Page 76 of The Howling
I groan and rattle my chains. “You’re here, aren’t you?” I snarl.
“What makes you think I’m here for Lord Soulis?”
“Because you’ve never done anything altruistic in your life, Linton. There has to be blood or coin involved.”
He fluffs his wings, and I get a face full of Bluecap dust. I spit and cough curses at him.
“Maybe there’s both. Maybe there’s something else I want,” he says imperiously.
Like a creature like him gets to have any dignity at all. Linton is more feral than the Wyrm, more dangerous than the Brag, and more unhinged than even I was. If he is involved, nothing is going to go well.
“I don’t care what you want. What I care about is whether you’re going to release me so I can go and destroy Lord Soulis.”
“Fyr-bæth - Here-Wulf - Wuldres Thegn - Gast-Bona - Sund-Hengest,”Linton says. “We are the end and the beginning.”
Talking in riddles isn’t going to get me loose, so I shake as hard as I can, attempting to shift to see if that will allow me to break free. Magical bonds will not work on this Barghest, hence the use of wolfsbane to subdue me earlier, and given the amount used, I have to hope they have no more. These bonds are pure metal, and if that is the case, they will eventually break.
My shift doesn’t budge them, but I’m sure I’m working them loose. Linton stares at me as if he’s in a trance.
“If you’re not going to…” I writhe harder “…help. Get out of my sight.”
Linton heaves out a sigh, pulls out a dagger, and advances on me. I snarl up a storm, my jaws snapping at him as he drops down far too close for comfort.
“Hold still,” he says, blood red eyes glittering.
He plunges the dagger into my wrist. I expect a spike of pain, ready to roar out at him, but there’s nothing other than a soft click and the feeling of release.
Immediately, I shove my knee up into his abdomen, flinging him over my head and away from me as I rise. I pull my other wrist free and make sharp work of the bonds at my ankles. I’m on my feet before he leaps on my back, and we spin around until I can pull him off, his teeth grazing at my skin.
For a while, we pant at each other. I thought I’d seen the last of the wolfsbane, but it’s still lurking in the forgotten corners of my body and my head spins. I stagger back against the wall.
“Where is my mate?” I snarl at him.
Linton has an expression on his face which I’m not sure I’ve seen before. It’s something close to hurt. He shakes his head, and without a word, he swirls his wings around him and stalks out the door.
By the time I’m able to stand straight, he’s gone, but at least he has left the cell door open.
I shake my head at his disappearance. But then why should I ever think I can rely on a Bluecap.
It’s time Lord Soulis discovered what he’s brought into his household. And it isn’t going to be pleasant for him. Not at all.
WYNTER
My feet hurt, even in these boots which felt like clouds when I first put them on. We have been walking for hours through a landscape which is all but featureless grassland rolling away for miles.
I can feel the question on the tip of my tongue, but I am not going to ask it.
I am not.
Nope.
“Are we nearly there yet?”
Dammit.
Lilburn looks at me. She’s as fresh as a daisy. I feel like a sweaty mess. We’ve had one stop in the last I don’t know how many hours, where she doled out a tiny portion of bread and cheese. I feel like if we get to the fortress, I’m already done in.
“Over this hill,” she says.
