EPILOGUE

EPILOGUE

Huddled at the edge of the battlefield, Kit crouched amongst the ferns, her eyes fixed on the darkening sky. After the longest three weeks of her life, the gate had finally closed today, and she’d spent the afternoon in a spin, unable to concentrate on work, dropping things, losing things, until her assistant had finally asked her to please just go home so that she would stop messing up the shop. She’d gone, but had immediately regretted it, with nothing to occupy her mind as the hours ticked slowly towards nightfall.

She vividly remembered the message Gantalla had given her, about her sister attempting to cross the gate in the last moments before it closed. So as soon as it was dark enough to avoid being noticed, she’d crept out here to the edge of the forest, trying desperately not to look at the piles of bodies strewn across the battlefield. That Mintesh might be lying amongst them alive was a horrifying enough idea, but if she’d actually been killed on her way through the gate, if she was lying out there dead…

Kit swiftly banished the thought. Mintesh’s plan had worked for Gantalla, and so it should also work for Mintesh. Her sister was cunning, skilled with magic, patient and observant. She was likely keeping herself still, up by the gate itself, waiting for the night to be dark enough for her to slip away unseen.

Finally deciding it was dark enough, Kit took one last look around to make sure she was alone, then crept out of her hiding place, making her way across the field. She picked her way carefully between the bodies, not wanting to disturb them. Even the dead deserved respect, though these sorry people would never be granted a proper burial, and she offered up a prayer to the God of Winter, asking him to take their souls peacefully into the next life.

Up near the gate, there were fewer bodies, and Kit began to search for one that would be the right size for an aging witch. Mintesh should be right around here somewhere. But that was assuming she’d come at all. Gantalla had also said she was waiting for her son to arrive before she would attempt to cross the gate. Kit hadn’t seen Caleon since he was fifteen. He’d be a strapping lad of eighteen now, a man, not a boy.

“Mintesh!” she whispered, as she tiptoed across the rocks, trying at once to be both loud and quiet – loud enough for her sister to hear her, and quiet so as to avoid attracting unwanted attention. There shouldn’t be any humans about in the forest at this time of night, but Kit was never one to take such things for granted. “Mintesh? Are you here?”

Over to her right, a faint rustle sounded, and Kit froze on the spot. Then she heard a voice. “Kit? Is that you?”

“Mintesh!” She scurried across the rocky ground, fumbling her way over the dead bodies, tears streaming from her eyes. “Mintesh, where are you?”

A figure moved, raising its head cautiously, and she rushed over, falling to her knees to embrace her sister. “Great gods, you’re alive. I thought I’d never see you again.”

Mintesh wrapped her arms around her, and they held each other for a long moment. Then Kit drew back. “What about Caleon? Is he here? Did he make it across the desert?”

Another figure moved to her left, and she scrambled over, helping the boy shove the body of a salas warrior off himself. “Auntie Kit. Gods, it’s good to see you.”

“Caleon,” she cried, wrapping the young man in a tight hug. “You made it.” She helped him stand up, noting that he was favouring his right leg. “You’re injured.”

“Just a scratch,” Caleon said. “A rodolan tried to stop me getting through the gate. It’s nothing serious.”

“Come on,” Mintesh said, waving them to move. “We need to get out of here.”

“This way,” Kit said, leading them over to the right, where the rocky soil gave way to dense forest. Once hidden beneath the trees, Mintesh pulled an obsidian gem out of her pocket and fastened it around her neck. Caleon did the same, then they both muttered the spell, and Kit watched as turquoise hair and golden eyes faded to muted brown.

“How do we look?” Mintesh asked her.

“Ugly as hell,” Kit said, with a grin. “But that’s about the size of it, as far as humans go. No one would be able to tell the difference.”

Mintesh sighed in relief, but then she gave Kit a quizzical look. “How did you know we were coming?”

“A hadathmet told me. Gantalla. She said she met you on her way through the gate six weeks ago.”

“Praise the gods,” Mintesh muttered, making the sign of Arix, the life bringer, over her chest. “I had a feeling that girl was going to turn out well.”

“She’s been rather a surprise, in more ways than one. But let’s get moving. We need to get back to the road. Humans aren’t the only dangers in this forest.”

She led them on a roundabout trek, avoiding the battlefield, until they’d circled back to the road that led to Minia. “The main human city is this way,” she told Mintesh. “I have a shop there, and a house, but it’s also where all the warriors are. It’s not an easy place to live, having to stay hidden all the time. And if you’d rather move further away from the gate, then I’d understand.”

“If that’s where you live, then that’s where we’ll go,” Mintesh said. Then she tugged Kit closer, hugging her all over again. “I’m so glad you’re safe. I’ve been worried sick, thinking of you living in the city, surrounded by so many humans. What’s it like? It must be strange. But it’s so much cooler here. That much, at least, must be nice.”

“Come on,” Kit said, starting off down the road. “Let’s go home. I have so much to tell you…”

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Book 2 in The Gate of Chalandros series, Wings of the Night, will be released on 27 May. But in the meantime, if you enjoyed this novel, check out my wolf-shifter urban fantasy series, The House of Sirius.

Book 1: Wolf’s Blood

Being kidnapped and held prisoner in a sinister lab is not what Dee meant when she wanted a bit more excitement in her life. And now, thanks to these twisted scientists, there’s a strange voice in her head, full of growls and snapping teeth and promises of retribution. When Dee is rescued by a handsome, brooding stranger, she is staggered to find out what she has become; a wolf shifter, an ancient myth come to life.

Mark feels like a tiny boat set adrift on an endless ocean. After the death of his closest friend at the hands of the ruthless Noturatii, the wolf-shifters’ most dangerous enemy, Mark is struggling to find meaning in his life. But when he stumbles upon a prisoner inside a Noturatii lab – a lab he is not supposed to be snooping around in – he finds himself captivated by her fierce determination and eager to help her adjust to her new life as a member of a pack of shifters.

But how can Mark trust Dee when all she wants is to escape from the shifters and return to her quiet, peaceful life? And how is Dee to trust a man who is keeping far too many secrets, and who refuses to help her reach out to the family she left behind?

Beset by enemies on all sides, this unlikely pair will have to come to terms with their own losses and rally their strength to face challenges from both the Noturatii and a rival shifter pack who want to see Dee dead. For if they fail, their enemies may bring down not just their pack, but the entire shifter species.

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