The Dark Throne (74 page)

“I’d rather have them back in the mortal world, but that’s not really a viable option.” I narrowed my eyes as a thought struck me. “Liam had a vision, didn’t he? He
needs
to come with us.”

“Perhaps the Enemy has set another trap with iron,” Vell replied. “Liam told me that he Saw himself and his companions with us in the Dark Keep. Luca and Chael would be able to resist the poison long enough to fight, but full mortal blood is better.” She smiled as she twirled her dagger. “And besides, he is a protective brother. He wants to keep you within his sights.”

I sighed. “I should’ve guessed.”

“You did,” pointed out Vell mildly.

“You think we can afford to take four mediocre swordsmen with us?”

“I hear that Jess is quite good with a bow, and Duke has found some talent with an axe. But in any case, four mediocre swordsmen won’t turn the tide at the final moment. One Seer and three mortals who can stand iron might, though.”

“Liam’s gotten better with dealing with his visions, but he still loses touch sometimes. That doesn’t exactly make me feel good about dragging him into a high-stakes scenario.”

“He has dealt with it in battle before,” Vell replied. She paused in spinning her dagger and looked at me. “In the end, Tess, we must all play whatever part comes to us tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” I repeated numbly.

“For what it’s worth,” Vell said, all her queenliness falling away, “thank you for your friendship, Tess. Not everyone believed in me when I was just a Northern mercenary.”

I smiled. “Not everyone believed in
me
when I was just a mortal girl who happened to stick a horseshoe in a
garrelnost
’s eye.”

Vell chuckled. “And look at us now.”

I nodded. “Everything is so different. We’ve traveled far to get here.”

“And we have only a bit farther.” Vell sheathed her dagger and hopped lightly from her perch on the table. “Come on then, let me braid your hair for tomorrow.”

I laughed and obediently folded my legs beneath me, sitting in front of the chair and letting my old friend comb out my hair one last time.

I couldn’t rightly say whether the hours of that night passed slowly or with more speed than usual. A sense of wild anticipation filled the air of the
vyldgard
camp, and the night sky echoed with drumbeats and voices, dancers silhouetted against the high flames of the fires. We did not care if we were heard or seen, even this close to the White City—sentinels still stared into the blackness beyond the lines of the army, and the queens still raised their wards. But the night drew on, dark and clear and still, a night like many before it, I thought as I stared up at the barely visible stars. Our little group sat around a blazing fire, sharing a flask of biting bittersweet liquor. Luca sat beside me, his arm draped about my shoulder; I leaned into his warmth, memorizing the feel of his body against mine.

“For some it will be their last sunrise,” I said quietly.

“Any sunrise could be your last,” he replied. “We do not know what the next day holds.”

“Well, that’s not entirely true,” said Duke, toasting Liam with his cup. “Ol’ Magic Eight-Ball there can see the future in Technicolor.”

Liam shook his head. “Not quite in Technicolor, brother, but something like that.”

Calliea and Merrick sat next to each other, not quite touching; for all they were members of the Wild Court, the Sidhe habit of disdaining public affection still showed. But for them, it seemed to be enough to be near one another. Now and again they spoke just to each other in quiet voices. Merrick would travel with the queens, and Calliea with the Valkyrie.

“Have you seen past tomorrow?” I asked Liam, the question burning in my throat like a swallow of the liquor in my cup.

“I don’t need to see past tomorrow to know what’s going to happen,” Liam replied. Quinn clapped his shoulder.

“Because we are going to
kick ass
!” the tattooed man shouted, breaking the slightly somber mood about the fire. Duke added his own battle-yell and then jumped when Kianryk howled behind him. The big tawny wolf prowled into the firelight, grinning at the wiry Southerner. Duke good-naturedly joined in the laughter, even if it was at his expense.

We talked late into the night about our fire, the wild songs of the
vyldgard
rising around us. The Glasidhe who had been my companions at different points throughout my journey found our little enclave: Wisp, Forin and Farin, and Flora and Forsythe. They perched on my shoulders and knees, leaping from me to other members of our little circle, talking in high bright voices. I yawned but I didn’t want to go to sleep. I wanted to savor every last minute left. Finally, though, one of the runes on the board beneath our fire flared, and the flames died into little wisps of white smoke, leaving us with only the Glasidhe’s auras for light.

