The Dark Throne (55 page)

“We?” Liam repeated questioningly.

“There are only three
ulfdrengr
who survived the destruction of our people.” The
ulfdrengr
looked steadily at my brother. “Vell was the only free warrior after the harrowing of the North. She offered her skills as a hunter and tracker to the Unseelie Court.”

“She found me,” I said with a smile, remembering that rainy night.

“And she has a wolf too?” interjected Quinn. “I just want to make sure I’m understanding all this. Because it sounds like I might want to sign up to be an
ulfdrengr
.” He pronounced the word almost perfectly, earning a grin from Luca.

“Yes, we are all wolf-chosen,” replied Luca. He touched the white scar on his neck where the White Wolf had marked him. Among the more pressing considerations of day-to-day survival, I’d almost forgotten our encounter with the wolf god of the
ulfdrengr.
“Gods willing, we will choose more warriors after this war.”

I thought of silver-and-gray Rialla and sable Beryk. I wondered if Kianryk could find an ordinary wolf to take as his mate, or if he would be content to be the guardian of the pack. It felt odd to think of what would happen after the war. I couldn’t really wrap my head around a Faeortalam without threat lurking in every shadow.

“All right, Tess?” asked my brother. “You look a bit sad suddenly.”

I shrugged. “I just realized that I don’t know what peace looks like in this world.” I paused. “I’ve known that we were at war ever since I came through the gate.”

“At least the enemy in this war is pretty cut-and-dry,” said Duke.

“Sometimes not as cut-and-dry as you’d think,” I replied darkly, thinking of Allene, transformed into a skeletal creature with dark fire flickering in its eyes. I pushed the image away. “Anyway. Now you know most of what’s going on around here…your turn. How did you end up in Faeortalam?”

“It’s really not a very exciting story,” said Liam, but Quinn and Duke leaned forward eagerly, eyes shining at the chance to tell their side of events.

“We were out on patrol,” said Quinn, “and all of a sudden there’s this earthquake.”

“The sky goes all dark,” contributed Duke, spreading his hands over an imaginary landscape. “Thought it was Judgement Day or someone had used a nuke or somethin’.”

“And then these
things
—I don’t know if they were men or what, because they were all wrapped up in black—grab Liam,” continued Quinn. “Of course we all unload on the fu—on
them
. Not about to let ‘em snatch up our team leader.”

“We saw a couple of those wolf-things, the big nasty ones. We killed one.” Duke nodded in satisfaction.

“Basically we’re just fighting our asses off, wondering what kind of voodoo shit is going on, and we get pulled through this wormhole.” Quinn made a sucking sound and brought his hands together. I chuckled. “Dumped us in the middle of the mountains, just spat us out quick as you please.”

“It sucked,” muttered Duke.

“Our delicate little flower here puked his guts out,” said Quinn with a grin, nudging Duke with his foot. Duke told him to go put his judgment in a very uncomfortable place.

“Most of our gear was fried coming through,” Jess said. “Night vision goggles, comms gear, anything with electronics, most of it melted right then and there.” He grimaced. “We smelled like burnt plastic for a couple of days.”

“So we dumped most of our gear, kept the basics, went slick and hauled ass,” finished Quinn.

“I miss my plate carrier,” Duke said in an undertone, sounding like a kid who’d lost his favorite baseball glove.

“Ballistic plates don’t do shit against things that don’t shoot bullets,” Jess said.

“Well, we get to upgrade to armor now, right?” Duke looked hopefully at me.

“And here I thought Quinn was the Dungeons and Dragons nerd,” Liam said beneath his breath.

Quinn grinned. “You’re just jealous that some of my nerd-knowledge might actually come in handy.”

Duke tilted his head and then nodded. “Valid.”

I smiled. For guys that had been dropped in the middle of the wilderness and survived for a couple of weeks on their own, they were resilient. “You didn’t see any of it coming, right before they snatched you?” I asked Liam. “From what you’ve said, it sounds like your visions are pretty consistent when it comes to physical danger.”

He thought for a moment. “I had a weird feeling, but I couldn’t really
see
what was wrong. Maybe because the threat was coming from a different world?”

“Maybe your fortune-telling noggin wasn’t calibrated to detect those kinds of beasties,” Quinn offered.

“An expert assessment if ever I heard one,” Jess said sardonically.

I frowned. “Why spit you out in the mountains? Why not just take you right to Malravenar’s stronghold?”

