Page 14 of Up from the Earth (Equinox Seasons Duet #1)

Thirteen

King, Queen, Or Beast, No One Can Ignore A Calling To Battle.

I awoke to the sound of padded footsteps approaching through the thick undergrowth of the forest. The King’s draped his arm over me, and in a work of magic that was too quick for me to process, I was clothed once again in a flowing gown he created. The fabric was no longer white as it had been but a deep red, the color of our favorite treats from the banquet table.

Sitting up, we both turned to the woods, seeing Cerberus trotting up to the stone altar’s clearing where we both lay.

I was on my feet in seconds. “Cerberus!”

Throwing my arms around his head, I breathed in the scent of my sweet boy and nuzzled into the warmth of his fur. As distracted as I had been, worry over him had remained at the back of my mind.

His rumbling sound of appreciation vibrated my bones. “I have returned, Mother, with news.”

It was impossible for me to miss the tension of his shoulders even as I stroked him, the unease coming off him in waves. Pulling his face up to mine and meeting his eyes, I didn’t hide my own concern, my brow furrowing.

“What is it?”

Before he replied, The King walked up behind me, wrapping his arms around my midsection. I looked up at him, noting the small smile. There was also an intense familiarity there—as if my King had not only seen our son before but had many, many times.

Wonders truly do not cease.

“My son,” The Beast King spoke, “you have returned from the Well all the more powerful. Thanks to our long-awaited Queen.”

Cerberus huffed against my hands, jerking his head in agreement. “The power in my blood is strong. And we have much need of Mother now as always. The corruption stretches over the whole of The Land of the Punished.”

A soft growl rumbled through my son, unstoppable for the latent fury he held because of this growing concern. The King tensed, squeezing my ribs as he glared down at the earth. After a moment, he stepped back, turning away from our son and me.

“It must be one of them. There would be no other means to affect the realms or the barrier, for that matter.” Spinning on his heel, The King dropped his chin, staring at both of us from beneath his brows. “We must go. Show us the safe route, Cerberus. I will carry our Queen.”

Before I could speak, The Beast King changed his shape, effortlessly shifting into the form of the giant black wolf. Cerberus looked so similar to his father in these twin forms, and I couldn’t stop the pinch through my chest at seeing them next to each other like this.

I’ve only just found them. If anything were to happen…

The sky darkened overhead, and a crack of thunder rang out. This was not the storm of lust I’d created before but a manifestation of my apprehension.

“Climb up, little bloom. We must go.”

Shaking myself into action, I hurried toward The Wolf, using his leg to hoist myself up onto his massive back. I wove my fingers through his fur, gripping tightly as he bounded forward through the wood at an impossible speed. Cerberus was right behind us as I looked back, the fading forest disappearing behind us as we left the ritual circle.

I could not tell how much time had passed as I rode atop The Wolf. He sprinted through the massive trees, weaving through the trunks as easily as simply running forward through a plain. A sweeping landscape of grayed-out sand and endless jagged cliffs gradually replaced those thick trunks and the entire host of green itself. They stretched up into a sky made entirely of clouds, and in the far, unreachable distance, I could see the earth we ran on drop off into still more sheer rock faces.

Peering over the side of The Wolf, I tracked the ground as his enormous strides carried us over the desert of broken earth and clay. Skulls of various shapes and sizes littered the ground—animal, human, and things in between. I could sense a resonance in my bones, a thrumming that connected with this part of life and nature, too.

Death, after all, had its place in the cycle.

But there was an echo of something behind the never-nearing horizon. Darkness, that unease I’d felt in Cerberus made manifest, loomed like an angry storm cloud. I could feel it pouting in the shadows, a petulant need to be given everything it wanted—all of it just the wailings of a spoiled child.

“The sun is not up here.” The rushing wind nearly swallowed my words, but The Wolf could hear me.

“The sun is never up here. Sundown reigns over all. These souls,” The Wolf said, turning his head to the side as he sprinted in a great arch that turned to the right, “the sun is not for them.”

As a mortal—as a child of a protective witch—I was taught to fear sundown. Stay out of the forest, especially at night. Stay indoors on the new moon. Forces I couldn’t comprehend would be on the hunt for prey. Now, I saw this realm, the darkness, for what it was. Just another state of being and one suited for the resting place of those who had abused the sun’s gifts.

“They are the punished.”

A gentle nod bobbed The Wolf’s head. Cerberus, too.

“But they have remained sequestered successfully until now. One of them—”

“One has done something, Mother. I can sense the claim of the World of Below on him, the claim of the Pit.”

Swallowing hard, I returned to gazing over the landscape. There was so much that churned in the distance, a brewing malice that was seeking out ground to grow roots in. It couldn’t be. The innocence taken by time and fate were meant to have a peaceful rest. Whatever this thing was, it would destroy that. It wanted to destroy that.

