Page 171 of Quicksilver

The captain held out his free hand; it trembled with effort as the air beside Carrion appeared to harden and then fracture like glass. The fractures turned to fissures, and then the air shattered and fell in on itself, creating a spinning vortex. A sound came out of it, like layers of agonized screaming.

“The walk would take far too long,” Harron said. “And we don't want you to miss out on the beginning of the games now, do we?” He jerked his head toward the vortex. “In. Now. If you hurry, there might still be time for you to say goodbye to your friend.”

This was nothing like Fisher's shadow gate. Harron's vortex wasn't right. It felt like a perversion of nature, and my gut told me firmly and in no uncertain terms that I should not step inside it. But what choice did I have? At least three hundred feeders were crowded on the cliff's edge now. Their eyes were blank voids, showing no signs of the Fae they used to be. Only hunger. Only death. I would rather have jumped back into the middle of that lake than enter the shimmering distortion in the air...but I caught Lorreth's eye, and my friend nodded.

“It's fine, Saeris. Go. We'll be right behind you.”

I hope to the gods this doesn't go horribly wrong.I looked back over my shoulder at the dais and that small black smudgestanding at the top of the stairs, and my stomach rolled with nerves.We're here, Fisher. For what it's worth, we're coming.

I didn't expect a reply, but as I entered Harron's gate, I got one.

Saeris?Fisher's voice was full of panic in my mind.Saeris, donotcome here!

But it was already too late. Harron's vortex was ripping me to pieces.

40

INTRODUCTIONS

He wasthe first thing I saw.

Always.

My heart and my soul knew exactly where to find him.

On his knees, covered in blood, Fisher knelt at the foot of a small series of steps that led up to the dais. He was covered in cuts and scrapes, his hair damp with sweat. The wolf-head gorget still shone at his throat, but it was splattered with blood, both red and black, and his leather armor was destroyed. Huge slashes cut across his chest protector. The bracers at his wrists were caked with gore. He looked exhausted, breathing raggedly through his mouth. He didn't turn his head, but he looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and I saw the fear and devastation there.

You shouldn't be here, Little Osha,he said in my mind. His words rang with defeat. His shoulders sagged, his eyes closing when Lorreth and Carrion emerged from the gate beside me, Harron close on our heels.I wanted to save you from this. I didn't want you to suffer with me.

As if a bolt of energy suddenly ripped right through him, Fisher threw his head back, his teeth bared, the muscles in his neck straining.

“NO!”I tried to run to him, but my feet wouldn't move. I was frozen in place.

“Greetings, friends. Welcome! We haven't been formally introduced.” Cold as ice, the voice cut through the air like a scythe.

“Gods alive,” Lorreth hissed. I didn't want to look away from Fisher, but I had to. I needed to know who—

Holy…

Fucking...

Hell…

The Widow's Bane was making me hallucinate.

There was no other explanation for what I was seeing.

There, sitting in the center of the dais, was Malcolm. His fine features and long, silver hair made him instantly recognizable. It was he who had spoken. It could only have been him, because Ihadmet the other figures who sat on either side of him.Theyknew perfectly well who I was.

To the right of the dais sat Belikon.

To the left...Madra.

Both were dressed in regal finery, the Yvelian king in hunter-green velvet, the Zilvaren Queen bedecked in a high-necked, sparkling golden gown.

I tried to blink them away, but there they remained, impossibly, sitting beside the vampire king.

Carrion had blanched, his usual arrogance gone. He assessed the three figures up on the dais with open hatred in his eyes.