“It takes a great deal of power to pierce the veil,” said Niamh. “Perhaps the pathway was not so controlled as the Enemy thought, or more than one mortal entering the tear unbalanced it.”

“Once we were through, I could See clearly again,” said Liam. “It was pretty simple to evade them.”

I looked sharply at Luca. “Was this just a diversion? Do you think he’s planning to attack while we’re out here in the mountains?”

“It’s possible,” allowed Luca. “But you know that we couldn’t justify even the possibility of a Seer coming into enemy hands.”

“
He
probably knows that too,” I said thoughtfully.

“Apparently you’re kind of a big deal,” Quinn said to Liam in a low voice.

I shook my head in frustration. I felt like I was staring at a puzzle, unable to fit the pieces together. “Using my brother as bait…it’s a possibility. It fits. I just don’t understand
why
.”

“Who
is
this guy?” Quinn asked. “I mean, I get that he’s the super-villain extraordinaire of this world, but…who is he? What’s the motivation?”

“I wish I had an answer,” I said, staring down at my hands, watching the firelight play over my lacy scars. “I don’t know anything other than he’s very old and very powerful. He wants dominion over this world.” I shrugged.

“Deranged powerful bad guy. Got it,” said Quinn. “Next question is, what can we do to help?”

I looked at the tattooed man in surprise. He gazed calmly back at me. His three teammates mirrored his serious look, awaiting my answer. I blinked.

“We can always use more warriors,” I said finally. “We’d be honored if you’d fight with us.”

“You got it, ma’am,” said Duke. “Do with us what you will.”

“We totally just enlisted in the army of elves and light, didn’t we,” said Quinn with a grin.

“Please don’t call them elves,” I said, eyebrows raised. “They’re Sidhe.”

“I don’t mind being called an elf,” said Robin puckishly. “There’s a certain mortal charm to it.”

“On the serious side,” I said, “just so we’re clear. This isn’t a dream. If you die here, you’re dead.” I let that sink in, but it didn’t seem to faze the four men. I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised at their ready acceptance of peril, given their occupation. “And we don’t know the timeline for being able to transport you back to the mortal world, or even if that will ever happen.”

A long moment of silence stretched over our little group, the quiet broken by the drifting sounds of song and celebration from around the main fire. Then Jess cleared his throat.

“I know these boys well enough to speak for all of us when I say that we’re always looking for the next adventure,” he said. “And when that adventure involves kicking some ass in the name of righteousness and the forces of good, that makes it even better.”

“Hell yeah,” said Quinn.

“Righteousness and the forces of good,” crowed Duke in agreement.

Liam grinned and raised his cup. We all followed suit, including Niamh and Robin. “To a long adventure of ass-kicking and righteous fury.”

Duke let out a yell as we all drank and Niamh answered with a full-throated howl; then suddenly from in the darkness behind us, Kianryk added his voice to the melee, startling the men. Liam laughed at his own surprise and our circle dissolved into easy conversation, the shadows deepening about us as the moon climbed higher in the velvet sky.

After another hour or so catching up with Liam and talking with his teammates, I felt confident in their ability to fend for themselves in the camp, and I went in search of Luca. I found him deep in conversation with the vanguard’s Walker. The Seelie Walker looked as though he’d just finished an arduous trek: exhaustion pressed dark shadows under his eyes, and he moved as though even standing upright was a hard task. I felt a slight prickle of irritation that Luca hadn’t included me in his initial conversation with the Walker, but then I reminded myself that he probably hadn’t wanted to interrupt my time with Liam. I also reminded myself that Luca was the commander of this vanguard, and although I wielded the most powerful weapon in this world, I still respected his authority.

Kianryk glided over to me, his sinuous grace beautiful to watch. I combed my fingers through his golden pelt and rubbed behind each of his great ears. He uncurled his tongue, letting it loll over his gleaming teeth. After a few more moments, Liam clasped the Walker by the shoulder and dismissed him with an order to go to sleep.

“Where is Niamh?” Luca asked as he turned toward me. He, too, looked a bit worn, the shadows carving his face more severely than usual.

“Here,” answered the Valkyrie captain, appearing silently. She tactfully approached on the side of me that wasn’t occupied by a huge tawny wolf.

“Good,” said Luca. “The forces of Mab and Titania have joined the
vyldgard
,” he continued without preamble. “The three Queens have held council.”

I wished I could imitate Jess’s low whistle of amazement. “That must be quite an army.”

“The greatest this world has ever known,” said Niamh, her eyes glimmering in the firelight.

