Chapter 4

"Anaria. Stay right there." Tavion's soft voice was lined with steel.

"Do not come another step. Back your horse up slowly. Don't allow her to spook or she'll bolt straight into this."

Ahead of Tavion, Raz and Tristan were steadily, relentlessly urging their nervous mounts back, back, back, one shaking step at a time

Away from that reaching darkness, away from the putrid stench, back onto solid ground.

I tried to obey but Dove had other ideas, dancing sideways, the wet, squishy sounds making me gag as badly as the smell. In her panic, she knocked me against the nearest tree, and when I pushed us off, my hand came away covered with black, festering decay.

"It's okay, you're doing well. Don't stop. Keep her moving backward." But Tavion's skittish stallion pranced from side to side, hooves held high as if the black hurt its feet.

The wind had died completely, leaving only the wet, sticky sounds as our horses fought through the muck while I eyed that wall of advancing darkness.

I thanked Martine every time I slammed against a tree, the tough black leather impervious to the rough, shredding bark.

My hand, though, was on fire.

"That's it, Anaria," Tristan urged, a hint of panic in his voice as he fought to control his bay. "Get to safe ground and we'll catch up with you. Don't panic and you'll be okay."

"I'm not leaving you here," I growled. Tavion was only a few feet in front of me, but that darkness was about to engulf Raziel. I could barely see his outline against the reeking, murky shadows.

I was beyond panic right now.

Panic was when you thought you stood a chance at survival, when you used that first burst of adrenaline to make a mad dash for freedom.

Right now, I was petrified.

This was Corvus, hunting us down like helpless prey.

And we'd ridden straight into his trap.

Overhead, an owl called out mournfully, but I didn't dare look up. All I could do was maintain tension on the reins and keep Dove moving steadily backward, step by trembling step. Tavion was still right in front of me, wisps of darkness curling around him like fingers.

But I only caught flashes of Tristan's red hair through the shifting shadows, every trunk dripping with black rot as the darkness—and then Corvus's corrupted magic—overtook us.

Zor and Raz were gone.

Tristan disappeared as the shadows closed in, and the smell…

I vomited, spewing everything I'd eaten this morning onto the ground.

Raz and Zor had to be just beyond that edge of darkness. Tristan was close, I'd seen him only seconds ago, but all I could do was pull back the reins, swallow down bile, and hold my breath against the gagging foulness.

Finally, fucking finally, the reeking darkness thinned and I could breathe again.

Barely, but I didn't feel like my lungs were coated in decay.

Tavion's watering eyes locked with mine, his encouraging smile tight. "Keep your eyes on me, Anaria. You're almost there. Only a few more feet. Once you're past the edge of this, she'll settle." My poor mare wheezed, grunting when I wouldn't let her head come up. I sucked in a sobbing breath when solid forest floor crunched beneath us and green-tinted leaves spiraled down over us.

Tavion reached me first, catching the reins, then Tristan stumbled out of the darkness, the shadows clinging to him as if they didn't want to let him go.

He vomited, the still-healing scars on one side of his face pulling as he wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. "Gods, what the fuck is that?"

Our horses were coated in thick oily residue up to their knees, reeking of… "This stinks of Corvus's magic. Like something dragged up out of the depths of the Great Beyond," I muttered, dismounting and reaching down for my mare's leg so I could inspect her hoof.

"Don't touch that," Tavion warned with a growl.

"Too late, I'm afraid." I held out my burning, black-encrusted hand. Tavion blanched as I wiped the sticky residue off on the leaves and only managed to get them stuck. My cheek was on fire, as if a glowing ember was searing its way through layer after layer of skin.

"There was a stream we crossed a ways back. We ride there, get this poison rinsed off, wait for Zor and Raz to catch up"—Tavion studied the silent, advancing darkness—"then we'll find some other way around."

We waited, backing up one cautious step at a time as the darkness advanced like a wall of black, swallowing up trees and ground and sky.

I craned my neck, fear prickling at me like needles. "They should be here already." We peered through the ruined trees but there was no end to the shadows. No birdsong, no wind or rustling of leaves, but beneath the silence I swore something was watching.

And whatever peered out at us was hungry.

