Chapter 23

The Dream Walker

We've walked for miles.

The wound on my side burns as it continues to heal slowly, and my head actually hurts.

Fucking blood magic.

I know Dorian is watching me. I won't show him I'm suffering. It will make him uneasy, and I know he's struggling to maintain control of his shadows. He's been unable to replace the charms he gave Pixie after she lost hers. Adding to the worry that I might fall flat on my face and stay there is the last thing he needs.

We need Pix.

Need her blood in our veins. Need the power she provides. A few moments with her and all our injuries and weaknesses will be a thing of the past.

I have followed her directions. South to the mountains. Past the yellow valley, follow the sunflower fields towards the edge of the forests.

In the horizon, the sun is going down, and the ocean is coming into view. The deep oranges, purples and pinks reflect on its surface as the sun sinks beyond.

Its beauty doesn't distract from the rain lashing down. Falling hard and sharp, biting at my skin and making my breath visible in the air.

It shouldn't be long until we reach the strange pool she described.

I'm a little annoyed at learning about this hidden coven. How dare a group of witches band together against us like that. They think they're so slick, creating their own coven. One away from my attention. One which refuses to follow the rules we enforced. No wonder it's all gone to shit if witches are running around unchecked.

We carry on and walk for several more hours. Each step is agony, and I have to stop several times to regain my strength.

Then we see a plume of black smoke in the distance.

‘You smell that?' Dorian asks. ‘Beneath the smoke?'

I do. Death. The stench of it. Of open wounds festering. Of old blood. Of rotting flesh.

We head closer and come to find what's left of a human village. We're approaching it from the rear, from the dense forest, hoping to avoid any paths. We follow the outskirts to see if we can get a look at what has happened inside without having to get too close. It's a small and inconsequential village holding perhaps a hundred humans. We've never even been here before.

The village is a wreck. Homes burnt or destroyed. The roads broken and stained with blood. Bodies litter the ground. Men. Women. Kids. No one was spared. Huge gashes mark their bodies, and I know that the unseelie did this.

We pull our hoods further over our heads and continue, keeping on high alert for any sign of unseelie. Of the prince or his soldiers. Of any threat. We can't be delayed more than we already are. I need to feed, and not knowing if Pix is safe is causing far more unease than I would care to admit.

Everyone here is dead or dying. Those responsible for this are long gone.

We keep walking, but I stop when we reach the edge of the village.

‘Dorian.'

‘I see it.'

We head to the main road that leads into the village. The rusted remains of an arch tower over the path, and at the base are several discarded bones.

I still smell them. Even after they die and their flesh rots, I still smell the scent of a blood witch, and these bones are not of blood magic. The skull half broken is a mud witch. The femur snapped in two is human. None that remain here are the bones of a blood witch. Just the bones of a witch in the wrong place at the wrong time or a human who got too close to a coven they shouldn't have been getting close to.

Dorian picks up a skull and inspects it, no doubt realising the same thing as I just have.

‘This was a bone arch,' he says, dropping the skull without care. ‘No blood witch bones have been left behind.'

‘Neve took them. She must have.' That thought has my insides in a fiery knot. And not much has the privilege to achieve that.

Dorian looks at me, utterly terrified. That is more frightening to me than anything.

‘She has taken the bones of blood witches. Slaughtered an earth coven on their Athir festival. Killed the king and queen. And I have seen my old mistress stir from her slumber in the deepest parts of her realm. And it's all connected to the symbol Neve used when she was pregnant with Ashe. The symbol on Hel's manacles. One of which is broken.'

The Shadow Master staggers and actually falls to his knees. His eyes become unfocused as he looks into nothing. Fuck me. This is unheard of. Not him. Never him.

‘What does this mean, Dorian?' I ask, resting my hand on his shoulder. ‘Do you know?'

‘Something beyond terrible. I think… I think…' He blinks. ‘I think she's trying to release The Goddess herself. How could I not see? How did I not fucking see this?'

‘What? Tell me!'

‘A story. A myth. Maybe it's more.'

‘Then tell it!'

