Page 82 of A Legacy of the Light

I follow his gaze to a tall tree that’s at least double the thickness of Atlas. Dark mist swirls round the bottom of it, wrapping around the trunk and leaving gouge marks in the bark as the shadows move up.

I’m pulled back into my nightmares.

I have dreamt of those shadows.

Long, claw-tipped fingers curl around the bark of the tree. Black shadows pulse around them where they grip the wood, obscuring it from full view. When the shadows peel back from the creature, it reveals skin that’s black and scaly like a lizard and barely covers the bone.

My blood turns to ice. I really wish I had some sort of weapon on me right now. Not that I could use it.

The Craobh reacts against my chest. That static sensation I felt when Tavish pinned me on the sofa radiates across my body, settling over me like a second skin; not a pulsing wave like last time but a shimmering blanket of magic.

More of the creature’s arm becomes visible, long and so thin it looks like it would break with the slightest pressure. A loud hiss echoes from behind the tree, and Tavish answers with a snarl.

Atlas backs away a few steps, but Tavish doesn’t even blink, never taking his focus off that tree.

A bony, scale-covered shoulder becomes visible now, shadows swarming around the body of whatever hell-creature this is.

Before it can show any more of itself, Tavish moves fast, throwing something through the air toward the tree. It embeds itself in the creature’s shoulder, peeling back more of its shadows, exposing the knife that he had crafted from his magic.

The creature lets out a loud screech that, if I could move, would have me covering my ears and hiding in a corner. Mabel whinnies and I pull her reins tighter so she doesn’t bolt.

There’s a tense moment where the screeching of the creature fills the air and Tavish firms up his grip around the sword, readying for an attack. The scaly hand slowly pulls back from the tree, and the creature retreats quickly into the cover of the thickest part of the forest.

Chapter 21

“What, in the name of all that is fucking holy, was that?” I ask Tavish quietly.

He is still facing the tree, ready to fight. He doesn’t break his stare for another minute before snapping back to Atlas, the mist dropping from his wrists and sword. He sheaths it back onto Atlas’s saddle in a smooth motion and mounts quickly.

“Brollachan,” he tells me in a stern voice.

“A what?”

“I assume Finneus has told you that Seelie cannot sustain the Dorche magic?”

I nod my confirmation as he joins me and urges us into a trot.

“That’s what happens to Seelie when they wield too much of it. They turn into a Brollachan. It must have got here after the attack on the city. I’ll send soldiers to run it off when we return.”

“But didn’t you just stab it?”

“Yes, but that won’t kill it. It was just a warning. Let’s go. It won’t follow us here.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Brollachan don’t like the light. If we pissed it off enough it would come for us, but we should be okay now.” He scans the trees just to be sure.

My breathing is choppy, and only the further thinning of the trees, and the sun peeking through the canopy helps me relax.

“I’m going to have an aneurism or something if this carries on,” I joke in an attempt to lighten the mood. It’s a half-joke, but I am concerned that I seem to have gone from feeling happy and free, to terrified, multiple times a day since I arrived in Elfayne.

My humor doesn’t reach Tavish, and he remains in a stony silence. He doesn’t fully relax until we reach a break in the trees. He moves ahead through the gap and I follow, pulling Mabel to a stop when I see what’s beyond the first few feet.

My throat tightens, and a sad smile plays across my mouth when I take in the view in front of me.

On a slight incline below is a massive clearing of rolling hills surrounded by the forest at its edges. The dips and valleys are clear to us from our higher vantage point. Every inch of it is covered in wild heather.

I’ve only seen pictures of the Scottish heather fields that Granny showed me, and we had a heather bush in the garden. But they have nothing on this.