"How far inside this gloom are they, Tavion?"

"Not far, less than fifty feet if they kept moving." I took another step and Tristan caught my reins. "You can't save them, Anaria. You go in there and this will swallow you too."

"Bullshite." I slid out of my saddle, my boots sinking into the soft ground. "Bull fucking shite."

I led my horse to the very edge of that blackness and drew a line with my heel through the loamy soil, then watched rot creep over my pathetic barrier at an unnatural rate. And no matter how hard I peered into those shadows, there was no sign of movement.

"Raz," I yelled. "Zorander?"

The darkness pulsed back as if the shadows were breathing.

Princess.I swore I heard the word whisper out of the darkness.

"We have to get this off the horses, Tavion." Tristan inspected his mount's fetlocks. "They'll go lame, and as fast as this is moving, we'll never stay ahead of it on foot."

Something rustled overhead and Tristan trained his arrow on Simon as the owl alighted on a branch, golden eyes blinking. He hooted then swiveled his head toward that impenetrable dark.

"Something's wrong. We have to go in there and get them." I swung my leg up over my saddle, reining my horse around. "We can't do nothing." But my poor mare stumbled on her first step then almost went down, her body trembling beneath me.

My hand was on fire. Tears streamed down my burning cheek.

Like when I'd had Corvus's venom inside me.

"Tristan's right. We either clean them up or we'll be walking, and once we're on foot, we're dead," Tavion warned, jerking his head back the way we'd come. "Lead the horses to the stream. I'll go find Raz and Zor." He jumped down and unfastened his cloak, gaze fixed on that spreading darkness as if he could somehow see beyond the gloom.

Not a sound emerged from that shifting shadow, the edge creeping faster, greedily gobbling up fertile soil and crisp red leaves, veins of black spreading across the soil, worms and bugs boiling up out of the fertile loam then decaying right in front of me as I took a halting step back.

"What are you doing?" Tristan shook his head. "You think your wolf's paws will fare any better than horse's hooves? Don't be an idiot, Tavion. You won't make it back out." Tristan dismounted and stripped off his cloak in one deft move, yanking his shirt over his head and tossing them both to me.

I awkwardly caught everything one-handed since my other hand was pretty much on fire.

"I'll fly in low and stay above the mist until I find them. Get the horses cleaned off in that stream and wash that shite off your hand, Anaria. Now. I'll be back with whomever I find first. Be ready." He eyed the trees then strode to an open spot before he transformed.

I lost my breath when Tristan shifted, as awestruck as I'd been the first time and no less terrified.

Heat rippled out of the wyvern's flared nostrils and spilled between his jagged teeth before he took to the air, every wingbeat thundering as he lifted off, sending my horse—and his palomino—skittering backward before Tavion caught the reins in his gloved hand.

Simon lifted off a second later, vanishing into the darkness behind the wyvern.

"Follow me." Tavion took off at a breakneck gallop, weaving through the trees like a madman, and I followed, my mare wheezing as she tried to keep up. The horses bellowed and snorted with every painful stride.

Finally, we splashed into the deep, fast-running creek, the freezing water swirling up to Tavion's ankles. Up to my thighs.

"Fuck, that's cold as a witch's tit. Must have come straight down from the high passes," Tavion complained, my teeth chattering as the water rushed past us. "We have to make this fast, Anaria. Before Tristan returns." He nodded to my mare, her head hanging low as she took a long draw of water.

"Clean your hand and face first; I'll start on their legs. Did you bring gloves?" he asked, bending to smooth the oily residue off his horse's legs. Like dye, the rot stained the downstream water black, leaving the same foul smell lingering behind even with the fast-running current.

"No. I brought a cloak. I didn't think I'd need gloves." I braced myself for a scolding, but he only gestured to the creek bank.

"Then let me do this. You shouldn't touch his magic again. Ever." He methodically worked on one horse at a time, the poor creatures hanging their heads, withers shuddering in pain or relief, I wasn't sure.

"We'll let the stream rinse the rest away." Tavion stared, head cocked. I followed his gaze and my blood went cold. Around the far-off bend, the black oil slick crawled toward us, devouring everything in its path, creeping up the trunks of trees, branches withering as we watched, dead, blackened leaves drifting down over us, dark as ravens' feathers.

