Chapter Thirty-Five

Luke

 

Rett and Kal prowled next to me and Xander, their black and white forms towering over us.

Xander’s jaw was set, and his eyes were blazing. I knew he was worried about the Barrowmen getting so close to Winfyre—they should have been forced to wait at the edges of our territory. But I also got the sense I was missing something.

“It’s the Rotted,” Xander muttered. “They have some foul ability to dodge me.” His fists clenched. “If I can’t at least protect Winfyre, then what the hell am I good for?”

“Xander,” I said in a low voice, and he shook his head.

“I’ve been in contact with other shifter territories, as you know,” he said, and I nodded, a little baffled. This was months-old news. “The Greyclaw and the Burnfur have agreed to an alliance.”

"Any reason you're bringing this up out of nowhere?”

“Turns out we got in contact just in time. There’ve been raids, Luke.” My stomach clenched. “That’s the message you got at Belrush. It was from the Greyclaw. They said that Baranof Island of the Frostof was hit two months ago. Rotted slipping in and making off with shifters. Some children.”

A painful knot lodged in my throat. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You had enough to deal with,” Xander said. “But I have a feeling these Barrowmen are about to warn us that the same is going to start happening here unless we agree to some kind of deal. I know it won’t be pleasant, but please keep your cool. I want to hear what they have to say.”

“What?” I growled.

“Luke.”

“Fine. How do you know all this?” I asked.

Xander stopped and looked at me. “Before the raids started happening, three Barrowmen came to the Frostof Gate." His voice was low and cold. "With a warning: the Rotted were coming."

I nodded and clamped my jaw shut. Now I understood his crackling tension.

Probably not the best time to mention that Reagan’s younger sister is missing.

The air grew colder as we continued walking. Finally, we reached an area where shifters were lined up, some perched in the trees, with Olenna standing at the front, her arms folded. How or why she was here, I didn’t know, but I was glad she was. Her presence had a palliative effect in situations like these. Xander nodded at her.

“Please fall back,” he said.

Shadows rose as we stepped forward. Xander held out a hand. Kal, Rett, and I stopped. The forest was as dark and silent as though it were midnight.

“You’re trespassing,” Xander said, staring at the dark hollow between two trees.

Nothing moved in the wood, not bird, leaf, or even bug. It was denuded of life.

The air rippled, and three figures appeared, almost twice the size of Xander. They were dressed in heavy, strange, and ancient armor. The metal was a lightless black, made of jagged edges burned together, and covered their entire bodies. No skin could be seen, from their helmets and faceplates to their gauntlets and boots. Tattered cloaks hung from their shoulders, and skeletal horses stamped their feet behind them. A faint scent of decay and something foul hung on them, like water gone stagnant.

Some evil lost to another time, dragged back to ours.

"In days of old, we collected tolls on the territories, to keep out the night and its frights," one said, rasping and blowing out a breath through his faceplate notched with three slits. It was an old voice, cracked and hungry. "If you don't pay it, you risk your people, Alexander Bane, of fire and wings."

“What is your toll, Barrowmen?” he asked.

“A child or a young maiden, every month,” another replied. “That should suffice.”

My fists clenched, and I almost took a step forward, but I refrained. Suddenly, the Barrowmen lifted their heads and looked at me. I sensed their eyes moving over me, and one sniffed.

“Impossible,” he muttered.

“Think, that must be why the vryke haunts these woods.”

“Of course. There is a nascent Bloodtamer in your midst.” The tallest of the Barrowmen leveled a metal finger at me. “Her scent is all over you.”

Reagan, I thought. Is that what she is?

“Give us the Bloodtamer, and we’ll leave you in peace.”

My blood went cold as Xander sucked in a sharp breath, and his broad shoulders tensed.

“Bloodtamer?” he asked. “I know nothing of them. What is she to you?”

