When they reached the village meadow, Lukasz raised his hand, bringing the company to a halt.
“Three groups,” he ordered. “I’ll lead the first group with Eira and Cian in a sweep of the village itself. Sorcha and Kael, pick your men and take point for the second and third groups. Sorcha, take the planting and grazing fields. Kael, head into the forest that borders the village on the east. At the first sign of trouble—or any evidence of what’s happened to the villagers—sound your horn.”
Lukasz nodded to the sisters. With weapons drawn they moved into the village. Like the silent forest, the village appeared exactly as Eira and Cian had found it. Everything abandoned. No signs of life. The only change Eira noted was that the fires had finally died, leaving gray ash in their wake.
The trio emerged from the first hut and Lukasz heaved out a long breath. “All the houses were empty like this one?”
“They were,” Cian said. “Every one of them.”
“Let’s make a quick job of this, then,” Lukasz said. “If nothing has changed, I doubt we’ll find anything here. We should separate to continue the search and rendezvous at the far end of the village. We’re likely better off searching the forest with Kael’s team.”
“I agree,” Cian said, moving off to the next thatch-roofed hovel.
Eira glanced at Lukasz. “Do you still think a warlock responsible for this?”
“I fear I don’t want to know what could do this,” Lukasz murmured. He left Eira standing beside the hut.
She hesitated, caught in the question couched in his words. She believed she knew exactly what had done this, though she didn’t know how or why.
A lesson.
Uneasy, Eira gripped her sword tightly and passed by the houses Cian and Lukasz searched. She opened the door to another hut, finding exactly what she’d expected. A dead fire. Bread that had gained spots of blue-green mold since she’d last seen it. There was nothing to see. Nothing to learn from this place.
Eira started to turn, but something stopped her. A flicker in her vision. Movement. Keeping her sword low, Eira pivoted, her back to the open door. Her gaze roamed the small space. Nothing was moving. Dim light filtered into the house, barely piercing the shadows. Eira frowned and then choked on her breath when one of the shadows moved.
She could barely make out its shape. It hung in the corner, camouflaged by the darkness of the house. She knew it was watching her. And when it moved again, she knew it was aware she’d seen it. It moved again and she became certain the shadow creature had wanted her to see it.
A wraith. One of Bosque’s minions. The very thing that had filled her dreams with cruel, wonderful laughter as it tormented Abbot Crichton.
Eira kept her eyes on the wraith. Now that her sight had adjusted to the low light, she could clearly make out its shape, a billowing cloud of smoke. Her pulse jumped in her throat, but the wraith didn’t approach her. It remained in the corner.
Slowly Eira backed out of the house into the light of day. Her heart thudded against her ribs as she closed the door, waiting. Nothing happened. The wraith didn’t emerge, didn’t follow.
Had it been there the first time? With Eira not knowing that such creatures existed, had it floated in silence in the corner of the house, escaping notice?
A disgusted grunt made Eira start.
“I thought we’d find something this time,” Cian said as she walked up to her sister, shaking her head. “But it’s all the same.”
Eira stood frozen while Cian surveyed the silent houses.
“I can’t bear this,” Cian said. “Will you finish searching the village with Lukasz? I want to get into the forest.”
“Of course,” Eira answered stiffly.
Two quiet voices were whispering to Eira. One urged her to tell Cian that something was horribly wrong. That they’d missed a vital clue because they hadn’t known how to see it. But the second voice compelled Eira to keep her secret, at least until she knew more about why Bosque’s wraiths were here.
“Thank you,” Cian said. She peered at Eira. “Are you all right?”
Eira nodded, still feeling every heartbeat like a hammer in her chest.
Cian laid her hand on Eira’s shoulder. “The emptiness. The silence. I know how horrible it is. We will make this right. I promise.”
Eira forced a smile and Cian went to tell Lukasz that she was forsaking her search of the village to join Kael’s team in the forest.
