Chapter 14
L ucian was the traitor, it kept running through my head over and over again. He was the one pushing that Dexter was the traitor. He’d framed Dexter for it. He had seemed so loyal to Josiah ever since I’d met him, why would he turn now?
“It appears Lucian was the traitor after all,” Mrs. Crane uttered. “He manipulated us all.”
“No, Josiah, you’re not dead!” I yelled to him as I pulled the sword from his lifeless body.
Hovering over his body, I noticed three words written in blood on the white sheets. ‘Protect the keys’.
Fighting back tears, I took a deep breath before turning to reenter the main room. I looked around at everyone, their heads down, tears falling, terrified looks on their faces. I was working up the courage to speak, to reassure everyone that we would prevail.
The door flew open as I pulled my sword halfway out.
“If you pull that out, be prepared to use it, boy,” the towering man said as he and a few others entered the cabin. He had a bushy beard, hair halfway down his chest. A large axe on his back, the giant male walked toward us.
“Silverclaw!” Dexter yelped as he hugged him.
I joined the others as he and his men walked in to pay their respects to Josiah before joining us in the main room.
“Silverclaw ? What the hell does that mean?” Devin whispered to me.
“He’s huge, don’t question his name,” Logan whispered back .
“Everyone, this is Silverclaw, leader of another sanctuary of the Order of Lai,” Dexter explained as Mrs. Crane and Mrs. Deluca greeted him.
“Why do they call you Silverclaw?” Devin blurted out.
He walked over to Devin, standing two feet higher than him and lifted his shirt, revealing glowing scratch marks along his chest.
“My spirit animal is an ancient bear; let’s just say it took me some time to control it,” he laughed, patting Devin on the head.
He walked back to the center of the room as three people joined him.
“Cobra, Coyote, and Wild Eye,” he uttered, as they nodded.
“Okay I get you. Three awesome names by the way but what’s up with Wild Eye, what kind of animal is that?” Devin laughed.
The one they called Wild Eye stepped forward, pulling a wooden stick off his back. He swung it back and forth in the air before landing it right next to Devin’s face.
“Wild Eye is blind. A spirit animal never emerged for him but instead, his other senses were heightened,” Dexter explained as Devin stepped back.
“Who is Mark Parker?” Coyote asked as she stared through the room.
“I am,” I stuttered, nervous at their overpowering presence.
“I look forward to seeing a Cambion’s powers,” she said, nodding at me.
“Now introductions are over with, we need to discuss what’s going on out there,” Jack cut in.
“I have thirty ships in the waters around Dracfort, many more men setting up a perimeter on land as we speak,” Silverclaw answered.
“I’m surprised word got to you,” Dexter said .
“What do you mean?” he asked. “Lucian sent word two days ago and we moved like hell in getting here quickly. Just in time, it looks like.”
“Lucian is the one that killed Josiah, he’s the traitor that has been working with the Syreni all along,” Mrs. Crane explained.
Silverclaw scrunched up his eyes as he clenched his fists, “I never liked that bald little man.”
“What if Lucian wanted every member of the Order in the same place at the same time?” Autumn cut in.
“Autumn, the adopted daughter of Josiah Lai, I haven’t seen you in ages,” Silverclaw said.
“She has a point, Claw,” Coyote agreed. “The Syreni wants to take us all out before Aurora finishes her last full moon’s feast.”
“They won’t risk sending Aurora here just yet,” Jack said. “But the Burning Snow is more than capable of wiping us out.”
“The Order of Lai is strong, we may be down in numbers but we make up for it in brute strength,” Silverclaw said as his group cheered.
“Mark actually had a plan, a plan to defeat them without too much bloodshed,” Jack said.
“Let’s hear it, boy,” Silverclaw peered at me with large, threatening eyes.
“Well, I saw the Burning Snow first-hand,” I started. “They have a leader, Whistler, he controls their movements with a fiery ice-sword. I was thinking if we distracted the horde, that I could sneak around the armies and kill Whistler.”
“Ha. Ha, ha,” Silverclaw laughed. “I know you’re the ‘chosen one’ but how can one boy kill a king of the dead army?”
I focused my rage, closing my eyes momentarily, feeling the blood boil inside me. I lifted every piece of furniture in the air around us as the group of strangers looked on, amazed .
“The rumors are true then, boy,” he said as I set the furniture down. “Still, I would feel better about your plan if you had help. Up on that mountain, you’ll be facing harsh blizzard conditions. Whistler won’t be alone, you know, he will have a group to defend him.”
“Mark, are you sure about this?” Dexter asked. “You don’t need to prove anything to us.”
“I know I can do this, I need to do this.”
“Josiah would be against this, but for the future leader of the Order of Lai, my vote would be for you to go,” Silverclaw said as I nodded at him.
“You are the single most important piece of the puzzle in this room, Mark,” Mrs. Crane said. “But you may be the only one capable of this task, so my vote is yes.”
