16. Betrayal

  Faelwen

  “We will keep moving more east until we reach the hills near the Temple of Veras,” Ash finally broke the silence. His voice was steady, but his expression betrayed the strain of what had just unfolded. “There, we might find shelter and plan a new route. It’s the only place where the boat can’t follow us. There’s no water.”

  Artemis and I exchanged a glance before nodding in agreement. Without another word, we followed Ash toward the rising terrain.

  The journey was cloaked in silence, the kind born of shock and grief. My mind spun with fragments of the chaos we’d fled, but my legs moved automatically, like a puppet on invisible strings.

  Ash’s hand clasped mine, steady and firm, and I clung to him, letting his pace drag me forward. The numbness in my chest dulled the edges of my sorrow, but it also left me hollow.

  Night fell, and we made camp. Still frightened for the boat, fear kept us awake. At dawn, we resumed our trek. The sight of the hills by late afternoon filled me with relief.

  “We’re here,” I breathed, the words escaping before I could stop them. We chose a spot beneath a solitary tree surrounded by a blanket of soft grass and tiny white flowers.

  Exhaustion claimed us, and we dropped to the ground. For a moment, I let myself enjoy the feel of the steady earth and grass beneath me. The quiet here was strange, almost oppressive.

  The Marshes’ relentless buzz and gurgle had given way to the soft, eerie howl of wind through scattered stones and trees. Despite the unease creeping in, the absence of mosquitoes and damp air was a small blessing.

  We need to hunt. Artemis growled, his golden eyes meeting mine. My stomach agreed with a rumble, but I was too drained to do more than groan in response. Ash stood abruptly as if reading my thoughts, reaching for my bow.

  “Come on, wolf,” he said to Artemis. “I’m starving.” Artemis stretched, then turned to me.

  Don’t fall asleep this time. Keep the fire going. His tone was sharp—unusually sharp.

  “Yes, yes,” I mumbled, waving them off. Artemis snorted before following Ash into the hills. I was secretly longing for some good vegetables and a rabbit. I grew sick of birds and fish.

  Alone, I stared into the flickering flames, determined to stay awake. The steady warmth of the fire lulled me, and my resolve faltered. My eyelids grew heavy.

  A sound startled me, a soft crunch of footsteps. I opened my eyes lazily to see Ash stepping into the firelight.

  “What did you catch?” I asked, surprised. My stomach twisted when I realized Artemis wasn’t with him. Suspicion and fear prickled at the edges of my mind.

  “Where is Artemis?”

  Ash crouched by the fire, his green eyes, darker as usual, locking with mine.

  “He felt something was wrong and insisted I come back to check on you,” he said smoothly. His voice was warm and melodic. The tension slipped from my shoulders. Safety wrapped around me like a blanket, though a tiny, nagging voice in my mind whispered warnings. A memory of what Ash did when I first met him.

  “Well, everything is fine. Nothing happened,” I said, smiling while wondering if this sudden feeling of safety was for real or spellbound. Ash smiled back at me and sat next to me, his presence somehow closer than usual. Unease lingered. He stared up at the sky. I followed his gaze and was met by the sparkling light of a thousand stars in the dark in their everlasting dance.

  “Somehow, those stars keep the darkness at bay,” I murmured. Ash chuckled softly.

  “Darkness isn’t always from outside,” he said, his tone laced with something bitter. “Sometimes it’s from within.”

  I turned to look at him, finding his face shadowed by an unfamiliar sadness.

  “You’re beautiful, Faelwen,” he whispered suddenly. “And I don’t know what to do… because I’ll never truly have you.” He sighed looking down at me with his dark green eyes. The intensity in his voice sent a shiver through me, though his words stirred something deeper in me as well: a longing I didn’t fully understand.

