The Land the Gods Forgot, page 15
Her attention snapped to a woman seated by the fire, the orange glow making the strange black lines all over her body look like scars. Bones hung from a string around her neck like some morbid necklace. Bria swallowed her fear and did what she was asked. She was sure the Seer wouldn't harm her. Well, pretty sure, anyway. Taking careful steps closer, she sat on her legs, keeping her hands resting on her knees and close to her daggers. Bria waited for the Seer to speak again.
The woman's lips pulled into a small smirk in one corner, "You seek answers to your questions."
"I do."
The woman reached beside her, picking up a small bowl. She began to shake it from side to side, whatever was inside it made noise like popcorn kernels before they popped. After a few minutes of listening to this, the sound wringing out her very last nerve, Bria was about to speak when the Seer tossed the contents of the bowl onto the ground between them.
Bones. They were bones; knuckle bones if Bria was correct. She just hoped they weren't human bones.
The Seer made a noise in the back of her throat, leaning forward to examine whatever she saw there. She held her hand above them and closed her eyes, humming quietly. "I see heartbreak in your future, closer than you'd think. But I see love as well."
Oh, sure, Bria thought, start with her love life. Maybe the Seer was like those fortune tellers after all. She didn’t want to take much stalk in what the crazy woman said but then if she wasn’t going to listen, why did she come all this way?
“There is much blood and war and fire there as well. Something will happen soon that will turn what you know upside down."
She didn't like the sound of that. Maybe this was a horrible mistake. She understood now why Alarik had been in such a bad mood when he returned. Clearing her throat, she asked the questions that she was really seeking answers to. "Will I get back home? Or will I be stuck here forever?"
"Mmm, that is unclear."
Bria snorted, of course, it was. She began to rise, wishing she had just stayed in Alarik's bed and not ventured through the woods at night. A hand whipped out lightning fast, grabbing her wrist in an iron grip. Adrenaline shot through Bria's veins. Her free hand reached for one of the daggers strapped to her thigh.
"But there is a choice coming. One will lead you to love and to home, the other will only end in darkness." The Seer's eyes snapped open but where her iris' should be, was only blackness. "Your choice will affect us all. Choose the path that leads to darkness and you will never see the light again."
As she made her way out of the cabin, Bria worked hard to make her hands stop shaking. She hadn't learned anything that she didn't already know, not really, and yet she felt more disturbed than she had on the hike into the Black Forest.
Once the door to the Seer's home shut solidly behind her, the wolves lounging around the clearing lifted their heads. Bria didn't dare look at them but she could feel their eyes watching her, following her as she made her way back into the woods proper. She knew that an hour or more had passed but the trees beyond the clearing still looked just as dark and foreboding as they had on her way in. The sun was still hours from rising. She should've grabbed a torch from the Seer's cabin. Without any sort of help, she was walking by the light of the moon. It cast eerie shadows around her, making the limbs of the trees look like arms.
Pulling her cloak of furs tighter against her neck, she kept her eyes on the path ahead. The noises of the woods at night seemed louder now that she didn't have a torch. Everything was amplified — the creak of the trees; the scurrying sounds of a mouse or fox; the screech of an owl.
A twig snapped somewhere on her right. She spun around, her hands falling from her cloak to her ax and daggers. Squinting, she tried to see into the blackness. The moon offered some light, even still, she could only see ten or so feet in any direction. Nothing was out there, no one else was out in the woods in the middle of the night. She shook off her paranoia, releasing the grip she had on her ax, and continued walking.
But every little noise set her nerves on edge, her pace quickening as they seemed to grow in number. Finally, when the trees began to thin, she knew that the edge of the forest was near. She could crawl back into bed, curl up against Alarik’s solid form, and sleep until he woke her up. She'd have to find a way back into the city first, of course, but she'd worry about that later.
Ahead, the view changed from endless tree trunks to an open plain. The flickering lights of the city shining like beacons in the night. A smile grew on her lips; she was almost there. She had successfully snuck out of the walled city, hiked through a forest at night, saw the Seer, and was now home free. Resting her hand on the tree beside her, she stepped out into the field.
