“It is the right way, Piffle. It’s time we visit a Goddess.”
CHAPTER 48
The Beast
BRINGER.
…
SHE HAS COME.
…Re…
BRINGER HAS COME. DOWN TO DARKNESS.
the… Under… fae…
SHE PULLS US. THEY COME.
No… stop… her…
BRINGER STRONG. POWERFUL.
Reshina… wait…
ISHTAK NEAR.
Stop her.
MOTHER APPROACHES.
CHAPTER 49
Reshina
Pushing asidehow much I hated it, I pulled the dagger from Arthur’s chest, instructing Piffle to bandage over the wound. While the cut stopped bleeding, he could not close it, and after attempting three times, I instructed him to stop. He held the candlestick while I pulled under Arthur’s arm, slowly dragging his body further through the tunnel. Piffle followed in quiet whimpers, cowering at the Underfae who came near, their clicks preceding them. But I was now a Goddess without limits.
The first came, springing from the dark and I stunned it. Piffle’s light caused the others to hiss and sink back into the crevices of the tunnel.
I searched their faces and features for the one we had captured, finding her peering out at us curiously,hungrily, from a rocky crevice. I addressed her, stunning those around her, though more were coming. “I will give my blood freely, but you must tell the others to let us pass!” I spoke with clarity, our eyes meeting in the dim. She emitted a few clicks as if trying to communicate with me. I cut my arm with the dagger and she slid closer, eyeing me carefully. “I will leave a trail for you. For all of you, but you must allow us passage to Ishtak. If you cannotabide by this bargain, I will start removing your heads from your necks.”
She clicked once, darting to the dripping of blood below my arm. Licking the rock furiously, she clicked again several times. I chose to trust her for that moment, releasing the spell over the others. She communicated to them again, and without wasting time, I continued dragging, slicing into my arm every few minutes as the wound closed. Soon, I knew my bargain had been accepted. Soon, a long trail of a Goddess's blood stained the tunnel behind us, dozens of Underfae in tow with their faces pressed to the rocky floor.
“Ishtak! I seek Ishtak, Goddess of the Underfae!” I yelled, grunting and pulling my husband’s body in great heaves. I kneeled down to Arthur, checking his pulse again. “Please! Ishtak!” My voice echoed endlessly through the cavern, my arms bloody and the coppery scent permeating the increasingly putrid stench of the tunnel.
“Just a bit more, Mistress,” Piffle whispered. “Just a bit more and we can reach her.”
I nodded, swallowing my fears. After what felt like hours, the stone floor transitioned into smooth marble, crusted over with something black and flaking. My bare feet slapped against it as the tunnel opened into a low-lit cavern.
The clicking of the Underfae echoed on the rounded walls, shaded in shadows. I pulled Arthur further into the room, bending down beside him, cradling his head in my lap. “Ishtak?” I heaved, catching my breath.
A voice came from the dark. “Is that you, Reshina? Ravenfae Goddess of the Veil?”
I cried in a sigh of relief. “Yes, Ishtak, it’s me.”
She entered the light of Piffle’s candle and I bolted upward. Where once I knew an old woman with silver hair, pale skin, and grey eyes now a corpse stood before me. Bite marks spread all over her body, mottling her once pale skin to purple and blackstretched over sharp bones. She wore a simple dress of black, tattered and frayed with slashes throughout the material.
Furious, I cast my gaze to the Underfae crawling up the walls, their incessant clicking inciting my anger further. “What have theydoneto you?”
