Page 109 of Woods of the Raven

“I will.”

Her dark brows furrowed. “Listen. The land will not understand why you want it to kill something that has lived peacefully in the earth, undisturbed, for over a century. You must use your power to make Corvus understand.”

“I can use fire and burn it out.”

She shook her head. “You think that Gaeidhel is a minion, like Rulaine or Libitina, but she is powerful and—”

“I didn’t know Libitina, but I killed Rulaine. I purified her body and then gave her to Corvus.”

“As I did Libitina, in front of Gaeidhel, on that night so long ago now,” she whispered, smiling at me. “We are both careful creatures. How alike we are.”

We were and weren’t. She had thought to leave her birthright, to abandon Corvus. I had only ever sought to have the connection be as strong as it could.

“Again I say to you, Gaeidhel is powerful. You must sever what she has wrought or Corvus will be hers and then…his.”

“You don’t have any advice at all?” I asked, hearing how shaky and thready my voice was. I was scared, but not for me, for the land and for Lorne, whom I wanted to see again.

“Oh!” she gasped. “I feel the pull for home and see the psychopomps gathering on your windows. I wish you luck, Xander, and hope not to see you in the gloaming too soon.”

“Thank you, Mattie.”

She nodded and disappeared.

Alone, the sound of the ringer of my phone startled the hell out of me. I saw it was Lorne and answered.

“You better be in the house when I get home,” he growled at me. “How dare you leave and scare the hell out of—”

“They’re crossing, Lorne. I felt it. I’m going now. Please, when you can, come help me. I’m scared too.”

“No, no, no, don’t go. I’m coming now. Just wait for me.”

“I can’t. You know I can’t. Just walk straight out the back door and come due west. You’ll find me.”

“Please, Xan, just wait.”

“I’ll see you soon,” I murmured and hung up. I left the phone ringing on the table when I went out the back door.

TWELVE

As I tore through the forest to reach the clearing where the rift was, I saw more people there than I had when I did my flyover earlier. My heart was in my throat as I saw thick roots on my side of the rift, curving sideways and entangling with those that looked like they’d appeared out of thin air, but that I knew were from the other side. A woman was standing on my land, her hands clasped together like she was praying, her head bent. Around her, on their knees, were five other women, all scantily clad, completely unlike the nymph I’d met in Declan’s office, who’d been outfitted like a huntress, covered from head to toe. Clearly, these were handmaidens who didn’t do a lot of running.

I could see twelve men as well, all outfitted in breeches tucked into knee-high boots, long-sleeved tunics with armor over that, with fur capes and swords. They looked like every fantasy character on every book cover I’d ever seen in my life. At least six vargrs prowled near them. It was the epitome of bad, but they weren’t what scared me. What sent ice down my spine, made my stomach twist and my heart nearly stop, was the man, probably seven feet tall, who stepped through the rift, walking on the roots of the tree and then stepping down onto the soil of my land.

He was enormous, all muscle, and outfitted for war. A sword hung from each hip, there were daggers in a belt across his chest, and what looked like two bears had been used to make his cloak, as there was a head on each of his massive shoulders. His hair was dark brown, which I could see only because the moon was bright. The gold crown around his head was encrusted with rubies. He was handsome, with a long aquiline nose, chiseled features, and a square jaw. His voice, when he spoke, was low and rough.

“You have done well, my love,” he said to the beautiful woman, who practically glowed in the moonlight. This had to be Gaeidhel, his queen, which was made clear by the item he now held. A moment ago, there was nothing in his hand, but now, suddenly, there was a crown, delicately made, in sharp contrast to the thick, crudely made one he wore. “You may take your place at my side in this realm.”

One of his knights—I wasn’t sure what else to call them—spread a beautiful gold brocade blanket on the ground, and the woman knelt and received her crown. When she rose, he took her into his arms and kissed her. When he let her go, he saw me, the first one to notice me.

“No,” he said, chuckling, glancing around at his people. “Surely this cannot be the mage who has given you all so much trouble.”

I would have corrected the mage part, but it didn’t seem necessary or smart. Better to leave the lie in place than contradict an assumption that might help me. I bellowed, “You need to return to your home. Get the hell off my land!”

He laughed. Of course he did. He was huge, and I was tiny in comparison. In that moment, I knew precisely how David had felt.

“I am Threun the defiler, and you are merely a whelp.”

I was so sick of the descriptions that came with his title. “I killed Rulaine,” I said, hoping that news would give him pause. I had rushed out into the fight as I always did, and now realized I was in over my head. At the same time, what else was I supposed to do? Let them get farther than the clearing where the rift was? Let them walk the length of Corvus, poisoning it, killing it, and then head for Osprey? I was the guardian, the protector, the shield. I was the raven of the woods as Lorne had dubbed me. This was my purpose, my sacred duty, to defend the land and protect the town. “I killed your man Sola as well. Do not mistake me for anything less than the lion who guards the gate.”