‘When the witches cast Hel down and sealed her away, they performed three spells. The first was the sacrifice of a child. The only daughter of the first blood witch. An act so unnatural it tore a rip in between worlds. A mother killing her new born baby. It created the first manacle on Hel's wrist.'

‘Neve killed Pixie. She slit her throat as an infant.'

‘An act that maybe, just maybe, broke the first manacle.' Dorian takes a deep breath. ‘The second manacle was made when the witches slaughtered an entire town and spilt every drop of their blood. It was the beginning of the sea Hel now lives in. So much death. It created Hel's second manacle.'

‘The earth coven. How they all turned to mist.' I swallow dryly. ‘You think it broke her second manacle?'

He stares at me with an ancient fear. He nods.

‘And the third?' I ask.

‘The third was the death of a god.'

‘Which one?'

‘The god of man.'

‘Of man?' I repeat. ‘I've never heard of him.'

‘He protected humanity. Guided them into peace and understanding. Gave them knowledge and patience. The blood witches killed him, leaving humanity unguided and godless. His death created the third manacle. The one around her neck.'

‘OK.' I take a breath. ‘There's not been anything like that happen, has there? Nothing to break the third manacle. No dead gods, right? We have Athir. Very much alive and held in the forests. We have Hel. She's not about to kill herself. Then there's Nua, the water god. Aed, the fire god. And Enil. Goddess of air. Seeing as all the covens still have their magic, we can assume no gods are dead because if they were, there would be no magic for them to syphon. Right?'

Dorian looks at me with that same dread.

‘And Pixie is alive. Neve didn't kill her. She tried to, but she didn't.' I know I'm trying to reason with something well beyond reasoning.

‘She could have,' Dorian replies. ‘She's died before, Shaw. And been brought back. And if her father is Athir, the earth God, then he could have resurrected her. Given her to the earth witch to keep her hidden from Neve and Hel.'

I scoff. ‘Athir would not do anything to protect a witch. You know that as well as I do. None of the gods would. They hate witches. Even if she were his child, he would not care. If such a thing is possible.'

‘She's got something of a god in her. Or she would not be cursed as she is. Only we're capable of this confinement. Demigods. She's his. It makes sense. Her powerful earth magic and blood magic. They made her.'

‘Then maybe he needs her for something,' I suggest. ‘For him to appear now when all of this is happening. To give her his grimoire and make contact, just as Neve is messing about with all this. She's needed. Neve sent her away before that wave could kill her. They could have grabbed Pixie the night she got past the barrier, but they didn't. They came for Dhalia and the grimoire.'

‘If there's a way to free Hel, there must be a way to free the other gods, too. It has to be a spell only she can perform. Pixie must resurrect them. She's a necromancer, right? If Hel is trapped in the land of the dead, then a necromancer must be the one to let her out.'

‘And what does Athir want with her? Why father a child with a fucking blood witch?' I ask.

‘I vote we don't wait around to find out. We need to get to Pixie. Right fucking now. Shit!' he whispers, gripping his chest. ‘Oh fuck. She's scared. She's angry.'

‘Pixie?' I ask.

He nods.

Before he can tell me anything more, the ground around us begins to tremble.

‘Is that her?' I ask.

Purple roots spring up from the ground and wrap around our waists.

‘ATHIR!' Dorian yells. ‘It's Athir!'

The form of a man made of slithering vines grows before us.

‘She needs you,' he says, his form already beginning to rot and decay. ‘Save my daughter from Hel. I am not strong enough to do it alone.'

He turns to dust, and we're tugged down into the earth.

Dirt fills my ears, and the roaring as it shifts around me is unbearable. I'm going to go deaf! Trying to keep my mouth shut so my throat doesn't get filled is hard. I need to breathe!

I can't see anything. I have no idea if Dorian is with me or not, and I have no idea if I'm being dragged up, down, left or right.

I'm spat upwards and land back in the world. The rain hits me, as well as the cold, and I take in deep gasps of air.

‘Arrrrggghhh! FUCKING EARTH MAGIC!' I yell, staggering to my feet and unsheathing my sword. I spin around, searching for the fucker who just dragged me miles underground.

All I see is Dorian calmly getting to his feet and spitting out clods of wet earth.

