that Furies-given strength flowed through her freely, dancing with her magic that was begging to be unleashed upon the festering spit of land and the tower on the horizon. The weight of her Naarvian steel sword at her belt was profound, which was just as well, because she was going to use it to cut through every fucking creature who stood between her and Wilder. Man or monster, they would find no mercy at the tip of her blade, not this time, not ever.

‘It's darker here…' she murmured. ‘Because of the proximity to the Veil?'

It was the closest she'd ever been to the towering wall of mist that surrounded the midrealms, the barrier that had once supposedly kept the monsters out, but now seemed to be their gateway in. She could feel its otherworldly power, and the call of the realms beyond it.

‘The whole world is this dark now,' Talemir told her. ‘For a time it happened bit by bit, day by day, but now? It's been like this for a long time. And it will be forever, unless we do something about it.'

Thea gave a nod. The Shadow Prince was an expert in the darkness that plagued the midrealms. As a part-wraith – or shadow-touched, as they liked to be called – he'd somehow managed to master it, to cloak not only spies and rescue missions, but an entire part of Naarva, hiding it away from the reapers and their ilk.

Around them, the grass thinned out, revealing a swampland ahead. Thea covered her nose and mouth with her hand, her face wrinkling with disgust. It was a wretched expanse of rancid waters and twisted vegetation. The air hung heavy with the stench of decay and death, an eerie fog shrouding the landscape in an ominous grey haze. A boardwalk carved through it all, winding around the reeds and boulders.

‘Think we can trust it?' Thea asked.

Talemir scoffed. ‘No. But cloaked in shadow? Perhaps.'

‘I'm game if you are…'

‘I don't think we have another choice.'

‘You could fly us closer to the gates?'

Talemir shook his head. ‘I have zero information on what types of wards are set up around that thing. Matching shadows with shadows is one thing, but I won't risk us and our mission against defences I know nothing about.'

More ear-piercing shrieks sounded from the monsters beyond, echoing across the murky waters.

‘Fair enough,' Thea said. ‘Through the swamp we go.'

Cloaked in darkness, they started over the boardwalk trail. Thea's eyes fell to the marker in the near distance: a sinister monolith, a single spire, hewn from the rotten heart of the island itself – the Scarlet Tower.

‘It looks like a lone turret.' Talemir's voice was low. ‘But from what we've learnt over the years, there's a sprawling underground network of dungeons and chambers as well… There's no knowing where they're keeping him.'

Thea's strength radiated from her, and despite the strange ache that plagued the ragged scar at her wrist, she felt stronger than ever, ready to take on whoever she damn well needed to. No one, not a reaper, not the King of Harenth, not the biggest fucking monster in the midrealms, was going to stop her. But as much as she wanted to storm the place, she knew they had to be strategic.

‘I couldn't bring reinforcements,' Talemir murmured. ‘The rest of our forces are gathering to fight, and with the war ahead, we had no one else to spare.'

‘Save for you…'

‘They weren't exactly happy with me leaving when I did. But I'd never leave Wilder to this fate.'

‘He should never have been here in the first place,' Thea replied, her breath catching as she spotted specks of light dancing among the reeds. She felt a sudden longing to follow them off the boarded path. The beautiful specks of light pulsed, beckoning her, promising something wonderful ahead —

A muscled arm linked through hers. ‘Don't even think about it,' Talemir warned.

The sound of his voice snapped Thea right out of her trance. ‘What the fuck…?' she muttered, staring after the lights that bobbed away from them.

‘Might not have fangs and claws, but those things are just as deadly as any monster,' Talemir said. ‘Will-o'-the-wisps, folk beyond the Veil call them. They're known for leading travellers astray with false promises of sanctuary.'

‘What do the travellers get instead?'

‘Nothing good.'

Thea watched with a shudder as they disappeared into the tall fronds of grass. ‘I'll bet.'

She and Talemir continued through the marshland, arms linked beneath his cloak of shadow. When she wasn't focused on the steady rhythm of their boots hitting the boardwalk, Thea could hear the murmurs of long-lost souls echoing through the fog – perhaps those poor folk who'd followed the will-o'-the-wisps. Their voices created a haunting symphony as the pair crossed the swamp, one that chilled the very marrow in Thea's bones.

Talemir flinched, and she knew he was hearing them too. ‘The closer we get, the more they sound like people we love,' he told her quietly. ‘Don't let them fool you.'

