Page 446 of Of Empires and Dust

Ella watched as her parents sat by the fire, Ella, Calen, and Haem beside them, and their father told story after story. As she watched, her mam’s eyes flickered, and she stared at Ella.

Ella’s skin goosefleshed. “Mam?” She tried to hug her mam, but Freis vanished in a wisp of smoke. “Mam!” Ella screamed, panic in her veins. “Mam!”

“Don’t linger,” Tamzin’s voice echoed in Ella’s mind, her hands squeezing tighter on Ella’s shoulder. “Don’t let yourself become lost. Hear my voice, feel the soul of the tree, let it anchor you. This memory will try and hold you. Don’t let it.”

A deep laugh sounded behind Ella. “Arrogant or stupid, Wolfchild?”

Ella knew the voice, the wolf in her blood snarling as she turned.

The man who had hunted her in Níthianelle before stood in her home, his grey hair falling over his shoulders, his eyes sharp and yellow. Six more stood with him, a mixture of men and women and three Angan in the forms of giant hawks, brown and white smoke misting from their figures.

Ella snapped her eyes open, seeing Tamzin before her. She once again stood in the Tahír un Ilyienë beneath the white light of Níthianelle. “They’re here.”

A scream sounded over her shoulder, and Ella turned to see Fenryr standing some twenty feet tall, his body covered in black and gold fur, his face a blend of wolf and man. The god ripped his claws through a giant hawk, tearing it into three pieces that hit the ground with wisps of smoke and vanished. A ripple swept through Ella, a shiver over her skin, a feeling of dread in her bones.

All about the platform, Angan and druids tore at each other. The other druids of Fenryr had arrived and stood beside the Fenryr Angan. There were far more Vethnir Angan and druids than those of the wolf god, but Fenryr himself carved through them as though they were nothing.

“Keep going,” Fenryr snarled, his golden eyes fixing on Ella. “They know we are here now. They knowIam here. Find her.”

Tamzin squeezed Ella’s shoulders. “Close your eyes.”

Farda rippedhis sword from its scabbard at the sight of one of the Fenryr Angan dropping to the ground, blood spurting from a wound in its throat that seemed to form of its own volition. “What in the gods?”

Beside him, Tanner did the same, the rasp of steel ringing out. The elves who had occupied the platform with them had all run, screaming. Except for two Rakina, Willam and Ah-aela, who both opened themselves to the Spark at the sight of the dead Angan.

And yet nothing else moved. No attack came.

Farda dropped to one knee and ran his finger along the wound in the Angan’s throat, blood coating his skin. “What is happening?”

A chilling scream pierced the air, and Farda snapped his head around to see a druid’s body sliced in two across the navel, blood and innards spilling out, the two halves hitting the stone with a thump. He leapt to his feet, dropping into Howling Wolf.

“Kyrana, what in the fuck is going on?” Tanner stood to Farda’s left, eyes scanning the enormous basin.

“Do I look like I have the slightest idea?”

“They’re here,” Sennik – the Aldruid – said, his eyes closed, that massive black wolf snarling at his side. “Ready yourselves.”

“I’ll get the others!” Willam called, sprinting towards the bridge.

As he ran, a white orb burst into life in his path and spread outwards into some sort of doorway. A vast mountainscape stood on the other side. A man stepped through, twice as tall as Tanner and broad as a bull. He roared and rammed his fist through Willam’s gut, spreading his fingers as they burst through the man’s back, blood dripping.

“Brother!” the man roared, a monstrous grin stretching his lips. “I’ve been looking for you!”

Ella was backin her home, in The Glade, but the memory was not hers. Throngs of people were gathered around her home, faces she knew: Marlo Egon, Jorvill Ehrnin, Anya Gritten, Erdhardt Hammersmith, and so many others.

All of them stood around a circle of Lorian soldiers. Ella shoved through, white mist rising as she slipped to the front. “Mam… Dad…”

Ella’s parents stood at the centre alongside Calen and two men… Farda.

The man beside Farda was touching his cheek, and her dad glared at him.

“Put a sword in my hand and show me who you are,”Vars said.

Ella screamed as the man leapt forwards. She felt that same shift in the air she did when mages tried to wield their magic, and she saw her dad’s hands start to move and then freeze as the man’s sword pierced his chest.

“Dad!”

A shiver ran through Ella’s spine as her mam’s neck twisted and white eyes stared into hers. The world erupted in a cloud of smoke, then resettled as Freis leapt at Farda and the man sent her smashing through the wall of their home. Seconds later, the entire structure burst into flames.

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