I stop slashing at the air when I see it.

Below us is the Shadow Valley coven.

The only other earth coven left in these lands.

Their stone houses and cobbled streets are set in a deep valley beside a great river. An enormous wooden dam holds back the water, placed there as a threat. Misbehave and we will destroy that dam and drown you all.

But it's what we see in the distance that has our mouths agape and has the few earth witches living below gathering in their streets.

Beyond the dam, a great wall of water has risen. It roars as it moves and blots out the sinking sun. Horns begin to blast in the town below.

‘Shaw. What the fuck is that?' Dorian asks, his head tilted right back to see the immense height of the great wave.

‘We need to move.' I grip his shoulder. ‘NOW!'

The roaring triples as the water surges forward. The wind howls around us as we stagger back.

Never, not in my entire time of existence, have I seen such a thing. It almost screams. The ground shakes and cracks. The dam explodes by its sheer force, but it's no better than a twig as the fierce water speeds towards the doomed town.

Towards us!

Trees and the hillside shatter as it soars forward, deafening us with its strength.

‘DUCK!' calls a familiar voice.

We turn to see Archie's great wolf form leap over our heads.

With Pixie riding on his back.

Her eyes are firmly on the wall of water as they run full speed at it.

I don't get a chance to react before dozens more witches charge past us, all focused on the water and town ahead.

They barge into us as they run, and we watch them skid down the slope of the hillside. One of them is fucking Thalia! And holding her hand is that air fucker Leo.

‘What the fuck is she doing?!' Dorian yells, watching not only our brother but our fucking girl barrelling straight towards the danger. ‘WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY BOTH DOING?!'

‘What she always does. Something bloody stupid!'

The pair run towards the dam and skid to a stop at its base. She leaps down and slams her hands into the ground. Behind her, eight more witches do the same, all sinking their fingers into the soil. The valley fucking moves! Rising up and shifting to block the towering wall of water. As it hits their barrier, they all skid back in the dirt. Five other witches stop amongst them, their hands raised instead of buried.

Water witches. They push the water back, screaming in effort as they work together.

Earth and water working together!

Dorian and I turn to look at one another. I'm relieved he shares the same look of utter bewilderment because I was seriously concerned I had gone mad for a moment there.

‘That fucking girl,' he grunts. ‘We forbid the mixing of covens, so of course she mixes the fucking covens. We tell her not to use her magic, and what does she do?'

We run down the slope.

Archie has turned back into a male when we reach him and is hastily pulling on a pair of trousers when I smack his arm.

‘What the fuck did you bring her here for?' I yell.

‘You try telling that crazy bitch to do as she's told! The cow had the entire coven against me in a matter of seconds. It was either I took her myself or get pummelled by that lot and left behind!'

He shoves me back just as hard as I shoved him. The wound in my side feels as if it's torn further as I stagger.

He doesn't notice and resumes focusing on the battle between that wall of water and these witches.

‘What is that?' I ask. ‘I have never seen a wave that big.'

Archie points to the right, where up on the hill's ridge stand three dozen or so witches, all in blue.

‘It's a water coven trying to wipe out the earth coven,' Archie replies.

‘And we're saving them because?'

‘Because she has a fucking death wish. Because if we don't die here, I am going to bloody kill her myself.'

Archie points to Pixie, who is furiously muttering something as she channels her earth magic.

The earth coven of this valley has spotted those on the ridge and are gathering their forces.

We need a plan, and we need it now.

‘Dorian. Go after those water fucking witches up on the ledge. Kill as many as you can, but save one so we can interrogate them. Archie, protect her!'

Archie rushes to Pixie, who grunts as she reaches out her hand to the attacking water coven. The ground beneath them splinters, opening a crevice. Several of them abandon their water manipulation to steady their footing, giving the witches down here a chance to shove the water back a little further.

The wave falls backwards and dissipates, sending a great swell of water over the makeshift dam. Not enough to drown us, but enough to have us left in a few inches of water.

Pix goes to stand. Archie grips her arm as she staggers, wiping her nose from the blood spilling down past her lips.

She nods, saying that she's fine, and sees me behind her.