“As is mine,” Mrs. Deluca agreed.
“Yes,” everyone said simultaneously as I felt a sense of leadership come over me.
“A few months ago, I was just an ordinary kid in high school. I had one friend, no real drive or motivation in life. I always felt I didn’t belong or there was something more for me out there. It took a lot of people I cared about dying and a lot of growing up over this very short period, for me to really understand my true purpose. I will not let you guys down, we will not let Josiah down!”
The door flung open again as a man ran through and whispered something into Silverclaw’s ear.
“What is it?” Dexter asked as the man left the room.
“There is no sign of the Burning Snow nor the Syreni yet,” Silverclaw said. “The woods and fields beyond the sanctuary are clear.”
“What is our move here?” Jack asked. “Do we strike first or wait for them to be on our doorstep? ”
“If we fight them now, we will be fighting them on their turf, on that treacherous mountain,” Dexter added. “If we wait until they get to the fields, we will have the trees at our backs to filter them if necessary.”
“I’ve never been a tactical strategist, that’s why Josiah was our leader,” Silverclaw uttered. “If it were up to me, I would say fight, strike first. But this will soon be your show, Mark; what do you say?”
My eyes widened as he placed that incredible decision onto me.
“We wait,” I responded, looking at Dexter. “When they are almost down the mountain, we move.”
“So be it, so why don’t you kids get some rest,” Jack said.
“We will have everything in place, ready for your command,” Silverclaw said as I nodded at him.
We followed Logan out of the cabin and all headed back to our own. The air was still, frozen, my face stiff and numbed. The trees were encased in ice as the fiery torches barely stayed lit.
“This just got real,” Devin said as we all entered the cabin.
“Crank that heat up,” Cheryl said, seeing Logan adjust the space heater.
“I just had a thought; why don’t they use guns here?” I asked.
“The blade is sacred to the Order of Lai,” Autumn answered. “Both sides live by their ancestors and practice their ways.”
“Why is she here?” Callie asked. “One minute you’re in the group, and the next, you’re not, make up your mind.”
“Oh, shit!” Devin yelped. “Cat fight!”
“Callie, she’s with us, trust me,” I cut in.
“Of course, you would defend her,” Callie said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Trouble in paradise?” Devin laughed .
“Shut up, Devin!” we all yelled as the cabin grew quiet.
“Listen, I know we’re all really scared and still getting used to all of this but we need to put our personal lives aside and band together,” Logan said.
“He’s right,” I agreed. “I’m sorry about leaving you at the dance, Callie, but we need you, we need everyone in this room to have each other’s backs out there.”
“What are the Burning Snow like?” Cheryl asked. “I’ve only seen them in books.”
“Think of rotting flesh encased in eternal ice, a lively beast trapped in a curse,” I tried to explain. “They are disgusting frozen corpses who are very fast and will stop at nothing to get what they want.”
“What do they want?” Cheryl asked.
“You,” Devin said. “Literally, they want to eat us.”
“They are controlled by that sword that Whistler has,” I continued. “It looks like a blade made of transparent ice and in the center is a single burning flame.”
“In the books, it doesn’t mention he controls them with it,” she said.
“I think we discovered that one,” Logan laughed.
“If we can get that sword, maybe we can stop the hoard from attacking the sanctuary,” I said.
“Well, we should sleep while we can,” Callie said as the girls left the cabin.
I leaned back in bed and stared out the window at the never-ending snow. The dark clouds filled the once starry sky, blocking everything out of sight from above. I closed my eyes and thought of Lucian. I thought I could trust him but he betrayed us all.
** *
The sound of a chain repeatedly hitting the wall woke me. Back in some damp cellar or tunnel system, I looked around. It was like a dungeon, torches burning, bars in place of walls.
“Master, I have done what you had asked of me,” the man said from the shadows of the cell.
A girl about my age stood outside the bars, two hooded people beside her.
“Aurora,” I said aloud as her head whipped in my direction.
She was in the form of her host, the teenage girl who’d been burned 500 years ago, the very first sacrifice in Rockport.
“Please let me go, whatever you ask of me I’ll do,” he pleaded again as she turned back to him.
“We told you to capture him and bring him to us, not to kill him,” Aurora said as the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
“He fought back, I had no choice, Master.”
Lucian, that was the one in the cell. He must have fled back to Rockport and they’d locked him up.
“The barrier is down, the Burning Snow will soon be upon them,” he explained.
“And what of the chosen one?” she asked.
“He grows in strength every day but he is no match for you.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me?” she asked.
“I have been loyal to you my whole life, sworn secrecy, earned my ranks in the Order, killed the greatest leader, won’t you free me now?” he begged.
“Thank you for your service, child,” she said before leaving the room .
“No, wait!” he screamed as they slammed the doors closed, snuffing all of the torches in the room.