Blackbird Broken (The Witch King's Crown #2) - Keri Arthur Page 0,88
said, I think she led her people to victory against greater odds after their king and his generals had fallen.”
“Handy to have in a fight, then.”
“Yes, though sword fighting is not a part of her skill set in this generation.”
“Given how few people actually train to use a sword these days, that’s hardly surprising.”
“No, although they generally do choose the best available meat case at the time of their rebirth.”
“And now I have an image of a celestial supermarket where the newly dead are displayed, all with little tags nominating their strengths and weaknesses.”
Mo’s mouth twitched. “It’s probably not that far from the truth.”
I snorted and fell silent. It took nearly two hours to get to Whithorn, though the cave itself was accessed from a park area that was basically in the middle of a farming community a few miles out of town. I climbed out of the car and stretched the kinks from my body. Once Luc had arrived, we headed off down a muddy path that skirted around the farm buildings and headed into a thick wood. The closer we got to the sea, the sharper and colder the wind got. A pebbly beach soon came into view; it was quite pretty even though the sea looked gray and cold.
The crunch of our footsteps echoed across the stillness, but we’d barely taken five steps when Nex pulsed.
A heartbeat later, there was a sharp blast of power.
A power filled with malevolence rather than darkness. Not that the source really mattered. What did was the target.
Mryddin’s Cave was under attack.
Chapter Twelve
“Fuck,” Mo said. “They’re trying to collapse the cave. You two, go. I’ll try and keep the thing intact.”
She hunkered down and pressed her hand against the ground; power thrummed under our feet, a deep pulse that spoke of anger.
I drew my daggers and followed Luc down the beach. He’d drawn Hecate, but she was silent for the moment. Which logically meant that—given Darkside couldn’t survive sunlight and halflings had no magic—the people behind this attack were witches. It was a fact backed up by that malevolent pulse of power.
And yet …
There was something else involved. There had to be. Nex wouldn’t be reacting so eagerly if we were merely dealing with halflings.
The cave sat above the shoreline on a rocky promontory jutting out toward the sea. The cave’s sides were vertical with a jagged top that made it look like a rough crown. Dust and bits of rock tumbled down the hillside from above the cave, and cracks were appearing in the rocks above the crown. I suspected it was only Mo’s countering magic that was keeping the place intact. We had to get in there and stop the bastards before the whole place collapsed.
But it was damn hard to move with any speed with the beach shifting so drastically underfoot.
We reached the embankment and began to climb. There didn’t appear to be anyone guarding the entrance into the cavern above, but that didn’t mean they weren’t inside, especially given the sunlight wasn’t strong enough to penetrate any more than a few feet. I raced on, clambering over rocks damp with sea spray, scraping my hands on their sharp edges. As we drew close to the plateau, something finally moved in the shadows haunting the cavern’s entrance. Nex’s pulsing sharpened; she was definitely hungry for action. I definitely wasn’t.
I jumped over the last rock and landed in a half crouch on the plateau. The shadows were moving with increasing agitation, and an unpleasant stench now rode the stiffening breeze.
“Luc,” I said softly.
“I see them.”
“I don’t think whatever is in there is human.”
“They aren’t.” He strode on, Hecate still gripped casually in one hand.
“Then what are they?”
I rose and padded after him. The stench got stronger the nearer we got, and I wrinkled my nose in distaste. It smelled off, like meat left too long in the sun.
“Some form of demonic animal.”
My grip tightened on the daggers. Lightning flickered down their sides, bright in the grayness of the day. “But demons can’t move around in daylight.”
“So the theory goes.”
I glanced at him sharply, though he remained several steps ahead of me and wouldn’t have seen it. “There’s been no evidence to suggest otherwise.”
“No, but if they’re kidnapping women to produce crossbreeds, what makes you think they’re not doing the same with animals?”
“I never really thought about it.” And certainly didn’t want to now.
The shadows ahead no longer stirred. I didn’t think that was a good thing.