Her eyes widen as something behind us catches her eye.

I turn to see the prince's soldiers gathering at the top of the valley. They wear his colours, but there's no sign of the little coward.

Great. Now we're penned between some water witches with the ocean ready to drown us all at any minute and a human army looking to slaughter us and catch her.

There are no unseelie that I can see. And Neve's scent is nowhere to be found.

So that's something, I guess. But then again, we didn't catch her scent until we saw her last time, either. And knowing our luck, she'll come.

There's a tap on my shoulder. I turn to see Pixie looking up at me. She says nothing as she sweeps her hair to one side and shows me her neck.

‘Drink. I can smell you're weak. I need you strong.'

I know drinking from her will weaken her. But I'm no good to anyone like this.

‘Drink. Please.' She takes hold of my collar and pulls me in.

My arm wraps around her waist, and I pull her in, my teeth sinking into her dainty little neck and her blood filling my mouth.

Her breathing is sharp and jagged as I take a small portion of what I truly need.

I pull back and look into her eyes. So big and beautiful. Add in the blood lust and power that shine through them, and I'm amazed I have enough willpower to turn away from her.

‘You good?' I ask her.

My hands are reluctant to let her go. A huge part of me wants to toss her over my shoulder and drag her away from this fight. To protect her and spare her from harm. Harm from the water witches trying to drown us. Harm from the coven who could turn her. Harm from Thalia, that little bitch.

‘The covens and I have this.' She nods over my shoulder. ‘You deal with the soldiers.' Her lips crash onto mine before I respond, and I soak up all I can. Her tongue works mine, and her breath warms my skin. ‘Come back in one piece so you can smack my arse for this later.'

‘Oh, Pixie. I wouldn't miss that for the world.'

I make for the humans.

I've had my fill of witches. Let her and Archie deal with them. I will gladly remind these pathetic little men why they never dared turn on us before.

Their nightmares are easy to read, and I have them all screaming in terror within seconds. I stride towards them. I don't rush. My power over their mind is more lethal than any blade I could wield.

One of the soldiers gouges out his own eyes as his young daughter stands before him, her skin blackened and burnt from a fire that claimed his home and family six years ago. He sees her every night, trapped in their house and screaming as the flames claim her slowly.

Another screams. But he has no voice. And when he tries to run, his legs won't move. He only takes his last breath when I slam my foot into his skull.

My steps are slow. I'm in no rush, as they are no real threat. Not to me. Not now I have her blood inside me. They fall, and they die as I approach.

The rest of them run. They run back to their coward of a leader, and I would give chase if I didn't need to stay and protect my crazy little witch.

I turn. The water has started to rise once more, even as some fire witches descend on the attacking water coven. Some twist and manoeuvre their hands to create fire. Others channel the energy of those flames into other gifts or spells.

I'm starting to regret leaving so many witches alive.

Streams of fire shoot in all directions. Not just at the water witches attacking but at the coven, too, spreading the power source of the others who can't manifest their own flames. It would be beautiful if I didn't hate the fucking lot of them.

Water witches get struck. They're not defending themselves, just focusing on the attack. The make-shift dam splinters more and more as that wave continues to rise. The water witches all sweep their hands in one swift and rehearsed move, making the water surge.

The dam bursts, and the water comes.

‘Ashe…' Her name escapes my lips in a terrified whisper.

She's so small in the shadow of that great wave. So breakable.

Can she swim? I don't even know if she can handle the weight of what's about to slam down on her. She's strong. But is she that strong?

In the wall of water, glowing eyes look out. Dark silhouettes move. Huge ones, some the size of sharks.

Unseelie. They're in the water, circling in anticipation. These creatures belong in history books.

The misfit coven, who fights with Pixie, tries to stop the wave. Their hands rise as they push against it, but they all slide back as it descends.

The attacking water coven does not need to focus on their enormous wave any longer. It's done. Their part in the destruction of the earth coven is done.

They fall into the wave as the ground around them crumbles, and they're swallowed whole by their own destruction.

Her name explodes from me in one hell of a roar as I watch helplessly.

