Chapter 47

Ilooked across the distant army which me, Darcy, Darius, Xavier, and the Councillors had conjured into existence, my pulse picking up as I took in the scope of the rebel forces spreading out across the horizon, marching into the valley towards Lionel's sleeping followers. Even though I knew it wasn't real, I couldn't help but feel an echo of the fear that would capture me if it was. One day soon our army really would face his across the field and I was holding out hope that we could match them when we did.

Trumpets blared throughout the enemy encampment below, the sentries spotting the fake army as flares of magic shot into the sky and they all scrambled to get themselves armed and dressed for battle.

A Nymph shrieked as it shifted out of its Fae-like form, the horns on its head tearing through the canvas of its tent, the long stretch of fabric hanging down its back like a veil. It broke into a run, its enormous feet trampling the tents closest to it, and people screaming from within.

The army was in danger of falling into chaos and the shouts of the commanders boomed over the encampment magically as they fought to regain control.

"We have maybe thirty minutes before they make it out to meet our army of ghosts and realise they aren't quite what they seem," Darius said, his brow tight with concentration as he worked to make the advancing rebels look as realistic as possible.

Xavier's jaw was gritted and his gaze remained locked on the illusion of the rebel army, his focus not faltering for a moment to waste time talking to us.

"We'd better hurry then," I said, glancing at Darcy to make sure she was ready too.

"If you can create a strong enough concealment spell to hide us then I'll fly us all in-" Darius began, but I cut him off.

"Yeah, about the whole ‘sticking together' part of the plan – we kinda bullshitted you on that. Geraldine helped us map out a route through the mountains to get to Lionel's evil lair and I'm sorry dude, but your scaly Dragon ass won't fit."

Darcy breathed a laugh as she turned to look over the edge of the daunting drop behind us. It was really just an asscrack of doom carved between two mountains in some long-forgotten earthquake. Barely ten feet across but deep as all hell and lined with razor-sharp rocks just to make falling down there into one hell of a bitch.

"We need all of you to focus on maintaining the diversion anyway," Darcy added sweetly.

"You can't seriously think I'm going to stay here while you try and break into my father's castle alone?" Darius scoffed like the chances of us leaving him behind were zero.

The problem with that was that Darcy and I had spent a long time poring over the Map of Espial with Geraldine and we'd found one super-subtle, damn near impossible point of entry that we'd decided was our best chance at sneaking in unnoticed, and it was in no way Dragon size friendly.

I shrugged as I backed up to the edge of the rocky crevice, the impossibly long drop spilling away below my heels, razor sharp rocks just waiting to impale me at the bottom if this went to shit.

Darius's gaze lowered to the fall at my rear as he caught on to what I was doing and a growl rolled up the back of his throat.

"Roxy, if you try to go down there alone, I'll throw you over my shoulder and tie your ass up to stop you. That's not just dangerous; it's fucking suicide and none of us can follow you into that crack of hell."

"Oh baby," I purred, spreading my arms out wide either side of me as I gave him a sweet as pie smile and he broke into a run in a pointless attempt to stop me. "Don't threaten me with a good time."

I pitched backwards, his roar of fury meeting with the terrifying thunder of my own heartbeat as I let myself fall, my gut plummeting and hair thrashing against my cheeks as I plunged into the darkness of that jagged tear in the earth.

I flipped entirely upside down, a whoop of exhilaration spilling from my lips before my wings snapped out at my spine, the tips of my bronze feathers brushing the icy walls either side of me, the gap so narrow that I could barely even beat them.

Darcy whooped as she jumped down behind me feet first, clearly dodging the Dragon too.

I couldn't risk a glance back, but I could feel his furious gaze burning into my spine as I let the earth swallow me and could feel the pounding tempo of his pulse as rage coursed through his flesh.

Yeah, he was all kinds of pissed at me right about now. But I was his queen, and he was going to have to start following orders at some point.

The chasm widened just enough to allow me to turn, my wings catching in an updraft before I took off to the east, following the winding route of the rocky cliffs which towered up endlessly either side of us.

Darcy was right behind me but the two of us remained silent as we concentrated on navigating hairpin turns and jagged outcrops of the reddish rock.

The sound of rushing water called out from somewhere in the depths of the chasm below, a long-forgotten river carving its way along beneath us.

The darkness within the crevice was so thick that it was all I could do to focus on the few feet ahead of me.

We twisted and turned, flying the hardest route either of us had ever attempted, our wings brushing against the narrow rocks more than once.

As we swept around a sharp corner, the crash of a waterfall echoed off of the walls and I barely had time to tuck in my wings before slamming straight into it.

The water pummelled me, propelling me downward, Darcy crashing into my side as we were hurled towards the foot of the fall, but we'd been flying fast and despite our closed wings, our propulsion drove us on through the downfall.

I gasped as frigid air slammed into us again, making us tumble over and over while I fought to get my bearings and threw out an arm. A net of air magic coiled around us, and Darcy released a Faelight to illuminate the pitch-black space we found ourselves in.

I blinked the water from my eyelashes and exchanged a look with my twin as we took in the dark passage which continued on ahead, all sign of the sky lost to the rocks that had closed in above us.

Without a word we continued on, my air magic propelling us forward so we could spread our wings again and the two of us flew into the dark, led only by the faint glow of the light Darcy had cast, neither of us willing to brighten it for fear of what lay ahead.

The cold pressed in as the rocks tightened around us and we were forced to move lower and lower until a stony ground appeared beneath us, a trickling of water marking the path the river had once taken in this direction.

