Eventide (Meratis Trilogy Book 2) (32 page)

“It’s scary how well you know me sometimes.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed. “You are a son of a bitch, but I think you’re right.” She pulled away. “Jayden was right, too, I think. Corey would have called me weak, the way I’ve been acting. He wouldn’t have been as tactless, of course.”

Jeff held out his hand, and Jasmine took it. He squeezed tighter the closer they got, and Jasmine returned the pressure.

As they reached the clearing, the harder and faster the memories came. He saw the curtain of leaves where the walking corpses had pushed through, their slow death march freezing the scouts in place. He remembered Syd Hunter, the poor kid whose love of his life had been in that rotting army. How he’d died to save what was left of her.

He saw the cougars, mutated into living death, jump out of nowhere. Scouts trapped on the ground, their insides torn apart and eaten while they still clung to life.

Nausea crept up his throat as the stench of blood and faeces and death resurfaced.

Jasmine draped her arm around his shoulder, pulling him closer. Jeff berated himself for being afraid. They were here for her. He had to remember that.

“Walk me through it,” she whispered. “I think this could help us both.”

Jeff cleared his throat and pointed to where the walking dead had stopped, their limbs swaying in the breeze. “Raul sent his victims back like a decomposing army. They didn’t attack us, didn’t come near us, just stood there with their throats gaping and milky white eyes staring at us.”

He stepped away from Jasmine towards a large tree, one of the few still standing near the clearing. Others lay fallen, more victims of that day.

“I hate to admit it, but I hid here. I tried to keep Syd with me, but he was past reason, mad with grief.” Jeff scratched at the scab on his neck. “When the cougars came, we had no idea what it meant. Jayden and Corey were magnificent,” Right in front of where he stood now was where the two men had practiced their well-rehearsed sword dance, cutting off the head of the first cat. “Nothing could touch them. It was like on their own they were good, but together they were unbeatable.”

“They always practiced as partners,” Jasmine said quietly. “Said it gave them an edge.”

“It did that day,” Jeff agreed. “But I still don’t know if we would have won. The cougars kept coming. It felt like for every one they killed, three more prepared to jump in.”

He tilted his head up to the sky. “That’s when Talfyr came.”

Jasmine swallowed loudly and came closer. “Tell me.”

Jeff lowered his head. “It wasn’t clear at first what he was doing. He was so loud and terrifying and
big
that we all scattered. The cougars fled, but Talfyr burned them all.”

The screams of the cats echoed in his head, so disturbingly human.

“The scouts tried to fight him. A perfect opportunity to bring down the other threat to the country. Jayden and Corey had a strategy—they went after the wings.”

“What made Jayden stop?”

Jeff turned his head away, staring at where it had played out. Like a movie, he saw himself tackle Jayden out of the way. The warrior had rolled back to his feet and rested his blade against Jeff’s throat, accusing him of trying to kill him.

“Talfyr isn’t trying to kill us!
” Jeff had yelled, begging him to see.

Jayden had looked over his shoulder, watched the dragon try to fly off, come back as the next volley of arrows struck his scales.

“
Gods be damned.”

“Talfyr was trying to leave,” he explained to Jasmine. “I managed to convince Jayden, but Corey—”

Jayden had tried so hard to stop him, unable to run after Corey because of an injury to his leg.

“Corey, man, stop! He’s not after you!”

“His armour got caught.” Jeff’s vision blurred as tears filled his eyes. “That’s all it was, Jax. A stupid fucking accident that didn’t have to happen. He got stuck, and Talfyr flew off. His scales cut through the leather. He fell. There.”

Jeff pointed to a spot of green grass a few metres away. The clearing hadn’t been lush or pretty at the time, he remembered. The drought had made the ground hard and cracked, more like stone than earth. The grass had been brown, soaked through with blood by the end of the fight.

Jasmine walked over and stared down at the ground. Jeff gave her a few moments before going over to join her. She didn’t say anything for a long while, processing, and he let her be.

Finally, slowly, a gurgle of sound built up in her chest, a sound that grew louder and more forceful until it was a yell of the purest anger and pain Jeff had ever heard. She reached down to pick up a stray stone and threw it with all of her strength into the woods. Unseen creatures in the shadows scurried away.

Jeff winched at the thought of her injury, but she seemed unhurt, too caught up in her emotions.

“It’s not fair!” she raged. “Everything I lost for an
accident
? Why did it have to be
you
who took down the dragon. You gods-be-damned lunatic, selfish, stupid son of a bitch!”

She paced back and forth across the spot, reaching down to throw an even larger rock at nothing.

Another yell, and then she seemed to run out of yells. She sank down to the ground, and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on top. Jeff took a chance and dropped down next to her.

When she spoke again, she sounded worn out, all heat gone. “He was an arrogant bastard.”

“I know,” said Jeff.

“I’m sorry he was an ass to you.”

Jeff shrugged. “I wrote him that way. Could hardly be surprised.”

Jasmine forced a smirk. “
If
you wrote us at all.”

Jeff pretended to scowl. “You’ve been listening to too many of Brady’s wild theories. Heed them not.”

She chuckled through the new wave of silent tears, reaching up to wipe them with the heel of her hand.

“We’re in a fine mess, aren’t we, Jeff?”

Jeff nodded. “I think we are. Again.”

“I guess we should do something about it.”

“That’s what you guys are good at. Solving the country’s problems.”

“You’re not half bad yourself, you know.” Jasmine got to her feet and brushed the dirt off her pants. “So let’s save ourselves from at least one challenge and break that spell.”