That's when a hand covered her mouth and a foul stench filled her nose.
Everything hurt. Her limbs felt like they had been run over by a bus with how much they ached. Her head felt like a lead weight resting against the stone floor. Her eyelids wouldn't respond to her, fluttering instead of opening. She tried to sit up, but something was holding her hands together so she couldn't get leverage. Her wrists were tied; the rope pulling and rubbing when she tried to move.
Her heart started to pound quickly, and the fog in her brain began to thin. Without opening her eyes, she tried to take stalk of what she could sense. Her wrists were tied tightly, but it didn't feel like her ankles were tied. Her head and body ached badly but she didn't think anything was wrong. It didn't feel like anything was broken. The stone beneath her was cool, but she could hear the crackle of a fire nearby.
The next things she heard were voices; lots of them. But they weren't speaking a language that she could understand. It was full of guttural sounds and grunts. But overtaking those sounds was the harsh sound of metal against metal, sliding and knocking to a halt. Her eyes flung open when she realized what it was; she was in a stone cell and the metal lock on the door was opening.
The door creaked loudly, cutting through the remaining fog in her brain. Her heart pounded in her ears, her hands formed fists in front of her. Light flooded into the cell when the door opened, from torches on the wall opposite. But then a large figure stood in the doorway, its shadowy frame blocking out most of the light. She willed her eyes to adjust quicker, so she could make out the person's face, but it was no use. Whatever they had drugged her with, and she was sure that was what had happened, it was still affecting her. Everything was blurry and out of focus.
The figure began to walk towards her, grunting at her when she tried to back up. It reached her with little difficulty, grabbing the ropes that bound her wrists and hauling her to her feet. Without waiting for her to regain her footing, it pulled her out of the cell.
She finally got her feet underneath her a few paces down the hallway. It was a good thing too, because she had at some point lost her shoes; cuts and scrapes littered her feet and lower legs.
Once upright, it was then that she realized she was only wearing her fur-lined leggings and long-sleeved tunic. Everything else was gone — her sword, ax, daggers, and the cloak were all missing. She should've been feeling the cold and yet she wasn't. An after-effect of the drug? Maybe. The one thing that had become clear to her once she was walking through the halls, was that she knew exactly where she was.
Gods, Alarik was going to kill her. If she ever saw him again.
She squinted as they walked, the Beast's meaty hand pulling at her. They passed multiple rooms full of weapons, fires burning hot to melt iron. The voices she had heard suddenly made all the more sense.
The path the Beast took her on winded and took so many turns she knew she'd never find her way, even if she tried. Finally, after ascending a large flight of stairs, the Beast stopped outside a set of large metal doors. They swung open without anyone having to knock.
The creature behind her pushed, hard enough she had to scramble to keep her feet. Beyond anything, she wished she had her daggers with her. Because even without knowing what — or who — she was about to meet, she knew she was in far more danger than she was prepared for.
Chapter Twenty-One
~Alarik~
It was supposed to be a normal day. A normal day with plans for battle, training, speaking to Hedda about how the wounded were doing. He had fallen asleep with the woman of his dreams in his arms, his body and mind finally satiated and at rest.
Groaning, he reached out blindly for the warmth of her body, for the softness of her skin. He only found a cold bed.
Sitting up quickly, he looked around the room but Bria was nowhere to be found. Her things were gone as well, picked up off the floor wherever he had thrown them. Dread and disgust at himself filled his stomach. Falling back into bed, he scraped a hand down his face. He had pushed her, he must have. But his memories of the night before didn't recall a time when she seemed to not be enjoying the situation. She’d never told him to stop, quite the opposite. Throwing the blankets away, he set his feet on the cold floor. He needed to go find her and speak to her.
A pounding on his door broke into his thoughts. Without waiting for an answer, the door swung open to reveal Oryn looking more worried than he had in years. "Bria is gone."
