Page 24 of The Silent Mountain (Under the Werewolf Crown #2)

twenty-four

It Lurks in the Dark

*FAVIAN*

I can’t shake off the feeling of worry whenever Alana or Elio, the most important people in my life, are not close to me. She left to visit another realm. It’s only for a couple of hours, but still, I am terrified something might happen to her or that she just won’t want to return.

To distract myself from these thoughts, I throw myself into work for a couple of hours, together with Elio, trying to organize a couple of things the new clan members need. Elio has stuck to his promise and is eager to help, doing every task diligently.

Afterwards, I catch up with Ludwig. “Any news about Barbara?” I ask him.

“Unfortunately, not,” he says sadly. “She… she isn’t too well. Erin only allows Frederick and me to visit her. She told me that whatever Barbara suffers from might be contagious, but I can’t just leave her alone. I can’t.”

“It’s scary that there is an illness that affects shifters,” I mutter. “But I believe that Erin is doing everything to help. If Barbara needs something, anything, tell me and I will see that she receives it.”

“Thank you, Your Highness. I know that your support means a lot to her.”

“If you would rather stay with her, I will relieve you from your duties for today,” I tell him.

“Is that truly possible?”

“Yes, I believe she needs support, and if that’s what you want, I won’t stop you.” I look at him thoughtfully. “Because to you, she means something more.”

His face turns red. “Is it that obvious?”

“Not really, but I had a feeling,” I say. “While chosen mates were frowned upon in the past, I think times have changed. We are not that many dragon shifters anymore, so if you want to pursue Barbara and she agrees, then you have my blessing.”

Ludwig stays silent for a while. “It wasn’t always like that,” he admits. “We were just friends. In fact, when Princess Alana arrived, she teased us about our relationship, but we both claimed there was nothing.”

“But there is,” I add.

“When she got sick, I realized I just…” He swallows thickly.

My heart sinks at the expression on his face. This poor guy; this poor couple. How sad that he realized his feelings only now, and how guilty he must feel. “Go to her,” I say. “Stay with her as long as you want.”

“But the princess…“ he mutters weakly. “Barbara and I were her bodyguards.”

“Alana doesn’t really need a bodyguard,” I say. She is stronger than Barbara and Ludwig, though I don’t tell him that. “And for now, I will ask Theodor and Stefan for help, or one of the other warriors. We have more clan members now that we’ve held the ceremony.”

Ludwig takes a deep breath. “Thank you,” he says. “Thank you, Your Highness. This is just… thank you.” He bows deeply to me before turning around and running back to the woman he fell in love with.

My heart sinks further when I watch his back disappearing in the distance. I might not trust witches, and I might not trust Erin fully yet, but one thing I have already realized is that she is skilled and honest, and she doesn’t beat around the bush. She is very worried about Barbara and not hiding her worry. The fact that she even banned Cassie from entering the room says even more. Erin hinted that we might be running out of time to find an antidote to whatever it is that Barbara has.

I brush through my hair in exasperation before tying it back into a ponytail, then I lunge into the air and shift into my dragon. For a couple of minutes, I circle the clan, taking in all the newly inhabited houses that have smoke now coming from their chimneys, and feeling a deep sense of gratitude that so many of the shifters heard my calling and came back to claim their dragon spirits. We are growing in numbers and finally becoming more stable.

But peace is fragile.

Maybe what’s happening with Barbara is truly just a bad coincidence, but seeing how it happened at the same time the cursed birds appeared, and the mare that harassed Alana, I doubt it’s not all related.

I fly a couple of more circles around my kingdom before making my way down to the shore where some of my warriors are currently stationed. Two men are guarding the shore, keeping an eye on what’s going on, while some more shifters are on a platform on the water.

“Your Highness,” Elmar, the elite warrior who is overseeing the group, steps forward to greet me. He looks genuinely happy—and proud—that I am paying them a visit. “It’s such an honor that you came all this way out here.”

