AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tal had vanished. I’d left him behind when I stormed off in my own frustration. A sinking feeling told me that the forest had separated us. My pride over being hurt had hindered our mission tonight. I could have kicked myself in the ass for letting my feelings get the best of me once again.
There was no going back now. If I left, the forest would only put more distance between Tal and me. So, I kept low and slunk between the trees to see if I could get around this bonfire and the Sluagh.
The feeling of being watched crept up my spine like a trail of fingers. I shuddered and spun, but there was no one there. The darkness between the trees behind me flickered but revealed nothing. I gulped and turned back around.
I was lucky a yelp didn’t escape my mouth when I came face to face with a glowing blue monster. However, I did fumble back and trip over a fallen branch. Flat on my ass, I stared into the face of a feline creature. At first, my heart told me that it had to be Rhoan.
This wasn’t the man I loved, though. The chimera face wasn’t exactly the same. There were no feathers at his cheeks. Instead of a cat’s tail, this one had a curved scorpion tail that arched over its back.
Would Faust feel it if I used my arcana in his domain? There was little time to wonder. I shoved my power into the earth and pulled up the roots beneath to attack. The beast dropped to the ground and put his head on the tops of his paws, which caught me off guard.
I pulled back the roots and watched the beast warily. There was still no sign of Tal when I glanced over my shoulder. Without my ally, I quickly looked back to the beast. This time, two more appeared. They, too, dropped down and put their heads on their paws in a show of submission.
Head tilted, I wondered if I should ask them what they wanted. They could have been surrounding me so that I would be trapped when Faust came. Though, I figured Faust would have had his beasts rip me to shreds so that he could feed me to his Sluagh.
These beasts seemed…like they wanted to help. I crawled forward on my hands and knees and reached a tentative hand out towards the first beast. He rose and shoved his head into the palm of my hand like a cat desperate for affection. A low purr rumbled deep inside him as his batwings fluttered.
Rhoan wasn’t the first one to be trapped by Faust’s cruel bargains. While most of the Sluagh were warriors that Faust had defeated in battle, I realized that he had a menagerie of beasts as well. They had to be people he couldn’t defeat on his own. These strong and capable warriors became targets for Faust’s manipulations so that he could find a way to capture them for his own purposes.
“What do you want with me?” I whispered.
Did they expect me to save them? I couldn’t be everyone’s savior if I couldn’t even help myself.
A flash of light caught my eye. Head craned, I stared up at a blue Sluagh warrior. He grinned down at me and raised his blade before swinging it down at my neck. This was it, the end. I’d been caught with my guard down. He must have heard my whisper and come to look.
Before the spectral blade could hit me, the beast before me swiped at it with his paw. The blade whispered against the beast’s claws before sliding down into the beast’s paw. I winced. Before the Sluagh warrior could try to swing again, a second beast pounced on him. Then the third.
The battle happened so soundlessly that no one would have known had they not been there. I heard the barest clash of metal on claws and the crunch of foliage as the warrior hit the ground. He was there and then gone as the beasts ripped the spectral form into shreds of light that vanished into the night.
I realized, in that moment, that the beasts wanted to help me. They hadn’t come here to ask for a favor. Instead, they were giving me their aid. For once, I breathed a sigh of relief that left me feeling light.
Lifting myself from the ground, I reached and tried to bury a hand in the first beast’s fur. My fingers passed through his spectral form, much to my dismay. I could feel the resistance of his shape, like when he’d pressed his head into my palm, but there was no fur to pet in thanks. And I didn’t dare open my mouth again for fear of drawing another Sluagh warrior our way.
So, I nodded to the beast and stood. I cast one last glance at where the warrior had been and the drifting mote of blue light that remained of him. I regretted running away from Tal, but the sting of his confession still hurt. He would catch up eventually, or he would at least find his own way out. I had no doubt about that.
The beasts led the way out of the forest. They brought me to a small castle, nothing more than a couple of towers tucked between a pair of hills. Skulls cackled on spikes outside the front gate. Dead trees reached towards the sky with boughs that seemed to be wriggling.
Faust was a little late packing up his Halloween decorations, in my opinion. The Nightmare King really celebrated all year round. I knew that wasn’t really his goal, but the whole set up reeked like a cheap haunted house.
The blue glow of the Sluagh’s bonfire was far behind us, so I straightened and whispered, “Is he here?”
I should have been more specific. I didn’t ask if Rhoan or Faust were here. So, the beasts led me past the front gate while I questioned who I was approaching at all. My skin crawled as if being assailed by hundreds of invisible hands. I shuddered and pulled my jacket tighter around myself.
The laugh behind me didn’t belong to the skulls. I spun to find Faust leaning against the inner wall of his castle. The beasts gathered around me, dropped low, and growled in warning. Faust sighed irritably and waved a hand.
All at once, the beasts burst into a spray of light motes that drifted away on the wind. I inhaled sharply and fumbled back. Not to be deterred, I brought my arcana up through the ground and dragged the reluctant roots of the trees out to protect myself.
“Those creatures have been a thorn in my side as of late,” Faust said as he pushed off the wall and smoothed the front of his vest. “I have absolutely no idea what’s gotten into them.”
I stiffened. Talking to Faust wasn’t the best idea, but I couldn’t help but blurt out a response. “Maybe you shouldn’t have tricked them into giving up their lives.”
Faust grinned and touched the side of his nose knowingly. “I didn’t trick them. They knew exactly what the stakes were, each and every one of them.”
I shot a root out towards Faust, aiming for his heart. The domain didn’t want to agree with me. The sharpened root slowed just enough for Faust to side-step out of the way. I realized that my arcana wasn’t going to be of much help here. The domain belonged the Faust, and he controlled everything therein.
There was no way that I was going to beat him like this. I was defenseless without my arcana. I wasn’t a fighter.
But I was a survivor.