I flew on for as long as I could, but my wings crashed into the rocky walls again and again until I was forced to land and banish them.

Darcy landed beside me, and I reached out to brush my fingers along the cold rocks.

"They're wet," I muttered.

"Do you think Lionel's followers redirected that river?" she wondered.

"I hope not. Because if they did, they must have had a reason to and this path may not be as abandoned as we'd hoped."

That possibility hung between us for a moment, but neither of us suggested heading back. That wasn't an option.

We moved on through the dark, the fire magic that lived within us pushing out the cold and removing the water from our flesh.

I placed a hand on the pommel of my sword, a chill creeping up my spine that warned against something I wasn't yet certain of. But it didn't feel like we were alone down here.

Wordlessly, I began to draw the shadows tighter around us, constructing concealment and diversion spells to divert any attention from us.

Darcy dismissed her Faelight and joined me in my magic until I couldn't even see my own feet before me without concentrating hard to spot them.

A deep clacking sound made my heart leap in alarm, and I drew my sword, casting an enhancement spell over my eyes to help me see better in the near total darkness. There was the faintest glimmer of light up ahead, but it was so distant that it did little more than provide a glow of grey at the furthest reaches of my vision.

Darcy's arm brushed mine as we headed on, the two of us silent while lending the other strength. Together we were unstoppable. I had felt that even when we were small children, the heirs to nothing but misery and strife. But now I knew why. We had been born to this path and neither of us would falter while walking it.

The clacking came again, closer now, a rancid stench rolling beneath my nose and making me choke back a gag.

The narrow passageway was widening as it turned, the dim light growing just enough to reveal more passages leading off from this one, though the jagged, broken rocks around their edges suggested they were far newer.

As we passed the first of them on our right, the clacking came again followed by a rough, shuddering inhale which set the hairs rising along the back of my neck.

Tap, tap.

The sharp noise had me pivoting, sword raised as I looked to the passage on the other side of our path, the darkness deep within it and yet somehow, I could sense movement in those shadows and eyes roaming the space, seeking us out.

I swallowed thickly, adjusting my grip on my sword and double checking the silencing bubble I'd constructed around us.

"That smell," Darcy breathed, the waft of it roaming over us again, a warmth to it which I didn't want to consider.

"It reeks of death," I agreed, admitting that truth no matter how much I would have preferred to remain in denial.

We crept on, trying to ignore the sounds coming from those darkened passages, working not to gag on the stench that only grew worse with every step we took.

A wild shriek nearly made my heart explode in my chest as we passed yet another of the dark openings and I stumbled aside, raising my sword in expectation of an attack which didn't come.

"What does that say?" Darcy hissed, pointing with her own blade at a metal plaque which had been placed above the opening of the passageway, the light now bright enough to make it out.

My lips parted in confusion as I read the strange word.

"Smittony," I said, exchanging a nonplussed look with my twin. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"That one says Roarkarlow," she added, pointing to the other side of the space.

Curiosity nagged at me, the need to know what Lionel was hiding down here burning a path right through me. But I couldn't deny the utter terror which accompanied the thought of heading into one of those passages.

"We should focus on the star," Darcy breathed, and I nodded, moving on with her, but as we passed another passageway and an undeniable howl pierced the air, I froze.

"That was no Werewolf," I said, the haunting lilt of the sound echoing on through the network of caverns, the sound a shrill and desperate plea laced with undeniable hunger.

"Those monsters," Darcy said slowly. "The ones who attacked the academy."

"There are more of those fucking things?" I hissed in alarm, taking note of the passageways and trying to count them. How may had we passed? Twenty? Were there creatures lurking down every one of them?

"Geraldine had some of the academy professors examine the bodies of the ones that attacked Zodiac. They said they weren't natural. They were something made."

I nodded, my grip tightening on my sword. If these things joined Lionel when we fought him again they would only tip the scales further in his favour. It was yet another advantage he held in this coming war, and it was one we couldn't afford to let him keep. But the star…that was even worse than this. Lavinia was unbeatable while she somehow wielded its power.

"Fuck," I cursed, knowing that we had to move on, that we couldn't risk doing anything here which would jeopardise us getting to the star. If Lionel figured out our play and realised we were here, we'd never make it back in again – assuming we even made it out alive now.

"We'll deal with the star first then come back," Darcy swore, and I nodded in agreement, though it galled me to do so, but what choice did we have?

We started moving faster, and I forced my eyes from the passages splitting away from us, ignoring the sounds and smells which came from them and the prickling along my spine which warned of the danger lurking so close.

We needed to get out of here and find our way into the castle Lionel had constructed for himself. From what we'd been able to tell when studying the Map of Espial, this cavern would deposit us at the foot of the mountain where he'd built his stronghold, circumventing the sprawling mass of his army which would hopefully be well distracted by the illusion of ours closing in.

It was a bold plan, or a stupid one, potentially both. But as we finally made it around the last turn in the passage where fresh air blew in and stole the vile stench of those caverns, we fell still.

The exit loomed ahead, but standing before it, his skin a wan, grey colour, stood a man whose aura was so empty that it seemed to steal the wind from the sky and the light from the moon.

We were coated in concealment spells and draped in confounding spells to force any eyes away from us too, but I had the sudden fear that none of that would work on a star given form. His attention began to shift, moving from the far side of the cavern towards the pair of us who were frozen in place.

There was no doubt in my mind that he would see us despite all of the magic we had cast to hide ourselves. And that we had just walked straight into the path of the creature whose curse had almost ended our family line for good. Clydinius.