  When his hand brushed mine, I didn’t pull away. Instead I let my fingers intertwine with his, a strange heat rising between us. His touch was magnetic, and I leaned closer, letting myself drown in the moment. I had never felt this way for someone. I wanted to bury myself in his chest and just disappear from the outside world. Wanted to feel that love being returned by him.

  “You can’t know what the future will bring, Ash. You can’t know what I feel, what I think,” I answered him. He shook his head.

  “You don’t understand.”

  I looked confused at him as he continued.

  “Love is a disease. Love can break someone.”

  I squeezed his hand and leaned in closer.

  “But love can also be something so extraordinary magical if you would just open your heart,” I whispered.

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  He leaned into me, our shoulders brushing against each other.

  “You look so much like her,” he mumbled. Some tinge of fear nestled in my brain and my stomach tightened. Something was wrong. My mind snagged on a detail, his face. Where was the faint scar under his eye? The one I’d noticed countless times before when we were so close?

  Before I could speak, his lips claimed mine. The world dissolved into warmth and electricity, a fire igniting under my skin. My doubts slipped away as his touch deepened, awakening something primal within me.

  Ash cupped my face and pulled me towards him, forcing my mouth further open and exploring it with his tongue. His hands tangled in my hair, and I found myself pulling him closer as well, craving more.

  His lips traced the line of my jaw into my neck and under my ear. A soft moan escaped my lips. I couldn’t help it. It was as if I had lost all control of my body. His smell, his touch. I craved more. Then he stopped, his hand stroking my face as his eyes met mine.

  “Let’s go somewhere,” he said suddenly, his voice teasing but firm. “Somewhere special.”

  I chuckled and bit my lower lip.

  “Take me to the moon,” I joked, looking defiantly at him. His grin widened and he kissed my neck. I heard his low voice tremble through my body as he purred; “I will show you the moon.”

  I looked at his grin and something in it sent a chill down my spine. Not the pleasant kind. He pulled me to my feet and let me up the hill, his grip firm.

  “How far is it?” I asked stopping in front of him, one hand intertwined with his hand and my other hand on his chest.

  “Not far,” he promised, though a creeping dread whispered otherwise. He maneuvered around me and pulled me with him. The farther we walked, the stranger the air became.

  That little voice appeared in my head again, warning me. When we were up the hill he turned to me, his hand gently stroking my cheek.

  “Do you trust me?” he asked. A different kind of tingling sensation spread from my face to my toes, leaving me a little numb. A strange tiredness overwhelmed me.

  “I… I do,” I said hesitantly. I saw him take a deep breath and he grinned before pulling me along again. I felt strange as if in trance while I followed his steps. We were walking downwards, the air around me growing colder. The ground felt soft and slippery but when I looked down, all I saw was the grassy hillside.

  Something started to dawn on me. When Ash came back he was not wearing my bow. As if to prove my thinking, an arrow whizzed past me, snapping me awake and shattering the illusion I was in. I heard Ash’s voice from behind me, while the man in front of me changed.

  My surroundings changed as well from a grassy hillside to the beginnings of the Marshes. I was standing on a staircase in a boat. Realising where I was standing, I figured who was holding my hand.

  The man in front of me grew taller. His wavy black hair turned to midnight onyx and lengthened until just below his rounded ears. His clothing changed from Ash’s black torn cloak to a wonderful dark blue robe embroidered with black roses.

  He turned to face me, revealing a young and handsome face too perfect, too sharp, his eyes voids of black. Panic started to rise in me and I could feel my legs starting to shake. I knew exactly who this man was.

  The Fiend.

  “Master?” the crooked, hoarse voice from earlier sounded from above. I looked over my shoulder and saw a skeleton with black torn robes holding a spear. His red eyes boring into my brain. I quickly looked back to my feet when the Fiend in front of me pulled me with him.

  “Stop!” I heard Ash behind me.

  Wen! I couldn’t reach you. You were just gone, out of my reach. Don’t walk the stairs, fight him! I heard Artemis familiar voice resound in my head. I started pulling away from the Fiend and he only chuckled.

