Ardax grunted as his magic suddenly left him. I felt my body gaining speed and strength as I began to draw on his power. It was so easy. He was connected to the ley line, and he was the closest to me.
“I can’t close it. Something’s blocking me!” Ardax cried.
I knew it was me. I knew my curse was draining him. They wouldn’t be able to close the veil if I didn’t get away.
I gripped Rumple in my hands and looked through the torn veil to the other side. It was dark, but I could see the outline of a lone figure in a gold mask. Was that him? The son of Allemar?
An eerie sound echoed, coming through the tear in the veil. A haunting melody.
“Ardax, close it!” Rulah screamed. She wavered and fell to her knees, suddenly a victim of my leaching.
“What do I do?” I muttered. I looked over my shoulder toward the stone center, down at all the lifeless bodies—both hellhounds and elves combined—and more of the demon beasts kept pouring through like a rip in a grain bag. They had to close the veil, and I was preventing them. I needed to get as far away as possible.
Percy sliced through a hellhound and looked up at me. His eyes filled with fear as I lowered my axe and hesitated.
I knew he couldn’t possibly hear me, but I mouthed the words, I’m sorry.
“Honor, what are you doing?” he cried out and ran toward me.
I turned, hefted Rumple, and raced toward the opening. I passed Ardax, swung the axe, and impaled another hellhound as I jumped through and into the veil. Raising my weapon, I focused on the man in the gold mask on the other side.
I would end this once and for all if I killed the sorcerer’s apprentice.
Pressure surrounded me, and my body was pulled in a hundred directions. A scream ripped through my throat, and I felt the snap as I broke the connection from Ardax and Rulah.
A backlash of power whipped out at everything around me. The veil suddenly closed, and I was trapped in darkness.
CHAPTER EIGHT
My lungs ached. My skin burned like it was on fire, and then I was shot out of the darkness and landed face first in the dirt. I rolled over and stared up at the night sky.
Where was I?
The moon was waning, and it gave enough light to see the surrounding landscape. I was in a small glade next to a troll’s head rising out of the earth. My breath caught in my throat until I saw it was only a trick of the light.
The monstrous head was made of stone. Surrounding the troll head rock was a grove of fire elm trees, whose ever-changing leaves transformed colors like the flames in a fire. I only ever saw the fire elms in the Sion region. I studied the sky, but the stars were wrong. I was farther south. Pushing myself to my knees, I took in more of my surroundings. I was encircled by a dozen black piles of ash. As I drew near, one disintegrated, and the wind carried the disturbed pile away. Were these the remains of the hellhounds that had passed through the veil?
When I was ripped from the ley line, did my curse snap back and attack these creatures? I trembled at the thought. I got to my feet and saw the wounds on my arm were no longer bleeding, but had begun to clot and already heal. How long was I knocked out for and where was the figure with the golden mask?
Whoever was on the other side had summoned these creatures or controlled them, and they were long gone. As I walked the glade, I studied the ground and could see nary a hint of any disturbance.
I had more questions, and I didn’t see a way to get answers any time soon. The first problem I had to take care of was what would happen now? I cradled my injured arm and looked around the glade.
“Rumple!” I called out, but didn’t hear a reply. “Rumple! Answer me, you stupid pain in the axe!”
Silence followed, only punctuated by the restless wind over the grass.
I bent over and rested my hands on my knees as I focused on breathing and not panicking. I was in a strange place, without any supplies or weapons, and I had lost Rumple.
“Get it together, Honor,” I chided. “You’re trained to handle any situation. Even this.”
That was when I noticed the fresh boot prints on the earth and the trampled grass of where a horse had been tethered to a nearby tree. From the single tree, a trail headed south. It must have rained not long ago, and since then the earth had dried and caked, preserving the prints, leaving a telltale path to follow. Someone stole Rumple and left me for dead?
I spun while searching, but I found no one watching me. There was nothing except the horse tracks. I studied the depth of the treads and the length of stride and discovered that it wasn’t a horse, but a donkey.
I should turn north, toward home, find a homestead, and get ahold of my mother, alert Lorn, get reinforcements. Or I could follow the tracks to find Rumple. He would know what had happened once I crossed through the veil. He may be the only witness to the massacre and the aftereffects. He may know where the sorcerer went.
Images of the dead flitted across my mind. I shook my head. I had to follow Rumple.
As I limped along the path out of the fire elms, the sun rose and I could feel my body begin to weaken. It wasn’t the same as when I needed to get to a ley line. I was just exhausted and dehydrated. My lips were cracked, and I could feel my eyes begin to play tricks on me as pools of water floated just along the horizon.
The woods faded, the trail disappeared onto the hard-packed earth as I came to a road. I looked at the other side and saw no other tracks. The animals and rider either turned north or south.
I cursed under my breath and tried to decide where to go, but before I could make a decision, I saw a dust cloud on the road from the north. It would disappear into the horizon and minutes later I would see the hazy outline as it appeared again. A transport.
The transports were coaches that frequently traveled between kingdoms for long journeys. They would have a banner posted on their door of which kingdom they were currently on their way to and would pick up fares accordingly. This transport wasn’t barring any flag, which meant he was between jobs.
The driver, a friendly man with a red mustache and mop of hair, hopped off his bench and came to stand next to me.
“You all right, Miss? You look like you might need some assistance?”
I could only imagine what I looked like from his point of view. A ripped dress, covered in blood, my hair tumbling about my shoulders. I had lost all but one of my golden combs.
I nodded numbly.
“Where to, Miss?” the driver asked.
“Have you passed anyone on your way? Maybe a lone traveler on a horse, perchance?”
He shook his head. “No one for hours, Miss.”
“What is that way?” I asked, pointing south, toward the other possible route.
“That be the city of Marinall.”
“Are there any other towns or homesteads nearby?”
“No, Miss, that’s why I stopped. There’s nothing out this way within a day’s travel other than the city. Too far for you to make it by foot in your condition.” He pulled the rim of his hat down, and I knew he was referring to my torn dress and fancy slippers. Even now, I could feel the sun’s rays burning my skin.
I licked my cracked lips and tried to think where I should go. Training would tell me to return to the Northern Woods, or even to the town of Nihill to find Mother.
A sour pit hit my stomach. No. That wasn’t right either.