'Where the fuck is everyone?' I mutter, going into the Hall and then into Lia’s house, but there’s no one there. The Trading Post is abandoned, the ledger still open and with a cold cup of tea beside it.
'What happened here?' Bryn asks.
'Is the ward still up?' I ask Locke, who nods.
'Aye. It's exactly the same as it was before. Nothing has changed. Yet every member of Halsford has fucking disappeared.'
I snarl.
We enter every house methodically, but we find no one. Not even a babe. We go into our cottage and divest ourselves of our supplies and bags before we begin to inspect the surrounding area. We look everywhere we can think of, even at the baths, but the village is abandoned.
I see Bryn out of the corner of my eye go around to check the back of a cottage alone, and I begin to follow her, a sense ofdread coming over me. But before I reach her, I hear her sharp scream that's cut off abruptly.
As I come around the corner, moving as quickly as I can, I catch sight of a familiar fae in black. Blood trickles down his face, likely from Fate’s punishment as Bryn lies limp over his shoulder. I can’t place him until he turns fully toward me and grins nastily just as the Breach opens not two paces from where he stands.
‘Repayment for what you did to me in Dead City, Mountain!’
‘No!’ I yell, lurching toward them, but Warrior is too quick.
With a final, haunting laugh, he steps into the Breach, taking our female with him.
CHAPTER 12
BRYN
When I wake, I have a monstrous headache. I touch the side of my head with a groan and feel a large lump there. I sit up carefully, leaning against what feels like a damp, stone wall. As I crack my eyes open in the low light, I see metal bars, and a floor covered in rotted reeds black with mold and decay.
I feel for the knives Morgan gave me. They’re gone.
Of course they are. I had them in my hands when I was taken.
By Warrior.
I remember that.
Swallowing hard, I look beyond the cell. It's dim, but I can make out other figures. Humans. Some are whimpering low. I can hear children and babes crying quietly, and being hushed by their mothers. But many adults are openly weeping as well. Some are slumped over and looking desolate, while others angrily pace the cages they’re locked in as much as they’re able considering there are so many in such a cramped space.
Faces I know appear in my vision in the cell next to mine as my eyes get used to the gloom. Tavish, some of the men who work for the merchant, and others from the village who I’ve helped in the healer’s rooms. Tavish’s men are eyeing mewarily, four in particular stare at me as I survey the dungeon we’re locked in. If they’re the ones who beat me by the river, they should be afraid of me, but if we’re where I think we are, I'm the least of their worries.
I’m alone in my cage. I get to my feet and stagger to the front of my cell, trying the lock.
'There's no use in bothering,' I hear Tavish mutter.
He’s leaning on the bars of the cell next to mine, watching me. ‘They’re all well secured.'
'Where are we?' I ask in case he knows more than I do.
He sneers, but he keeps his voice low. 'Do you not remember them rounding us up? Working some dark magick on any who tried to fight? Or, perhaps you were with them. Did you lead them straight to our doors, Dark Realmer?’
'I wasn't even in Halsford when they came,' I tell him. ‘Locke, Morgan, Jak, and I were sent to Kitore two days ago so that I could be captured. That was the city her agents were meant to be taking the humans from. You should know at least some of that,Councilor.’
‘Is that where they caught you?’ he asks with a scowl.
‘No, they never came to Kitore,’ I look around the dungeon and frown. ‘They went to Halsford instead.’
There’s a pregnant silence.
‘We found the village deserted when we returned…today, I suppose,’ I finish. ‘I was caught there. One of them was waiting for us.’
