Candescent (The Opalescent Collection Book 1) (12 page)

P
ete brought me to a cave, an exclusive place where the wolves hid. Some of our followers had resided there as well, hoping to have shelter since their homes were destroyed or used by Sebastian’s army. In this cave my whole family hid, all huddled around fire pits, looking all too exhausted from just fighting a battle. They looked at us when we entered, but they didn’t speak. Some were in their wolf form just to stay warm while others remained beside the fire warming their hands, their bodies covered only by the clothes they wore. Lucky ones had a blanket.

The season was changing rapidly, not in our favor, into winter - one of the coldest winters expected. Those that could see the future like Verna, Pete’s grandmother, foretold and rumored about the ice and the death this winter would have. And even those who could see the future in the water would be able to see the death and the bloodstained snow.

My father sat by the fire with Calvin and several other fellow wolves. As he invited us to sit with him, I could see a glint in his eyes, confidence. He was ready for this. Before I could sit, Pete stopped me and even my father held up his hand.

“Go to my healers,” he said, “before you become infected.”

Pete nodded his head toward the back of the cave and a healer came to me. Silently she took me to the back of the cave to examine me. Pete offered to come, but I shook my head. As the healer lifted my shirt she was taken back at the sight of my dragon’s scaly skin protecting my wound. While she worked to peel it off, I heard Pete and my father conversing.             

“What are we going to do about Sebastian?”

“Right now there isn’t much we can do. We’re safe for now and we can’t risk being seen, not until our strength has returned.”

“How long do you expect us to wait until we avenge for our burning City? How will we not freeze?”

“We will hunt,” my father replied gruffly. “We will stay alive and we will wait until they find us.”

“That could take-,”

“It will take sooner than you think. As long as we hunt it will keep our minds busy and as long as we eat we will be warm.”             

“But we need a plan. We need to do something, we can’t just sit here.”

“Then I am going to hunt. As pack leader I must provide for my pack, and if that means going out into the dead of night, exhausted and at risk of being seen, I will.”

“I will come with you.”

  “We will speak of our plans when we return.”

The healer finished removing the dragon skin and stared at my wound for a moment. It was dry, sore, and scabbed. The burned flesh pulsed painfully since it had been healing to the dragon skin.

“I’ll take care of this. It’s not as bad as it seems.” As she pressed her fingers to my flesh, she watched me flinch and stopped, becoming more skeptical. “You lost a lot of blood.
A lot.
Did you get this from a sword?”

“Yes. I didn’t think it was that bad, but it wouldn’t stop bleeding, not until my dragon attempted to heal me.”

She looked at it thoughtfully. “It’s so bad that you will feel it healing. I think I might have something to ease your pain though.”

Pete appeared beside her and looked me over carefully. He sighed, seeing my wound. “Your father and I are going out to hunt. We’ll be back in a little while.” My healer turned to me with a small jar in her hand and she was startled to see Pete beside me. “You’re Clara aren’t you? Denver told me you are his best healer.”

My healer nodded her head. “So I’ve heard.”

“I expect she’ll be well by the time we return from our hunt.”

“I will try my best.”

He gave me one final look and then left to join my father. Clara dipped her fingers into the jar and bent over me. Her peach-colored hair blocked my view from what she was doing. All I could feel was an ease to my pain and a cool feeling ceased the throbbing, as she had promised.

“I’m sure that feels better.”

I closed my eyes feeling the cool cream on my skin. Her wonderful healing repaired the layers of skin and tissue. While she worked, she hummed to herself and my head drifted off with ease, unable to resist her soothing lullaby of a tune. Before I had a chance to fall asleep I felt my shirt covering my cold skin and I heard her pack away her various medicines.

“I am finished, but I couldn’t heal you completely.” She told me there were complications and that I would be left with a small scar.

Immediately I left and sat by the fire. Seeking warmth, I put my hands to the fire and felt arms wrap around me. Calvin hugged me, holding me tightly.

“I didn’t think you’d come back. I nearly killed Prusaious when I found out what happened and now…what will we do now?”

I shrugged my shoulders and looked into his orange eyes, hoping he would answer his own question.

“We’re going to have to kill him then.”

“That’s not possible.”

I looked up to see my father with a dead bird at his feet. Pete stood behind him holding a dead animal by one of its antlers. Two members of the pack came over and took the prey away to cook it while Pete and my father wiped their hands and sat before the fire. Calvin released me and Pete took his place to hold me.

“Why isn’t it possible to kill him?”

My father looked at me calmly. “Vampires and wolves alike must be reincarnated by a Ceremony. Only with a Ceremony will they be able to return, unless in Pete’s case when a Ceremony isn’t necessary. Sebastian, on the other hand, is an immortal. He is not a vampire, nor a werewolf. Immortals can technically not be killed. That is why vampires and werewolves don’t have confrontation with them in the North. It’s because they’re too dangerous.”

“What do you mean they
can’t be killed
?”

“Almost anything can be done to them and they won’t die. They won’t risk reincarnation.”

“How does someone become immortal?”

“Becoming an immortal varies with each individual. Some immortals are born from two immortal parents, but it depends. They usually aren’t a threat to us, but they are dangerous because they can’t be killed.”

“What do we do about Sebastian then? What is our plan?”

“Right now our plan is to stay alive. We will stay in hiding for a minimum of a week’s time. That will give us more than enough time to devise a plan.”

“Do we at least know what can be done if we can’t kill him?”

“The only other thing we can do is imprison him,” Pete said.

“Can’t we throw him over the Bridge?”

