THE DARKNESS

Gabriel heard Meic scream. Not a shout in Welsh for the hounds, but an honest scream of grief and rage, then shouting, “Derwyn!” as he started running, Wmffre lunging to pull him back.

Gabriel paid them no mind. He had quite enough to deal with. The sluagh were coming, and he’d finally gotten the damned door unlocked, only to have Ricky collapse. Collapse unconscious, beyond waking, it seemed, leaving Gabriel to drag him into the ruined building and then, when that proved unreasonably difficult, heave Ricky up over his shoulder.

This task more than fully occupied Gabriel, leaving no time to worry about the Huntsmen and whatever battle was unfolding there. He did look up sharply, for the dryads, calling, “Helia? Alexios?” They raced through, presuming he needed help, and he let them think as much, not that he’d felt a spark of worry.

He got Ricky inside, and the dryads cleared a spot in the vine-choked debris. As Gabriel lowered him, Helia checked Ricky’s pulse and declared it strong, and Gabriel said, “Good,” not caring if it was obvious that he was concerned.

The Huntsmen came in then, and Wmffre nodded at Meic and said, “The sluagh took his hound, Derwyn.”

Gabriel paused, feeling the Huntsman was waiting for a response, and then finding it with, “I’m sorry,” which he was—sorry for the fact that Meic had come to their aid and paid for it with a beloved companion. For Gabriel, though, the news only made him think of that raven, torn apart by the melltithiwyd.

He couldn’t stop thinking about that damnable bird. Of seeing it explode in blood and feeling his heart seize, a flood of fear and pain. For a bird? Of course, he understood that it was not merely a bird, but these things did happen. Casualties of war.

But that raven…

Another thought rammed forward, taking precedence, and his head shot up as he said, “Lloergan?”

“She was there. That’s all we saw.”

Gabriel’s gaze shot to the door, and he had to squelch the urge to go after the hound. The urge itself gave him pause, but he rationalized it easily enough. Olivia and Ricky cared for the beast, and he did not want to see them hurt by its death.

He nodded toward Ricky. “Is that what’s happened? He’s bonded with his hound?”

“Perhaps.” Wmffre checked Ricky’s pulse. “He seems all right.”

“What if—?” Gabriel was about to ask what happened if Lloergan perished with Ricky bonded to her. The answer seemed suddenly paramount, not only for Ricky but for…

For what? He didn’t know. He kept seeing that raven. Yet before he could get the question out, a blast of icy terror seized him, his head shooting up, one thought taking over.

“They’re coming. Now. The sluagh. Close the—” He was about to tell them to close the shutters, but enough of himself remained to realize that was ridiculous in a half-ruined building. “Farther,” he said. “Get in farther. Look for a room without windows. Hurry.”

“We’ll stop the sluagh,” Helia said. “You take cover. Let us—”

“No.”

“We can—”

He wheeled on the dryad. “No, Helia. You cannot. You will not. You’ll stay with us. This isn’t the melltithiwyd. It’s the sluagh.”

He expected her to argue, but that was the problem with her human glamour—it was easy to forget he wasn’t speaking to an impulsive youth. She studied his expression and then nodded and hurried away with her mate to find a windowless room. Gabriel strode off to do the same, gesturing at Ricky, wordlessly telling the Huntsmen to watch him.

And what exactly is the point of this, Gabriel? Gwynn’s voice asked in his head as he jogged through the building, hunting for the right spot.

He didn’t answer.

You’re safe. The sluagh won’t hurt you. You mean too much to her.

It isn’t about me.

No?

No.

Good.

He didn’t ask what that meant.

He needed to get everyone someplace safe. Part of him knew it was a fool’s errand—nowhere was safe from the sluagh. But he had to try. Buy some time until he figured out what to do next, how to help them, how to save them.

Any advice you have would, at this moment, be appreciated, he said to Gwynn.

Silence.

He growled a curse, pulled open a door, and saw an empty and windowless room.

“Here!” he called.

The sluagh struck the building like a fist, shaking it to the foundation, plaster raining down.

Gabriel ran back to the front room, where Meic and Wmffre were lifting Ricky.

“Back there!” Gabriel shouted to be heard as every unbroken pane of glass exploded.

Wmffre handed him Ricky’s arm, and Gabriel took it without question, helping Meic haul the unconscious young man across a floor littered with glass.

“The room is right back here,” he said, then shouted, “Helia! Alexios!”

They answered from somewhere in the building. Outside, all had gone silent, which was worse, so much worse, as if the sluagh waited, biding its time, knowing it had them.

They turned a corner, and Gabriel realized Wmffre wasn’t following.

Gabriel shouted the Huntsman’s name—or the best approximation he could manage. “Get in here! Now!”

“He’s standing watch,” Meic said.

“Then he’s a fool. Tell him to get—” Gabriel bit it off and stalked back around the corner. “You! Get back here—”

The door exploded. Shards of wood flew like needles, impaling Wmffre and throwing him back. Gabriel ran for the Huntsman as he staggered, blood dripping, pierced by hundreds of needlelike shards, but still alive, still moving, reaching for Gabriel—

Wmffre exploded, darkness plowing through his stomach and bursting out the other side, coming straight for Gabriel. Hands closed around both Gabriel’s arms, yanking him back, two voices spitting words in Greek. Every vine in the room shot up to shield Gabriel as the dryads dragged him away. He twisted, getting his footing and then shoving them, saying, “Go!” and pushing them ahead to where Meic was hauling Ricky into the room. He grabbed Ricky’s legs and pushed him inside, nearly tripping Meic.

The dryads slammed the door behind them and started shouting in Greek, calling on the forces of Nature. The first words had hardly left their lips before the door was ripped from its hinges, Alexios still gripping the handle, disappearing as the door flew. Helia screamed and ran for him, and before Gabriel could react, she truly screamed, a terrible shriek of agony, and Gabriel dove, falling on Ricky, shielding him, Meic doing the same, both of them barely touching down before the sluagh hurtled into the room, darkness filling it, and then—

Nothing.