She was gone and no one knew where she was. The panic that had filled his chest in an instant had been unexpected but it had filled his blood with needed adrenaline. It had been all that fueled him through the first few hours of combing the city, searching all of the places Emblyn thought she might be. Only they came up empty handed every time.
He slammed his fists to the table in the Guard House, making more than one hardened warrior flinch. "How is it possible that she just vanishes? How the fuck has no one seen her?" He glanced at the faces surrounding him, meeting each gaze in turn.
Emblyn's shrug looked defeated, like it took too much energy to even lift her shoulder. "We don't know...Alarik are you sure she was—."
He cut her off with a grunt, "Yes. She was with me when I fell asleep." They had been over the details too many times for him to count. He knew the stories of each member of his house. He knew that the guard in the hallway had left them to give them some privacy and then had fallen asleep — he would be dealt with later. Once Alarik knew where she was. He tossed his hands into the air, looking around wildly, "And where the fuck is my brother?"
"I've sent Watchers to scout the area. We should be hearing from them soon." Oryn added, his gaze a solid presence in the room. He had been the only one calm throughout the day after the initial shock had worn off. "I've also sent someone to track Refkell down. The lucky shit is probably hiding under the skirts of a pretty woman."
Alarik grunted. It was likely and yet infuriating. Once all of this was over, he was going to have a word with his brother about the appropriate time to bed a woman.
As if summoned by Oryn's words, Refkell came floating into the room, a small smile on his face. One look at Alarik's however, and the man's smile vanished. "What's happened? The damn guard wouldn't tell me anything."
"Bria is missing."
Alarik watched as a number of different emotions played across his brother's face. His brows pulled together tightly, frown deepening. "What the hell do you mean she's missing? This is a walled city, how hard could be to find one damn woman?"
Alarik raised his hand in Refkell's general direction, looking over his shoulder at Oryn. The guard sighed, running a hand down his tired face. "We don't know. We're looking for her—."
"Not hard enough, obviously."
Oryn's jaw flexed, but he didn't open his mouth to make a snarky retort. Alarik took that as a win. His brother and Oryn had never gotten along all that well and now was not the time for an argument. Before anyone was able to speak, a figure came rushing in through the open door — a Watcher, their breath visible in the chilly air.
Alarik gave them no chance to catch their breath before he was on them, hands gripping the front of their armor. "What is it? What did you find?"
The Watcher's eyes were wide with fear, for their own life probably, but their voice was steady when they spoke. "Lord, another has found impressions of footprints in the frost outside of the woods."
A chill went down his spine. "Woods? Which woods?"
The fear from the Watcher's eyes moved into their voice, "The Black Forest, Lord."
Wind whipped by his face, stray branches reached for him as he rode by in a blur. One lucky branch caught his cheek, leaving a stinging cut in its wake. Magnus' muscles bunched underneath Alarik as the king urged the horse to its limits. Oryn and Emblyn only just keeping up behind him.
He had prayed, for the first time since his mother had died, that the trail wouldn’t lead into the Black Forest. Maybe the Watcher had been wrong. He ignored the fact that he employed only the best to be his scouts — they were seldom wrong. When the prints headed into the dead and dark wood beyond the field, he had no choice but to accept it; Bria had snuck out of the city, had snuck out of his bed, and had gone to speak to the Seer.
There was a little voice in the back of his head that kept asking why. If she had simply gone to see the witch, had she not returned yet? There was nothing that old hag could say that would take that long. No, something was wrong. He could feel it in his bones and it made him grip the reigns tighter.
A flash of white flew by his right and then another on the left. He didn't slow his speed, only tightened his legs around Magnus to keep the horse moving. The Lady's wolves had better keep away if they knew what was good for them.
The cabin burst through the trees. Alarik pulled Magnus to a skidding halt, vaulting himself off the horse and striding for the cabin before Oryn or Emblyn had even stopped. He could hear them calling for him, but even the wolf at the door didn't try to stop him.