“He will only fall. If a dragon saves him, we’d have to take a chance thinking he went into hiding and is plotting against us. Then he’d know we were trying to punish him.”

“The only other option is imprisonment.”

“A special chamber can be made, or a trap, in which he cannot escape from. Once it is locked, it will be stored in the dungeon at the International House of Allies. He would never escape. He would just grow old and plea for freedom. He may be given a second chance by our Allies, but that would be decided years later.”

“Do you know how to make one of those chambers?”

“It’s not too hard,” Calvin said.

“How would you know?” Pete gawked rudely and Calvin only shrugged.

“I’ve only heard.”

“Pete and I will start on the chamber tomorrow. From there we will plan the rest. Now I am going to eat. I think dinner is ready.”

“You go ahead. I think I’m going to go to sleep.”

Calvin wished me a goodnight and left. When my father wished me the same and stood, I stopped him from leaving. “Thank you for saving me from Prusaious-,” I began.

My father put up a hand, shaking his head. “Chenille you don’t have to thank me. You are my daughter and it is my duty to protect you. I’m sorry this has only occurred to me so late as to when you died, but your death has opened up many eyes.”

He gave me a small smile and left me quickly. I felt Pete rub against me, holding me before the fire where we rested together. I could only hear his breathing, but in the silence I still wanted to speak to him.

“I expect Clara did a good job fixing you up.” His hand tentatively rested against my stomach where the wound once was. He was silent for a moment and when I didn’t answer he tightened his grip. “Yes, I think she did a good job,” he whispered to himself.

“I lost a lot of blood.” I whispered back.

“I know.” He kissed my cheek. I closed my eyes, waiting for him to fall asleep when I knew he was awake, waiting for
me
to speak. 

“I lost
too much
blood.”   

The silence remained and I closed my eyes thinking he had fallen asleep. “The baby-,”

“What?” I heard him whisper harshly into my ear, so unexpectedly that every hair on my body rose nervously.

“And the baby,” I paused feeling his anxious look, my eyes remaining closed, “
didn’t make it.
”

His grip tightened to a crushing extent, but to my relief, he suddenly released me and stood up.

“Prusaious is responsible for this. This is her fault. I will make sure she is thrown in with Sebastian or better yet, I’ll have her killed. No, I’ll kill her myself.”

The second he turned his attention to the cave entrance I grabbed his cape, struggling to pull him back. He would have gone if I hadn’t stopped him and I couldn’t risk him going.

“Pete we need you. We can’t risk you getting hurt. There are too many of them to go alone and if you’re caught or you get hurt they could hold you captive or worse.”

“I’m not stupid Chenille. I’m only going after Prusaious.”

“Don’t go.” I summoned my strength to pull back his cape so it choked him and he fell to his knees. He pulled his cape away from me with a stern look. I held fast to his arm before he could attempt to move again. “If you try to go again, I’ll have my whole family at the mouth of that cave to stop you. If you want to get to Prusaious so bad then you will just have to wait.”

              He sighed, laid back down, putting his hands to my shoulders. “Oh, I’ll get Prusaious. I’ll make sure she pays for what she did,” he whispered.

              My breathing became shaky and I cowered as his face became vengeful, not toward me, but toward our enemy. I couldn’t speak, but I knew he could see I was frightened and upset because he released me and gathered me into his arms instead.

“I’m sorry this happened Chenille. I never thought one immortal could do so much damage. I’ve never seen it done before.”

              I turned to him and he gave me a reassuring smile. I rested against him. At least I felt safe. I watched the flames make shadows against the cave walls. I waited for Pete’s grip to loosen and his arms rest against me, meaning he was asleep. I knew there had to be another way. There had to be another way to get rid of Sebastian, other than locking him away. I slipped away from Pete to quietly sit before my father. He quietly ate his meat while the wolves by his fire were sound asleep.

“I can’t sleep either,” he said before I could speak. “My head is spinning from this immortal.”

“There must be another way to destroy him. You can’t just make some sort of chamber unless you plan on capturing him first and then drag him in. It seems like a lot of work, considering he has a whole army behind him.”

“There is another way to destroy him. Immortals can’t die, but they can be hurt, especially by fire. Their bones break and they still feel pain. They aren’t numb and they aren’t invisible. It sounds easy, but burning a powerful immortal like Sebastian can be dangerous. Because he is the Prince of Light-,”

“I just need to know if I could destroy him.”

“No, you can’t do it alone. You need someone powerful with you, not that you aren’t powerful, but you would be safer. If you went with Pete you’d be fine to attempt burning him except Pete may not be so willing to go.” He shrugged. “There is strength in numbers anyway.”

“Wait. You’re saying just because Pete won’t be willing to go, you will abandon an easier plan?”

“I never said it was easy. It only sounds easy. It’s very dangerous. Pete wouldn’t want you to go, he’d go by himself, but even that would still be risky. Killing this immortal by fire could be very threatening.”

“Why shouldn’t I go alone?”

“You’ll reap the consequences. If Pete finds out he’ll-,”

“He’ll what? What can he do this time that he won’t regret? He’ll come and protect me like he should. Killing him faster and sooner would be protecting me. It’s protecting our City and the creatures that live there.”

“I won’t stop you if you want to go Chenille. Pete will. I suggest you stay, but if you want to take the risk then go.”

“And you would let me? After all that’s happened you would be willing to let me go and face consequences
you
know, but are unknown to me? You will just stand by and watch?”

“If that’s what you want, if you really want to go, I won’t make it difficult for you. I’ll be behind you. I’ll look out for you, but I won’t stop you.”