Suspicion pooled in Eira’s mind as she opened the door of the next house. With only slight variation, rotting leeks on a table instead of moldy bread, this home was a twin to the last. Eira forced herself to draw deep breaths as her eyes adjusted to the dim interior. Remaining near the door, she searched the corners of the room with her gaze until she found it. Tucked in the eaves like smoke that hadn’t escaped through the chimney was another wraith.
Without pause Eira slipped from the house, closing the door behind her. She would have wagered all her possessions that every hut in the village was now home to one of Bosque’s shadow creatures. And she was sure the wraiths had been there when she and Cian had first come to Dorusduain.
But what was the lesson? Did Bosque mean to show Eira his benevolence? Death had lurked above the sisters but had been held in check. Or was the lesson’s intention something else? Perhaps he wanted Eira to see the devastation he could unleash at will. Fifteen houses in the village. Sixty-some souls snatched from the village without warning.
A horn blast sounded from the forest. Lukasz burst from a doorway.
“With me!” he called to Eira as he ran. In an instant she was at his heels. They plunged into a forest as silent as that on the village’s western border. Eira listened as she ran, twigs crunching under her feet. She expected to hear shouts and noise of battle. But nothing had followed the single horn blast.
They came upon Kael, Cian, and the five knights accompanying him standing amid the tall trees, wearing confused expressions. But they weren’t fighting. Some of the knights didn’t even have their weapons raised.
Eira whirled at crashing sounds barreling through the forest toward them, but she lowered her sword when Sorcha appeared with her team.
Sorcha glared at Kael. “You’re supposed to blow the horn when you’re in trouble, not when you get bored.”
“I wasn’t bored; I was lonely.” Kael grinned at her. “Look at all the friends I have now.”
“Kael.” Lukasz didn’t join in the quiet chuckling of the other warriors.
Kael smiled slyly at the commander. “You said to sound the horn if we found any clue as to what’s happened. We may have found one.”
“It’s true,” Cian said. “Two creatures ran into the forest ahead of us. And they don’t belong here.”
“Did you recognize them?” Lukasz asked. “Creatures we’ve fought before?”
Kael coughed, glancing at Alistair, who stood beside him, scowling.
“They were hobgoblins,” Alistair growled.
“Are you certain?” Lukasz asked. “Hobgoblins aren’t enough to frighten away a village.”
“They were hobgoblins,” Cian told the commander. “Why they’re here I couldn’t say.”
“Hobgoblins point to warlocks,” Sorcha offered. “Perhaps after they’d gotten rid of the villagers, they sent the hobgoblins in to steal.”
“I didn’t notice evidence of stealing,” Lukasz said.
Sorcha shrugged. “It’s my best guess.”
“I sent Alan and Philip ahead to track the hobgoblins,” Kael told Lukasz. “Unless you’ve found something else, I’d suggest we follow them.”
“Sorcha?” Lukasz turned to her.
“Nothing in the fields but abandoned plows,” she said. “I agree with Kael—we should track the goblins.”
Lukasz nodded. “Fan out, but not too far. Make sure you keep a line of sight to Kael; he’ll lead the way.”
The Guard spread into a loose line and threaded through the forest behind Kael. Eira sensed the mo
od of the knights was both perplexed and sour. The continued, unnatural silence of the forest only heightened the tensions running through their company. Though each knight had been trained to move through the wilderness as quietly as a cat, the absolute stillness in this strange place made every rustle of fallen pine needles and gentle footfall deafening. Whatever lay ahead would surely hear them coming.
They’d encountered hobgoblins often enough. But these creatures were more nuisance than threat, dangerous only in large numbers and only if they caught you alone. When Eira snuck glances at her companions, she saw their furrowed brows as they tried to work out how hunting goblins could be connected to the missing villagers.
The Guard didn’t know the secret that thrummed in Eira’s veins. That village wasn’t empty; it was full of wraiths. And now goblins were sneaking through the forest.
Dorusduain is a lesson . . . and an unfinished one at that.
Eira’s skin prickled. Her lesson hadn’t ended. She was beginning to fear what Bosque wanted to teach her.
A short, sudden scream rose from the forest a short distance ahead of them. Kael gave a sharp whistle and the line of Guards broke into a run. A second shriek pierced the air and then ended abruptly.