“The Queens were not of one mind when the question of strategy arose,” continued Luca. “The Seelie Queen wished to pursue a more cautious approach. The
vyldretning
, as we knew before we left, wants to strike at the heart of Malravenar’s stronghold.”

“And Mab?” I asked. My mind was racing. If Mab’s forces had joined those of the Seelie Court and the
vyldgard
, Molly and Ramel and everyone I had known from Darkhill would be encamped right now by the skeleton of the dragon.

“The Unseelie Queen proposed a middle ground,” Luca said.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, crossing my arms. “It seems far-fetched that Titania and Vell disagreed, and Mab was the mediator.”

“I’m sure it was not quite that simple,” said Luca. “But in the end, they have created an ambitious plan.”

“So we’ll be riding back through the Deadlands to rejoin the army,” I said, grimacing at the thought of trekking back over the barren, dusty lands. Even though we’d only skirted the borders of the poisoned land dominated by Malravenar, I didn’t look forward to a return trip.

“I’m guessing there’s a twist to this plan,” said Niamh, watching Luca’s face carefully. “As long as I get the opportunity to wreak some havoc, I don’t particularly care about the details.”

“Tess,” said Luca, “Vell requests that you Walk to the Queens’ Camp in the morning, so she can explain the plan to you in person. She says she’ll send you a guide that you’ll know.”

I sighed. “I knew I wasn’t going to get away with a vacation from the ether.” My stomach tightened. Even though I’d Walked to meet Ramel in the blue rose garden, the feeling of Murtagh dragging me back into Brightvale with the last of his strength still dominated my thoughts about Walking. The Sword hummed a little—in reproach or commiseration, I couldn’t tell. I narrowed my eyes. “So we’re
not
traveling back through the Deadlands?”

“Oh, we’ll be traveling,” said Luca with his wolfish grin. “I’m just going to let Vell explain it to you.”

“You’re afraid I’d shoot the messenger?” I arched an eyebrow with an answering grin.

“Well, you’re really not that good of a shot, so….” Luca shrugged. Niamh laughed and I had to chuckle as well.

“So we hold here?” the Valkyrie asked, her voice now business-like again.

“Yes. No watches in the air. Ensure there are warning runes at a good distance.”

Niamh nodded and strode away.

“Warning runes need trees,” Luca explained to me. “It’s not worth the energy to create them if you’re only scratching them into dirt.”

“Do the trees themselves help warn us?” I closed my eyes slightly as the forest breeze rippled over my skin.

“Sometimes,” he replied, “though most of them are deep asleep now.” He gazed out contemplatively into the darkness.

“Speaking of sleep,” I said, stifling a sudden yawn, “I’m going to grab some while I can, especially if I’m going to be Walking for as long as I think I might be tomorrow.”

Luca nodded. “I’ll wake you at first light.”

“Is our Walker coming back with me as well?”

“No. I don’t want to send both of you at once.”

“Ah, here I was the alternate Walker and didn’t even know it.” I smiled as I slipped around sleeping figures, toward where I estimated my pack to be. I glimpsed Jess and Liam sitting on their log not far away, immersed in quiet conversation; I squinted and made out Duke and Quinn, both asleep already. Duke slept curled into a tight little ball and Quinn sprawled on his back with a ballcap pulled low over his face. Liam glanced over at me and I flashed him a thumbs-up in silent question. He answered with his own thumbs-up and a little nod. Satisfied, I wrapped myself in my cloak to ward off the increasingly cold night air. It was only as I slipped into sleep that I realized I’d forgotten to lay aside both my boots and the Caedbranr, and I didn’t have the energy to pull back from the comforting darkness.

As soon as I awoke in the gray gloom of early morning, I immediately regretted my decision to wear the Sword during the night. The sheath dug uncomfortably into my back between my shoulder blades, and I could already feel the painful knots from my awkward sleeping position. I groaned in protest as I untangled myself from my cloak and sat up. There was nothing for it but to try to work out the kinks in my muscles by moving, so I pushed myself to my feet and stretched before hunting for the leftover meat. “Rookie mistake,” I muttered to myself, idly checking my braided hair with one hand as I unwrapped one of the packets of roasted meat. The Caedbranr chuckled. “You’re just around for the comedy these days, aren’t you,” I said grumpily. I downed a portion of the meat, poking at the banked embers of the fire with a long stick, watching the sparks rise into the twilight. I wondered how Mab and her Court had received Arcana…or, for that matter, Finnead.