"They'll be here," Tavion muttered as if to himself. "Tristan will find them and get them out."

"We can't stop this, can we?" I watched the flooded creek wind away through the forest. "How did this get here so fast? Last night…" I swallowed. "Last night, Zeph said the blight was still a few days away, that the path to Nightcairn was clear."

Don't say it. I squeezed my hands into fists. Don't say it.

"Corvus knew we'd investigate the blight," Tavion said slowly as my stomach dropped to my feet. "This is the only road to Nightcairn…He would know that too."

An Old God hundreds of miles north in a cave was not only poisoning our world, he'd set a trap. And we'd stumbled straight into his ambush.

"It would have taken him time to realize his sister was gone," Tavion mused, handing my reins back to me. "Maybe he was tentative at first, sending his rot creeping out of his cave, expecting her to sweep in and stop him." He paused long enough to frown, rubbing his thumb over my flaming cheek.

"When she didn't, he grew bolder. Now he's taking over as fast as he can."

"We have to stop him. Before he reaches Blackcastle." I nodded to the swollen creek, where downstream the once crystal-clear water was murky and oil slicked, blackness already creeping over the banks wherever the polluted water touched. "Once this gets into the city, no one will escape."

We stood there for a long time, wet feet frozen, the forest silent around us, waiting for something to emerge from the advancing darkness.

A golden wyvern.

Raz or Zorander.

Anything besides this awful sense of wrongness that made me want to scream.

My mouth tasted like ash, every muscle in my body ached, and my wet hands were numb from the cold.

That darkness—that guttering, consuming darkness—stretched endlessly, yet something waited inside those deep shadows. Watched us with an ancient, ravening hunger. A branch cracked.

Another.

And when the first creature crept out, sharp teeth gnashing, spiked feet sinking into the forest floor like knives, I slid the iron bands down my arms and released a shaky breath as my magic roared to life.

"Get behind me, Tavion."

"Fuck that, Anaria. Fuck that." Steel hissed against leather and echoed the growling creatures as they slithered toward us, splitting into two groups.

Fuck. Harder to fight.

I'd never seen anything like them, and that was saying a lot given these past months. They had four hinged legs, each terminating in one sharp talon, perfect for stabbing and impaling. A hard, spiked shell covered their small heads, which were little more than two tiny eyes, holes for nostrils, and a snapping, pincer-like mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth.

"Hideously ugly. Definitely Corvus's creations." I kept my tone even as my mare ripped the reins from my hand. Two of the creatures fixed on the sudden movement, sword-like feet plunging deep into the soil as they scurried toward us.

"Is this some kind of sick hobby he has on the side, do you think?" Tavion asked through clenched teeth.

"Hobby or not, these are definitely his magic. Chances are steel won't work against them. Now get behind me, Tavion. Your sword will do us no good right now; don't even bother arguing."

"Why is everything he makes so fucking ugly?" Tavion spat, still not putting his sword away. "And look at the way they crawl across the ground. Fuck Corvus and his twisted magic."

I flung out my free hand and a swirl of stars and shadows shot toward the bugs. When the blast struck the leading creature, the thing melted from the inside out, turning into a steaming pile of goo.

"Okay. Hideous but effective." I breathed. "One Night Crawler down."

"Night Crawler?" Tavion's brow went up. "I like the name. Three to go," Tavion muttered. "Kill these fucking things, Anaria."

Tendrils immediately spread out from the steaming pile, creeping over the churned-up soil. The other three creatures split further apart, their hideously pointed teeth gnashing, every impact of their talons echoing up through the soles of my boots.

There were too many and they were too close.

I couldn't kill them all before they reached us.

Panic sent magic flooding out of me, a surge of power that crushed the closest one to the ground and shoved the other two back while I erected a barrier between us.

A flimsy, shimmering shield that wouldn't keep these things out for long.

The dying one thrashed, its shrieks echoing through the trees, panicking the horses. "Damn it." Tavion lunged for the reins and the other two Night Crawlers hit my barrier like battering rams, cracks spreading through my starry magic.

I tasted blood and pain ricocheted down my arms.