“You and your warriors are working hard,” I tell him. “You deserve my respect.” I look around. “Do you have anything to report?”

“Nothing unusual,” the man says. He gestures towards the ocean to the small platform we built to be able to dive and do research. Sometimes, the land is just not enough. “A small group of warriors is currently there,” he tells me what I already know.

“Is there a reason for that?”

“The last group of birds briefly landed there,” he says.

“That’s certainly enough reason for me,” I agree.

Together with Elmar, I take a look at the shore and the tents they’ve put up while he tells me about how their queen comes to regularly visit them and see how they are doing. They already call Alana their queen, something which fills me with pride and joy. We are in the middle of our discussion when I feel the hairs on my arm standing up slightly. I don’t feel cold easily. I grew up in these icy mountains, and my body was made for it, but I could swear that a shiver just went down my spine.

“Your Highness?” Elmar asks, obviously catching on to my sudden distraction.

“A moment,” I mutter, turning around and scanning the area. Are we being attacked? No, there is no sound anywhere. It’s silent, as silent as if we were deep in the mountains on a snowy day.

But we are not…

This is the ocean with animals all around us, with an icy wind blowing every day. It’s never silent. My attention snaps from the shore to the sea, pausing at the sight of the small group of warriors, who are currently investigating our manmade island. “They need to get down from here,” I mutter to myself before raising my voice. “Get off the island!” I yell.

Elmar calls something to me, but I ignore him. Dread fills me and pulls me forward towards my clan members. Without thinking any further, I shift to my dragon. GET AWAY FROM THE ISLAND! I link them.

The shock has worn off by now, and I can see them leaping into action immediately. Dragons are huge shifters. They can’t all shift at the same time, but the first ones have already taken off. Elmar is right behind me, his green dragon following me.

It’s so quiet, too quiet.

There is a thin layer of ice stretching over parts of the water. The water itself barely moves, until suddenly cracks appear on the ice, and tentacles shoot upwards. One of the warriors lunges to the side, while another tries to hit the tentacle with his sword. It looks similar to the creature that attacked Elio. But what’s it doing here? Why is it so close to the shore? Elio was far out in the ocean. Creatures and monsters like that are common there, but not so close to the land.

Yells and shouts fill the air. The monster has used its tentacles to grab three of the warriors and pull them into the water. There is a second one coming, I link the warriors. Watch your backs! Elmar, fend off the monster, I am going after the first one.

You… you are going into the water? He gapes.

I don’t answer, instead dash forward and dive headfirst into the icy cold. Favia, I say. Lend me your strength.

I can feel Favia’s presence filling my body. It feels like a window is opened to my mind, and all of a sudden, I can sense everything so much more sharply. The creature is tugging the warriors further downwards, and I make sure to chase it. My golden dragon shimmers in the darkness of the water, even though we are so deep that the light doesn’t break through anymore. However, he is not made to be underwater for such a long time, but with Favia’s help, we manage to persevere longer than usual. The creature is right in front of us, and with just one slash of my claw, I rip into it. One of the men is still conscious, struggling against the grip. The moment he is freed, I link him. If you can, swim to the surface! I will catch up with you immediately.

He doesn’t argue or try to play the hero and instead follows my command. My dragon opens its mouth, clearly upset at seeing his clan members treated like food for this demonic monster, and with one tug, rips it in two. The two remaining warriors are freed from its grip as well, but are sinking further downwards. I grab them swiftly, tugging them upwards again to the safety of the shore. My lungs are starting to burn even with Favia’s strength.

A dragon is not made for underwater. Not even me.

Gathering my remaining strength, I chase upwards and break through the surface of the water, and not so elegantly land on the shore. To my surprise, Alana and Stefan are there, both of them hurry to me the moment I land. The third warrior, who was still conscious when I freed him, is currently being attended to by Erin.

“Your Highness,” Stefan blurts out, and I know very well what he wants to say. He is wise enough not to say out loud what he is thinking and instead pulls me into a sitting position.

