Page 25 of Beneath Swan Lake (Deadly Endings #2)
The fire is coming from the direction of the tavern. Fear threatens to consume my thoughts as I grapple with what that might mean, but I force it down. Giving in to panic won’t help me, my family, or anyone else in Sherwood.
Now I wish I forced Ban to hand around say hi to Mum. I don’t know if he’d even have enough strength back to use his ice magic properly, but having another Reaper around to help would be better than nothing. I imagine by now he’s crossed the lake, and even if I reach out to him it’ll take time for him to double back. Possibly longer since he’s healing.
I glance at Odette before grabbing her bag and throwing it into the shadows for safekeeping. That feathery dress suddenly feels like a huge problem. “Do you have anything else to wear?”
She shakes her head. “This is best. It’s enchanted to shift with me so I always have clothing when I return to my human form.”
Of course that’s the case. I point to the sky. “Fly, then. Stay back and don’t throw yourself into the middle of the flames if you can help it. I need to see what’s happening.”
Odette follows my command without hesitation, pausing just long enough to lean in and kiss my lips before she’s gone, leaping into the air. Her form twists and transforms too swiftly for even Death to follow, and with a single breath, she changes from my beloved princess back into the swan. Now that I know the woman beneath the beast, this mutated swan isn’t frightening. Her story might be sad, but she’s stronger because of it. And I won’t allow my birdie to suffer ever again.
The water canteen manages to stay on her, tucked across her chest and beneath one wing.
Rubbing at my chest, I can feel the pull of death calling to me from the forest. People are dying, and I'm afraid to discover who. I can only hope that it’s no one from my family.
I nod to Odette, trying to keep my mind clear. “Follow the smoke but don’t get sucked in. If it’s too dense, go where it’s safe and I will find you. I need to see what’s going on. Death lingers here.”
She makes a squawking noise I can’t understand, but flaps her wings and climbs higher into the sky. I wait until she’s grown smaller above me before I shift into the shadows and hop towards the source of the pain.
My chest tightens with every move. We’re not far from The Missing Shoe, and losing someone else in my family is my greatest fear. I’m moving too fast, carelessly hurrying to the source of the smoke and flames. The pull of Death is strong, but I don’t need it to find my way home.
Screams erupt around me when I step from the shadows into the clearing, wide eyes staring in disbelief at the tavern. With so many trees around the forest will burn in a matter of minutes, and I immediately seek out the source.
In front of me, the tavern burns. The screams turn to white noise, and even the bodies that stick out as souls recently departed mean nothing to me as I take in the scene. The billowing black smoke that rises from the embers of my home covers the sky, and I tear my eyes from the tavern to scan above the trees.
No Odette. If she heeds my warning I won’t have to worry about her while I deal with this. The call of Death pulls me back to the trees where the spirits flee, but my instincts keep me here.
Where’s Mum? Where is my family?
Panic digs into my chest, and I reach back to grab an arrow and my bow. For a moment it seems pointless since flames don’t bow to pain, until a man appears rushing around the side of the building.
He’s wearing green, carrying a flaming torch. He rears his arm back, prepared to launch more into the fire, and I draw back the bow.
The arrow sails true, connecting with his chest before he lets the torch fly free. His gasp is impossible to hear around everything else, but the torch falls and clatters to the ground in the dirt instead of joining the fire. The patches of leaves on the ground burn too, and it will take no time at all for Sherwood to disappear into the embers.
“Ray!”
I spin around, drawing another arrow as I recognize the voice. My sister Genny rushes through the madness, her long hair whipping dangerously behind her as she runs. I shadow hop to her side, catching her shoulders before she crashes into me.
She’s coughing, pressing a damp cloth to her mouth. I don’t give her time to speak. “What happened?”
“The men,” she gasps, pointing behind me. With a glance I find more patches of green, and there are more people adding to the destruction. “They’re from Camelot.”
When I look past the rage, I can see the truth. The insignia on every uniform is the symbol of King Arthur, and each soldier wears it proudly as they destroy our home.
