Page 29 of The Shadow of Polaris

“You are such a strange creature,” he said, and a shimmer around his face flickered. Rune must have caught my expression as I watched the blur shift across his nose, because he rose to his feet abruptly, collected the glasses and empty bourbon bottle, and returned them to the bar.

“Are you going to be okay here?” I asked the barkeep I cherished so deeply.

“Dear, I’ve been okay here longer than you’ve even been alive. I’ll be fine. The guards’ll come asking questions, but nothing I can’t handle.”

“I wish you could come with us, but I can’t ask you to take any more risks than you already have. You’ve done so much already.”

She smiled sadly and stroked Arcturas behind the ear.

“Hand me that rag,” Frya said, washing away the remaining grime from her pelt. “Stay until dawn. I’ll pack you some rations for the travel and there’s some old clothes upstairs you can take.”

There was a forcefulness in her tone, as if she were holding back tears. I stared into the soapy bucket, afraid that if I looked at the barkeep, I, too, would lose control.

“Frya, I…” my voice cracked, and I swallowed the sob now rising in my throat, “I don’t know if I could ever thank you enough.”

She took my hand. The wrinkled skin was rough and colder than the snow falling outside, but I didn’t jerk away. I squeezed her fingers between mine and risked a glance up at her, feeling a tear roll down my cheek.

“You’ll always have a home here,” she said, her eyes glistening. With a sad goodnight, Frya retired upstairs. Only the embers popping from the hearth filled the quiet.

“I should dash home, say my goodbyes to my uncle, and pack a bag. I’ll be back before dawn,” Rune said, interrupting the thoughts racing through my mind. Leaning next to me, he tipped my chin up towards him so our noses nearly touched.

“It’ll be okay,” he whispered, the sound like velvet in my ear. He lowered his lips and brushed a gentle kiss across mine, causing a flutter to push the heartache away.

“I know,” I lied. The weight of the night pressed the walls in on me, and I knew in my bones that nothing would be okay again. Not for Rune, not for Frya, and most certainly not for me.

Later, laying beneath my scratchy quilt, sleep didn’t find me. The worry of what tomorrow would yield tightened its grip around my neck, and the inexplicable events of tonight clawed at my throat. I unleashed something within me, let it rise to the surface and take control. Something filled with darkness, so violently all-consuming.

Images of Hela’s boiling skin flashed every time my eyes drifted shut- another nightmare to add to my collection, I supposed. I let my hatred towards the old chambermaid take hold.

Polaris had told me this unmeasurable power had always been there, but that unsettled me more. There was something, once locked away, that was now coursing through me. How long until it devoured anything and everything that remained of me?

Arcturas, feeling my body trembling, nuzzled against my chest and tucked her snout into the crease of my neck. Her slow, steady heartbeat calmed my own as I focused on the feel of her fur against my cheek and the cold wetness of her nose by my ear. Collecting my thoughts with each gentle stroke down her muscular back, I couldn’t help but feel our connection pulsating between us. Like an electric current, jolting from wolf to mortal.

From monster to monster.

We were the same, the two of us. She didn’t hesitate to pounce when I needed her, just as I didn’t hesitate to pluck her tiny body up from the barren, frozen ground.

Heartbeats syncing into one monotonous rhythm, we both finally drifted to sleep, with only a few hours remaining before dawn’s approach.

Chapter 17

Blood. There was so much blood. The stench was ripe in my nose as it rushed down my face by the bucket load. The rancid taste of iron flooded my mouth. I clawed at my eyes. There was too much streaming down to wipe away. I couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t breathe. I was drowning in it. It continued flowing down my neck, my chest, my legs.

“Look at what you’ve done,” a voice hissed from the darkness behind me, like a serpent of the shadows. Still wiping away the sickeningly hot fluid gushing down my brow, I turned to face it.

“Open your eyes Elpis. Look at the destruction you’ve caused.” Its words slithered around me in tendrils of ice.

Finally, the flow slowed enough for me to wipe the remaining drops from my face. My blurred vision, stained in crimson hues, finally focused on the bodies below me.

Hundreds of them.

No.

Thousands.

Twisted and mangled in unnatural positions. Two feet folded against the forehead of a crumpled dark haired man. Hands, broken at the wrists, coiled backwards across a woman with the same jet black hair. These had been city folk. The entire northern city was dead and rotting beneath my feet.

Sobs escaped me. Bones cracked and popped under my weight as I fell to my knees, entirely overwhelmed by the horror.

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