Sure enough, the voices started to sound familiar. Wren. Cal. Kipp… All of them calling out to her, beckoning her towards the dark.

‘Thea…'came the voice she longed for the most. Deep and melodic, the call of home.

Wilder.

‘Thea,'he called again.

She tightened her grip on her sword and forced one foot in front of the other, ignoring the chorus of suffering that echoed across the marsh, the water rippling in its wake. It was a nexus of pain and darkness, a glimpse of what the world would be like under the rule of King Artos and his reapers. Here, the boundaries of reality were blurred, and the very air was tainted with the sorrow of those imprisoned in the tower beyond.

It only made her more determined. She would do everything in her power to stop this from becoming the fate of the midrealms, but she refused to do it without Wilder.

For him, the world would wait. And when he was safe at her side, they could watch the whole fucking thing go up in flames to be reborn anew.

What was it the prophecy said?

A dawn of fire and blood.

At last, Thea and Talemir reached the spiked iron gates of the tower. The space beyond was swarming with howlers, wraiths and arachnes.

They crouched in the brush on the edge of the marshland, watching, waiting. Thea could feel the wrongness of the place crawling under her skin, and upon closer inspection, she could see the shimmering telltale sign of wards blanketing the tower.

‘You were right not to fly straight in,' she said.

‘Don't tell my wife,' he replied. ‘That was her warning.'

Thea raised a brow. ‘Maybe you should have sent her instead.'

Talemir snorted. ‘Don't tell her that either. She'd wholeheartedly agree.' He turned his gaze to the fortifications of the tower. Not only was it swarming with monsters, it was surrounded by a moat, its entrances guarded by iron-clad sentries bigger than Malik.

‘Any ideas?' Talemir asked.

‘One,' Thea replied, and she launched into outlining her plan.

When she was done, Talemir stared at her for a moment before finally saying, ‘He taught you well.'

‘He did.'

‘He got that from me, so really, I'm the one we should be crediting,' he added.

‘Or blaming, when it all goes to shit,' Thea retorted.

‘Or that…'

Undetected beneath the shadows, both Warswords studied the tower, and the wraiths circling its peak. They watched the guards change shifts, once, then twice, tracking the rise and fall of the weakened sun beyond the dark clouds, and the rotation of the rest of the monstrous crew.

‘Not many people trying to break in, I'll wager,' Talemir said quietly, as the guard changed for the third time.

‘I've always revelled in going against the grain,' Thea told him, palming Malik's dagger with a twirl of her scarred wrist.

‘That from the Rite?' Talemir asked, nodding to the marred flesh there.

‘Yes.' Her response didn't welcome further questions.

Instead, Talemir handed her something round and compact, covered in a scrap of cloth. ‘Don't let this touch me,' he said. ‘But it might come in handy once you're inside.'

Thea turned it over, struggling to see any discernible markers in the dim light. ‘What is it?'

‘An explosive of sorts… Made with the substance we're protecting in Naarva.'

‘Oh?'

‘It will only affect those with darkness in their veins, so you and Wilder won't feel anything, but anyone touched by a reaper or its curse… They'll be disarmed at the very least. Better still if they disintegrate upon impact.'

‘But what is it?' Thea insisted. If she was going to be throwing around something that did that kind of damage, she needed to know.

‘It's made of sun orchid essence,' he explained. ‘It's the natural repellent to the reapers' darkness. My wife, Drue, discovered it years ago. We'll tell you everything else you need to know when we're back on Naarvian soil.'

Thea nodded. That would have to do. And she'd take anything that gave her an edge against the wretched monsters ahead. ‘Thanks.'

‘Just don't fling it at me,' the Shadow Prince quipped.

‘Noted.'

Thea let her gaze fall back to the tower of horrors before them, and the swarm of creatures around it. Wilder was somewhere in there. Her heart ached at the thought.

Talemir nudged her. ‘He's going to be alright, you know,' he said. ‘He's got the strength and courage of a thousand men.'

Thea didn't need Talemir to tell her that. She knew exactly the kind of man Wilder Hawthorne was. She let her increased strength surge through her, awakening her storm magic. ‘You know what else he's got?'

Talemir waited.

‘Me.' Thea didn't tear her eyes from the lone tower. ‘We're coming for you, Wilder.'