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“You need not fear me,” Rook says, his cheek resting on top of my head. It’s a comforting position, a soft one I didn’t think a monster like him could enjoy. “As long as Kai wills it, I will not harm her chosen.”
I sigh, sinking deeper into Rook’s arms despite knowing nothing about him. I don’t need to, not really. Our souls seem to speak to each other, and it feels like there is a tether between them that is as solid as his arms around me. I think Kaito was right. We were meant to be here to meet Rook. Why else would he feel as much like home as the others do?
I’m about to request we head back, prepared to invite Rook to come with us, when a scream rents the air and freezes each of us in place. Weyland holds a torch that I hadn’t realized was there, but the light doesn’t penetrate the darkness as much as I’d like. That scream had been monstrous, clearly not human, but it’s rare to hear such a sound. Usually, the screams sound a bit more filled with humanity.
“What was that?” I whisper, tucking tighter against Rook.
Rook lifts his nose into the air as if he can scent the wind. When his face twists with murderous intention, he hisses, “Humans.”
I blink. Humans? That scream had not been human in the slightest.
“Come closer,” Rook snarls at Weyland, Dade, and Kaito. “I cannot hide us with you spread so far apart.”
To their credit, the others immediately move in, the shadows swirling around us until they hide us from view. Disappointment at not being able to see the threat or where it comes from fills me before Rook nuzzles my hair.
“Do not despair, little oblivion. Look.” I blink as the shadows lighten on our side, as if providing a window. “They will not see us, but we can see them,” he says, knowing I was confused.
At first, no one appears, but the screams and sounds of movement grow closer. My ears aren’t as good as Weyland’s, who stiffens long before I hear male human voices laughing boisterously between themselves.
The torches appear shortly after, the soft glow spreading until the first one appears. I recognize him, not because I know who he is but by the way he carries himself like my father. He’s from the Shadow Lands, although his weathered face doesn’t strike my memories, but that isn’t what makes me huddle into Rook.
More humans appear, many carrying weapons and joking between them.
“If the king could see us now, we’d surely be brought to his table,” one crows. “Just look at our prize!”
“Aye, he would offer the finest wines and put their heads on spikes for all to see,” another adds. “Perhaps the new queen’s would be beside them, her mouth open in a scream forever.”
I cover the gasp that slips from my mouth, my fingers holding it in, but the horror of these men praising a dead, cruel king isn’t the worst of the matter. The cages begin to appear, carried by people I used to see working the fields in the Shadow Lands. I don’t know any of their names, but I see a few faces I once knew before the king took me for himself. They look miserable as they carry large cages filled with dead bodies.
Bodies of slaughtered monsters.
Each cage is full and dripping blood, leaving a trail behind them. None of them live, so I can only assume the scream came from the death of another. Their prizes are innocent monsters slain for some proud, dead king.
The shadows in my soul almost take me, the horror of seeing those monsters in cages like I was kept in nearly triggering me. Only Rook’s soft hand stroking my shoulders keeps me present as I witness this horror.
The last cage appears, and the monster inside is alive. The large snake woman tries to grab the people carrying her, but she can’t reach them. She hisses and snaps, screaming her terror.
What’s happening? The humans are hunting monsters now?
I clench my fingers on Rook’s bicep, a request on my lips before I know I intend to speak. “Help her,” I whisper.
What horrors are they saving this one for?
These men speak of the old king as if he’s worthy of worship, as if they can bring him back to life. It’s as if the Gilded Lands, Shadows Lands, and Dead Lands hadn’t been dying under his rule.
As if he were not dead and only waiting for his rebirth.
“Help her,” I repeat. “Please.”
Seeing her in the cage makes me angry. It makes me want to rush out there myself and free her. Luckily, I don’t have to. One moment, I’m being held in Rook’s arms, and the next, the shadows around me twist and swirl. They crawl along the ground toward the group of humans. I think he’s just going to go after the ones holding the cage, but I forgot that Rook is a monster whom other monsters fear.
Their screams begin to fill the air as Rook slaughters the humans one by one, these people far more monstrous than those they hunt. I stare with wide eyes as Weyland circles me in his arms while Rook makes quick work of the humans who have no awareness of the monster in their midst. When the screams stop,the shadows fade away, leaving only those at Rook’s feet. The cage with the snake woman sits on the ground now, her eyes wild and feral.
I step forward, her eyes focusing on me. “We mean you no harm,” I say, not sure if she understands me, but when I reach for the lock, Rook appears at my side.
“She may attack in fear,” he warns.
I nod and pull the lockpin free. The door pops open, and I back up. “You’re free,” I tell her. “Your cage is open.”