“Guess that means it’s closin’ time,” came Duke’s voice from the shadows. Quinn had disappeared with Niamh earlier in the night, and Jess had gone to sleep with his frayed ballcap pulled low over his eyes, unperturbed by the conversation and other noise about the fire. Kianryk settled behind Luca and me, laying his great head on his forepaws and promptly falling asleep. I slipped one finger through the pendant at my throat and stared up into the darkness of the sky. One more dawn, and we would face the Enemy. One more dawn, and the fate of this world would be decided.

I drifted unwillingly into sleep, my head pillowed on Luca’s shoulder, Farin curled in the curve of my neck and Flora lying along my collarbone. The soft glow of their sleeping auras pulsed in tandem with their breath. As my eyes closed, my last sensation before sleep claimed me wholly was the sound of Luca’s heart, beating dependably beneath my ear.

Chapter 38

I
woke with a start. I hadn’t dreamed. I looked up at the dawn-tinged sky, waited to feel anything…any apprehension, or fear, or excitement. There was a dull sense of anticipation, mixed with gratefulness for the warmth of the wolf and the man next to me, but that was all. I sat up, stretched and slipped the strap of the Sword over my head, actions I’d performed on countless mornings before this morning. I looked down at Luca, his ruggedly handsome face young and innocent in sleep. I smiled and kissed him awake.

We met for one last blade practice in our customary place, our mounts shaking their heads restlessly as they waited for the day’s journey to begin. Our unshakeable little group would be splintered in a few hours: the twins atop their winged
faehal
would follow Calliea in the phalanx of Valkyrie; and the rest of us marked to step through the portal into the maw of darkness, leaving a battle raging behind us. I hoped I didn’t look nervous—no one else seemed to be, and it just wouldn’t do for the Bearer to look like her nerve was failing her mere hours before meeting the Enemy before his Dark Throne. The Sword paced like a caged animal in my chest, now and again straining eagerly toward the west, toward the White City and Malravenar.

When the white horn sounded, the twins looked at us, white-faced beneath their vibrant war paint, and then they leapt to each of us to give a hard, quick embrace.

“We believe in you,” whispered Maire in my ear, and then her sister hugged me and said, “We’ll watch the sunset as free people.”

The honest faith in their words almost undid me, but I merely returned their embrace and nodded, not trusting my voice. The Sword hummed, matching the voice of the horn lingering in the air. Nehalim stood still as a statue until I mounted; then he pranced and sidestepped, his delicate ears pricked and alert. I hadn’t painted him for battle. We wouldn’t be taking our
faehal
through the portal. He would be a spare mount for any of the Valkyrie who fell, or another
vyldgard
warrior in need. The thought of the return journey to the Hall of the Outer Guard—or wherever we decided to go—rang hollowly in my head, like a dream I couldn’t quite grasp. The thought of
after
was too far away, too nebulous.

Liam drew his mount up next to mine as we began this last day of the journey. “Hey, Bug.”

“Hey.” I tried to smile, but couldn’t.

“How are you feeling?”

“Really want me to answer that?”

He grinned. “You’ve been through a few scrapes before. This one isn’t any different.”

“I know you’re trying to make me less nervous,” I said in a breathless voice as the army moved forward, the standard of the Wild Court flowing in the wind ahead of us. “And thanks. But this is actually
very
different.”

“This one’s for all the marbles,” my brother said in unexpected agreement. “But what I mean is, the
fighting
isn’t any different. Don’t let it mess with your head.” He caught my eyes. “The basics stay the same. You kill them before they kill you. Got it?”

I managed a better smile, swallowing down the sudden surge of anxiety. “Got it.” We rode in silence for a moment. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“I know you said you haven’t Seen past today.” I swallowed again. “Please tell me that’s not because you’re going to die.” I started at his laugh. “I take that as a no?”

“Well, first of all,” Liam said, “how could I See my own death? Wouldn’t I be busy dying?”

I frowned as I tried to untangle the complexity of a vision. “I don’t know. I’ve never had a vision.”

“I don’t See what happens to me,” my brother said. “And I haven’t Seen past today because it’s…complicated. There are a lot of different threads, a lot of different outcomes. Think about it…this many fighters, this many possibilities. If an archer looses an arrow a second later or a second earlier, that’s two different scenarios right there. Someone ducks or doesn’t duck, or their horse shies, or they stumble at the right moment or the wrong moment.” He shook his head. “I’ve dealt with battles before, but nothing on this scale. Normally I can put blinkers on and focus on what I need, but there’s too much noise here.”

“Just promise me you won’t fall over in the throes of a vision when we’re in the middle of fighting Malravenar,” I said.

