Chapter 58

As Paesha and I stepped through the clouded surface of the ancient mirror, a surreal chill enveloped me. The world I had known a moment ago vanished, seeming to suck the souls from our bodies as we gripped each other tightly. Everything around us twisted and turned. We fell through a snowy winter sky, the wind lashing us in the face until reality twisted again, becoming a bleak expanse of nothing. Paesha screamed, and her fingers loosened from me. I scrambled as we fell, fighting to keep ahold of her as the world changed again, and we soared toward the open mouth of a sea monster, tentacles surging around a great ocean. Moments before we were swallowed whole, another jerk of reality dipped us into a world of two great moons.

"Stop!" I yelled. "Here. We're here."

She threw her other hand around me, chestnut hair whipping in my face as we fell to the black stone ground, into a familiar realm that seemed to defy the very laws of reality. Climbing to our feet, catching our breath, we exchanged a determined glance, a silent vow to protect each other at all costs.

Massive wrought-iron gates, ancient and foreboding, stretched into the obsidian sky, which hosted two moons. Their intricate designs seemed to writhe with a life of their own, like serpents coiled and waiting to strike. The gates, framed by the swirling mists of the underworld, stretched into infinity, their spires disappearing into a dark abyss. The ironwork was as cold as death itself, and I couldn't help but shiver as a gust of otherworldly wind brushed against my skin, carrying with it the faint scent of withered roses and distant, echoing whispers.

The ground rumbled beneath our feet, and from the depths of the shadows emerged Death's hellhounds. With eyes that gleamed like fiery embers and snarling jaws that dripped with anticipation of our demise, they were monstrous creatures.

The sharp slice of Paesha's blade being drawn from its sheath drew their attention. I thought back to her battle in the castle and how she'd nearly fallen. I'd meant to save Orin, but maybe letting Paesha come was a terrible idea.

"Stop it," she hissed. "I can see the look in your eye, Maiden. We live together, or we die together, right here and now. If you start doubting me, this fight is over. Knock it off."

The dogs began to circle us as I pulled several small throwing knives.

"You're right. I'm sorry!" I yelled just as the beast closest to me lunged.

The hiss of steel and gnashing teeth filled the air. I'd never trained to fight something so massive, and even if I had, he was so strong. His one leg stood higher than I was tall. The only thing I could think to do was slice and slice and slice, crippling him as I kept moving, dodging teeth and claws. I wanted to look back, to make sure Paesha could handle the other beast, but if I looked away, I'd die, and she was right. I needed to trust her, even when I heard the grunts and the low growls. Even when every nerve ending I had stood on end and adrenaline raced through my body. A tuck, a roll, a dodge, a swing. Over and over. The battle became a dance. A cadence that waited in anticipation for one of us to falter. A single misstep and we'd be crushed beneath a paw, or worse, eaten.

The beasts did not grow weary. Not a pant, no sheen of sweat along their slick black fur, which glowed blue in its brightest places in the moonlight. Only the deep ruby red of their eyes held me in panic. Every other piece of my body wanted to stop for a second and rest.

Paesha's back collided into mine as we were gathered together by the hounds. She reached for my hand, gasping for breaths. I took it, though I knew what it meant. We falter, we fall.

"Can we run?" she asked, desperately.

I struggled for a breath. "I don't know where we'd go. This is as far as I've ever been allowed in this court."

"Look," she gasped, pointing to the legs of the closest hound.

I had to squint my eyes to see beyond the deep shadows of fur, so dark it trapped light. But the soft pink flesh exposed by her sword had closed. My stomach turned.

"Oh, fuck me. We can't kill them. Everything here is already dead."

She looked over her shoulder to where the mirror we'd come through had stood, but it was gone. There would be no escape. Round and round the beasts stepped, watching us, giving us a moment to catch our breaths before they devoured us.

"Can you try your Life Maiden magic on Fluffy over there? If you can get close enough to touch him?"

"Fluffy? Yeah, right before it fucking eats my head off. I'll just reach out and grab a tooth as an experiment, okay? Because Fluffy's looking awfully damn hungry. And that one's drooling." I tried the only thing I could think of, stretching a trembling hand forward, still gripping the scabbard in my other. "Hey, Fluffy. Remember me? I pet you once. Or… one of you. Might have been your brother… Ruffles. I'm nice. Not dangerous at all."

"Really convincing," Paesha hissed.

I swiped my hand across my forehead, wiping away the sweat threatening to drip into my eyes. Fluffy growled, burning eyes locked on my blade.

"How much do you trust me?" I asked, sliding Chaos into its sheath.

She barked a laugh. "Of all the times in the world to ask that question, Deyanira…"

"Put your sword away. Don't let them see it."

"No. No way. Not going to happen. If that fucker decides to have me for dinner, I'm taking out his esophagus on the way down."

"I support that decision. But Death once told me they wouldn't attack if I drew no weapons, and he didn't demand it."

"And you just now thought to mention that?" she asked, still holding her sword between her and the prowling dogs.

"This might come as a shock, but I don't trust him as far as Quill could throw him, and, if I didn't want people barging into my house, I'd probably lie to them about how to get past my death doggies, too."

"I see your point," she said, tucking her blade into the sheath.

The hellhounds froze, still eyeing us warily, but they stopped circling.

"Is it working?"

"Only one way to find out." I jutted my chin toward the gates of Death's court. "Shall we?"

"Quick question before we go," she whispered. "Can we die if we're already stuck in Death's court?"

"I don't know the rules. Let's go with no."

"So, if they eat us, we're stuck in their stomachs?"

My lip curled in disgust. "Gods, I hope not."

"Okay, well, if you get eaten, I'll cut you out."

"So kind," I said, sharing a smile before she yanked on my hand, and we bolted through the gap the dogs had left, slipping between the spindles of the gate rather than trying the handle.

"Let's hope that was the hard part," Paesha said, staring behind us at the hellhounds that moved back to their guarded positions as if they'd never seen us at all.

"I'm guessing it wasn't." I stared at the labyrinth of dead trees that lay between Death's forbidding castle and the dimly lit path we now stood upon.