"I can't hold them; these things are strong…even stronger than the Reapers." Fear rose up inside me. I couldn't hold the shield in place and fight at the same time. I needed help, but Raz was trapped in the blight.

Tavion didn't have the right sort of magic.

Pain raced down from my shoulders, then hoarfrost crystallized up my arms, turning me into a glittering white statue as those strange darkling shadows dripped out of my hands. Black, liquidy shadows. With teeth and a band of eyes all the way around their bodies, moving across the ground like liquid night.

Time to meet my monsters, motherfuckers.

The bugs halted. Took a step back.

I swallowed down my fear. "Kill them," I ordered, not even sure what I was asking the darklings to do, only that I needed these things gone.

My shadows lunged through the barrier and pounced, engulfing the Night Crawlers in a swirl of impenetrable black. The bug's dying shrieks were muffled, their battle little more than heavy, desperate thuds, but I still heard the absolute rage before all sound ceased.

The next time I swallowed, I tasted meat two days past it's prime, and I spat a mouthful of saliva onto the trampled-down dirt.

"What the fuck?" Tavion hissed, staring down at the liquid, undulating shadows slowly withdrawing to reveal the three crushed, mutilated forms. "What the fuck are those?"

"They're…called darklings. I know they're pretty awful but don't be too critical since they just saved our lives."

I held out my hand and gagged as the shadows disappeared into the tips of my fingers, cold washing up my arm until the very last drop of darkness vanished.

"You have some explaining to do, wife." Tavion kept glancing back and forth at the mutilated pile of bodies and my hand like he was trying to make the connection. "Right when I think things can't get any stranger, you go and…"

Branches and tree trunks crashed overhead and splintered chips of wood rained down over us when Tristan soared out of the darkness, dropping Raziel straight into the stream. Raz splashed down as the wyvern banked gracefully around the small clearing then raced back into the darkness.

I stared down at Raz, hyperventilating.

He was coated in the black stuff. Coated.

"Anaria. Listen to me, love. I need your help." Tavion was completely composed as he stripped Raziel, tossing his cloak onto the bank with a splat before he started unbuckling his belt. "Quickly, now. We have to get this poison off him as fast as we can."

I felt heavy, like I was made out of lead.

My hands were useless weights hanging at my sides, my legs stiff as the trees around me. Raz wasn't breathing. I couldn't see him breathing…

"Anaria." Only Tavion's utter calmness broke through my stupor, that utter command in his steely, unbending voice. "There is no one but us to help him. The blight has soaked through to his skin. I can't do this alone; I need you."

I stumbled through the water, hardly feeling the cold. Hardly feeling anything except my heart slamming against my ribcage.

"Good girl. Now work on getting his boots off."

The freezing water bit into my skin, but I yanked off Raz's boots, socks, and pants, cringing at his unresponsive, too pale face streaked with bands of black, the skin underneath blistering. I rinsed my hands as often as I could, but by the time Raz was naked, my hands were every bit as blistered.

"He'll freeze out here, Tavion. He'll die." I glanced up at the darkening sky as the first drop of rain began to fall. "In an hour, the temperature will drop and none of us will last the night without shelter."

"Don't tell me what I already know. Make sure there's not a speck of rot anywhere on him, then I'll carry him to shore and we'll wrap him in our cloaks." His eyes rose to mine.

"Hurry. We have to get him sorted before Tristan returns with Zor." But I couldn't stop panicking at all the angry welts and blisters bubbling up all over Raz.

"Anaria. Zor's been in there even longer. You have to get yourself together; you can't fall apart right now. We have to be ready when Tristan gets back with Zor. Do you understand?"

I nodded, my numb fingers scraping and rubbing until there wasn't a trace of black anywhere on Raz. I gripped his cold arm, boots catching on the slippery rocks as I helped Tavion drag him up onto the bank, then Tavion wrapped him in our cloaks. Raziel wasn't shivering, didn't even open his eyes as the storm let loose overhead in a crash of lightning and thunder.

I erected one of my flimsy shields, every driving raindrop beating against my magic like nails.