Tracking the shapes of hills jutting out of the cracked ground, I noticed the protrusions that stuck out of the top at regular intervals. The Wolf rushed past one, and at this closer distance, I could now see that it was, in fact, the massive skeleton of some long-dead creature. The ribs and spine blended into the gray earth mounded up underneath them to form mountainous obstacles, the only things breaking up the monotonous expanse in front of me.

“We must cut through here. It is quicker.” Cerberus veered into an enormous gorge that carved its way through the plain.

“Have care, little bloom. Do not touch the walls.”

I couldn’t for the life of me understand why I would want to, but as The Wolf sprinted after our son, I was unable to keep myself from peering at the dark sides of the winding natural corridor. Skeletons had become something of an expected sight, but not those still covered with an emaciated layer of flesh, not those whose limbs scratched frantically at the air.

“Dear gods.”

My stomach flipped over on itself, the stench of copper and iron thickening in the atmosphere as she rushed through the canyon. The souls were trapped within the walls, half hanging out of the rock and dangling there. Beneath me, the sound of The Wolf’s steps changed, the pattering smack of flesh on stone becoming more of a squelch that had me terrified to look down.

And still, I did.

Nearly black, the lumpy mass of discarded parts and coagulated blood trampled beneath The Wolf’s paws. I choked on the sudden rise of bile in my throat, my eyes tearing as I squeezed the fur between my fingers. The pulverized remains formed a sort of stew, one only the most vile of creatures would digest.

“Why…”

I couldn’t finish the question. I knew that these were the spirits of those whose lives led them down this path, and still, it struck me—the grotesque torture of it all.

“They do not deserve your sympathy, Cerri.” The Wolf’s voice was surprisingly gentle in my mind. “They would have done the same and worse to their fellow mortals.”

It was a comfort to know that those who’d been so recklessly cruel, who were downright evil beings, found a place of comeuppance in the afterlife. And it was also a comfort to know that the whole of the landscape here was not dedicated to this particular scenery.

“It is not them I feel sorrow for, but you.” I smoothed my fingers against The Wolf’s skin beneath his fur. “It is a thankless job to be the jailer. Humans do not understand you.”

There was a pause, and through my mind, I heard Cerberus laugh. “You are among the few that understand, Mother. Still, I imagine that Father prefers it that way.”

The Wolf didn’t offer a response other than huffing and setting off at a quicker sprint. I smiled, enjoying this sliver of normality shared between us three. However, there was little that could be done to truly distract me from the purpose of this endeavor. I sensed that malignance up ahead, our path leading us inexorably toward it.

My stomach pinched. I did not want to face what lay ahead. I did not believe myself strong enough. A thought sparkled in the depths of my mind. I had completed two tasks to prove myself worthy of matehood to The King, The Wolf, but I had yet to experience the same connection and upheaval of my being with The Queen.

What still lay ahead that I could not see yet?

Cerridwen…Cerridwen…

The sing-song call in my head didn’t come from either The Wolf or Cerberus. And for as feminine as it seemed, it was not of The Queen either.

Cerridwen…Cerridwen…

“Stop.” I yanked on The Wolf’s fur, immediately halting our progress. “I hear something.”

The wolves with me padded to a stop, their ears perking as they swept their gazes over this endless geography. I did the same, scanning over the shadows until I noticed a small crevice in the gorge wall. This perfect crack in the rock formed a triangular opening to what stretched inward like a cave. My chest pulled, drawing me closer to the opening.

“Mother?”

Cerberus’s voice caused me to pause, and I looked back over my shoulder at him and then at The Wolf, that need to go still pulling at my bones.

“Little beast? What is it that calls to you?”

The massive creatures stood over me, a wave of protective energy surging as they blocked my path. I walked up to The Wolf, laying my hand against his chest.

“It’s a voice. Female. I…I need to go in there.”

His yellow eyes swung in the direction of the cave, a low growl rumbling through him. “That place…It is not for the uninitiated. It is not of this realm, not truly. It is something else. I have little to no power there.”

Cerridwen…Cerridwen…

“I can’t sense malice, my Wolf.” I looked past him to the opening, the pitch-dark shadows undulating nearly invisibly. “I…I have to go there. Please, you have to understand.”

“Then we will go with you.” Cerberus offered, stuffing his nose through the gap between The Wolf and I, smoothing his muzzle against me.

“You may follow at my back. But this is something I need to do alone.”

I held both their stares, that resonance in my soul echoing the pull of the cave. This was meant for me. It had something to do with the final step to ensuring I was at peak strength. And I already knew it would not be pleasant.

But growth never truly is. It is pain and adjustment. Things mortals are terrible at. Still, I was hardly just a mortal anymore.

And above all things, I trusted myself.

“Go, little bloom. But do not think for a second that we will leave you to whatever that realm threatens without protection.”

Running my hand up The Wolf’s nose, I held his bright moonlight stare. “I know, Beast. I know.”