Page 20 of A Legacy of Wrath and Reckoning

Warmth seeped into her until she stopped shaking, the wolf’s breaths steadying as it seemed to fall asleep. “Thank you,” Zylah murmured again, before sleep pulled her under, too.

Sharp pain snapped Zylah from her slumber, a whine she felt in her bones, and a soft blanket tickling her face. She sat up, hands clutched to her chest, breaths short and sharp, and remembered she couldn’t see.

The blanket moved, just as another stab of pain twisted through her heart. Holt. The wolf whined again at Zylah’s gasp, a nose nudging her arm. “I’m alright,” she told it. “Thank you.” Alright was a stretch. She still couldn’t see. Everything ached. But at least she still had all ten fingers and toes; her clothes were dry. Thanks to the cyon wolf curled around her, the soft lapping sounds telling her it was licking at its paws as if it didn’t have a care in the world.

She reached a hand to her face, fingers tentatively touching at the wounded skin and sucked in a breath. Nothing good came of her investigation. If she could only evanesce, but nothing responded within her when she tried. It was too much magic. Zylah rested her fingers against her marred skin, willing her healing magic to pour from her fingertips. But nothing happened. Her vision remained unchanged and she tried to smother the flare of panic that threatened to rise to the surface, the possibility that she might be permanently blind.

Summoning she could manage, so she stole once more from the Aquaris Court, sending a silent apology to its High Lord and Lady for the theft. A hunk of bread, a few pieces of brin fruit for the wolf. It sniffed at them a few times until the rhythmic sound of chewing filled the cave.

There was no doubting she wouldn’t have made it without the beast. With little magic and barely any provisions, her prospects were bleak. That was before she considered her fractured vision. But Zylah wouldn’t let it deter her. Not now. Not when she’d come so far.

She took stock of what she had. Her sword, though it would do little good to steady her. The spear she’d shoved into the water serpent’s scales, however, would suffice. The gloves a friend had gifted her once. Zylah crawled from the wolf’s flank to summon them, pulling on the scraps of fabric, and reaching for the spear for support.

Behind her, more shadows. Ahead, light. Zylah stood at the mouth of the cave, dragging the spear across the ground before her as she moved. She couldn’t risk going back in the direction she’d come, but there was no way of knowing which way that was now.

Sunlight warmed her skin and Zylah closed her eyes against it, her thoughts focused entirely on Holt. “Where are you?” she murmured, turning slowly, hoping to feel something, anything to guide her in the right direction. Nothing answered. Zylah sucked in a deep breath, checked her step, and set out slowly into the snow.

A nose nudged at her elbow.

“I have to find him,” she told the wolf, even though she knew it couldn’t understand her. It tugged at her cloak, pulling her in the opposite direction to the one she’d set off in. Zylah loosed a sigh. “Fine.” This was going to be damned near impossible. And the moment the wolf got bored, she’d be on her own. Still, Zylah offered it another quietthank you,nonetheless.

They walked for hours, the wolf a steady presence at her side the entire time. There had been no change in her vision, no change in her magic, no reassuring feeling within her that Holt was alive somewhere. Just the wind roaring in her ears, the wolf’s steady breaths mingling with her laboured ones, and the occasional bird cry. Not Kopi’s, though. Mercifully, no fresh snow fell, the sun’s gentle rays softly warming her cheeks.

She stopped only to eat a brin fruit, offering another to the wolf before pressing on. Moving with the spear became easier, her movements more confident with each stumble, and her stance adjusted. Zylah worked on her plan as she moved: first, she would find out where the fuck she was. Then she would find a way to travel to whichever was nearest: Virian or the Aquaris Court.

Laydan had stolen both the keyanda book from the Aquaris Court: the key to Ranon’s tomb, and the book… it was clear now that it belonged to Ranon, that Aurelia had used it to set him free… but perhaps there was more to it. Pallia tied into all of it, and for the first time, Zylah questioned why it had been her grandmother to seal Ranon in his tomb and not any of the other original Fae.

The sun had long since fallen too low in the sky to offer any warmth, and when the shadows began to lengthen and the day again slipped away from them, a distant sound had the wolf pausing beside her.

“What is it?” Zylah murmured, her grip tightening on the spear. The wolf growled almost inaudibly, and then it was gone, a shadow bounding away from her against the stark white snow.

Zylah gripped the spear with two hands, a shrill cry in the air that sounded too much like an Aster.Shit.She stood no chance against an Aster like this. The cyon wolf snarled, and then a rhythmic sound drew closer, something that was almost like—Zylah whirled. Wings.

She lashed out with her weapon as a shadow approached from the air, something shrieking as the tip of the spear struck true. There was no hesitation as she slammed it into the snow, yanking her spear free as another shadow swung for her with a screech.

Wings beat around her, claws tore at her clothes, her hair, her face, but Zylah fought back at each shadow, slashing at some, missing others entirely. Two more she impaled in the snow, her grip on the spear slipping as warm liquid dripped over her hands. Blood. Hers or theirs, Zylah wasn’t sure as another of the things swiped at her cloak and she drew her sword, slashing at the shadow until it fell.

Shadows marred the snow and Zylah pivoted, sword raised to search for any more in the skies, to listen for the steady beat of wings. But all she heard was a howl. The cyon wolf called out, and then another, farther away, answered.

A shadow thudded towards her, a blur of yellow as the cyon wolf stalked around her and stood close. Zylah called her spear to her hand to steady herself, the other firm around her sword. Whatever was coming, she’d give it her best fucking shot.

The wolf snarled at her side in warning. And then more of the things descended.

Zylah thrust her spear into the first shadow that approached, slashed her sword at the second. The wolf whined somewhere nearby, but Zylah didn’t falter, couldn’t when there were so many of them. So many all she could do was slash and strike, slash and strike. Another growl sounded, but it wasn’t the wolf, something more feline, and it took Zylah a moment to realise it fought at the flying shadows with them until there were no more around her but the ones lying still in the snow.

The cyon wolf whined and a hiss answered. Like the one a very large cat might make, followed by a burst of light and—“Imala’s tits, Zylah, look at you.”

Zylah almost dropped her sword. Choked back a sob as she took a tentative step towards the voice. “Kej?” Her stay at the Aquaris Court had not been a long one, but Kej and his twin sister Rin, even their stern cousin, Nye, had all been kind to her.

“What have they done to you, Zy?”

The nickname had a laugh bubbling up from her as she sheathed her sword and held out a hand to her friend. “You should see the other guy.”

Kej slammed into her, strong arms banding her waist, and Zylah let her friend sweep her off her feet. “We thought you were fucking dead.”

“So did I,” she admitted. “How did you find me?”

“Kopi.”

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