Pushing the door open with enough force he heard wood splinter, he strode through the mess of a house and found her. The Seer sat where she always did, but instead of bones in her hands this time was a dead raven. Feathers littered the floor around her; blood dripped from her hands where they grasped the poor creature.
Keeping his eyes firmly on hers, he worked his jaw to unlock. "Where is she?"
A sinister smile was slow to grow onto her face, but when it did, her teeth were more black than white. "If you're asking me that, then you certainly know the answer already."
Drawing his sword, he leveled the tip of it at her throat. Her smile only grew wider. "Tell. Me. Where is she?"
"I told you to keep her close. So why is it that she found me all on her own, in the middle of the night?"
The growl that found its way up his throat sounded more like the wolves outside than human. He pressed the sword into her throat, a drop of blood appeared on her pale skin. Only Oryn's steady hand appearing on his shoulder stilled his sword.
The Lady chuckled, the sound sent shivers down Alarik's spine; it was a mad sound, one only those who like pain could make. "Her Fate is not in my hands, she made the choice to seek me out. I told her what I needed to. Her next choice will be her own, too."
Like the mad woman that she was, the Seer leaned forward, further into the point of Alarik's sword. The drop of blood turned to three, then four. "Let us hope you didn't hurt her or your end may be far closer than I thought."
Alarik screamed, slamming his sword into the nearest tree. It sunk inches into the bark, the pommel shaking from the impact.
For weeks he had barely spoken to her; had hardly so much as looked at her in the last few days. Then finally, as if a dam had been broken, they found themselves in his bed, enjoying each other's bodies into the night. And now she was gone.
Anger at why she didn't ask him to take her overcame him. But then the voice of reason in his head made him admit that he wouldn't have allowed it. He didn't want Bria anywhere near black magic. A snort escaped him — now she was surrounded by black magic. Taken by those damned Beasts of Feigrund and was being subject to who knows what torture.
Emblyn's voice was soft when she spoke, wavering with barely contained emotion. "Alarik—I'm so sorry...this is all my fault."
He looked up, at the empty tree branches above. It had begun to snow while they were inside the woods, the flakes hit his face, landing on his eyelashes. His voice sounded hollow to his own ears, "How is this possibly your fault?"
"I told you to give her space! She didn't know how to feel about you and I didn't want you to push her."
Looking down at her all he could see was the top of her head, snow landing on her blonde hair. She wouldn't lift her eyes to his, wouldn't meet his gaze. Her shoulders slumped horribly as she grasped one arm around her middle. He had never seen his friend and Watcher look so defeated.
Glancing past her, Oryn stood as a silent guard in the small clearing. His eyes scanned the area but stopped on Alarik's every time for a brief moment. A slight nod of his head had Alarik sighing, his own shoulders slumping.
Resting a hand on Emblyn's shoulder, he squeezed tightly. "None of this is your fault, Em. I was the child who wouldn't just speak to her. Besides, after last night I doubt that's the reason anymore."
Brown eyes snapped up to meet his, eyebrows sitting high on her forehead. "Did you—did she—?"
Emblyn stumbling over her words would have made him laugh if it was any other day. As it was, it only made the pain of losing Bria hurt more. His friends would've been so happy, finding Bria and himself seated together in the Hall for breakfast. Oryn would've been able to read the relaxed expression on his face in an instant. Except none of that had happened. Instead, they were standing in the middle of the Black Forest.
Pain pierced his heart like an arrow. Stepping back from Emblyn, he turned to the tree that held his sword. "None of this is anyone's fault but my own. And now I've killed her and condemned us all."
Emblyn's voice was sharp with shock, "How can you say that? How could you possibly give up on her so easily? We're all she has!"
Fire erupted in his chest, Emblyn's words cut as swiftly as any of the weapons strapped to his person. Had he given up on her? He didn't want to — gods he didn't want to. But if she was in Feigrund, on the other side of the mountain, there was no hope of getting her back. Especially now that the wall on the mountain cliffs was almost complete. It would be suicide.