"Will he be okay?" My eyes drifted over to his pile of ruined clothing, his favorite coat lying there in a sodden heap completely wasted…

"Shit." I raced to the pile and picked up the coat, black dripping from the sodden corner. "It's got to be here," I muttered, searching through every pocket, smearing black all over my fingers. I found what I was looking for in the inside pocket, dry and protected and undamaged, thank the gods.

"Tavion, pull this out for me. My fingers are all gummy." I stretched the opening wide enough for Tavion to reach in and slide out the paper covered in handwritten symbols. "Put that in your pocket. Don't let anyone see it."

"I thought Cosimo burned this. You made a second copy?" His eyes went wide when I just nodded while rinsing off my poor, blistered fingers again.

"If I hadn't, we would have been screwed. Not that we'll run into anyone who can read the writing, but maybe…I'm hoping we'll get lucky somehow. I wish I could go back in time and make Trubahn translate it for us."

"Now that would be some trick," Tavion murmured, checking Raz's pulse then nodding. "He's strong. The blisters are already healing and none of this is internal. Let's hope we got the poison off him quick enough to mitigate the effects."

"He breathed that darkness in," I murmured as we traded an uneasy glance. "He was trapped in there for long enough he would have inhaled Corvus's magic."

"Raz is strong. His magic is strong. He'll get through this." But Tav's mouth tightened as he studied Raz's pale face.

"He'll get through this," I echoed, listening over the roaring storm for the boom of wings. "But I can't help thinking…we walked right into Corvus's trap. How close are we to Nightcairn? To Montgomery lands?"

"Not far." He shifted uncomfortably. "Our borders are warded, which should keep this out." But he didn't sound convinced.

"If he ambushed us here, what are the chances that Nightcairn is…"

A horrendous cracking echoed overhead, the tops of the trees overhead whipping precariously back and forth.

Breaking. Falling.

"Run," Tavion shouted, scooping Raziel up off the ground and splashing through the fast-running creek, the horses galloping away as Tristan barreled out of the shadows. His wings were limp, as if he didn't have the strength to lift them one more time, eyes glazed when he crashed down, sending up a shower of dirt and rock as he plowed through the ground on his side.

He ended up rolled onto his back, an unconscious Zorander still clutched firmly in his claws.

I reached Zor first, trying to tug him free, but he was too heavy. Too tightly gripped in sharp, scaly talons. Covered in the black shiny liquid, his face was a map of angry red blisters.

"Here, let me take him." Tavion elbowed me gently out of the way.

We worked to extricate Zorander from Tristan's talons, leaving smears of black across the wyvern's golden scales.

Tavion and I stripped and washed Zor down, wrapped him in Tristan's cloak, then I watched over all three—Raz, Zor, and Tristan—on the edge of the pool of black, blighted water while Tavion retrieved our spooked horses.

He took forever to return, while I kept my magic ready in case more bugs crept out of the shadows.

But only Simon emerged from the drizzle, settling onto my shoulder, and I reached up and ran my hand over his soft head. "You need to warn Torin and Cosimo. Tell them Corvus is moving faster than we thought. They need to make preparations. Evacuate the city if needed and get everyone south to the Havens."

With a quiet hoot he lifted off, disappearing between the trees on silent wings as Tavion burst through the bracken, horses in tow.

"Miracle of fucking miracles, I found them all. The gods haven't fucked us completely today."

"There's definitely at least one god who's fucked us today," I reminded my husband as he tied the horses off on a fallen limb. I dragged every extra blanket and fur off the back of my mare and wrapped them around Zorander, then began laving water over Tristan's golden scales until every last speck of black was gone.

The wyvern's scales were cool to the touch, no hint of the fire that burned inside him as if it had gone out.

"Tristan's unconscious." I climbed to my feet, scrubbed my frozen hands down my face, then erected another shield over us, enough to block the rain.

"How are we going to get them out of here, Tav? Night's right around the corner."

"We're not far from Nightcairn." Tavion eyed the unconscious wyvern, wings folded beneath his limp body. "He could fly us there in a matter of minutes."

"Not if he doesn't wake up." I wrapped my arms around myself. "We're too exposed. There could be more monsters. And that"—I nodded to the encroaching pestilence—"will overtake us within the hour."