I growl, and Genny shakes off my hands. I take a quick look at her, and other than some dirt and heavy breathing, she doesn’t seem harmed. I grab for another arrow, staring at a soldier past her head. There are some stragglers running around the perimeter who appear to be on our side, going against the soldiers, but hunters don’t always carry the same skills as trained fighters. Even as I notch an arrow one of the Camelot militia strikes down a man I don’t recognize, and I send an arrow into the soldier's skull in return. After a few seconds I can see both spirits rising from their bodies, and I look away.
Genny catches my arm, stopping me from doing anything more. “The family got out. We ran when they started raining fire on the tavern. They are all safe. I think Tom is here somewhere helping others escape, but Mum and Elsie are with all the littles.”
The knot in my chest loosens some. If my family is safe, I can put all my attention on striking down the attackers and saving anyone inside. I don’t have to worry for my mother or my siblings. “Go be with them, Genny. I’ll take care of this.”
She doesn’t let go. “Thomas wouldn’t stay back. He’s helping. And I want to help too.”
“Go back where it’s safe!” I growl at her.
Genny gets right in my face, her green eyes gleaming in the firelight. “I have air magic, Ray. People are dying!” She coughs, as though emphasizing her point. “Let me help.”
My instinct is to throw Genevieve into the shadows and send her away from the danger zone. She’s capable, but fire can kill far too easily.
I reach for another arrow, but the men torching the tavern are more focused on their task than they are on who’s in the clearing. Surely they know this is my home, so why aren’t they looking for a Reaper?
“I can do this Ray!” she insists, unmoving. “You’re not the only one who’s capable of protecting the family.”
I grimace, shaking my head. Of course she’s going to try and use reasoning in the middle of a damn fire. “Just stay back from the flames or I will send you through the shadows.”
The hard set of her jaw tells me she’s going to fight, and she presses the wet cloth to her mouth again. “Understood.”
I’m wary of having Genny fighting in the midst of this; Thomas isn’t much better, he’s just a big teddy bear. But if I expect my siblings to sit back while our home burns I’m going to be disappointed. None of us will take it sitting down.
As I slide into the shadows again, appearing behind another Camelot soldier to stab the arrow through his throat, I can’t help wondering what Mum is thinking. This is the home we built from the ground up after the giant threw Pa into the clouds. Mum is strong to a fault, and if she thinks Elsie and the others can handle it, she will absolutely charge headfirst into danger.
I really wish Zarev had answered his stone when I tried reaching him. Help from another Reaper would be amazing right now. I can probably handle this, but if I’m killing men, I can’t help save anyone who might be trapped inside, or stop the fire before it covers the forest.
I take down two more men without blinking as they’re unprepared to handle anyone with magic. They go down easily before a third man turns and throws his flaming torch at me.
Forcing the shadows in his direction, the fire dies within seconds as the shadows overpower them. I let the shadows throw him into the ground.
I have every intention of shooting him with an arrow as well, but a man leaps from the shadows and grabs the soldier, slicing his throat with a blade I can’t see.
That’s not Zarev.
The man hops up as the soldier dies, pink and purple ears resting on his head. He’s got a tail to match, and the hidden blade I couldn’t see turns out to be his long, sharp nails. Yellow and green eyes stare back at me before he winks. “Well, Death, you look like you’ve just seen a ghost. ”
He’s off before I can ask what that means, and another shadowy form appears. This one I do recognize, and his princess clings to his side as they appear.
Zarev glares up at the tavern. “Who the hell’s burning it down?”
“King Arthur, brother,” I tell him, and Rapunzel is already stepping towards a fallen soldier. “Don’t worry about him, Goldie. Camelot sent soldiers to burn the tavern, I just don’t know why.”
Nodding, Zarev grabs his scythe, looking like the true embodiment of Death. “Of course it’s Camelot. Don’t mind Cyrus, he insisted on jumping ahead of us to help.”
“If he’s here to help I don’t care how he arrived,” I grunt. “We’ll get rid of the soldiers, and then help douse the flames.”
Zarev nods and turns, and I spot some soldiers rushing off through the trees as the fire grows. They’re either cowards or they’ve done what they came here for. The flames attack the nearest branches, spreading to the trees. A fire in Sherwood will decimate the land. Even Reapers can’t stop a tragedy like that.