One of the Barrowmen let out a hiss. “You lie. You know well what power the Bloodtamer holds. In the past, they were rare and coveted. A tribute like that would last millennia.”

“Perhaps not,” murmured another Barrowman. “Perhaps those names are still Lost.”

“Ah.” There was a chuckle, and one creaked forward. “And her gifts sleep. It is just as well—you will not know what you lost.”

“Give us to her, or we will take her,” said the last one.

With that, they vanished, and sunlight filtered back into the clearing. Xander was standing there, staring at the spot where they had left and clenching his fists.

“Xander,” I said and started forward, but a hand caught me. It was Kal, who shook his head, and he dragged me back. “He wouldn’t—”

“No, of course not,” Rett said, in the least convincing voice I’d ever heard.

“This is great,” I muttered. “Barrowmen, the SB, and Cassidy is missing.”

“Cassidy’s what?” Rett asked.

“I need to get back to the barracks,” I said and shifted, darting off through the woods.

My heart was pounding through my body, my brain in turmoil, and I barely noticed where I was going. When my paws splashed through a cold stream, it jolted me awake, and I stopped. I’d gone past the barracks and was standing deep in the woods. The stream rushed underneath me, the light sharply slanting through the trees and the sky a distant blue.

Closing my eyes, I could sense the turmoil in the earth, the connection I had to my brothers and to Reagan, to the people of Winfyre.

And I thought of my dad, of the fear that had propelled some flunky of the SB to kill him in cold blood. It was strange to think that the SB and the Excris existed in the same world. Although I had a feeling that that wouldn’t last much longer. With every day, more of what was once known fell away, and this new power took over, warping and changing things.

Suddenly, I thought of Ayani and Lazu. I’d never thought about it before, but it wasn’t until after my father had passed that they’d appeared.

I shifted back and straightened, watching as the wind whipped through the trees overhead, and the air hummed. Lazu appeared on the rock above me, with Ayani at the base.

“You’re not ordinary wolves,” I said. “You’re spirit guides.”

You could call us that, Lazu said. We’ve long guarded this land.

And this is not the first time it will be in peril, nor the last.

“Three Barrowmen came to the gate,” I said. “They want Reagan, said she was a Bloodtamer. Is that what she is? Please, we’re running out of time. I need to know.”

Lazu rolled his shoulders, and the wind picked up. Those of the dark energies would call her a tamer. Those of the light would call her an amplifier. A kinetic.

She manipulates life energy. Blood is a part of that, Ayani said.

“If you knew, why didn’t you say anything?” I demanded. “All these foolish games.”

She needed to learn, to discover and come to her gifts on her own. If we were to tell her she could dampen the power of the Excris and give the shifters tenfold power, it could have crippled her.

“Now everyone wants her,” I said and dragged my hands through my hair. “How am I supposed to protect her? How am I supposed to protect Winfyre? Do I have to choose?”

What do you think? Do you think Reagan came to Winfyre only to be handed over to the humans who try to manipulate this energy to their own demise—or the demons who knock at the door? Or did she arrive as a boon, to keep our home safe? Lazu asked.

I thought of Reagan standing and looking over the bay at sunset, or, this morning, poring over the manifests, double-checking the greenhouses, and making sure our people were safe.

Your world has shifted, as you have, Luke Swiftlore, Lazu said. The time of myth, monster, and magic has returned.

“You’re saying there was a lost time when people had these abilities?” I asked.

The wolves glanced at each other. Something like that. And the Barrowmen are only the beginning, Lazu said. More will come.

But today is a crucial test. If the scales are tipped, Winfyre could be lost. Ayani’s eyes burned.

“Today?” I echoed.

Today. And it is not the last test this home will face. You five were not here by chance when the Rift occurred. You were meant to be here. The rightful Alphas of the Northbane territory.

“How can I help Reagan?” I asked. “How can I save Winfyre?”

Wake her up, Ayani said.

Find her, Lazu said. And help her find that power inside of her.