“Alan! Philip!” Kael shouted. “Signal us!”
No answer came.
“Stop!” Cian cried. “Stop now!”
The line broke as some warriors responded to her call and others plunged on, hunting for their missing peers.
“Halt!” Lukasz’s deep voice pulled the still-running soldiers back to their commander.
Cian was turning in a slow circle, looking up into the trees. Both hands gripped her sword hilt.
“Be ready!” Lukasz called. The knights formed a tight ring around the commander and Cian, backs to Lukasz and weapons pointed out toward the forest.
“What is it, Cian?” Lukasz asked.
“The trees have changed,” she whispered. “Look at the trees.”
Eira followed her sister’s gaze, at first seeing only the dense clusters of pines tall and broad enough to blot out the sky. Looking more carefully, Eira noticed that some of the trees differed from the russet bark of the evergreens. Dead tree trunks, leeched of color, were smattered among the healthy pines. Spindly white branches at awkward angles sprawled through the air, grasping at nothing. The dark, vine-like foliage that hung limply from a few of the branches looked sickly as well—though Eira had a hard time believing that any tree so clearly devoid of life could sustain leaves of any kind.
“Disease?” Kael asked. “Is there a blight in this forest? It could have been spreading toward the village and the folk worried it would kill their crops.”
“Those aren’t trees,” Cian said.
“Stay here,” Lukasz ordered as he pushed his way out of the ring. Ignoring his command, Eira went after him as he walked to the nearest dead tree.
Lukasz stopped alongside the dead trunk and Eira heard him make a choking sound. Reaching the tree, Eira saw that the trunk wasn’t solid. And Cian had been right. It wasn’t a dead tree.
Bleached bones had been built into the shape of a tree trunk. Eira looked up. The branches were bones too. Bones of all shapes and sizes. Something glopped onto her shoulder. What Eira brushed away was thick and slimy. When she looked at her wet, sticky fingers, they were crimson. Blood. Blood had fallen from the bone tree.
Eira forced herself to look up at the branches. The heavy, roping foliage drooped toward her, dripping blood. She looked away before she could recognize too many of the parts that belonged inside someone’s body.
Lukasz gripped her arm, pulling her back to the ring of knights.
“How many trees?” he asked Kael.
“I can see five or six,” Kael answered. “There could be more deeper in the forest.”
“Five or six accounts for the village.” Lukasz’s face had drained of color. “And more.”
“Where are Alan and Philip?” Alistair asked quietly.
His answer came in the form of a bellow followed by a shape hurtling from high among the pine trees.
Philip’s limp body thumped on the ground and rolled over once. His chest was split open.
Another shape descended, but this one landed on its feet. When it rose, it loomed over them, half again as tall as Lukasz and twice as broad. Its skin matched the ruddy brown of the pine bark and its eyes shone like garnet. The tall creature wore a ragged shirt, and a hat was perched between its long ears. Red liquid slid off the hat onto the sides of the creature’s face.
Eira had encountered a redcap once before and she wasn’t pleased to meet another. Most sorcerers knew that while the idea of summoning the much larger and more vicious cousin of hobgoblins might be appealing, it rarely went well in practice.
Redcaps wielded powerful magics of their own and easily broke the binding spells used to call them to their would-be masters. Eira had come upon her first redcap just after it had decapitated its summoner and was kicking his head around like a ball.
Beside Eira, Kael spewed curses.
“Steady,” Lukasz murmured.
The redcap gazed at them, raised its arms in triumph, and let out another bellow. Two more redcaps lumbered out of the forest. Their hats dripped fresh blood. Alan’s head decorated the long pike carried by the third goblin.
“We can take them down,” Lukasz said in a low voice. “They have size and strength, but we have skill.”
“Where did they come from?” Cian asked.
“That’s a question to be answered after they’re dead,” Lukasz answered her. He raised his arm, shouting an order. “Arrows, now. We have the best chance if we can blind them.”
Seven of the sixteen knights bore ranged weapons. Projectiles whistled through the air, revealing the marksmen’s skill. Arrows and bolts lodged in the closest redcap’s face, several slicing through its eyeballs.