She held out one hand to help Jeff to his feet, the other hand stretched out to catch the first fat raindrop falling between the leaves, and they walked back to the horses. Swish was still shaking when Jeff found him and it took a minute to calm him enough to mount up. Somehow, though, he sensed the fear was residual, as if some of the nightmares that haunted this forest had been vanquished. With nothing more to say, they cut across the clearing and continued on to Treevale.

Chapter Twenty

T
he ruin of Treevale Fortress was a pathetic sight, made even more dreary by the curtain of rain washing over it. The stone walls, never in the greatest shape, lay crumbled in heaps. Of the eight towers, only two remained standing. One Jeff recognised as the tower he’d fallen from. Where Siobhan had died.

He was glad Venn hadn’t come along. After the flurry of emotions in the clearing, he wasn’t sure he could handle another scene.

The four soldiers waited with their horses by what had once been the front door when they approached.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” said Jasmine. “That so much happened here and none of it mattered. None of it lasted.”

Jeff dug into the dirt with his foot, unearthing a step. “Just goes to show how insignificant we are, in the scheme of things.”

“Looks liked the new tenant is away from home, at least.” She turned to the soldiers. “Have you done a search of the area?”

“Best as we could, my Lady,” one of the men replied. “There’s not much left to search. But yes, Talfyr seems to be gone.”

“Too bad,” said Jeff. “Would have liked to compliment him on what he’s done with the place.”

Jasmine smirked and then refocused on the soldiers. “I want you to guard the perimetre while we’re inside. You see anyone or anything, give the alarm.”

One of the soldiers paled slightly, fidgeted with his gloves. “M-my Lady?” he started. “If Talfyr should...”

“You run,” said Jasmine, cutting him off. The others looked ready to argue with her, so she added a firm, “That’s an order. We may have considered him an ally, but I’d hardly call him a friend. Get back to the road and trust that we’ll stay out of sight until he’s gone again. Is that understood?”

They bowed their heads, and Jasmine gestured for Jeff to lead the way. He took a breath and started walking, following the steps back into his nightmare.

Wandering through the rubble, they heard the stomach-turning sound of bones crunching under their feet. Fortunately, Jeff saw no bodies, the site having apparently been cleared out by the queen’s men.

In the remains of the foyer, with no roof to protect them, they considered their options.

“What do you think?” said Jasmine. “Up? Down? Do we split up?”

Jeff shuddered. “I think we should stick together. Two sets of eyes are better than one and all that. But we could start in the towers. That’s where he kept the source for the barrier spell, maybe he liked to keep them all together.”

Jasmine’s eyebrow arched. “Wishful thinking?”

“I like to start on familiar territory before exploring the unknown.”

They started for the tower and Jeff sighed as, for the second time in his life, he climbed the steep, shoddy stairs to beat the sorcerer at his game.

“Ridiculous that this could all be a waste of our time,” he said.

“At least we’re doing something.”

“And if we go home without finding anything?”

Jasmine paused and looked at him over her shoulder. “We’ll have learned something else.”

The first tower was empty and, by the time they reached second, they were drenched. The stone steps were slick under their boots, and Jeff held his breath all the way up, every second expecting to slip and slide back down.

As they entered the room at the top of the tower, Jeff’s breath was caught not by the climb, but the memories. He saw Siobhan’s wide frame in front of the large gap in the wall that overlooked the river, once more swollen with rain. This time the rest of the room was gone, the pedestal that had once held the stone of the barrier spell crushed to nothing by the dragon’s weight.

Because it was obvious this was where Talfyr had made his home. Jeff grimaced at the sight of bones and bloodied corpses strewn about the floor.

“Sheep,” said Jasmine. “Mostly. I think that’s a cow over there.”

“Wonderful. Thank you. See anything else that could be a spell?”

He wanted to get away from the stench. Waiting in the doorway with his hand over his nose and mouth, he watched Jasmine step lightly around the gore.

“Nothing here. If there were I think it would be crushed by now?”

“Moving on then.”

He rushed out of the room and faced the even more treacherous journey back down the stairs. On the main floor, they followed what corridors remained, both feeling the deja-vu of their last search in the rooms. Then it had been a race against time before the guards, bewitched by the Sisters, returned to their posts. This time there was a different guard and one that could potentially turn them into cinders.

Most of the surviving rooms had been overrun with mould and mildew, although untouched by animals thanks to Talfyr’s presence. But no shimmering spell to smash, no matter how many trunks and dressers Jeff and Jasmine threw open.

The rain fell hard and heavy, flooding the open rooms, and leaving the covered rooms damp and cold. Jeff pulled his collar closer around his neck and wished he’d brought a coat.

“I almost miss the heat wave,” he grumbled.

“They’re
your
weather patterns,” said Jasmine.

“Tell me, why is it that all the good things in this world are thanks to yourselves, but you’re generous enough to credit me with the faults?”

Jasmine flashed a quick grin his way. “Because it makes the most sense.”

Not much remained of the main floor except for the library, which Maggie and Brady had already gone through when the Fortress was first raided. Neither Jasmine nor Jeff thought it worth their time to give it more than a cursory walk-through.

“If Maggie sensed any sort of magical aura in here, she would have told us,” said Jasmine, poking at the dusty contents of a broken display case.

“So what’s next? The guardroom? Think he’d trust a bunch of sweaty armoured oafs around something as precious as his zombie pet machine?”

“Come on, Jeff,” Jasmine scolded. “Think creatively.”

“Oh, all right. Well maybe he left it ...” Jeff let his sentence trail off, glowering at her.

She bit her cheek. “Right. Sorry. All right, well what about some sort of lab. Like the one he used to have in the Haunt. Maybe on the lower levels?”