  “You’re mine now, little elfling.”

  Two hands got hold of my shoulders.

  “Please, let her go!” I heard Ash pleading.

  Artemis at his heels lurched towards to the Fiend.

  “No Artemis!” I warned him, but it was too late. The Fiend saw him coming and with one slash of his hand, Artemis yelped and tumbled down the stairs.

  “No!” I screamed and tried to reach for him. He vanished into the darkness. My heart constricted and tears sprung in my eyes. I tried to run down, but Ash pulled me back to him.

  I couldn’t bear to lose Artemis. Not now. My dear Buddy. Please come back.

  Buddy? I gently pried our bond. But no answer came.

  “What have you done!” I hissed through my teeth at the Fiend, tears stinging my eyes. He only smiled. A fire of anger spread through my body.

  “What have you done!” I shrieked louder this time, flying towards the Fiend. I don’t know what I wanted to try, but I’d lost all control of rational thinking.

  The Fiend easily grabbed my other wrist as well and pushed me against the wall. Ash tried to come between us.

  “If I were you I wouldn’t try to fight, me young lady! My strength is far beyond yours,” he hissed in my face. Ash was still pleading him to let me go. The Fiend’s eyes turned towards him, letting me go with one arm. He took hold of Ash by his throat, lifting him in the air.

  I stood frozen against the wall. Behind Ash the small light of the moon and stars enlightened the first steps of the stairs. It seemed so far away now.

  Freedom.

  Ash’s choking sounds brought my eyes back to him.

  “Please…” he begged again. The Fiend snorted, not amused.

  “Don’t you want to receive your reward, my boy?”

  His words caught me off guard. Reward? The Fiend saw my startled look and chuckled.

  “Oh, she doesn’t know, does she?” he grinned, his handsome features turning dark. Ash looked sorrowful at me, his eyes full of guilt and pain.

  “Ash is my apprentice,” The Fiend explained, “I send him to Westray to open the portals and let my beloved followers out into the Mid Realm.”

  The strange blue orb in the underground tunnels flashed before my eyes. The Black Widow, who’d slaughtered so many silver soldiers. The dying necromancer, begging to be released. I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t want to believe Ash had done all that. Ash gasped for air.

  “I send out word to all my apprentices to find the elfling who’d killed one of my strongest mages and bring her to me. As a reward they would gain more magical power from me. Lending them my otherworldly strength to wield more power of the Weave,” he continued.

  Malignus! I had killed Malignus. Artemis’s earlier words resounded in my head.

  Of all the potential mates in the world you pick someone unreliable? Someone destined to break your heart? You know it as well as I do.

  My heart cracked. It broke into a million pieces. I could find no words to say, but the look of disappointment I gave him was enough. Ash closed his eyes, tears streaming over his face.

  “Get down, my boy,” The Fiend hissed as he threw Ash down the stairs. He stumbled on his knees, managed to stand up and struggled his way downstairs.

  Not turning to look back at me. The Fiend turned to me, and I knew what I had to do.

  I’m sorry Buddy. I tried to send the thought to him, not knowing if my words would reach him. I grabbed my dagger. The words Brave edged on the blade. My father’s gift to me. I stabbed the Fiend in his side and started running up the stairs.

  “Faelwen!” I heard Ash shout at me, hopeful tinged with sadness. He knew that we would never see each other again.

  I was almost up the stairs, the light of the stars touching my toes. But then the Fiend caught up with me. His long arms grabbed me by the waist. I tried to stab him again, but he slammed me hard against the wall. My dagger fell out of my hand and landed with a loud thud on the stairs. He pulled me towards him, my back against his front, his hand covering my mouth.

  “Sleep.” Was all he whispered in my ear and a sudden feeling of tiredness crept up on me. I tried to fight it, but just like Ash’s magic, I couldn’t. My eyes closed and darkness took me.