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Rather than focus on the creatures making their way closer, and Ferryn most certainly with them, I thought of Gollaya. I remembered what he’d told me today at Windolek, on the parapet I could see from here. I remembered him giving me his mother’s handkerchief, a gift of deep love even if he’d never said the words to me. His stories of playing in these very fields in the warm summers when the purple wildflowers bloomed.
That’s when I felt it. A hard shove against my mind. I’d always been the one to do the shoving with my magick when trying to connect with another. But someone wanted in. And I knew who.
Still running, I closed my eyes and breathed deeply in, opening the psychic door for Drakmir—and for Goll. They both came flooding in with a violent snap and then tethered with a choking hold.
I wasn’t upset at the violence of it. Goll’s emotions flowed through the bond, feeding me his intense rage and deep worry and biting fear all at once. It pounded into me like a new heartbeat.
Opening my eyes, I showed both of them Windolek up ahead of me, looming closer. I’d have to fly up and over the closed gate. I was exhausted, but I had to do it. A tingling of power surged through me when I flapped my wings. Tired and sore, they beat hard and lifted me as I was running.
My feet left the ground, and my wings lifted me higher and higher, straight for the gate. I barely made it over, my boot hitting a spike at the top before I dropped heavily to the ground, but I kept on my feet this time. Protecting my wrist, I stared through the bars of the gate to the open field, swallowing the horror at what I saw.
There were more now. More than I’d realized. Hundreds of wights with wings marched across the fields toward Windolek. An army of them. And in the back, Ferryn was astride his horse, galloping down the center line of them. And running alongside him was a Meer-wolf. No. A Meer-wolf wight. It was mostly bone with tufts of fur clinging to its rotting corpse.
I whimpered. But it was a wave of rage that rolled through me again. Not my own. It was Goll’s, still looking out through my eyes. His presence, even in a fury, comforted me. He and Drak were with me. They’d be here soon.
I had to hide. Turning from the gate, I ran through the bailey, trying the doors on one of the outbuildings. Each one was locked.
The stables. I hurried toward them, pushed open the heavy door, and then pulled it closed behind me. I rushed deep inside, down a side aisle of stalls and all the way to the back. The smell of old hay and leather and the subtle scent of horse still lingered here. I jerked open the second to last stall and huddled in the corner in a ball, panting heavily, trying to even my breaths.
Then I heard them, the distant sounds of Ferryn shouting commands and metal creaking. Were they bending the bars of the gate? I didn’t know wights had otherworldly strength.
I closed my eyes and summoned my courage, calming my racing breaths. I needed to be silent as a mouse.
I waited, hearing nothing for so long I wondered if they’d gotten into the castle walls after all. Then the stable door opened with a loud bang.
I jumped and pressed my palms to my mouth. Something lumbered inside the stables. It was big, much bigger than a skeletal wight. It snuffed the air and wandered closer. The Meer-wolf. My entire body shivered.
Then I felt the presence of Ferryn. Whatever darkness had hold of him was practically pouring off him now. The energy of it made me tremble, but I kept statue still, deathly quiet.
“Unaaaa,” he crooned sweetly. “I’m going to find you soon, darling.”
My stomach rolled at the intimate tone of his voice and the endearment he had no right to call me.
“I promise I’ll take good care of you, sweet Una.” His voice seemed closer.
The other creature walked down another aisle, not the one I was in. I could hear his heavy steps. They were searching the right side. I was on the left.
“You hated Goll at first. I remember that day you cried and leaned on me. I was there for you. Do you remember?”
Nausea swirled at the thought I’d ever trusted him.
“But you changed your tune about him, didn’t you?” His voice was laced with anger now. “I saw the way you fawned on him at the feast that night. Changed your mind about the king.” I couldn’t just hear it in his voice; I could feel it. An oppressive weight filled the air. His emotion was affecting the elements around us. “I bet you let him fuck you every night, didn’t you?”
I bit my lip to keep from whimpering at the shift in the air, a sharp whip of magick wrapping my ribcage and squeezing. His aggression and anger fueled both his fury and his magick. Thiswas a new level of frightening. Was he aware he could affect the elements with his emotions?
Then he stopped talking. The creature with him was making its way back up the aisle. He’d be coming to search this aisle next, and he’d find me.
Slowly, I crept on all fours and peered out the slatted boards, seeing the back exit door. I knew the wights would be in the bailey yard, but I had no choice.
If I could muster enough strength, I could fly up and make my way to the parapet and wait for Goll. For I felt him drawing closer, there was no doubt of it. He knew exactly where I was, and he was coming.
Hope surged and gave me the courage to do what I must.
Without waiting another second, I shuffled slowly out of the stall and quietly stepped to the door. I’d have to fly the second I was outside.
Calming my breaths, I listened as the big beast snuffled the ground on my side of the stables. Then I opened the door and lunged outside, taking one step toward the castle wall, my wings extending.
But then I was snatched from behind. I screamed as big arms wrapped around me and pressed me roughly to a hard body. Ferryn.