“Forget me,” I cough. “The two warriors… Erin!”

Erin leaves the other warrior in Elmar’s hands and rushes towards me and the other two men. She checks them over briefly. “They are barely alive. Alana, help me free their lungs of the water.”

Together with Alana and Stefan, she begins the process of resuscitating them, time trickling by so insanely slowly that I feel more and more anxious with every moment that passes without any of them returning to us.

After what feels like forever, one of them coughs all of a sudden, spitting out water and turning to the side, convulsing in pain. The third man is still motionless. Stefan and Erin continue to try and save his life, but after a couple of minutes, I can see the first red drops falling. I can feel it clearly. The way his soul is ready to leave.

Favian, Favia says quietly.

For a moment, I don’t say anything, my heart broken at the fact that I couldn’t save them all. Then, however, I do what I need to do, pulling myself up and walking to the man. I try to recall his name; it was Karl. He was around Stefan’s age and one of the men who was already working under my father. His mate died during the war, but he has a brother, who he is very close to, and a niece. I gently close his eyes before letting Favia forward to take his soul with her.

Silence lingers around us while everyone pays their last respects. The shock sits deep for everyone involved. Fortunately, Alana is there to take over. She makes sure to send Erin, together with our two injured warriors, to Frederick’s lab so that they can be treated properly. Then she has Elmar bring hot drinks for everyone and makes sure the warriors, who were in the attack, can return to their homes for tonight. The island is off-limits for now, anyway.

“What was it doing here…” Stefan mutters. “So close to the shore?”

“I have been asking myself the same,” I say.

“Aengus only knows what would have happened without you here,” Stefan adds.

“Yes,” Elmar says quietly. “We are deeply in your gratitude, Your Highness. So many lives would have been lost had you not been here.”

Still, one life too many was lost today.

I feel my dragon beast stir slightly, but he is too tired to show me how he truly feels. He clearly exhausted himself. When Alana and Stefan suggest returning to the castle, I have no strength to argue. I contemplate gathering my last piece of strength and shifting to fly back, but Alana beats me to it, pretending she wants to walk a little. Only when we are far away from my warriors does she tell Stefan to shift and take us back home.

“That was your plan all along?” I ask, surprised.

“Well, I know you,” she says with a chuckle. “You wouldn’t want them to see you weak.”

Instead of feeling called out, I just feel amused and grateful for how she thinks about me. Stefan doesn’t waste any time either. He just shifts and waits for us to settle down on his back before swiftly carrying us back home.

Alana makes sure I rest immediately, even lying with me. She probably knows I am not to be trusted on my own. “My own mate doesn’t dare to leave me alone,” I chuckle.

“Well,” she smiles. “I bet if I left your side, you would just get up and go back to work. I am not taking that chance. If it helps, I am tired, too. Stefan and I were flying back from my meeting with Flynn when we spotted you above the sea.”

“I wish I could have saved him,” I say into the darkness of the room. The sun has set by now, and dim moonlight shines into our bedroom.

“Without you, this would have been a tragedy,” Alana says quietly.

“But every life matters,” I say.

“You are right, it’s still a tragedy that we lost someone today.”

“What did you find out today?” I ask her.

She gives me a brief rundown of her meeting with her brother. Her suggestion about the cult worries me deeply, and even more so that Stefan, one of the smartest people I know, agreed with the possibility of this option. “I can’t have the nightmare repeat itself,” I say. “I just can’t allow it to happen.”

“We won’t,” Alana says firmly. “As long as I am here, I won’t allow any stupid cult to do anything to the dragons!”

Her words and the confidence they are spoken with help me doze off. I fall into a deep, exhausted slumber. A dreamless sleep that feels like only the blink of an eye. When I wake up again, though, it’s pitch black, and the night has progressed far.

There is something else though, something unsettling. I sit up abruptly, touching the space next to me. It’s cold. Alana isn’t here, and she must have left a while ago. I can feel the beast inside me growing with restlessness and worry. Where is she?