“Why do you think Jess, Quinn and Duke are coming along?” My brother grinned.

“Because they’re immune to iron, just like you and me. I’m being serious.”

“I’m being serious, too,” he countered, sobering.

I winced as the Sword’s power pulled particularly hard toward the western horizon, rubbing absently at my chest. “All right.” I wasn’t sure whether I was talking to my brother or to the Caedbranr.

“Tess?”

Liam’s tone of voice drew my eyes to his face.

“No matter what happens today,” he said, utterly serious now, “just remember that I love you.”

My chest ached. “I love you too, Liam.” We smiled tightly at each other. Liam reached over and squeezed my shoulder. Then Duke yelled something to him, and he turned to mediate some good-natured argument between his teammates.

At noon, the sun high overhead, the white horn sounded again, and we halted. I watched as Vell dismounted and strode forward, a strong lithe figure in her scarlet cape and armor emblazoned with the head of a wolf. She held her bow in one hand, and a single arrow in the other, the tip gleaming white as bone, like her ivory staff. I pulled my scarf over my nose and mouth as a sudden wing sprang up, dragging dust into the air and slapping foul air into our faces. Vell dripped her blood onto the arrowhead. Her lips moved, though I couldn’t hear her voice. Then she turned toward the western horizon and nocked the arrow. The wind suddenly reversed direction as Vell drew back the arrow in one smooth motion. A sudden burst of snow rushed past us, and Vell let the arrow fly, its arc higher and faster than any ordinary arrow. We collectively held our breath, the arrow dwindling to a tiny speck against the blue of the sky. And then there was a burst of white fire in the sky where the arrow had flown. The dusty earth rumbled beneath our feet. Nehalim put back his ears but held his ground. Like a curtain falling, the blue of the sky suddenly became bluer, the veil falling away in a shimmer of fire and snow. We stood at the crest of a great hill, looking down at the shining ruins of the White City…and the roiling mass of Malravenar’s army, crawling like black ants over the broken towers and fallen columns of the alabaster city below.

My stomach tightened in revulsion, but I only had a moment to look at the terrible spectacle. The horn sounded twice: the signal to gather the Queens, and their small nimble force to go through the portal. Nehalim turned of his own accord, cantering to meet the other warriors converging upon the banner of the Wild Court. The Sword fairly sang in its sheath, and my war-markings itched as they glowed with a fierce and sudden light. I took a deep breath and found Luca’s eyes. He grinned at me in fierce anticipation, and an answering grin formed on my own lips despite the tangle of nerves in my stomach.

The Seelie contingent arrived at a gallop, Titania’s steed outpacing all the rest. She rode magnificently, her silver armor gleaming in the sunlight, and she wore a white-hilted sword at her hip in a golden scabbard. I wondered idly if the Seelie Queen’s skill with a sword matched her sisterly kindness and grace. I searched the faces of her chosen Seelie warriors and found Sage among them. He gave me a nod as he reined in his excited
faehal
.

Queen Mab favored a statelier pace, and she drew up her midnight-dark steed without a word, her beautiful face pale in the noon light. I knew Ramel wouldn’t be among her retinue, but I saw Donovan and Emery. Beryk led Kianryk and Rialla on a chase through the legs of the
faehal
, and a few of the Unseelie mounts shied at the wolves’ closeness.

None of the queens gave a rousing speech. We all looked grimly at one another as we dismounted our
faehal
, and then Vell signaled to Gray. The
vyldretning
’s chosen commander gave three blasts on the white horn and wheeled her steed toward the White City, leaning forward as her
faehal
leapt into a gallop. The Valkyrie swooped overhead, bearing orbs that burned with a strange incandescent fire. The great army surged forward, parting around us. We stood in a strange circle of calm amid galloping steeds and flying banners and war cries. I silently called up my
taebramh
, and sent it to mark all the warriors in our small silent band, even the queens. I didn’t know whether my marking would stand up to the full power of the Sword. My
taebramh
floated through the air like disembodied candle flames, burned brightly against their foreheads for a moment and then sank into their skin, leaving only a faint mark like a pearly thumbprint. A few of the warriors winced at the touch of my power, but they recovered their composure quickly. Vell withdrew the scarlet ring from her beltpouch. The Seelie and Unseelie queens stepped close to her, and their warriors drew into closer ranks as the army flowed past us. The ground shook once and then again with small tremors as though from explosions. The Valkyrie had reached the skies above the White City. My heart beat faster in anticipation. The wind brought the scent of smoke and flames.