Archie wraps himself around her, his hand at the back of her skull as he scrunches his eyes closed. He knows there's no stopping that water. That even in his wolf form, he'll never outrun it. The sound is deafening. The whitewash of the churning wave is blinding. The ground shakes all around us, and I'm stuck as if encased in marble.

And they're gone. Swallowed by the water. The great wave brought with it several ships that were caught in the giant swell. Huge wooden vessels that roll and spin so much they break apart and send enormous chunks of splintered wood in all directions.

I'm running straight at it, desperate to reach Archie and Pix. My eyes are fixed on the point where she last was.

I dive in, feeling the sheer force of the water slam into me.

Any mortal would have died in that second. Their bodies broken, and the water filling their lungs as they screamed out in pain.

I am no mere mortal, and that little witch of mine needs me.

In the swirling darkness and bitter cold, those unworldly silhouettes shoot past me. Talons and teeth lash out as tails flick and fins slice. The water soon tastes of blood as witches die. My body is battered and rolled. No matter how much I claw at the water, I can't tell up from down or get near the surface. The ungodly screeches and trilling of the unseelie ripple through the water. I hear the screams of the witches they attack. Smell and taste the blood they seep into the water.

Finally, I break the surface.

‘ASHE?!' I call out, scanning the raging waters. ‘ASHE NECTAN! LET ME HEAR YOU!'

Heads break the surface, screaming and splashing. None of them are my witch, and one by one, they're pulled back under with a horrified scream. Blood spills up as they die, slaughtered one by one by the unseelie in the water.

I dive back down. Finding her is all that matters. It's my singular thought. I swim down to seek her out, almost choking on the terror of failing to find her in time.

There's another rumble, and the sensation of pulling takes hold of me. Down I go, dragged to the ground by an unseen force. I hit the ground. Crevasses have appeared in the dirt, and the water is being pulled down. In the murkiness, I see many others kicking their way to the surface, fighting with all they have against the pull.

And there in the distance, kneeling with her hands pressed flat into the dirt… Pixie.

Those deep cracks in the earth's surface come from her, and deep purple vines are knotting around her arms.

And her eyes. They shine in a glowing purple, the same shade as those vines. The water continues to drain away until I finally feel the chill of the air and take a deep breath.

I stand, utterly silenced.

Pixie is still kneeling with her hands in the dirt, those vines twisting around her tighter and tighter. I swallow. Her skin is sickly green. Dark veins pulse beneath her flesh. She lifts her head, and those purple eyes meet mine.

Her scent has changed to something else.

I stand, watching her closely as her lip curls. There's disgust on her face, but not her disgust. I know what she looks like when she's repulsed. This isn't it.

From behind me, Archie comes rushing towards her. I hold out my hand and stop him just before a great spike of wood violently juts out from the ground. Another step, it would have gone through his face and splattered me with bits of whatever brains he has in that thick skull of his.

‘Did… did Pix just try to kill me?' he asks, his eyes crossed as he looks at the lethal point before him.

‘That's not Pixie,' I tell him, still unblinking as I watch her. ‘There's something else in her.'

She stands, the roots and vines still attached. Not attached. No. Embedded in her skin. Blood drips from where they've impaled her, and it's nauseating watching them sink deeper and deeper under her flesh.

‘If it's not Pixie, who the fuck is it?' he asks.

She speaks. The words are in a tongue I have never heard, but the power emanating from her is potent. Behind her, the hillsides and ground churn, creating a new dam, sealing off what remains of the river from refilling this place.

‘What the fuck is it?' I counter.

Archie whacks me and points.

‘That's the grimoire she found,' he says. ‘You see that?'

The book is open and hovering in front of her with black threads reaching from its pages and sinking into her chest, connecting itself to her.

‘Athir,' I realise. ‘That's Athir inside of her.'

‘We need to separate her from that grimoire.' His eyes shine as his wolf stirs, and his nails grow to claws.

She laughs a deep and chilling laugh. It's not hers. Nothing about her is my Pixie.

‘What do you want?' I demand of the creature inhabiting her body.

‘What is mine,' she replies.

‘And what's that?'

Her eyes glow bright. ‘Revenge.'