Turning, I focus on the men who remain. Zarev cleaves one head off, and the new guy slices the throat of another. In the distance I can see Thomas, but I’ve lost sight of Genny and Rapunzel. Everyone else is a straggler.
I use the shadows to craft another arrow that sails through a soldier’s shoulder and brings him to the ground. I’m going to need to be careful of my stone-tipped arrows if I’m not paying attention to where they fell. I can’t collect them with the shadows if I don’t know where they are, and my shadowy arrows can kill but they aren’t always as effective.
There are people standing around the edges of the fire, trying to douse the flames with barrels of water from the stream. I don’t have time to stop and tell them how ineffective that’s going to be. The flames are already too big, and people need to just seek shelter. We need someone with water magic, or a great storm to sweep through.
I finally spot Genny again, running around the perimeter as far back as she can. Her arms shake as she moves, forcing the air to obey, and I realize I’ve never seen my sister use her magic for such a long period of time. It’s going to take its toll on her fast, but pride shoots through me when I see the air bend to her will, the smoke and flames curling away from the trees as she moves.
Shadow hopping to her side, I feel my magic wane. The shadows themselves are strong, but so is the pull of Death. A headache begins near my temples, and I can already feel the strain.
Genny gasps when she spots me before flexing her hands, forcing the flow of the wind back to the house so the flames can’t spread. Sweat drips down the sides of her face, and her tired green eyes focus on me. “I-it just keeps growing.”
She coughs, and I look around. The smoke is thicker, and even when we succeed in stopping the fire there’s not going to be much left of the house or the trees and grass in the area. Her coughing continues, and I grasp my sister's shoulders.
“It’s time to go,” I warn her, looking skyward once more. No swan, so I can only hope Odette is safe from the fire.
Genny shakes her head, trying to shove off my arm. “I - I want to stay and help Mum.”
“You said Mum was with Elsie and the others.”
Coughing, she shrugs. “I lied. She’s trying to help in the background, point people in the direction of safety. Or that’s what she’s s-supposed to be doing.”
“Where is she now?”
Still coughing, Genny tries to push my hands away. “She went into the forest. She said the fire is magic, and the only way to stop the flames is to return them to the sky.”
I blink, staring at my sister. Maybe the smoke and fumes finally got to her head. “What?”
Genny struggles in my grip, and I loosen my hands. “She said there’s one final thing she can do to save the family. She was muttering about Pa.”
My eyes narrow, and she begins to cough again. That makes no sense to me; maybe the fumes got to everyone’s head. My mother never made a resting place or anything for my father, and she’s never mentioned anything of his or even hers hiding in the forest to help us. I can’t wrap my head around it, and I’m starting to wonder if the smoke can affect me too. “I don’t think there’s anything out there in the forest that can help.”
She tries to respond, but an explosion from the tavern sends us tumbling backward. I drag her into the shadows with me, wrapping my sister in my arms and waiting to see what rains down upon us. The foundation must be destroyed by this point, and even if it’s left standing there’s not going to be anything we can do with a wrecked building.
Instead of the structure coming apart, something steps from the wreckage. The fact that it hasn’t fallen to ruins yet makes me wonder what type of flame that truly is, but the woman emerging from the flames catches my attention.
I shift out of the shadows long enough to speak to Genny, shaking my head at her. “Go!”
Throwing her into the shadows, I make sure they carry her as far from the clearing as they can. When I spin around again, the woman glaring at me might as well be the Mad Queen herself.
“You killed my son,” she hisses, holding up her hands. The fire that clings to her skin isn’t natural, and her eyes scream, filled with rage. Perhaps her son gained magic unnaturally in the same sort of way. Even with the inferno behind her, she’s somehow the most frightening thing I’ve seen since arriving home. “Now you’re going to pay!”
And I thought Dima learned his magic from the Shadow Man. Maybe mother dearest had some secrets of her own.
“Ysanna,” I say, reaching for the dagger in my cloak, “We both know how this battle will end.”