The redcap screamed, clawing at shafts.
“Kael, take your team and cover the archers. Keep the other goblins off us.” Lukasz pointed to the other two redcaps. “Sorcha’s and my men will hack this one apart. Don’t call out if you can help it. If it hears you, it will have a better chance of grabbing you and breaking you in half.”
Kael dashed into the forest with the archers, seeking to outflank the redcaps still in possession of their sight. The blind redcap stomped around madly, roaring and swinging its pike.
“A redcap’s bones are like iron,” Lukasz told the remaining knights. “If you try to strike a blow to its heart, you’re likely to break your blade. Slashing wounds, deep cuts that sever. When it falls, cut its throat. Now go.”
The knights rushed at the flailing redcap, but Lukasz stepped in front of Eira and Cian, blocking their path to the fray.
“My ladies, you must stay out of this,” the commander said brusquely.
Cian laughed at him. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Lukasz looked at her somberly. “I know well your skills as warriors, but this is a fight my soldiers are prepared for. It’s not worth risking two members of the Circle. You are needed there. You are the voice of the Guard.”
“We are warriors of the Guard,” Eira snapped. “Don’t ask us to stand by while you fight and bleed.”
“You risked enough bringing us here,” Lukasz said. “Trust that if the battle goes awry and we need your swords, I will call on you.”
Eira was about to argue, or even strike the commander to prove her strength, when Cian answered. “Very well.”
Lukasz nodded at Cian and with a battle cry stormed at the blind redcap.
“How could you?” Eira hissed at Cian.
Cian leveled a cool gaze on her sister. “There was no time to argue. Lukasz needs to be with his men more than we need to be in that fight.”
“We are not doddering old fools or helpless maids,” Eira spat. “We’re warriors. More skilled in combat than most of the knights here.”
“They are skilled enough,” Cian said quietly. “You bring shame
on yourself to belittle them so.”
Bile came up Eira’s throat with her anger. Too furious to speak, she turned her gaze on the unfolding battle. Kael and his archers had blinded the second redcap, but the third had learned from the others’ folly. The clever redcap had torn a large branch from a pine tree, swinging it before his face to deflect arrows.
A roar from the closest redcap drew Eira’s attention. Lukasz hadn’t exaggerated his advantage over the blinded goblin. The Guard’s axes, swords, and polearms struck relentlessly at the redcap, shearing flesh from its arms and legs. Following Lukasz’s commands, the knights attacked without a sound, leaving the redcap to wield its pike in vain. Desperate and maddened by pain, the redcap threw down its weapon and turned to flee. It trampled over two knights as it stumbled into trees.
“Finish it!” Lukasz called as he led his warriors in pursuit.
As Lukasz’s company disappeared into the forest, shouts of triumph rose from Kael’s team. The blinded redcap, not able to aim its thrusts, had mistakenly impaled the other redcap with its pike, killing it. The dead redcap collapsed and the blind redcap tripped over the corpse. Without hesitation Kael’s men leapt onto the fallen monster, raining fatal blows on its exposed throat.
Eira knew both redcaps were dead when she heard Kael shout, “To the commander!”
Leaving the gigantic corpses behind, Kael and his men raced into the forest, following the trail of blood that would lead them to Lukasz and the final goblin.
“I don’t think the commander will be calling for us,” Cian said with a dry laugh.
Eira bit her tongue, too wearied by anger to fight with her sister.
“We should see to Philip’s body.” Cian returned her sword to its scabbard and walked toward Philip’s broken corpse. “He can receive proper burial at Tearmunn.”
Resigned, Eira followed her sister but stopped when she heard a strange snapping sound behind them. She twisted around, searching for the source of the noise. Without warning an object buzzed past her, its speed creating a stiff breeze that kissed her cheek.
Cian screamed.
Whipping around, Eira saw her sister hunched over. Something slender and white projected from her left side. Another buzz, another breath of wind, and a second white spear pierced Cian’s body just below her left shoulder. Cian screamed again and fell to her knees.